General Linguistic Security in the Arabic Language: A Strategic Study

DOI:https://doi-0004.org/6812/17910501111730

Dr. Azzeddine laanani

Scientific and Technical Research Center for the Development of Arabic Language. Country: Algeria

Email: Lananilanani69@gmail.com

Received: 23/05/2025 ; Accepted: 27/11/2025 ; Published: 22/12/2025

Abstract:
Objective: This study aims to introduce and establish the concept of General Linguistic Security Intelligence within the functional conceptual framework of general linguistic security culture, and of linguistic security culture specifically in relation to the Arabic language. It seeks to consolidate this concept within the framework of a modern, resisting Arab civilizational linguistic strategy, following the growing recognition in our broader cultural consciousness of the need to examine the conditions for linguistic safeguarding and to review them periodically in light of the increasing value of language. Collecting information on the linguistic phenomenon in general, and on the language of the Arab nation in particular, analyzing such information, and deriving strategic solutions from it have become a contemporary necessity in view of the conditions imposed by the realities of the present day. In the contemporary era, language faces, on the one hand, the threat of linguistic and knowledge-based conflicts and, on the other, the challenges posed by attempts to impose sovereignty and influence. Accordingly, establishing linguistic security intelligence, setting up its institutional structures, and managing it institutionally have become contemporary necessities for structuring the security of the Arabic language and Arab culture. Institutional linguistic security intelligence can help preserve and reinforce linguistic sovereignty and counter foreign linguistic threats.

Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive-analytical methodology to examine the concepts falling within the sphere of linguistic security as addressed in the literature on linguistic security and linguistic culture. The aim was to assess the current state of linguistic security concepts and their role in building linguistic security effectiveness within the broader framework of linguistic security culture in relation to the Arabic language.

Results: The study reached a number of findings that addressed its central question, namely, the establishment, consolidation, and development of a new concept within linguistic security culture in general and Arab linguistic security culture in particular: General Linguistic Security Intelligence in the Arabic Language. This was achieved by examining the conditions for safeguarding the language of the Arab nation and advancing the idea of linguistic security intelligence in the Arabic language within the conceptual structure of linguistic security culture, in accordance with a distinct, resisting Arab civilizational framework. The study therefore presented a definition of this concept, its role, its vital areas of concern, its major projects, and the role of the general institutional body responsible for linguistic security intelligence.

Recommendations: The study recommends the need for institutional general linguistic security intelligence monitoring and for coordinating the efforts of the Arab nation as a strategic necessity for defending linguistic sovereignty.

Keywords: General Linguistic Security Intelligence, linguistic threat, linguistic security, security of the Arabic language, linguistic coordination.

1.Introduction:
The importance of language is increasing day by day, as it serves as the medium through which everyone apprehends and interprets the world. Given its importance, human civilizations have devoted attention to it from ancient times to the present. Civilizations have valued language, and linguistic provisions have been formulated and enshrined in the constitutions of peoples. Its importance has grown further in the contemporary era, making it the primary means through which peoples influence and are influenced by one another, as well as a fundamental condition for integration into the broader knowledge society. Language has also become a historically influential force shaping our identity. It encapsulates our lives and those of others, their experiences, and everything that takes place in this world. Any attempt to read or revisit history, or the broader history of language, will confirm this linguistic role and this ever-present power in any understanding and apprehension of the world. Language is therefore a matter of sovereignty at the heart of conflicts among peoples. Emphasizing this fact in public opinion and cultural consciousness has perhaps become a contemporary necessity. Language is a living power within us. In light of the increasing value of language, we propose the concept of General Linguistic Security Intelligence as a sovereign and national concept for the nation, free from any racist conception, and as a means of examining the conditions required to safeguard the nation’s language against internal and external threats.

Research Problem:

This study examines the concept of General Linguistic Security Intelligence, its strategic role, its broader areas of concern, and its major projects within the framework of a modern, resisting Arab civilizational specificity, with the aim of establishing and grounding a new concept within the structure of general linguistic security culture. What, then, is General Linguistic Security Intelligence for the Arabic language, and what are its defining features?

Objectives and Significance of the Study:

This study aims to introduce and establish the concept of General Linguistic Security Intelligence within linguistic security culture in relation to the Arabic language, as part of a modern, resisting Arab civilizational strategy. This objective arises from the growing recognition in our broader cultural consciousness of the need to examine the conditions for linguistic safeguarding and to review them periodically in light of the increasing value of language. Collecting information on the linguistic phenomenon in general, and on the language of the Arab nation in particular, analyzing it, and deriving strategic solutions from it have become a contemporary necessity in view of the conditions imposed by the realities of the present day. In the contemporary era, language faces, on the one hand, the threats arising from linguistic and knowledge-based conflicts and, on the other, the challenges posed by attempts to impose sovereignty and influence. Accordingly, establishing linguistic security intelligence, setting up its institutional structures, and managing it institutionally have become contemporary necessities for structuring the security of the Arabic language and Arab culture. Institutional linguistic security intelligence can help preserve and reinforce linguistic sovereignty and counter foreign linguistic threats.

Research Questions:

What is General Linguistic Security Intelligence for the nation’s national language, and what are its defining dimensions?
What constitutes a linguistic threat?
Does the concept of Arabic Linguistic Security Intelligence possess the capacity to advance and enrich general linguistic security culture?

