A study on language use and language attitudes by Arabs living in Spain

Abstract

Multilingualism is a key concept when dealing with languages around the world. The Arab population in the Valencian Community, Spain, is a clear example of the presence of more than one language coexisting within the same society. Due to the influences of the local languages spoken in the area, the use of Arab by this population presents some distinctive features. Also the attitudes towards the mother tongue and the rest of the contextual languages presents diosyncrasies. Several studies (Lasagabaster, 2003; Safont, 2007; Portolés, 2011; Nightingale, 2012) have explored the attitudes towards Spanish, Catalan and English in the Valencian Community, but the Arab population has not been taken into consideration. This study will analyse language use and attitudes of Arab university students living in Castelló, where both students born in Spain and in an Arabic country will be taken into account. The paper will seek to analyse the contexts in which the participants use the language they speak, and their attitudes towards Spanish, Arabic, English and Catalan. In order to collect data, a questionnaire with three parts was used: personal data and languages spoken, language use, and language attitudes. The preliminary results of the research show that Arabic and Spanish are more used than English and Catalan, which are scarcely ever chosen. Moreover, favourable attitudes were signalled towards all languages, except for Catalan, which received neutral opinions.