Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Introduction
- 1 Language Construction and Language Symbolism
- 2 (In)imitability, (Un)translatability and Inter-Group Strife
- 3 Framing Arabic: Paratexts, Poetry and Language Ideology
- 4 Hybridity, Language Ideology and Cultural Politics
- 5 Through the Looking Glass: Arabic, Thought and Reality
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Introduction
- 1 Language Construction and Language Symbolism
- 2 (In)imitability, (Un)translatability and Inter-Group Strife
- 3 Framing Arabic: Paratexts, Poetry and Language Ideology
- 4 Hybridity, Language Ideology and Cultural Politics
- 5 Through the Looking Glass: Arabic, Thought and Reality
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Arabic in the fray (al-'Arabiyyutu fī al-maydān) is an apt description of the fields of meta-linguistic data that have been examined in this book. These data were considered for what they say about fuṣḥāArabic to decipher the language ideology that they encode, as well as to show how Arabic, both as a symbolic resource and ideological site, is used to do politics, with a small p, in society. These themes run throughout the book, although some are better illustrated in some sites than others. Language ideology has been closely examined in Chapter 3, dealing with paratexts and the various tropes that are used in Arab culture to talk about the state of Arabic in modern times. Doing politics through culture, via language symbolism, is best illustrated in Chapter 4, wherein hybrid literature has been read as an inter-cultural phenomenon, in which language dialogism plays an important part. Both themes of ideology and cultural politics are encoded in other sites: the role of language and script in constructing national identities, the (in)imitability and (un)translatability of the Qur'an and their link to shu'ūbiyya and, finally, the use of Arabic to generate readings of the Arab mind. In all of these sites, the notion of the ‘fray’ is ever present, whether directly or indirectly, as a contextual factor that points to conflict.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Arabic in the FrayLanguage Ideology and Cultural Politics, pp. 277 - 280Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2013