Khalid Al-Jabr – Protection of the Arabic language between the national obsession and the vision

Extinction of languages
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has defined five criteria for the classification of languages ​​in the world, ranging from the exposure of a language to the danger of the disappearance of several languages. The first is to be a risk language: it is spoken by most children, but in a narrow range, for example by treating them within the confines of the house. Second, it is a language already threatened with extinction, one that children no longer learn at home, even though it is their mother tongue. Third, it is a very endangered language: it is spoken by grandparents and previous generations and, although the parents' generation can understand it, they do not speak it with their children or with each other. Fourthly, the language is very endangered: when the youngest speakers are grandparents and the elderly, they are often spoken or rarely spoken. The most recent is that it should be a spoken language, it is no longer spoken by anyone.
There are other detailed / preferential criteria for language survival or risk of extinction, including the number of speakers of the language, the minimum number of remaining languages ​​being determined by the number of speakers at least.

"Nearly 96% of the world's languages ​​are spoken by less than 4% of the planet's population in the most spoken languages,

A hundred thousand, and their chances of survival increase, are indispensable: written, used in transactions and education, translated and translated into, web-based, searchable and computerized, credible for writing and dissemination scientific research as well as their use in the audiovisual media, money and businesses.
It is remarkable to read in the Atlas of Threatened Languages ​​that nearly 96% of the world's languages ​​are spoken by less than 4% of the planet's population, who are in the most spoken languages, without written symbols, are not used in education and information, In this section (translation) does not exceed 60 languages, Arabic is ranked 18th. It is interesting to note that nearly 20% of the languages ​​of the world are spoken by tens of millions of people in several countries, that is, they are transient in their respective regions, while about 80% World languages ​​are endemic languages, each limited to one country. .
The English encyclopedia (Dorling Kindersley-London, 1997) estimated that nearly half of the world's population at the end of the twentieth century used one of the eight most widely used languages: Chinese (1.2 billion ), English (487 million), Indian (437 million). , Spanish (392 million), Russian (294 million), Arabic (225 million), Portuguese (184 million) and French (125 million). Arabism is ranked sixth in the world in terms of number of speakers, with the need to conceal these numbers, most Arabic speakers use their dialects spoken in the face of their activities.
Several reports predict that 50% to 90% of the languages ​​spoken by the Earth's population will be threatened in the 21st century, for example, in Brazil, 540 indigenous languages ​​(or 75% of the total number of languages) have died since the country's colonization by Portugal in 1530. In North-East Asia, only six languages ​​should be established in Russian in 47 languages, 20 languages ​​with fewer than 12 speakers and 8 languages ​​with high risk, as they are not. Goes from

"Arab Mashreq countries are almost liberated from the struggle for identity, except in Iraq and Syria, where both countries are facing the Kurdish problem"

Parents with children, although the number of speakers is relatively large and 13 other languages ​​may disappear. In Europe, 12 languages ​​have disappeared in 300 years and Australia has lost more than 80% of its 250 living languages ​​by the end of the 18th century. In Africa, for example, there are more than 200 languages, each with fewer than 500 speakers. The Atlas indicates that 300 languages ​​were extinct in the twentieth century alone.
Here is a map of the world's missing languages ​​until 2009:

The map of the world's missing languages ​​up to 2009 does not include Arabic, it shows that these languages ​​are concentrated in Africa, Australia, the Americas, South and North, some in Europe and others on the outskirts of the Arab world. A careful examination of the maps published by UNESCO shows that it is clear that Arabic is far from constituting a real danger zone, at least not in this century. Indeed, many "Arabic dialects" are not in danger, according to UNESCO standards, of the risk of extinction.

