Language Policy and Identity in Mauritania

In modern-day Mauritania, as in several multilingual states, tensions over language policy and identity between the two ethnic groups—Arab and afro-Mauritanian—have been flaring ever since the nation’s independence. In Language Policy and Identity in Mauritania: Multilingual and Multicultural Tensions, El Hacen Moulaye Ahmed investigates language policy and identity in this North African country. Moulaye Ahmed traces the past and the present Mauritania’s identities and language policies and reveals Mauritanians’ language policy preferences and the relationship between their identities and their preferences.

El Hacen Moulaye Ahmed is lecturer of English linguistics at the University of Nouakchott Al Aasriya.

Preface Acknowledgments Notes on Translation and Transliteration General Introduction Chapter One: General Issues in Language Policy and Identity Chapter Two: The Interplay between Language and Identity and Some Issues in Multilingualism and Multiculturalism Chapter Three: Socio-political and religious portraits of Mauritania Chapter Four: language policy and identity in Mauritania Chapter Five: Language Policy and Identity in Mauritania: A Contemporary Empirical Investigation General Conclusion Appendices Bibliography About the Author