Research Procedures:

Research Methodology:

The study adopted the descriptive-analytical method as its primary methodological approach. This method provides an accurate description of the subject under investigation by interpreting information and drawing conclusions from it, with a view to developing specific strategies and establishing and guiding a clearly defined future policy.

Scope of the Study:

Methodological and Thematic Scope:

The study focuses on the conceptual structure of national linguistic security culture in the Arabic language and, accordingly, on establishing, consolidating, and developing the concept of General Linguistic Security Intelligence in the Arabic Language within the broader framework of general linguistic security culture.

Research Tools and Supporting Study Sample:

The study focuses specifically on the Arabic language and uses writings on linguistic security in Arabic as its primary tool for collecting and analyzing information on the conceptual structure of linguistic security in the Arabic language. Since the study addresses national linguistic security in relation to the Arabic language, it draws selectively on some influential and widely recognized Arabic-language writings to help clarify the concept of linguistic security, its developments and contexts, and the threats facing the Arabic language. The works of Abd al-Salam al-Masadi and Saleh Belaid are among the selected specialized and influential writings that enjoy broad acceptance in clarifying and analyzing the conceptual structure of national linguistic security in the Arabic language. These include:

Abd al-Salam al-Masadi, Arab Identity and Linguistic Security: A Study and Documentation, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Doha, Qatar, 1st ed., 2014.
Abd al-Salam al-Masadi, Language Planning and Linguistic Security, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for Service to the Arabic Language, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1st ed., 2015.
Saleh Belaid, On Linguistic Security, Houma Printing, Publishing and Distribution House, Algiers, 2010.

Study Terminology:

The recurrence of a terminological structure comprising concepts such as linguistic security, cultural security, intellectual security, linguistic protection, language policy, language planning, linguistic legislation, and others in scientific writings in general, and in writings on linguistic security in the Arabic language in particular, constitutes a pertinent and compelling scholarly alert. However, we propose two terms, namely General Linguistic Security Intelligence and Linguistic Threat, and seek to place them within an incubation strategy that reflects the needs of a modern, resisting Arabic language, all within the framework of linguistic security in the Arabic language. We will address these two concepts by defining them and situating them within their strategic context.

2.Previous Studies Related to the Research Topic and the Conceptual and Theoretical Framework of the Study:

A terminological structure repeatedly appears within the broader framework of linguistic security culture, encompassing concepts that fall within the domain of linguistic security or bear a direct relation to it, such as cultural security, intellectual security, linguistic insecurity, linguistic protection, language policy, language planning, linguistic legislation, globalization, national identities, national languages, language extinction, cultural hegemony, colonial languages, foreign languages, cultural and intellectual invasion, dialects, cultural domination, linguistic hybridity, linguistic pollution, hybrid language, linguistic weakness, national language, and so forth.

To the best of our knowledge, within the broader field of linguistic security culture, no previous studies have specifically addressed the concept of General Linguistic Security Intelligence. It is an original strategic concept that we propose and seek to develop and establish within the conceptual structure of linguistic security.

We will present a number of quotations related to writings on linguistic security in the Arabic language, both to help clarify the concept of linguistic security, its developments and contexts, and to help identify the linguistic threat facing the Arabic language. We will situate the concept of General Linguistic Security Intelligence within a strategic framework, namely, the “Strategy of General Linguistic Security Intelligence in the Arabic Language for Protection against Linguistic Threat”, which we regard as a strategy specifically designed for the Arabic language. Other languages may also benefit from this strategy, particularly resisting languages that do not lead in science, culture, and civilization.

Studies of linguistic security in the Arab context, in terms of influence and prominence, are led by the works of Abd al-Salam al-Masadi and Saleh Belaid. These works emerged in connection with the threats facing the Arabic language through writings whose titles and contents explicitly address the issue, namely Arab Identity and Linguistic Security: A Study and Documentation and Language Planning and Linguistic Security by Abd al-Salam al-Masadi, and On Linguistic Security by Saleh Belaid.

Saleh Belaid’s book is considered one of the influential works with an explicit focus on linguistic security. It links the emergence of the concept of linguistic security to a range of concepts and phenomena that threaten language in general, such as globalization, the decline of national identities, the decline of national languages, language extinction, cultural hegemony, colonial languages, foreign languages, civilizational blindness, cultural and intellectual invasion, dialects, and new forms of cultural domination. He argues that the Arabic language is being targeted by foreign languages, thereby deepening the gap between the Arab nation and the Arabic language. All these concepts, in his view, express a state of linguistic insecurity affecting the Arabic language.

The book Arab Identity and Linguistic Security by Abd al-Salam al-Masadi is likewise regarded as an influential work in this field. It addresses the dangers threatening Arabic, at times defending the language and at others enumerating the threats it faces. It also puts forward a conceptual constellation that largely reflects the state of linguistic insecurity threatening languages in general and the Arabic language in particular, including linguistic hybridity, linguistic pollution, hybrid language, linguistic weakness, the national language, linguistic security, identity, linguistic distress, linguistic awareness, civilizational renaissance, and linguistic belonging. Al-Masadi also links the issue of linguistic security to identity as a safeguard for the Arabic language.

Another previous study on linguistic security is Abd al-Salam al-Masadi’s Language Planning and Linguistic Security. In this work, he examines the concept of linguistic security within the context of its emergence, raises the issues of language death, extinction, and conflict, and addresses the role of Arabic language institutions. He also clarifies the gap between the existing practice of language planning in relation to Arabic and the reality of the language, which remains distant from such planning. In the same context, he presents a conceptual structure of linguistic security intended to alert those concerned with Arabic and encourage them to draw lessons from the situation, including linguistic security, civilizational security, cultural security, national security, linguistic belonging, linguistic legislation, linguistic protection, language policy, language planning, language death, linguistic diversity, linguistic rights, language wars, and the new linguistic conflict.

