The dynamics of language maintenance among Arabic-speaking Muslim immigrant families in New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis reports on a study which investigated the dynamics of Arabic maintenance in New Zealand at the micro or family level, given the central importance of the family as a site of intergenerational language transmission. In particular, the focus is on the language-related experiences and perspectives of 10 Arabic-speaking Muslim immigrant fathers and their children enrolled at an Arabic weekend school concerning the process of language maintenance in the context of Auckland. The findings based on data collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and observation in the Arabic-speaking community in Auckland and more specifically at its Arabic weekend school highlighted the challenge of promoting inter-generational maintenance of Arabic for the participant families, given its immigrant minority status. The study shows that the process of Arabic maintenance among these families became associated with a two-front struggle, which required the maintenance and teaching of two Arabic varieties (Standard and Colloquial), co-existing in a diglossic situation and both competing with a more powerful majority language in New Zealand, i.e. English. Generally, the participants in this study seemed to be aware of the rather unbalanced bilingual development among the children. While development of the children's English skills had been well taken care of by their English mainstream education and the New Zealand English-dominant society, most of the families' efforts had been directed towards the maintenance and teaching of Arabic. The association between the Arabic language, religion, and identity was very prominent in the data and appeared to be an effective motivating factor in favour of home language maintenance. After illuminating various aspects of Arabic maintenance among the participant families as well as the main factors involved, the study argues that micro-level language maintenance activities initiated by the immigrant family and community need to be supported and complemented by government level language policies and initiatives in order to facilitate and enhance language intergenerational maintenance. The study concludes by considering the possible implications of the findings for practice and research.