What is Verbal Repertoire

Decades of migration to the Gulf nations have led to the existence of second-generation migrants who were born and raised in migrant lands. The chapter uses the novel Temporary People (2017) by Deepak Unnikrishnan as a primary text to explore the role language plays in second-generation migrant identity formations and the assimilation process. The national language, Arabic, is situated in the specific socio-political context, a site where ideologies and power relations are reproduced. By identifying a gap in the language education policy, it reveals how migrant's inability to communicate in the Arabic language has complex implications on their identities and notions of belongingness. The chapter explores language's power to naturalize norms and hierarchical structures within society that can hinder the assimilation process and highlights the migrant-citizen divide. It shows how notions of temporariness and Othering in migrants are inherent within the language politics of the land. The chapter reaffirms language-identity relations and points to revaluating migrant language policies.