Arabic as a Minority Language in the Netherlands: A Socio-Linguistic Approach

摘要

The presence of Arabic language in the Netherlands is very old and dates from the end of the sixteenth century. It has been introduced and studied at Leiden University, the oldest one in the Low Countries, since its foundation in 1575. It is considered one of the most important languages of the world as it is the liturgical language of Islam since the seventh century and is adopted as an official language by all Arab countries. In addition,it is one of the official languages of the United Nations. Nowadays,the presence of ethnic minority groups from many Arab countries, especially Morocco, gives Arabic a special status in the Dutch linguistic scene. This paper begins with a general and an historical background. It, then, discusses Arabic on two broad levels. The first one deals with the status of the speakers of Arabic in the Netherlands. This will be highlighted by examining the social-historical background of the immigration processes of Arabic speakers and its consequences, in addition to the position and distribution of these speakers in the Dutch education and labour market. The second level treats the status of Arabic as a language in the Netherlands. To understand this,the focus will be on the position of Arabic in different domains such as religion, social-cultural organizations, mass media and literature. Finally a couple of variables will be studied such as language maintenance, language shift and language loss among native speakers of Arabic in the Netherlands.