Doris Hambuch

ABSTRACT

Siemund, Al-Issa, and Leimgruber conclude their study of multilingualism in the United Arab Emirates with the statement that “the UAE provides a fascinating language contact situation that promises to extend our knowledge of language mixture and levelling in world Englishes contexts” (Siemund/Al-Issa/Leimgruber, 2020). My presentation demonstrates how the situation in question manifests itself in the arts. Analyses of poetry by Zeina Hashem Beck, of spoken word performance by Afra Atiq, and of selected short films illustrate the various ways in which creative expression in the UAE reflects and shapes everyday polyglossia. While in some of the examples, the presence of different languages relates to the speaker’s personality, the setting requires code-switching for the sake of authenticity in others. While the main interaction is between the official language, Arabic, and the lingua franca, English, there are variations of both, as well as other languages, such as French and Tagalog that complicate the use and reception of creative multilingualism in the UAE. My study concludes that multilingual creative expression in the UAE effectively reflects the language contact situation outlined by Siemund, Al-Issa, and Leimgruber, and that studies of this situation benefit from interdisciplinary research.

Keywords

Afra Atiq; creative multilingualism; film; poetry; spoken word; Zeina Hashem Beck

References

1. Siemund, P., & Al-Issa, A., & Leimgruber, J. R. A. (2020). Multilingualism and the role of English in the United Arab Emirates. World Englishes, 8(3), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12507