Mariam Aboelezz
Lancaster University, UK

A History of the Arabic Language and the origin of non-dominant varieties of Arabic

In order to comprehend how Arabic came to be a pluricentric language with multiple non-dominant varieties, we must navigate through the language’s rich history and the various religious, political and social events which have shaped the language that Arabic has become today. In this paper, I focus on three stages in the development of the Arabic language: Classical Arabic, Middle Arabic and Modern Arabic. I situate these stages in their historical context, explaining how the fate of the Arabic language was permanently sealed in the Classical period by the emergence of Islam in 7th century Arabia and by the subsequent Islamic conquests. At the zenith of the Islamic empire, the codification of Arabic preserved it as a dominant written language. However, the indigenous languages which Arabic had displaced in the newly-acquired regions gave way to non-dominant regional varieties. These varieties continued to diverge from the codified variety during the Middle period, giving rise to diglossia in Arabic. I conclude with a review of the modern period and the Arabic revival efforts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries which marked the creation of Modern Standard Arabic – a modernised version of the dominant variety of Arabic – while the colonially influenced non-dominant varieties drifted further still.