ABSTRACT
This chapter examines language variation and its different manifestations and phenomena in the Arab region. It explores the evolution of regional dialectology in the Arab region and its expansion to involve other areas of research. The earliest line of research on language variation in the Arab World has generated important descriptive studies on various Arabic dialects. The chapter identifies more research into phenomena related to language contact, particularly koineization and pidginization. It explains the potential role of koineization which is realized through a number of interrelated processes, such as levelling, mixing, and accommodation, in the evolution and formation of several Arabic dialects. The chapter reviews Versteegh's hypothesis about the progression of the modern Arabic dialects through a process of creolization, pidginization, and decreolization and reviews the recent cases of Arabic-based pidiginization and creolization in Africa and the Gulf States. It focuses on social dialectology, with particular attention paid to the social antecedents of language variation in the Arab World.
