Abstract

This chapter provides a survey of sociolinguistic research on the Arabic language over roughly the past two decades. Research surveyed has been divided into variationist and non-variationist strands of sociolinguistics. Within these broader categories the chapter covers recent research on political discourse, language ideologies around Arabic dialects and the influence of religion as a potential social factor governing linguistic change. In addition, the chapter addresses research that has highlighted cases of new dialect formation in the Arabic-speaking world, as well as cases of language and dialect contact that have been investigated in recent research on Arabic varieties.