Arabic Is the Language of ‘Ahlul-Jannah’ (People of Paradise): The Religious Status of Arabic Language Contributes to Its Maintenance

Abstract

This paper attempts to investigate the impact of the religious status of the Arabic language and to find out to what extent this status contributes to its maintenance within the Arabicspeaking community in the regional Queensland city of Toowoomba, Australia. A qualitative approach was employed in order to explore the language maintenance phenomenon through engaging in the everyday life of the Arabic speakers. Data was gathered through participant observations and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 adults who were selected using a mixed purposeful sampling strategy. The findings of this study reveal that the Arabic language is maintained among the Arabic speakers due to the high exalted status that Arabic holds as a language of Islam which represents the Arab and Muslim identity. The conclusions of this study are envisaged to enrich the knowledge and theories of language maintenance, as well as redesigning the multilingualism and multiculturalism structure of the Australian society.