Fluxus Editions

Abstract. The initiators of the Wikipedia Egyptian Arabic edition strove to differentiate it from the Standard Arabic edition, notably via the script chosen. Some proposed a script adapted from the Latin alphabet, thus repeating previous attempts to systematically transcribe vowels, which the traditional Arabic abjad does not. Oddly enough, most Egyptian Arabic Wikipedians, despite their desire to cultivate their difference from Standard Arabic, chose the Arabic script used as an abjad for writing their encyclopedia’s articles. Besides the weight of habit, the diglossic status of Arabic may explain this choice. Yet, they have managed to adapt the script to give it a specific “Egyptian” flavor. This article is inspired from some of the results of the research presented in the author’s master’s thesis, entitled Écrire l’arabe égyptien, le cas d’un Wikipédia ‘dialectal’, defended at UFR ALL-Nancy, Université de Lorraine, France, in June 2025.

References References in BIB How to cite How to cite in BIB

Abdel-Massih, Ernest T., Zaki N. Abdel Malek, and El-Said M. Badawi. 2009. A Reference Grammar of Egyptian Arabic. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Al-Ṣāwī, Muḥammad. 2017. Writing Arabic in Latin Letters. Noor Publishing.

Al-Toma, Salih J. 1961. “The Arabic Writing System and Proposals for Its Reform.” Middle East Journal 15 (4): 403–15.

Al-Tonsi, Abbass, Laila Al-Sawi, and Suzanne Massoud. 2010. Kalaam Gamiil, an Intensive Course in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Vol. 1. Le Caire – New York: The American University in Cairo Press.

Attia, Mohammed, Pavel Pecina, Younes Samih, Khaled Shaalan, and Josef Genabith. 2015. “Arabic Spelling Error Detection and Correction.” Natural Language Engineering 25.

Aṭṭia, Adil. 2010. “Goose Yā.” Al-Ḥiwār Al-Mutamaddin, no. 3145.

Badawi, S. M., and M. Hinds. 1986. A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic: Arabic-English. Librairie du Liban.

Boutros, Wadie. 1993. Ahlan Wa Sahlan, Méthode d’arabe Égyptien Du Caire. Le Caire: Éditions Dar el-Nashr Hatier.

Coulmas, F. 2003. Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.

Davies, Humphrey T. 2005. “Dialect Literature.” Edited by Lutz Edzard and Rudolf Erik de Jong. Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics 1:597–604.

Diem, Werner. 1974. Hochsprache Und Dialekt Im Arabischen: Untersuchungen Zur Heutigen Arabischen Zweisprachigkeit. Abhandlungen Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag.

Fahmī, Abd al-Azīz. 1944. Latin Letters for Writing Arabic. Hindawi.

Farnawany, Refaat. 1981. “Ägyptisch-Arabisch Als Geschriebene Sprache, Probleme Der Verschriftung Einer Umgangssprache.” Inaugurale Dissertation sur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophischen Fakultät II, Friedrich Alexander Universität.

Ferguson, Charles A. 1959. “Diglossia.” Word 15:325–40.

Fiske, Willard. 1897. An Egyptian Alphabet for the Egyptian People. Landi Press.

Gairdner, William Henry. 1916. Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. A Conversation Grammar. Oxford University Press.

Girod, Alain, and Emad Aziz. 2016. Grammaire de l’arabe Égyptien d’aujourd’hui. Paris: Édition Ellipses.

Haggenmacher, K. 1892. Grammatik Des ägyptisch-Arabischen Vulgärdialektes. Boehme & Anderer.

Imbābi, Fatḥi. 1994. Killing Grounds. Al-nahr lilnašr wa l-tawzī.

Louis, Samia. 2008. Kallimni Arabi Bishweesh. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.

Mitchell, T. F. 1956. An Introduction to Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Oxford University Press.

Rosenbaum, Gabriel M. 2017. “Discussing the Use of Dialect Versus Standard Arabic in Lenīn Al-Ramlī^2019s Ḥaṣāwi-Skits and Other Texts.” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, no. 44, 37–66.

Shraybom-Shivtiel, Shlomit. 1998. “The Question of Romanisation of the Script and the Emergence of Nationalism in the Middle East.” Mediterranean Language Review 10:179–96.

Spitta, Wilhelm. 1880. Grammatik Des Arabischen Vulgärdialectes von Aegypten. Hinrichs.

Watson, Janet C. E. 2002. The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic. Oxford University Press.

Willmore, John Selden. 1901. The Spoken Arabic of Egypt. London: Dalcassian Publishing Company.

Zack, Liesbeth. 2014. “Key to Mass Literacy or Professor’s Hobby? Fiske’s Project to Write Egyptian Arabic with the Latin Alphabet.” Al-Arabiyya 47:1–19.

