The Judeo-Arabic Debates

For its critics, the notion that Jewish usages of Arabic are sufficiently distinct to merit a separate name (Judeo-Arabic) smacks of ideologically motivated linguistic differentiation. But if we accept that language ideology is ubiquitous in human experience, the grounds for questioning or affirming a linguistic boundary become shaky. This article seeks to make room for context-sensitive notions of Judeo-Arabic while remaining attuned to the conditions that can make such notions fraught and elusive. Unlike critics who prioritize modern histories of nationalism and colonialism, I draw attention to the importance of the diglossia characteristic of both the longue-durée Arabic field and the traditional Jewish language practices for making sense of the Judeo-Arabic debates. Through a critical reading of the scholarly literature as well as consideration of turn-of-the-century talk about language in Algeria under French rule, I propose an interpretation that takes seriously the implications of the language ideology framework while situating it within a broader vision of ecological conditions and evolutionary process.