Family Language Policies in a Libyan Immigrant Family in the U.S.: Language and Religious Identity

Addressing the paucity of research on the experiences of Arabic-speaking Muslim immigrant families, this study investigated the family language policy (FLP) of a Libyan family currently residing in the Southeast United States. More specifically, it focused on the impact of the parents’ language ideologies and ethnolinguistic aspirations on their language planning decisions about their daughter’s maintenance of Arabic. It drew upon the theoretical constructs of language ideologies (Woolard, 1998) and capital (Bourdieu, 1986). Part of a larger study, the data in this paper are gleaned from two sources: a questionnaire and two rounds of semi-structured individual interviews. The findings suggested that the Abdel-Aziz family’s FLP is driven by the parents’ vision and expectations for their children’s language use, which include (a) aspirations to develop bilingualism and maintain ethnolinguistic identity, (b) aspirations to develop biculturalism and resist cultural colonization, (c) participating in religious practices and communities, and (d) maintaining relationships with family and Libyan society. In light of the findings, this paper discusses the complex interplay between “linguistic and non-linguistic forces” (Curdt-Christiansen, 2016) in parental language ideologies that influence the emergence and enactment of FLPs. This interplay involves the intertwined nature of language and religious identity, the family’s responses to the dominant societal ideologies in the U.S., and the understanding of linguistic, cultural, and social capital (Ferguson, 2013; Gomaa, 2011; Mills, 2004).