What is Arabic? Language, Identity and Ideology, identità e ideologia
Presentation
The seminar What is Arabic? proposes a reflection on the complex relationship between language, identity and ideology. The theme, precisely because of its breadth and transversal nature, intends to involve professors and PhD students who, while not specifically dealing with linguistic issues, can contribute to an open discussion of the various research fields that coexist within our curriculum. The history of the countries that today we define as Arab-speaking is strongly connected, for reasons of a political, religious, linguistic and cultural nature, to the events that have marked the entire Middle East and North Africa area, from the first phases of the Arab-Islamic expansion up to the more recent forms, colonial and not only, of interference by Western powers. Therefore, it is difficult to think of a monolithic linguistic scenario, indifferent to the stresses that other cultural and linguistic traditions have exerted on the Arab-speaking world. The plurality of the response to these solicitations represents the thread that binds the themes that will be treated during the seminar meetings.
The title, which follows the previous seminar What is Islam?, is in itself problematic and implies a reflection on the method and object of study. Difficult to give an unambiguous answer to the question "what is Arabic", if not the language spoken by the Arabs. But what language do we speak? The standard language? The dialects? The case of Arabic, by virtue of its strongly diglottic nature, appears significant: although it is, in its standard form, the official language of 22 countries, it is not the mother tongue of its speakers. Its promotion through the various national linguistic policies has reflected over the years the complex process of construction of the Arab identity and has provided an ideal image of Arabic, inside and outside the borders of each state. But what weight did language policies have? To what extent do they reflect linguistic reality and how do they influence the perception that speakers have of their language? How does linguistic reality affect written production?
The following readings are suggested: Y. Suleiman (2003), Arabic Language and National Identity: A Study in Ideology, Edinburgh University Press. Y. Suleiman (2013), Arabic in the Fray: Language Ideology and Cultural Politics, Edinburgh University Press.
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