Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale

Family Language Policies for Maintaining Arabic as a Home Language in Italy: The AHLI Project

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Abstract

The AHLI Project, focusing on Arabic as a Home Language in Italy, explores family language policies among Arabic-speaking communities. Employing an interdisciplinary approach and a mixed-method design, the research reveals a complex linguistic spectrum. It uncovers the dynamic interplay between language maintenance and shift, the desire to transmit Arabic, attitudes, and family choices. While highlighting the significant presence of Arabic in linguistic repertoires, disparities between practices and beliefs emerge. The findings bear theoretical and practical implications for promoting democratic plurilingual education and guiding language policy actions at both micro and macro levels.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Feb. 21, 2024 | Accepted: June 17, 2024 | Published July 25, 2024 | Language: en

Keywords Arabic • Language maintenance and shift • Family language policy • Home language • Plurilingualism

Copyright © 2024 Ibraam Abdelsayed, Martina Bellinzona. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2024/01/001