"Multilingualism and Moroccan diaspora in Gibraltar" in Sociolinguistic Approaches to Arabic and Spanish in Contact
Document Type
Chapter in a Book
Publication Date
7-17-2025
Abstract
Gibraltar is a multilingual British territory bordering Spain that includes not only English, Spanish and Llanito, but also Arabic, owing to the sizable Moroccan population (Government of Gibraltar, 2012). Much of the existing scholarship on language in Gibraltar approaches this topic from a political, sociological, or historical lens (Archer, 2013; Canessa, 2019; Gold, 2005; Moyer, 2009; Stockey & Grocott, 2012), while linguistic research remains scarce. This study employs thematic analysis (Duff, 2018) to examine interviews with 20 Moroccan Gibraltarians, focusing on self-reported linguistic practices, attitudes, and identities, and the construction of Gibraltarian identity. Findings indicate that multilingualism is a major part of many participants’ daily lives, through the use of English, Spanish, Arabic, and — as a marker of Gibraltarian identity — Llanito.
ORCID
Farah Ali's ORCID record Recommended Citation
Ali, Farah. “Multilingualism and Moroccan Diaspora in Gibraltar.” Sociolinguistic Approaches to Arabic and Spanish in Contact, Edited by Farah Ali, Carol Ready and Sherez Mohamed, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 17 July 2025, pp. 167–84. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.44.09ali.