Language Maintenance and Shift Among the Syrian Community in Malaysia

This book investigates language choices in different domains among Syrian Arab Muslim families who came to Malaysia after war broke out in their country. It focuses on how Syrian Heritage Language (HL), Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), Classical Arabic (CA), and other languages that might be spoken by these families were maintained and/or shifted from the time these families came to Malaysia until the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most works on Syrian community in Malaysia are focused on social and humanitarian issues; none has explored how Syrians in Malaysia are managing their language use in connection with day-to-day communication and integration. As the Syrian community in Malaysia adapts by learning the host language, their mother language/s might experience a shift. The way the minority communities view their mother language by prioritizing or deprioritizing its use in the family milieu are factors that contribute to language maintenance and language shift (LMLS). As such, this book provides insights on how Syrian parents are managing their own and their children’s language/s, along with the language of the host country.

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Language Choice of Immigrants in a Multilingual Society.- Chapter 3: Syrian Working Parents’ Language Choice in the Work Domain.- Chapter 4: Language Maintenance and Shift in the Syrian Community.- Chapter 5: Syrian Parents’ Strategies in Language Maintenance.- Chapter 6: Conclusion.

Ms. Hanan Aldoukhi is a Syrian Professional Arabic Teacher for non-native speakers and for children of Arab immigrants. She also teaches English for Arabs. She believes that learning must always be fun, especially when it comes to language learning, which informs how she creates and develops effective learning materials. Hanan is also a professional translator (Arabic/English and English/Arabic).

Dr. Nurul Huda Hamzah is a Senior Lecturer at the English Language Department, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya (UM), Malaysia. Holding a Ph.D. from Newcastle University, UK, she has considerable expertise in Ethnography (applied linguistics, linguistics, linguistics anthropology, and cross-cultural studies). She has published several articles in reputed international journals.