ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses current thinking regarding the complex links between the Arabic language and identity across the Arabic-speaking world even as they point the way forward to deepening that understanding in a period when many would argue that the linguistic situations in communities and societies where Arabic is used are undergoing rapid change. It focuses on many parts of the Arabic-speaking world – Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, the Levant, Israel, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France, and Italy. It focuses on the process of identification – a process, not a possession – that forms the basis of identity. The book deals with languages that are marginalized in the Arab world or varieties of diasporic Arab that are likewise marginalized where they are used.
