(EA), and English in the Cairo area. The language ideologies of these varieties are a product of both the past and the present: they emerged during British colonialism in the late nineteenth century and are maintained in the postcolonial climate through discourses on the purity of Classical Arabic, on the linguistic corruption of the dialects, and on the increasing use of English as a symbol of Western capitalism and modernity. Aligning with Woolards (1998) definition of language ideology as a mediating link between linguistic features and social processes, this study demonstrates how language ideologies are communicated in structural aspects of the language varieties in the Arabic diglossia and how Egyptians use language varieties strategically to access the symbolic power of these ideologies. It argues that studies of language ideologies, language features, and discursive interaction are inseparable in uncovering how language is used in the Arabic diglossia in Egypt.1. IntroductionStudies on language ideologies and language-related historical studies on nationalism in Egypt demonstrate that the equation of language and nation is not a natural fact but rather a historical, ideological construct (Woolard 1998:16).Language ideologies are social constructs that are illuminated through a microanalysis of linguistic structures in discourse and a macro-analysis of the factorsthat lead to asymmetries in how languages are perceived. In line with Woolard, I emphasize the analysis of language ideologies within the linguistic practices of specific cultural settings, which means that language ideologies cannot have a single interpretation. They are in dialectical relation with social, discursive, and linguistic practices and often determine which linguistic features get selected for cultural attention and for social marking, that is, which ones are important and which ones are not (Schieffelin & Doucet 1998:285). In short, language ideologies are never about language alone, but rather, envision and enact ties of language to identity, to aesthetics, to morality, and to epistemology. Through such linkages, they underpin not only linguistic form and use but also the very notion of the person and the social group, as well as such Colorado Research in Linguistics, Volume 22 (2010)2fundamental social institutions as religious ritual, child socialization, gender relations, the nation-state, schooling, and law (Woolard 1998:3). Taking these definitions as a conceptual blueprint, this study shows how these linkages play out in a specific linguistic and cultural setting: Arabic diglossia in Egypt. Present-day language ideologies in Egypt find their beginnings in British colonization from 1882 to 1922 (Mitchell 1988, Suleiman 2003, amongst many). In this period, the colonizers restructured Egyptian society according to Western ideals of modernity and economic progress. Among other projects, they initiated anti-Arabic, pro-English language policies that assigned symbolic value to these languages: Arabic was depreciated because it was perceived as chaotic and random, while English was projected as being modern, prestigious, and desirable. According to Mitchell (1988), language was one of the most far-reaching strategies of the colonizers to change Egyptian culture. He cites al-Marsafis (1881) Eight Words, a book concerning the controversy of eight particularly powerful words that penetrated Egyptian social and political life during Britishoccupation: nation, homeland, government, justice, oppression, politics, liberty, and education (Mitchell 1988:131).