@BOOK{abdel-massih2009reference,
   AUTHOR = {Abdel-Massih, Ernest T. and Abdel Malek, Zaki N. and Badawi, El-Said M.},
   TITLE = {A Reference Grammar of Egyptian Arabic},
   PUBLISHER = {Georgetown University Press},
   ADDRESS = {Washington, DC},
   YEAR = {2009},
}

@ARTICLE{attia2015arabic,
   AUTHOR = {Attia, Mohammed and Pecina, Pavel and Samih, Younes and Shaalan, Khaled and Genabith, Josef},
   TITLE = {Arabic Spelling Error Detection and Correction},
   JOURNAL = {Natural Language Engineering},
   YEAR = {2015},
   VOLUME = {25},
}

@ARTICLE{attia2010yaa,
   AUTHOR = {Aṭṭia, {\ayn Adil}},
   TITLE = {Goose Yā{\hamza}},
   JOURNAL = {Al-ḥiwār al-mutamaddin},
   YEAR = {2010},
   NUMBER = {3145},
   NOTE = {\foreignlanguage{arabic}{عادل عطية، ياء الوزة!، الحوار المتمدن}},
}

@BOOK{badawi1986dictionary,
   AUTHOR = {Badawi, S.M. and Hinds, M.},
   TITLE = {A dictionary of Egyptian Arabic: Arabic-English},
   PUBLISHER = {Librairie du Liban},
   YEAR = {1986},
}

@BOOK{boutros1993ahlan,
   AUTHOR = {Boutros, Wadie},
   TITLE = {Ahlan wa sahlan, méthode d'arabe égyptien du Caire},
   PUBLISHER = {Éditions Dar el-Nashr Hatier},
   ADDRESS = {Le Caire},
   YEAR = {1993},
}

@BOOK{coulmas2003writing,
   AUTHOR = {Coulmas, F.},
   TITLE = {Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis},
   SERIES = {Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics},
   PUBLISHER = {Cambridge University Press},
   YEAR = {2003},
}

@ARTICLE{davies2005dialect,
   AUTHOR = {Davies, Humphrey T.},
   EDITOR = {Edzard, Lutz and de Jong, Rudolf Erik},
   TITLE = {Dialect Literature},
   JOURNAL = {Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics},
   PUBLISHER = {Brill},
   ADDRESS = {Leiden},
   YEAR = {2005},
   VOLUME = {1},
   PAGES = {597--604},
}

@BOOK{diem1974dialekt,
   AUTHOR = {Diem, Werner},
   TITLE = {Hochsprache und Dialekt im Arabischen: Untersuchungen zur heutigen arabischen Zweisprachigkeit. Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes},
   PUBLISHER = {Franz Steiner Verlag},
   ADDRESS = {Wiesbaden},
   YEAR = {1974},
}

@BOOK{fahmi1944kitaaba,
   AUTHOR = {Fahmī, {\ayn Abd al-\ayn Azīz}},
   TITLE = {Latin letters for writing Arabic},
   PUBLISHER = {Hindawi},
   YEAR = {1944},
   NOTE = {\foreignlanguage{arabic}{عبد العزيز فهمي، الحروف اللاتينية لكتابة العربية}},
}

@PHDTHESIS{farnawany1981geschriebene,
   AUTHOR = {Farnawany, Refaat},
   TITLE = {Ägyptisch-Arabisch als geschriebene Sprache, Probleme der Verschriftung einer Umgangssprache},
   SCHOOL = {Friedrich Alexander Universität},
   TYPE = {Inaugurale Dissertation sur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophischen Fakultät II},
   YEAR = {1981},
}

@ARTICLE{ferguson1959diglossia,
   AUTHOR = {Ferguson, Charles A.},
   TITLE = {Diglossia},
   JOURNAL = {Word},
   YEAR = {1959},
   VOLUME = {15},
   PAGES = {325-340},
}

@BOOK{fiske1897egyptian,
   AUTHOR = {Fiske, Willard},
   TITLE = {An Egyptian Alphabet for the Egyptian People},
   PUBLISHER = {Landi Press},
   YEAR = {1897},
}

@BOOK{gairdner1916grammar,
   AUTHOR = {Gairdner, William Henry},
   TITLE = {Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. A Conversation Grammar},
   PUBLISHER = {Oxford University Press},
   YEAR = {1916},
}

@BOOK{girod2016grammaire,
   AUTHOR = {Girod, Alain and Aziz, Emad},
   TITLE = {Grammaire de l'arabe égyptien d'aujourd'hui},
   PUBLISHER = {Édition Ellipses},
   ADDRESS = {Paris},
   YEAR = {2016},
}

@BOOK{haggenmacher1892grammatik,
   AUTHOR = {Haggenmacher, K.},
   TITLE = {Grammatik des {\"a}gyptisch-arabischen Vulg{\"a}rdialektes},
   PUBLISHER = {Boehme \& Anderer},
   YEAR = {1892},
}

