The use of English and linguistic hybridity among Emirati millennials

Abstract

For Emirati millennials, multilingualism is both typical and expected. Although Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the official language of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Emiratis mainly use Khaleeji (Gulf Arabic) dialects at home. English is the lingua franca and common medium of instruction with approximately 100 other languages also being spoken in the nation. While top‐down language policies overtly favor English and MSA, which appear on signage, in educational contexts, and online as two ‘pure’ languages placed side‐by‐side, language ‘on the ground’ is considerably more complex than as ‘planned’. This paper explores the language ideologies and language use of 100 Emirati university students through mixed‐method questionnaires and classroom observations recorded in researcher journals. Analysis of the data revealed creative translanguaging practices. It is argued that such grassroots hybridity could act as a counter‐discourse to rigid ‘English only’ expectations in English‐medium universities and policies advocating ‘pure and separate’ language use.

English Features in Saudi Arabia: A Syntactic Study Within the World Englishes Framework

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A blueprint of Saudi English typology: A substrate effect

“…'Gulf English' was then labeled by Fussell (2011) where he examined the syntactic, lexical, and phonetic features found in the English speech as varieties of English by the Arabian Gulf citizens. Since then, the status of English in the Arabian Gulf was investigated by many researchers such as Mahboob (2021a, 2021b), Hillman et al (2021), Hopkyns et al (2021), Mahboob (2013); Siemund et al (2021), Tuzlukova and Mehta (2021), and van den Hoven and Carroll (2021). Hillman et al (2021) scoping review of World Englishes in the Middle East and North African (MENA) has systemically researched and documented research on World Englishes.…”

English in the United Arab Emirates

“…The specifics of their language use was not provided; however, 60.5 per cent of the participants disclosed to have competency in at least Arabic or English or both, with some knowing a third additional language. In Abu Dhabi, Hopkyns, Zoghbor, and Hassall (2021) found that from the 100 Emirati students surveyed, 73 per cent used English often or always at the university, while 71 per cent also used English in public spaces such as at malls, restaurants, hospitals, and hotels. The authors also found that 68 per cent of the participants engaged in English for entertainment (such as reading books, watching movies) and 65 per cent surfed the Internet for topics in English (p. 7).…”