The Arabic Language

Chapter 15
Arabic as a Minority Language
15.1 Introduction
In the course of history, some speakers of Arabic have become isolated from the 
central area. Living among people who speak a different language and in order to 
function in society they have to use the dominant language of their neighbours, 
while continuing to speak Arabic among themselves as a home language. Usually, 
in such linguistic enclaves (called in German 
Sprachinsel
) the home language has 
little prestige, and the speakers depend on the official language in their everyday 
dealings. Because of the frequent code-switching and the many integrated loans, 
their language is subject to all kinds of linguistic pressure from the dominant 
language (adstratal influence). The linguistic enclaves therefore present an area 
of general interest for the study of language contact.
The study of the Arabic linguistic enclaves also contributes to our knowledge 
of the history of Arabic. The classicising influence of the standard language was 
considerably weaker here than in the central empire. In some respects, there
-
fore, the structure of these dialects reflects an earlier form of spoken Arabic in 
the areas to which they were exported without the pressure from the Classical 
language, which in the core area acted as a target for most speakers (cf. above, 
pp. 146–9). There is, however, no direct correlation between the date of cut-off 
and the present structure of these dialects. Hardly any linguistic enclave, with the 
possible exception of Maltese, was ever completely isolated from the central area, 
and in most cases the speakers maintained some form of contact with the presti
-
gious centres of the Islamic empire, be it only because of their adherence to Islam.
In this chapter, we shall briefly discuss the linguistic situation of a number 
of linguistic enclaves in which Arabic is spoken, and we shall also deal with the 
linguistic situation of the many Arab immigrants in Western Europe and America.