In this regard, it is useful to review some quotations from these works, as they broadly reflect the concept of linguistic security, its developments and contexts, and the threats facing language, particularly the Arabic language.

Saleh Belaid defines the state of linguistic insecurity in relation to the Arabic language while addressing the issue of linguistic security, stating: “The issue of linguistic security has been increasingly discussed since the intensification of globalization, the decline of national identities and authenticity, and the doubts surrounding national languages, which are seen as being on the path to extinction. Cultural domination and hegemony are growing as a result of the influence of the languages of the former and present colonizers, as citizens rush to educate their children in foreign languages under the illusion that these languages provide a means of catching up with the rest of the world. This is compounded by the civilizational blindness that has afflicted some members of the elite, who neither speak nor issue opinions except through foreign languages. Cultural and intellectual invasion occurs when foreign languages compete with or displace the language of the country by promoting dialects or calling for the search for a lost language in the name of reviving local identities. The growing dominance of foreign languages constitutes a new form of cultural domination, in the sense of compelling the Arab nation to think as the nations speaking those foreign languages think. All of this has overturned the balance against national languages, including Arabic across its various countries. Hence, we must acknowledge a bitter reality: the prevailing indifference, unprecedented in the history of the Arabs and the Arabic language, an indifference that has created a crisis in the relationship between the Arab nation and Arabic, leaving us with a crisis of misjudgment regarding the Arabic language, without understanding its causes, without resisting change, and without restoring matters to their proper order.” (Belaid, 2010, p. 15).

Saleh Belaid situates the term linguistic security within its scientific and historical context, considering it a modern term whose underlying mode of thought, however, is as old as the state and politics. Regarding its emergence, he states: “As for linguistic security, the linguist Nicole Gueunier was the first to use the term in a study of manifestations of linguistic plurality in mixed societies, particularly among immigrant communities in France. She considered these communities to constitute a source of linguistic insecurity (L’insécurité linguistique) in terms of communication and social cohesion, and argued that the fragmentation of societies from within results from linguistic tolerance.” (Belaid, 2010, p. 43). As for the definition of linguistic security, Saleh Belaid links it to legal linguistic deterrence, arguing that legal authority is what represents linguistic security within society. He states: “Linguistic security means the force of law in the hands of the authorities to enforce the provisions of the constitution concerning linguistic protection, which, for citizens, constitutes protection of identity. A person feels secure when they hear their language actively used in every sphere, and especially when they hear it spoken by their officials. At that point, they recognize the added value that the national language provides to the individual and to the collective cohesion of the population.” (Belaid, 2010, p. 26).

Al-Masadi also discusses the historical and scientific context of the term linguistic security, linking its emergence, as Belaid does, to multilingualism within a single society. However, Al-Masadi points to the evolution of the term, which has come to express linguistic conflict. He diagnoses this conflict in the Arab context, stating: “The concept of linguistic security emerged in the early 1960s, and its use—whether as a concept or as a term—was more common in its negative formulation than in its affirmative one. Thus, discussion focused on the absence of linguistic security, for which the term ‘linguistic insecurity’ was coined. The context in which it emerged was that of multilingualism within a single society. […] The implications associated with the term subsequently evolved, and its use became widespread in semantic dimensions that diverged from its original emergence, to the point where it almost came to be associated exclusively with the essence of linguistic conflict at the institutional level, thereby moving beyond the level of individuals. We can portray this situation through what might be termed the triangle of the new linguistic conflict in our Arab context, whose three sides are: Modern Standard Arabic, colloquial dialects, and foreign languages.” (Al-Masadi, 2015, p. 23).

Al-Masadi goes on to explain that linguistic conflict is an existential issue. It is not merely a linguistic conflict; rather, he describes it as linguistic war, thereby placing languages in a state of extreme linguistic insecurity. From this, the true significance of the term linguistic security emerges: linguistic security signals human intervention in shaping linguistic reality. He states: “The series of procedural concepts that we have mentioned in passing retain cultural and intellectual characteristics and fall within the course of natural history. This applies to all linguistic rights and to the survival or extinction of language. Yet another concept entered the field of inquiry and possessed an authority different from that of the preceding concepts: the issue of linguistic wars. […] From the idea of conflict emerged the concept of ‘linguistic security’, which can only be meaningfully invoked if we assume the existence of a threat to the existence of a language, placing its survival and continued use in the balance. It makes no difference whether the threat is an advancing danger from outside or a worm gnawing at the structure of the language from within. […] This represents a qualitative shift from a cultural approach, with its intellectual and philosophical implications, to a political approach with all its historical requirements. […] History has taught us lessons that also lead us to acknowledge that languages can be killed and eradicated, or brought back to life as though resurrected after death.” (Al-Masadi, 2015, pp. 9–10).

Al-Masadi calls for a revision of the comprehensive plan for Arab culture, urging that it be completed with an explicit plan for linguistic security. He states: “Why, then, should the determination not arise to reformulate the comprehensive plan on the basis that cultural security provides the framework for linguistic security, political security provides the framework for both, and civilizational security constitutes the larger system encompassing all the tributaries that flow into the great river of history? […] Today, when we look at the state of the Arabic language in our lived reality, we find ourselves far removed from what the comprehensive plan formulated, envisioned, and recommended. […] We may boldly declare that it would be neither excessive nor unreasonable for all the kings and presidents of this nation to convene a special summit devoted to a linguistic security plan. Linguistic security is an integral part of national security; it is no less important than food security or water security.” (Al-Masadi, 2015, p. 39).

