THE INFLUENCE OF LANGUAGE STATUS ON LANGUAGE-ACQUISITION - ARABIC IN THE ISRAELI SETTING

This paper brings together in a single frame of discussion different a spects of language status which in tum influence its acquisition. Our case-Arabic in the Israeli setting-confirms the assumption that the st atus of a specific language is primarily influenced by social and poli tical circumstances. These circumstances may strengthen or weaken the language's legal status and expand or restrict its applicability. It m ay be assumed that the measure and nature of linguistic policies and t he cultural capital value of the language, the attitudes towards the l anguage and its official status are the main factors which constitute the interacting dimensions of the language's legal and actual status. Positive influence of one factor or more may be counterbalanced and ne utralized by the opposed influence of the other factors. This status i nfluences the learner's motivation to acquire the language both formal ly and informally and should account for why in some social settings s econd languages are acquired effectively and successfully, while in ot her settings the results are different.