We are glad to invite you to the third Research Talk of 2021 hosted by the Arabic PGR Satellite group.

Dr Saussan Khalil (Cambridge University) will give a talk entitled

Arabic writing in the Digital Age

Traditionally, the acceptable form for Arabic writing was the fuṣḥā form, and yet we see in the digital age the proliferation of writing that more closely resembles the spoken āmmīyah forms. Perhaps even more interestingly, we see the use of 'mixed' forms of writing that combine elements of both fuṣḥā and āmmīyah. Is this mixing random or are there patterns we can identify? Are we witnessing an evolution of Arabic writing? How can we analyse this language use in the wider context of Arabic writing, and how does this language use compare with traditional print media and literature?

Join us to find the answers to these research questions and more.

Dr Saussan Khalil is a Senior Arabic Language Teacher at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge University. She is also the founder and director or Kalamna, a social enterprise providing Arabic language classes for children, teacher training and research-based resources for teaching Arabic. She holds a PhD in Arabic sociolinguistics and MA by Research in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language - both from Leeds University. She also holds a Certificate for Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language from SOAS and a BA English Literature from Alexandria University in Egypt.

The talk will be hosted on University of Leeds Zoom on Monday, May 24th at 2pm BST.

Please email r.morano@leeds.ac.uk for the Zoom invitation if you wish to participate.