The Children’s Literature of the Arab countries: The Question of Language

Abstract

Twenty-two countries, as many dialects, some minority languages, and one common, standardized language: the Arab world is far from linguistically uniform. Each country has its own linguistic issues tied to its history as well as its cultural and identity choices. These issues are also reflected in the field of children’s literature, which raises the question “which language(s) should be used to address children in such a particular context?” Hala Bizri, librarian and researcher, draws up a linguistic panorama of the Arab world and puts it in perspective with regard to the language choices of publishers in the region.