The Interface between Linguistic Units and Socio-cultural Frames in Egyptian Arabic: A Cognitive Diglossic Perspective

The present research addresses the symbiotic relationship that exists between language and culture by investigating the link between linguistic units and socio-cultural frames in Egyptian Arabic ( EA ) from a cognitive, diglossic perspective. The research is based on the assumption that language should be viewed as a representation of the general cognitive processes, rather than a system governed by grammatical rules (Tyler, 2008, p. 459). In other words, the research attempts to explain how linguistic units including proverbs, metaphors, idioms, among other constructions, are reflections of certain socio-cultural frames. The crux of the research is to argue against Sapir -Whorf Hypothesis by demonstrating that such linguistic units are considerably influenced by the way the speakers view and experience the world around them. To this end, a research methodology combining the Cognitive approach, Wierzbicka’s (1979) “ethnosyntax” approach, Ferguson’s notion of Diglossia, and Malinowski’s Context of Situation, is adopted to demonstrate that linguistic units are strongly influenced by socio-cultural frames, and that both are bound up inextricably in various complicated ways. This might provide useful insight into the intimate relationship between linguistic units and socio-cultural frames, and how cultural factors can account for grammatical and semantic change in Egyptian Arabic.