One language, many hierarchies

Abstract Intralingual translation in Arabic has been treated as a tool of simplification, while its implications for language planning remain underexplored. Using al-Shāmilī’s 2016 translation of al-Maʿarrī’s Risālat al-Ghufrān into semi-literate spoken Arabic as a case study, this article argues that intralingual translation constitutes a site where corpus and status planning interact reciprocally rather than unfold in a linear sequence of form following function. Four dynamics exemplify this interplay. First, the translation advances modernization rather than standardization, evident in its minimal graphization and its alignment with state discourses on renewing heritage texts. Second, it engages in intertextual positioning by drawing on earlier editions and interlingual translations as auxiliary sources to enhance intelligibility and, in so doing, cast Classical Arabic as a code requiring mediation. Third, it disrupts entrenched hierarchies and sparks media controversy through labelling by presenting the work as a translation in the Egyptian language. Finally, it undertakes functional reallocation by authorizing the selected variety as a medium of storytelling and religious expression. These dynamics show that intralingual translation should be understood not as a secondary act of simplification but as a powerful instrument of language planning that modernizes linguistic resources, renegotiates hierarchies, and redistributes authority across communicative domains.