"The core focus of this book is nationalism in the Arab Middle East - an area of growing interest over recent times. Yasir Suleiman provides a fresh perspective on this topic by investigating the interaction between language and nationalist ideology. Although the role of Arabic has always been considered vital in nation-building in the Arabic-speaking world, this is the first time it has been examined at length. Yasir Suleiman's treatment of this topic covers both the communicative and the symbolic functions of the language in relation to the domains of cultural and political nationalism."--BOOK JACKET.