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CHARTING THE NATION: ARABIC AND THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2006

Yasir Suleiman
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Abstract

This chapter surveys recent work on the linguistic construction of national identity in the Middle East, against the backdrop of political conflicts of different intensities. It does so by discussing the language situation in Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, and Jordan in so far as these situations involve conflict between Arabic and other languages (French and Hebrew), Arabic and one of its dialectal variants, or different Arabic dialects. The chapter shows the dynamic nature of linguistic identity construction and the variety of modes this construction takes. It highlights the significance of linguistic subtraction as a marker of identity, the relevance of power differentials to language maintenance, and language shift as tropes of identity construction and shows that linguistic boundary setting is as much related to structural forces in society as it is to specific political conflicts that speed up the progress of these forces and their inevitable outcomes.The author wishes to thank the Leverhulme Trust for their Major Research Fellowship which has enabled him to conduct this research.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 26 , January 2006 , pp. 125 - 148
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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