This chapter moves from intra-language issues (e.g. diglossia) to interlanguage ones, by exploring the ALA discourse on Arabi(ci)sation (taʿrīb). Arabi(ci)sation was formulated as a language-policy response to the spread of foreign languages in Arab society – a language situation that was thought to weaken the national and international status of Arabic and bring foreignness into the corpus of the language. Yet this linguistic ‘predicament’ was part of the overall peripheralisation of the Arabs in the modern world-system. In this context, what were considered to be foreign threats to Arabic became refractions of the ‘sufferings’ of the Arabs under the dominant Other in the world-system. Accordingly, the ALA discourse on Arabi(ci)sation needed to confront the peripherality of both the language and the people.

Introduction: Arabi(ci)sation and Peripherality

The term taʿrīb conveys multiple meanings. Linguistically, it refers to (1) assimilating foreign loanwords in line with Arabic phono-morphological conventions; (2) translating foreign texts into Arabic; and (3) reviving and strengthening Arabic as a vibrant, national language to be used in all walks of Arab life (ʾAḥmad 1999: 198). These dimensions of taʿrīb can be named ‘Arabicisation’ (from ‘Arabic’); in addition, following the division between corpus and status language planning (see Chapter 2), dimensions (1) and (2) belong to corpus Arabicisation, while dimension (3) belongs to status Arabicisation. In this context, corpus Arabicisation aims to pre-empt or ward off foreignness in the structure and use of Arabic, while status Arabicisation aims to curb the spread and domination of (former) colonial or international languages such as English and French in public communication.

Taʿrīb also has extra-linguistic dimensions, including, at least, as al-Ṣayyādī et al. (1982: 13–14) summarise, (1) recovering ‘Arabness’ (ʿurūba) in Arab society after it was sabotaged under colonial rule; (2) striving for the revival (nahḍa) and solidarity (waḥda) of the Arab nation – two causes interrupted and undermined by colonialism and imperialism; and (3) ridding Arab society of its overall backwardness (takhalluf) and dependence (tabaʿiyya) on developed countries in economic matters, science and technology. Since the above extra-linguistic dimensions of taʿrīb target the Arabs/Arab nation/Arab society/Arab countries rather than the Arabic language, they should be called ‘Arabisation’ (from ‘Arab’). Due to its conceptual plurality, as discussed above, taʿrīb cannot be rendered into English properly unless we compound ‘Arabicisation’ and ‘Arabisation’ into ‘Arabi(ci)sation’, hence the use of this term in this book.