THE PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
MENTOURI UNIVERSITY, CONSTANTINE FACULTY OF LETTERS AND LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Thesis Submitted to the Department of Foreign Languages in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctorat d’Etat in
Linguistics
By Mr. AHMED SID Haouès Supervisor: Prof. HAROUNI Zahri
Boa rd of Examiners:
Chairman: Dr. MOUMENE Ahmed, M.C.(Mentouri University, Constantine) Supervisor: Prof. HAROUNI Zahri (Mentouri University, Constantine) Member: Dr. KESKES Said, M.C. (Ferhat Abba s University, Setif) Member: Dr. HAMADA Hacène, M.C. (ENS, Constantine)
Member: Dr. BEGHOUL Youcef, M.C. (Mentouri University)
-October 2008 -
Code-Variation among Algerian
University Students
DEDICATION
I ded icate this work to my b eloved family especially my parents, m y brothers and sister, my wife, my dau ghters, and my son.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my thanks and d eep appreciatio n for my sup ervisor, Pro fessor Harouni Zahri, for her wo nderful and insightful comments and suggestions. Her rigo rous attention to the details over the course of the research from beginning to end has greatly impro ved my skills as a researcher.
Her demonstrated confidence in me and her words of encouragement were more valuable than she knew.
I would like also to thank the members o f my doctoral committee:
Dr. Moumene Ahmed, Dr. Keskes Said, Dr. Hamada Hacène, and Dr. Beghoul Youcef, who agreed to serve o n my committee o n short notice and whose valuable comments will help improve this thesis.
I acknowled ge the contributions of m y friends and colleagues, especially Dr. Youcef Beghoul who helped in many ways to edit and proof-read m y thesis, most o f the time at a short notice, and Riad Belouahem who supported and encouraged me till the last moment.
I also acknowledge the great emotional support by m y wife, Ned jma, m y daughters Asma, Fatima Zo hra, Ferial, and Yasmine, m y son, Mohamed, as well as my extended family.
I extend special thanks to all the students who helped me to collect much o f the data. Without their help and particip ation this study could not have been done.
Finally, I humbly and gratefu lly acknowledge the continual and enduring lo ve and emotional support given b y my p arents. I could never acknowled ge or thank my parents enough.
ABSTRACT
This thesis examines code variation among Algerian u niversity students and the effects of Arabic and French in co ntact. It focuses on three main goals:
(1) exploring the linguistic patterns that result from language mixing, (2) investigating the factors o f language choice and the extent of language choice predictab ility, and (3) studying the attitudes towards code-switching. Data from naturally-occurring conversatio ns b y 112 students from both sexes and a censu s questio nnaire administered to 248 other ones are analysed to explore the linguistic, the sociolinguistic, and the attitudinal effects and to test the hypotheses related to the main goals.
Two language mixing patterns which include other sub-patterns are id entified. Borrowing is performed according to different levels o f integration that lead to the production of three sub-patterns: integrated, no n-adapted, and non-conventional borrowings. Code-switching can be identified as little or heavier according to the number o f items inserted within the Matrix Language.
In add ition, the analysis reveals the existence of code-switching b etween Spoken Algerian Arabic (SAA) and French and between SAA and Modern Standard Arab ic (MSA).
Factors of language cho ice are investigated in the light o f Grosjean’s model. Langu age choice is p erformed according to specific factors that make it predictab le in most cases. However, the results support the hypothesis that there
are cases of language cho ice which are unpredictab le. Moreo ver, female students use language as a communicative strategy more than male students do.
Attitudes towards code-switching are analysed to determine the nature o f these attitudes. The findings support the hypothesis that positive attitudes can be associated with code-switching. In addition to the negative attitudes, code- switchers consider their behaviour positively. These co ntrad ictory opinions lead to discrepancies between the speaker’s language behaviour and attitudes.