Al-Masadi then connects the concept of linguistic security to civilizational identity through linguistic belonging and pride in identity, stating: “Linguistic security is closely connected to the foundations of civilizational identity. […] Its linchpin is linguistic belonging. Thus, a sense of linguistic pride naturally accompanies pride in identity. For this reason, Arab communities in countries afflicted by colonialism were deeply attached to their Arabic language, as though Modern Standard Arabic had represented, in the collective consciousness of the time, a lifeline to which they clung, nourished by its profound symbolic significance. History has shown us that states that struggled for a long time to achieve linguistic unity were driven by a strongly articulated sense of national pride. […] National pride was a driving force that breathed life into the arteries of linguistic pride.” (Al-Masadi, 2015, pp. 24–25).

Al-Masadi draws attention to the new cultural war, namely the war of cultural and linguistic alienation, warning those concerned with the Arabic language against foreign culture and affirming that the issue of the Arabic language is a matter of national security. He states: “What was once unspoken has surfaced into explicit discourse, and language lies at the heart of the new war: the war of cultural penetration, governed by a strategy of targeting in all forms of conflict. […] On the basis of what has been said, a more recent truth emerges. Throughout the three historical periods—the pre-colonial period, the colonial period, and the post-colonial period—the great enemy of the Arabic language was the language of the colonizer. Today, however, the greatest enemy is no longer merely the foreign language, but rather foreign culture when it infiltrates deeply held convictions and comes to control psychological mechanisms through control over the tools of thought. This is alienation in a form that cultural scholars have been unable to contain or delimit. […] The issue of the Arabic language is a matter of national security in all its implications and ramifications.” (Al-Masadi, 2014, pp. 394–395).

In commenting on the context of Arab linguistic security, it may be argued that the Arabic language belongs to the category of languages that resist the prevailing scientific, cultural, and civilizational order, for reasons related to the threats they face, and remains distant from the linguistic group that leads in science, culture, and civilization. It is therefore a resisting language that faces the causes of linguistic threat, which we will propose to define later, and for which we will present a general linguistic security intelligence strategy to counter linguistic competition and conflict.

What distinguishes this study is its proposal of a new linguistic, cultural, civilizational, and security concept, namely General Linguistic Security Intelligence, and its incorporation into a strategy that recognizes the causes of linguistic threat and identifies the areas of weakness and contemporary needs of the Arabic language through a flexible conceptual intelligence strategy that recognizes that language is: “…a decisive symbolic and material political instrument, and a coherent and integrated system that can be controlled, employed, and exploited by those who possess influence and authority, particularly following the emergence of the nation-state ideology, which reinforced the conviction that the boundaries of the state should coincide with the boundaries of the language.” (Al-Fassi Al-Fihri, 2014, p. 7). In this regard, the proposed strategy may also benefit other resisting languages that do not lead in science, culture, and civilization.

3.Applied Framework: The Strategy of General Linguistic Security Intelligence for Protecting the Resisting Arabic Language from Linguistic Threat:

The Arabic language is threatened by linguistic danger, as indicated by the foregoing warnings. It belongs to the category of resisting languages rather than to that of stagnant or surrendered languages, or languages on the path to extinction, because it possesses national characteristics. In the context of linguistic and cultural wars, Al-Masadi reassures the Arab nation that it possesses a national language capable of confronting linguistic threats. He states: “It is the good fortune of the Arabs that they possess a national language, and that this language has the capacity to accommodate the sweeping knowledge revolution. When will we realize that localizing knowledge and the technologies that result from it is categorically impossible outside the sphere of the language through which we exist and with which we identify, and which, in both individual and collective consciousness, is the supreme symbol expressing identity?” (Al-Masadi, 2014, p. 21). He then advises the Arab nation to safeguard the Arabic language against the threat of erasure, stating: “Safeguarding the language of Ḍād against the threat of erasure is the safeguarding of Arab identity and national security.” (Al-Masadi, 2014, p. 304). In this context, we propose the Strategy of General Linguistic Security Intelligence for Protecting the Resisting Arabic Language from Linguistic Threat, which threatens the Arabic language and other resisting and stagnant languages. What, then, is linguistic threat? What is General Linguistic Security Intelligence? What are its major areas of concern and projects?

3.1.The Concept of Linguistic Threat and General Linguistic Security Intelligence in the Arabic Language:

3.1.1.Linguistic Threat in the Arabic Language:

At its core, linguistic threat refers to any existential threat to a language in absolute terms. It constitutes a general strategic, sovereign, and technological linguistic threat and incapacity that undermines the function of language in local and international society. It results from the decline in the scientific and cultural level of societies for one reason or another. This, in turn, enables societies with high scientific and cultural levels to possess the dominant and leading language that drives linguistic conflict and leads in science and culture. Such languages are inherently advanced in science, culture, and technology, as well as in administrative competence and national policy. They consequently gain superiority over other languages, becoming central and vibrant languages, while exposing other languages to linguistic threat by marginalizing some of them and pushing them into the category of surrendered and stagnant languages, or into that of resisting languages, such as Arabic and other languages experiencing comparable linguistic incapacity. The causes of linguistic threat include the following:

The low and limited scientific and cultural level of certain nations;
The scientific, cultural, economic, and political superiority and comprehensive development of certain societies;
The backwardness and overall incapacity affecting certain societies;
The abandonment of national languages and unconditional integration into developed languages, together with the forces of globalization and modernity;
The inability to control national sovereign constants;
Historical linguistic incapacity resulting from periods of colonial rule;
The absence of responsible awareness of the cultural and linguistic security of the nation.

