Language, Ideology and Sociopolitical Change in the Arabic-Speaking World

'Cleverly deploying a multiplicity of approaches and perspectives, Chaoqun Lian delves into the intricacies of an important topic that ties Arabic to society through ideology and politics. The book succeeds admirably in revealing the ability of language to speak to a host of meta-linguistics concerns. It will therefore appeal to linguists and social scientists, Arabists and non-Arabists as well as to policy makers.'
Yasir Suleiman, University of Cambridge
The first systematic survey of the language planning and language policy (LPLP) discourse of major Arabic language academies in the Arabic-speaking world
This book offers a critical interpretation of how the meta-linguistic LPLP discourse of major Arabic language academies, from the turn of the 20th century until the present day, continuously 'burdens' language with extra-linguistic, sociopolitical meanings. Thus making it a proxy for the protracted courses of national identity negotiation, counter-peripheralisation in the modern world-system and modernisation. Integrating theories of language symbolism, language indexicality, LPLP, habitus, banal nationalism, world system and perspectives of critical discourse analysis, the book develops our understanding of the phenomenon and mechanism of the entanglement between language, ideology and sociopolitical change in the Arabic-speaking world and beyond.
Key Features
. Reveals the role of LPLP in constructing and negotiating sociopolitical meanings of language
. Examines the discourse of Arabic language academies on diglossia, Arabi(ci)sation and language modernisation
. Presents a comparative study of script Romanisation movements in China and the Arabic-speaking world
. Explains a mechanism of language-ideology interface in the Arabic-speaking world
. Offers a synthesis of theories and perspectives across disciplines to study sociopolitical dimensions of language
Chaoqun Lian is Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Linguistics at Peking University, China and Research Associate at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge.
Cover image: Autumn tree in the wind, Egon Schiele, 1912 © akg-images
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ISBN 978-1-4744-4994-6
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Chaoqun Lian is Assistant Professor in Arabic Linguistics in the Department of Arabic Language and Culture at Peking University.