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The Maghreb‐Mashreq language ideology and the politics of identity
in a globalized Arab world 1
Author(s) -
Hachimi Atiqa
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of sociolinguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1467-9841
pISSN - 1360-6441
DOI - 10.1111/josl.12037
Subject(s) - ideology , vernacular , identity (music) , politics , linguistics , sociology , arabic , scholarship , political science , art , aesthetics , law , philosophy
To date, most scholarship on Arabic language ideologies has focused on the contentious relationship between Standard Arabic and the spoken vernaculars. This paper, in contrast, draws attention to the hierarchies among the regional varieties of vernacular Arabic. Specifically, it makes visible the workings of what it calls the ‘Maghreb‐Mashreq language ideology’: the hierarchical relationship between Mashreqi (Middle Eastern) and Maghrebi (North African) vernacular Arabic varieties. The paper explores, in particular, the de/authentication of linguistic Arabness through a detailed analysis of a transnational pan‐Arab reality/talent TV show. Drawing on clips of situated interactions from this series, which have been uploaded to YouTube and commented upon by viewers, the paper argues that the new media is a critical site for reworking longstanding language ideologies and the politics of identity in the Arabic‐speaking world.[Arabic]