Between national concerns and national motivations
These concerns seem to rest on two things:
– affirms that "UNESCO has announced that Arabic among the 6000 (or 7000) languages ​​will be extinguished during the first century of the third millennium", and I speak of "allegations"; because it is so, because no explicit words in UNESCO documents, "More than 50% of the 6,000 languages ​​of the world may disappear in a few generations," he said in a speech the year of the International Year of Languages ​​in 2008. Attention should be paid to the "spoken" language, that is, to unwritten languages ​​with no alphabetical system, which in no way applies to Arabic.
– The resolutions of the Arab Summit adopted in Damascus in 2008 approved the document on the advancement of Arabic in this text: "The Arab Summit adopted the working paper submitted by Syria on advancement of the Arabic language towards the knowledge society and asked the Secretariat to refer the project to all relevant stakeholders and institutions.In the Member States to study it in all its aspects, propose mechanisms for its implementation. implement and report to the Secretariat on the progress of the project.

"A careful review of maps published by UNESCO shows that a clear Arabic is far from constituting a real danger zone"

The 130th ordinary session of the League Council at its ministerial level for consideration and report to the twenty-first regular session of the League Council at the summit level. "
So where did this feeling of fear come to Arabia and did this desire come to "protect" him, by "supporting" him in various areas of life? It is true that the concerns expressed in the UNESCO report have had a direct impact, even if the concept received by the Arabs at the time of their publication was unrealistic, even among the intellectuals, the media and the inhabitants of the language themselves, from assemblies, committees, assemblies and councils. The Arab people have tried to receive this report in the same way as to use it for other purposes, for example by giving them a role in public life and by obliging the Arab countries to devote part of their attention to it. of their specialization. The impact of weak Arabic content on the Internet may have a parallel effect, since the content of this content at the beginning of the third millennium did not represent more than 0.01% of the publication, which resulted in the project " Arab Ammunition ". This content … but the question is deeper and wider.
Perhaps the US occupation of Iraq and the emergence of signs of adoption of languages ​​other than Arabic in the Arab countries were a key factor of this interest, was to recognize the Kurdish language as the official language in Iraq, the second language of the state after Arabic. Similar Amazigh claims have emerged in Arab North Africa and the Amazighs have officially recognized their identity in Morocco, but they overcame the dilemma: their language was spoken unwritten and did not have a symbol of their alphabet, but they did. 39 have overcome: Amazigh has become an official language of the country.
It was the decisive factor in the sense of the Arabs at the official, social and intellectual levels in Arabic, as well as in the need to protect, support, provide and highlight their presence and the necessity of the circulation in the education and transactions. All face ethnic and sectarian nationalist tendencies to separation

"The meaning of the value of language in the construction of civilization is a decisive factor in maximizing the status of language in the life of the nation"

And independence, which means on the one hand the decline of the Arab identity in the countries of the Arab world and the decline of the Arabs as a nation with a real chance to lose all dreams of unity and destiny.
If some Arab countries of North Africa are governed by a protracted conflict between the Arabs and the Amazighs on the identity of the existence and the identity of the country, geographically and demographically, as well as on other aspects embodied by the conflict, the Arab countries of the Mashreq are almost spared, with the exception of Iraq and Syria, Kurdish. What is it that makes a country like Qatar enact a law to protect the Arabic language, a country that does not have an ethnic-ethnic problem in the structure of its population?
The meaning of the value of language in cultural construction, its impact on the formation of concepts, intellectual perceptions, mental structures and ways of thinking and its determining role in the formation of national identity, the strengthening of Historical affiliation and depth and the organic connection with the constituent roots of the national personality are all decisive factors in maximizing the status of the language in the life of the nation. While the legislative form to ensure this can be achieved. And here, it must be said: Fear again – quite different from the fear of … Fear of the incarnation of the love of freedom and fear of cow cowardice.
With this approach, we can examine the promulgation of the law for the protection of the Arabic language in Qatar, in line with the real historical achievements that have an intertwined effect on the development movement at all levels. Therefore, it is expected that the institutions of the member states of the Arab system will transfer this interest to the Arab institutions and make this law an integral part of the cultural and scientific agreements with the countries of the world.