The standard is not always more complex

A. Because nonstandard dialects lose material over time, it can appear that the standard must really be the “better” version because it retains these things, and thus is “larger” than the nonstandard dialects.

B. But actually, languages complexify as they evolve while they are simplifying. This has happened in regional Arabic dialects, such as Egyptian. For example, Standard Arabic is fairly simple in terms of showing differences in time conceptions. Basically, there is a past and a present: “he wrote” is kataba; “he writes” is yaktubu. The future, the progressive, and so on are usually left to context.

C. But Egyptian, like other regional Arabic varieties, has developed markers to indicate time distinctions. For example, in Saudi Arabic, one places b- before a verb to indicate the future: aguul, “I tell”; baguul, “I will tell.” Kaan before a verb means “used to”: kaan aguul, “I used to tell.”