This type of threat has specifically affected the Arabic language. Accordingly, in light of the foregoing causes, a strategy can be formulated to protect Arabic and other resisting languages from the linguistic threat, namely: the Strategy of General Linguistic Security Intelligence for Protecting the Resisting Arabic Language from Linguistic Threat.

3.1.2.The Concept of General Linguistic Security Intelligence in the Arabic Language:

This concept firmly establishes an imperative within the security-related conceptual structure of the Arabic language as a resisting language, as well as within that of other resisting languages. At its core, linguistic security intelligence involves collecting information and data about cultures and languages in general and about the nation’s language in particular, analyzing this information, assessing linguistic challenges, and proposing appropriate solutions. It entails monitoring linguistic effectiveness across all fields and evaluating the role of language, including its performance in scientific, cultural, social, and political domains. Linguistic security intelligence therefore safeguards the nation’s language, asserts and strengthens its sovereignty, counters internal and external linguistic threats, and derives solutions that enable the nation’s language to achieve sovereignty and maintain a presence within the broader linguistic community.

3.2.General and Specialized Linguistic Security Intelligence:

General and specialized linguistic security intelligence is firmly established within the resisting linguistic security culture of the Arabic language. Linguistic security intelligence should therefore cover a wide range of specialized fields through its various branches, including technological linguistic intelligence, economic linguistic intelligence, social linguistic intelligence, media linguistic intelligence, legal linguistic intelligence, cultural linguistic intelligence, civilizational linguistic intelligence, industrial linguistic intelligence, computational linguistic intelligence, mathematical linguistic intelligence, philosophical linguistic intelligence, value-based linguistic intelligence, and others. It monitors the language of specialized fields, collects information about it, and evaluates its role in the broader scientific community. It also monitors research, efforts, and scientific data across all disciplines in general, proposes plans and programs for localizing research, sciences, and skills in the nation’s language, and diagnoses the causes of the nation’s language falling short in any given field.

In this context arises the idea of the authority of linguistic intelligence and its overreaching dominance over scientific disciplines and general intelligence, or the integration of language into scientific and cultural traditions and public life. This can be justified by arguing that the nation’s language is the legitimate, sovereign, and civilizational representative of science and culture throughout history, and that this influence derives from its very nature. Language represents an individual, collective, and civilizational symbolic system; it is the medium through which everyone apprehends the world and the symbolic representation of our ideas, imagination, and production. Language is therefore a general system and a highly complex symbolic system from a civilizational perspective.

Within this framework, a distinction must be made between language as a means of ordinary communication in society and specialized language used in science and culture. Our ideas, events, production, history, and civilization are encapsulated in the linguistic symbolic system. With the contemporary development of scientific and cultural knowledge, people have come to communicate through specialized scientific and cultural languages, such as the language of mathematics, law, technology, philosophy, psychology, media, literature, and sociology. Human society at large has thus moved, in its understanding of the world, into a specialized scientific and cultural stage. In this regard, the strategic role of the nation’s scientific and cultural language has increased. The nation’s language is the symbolic system that represents the scientific and cultural level of a people and that is officially represented and administered by the state. Accordingly, the resisting Arab nation should specialize in this field and develop it by every available means.

3.3.The Strategic Role of General Linguistic Security Intelligence:

The strategic role of General Linguistic Security Intelligence firmly establishes its necessity within the scientific, cultural, civilizational, and strategic consciousness of the Arab nation. Those concerned with the resisting Arabic language, linguistic security culture, and their counterparts in other resisting languages must therefore recognize the strategic importance of this matter. General Linguistic Security Intelligence has a flexible and comprehensive role: it safeguards the conditions governing mutual influence and interaction among individuals and civilizations in a manner that is neither hegemonic nor domineering, but rather based on diversity, difference, and peaceful coexistence.

It embraces ideas that serve the nation’s language, such as encouraging innovative research; creating opportunities for dialogue among disciplines; providing information on historical periods; supplying information on foundational and future sciences; monitoring the scientific, cultural, epistemological, philosophical, and educational foundations of societies; promoting dialogue among the experiences of civilizations; monitoring obstacles to the localization of sciences; placing the language on the international competitive track; and determining the role of language in this process, among other flexible and comprehensive functions.

Linguistic intelligence for the nation is therefore a strategic task that supports the development of the state’s language policy and planning, monitors the internal and external security of the language, protects it against external linguistic threats, and keeps it aligned with international competition and the demands of its time. It keeps linguistic problems under constant scrutiny, coordinates the efforts of linguistic institutions, evaluates their output, and provides them with programs, plans, and opportunities for innovation. It also limits obsolete and redundant research and other repetitive activities. It is thus a vital value that remains constantly vigilant without interruption. It represents a continuous individual, collective, and institutional sense of responsibility for the civilizational role of the nation’s language.