List of Abbreviations
AA: Algerian Arabic Ar-Fr: Arabic-French CS: Code-switching EL: Embedded Language F : Female
F>SAAinsert : Insertion of a single SAA lexical item in a French stru cture M : Male
ML: Matrix Language
MLF: Matrix Language Frame NP: Noun Phrase
pp: Prepositional Phrase
MSA: Modern Stand ard Arab ic SAA: Spo ken Algerian Arabic
SAA>Finsert: Insertion of a single French lexical item in an SAA structure SAA>Fborrow: Integration of a French lexical item within SAA
SVO: Sub ject Verb Object VSO: Verb Subject Object
List of Tables
Table 2.1 : The continuum for levels of borrowing in code-switching
utterances... 6
Table 2.2: Factors influencing language cho ice... 101
Table 3.1: Composition of the samp le in the ethnographic study... 119
Table 3.2 : Number o f respondents according to field of stud y... 133
Table 3.3 : Number o f the respondents according to langu age of stud y... 133
Table 3.4: Age and gender of respondents... 134
Tab le 3.5: Number of respondents according to year of study... 136
Table 3.6 : Number o f respondents according to place of b irth... 137
Tab le 3.7: Number of respondents according to language speaking regions.... 137
Tab le 3.8: Number of respondents living in urban and rural areas... 138
Table 3.9 : Level o f education of the respondents’ parents... 139
Table 3.10: Languages used by the respo ndents’ parents... 140
Table 3.11: The Speech repertoire o f the respondents... 141
Table 3.12: The Listening competence of the respondents... 142
Tab le 3.13: The Read ing competence of the respondents... 143
Table 3.14: The Writing competence of the respondents... 143
Table 3.15: Number o f respondents admitting or denying using Arabic-French code-switching...146
Table 3.16: Language u se with parents... 147
Table 3.17: Language u se with siblings... 149
Table 3.18: Langu age use with friends... 150
Table 3.19: Language use with laymen outside the u niversity... 151
Tab le 3.20: Language use with a teacher during break time... 152
Table 3.21: Langu age use with another student during the lecture... 154
Table 3.22: Langu age use with another student during break time... 155
Table 3.23: Langu age use with another student outside the university... 157
Table 3.24: Language u se with people in charge o f the facu lty... 158
Tab le 3.25: Language use with secretaries of the facu lty... 159
Table 3.26: Respondents’ attitudes towards peop le who switch codes between
Arab ic and French... 160
Table 3.27: Causes of the negative attitudes according to the respondents who deny app lying Arabic-French code-switching... 162
Table 4.1: The Co nsonants o f French... 168
Table 4.2: The Co nsonants of Arab ic... 168
Table 4.3 : Examples of the use of /g/ in French borrowed words... 171
Table 4.4 : Examp les of the use of / / in French borrowed words... 171 Table 4.5 : Examples of the substitution o f /p/ and /v/ in French borrowed words ………... 172
Table 4.6: Examples of the deletio n of consonants in French borrowed words 173 Table 4.7: Examples of add ition of co nsonants to French borrowed words... 174
Table 4.8: Examp les of the adaptation of French vowels in SAA... 175
Table 4.9: Examples of the deletio n of French vowels in SAA... 176
Table 4.10: Examples of the additio n o f vowels to French borrowed words.... 177
Table 4.11: Examp les of French borrowed words and their equivalents in Algerian Arabic... 181
Tab le 4.12: Examples of completely integrated French nouns………... 182
Table 4.13: Examp les of morphologically integrated but phono logically partly adapted French words... 183
Tab le 4.14: Examples of no n-adapted French words... 184
Tab le 4.15: Examples of no n-co nventio nal borrowing... 185
Tab le 4.16: Arabic-French mixing in Algeria... 193
List of Figures
Figure 3.1: Composition of the sample in the ethno grap hic study ...119
Figure 3.2: Samp le according to field of study... 133
Figure 3.3: Sample according to language of study. ... 134
Figure 3.4: Age and gender of respondents... 135
Figure 3.5: Number of respondents according to year of stud y... 136
Figure 3.6: Samp le according to place of birth... 137
Figure 3.7: Respondents according to langu age speaking regions... 137
Figure 3.8: Respondents living in urban and rural areas... 138
Figure 3.9: Level of education of parents... 139
Figure 3.10: Languages used by respondents’ parents... 140
Figure 3.11: Speech repertoire of the sample... 141
Figure 3.12: Listening competence of respondents... 142
Figure 3.13: Read ing competence of respondents... 143
