Arabic in the Fray : Language Ideology and Cultural Politics

**Develops Yasir Suleiman's groundbreaking project on Arabic in the social world** GBS\_insertPreviewButtonPopup(['ISBN:9780748680320','ISBN:9780748680313','ISBN:9780748637409','ISBN:9780748680344']);Taking as its point of departure the symbolic role of language and its use as proxy in the social world, this book investigates how Arabic is involved in ideological and cultural debates in which conflict is a defining feature. The author shows how discussions about the inimitability of the Qur’an in the pre-modern world were, at some deep level, concerned with issues of ethnic election against the background of inter-ethnic strife among Arabs and non-Arabs, mainly Persians. Discussions of the (un)translatability of the Qur’an in this period are further shown to be related to this notion of ethnic election. In this respect, theology and ethnicity emerge as partners in theorising language in society. Staying within the symbolic role of language and its use as proxy, the book further investigates the role of paratexts and literary production in disseminating language ideologies and in cultural contestation. Language symbolism is also shown to be relevant in ideological debates about hybrid or cross national literary production in the Arab milieu. Language ideology appears to be everywhere, including in discussions of the cognitive role of language in linking thought to reality, to which a whole chapter is devoted. Here, building on his highly acclaimed previous published works, Yasir Suleiman takes in a new direction his arguments on ideology and cultural politics. " Develops Yasir Suleiman's groundbreaking project on Arabic in the social world GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup(['ISBN:9780748680320','ISBN:9780748680313','ISBN:9780748637409','ISBN:9780748680344']); Taking as its point of departure the symbolic role of language and its use as proxy in the social world, this book investigates how Arabic is involved in ideological and cultural debates in which conflict is a defining feature. The author shows how discussions about the inimitability of the Qur’an in the pre-modern world were, at some deep level, concerned with issues of ethnic election against the background of inter-ethnic strife among Arabs and non-Arabs, mainly Persians. Discussions of the (un)translatability of the Qur’an in this period are further shown to be related to this notion of ethnic election. In this respect, theology and ethnicity emerge as partners in theorising language in society. Staying within the symbolic role of language and its use as proxy, the book further investigates the role of paratexts and literary production in disseminating language ideologies and in cultural contestation. Language symbolism is also shown to be relevant in ideological debates about hybrid or cross national literary production in the Arab milieu. Language ideology appears to be everywhere, including in discussions of the cognitive role of language in linking thought to reality, to which a whole chapter is devoted. Here, building on his highly acclaimed previous published works, Yasir Suleiman takes in a new direction his arguments on ideology and cultural politics. 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. The premodern Islamic period developed against a backdrop of interethnic strife among Arab and non-Arab groups, mainly Persians. Centered on language's symbolic and cognitive role, Yasir Suleiman follows premodern debates over the inimitability and (un)translatability of the Qur'an and the deep concern of these arguments with issues of ethnic el This Title Considers The Way Arabic Has Been Deployed In The Modern World To Express Different Constructions Of National, Ethnic, Religious, And State Identities. Yasir Suleiman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 281-296) And Index. This book will consider the way Arabic has been deployed in the modern world to express different constructions of national, ethnic, religious and state identities.