Linguistic intelligence responsibility is a civic responsibility aimed at securing the scientific and cultural security of the nation’s language. The concept of linguistic intelligence and the cultural security of the nation’s language must therefore be operationalized within a modern civic framework. The task of linguistic security intelligence is a civic task that can serve as a reference point for the nation’s general intelligence and its security.

3.4.The General Linguistic Security Intelligence Premise:

In this context, we briefly refer to a general linguistic intelligence premise, which arises from logic and should be embraced by the Arabic language and by resisting languages. It consists of the following:

The national language: The natural and innate origin of the individual. It is the language through which one thinks and feels, without experiencing a sense of alienation in it. It is one’s natural and innate home and the repository of the life in which one has grown up. It is an enduring individual and collective aspiration.
Linguistic influence and reciprocal influence: This is a second innate aspect, with which individuals and societies must engage and which they must establish and cultivate. Foreign languages provide a means of interaction and mutual acquaintance among peoples and constitute a stimulus for natural difference and diversity.
Linguistic comparison: There should be no hierarchy among languages. Research, studies, and evaluations must therefore fulfill the principle of comprehensiveness; no language should be treated as sacred in relation to another.

The ideas of the national language, linguistic influence and reciprocal influence, and linguistic comparison, as formulated here, constitute not merely a necessity but a premise that calls for serious and rational engagement. They should be treated as an opportunity for fruitful cooperation rather than as a basis for allegiance to a single language.

3.5.The Question of General Linguistic Security Intelligence for the Resisting Arabic Language, or Common Grounds for Developing Linguistic Research on the Resisting Language of the Arab Nation:

One of the areas of specialization and inquiry of the Arab linguistic intelligence specialist, and of the linguistic specialist working for resisting languages more generally, is to provide periodic general intelligence-based linguistic assessments. The linguistic intelligence analyst should regularly collect and analyze linguistic information and issues. This enables linguistic challenges to be subjected to systematic inquiry and analysis, while generating intelligence questions concerning the linguistic phenomenon in general and the nation’s language in particular, with a view to safeguarding its security. Alerting attention to linguistic challenges and urgently investigating them is one of the most important entry points for establishing robust linguistic and cultural awareness. General linguistic intelligence challenge assessment involves questioning language, collecting data and information about it, analyzing them, and drawing conclusions that anticipate possible solutions. Monitoring this matter in relation to the Arabic language constitutes one of the sound strategic solutions.

In this regard, we propose a number of linguistic issues that represent common ground for Arab linguistic intelligence concerned with resisting languages—and for other linguistic intelligence specialists working with resisting languages—or that constitute fundamental and urgent concepts that permeate the individual, collective, and institutional thinking of every linguistic community whose language is resisting, until they become an enduring and necessary awareness. Accordingly, we identify some of these issues and situate them within their broader linguistic context, grounded in a resisting perspective. They constitute linguistic security intelligence perspectives that we propose for Arabic:

The organization of linguistic heritage: Linguistic heritage is a body of linguistic research that represents linguistic inquiry within its historical and civilizational context. It is a national and civilizational linguistic duty to address this issue seriously, study it, and develop its ideas, methodologies, and information so that it may be drawn upon in the future. Every language has its own heritage to which it devotes attention. Heritage is a raw reservoir for the nation that should be engaged with and continually revisited. It is rich in enduring scientific, cultural, and literary works. It also possesses a distinctive philosophical and value-based context rooted in the nation’s language.
The issue of linguistic modernity: This involves practicing critical inquiry by completing and developing the nation’s linguistic heritage and enabling it to continue within the historical continuum of linguistic development. It is also a renewed and continuous revolutionary process of evaluating and correcting concepts and developing scientific, cultural, and other theories and hypotheses. Linguistic modernity is thus an epistemological practice. Any development introduced into the sciences of language—whether methodologies, theories, interdisciplinary dialogue, innovations, or otherwise—is an act of linguistic modernity. Knowledge is cumulative and historical, but it also depends on imagination and creativity; this is a constant principle across all fields.
The issue of linguistic history: This involves taking command of the history of the language and documenting it through various methodological approaches, particularly with regard to lexical and terminological history. It requires remaining aligned with the historical trajectory and avoiding historical linguistic incapacity, which constitutes a major threat. Such incapacity represents a collapse affecting the nation’s linguistic, scientific, and cultural continuum and creates a historical linguistic gap for the nation that is difficult to bridge.
The issue of language policy: In this context, the state is responsible for formulating the nation’s language policy on the basis of linguistic intelligence reports. Coherence must be established between the state’s language policy and its implementation within institutions and society. The strategic linguistic concepts of nations must also be analyzed. Linguistic institutions, represented by academies, linguistic councils, and university language departments, contribute to formulating and implementing the state’s language policy. Every linguistic institution has the fundamental duty of defending the linguistic sovereignty of the nation, which is the noble objective underlying its establishment. Such institutions should be managed through coordinated programs subject to evaluation and monitoring of their output. They should also be multidisciplinary in scientific and cultural terms and open to the social and economic environment.
The issue of reading linguistic periodization: This entails preparing comprehensive analyses of linguistic periods through the use of various methodologies, including anthropological approaches, while focusing on the modern linguistic period by directing language toward technological development. Language has become a material force through its close association with machines. Cooperation between computer scientists and linguists has consequently become a vital and fundamental field.
The issue of linguistic rights and language law: Language is a natural right, like the right to life. It is therefore a political, legal, social, and human right, among other dimensions. In this regard, language law represents the linguistic sovereignty of the nation.
The issue of value-based language: Writing and research on matters relating to the nation’s values, sacred symbols, and scientific and cultural traditions should be encouraged, so that such writings cultivate a collective sense of belonging to this nation and no other. Such writing contributes to consolidating the nation’s authentic culture.
The issue of scientific, philosophical, cultural, and educational language: The scientific, cultural, philosophical, and educational language of the nation should be developed and monitored by establishing comprehensive corpora for these domains and continually updating and evaluating them, without neglecting the need to modernize the scientific, philosophical, and educational terminological content of the nation’s language.

