Arabic Sociolinguistics

Description

Written by four leading experts, this book provides a comprehensive overview of sociolinguistic variation and linguistic change in Arabic. It introduces sociolinguistic theory, methods, and data step-by-step, using accessible language and extensive examples throughout. Topics covered include sociolinguistic methodology, social variables, language change, spatial variation, and contact and diffusion. Each topic is explained and illustrated using empirical data drawn from a wide array of Arabic-speaking communities in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as other parts of the world where Arabic is or was spoken, to provide a rich resource of individual dialects, as well as a comparative view of variation in Arabic. Each chapter also contains annotated suggestions for further reading and elaborate exercises. It is an essential resource for students studying Arabic in its social context, as well as anyone wishing to expand their knowledge of variation in Arabic.

Enam Al-Wer is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Essex. A specialist in sociolinguistics, her research focusses on variation and change and dialect contact in Arabic. She is co-author of A Grammar of Jordanian Arabic (2022) and co-editor of three books, including The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Sociolinguistics (2019). Uri Horesh is a sociolinguist specialising in language variation and change and language contact, especially in Palestine. They formerly held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Essex and are a co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Sociolinguistics (2019). Bruno Herin is a lecturer at INALCO (Paris) where he teaches Levantine Arabic and Arabic dialectology. His chief interest is in the description of Arabic vernaculars and minority languages of the Middle East and in linguistic variation. He is co-author of A Grammar of Jordanian Arabic (2022). Rudolf de Jong is Director of the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo. He specialises in Arabic dialectology and has authored several articles and two books on dialects of Bedouin tribes in Sinai (2000 and 2011). He served as General Secretary of the Association Internationale de Dialectologie Arabe (AIDA).