Arabic Language and Identity Construction Among Muslim Teenagers in Ibadan and Kano: A Comparative Study

Language plays a fundamental role in the construction and performance of social and religious identities among adolescents, and the position of Arabic in the identity repertoires of Muslim teenagers in two of Nigeria's most significant urban centres presents a compelling comparative case across radically different sociolinguistic environments. This study comparatively examines how Muslim teenagers in Ibadan and Kano use Arabic language to construct, perform, and negotiate Islamic and ethnic identity, exploring whether Arabic occupies different identity positions in a southwestern Yoruba Muslim minority context versus a northern Hausa Muslim majority context. Using a qualitative sociolinguistic methodology, the research conducts ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews with 40 Muslim teenagers aged 14 to 18 in each city, focusing on contexts of Arabic use including mosque, school, social media, and family interaction. The data are analysed using positioning theory and language socialisation frameworks to map how Arabic is deployed as an identity resource across different social contexts in each location. The comparative analysis reveals that Arabic serves predominantly as a religious identity marker in both cities but carries stronger ethnic and cultural associations in Kano, where it intersects with Hausa Muslim scholarly tradition, while in Ibadan it functions primarily as a marker of Islamic commitment and minority religious identity. Keywords: Arabic language, identity construction, Muslim teenagers, Ibadan, Kano.