@BOOK{imbabi1994marai,
   AUTHOR = {Imbābi, Fatḥi},
   TITLE = {Killing Grounds},
   PUBLISHER = {Al-nahr lilnašr wa l-tawzī{\ayn}},
   YEAR = {1994},
   NOTE = {\foreignlanguage{arabic}{فتحي إمبابي، مراعى القتل}},
}

@BOOK{louis2008kallimni,
   AUTHOR = {Louis, Samia},
   TITLE = {Kallimni {\ayn}Arabi Bishweesh},
   PUBLISHER = {The American University in Cairo Press},
   ADDRESS = {Cairo},
   YEAR = {2008},
}

@BOOK{mitchell1956introduction,
   AUTHOR = {Mitchell, T.F.},
   TITLE = {An Introduction to Egyptian Colloquial Arabic},
   PUBLISHER = {Oxford University Press},
   YEAR = {1956},
}

@ARTICLE{rosenbaum2017lenin,
   AUTHOR = {Rosenbaum, Gabriel M.},
   TITLE = {Discussing the use of dialect versus standard Arabic in Lenīn al-Ramlī’s Ḥaṣāwi-skits and other texts},
   JOURNAL = {Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam},
   YEAR = {2017},
   NUMBER = {44},
   PAGES = {37-66},
}

@BOOK{alsawi2017kitaaba,
   AUTHOR = {Al-Ṣāwī, Muḥammad},
   TITLE = {Writing Arabic in Latin letters},
   PUBLISHER = {Noor Publishing},
   YEAR = {2017},
   NOTE = {\foreignlanguage{arabic}{محمد الصاوي، كتابة العربية بالحروف اللاتينية}},
}

@ARTICLE{shraybom1998romanisation,
   AUTHOR = {Shraybom-Shivtiel, Shlomit},
   TITLE = {The Question of Romanisation of the Script and the Emergence of Nationalism in the Middle East},
   JOURNAL = {Mediterranean Language Review},
   YEAR = {1998},
   VOLUME = {10},
   PAGES = {179-196},
}

@BOOK{spitta1880grammatik,
   AUTHOR = {Spitta, Wilhelm},
   TITLE = {Grammatik des arabischen Vulg{\"a}rdialectes von Aegypten},
   PUBLISHER = {Hinrichs},
   YEAR = {1880},
}

@ARTICLE{altoma1961arabic,
   AUTHOR = {Al-Toma, Salih J.},
   TITLE = {The Arabic Writing System and Proposals for Its Reform},
   JOURNAL = {Middle East Journal},
   YEAR = {1961},
   VOLUME = {15},
   NUMBER = {4},
   PAGES = {403-415},
}

@BOOK{altonsi2010kalaam,
   AUTHOR = {Al-Tonsi, Abbass and Al-Sawi, Laila and Massoud, Suzanne},
   TITLE = {Kalaam Gamiil, An Intensive Course in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic},
   PUBLISHER = {The American University in Cairo Press},
   ADDRESS = {Le Caire -- New York},
   YEAR = {2010},
   VOLUME = {1},
}

@BOOK{watson2002phonology,
   AUTHOR = {Watson, Janet C. E.},
   TITLE = {The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic},
   PUBLISHER = {Oxford University Press},
   YEAR = {2002},
}

@BOOK{willmore1901spoken,
   AUTHOR = {Willmore, John Selden},
   TITLE = {The Spoken Arabic of Egypt},
   PUBLISHER = {Dalcassian Publishing Company},
   ADDRESS = {London},
   YEAR = {1901},
}

@ARTICLE{zack2014fiske,
   AUTHOR = {Zack, Liesbeth},
   TITLE = {Key to Mass Literacy or Professor's Hobby? Fiske's Project to Write Egyptian Arabic with the Latin Alphabet},
   JOURNAL = {Al-{\ayn}Arabiyya},
   YEAR = {2014},
   VOLUME = {47},
   PAGES = {1-19},
}

Guy Boursier (2024), “Writing Egyptian Arabic: the case of a ‘dialectal’ Wikipedia,” in Proceedings of Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, 2024 (Yannis Haralambous, Ed.), Grapholinguistics and Its Applications, Vol. 11, Brest: Fluxus Editions, 229–246.


@INPROCEEDINGS{gla11-bour,
   AUTHOR = {Guy Boursier},
   EDITOR = {Haralambous, Yannis},
   TITLE = {{Writing Egyptian Arabic: the case of a ‘dialectal’ Wikipedia}},
   BOOKTITLE = {{Proceedings of Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, 2024}},
   SERIES = {{Grapholinguistics and Its Applications}},
   VOLUME = {11},
   PUBLISHER = {Fluxus Editions},
   ADDRESS = {Brest},
   YEAR = {2024},
   PAGES = {229--246},
   DOI = {https://doi.org/10.36824/2024-graf-bour},
}