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Update: The book described below was published in 2016 as Language, Identity and Education on the Arabian Peninsula: Bilingual Policies in a Multilingual Context (Louisa Buckingham, ed.). The listing of the book can be accessed here.

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Contributions are invited for an edited collection entitled The Place of English in Societies of the Arabian Gulf, which is currently under consideration by Multilingual Matters.

The book

In the words of the editor, Louisa Buckingham (Bilkent University, Turkey):

This book will provide an overview of language issues relating to the use of English and local languages in countries of the Arabian Gulf. English […] is used in public, educational, professional and domestic contexts and thus is a language which is used on a daily basis in socially prestigious settings and utilitarian, transactional interactions. […] English has influenced the Arabic dialects of the region and, in turn, local English use has developed particular characteristics through the influence of Arabic and South Asian languages to the extent that some scholars speculate the gradual evolution of a local Gulf English dialect. Although the relationship between the use English and the use Arabic in Gulf countries may conceivably shift in future decades, English appears likely to retain a prominent, though perhaps not uncontested, place in most Gulf societies.

Call for chapters

The editor has suggested that topics of interest for inclusion in the collection include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Linguistic focus (e.g., English and Arabic, Language contact, English as a lingua franca)
• Public use of English (e.g., English in the media, public spaces, professional and academic contexts, the workplace, and education)
• Sociolinguistic focus (e.g., social aspects of English in Gulf Arab societies, the place of English in Gulf Arab families, English and Gulf Arab identity)

Proposals (300 words max.) should contain an outline of the topic, describe what data will be used, discuss the relevance or importance of the topic, and provide an overview of literature to be consulted. Proposals should be mailed to louisabuckingham [at] bilkent.edu[dot]tr by 15 May, 2014.

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