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Culture

The Maronite community and the language in the 21st century: the anthropological perspective of the identity

Author
Šarūnas Rinkevičius
Publisher
Studia Orientalia Slovaca. Bratislava : Comenius University. ISSN 1336-3786. 2023, vol. 22, no. 2, p. 55-75.
Year of Publication
2023
Abstract

This paper deals with the question of the perception of language in the twentyfirst century by secular representatives of the Maronite community. It is divided into two parts: first, the main aspects of the language role in identity construction (elaborated mainly by Benedict Anderson and Rogers Brubaker), are provided; second, the analysis of the perception of language by the political and cultural representatives of the Maronite community, which was conducted by gathering empirical data, on the fieldwork trip to Lebanon in December 2022, where several semi-structural interviews were carried out. The research suggests that the Maronite community is famous for its multilingualism, in which Syriac, Lebanese Arabic and French languages have contributed substantially to the historical development of the Maronite community and the construction of its modern collective identity. Throughout this process, each language played an important role in forming and explaining various aspects of modern Maronite identity. 

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