1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910826975303321

Autore

Suleiman Yasir

Titolo

Arabic in the fray : language ideology and cultural politics / / Yasir Suleiman

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Edinburgh, : Edinburgh University Press, 2013

ISBN

0-7486-8034-9

0-7486-9392-0

0-7486-8031-4

0-7486-8032-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (ix, 308 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Classificazione

EN 1620

Disciplina

492.7

Soggetti

Arabic language - Social aspects

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- FIGURES -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- CHAPTER 1 LANGUAGE CONSTRUCTION AND LANGUAGE SYMBOLISM -- CHAPTER 2 (IN)IMITABILITY, (UN)TRANSLATABILITY AND INTER-GROUP STRIFE -- CHAPTER 3 FRAMING ARABIC: PARATEXTS, POETRY AND LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY -- CHAPTER 4 HYBRIDITY, LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY AND CULTURAL POLITICS -- CHAPTER 5 THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: ARABIC, THOUGHT AND REALITY -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

The pre-modern period saw a background of inter-ethnic strife among Arabs and non-Arabs, mainly Persians. Starting from the symbolic and cognitive roles of language, Yasir Suleiman shows how discussions about the inimitability and (un)translatability of the Qur'an in this period were, at some deep level, concerned with issues of ethnic election. In this respect, theology and ethnicity emerge as partners in theorising language. Staying within the symbolic role of language, Suleiman goes on to investigate the role of paratexts and literary production in disseminating language ideologies and in cultural contestation. He shows how language symbolism is relevant to ideological debates about hybrid and cross-national literary production in the Arab milieu. In fact, language ideology appears to be everywhere,



and a whole chapter is devoted to discussions of the cognitive role of language in linking thought to reality.