World Englishes in the Arab Gulf States

Kay Gallagher gathers insightful research from across the lower Arabian gulf to uncover the richness and diversity of World Englishes within the contemporary Arab Gulf states. Her volume presents novel research from this emerging nexus of rapid economic, social, and linguistic development.

The countries of the lower Arabian Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) have, to varying degrees, harnessed English as an internal working language and as a means to communicate globally. Gulf countries that have not featured much in the WE literature to date are highlighted in this volume, including Bahrain and Kuwait, and the use of English in the emerging colossus of Saudi Arabia is examined. Novel insights from more prominent locations are presented here for the first time, including the use of English to counter negative Islamic stereotypes during the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, and its role in ensuring safety in a multilingual, high-risk industry in the UAE. New research into the challenges encountered in English-medium higher education in Oman and Kuwait is reported also. The linguistic features of “Gulf English” are explored, and the interplay and tensions between Arabic and English and other languages are addressed. The Englishes of expatriate populations in the Gulf are examined, including the English identity of majority and minority resident transnational groups. The issue of whether a distinctive variety of Gulf English has emerged in this multilingual melting pot, characterized by transience and flux, is debatable, and the establishment of “Gulf English” as an endonormative new variety remains elusive.

This book will appeal to those with an interest in World Englishes in general, as well as those who are interested in the roles and varieties of English in use in this globally unique and rapidly evolving context.The six states of the Lower Gulf - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - form an economic and political alliance known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The region’s oil-rich economies have attracted millions of migrant workers, both blue-collar and white-collar, from East and West. Transnational workers have brought linguistic diversity along with multiple varieties of English to this traditionally Arabic-speaking region, amplifying an increased internal demand for English, such that English is shifting in the Gulf from a foreign language to a lingua franca.

Kay Gallagher is a Professor at Emirates College for Advanced Education in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. She teaches and conducts research in English language and literacy education. She has published widely on language and education topics in the Gulf region.