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This book offers both an empirical examination of language ideologies and language policies in post-Arab Spring Tunisia and a detailed critical and interdisciplinary model of Language Policy and Planning (LPP). The authors present a comprehensive picture of how multiple language ideologies interact and play out as language policy against a background of political turmoil in a country with a complex history of indigenous and colonial languages. They utilise critical perspectives from Sociolinguistics and Applied Linguistics and add Critical Discourse Studies and a Discourse-Historical Approach to produce a model of LPP for scholars in other settings to describe and work to improve their own specific language contexts.
Helal and Lo Bianco provide a powerful analysis of language ideologies underlying Tunisia’s policy struggles associated with the Arab Spring. Beyond its immediate context, this book also makes a major methodological contribution to the field of language policy analysis. It is a must read for scholars and serious students alike.
This remarkably rich and fascinating study of language ideologies and their attendant ‘Asabiyyas in Tunisia impressively weaves together a wealth of multidisciplinary scholarship, detailed empirical analysis and original LPP model-building. Blending critique with hope, it interrogates and inspires, summoning us to place the study of language politics at the center of pluralist praxis and of reclaiming the political struggles for social justice and dignity. A landmark contribution!
In this dialogic book, Helal and Lo Bianco have come together to propose a 'Tunisian Language Compact' based on democratic deliberation, multiple perspectives, and social justice. Beyond the Tunisian case study, the Compact can provide a model for inclusive language policy and planning in societies around the globe riveted by inequality and conflict.
The book is very valuable in terms of its holistic coverage of language politics in Tunisia and the reflections can inform other countries in similar circumstances. It is comprehensive and contextualised within Tunisia’s historical, social and political milieu.
The authors provide a very detailed and relevant analysis of the ideological debates on language in Tunisia [...] It illustrates the rich potential of implementing a productive solution adapted to the country’s linguistic situation through the Tunisian Language Compact.
...the book represents a major contribution to the study of language policy and ideology in Tunisia. It constitutes a new reference point for scholars seeking to initiate or deepen research on the linguistic theme in Tunisia, as well as a valuable resource for policymakers and stakeholders wishing to design context-sensitive language policy measures. Finally, the volume enriches the broader debate on the need for innovative and interdisciplinary approaches in language policy research, offering both theoretical depth and empirical rigor.
...a major contribution. This work is an inestimable study of the ideological debates on language, which is complemented not only by an in-depth knowledge of language policies in Tunisia, examined in the light of successive historical contexts, but also by the proposal of an active solution, which appears more than relevant for implementation in the Tunisian context. All of these aspects underline the book's success in advancing discussions on the sociolinguistic situation in Tunisia.
...the analysis presented by Fethi Helal and Joseph Lo Bianco inLanguage Politics in Tunisia does full justice to the country’s global significance by richly documenting the specific details of national language debates in a way that makes them accessible, insightful, and applicable for global audiences.
Fethi Helal is Head of the Department of English at the University of Manouba, Tunisia. He had previously taught in Saudi Arabia and served as chair of the English Department at Umm Al-Qura University-Al-Lith University College - Makkah. His research interests include language policy and planning, sociolinguistics, intercultural academic rhetoric and discourse and critical discourse analysis.
Joseph Lo Bianco is Professor Emeritus of language and literacy education, University of Melbourne, Australia and Vice President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He has published widely on language policy and planning across a wide range of geographical and language contexts.
Table of Figures
Glossary
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Ruth Wodak: Foreword
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Language Ideologies and Language Policies
Chapter 3. Concepts and Theories of Language Policy and Planning
Chapter 4. Arabisation and Islamisation: Towards a Decolonial Ontology and Epistemology
Chapter 5. In Defence of Francophonie
Chapter 6. Can the Vernacular Be Planned?
Chapter 7. The Pragmatists
Chapter 8. Prospects and Proposals
Mohamed Daoud: Afterword
Transcription Conventions