Comparing Arabic in Israel to Arabic in the Levant and across the diaspora, this book illuminates the unique socio-political conditions and features of speaking Arabic in Israel.

Drawing on both ethnographic fieldwork and sociolinguistics, Arabic Between State and Nation analyzes the political conditions of Arabic in Israel. While linguists often treat Arabic speakers of the Levant as belonging to one dialect group, this book makes a novel contribution by studying the unique sociopolitical situation of the use of Arabic in the Jewish state, and particularly in East Jerusalem. That perspective is important in light of the removal of Arabic as an official language in Israel in 2018. The book’s study of Arabic in Israel is enhanced through comparisons to the political conditions of Arabic found in the Levant and among the Arabic-speaking diaspora in communities such as Dearborn, Michigan. These comparisons consider both large- and small-scale factors, ranging from the role of nation-state building to daily public usage of Arabic. Arabic Between State and Nation reaches far beyond linguistic differences to go to the heart of the political, social, and economic despair faced by multiple communities.