World Englishes is one of the most dynamic areas within English linguistics since it encompasses all aspects of linguistic investigation from phonology to sociolinguistics, language policy and other disciplines within linguistics (Mair, Reference Mair and Hickey2016). By examining how English and its varieties are shaped, contested, and reconfigured in local contexts, World Englishes scholarship encourages critical reflection on the political, societal, pedagogical, and cultural dimensions of English in postcolonial, multilingual societies. World Englishes in the Arab Gulf States, edited by Kay Gallagher, contributes to that tradition by examining how English evolves and functions within the distinctive sociolinguistic landscapes of the Arab Gulf. Despite a vast and growing body of literature, the Gulf has not received sustained scholarly attention within the World Englishes paradigm. The region is a fast growing melting pot and a hub for diverse expatriate communities; hence, the need for English to serve as a vehicular language and a lingua franca to facilitate the communication and connection among the diverse communities. Nonetheless, the region remains overlooked, or at best insufficiently charted, in terms of its English varieties. This lacuna highlights the urgent exigency of an in‑depth understanding of the subtleties of the use of English in the region. This volume is a timely contribution that attempts to fill this gap. It explores English varieties in the region by tracking the linguistic complexity, academic debate, and ideological tensions that characterize the role of English. The volume is a multi‑perspectival account that features voices of scholars who demonstrate how English operates, not as a monolithic English, but as plural, hybrid, and politicized Englishes. These Englishes are at the heart of the debate on identity, power relations and national language policies. The book will appeal to a wide readership that includes language policymakers, educators, researchers and postgraduate students with interests in sociolinguistics, multilingualism and English as a global language.

Gallagher’s standalone introductory chapter is theoretically rich and sets the tone for the collection and provocatively raises the question of whether the Arab Gulf might constitute a ‘Fourth Circle’ in Kachru’s schema. It is a geopolitical space where Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circle Englishes converge in continuous and productive interaction. In fact, this theoretical framing serves as an overarching leitmotif that runs through the volume. This central theme, the legitimacy of the Gulf to claim its English varieties or to be recognized as a distinct Circle of English, underpins the volume’s broader ambition of redefining the region not merely as norm‑dependent but also as a norm‑provider and a genuine site of linguistic innovation. Gallagher takes the debate one step further and argues for the emergence of distinct variety of English, what she termed ‘Gulf English’, in line with the pluralistic ethos of World Englishes. This perspective aligns with the position Abdeljaoued and Labassi (Reference Abdeljaoued and Labassi2021) have previously advanced regarding the status of English in the MENA region, where English is no longer viewed as a passive import but as a strategic resource intricately linked to geopolitical, societal, and educational aspirations of the region.

One of the merits of this collection is its theoretical and methodological triangulation. The central theme of the book is tackled from different prisms and disciplinary perspectives. Ethnography, phonological analysis, critical discourse approaches and sociolinguistic fieldwork cooperate productively to showcase the uniqueness of English in the Arab Gulf. This diversity reflects the region’s complexity. In this context, it is worth remembering that the region is marked by high mobility, demographic superdiversity, and overlapping spheres of influence. One of the book’s core interventions lies in revaluing what has often been dismissed as linguistic ‘deficiency’. Hopkyns’ chapter, Transnational and Translingual Englishes in the Arab Gulf States: Current Phenomena and Debates, directly challenges the persistent deficit framing of Gulf Englishes. The chapter demarcates the translingual and transnational dimensions of Gulf Englishes. It reframes these Englishes not as flawed or substandard, but as legitimate and contextually meaningful linguistic practices. Most intriguingly, the chapter invites us to redefine what has traditionally been labeled ‘linguistic deficiency’ as creative adaptation. It urges us to see these linguistic innovations as adaptive responses to communicative realities and not aberrations from the norm.

This ethos resonates in Daquila’s study of Generation Z in the Gulf. Drawing on Schneider’s Dynamic Model, the writer identifies reciprocal patterns of influence between Arabic and English among young speakers in UAE, Qatar, KSA, and Oman. Rather than a one‑way street of Anglicization, we encounter a bidirectional, context‑sensitive repertoire. This is perhaps a sign that indigenization is nascent but it is already perceptible. The theme of youth reappears in Al–Alawi’s chapter where the notion of ‘third spaces’ is used to capture the tension between hybrid linguistic identities and cultural boundaries. While physical interactions reveal a tendency toward linguistic compartmentalization, online spaces become sites of fusion and experimentation. Al–Alawi’s invocation of Bhabha’s (Reference Bhabha1994) The Location of Culture is especially fitting. After all, hybridity involves not just blending but also the ambivalence and tension inherent in cultural in‑betweenness as a combination of cultural norms, values and practices. Equally noteworthy is the focus on emergent varieties. Siemund and Lorenz offer a phonological and morpho‑syntactic analysis of what they tentatively term ‘Gulf English’. Their caution is well placed. While they observe recurring features, such as reduced vowel distinctions, consonant cluster simplifications and article omissions, they resist the temptation to label them as stable markers of a codified variety. In doing so, they echo a broader argument implicit in the volume: that variation need not culminate in standardization to be linguistically or socially meaningful.

