The role of translation in language standardization

Abstract This article contributes to the debate on language standardization from below by examining the role of translation in the struggle to standardize ʿāmmiyya as a national language in Egypt. Drawing on Haugen’s model of language standardization, the article investigates the sociolinguistic and cultural factors that influenced the production and reception of three recent translations of literary classics into ʿāmmiyya: Le Petit Prince, L’Étranger , and The Old Man and the Sea . It is argued that the translations were undertaken not only on literary but also on nationalistic and feminist grounds. The findings show that the translations negotiated the norms of the literary field, where literariness has been coded by fuṣḥā , by conceptualizing Cairene Arabic as a separate diglossic language. Codification and elaboration occurred simultaneously through the diffusion of folk linguistic views in the paratexts of translated works from different literary genres, as well as through media interviews and social media.