The "death" of Arabic may come from where we least expect it

The "death" of Arabic may come from where we least expect it

For the New Arab, I wrote about how efforts to abandon Modern Standard Arabic in favour of local dialects could, in time, erase our shared culture, heritage, Arabness. Read it here.

It’s only by mending the rupture of the nahda that we can hope to advance in any authentic and lasting way.

Language operates on the psyche in deep and complex ways that are pivotal to identity and communal cohesion. Language reflects social reality, but it also has the power to shape it. If Safouan’s theory comes to fruition, if we lose our common Arabic, then the Western-driven project of nation building in the region will have succeeded beyond its wildest dreams.

The self-estrangement birthed by the nahda will be irreversible, we will remain exiled from ourselves, and our schizophrenic, failed modernity will be permanent.