The issue of effective social language begins with generalizing the use of the nation’s language on a scientific basis. The role of such linguistic dissemination is linked to enhancing the quality of the nation’s language from scientific, philosophical, cultural, and educational perspectives. The higher the scientific, cultural, philosophical, and educational level of the nation’s language, the greater the extent of its social dissemination. At the same time, linguistic hybridization must be addressed, and the possibilities of borrowing and language contact must be investigated.

The issue of designing linguistic educational systems: This involves building a technology-enabled educational system adapted to the nation’s language and responsive to contemporary developments, future sciences, and the nation’s values. This can be achieved by establishing official educational platforms, integrating them, promoting their widespread use, and continually updating their content in line with scientific, cultural, and social developments.
The issue of linguistic human resources: Developing human resources through the nation’s language is a fundamental and sovereign concern. Human resources constitute one of the nation’s assets, and it is a national and civilizational duty to develop the nation’s scientific and cultural human resources across all fields. The higher the individual’s scientific and cultural level, the greater their ability to internalize the concepts and products of society and integrate into the public life of the nation.
The issue of the relationship between the mother tongue and foreign languages: A culture that gives priority to the mother tongue over foreign languages should be firmly established. Second languages should be subject to the rule of reciprocal intellectual payoff and enrichment. Any successful scientific and cultural life must be supported by a broad translation movement, both from the nation’s language into second languages and from second languages into the nation’s language. It is also necessary to establish centers for the study and teaching of languages and for gathering intelligence on the experiences of other nations in nurturing their languages scientifically and culturally.
The issue of the nation’s philosophy: A philosophy of the nation should be established in accordance with its values and principles, from which the nation’s literature and public discourse can emerge, without neglecting the need to gather intelligence on the philosophies of other nations.
The issue of the future of science: The development of scientific and cultural research, philosophies, educational methods, and epistemological theories should be monitored and harnessed through the nation’s language. The teaching of interdisciplinary fields should also be expanded, particularly cooperation and dialogue between computational sciences and linguistics.
The issue of the language of instruction: Teaching the sciences in educational institutions through the nation’s language, while also teaching foreign languages that occupy leading positions in science, is a natural right and a national, value-based, civilizational, legal, and historical responsibility. In contrast, at the higher-education level, instruction in multiple languages is both a right and a scientific and cultural necessity, whether in the nation’s language or in languages renowned for their scientific output.
The issue of the media image of the nation’s language: The nation’s language should be infused into media institutions through programs that represent it. Producing media content in the nation’s language is a national, cultural, and value-based duty. In this regard, linguistic institutions should be subject to journalistic inquiry and to the preparation of impartial media reports on their output and the quality of their activities.
The issue of the language of public spaces: The broader linguistic environment of the nation’s language should be monitored, including the press and technological media spaces. Collecting and analyzing information about this environment is essential for regulating the language and measuring its social impact.
The issue of technology and linguistic technology: It is a contemporary necessity to master technology, digitization, artificial intelligence, and search engines through the nation’s language. Acquiring and developing technology through the nation’s language is one of the strategic scientific and technological objectives of nations.

4.Study Findings, Recommendations, and Discussion:

Addressing the issue of linguistic security in resistant languages such as Arabic is a complex undertaking, given the scientific, cultural, and civilizational gap between these languages and those that lead in science, culture, and civilization. Investigating this issue is also a pertinent means of determining the position of Arabic, as a resistant language, and of other resistant languages within the destructive conflicts and linguistic wars. The study reached a number of findings and recommendations, which may be summarized as follows:

Institutional intelligence monitoring of the security of the Arabic language as a resistant national language is a strategic necessity for defending linguistic sovereignty, supported by effective and stringent legislation, competent human resources, and adequate financial resources.
From a practical perspective, linguistic intelligence for the security of the resistant Arabic language should focus on major linguistic projects, such as the digitization of the language, the compilation of major dictionaries (historical, specialized, and cultural dictionaries), and the construction of the language’s media image. These areas can help consolidate and strengthen individual and collective pride in the national language.
Linguistic intelligence for the resistant Arabic language confronts the dominance of other languages and the factors underlying their hegemonic influence, including through the analysis of the language of cultural propaganda and the practices of foreign linguistic organizations.
Linguistic intelligence for the resistant Arabic language identifies the causes of linguistic incapacity by analyzing linguistic historical periods and periods of colonial rule.
Linguistic intelligence for the resistant Arabic language assesses the position of the language within the broader linguistic community through scientific methods and rejects hierarchies among languages, as well as ideological biases such as an ideology of attachment to heritage and an ideology of attachment to modernity.
The rationale underlying linguistic intelligence for the Arabic language is scientific production and the enforcement of law. It rejects all forms of discouraging propaganda that claim that some languages are backward while others are advanced; peoples should instead be assessed according to the level of their scientific and cultural development.
Linguistic intelligence for the Arabic language undertakes the establishment of cultural organizations to raise awareness of the language’s sovereign role.

