Russian Language of Islam: The Phenomenon of Code-Switching

This paper raises a number of questions concerning the emergence of an Islamic version of the Russian language, which is referred here as the Russian Islamic sociolect. This sociolect has at least two major variants, which are described here as Russism and Arabism. Of special interest are processes of code-switching between these two variants, as well as the interaction between native Islamic languages in the Russian Federation (such as Tatar and Avar languages), as the onor languages of Arabic-origin terms for Islamic concepts, and the Russian language, the religions lexicon of which is largely based on the Church Slavonic language.