A Sociolinguistic Inquiry into the Future of Bedouin Dialects: Language Use and Perceived Language Vitality Among Bedouin-Speaking University Students in North-Western Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Amid global changes in Saudi Arabia’s linguistic landscape, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and English have assumed hegemonic positions as languages. MSA is employed as the formal official language and English as the second language taught in the formal education and the language especially demanded on the job market. As a consequence, the powerful, state-supported statuses of MSA and English are prone to affect the language practices and vitality of other local language varieties in Saudi Arabia. In particular, Bedouin dialects are relegated to the periphery and fall into relative obscurity and their vitality weakened. Considering the uneven power arrangement in Saudi Arabia’s language ecology, the ethnographically based sociolinguistic study conducted for this thesis examined the vitality of Bedouin dialects as perceived by university students of Bedouin background at the University of Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia. With empirical data collected using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, the study involved exploring the student’s general use of the three language varieties in everyday contexts according to the various language domains, exploring factors impacting the vitality of their dialects and investigating their attitudes and identities amid Saudi Arabia’s shifting cultural backdrop. The results confirm the low perceived vitality of Bedouin dialects in Saudi Arabia’s linguistic landscape both at present and for the projected future. They also provide evidence of the prevalence of the white dialect as a local lingua franca in informal domains in north-western Saudi Arabia. The findings may be of interest to Saudi language policymakers, educational leaders and individuals seeking to support multilingualism. Above all, they underscore the importance of multilingualism not only for the preservation of linguistic diversity but also from the speakers’ perspective, namely as a way to protect their culture and maintain their ethnic and linguistic identity.