This point is further elaborated in the chapters examining English use in institutional and professional settings. In a compelling case study of a high‑risk industry, van den Hoven and Ahmad demonstrate that multilingualism is not a barrier to communication but a strategic asset, especially in safety‑critical contexts. English may be the operational language, but peripheral tongues like Hindi, Urdu, and Korean play crucial roles depending on task, context and communicative intent. The authors make a powerful case for rethinking monolingual safety protocols and call for a pluralistic language planning that reflects the expatriates’ linguistic needs. This point is reiterated in Thomas’s chapter which shifts the lens to South Asian expatriates in the UAE. The author argues that this group’s linguistic realities are frequently invisible in both policy and scholarship. Her ethnographic findings suggest that English operates as a “default” language. Arabic, while symbolically valued, does not hold the same functional weight in expatriate life. Thomas provocatively suggests that this demographic, often overlooked, could be pivotal in shaping more inclusive language policies.

Education is another focal domain, and several chapters dissect the tensions around English Medium Instruction (EMI). Tryzna’s study of Kuwait reveals a systemic disconnect between students’ actual proficiency and the linguistic demands of EMI programs. Her mixed‑methods approach lays bare the institutional myth of ‘adequate proficiency’. It argues that many students are set up for failure without proper linguistic scaffolding. Meanwhile, Mehta and Tuzlukova’s analysis of Oman unpacks the ideological underpinnings of EMI. They show that EMI is not just a pedagogical choice but a political act, often imposed from above and negotiated from below. Their call for translingual pedagogies is both timely and well argued, recognizing that students bring dynamic, hybrid repertoires that are too often undervalued in monolingual education systems.

Chapter 11, authored by Alrawi, Elyas, and Alshurafa, makes a particularly noteworthy contribution to the volume by offering both a historical and phonological account of Saudi English (SauE), a locally learned variety spoken by Saudi nationals. By framing Saudi English within the broader category of Expanding Circle Englishes, the chapter engages meaningfully with current debates surrounding linguistic legitimacy and the emergence of localized English varieties. Perhaps the most compelling chapter is Dillon’s exploration of Irish Cross‑Cultural Kids (CCKs) in the Gulf. This group, who are transnational, mobile and linguistically fluid, exemplifies the emotional dimensions of language. Dillon shows how Irish English functions as both identity anchor and marker of difference. Her narrative approach offers a refreshing counterpoint to structuralist analyses and reminds us that language is always tied to identity and functions as a symbolic capital, to echo Bourdieu.

Throughout these studies, the book maintains a strong sense of critical reflexivity, drawing on frameworks such as Kachru’s (1985) Three Circles model, English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and Schneider’s Dynamic Model of Postcolonial Englishes (2003). This theoretical elasticity is one of the collection’s most valuable contributions. It models how scholarship can move beyond inherited taxonomies without descending into relativism. Still, the volume is not without limitations. While it excels in ethnographic richness and theoretical innovation, there is a notable absence of corpus‑based studies. However interesting ethnography might be, we should not lose sight of the importance of a qualitative‑quantitative approach to the study of English varieties around the world. Quantitative analyses could have added complementary weight to some of the claims. Moreover, gender, media discourse, and curricular policy receive relatively scant attention. This oversight finds credence in focus on the language use in the region. Another issue with the volume is the uneven quality of the chapters. While some are theoretically dense, offering critical reflection and in‑depth analysis, others veer toward descriptive reportage with limited critical engagement.

Nonetheless, these are minor shortcomings in what is otherwise a landmark publication. World Englishes in the Arab Gulf States reframes the Gulf not as a peripheral zone but as a crucible of linguistic flux. It amplifies voices often excluded from global English debates and challenges the field to reconsider its epistemic centers and reductive dichotomies. Leimgruber (Reference Leimgruber2013), for instance, questions the concept of ‘variety’, arguing that it is predetermined by spatial parameters. As he observes, ‘the actual linguistic form of the “variety” is then described post hoc, with the analytical unit “variety” conditioning the analysis’ (p. 6). Yet, this should not be construed as a slight against the volume. The book is, perhaps, a turning point in how Gulf Englishes are theorized and represented. Most importantly, it reminds us that English, far from being monolithic or hegemonic, is always in motion; it is reshaped by its users, recalibrated by context, and reimagined in practice.

In conclusion, this book deserves wide readership, not only among scholars of World Englishes and sociolinguistics, but also among policymakers, educators and anyone interested in how English is lived, resisted and reinvented within complex multilingual ecologies. Rather than lament the absence of a standardized Gulf English, Gallagher and her contributors invite us to appreciate its very instability. It is in this instability that we find the true vitality of English: adaptable, negotiated, and always in the making. English in the Gulf, as this volume powerfully demonstrates, is not merely a vehicle of globalization; it is a terrain of contestation, creativity and negotiation. Rather than lament the absence of a stabilized Gulf English, we should recognize the value of its very instability, its responsiveness to shifting demographics, technologies and ideologies. Gallagher and her contributors offer no panacea, but they do something more valuable: they ask the right questions and give us the conceptual tools to pursue them. The volume moves beyond the concept of English as linguistic imperialism, as outlined by Bailey (Reference Bailey1985), Phillipson (Reference Phillipson1992) and subsequently developed by other scholars; instead, it lends support to Abdeljaoued and Labassi’s (Reference Abdeljaoued and Labassi2021) view that English ‘is not the 21^st‑century linguistic flagship of neo‑colonialism, nor is it the poisoned pill under the guise of the noble cause of the worldwide communication of science’ (p. 251).