In this context, the study puts forward a set of general linguistic security intelligence recommendations concerning the Arabic national language, aimed at protecting it from linguistic risk, developing the findings of the research, and furthering their discussion, particularly with regard to major linguistic projects and institutional intelligence coordination. It may be argued that the linguistic efforts undertaken by Arab linguistic institutions remain fragmented and dispersed unless they are coordinated through a general linguistic security intelligence framework. Linguistic institutions share a common objective: protecting and developing the language and expanding its use and dissemination. To secure this objective, general linguistic security intelligence coordination among Arab institutions must be structured and strengthened. Establishing such institutional coordination should therefore be regarded as a strategic priority for the resistant Arabic language and its counterparts. In this regard, the following recommendations are proposed:

Structuring financial, political, technological, and legal coordination: Structuring financial, political, technological, and legal coordination has become the fundamental basis from which innovation proceeds, through which aspirations are realized, and through which the linguistic needs of society and young people can likewise be met. Accordingly, the numerous institutions concerned with the Arabic national language—including councils, academies, organizations, and associations—must adopt an effective scientific and professional approach to establishing a coordinated mechanism for this purpose.
Institutional linguistic negotiation: Linguistic security intelligence reports concerning the Arabic national language should be brought into greater alignment. Negotiating to achieve this objective is an essential cultural and professional practice for linguistic institutions. Pursuing this through an official national body of a strategic governmental nature is a national necessity. Strategic identity-based coordination is particularly important in light of contemporary linguistic challenges. Accordingly, efforts to develop the national language must be strengthened, enabling the implementation of major linguistic projects such as the digitization of the national language and the development of its historical, cultural, and specialized dictionaries. National linguistic security faces serious challenges imposed by the contemporary information age. The national language therefore requires continuous coordination and the mobilization of human and scientific capacities. This is necessary to build a contemporary scientific, cultural, and technological foundation in the national language. Building such a foundation requires coordinated implementation in order to advance the major projects demanded by the nature of the contemporary era.
The historical-cultural lexicographic project: A historical-cultural dictionary in the Arabic national language is a matter of sovereignty and a continuously evolving and updated project. Continuity and regular updating are strategic tasks within the cultural life of the nation. The historical-cultural dictionary is therefore a priority among priorities: it embodies, documents, and preserves linguistic history, ensures the continuity of the language, and protects it from historical linguistic incapacity.
The technological linguist: The contemporary era requires the implementation of coordination and the exchange of expertise in order to prepare human resources capable of keeping pace with their technological environment. The linguistic community needs to develop human resources that embody the technological dimension of language. In other words, human resources should receive technological and linguistic training simultaneously. Technological training enables individuals to develop programs and technological configurations, while linguistic training enables them to master the characteristics of the language. Production, therefore, reflects the nature of the training and preparation received. Developing technological linguists is one of the scientific, cultural, and civilizational achievements that bear directly on the future and security of the Arabic national language.
Linguistic promotion: The public is a fundamental component and a formidable source of energy capable of shaping general linguistic opinion. With the spread of the Internet, its challenges and needs have increased, making the formation and management of general linguistic opinion in the Arabic national language a strategic task. This can be achieved by presenting and promoting the nation’s scientific and cultural output. Sustained linguistic promotion, particularly technological promotion, enhances the language’s appeal and creates an image that encourages engagement with it rather than alienation from it. Rationalizing this process requires linguistic institutions to provide the press with regular and continuous guidance, since the press constitutes a public sphere for the national language and a means of advocating for it. Accordingly, institutions engaged in production and promotion should conduct their activities in the national language in order to disseminate technical language, the functional language of practical application, and forms of linguistic expression that reflect the nature of the contemporary era. In this context, designing the scientific and cultural content of the Arab nation for the Internet is a worthwhile undertaking. Establishing platforms, websites, applications, and content in the national language, and enabling their widespread use, increases opportunities for disseminating the national language and connecting it with society and the wider world.
Translation and machine translation: Translation into and from the Arabic national language, together with the development of computer-assisted and machine translation, constitutes one of the most important pillars of integration and engagement with the contemporary world. Empowering translation as a practice and establishing it as a contemporary necessity—particularly machine translation and modern forms of translation—is a civilizational priority.
Technical knowledge in the national language: Scientific development in the Arabic national language and sustained efforts to acquire knowledge through all available means are essential for achieving original scientific production in the national language. Such production can express the nation’s scientific identity, define its position within the global scientific community, and embody scientific confidence at the individual, collective, and institutional levels. This is necessary to prevent institutions from remaining empty, imitative, and merely consumers of foreign and global knowledge. Original scientific and technical production is the most substantial and authentic representation of the nation’s existence. Coordinating efforts to enable the development of fundamental sciences in the Arabic national language is therefore one of its essential functional tasks.

5.Sources and References

1- al-Masadi, Abd al-Salam. (2014) Arab Identity and Linguistic Security: A Study and Documentation, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Doha, Qatar, 1st ed.

2- al-Masadi, Abd al-Salam. (2015). Language Planning and Linguistic Security, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for Service to the Arabic Language, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1st ed.

3- Belaid ,Saleh.(2010). On Linguistic Security, Houma Printing, Publishing and Distribution House, Algiers.

4- Al-Fassi Al-Fihri, Abd al-Qadir. (2014). Linguistic Policy and Planning: Pathways and Models (1st ed.). King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for the Arabic Language, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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