Arabic between tradition and globalization. An introduction

This introductory article presents a bird’s eye view of the study of Arabic in all its varieties since Charles Ferguson described these using the diglossia model. The ‘traditional’ studies following since then on Arabic are as diverse as there are varieties of this language. The studies of Arabic discussed in this article are viewed in the light of the most recent phase of globalization that the world, and thus the Arabic speaking world as well, is currently undergoing, and which more than ever before is bringing about intra-Arabic contacts, as apparent, for instance, in TV shows on pan-Arabic channels and on the Internet. Towards the end of this article, we briefly introduce the seven contributions in this special issue, their unifying thread being the theme of ‘Arabic between tradition and globalization’.