Lexical and phonetic features of the language of political communication in Egypt under the conditions of diglossia
The linguistic situation in Egypt is characterized by the phenomenon of diglossia, which presupposes the presence of two varieties of language in the linguistic community. These varieties are Literary Arabic known in Western literature as Modern Standard Arabic, and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. In the context of a clear distinction between the literary and spoken languages within the language community, each of them acquires a certain area of use and its own characteristics. Usually, the native language is colloquial. it is the language that is acquired in childhood and covers the most extensive sphere of everyday every day speech. In the process of obtaining education and professional skills, a person masters the basics of a strictly codified literary language. Further, the literary language has an increasing influence on linguistic behavior, this, however, does not mean that the spoken language is losing its role, it remains the language of thinking, the “default” language, but now it is becoming one of the two tools for verbal communication. Its interaction with the literary language and their mutual influence give rise to the phenomenon of switching the language code, i.e. the choice of one or another language education in a particular situation, as well as their possible combination. This article aims to consider the lexical and phonetic features of the language of political communication in Egypt in the light of the phenomenon of diglossia (bilingualism). The analysis of living language material was chosen as a research method. After analyzing the interviews of two Egyptian presidents, we will try to clarify what effect diglossia has on the lexical and phonetic characteristics of the language of political communication in Egypt, as well as what linguistic means the addresser of the political message uses in order to most clearly and convincingly convey his position to the addressee. Particular attention will be given to the process of language code switching that invariably occurs in bilingual or multilingual communities. The relevance of this article lies in the fact that this study makes it possible to assess the current language situation in Egypt and apply it to other Arab countries, which are also characterized by diglossia.