Figure 3.14: Writing competence of respondents... 144
Figure 3.15: Number o f respondents admitting or denying using Arabic- French code-switching... 146
Figure 3.16: Language use with p arents... 148
Figure 3.17: Language use with siblings... 149
Figure 3.18: Language u se with friends... 150
Figure 3.19: Language use with laymen outside the university... 151
Figure 3.20: Language use with a teacher during break time... 153
Figure 3.21: Language u se with another student during the lecture... 154
Figure 3.22: Language u se with another student during break time... 156
Figure 3.23: Language use with another student outside the university……... 157
Figure 3.24: Langu age use with peop le in charge of the facu lty... 158
Figure 3.25: Language u se with secretaries of the u niversity... 159
Figure 3.26: Respondents’ attitudes towards peop le who switch codes between Arab ic and French... 161
Figure 3.27: Causes o f negative attitudes... 162
Figure 4.1: The vowels of Arabic... 169
Figure 4.2: The vo wels of French...170
Figure 5.1: Langu age proficiency of the sample... 215
Figure 5.2: Reported use of MSA in natural conversation... 216
Figure 5.3: Use of French by female and male respondents... 221
Figure 5.4: Use of Arab ic-French by female and male respondents... 222
Figure 5.5: Use of Tamazight b y female and male respond ents... 224
Figure 5.6: Use of MSA and SAA b y students who come from rural areas….. 225
Figure 5.7: Use of French and Arabic-French by students who come from rural areas... 225
Figure 5.8: Use o f MSA and SAA by students who come from urban areas…. 227 Figure 5.9: Use of French and Arabic-French by students who come from urban areas... 227
Figure 5.10: Sample accord ing to field of study... 228
Figure 5.11: Samp le according to langu age of study... 229
Figure 5.12: Number of respondents according to the year of study... 229
Figure 5.13: Language often used by Arabic Literature and Social Sciences respondents with friends... 230
Figure 5.14: Language often used by Biolo gy and Med icine respondents with friend s... 230
Figure 5.15: Language Often Used by Arabic Literature and Social Sciences respondents with Teachers……….. 231
Figure 5.16: Language Often Used by Biology and Medicine Respo ndents with Teachers………..……..………..…. 232
Figure 5.17: Language use with friend s by respond ents according to the level of education of parents... 235
Figure 5.18: Language often used with parents, siblings, and friends... 238
Figure 5.19: Language use by respondents with sib lings and people in charge of the faculty... 240
Figure 5.20: Language often used with people in charge of the faculty
and secretaries... 244 Figure 5.21: Language use to discuss the lecture with another student
during break time and outside the university... 246 Figure 5.22: Language use to discuss general matters with another student
during break time and outside the university... 247 Figure 5.23: Language use to discuss the lecture or general topics with
another student during break time... 249 Figure 5.24: Language use with students outsid e the u niversity to d iscuss
the lecture, the news, and general topics... 250 Figure 5.25: Language use to discuss the lecture according to field of study.. 252 Figure 5.26: Language use with students and laymen outside the university. . 253 Figure 5.27: Causes of Arabic-French code-switching……….…….. 255 Figure 6.1: Causes of negative attitudes according to respondents who
deny u sing CS... 260 Figure 6.2: Negative attitudes towards persons who use Arabic-French CS.… 262 Figure 6.3: Negative attitudes towards persons who use CS by respondents
who admit using it... 266 Figure 6:4: Positive attitudes towards perso ns who use Arabic-French
CS by respondents who admit using it... 269 Figure 6.5: Causes of Arabic-French code-switching according to
respondents who admit using it... 271 Figure 6.6: Percentage of positive and negative attitudes to wards Arabic-
French code-switchers... 277 Figure 6.7: Percentage of respondents who use SAA-MSA code-switching…. 280
Symbols Vowels
/i/ high fro nt short, as in /sinn/ (tooth) /i:/ high fro nt long, as in /fi:l/ (elep hant) /a/ low front short, as in / al/ (solutio n) /a:/ low front long, as in / a:l/ (state) /u/ high back short, as in /hum/ (they) /u :/ high back long, as in /tu:t/ (b lackberr y)
Consonants
/b/ bilabial stop, as in /ba:b/ (door)
/t/ voiceless non-emphatic dental stop, as in /ta ib a/ (He is tired) /d/ voiced no n-emphatic dental stop, as in /da:r/ (house)
/T/ voiceless emphatic dental stop, as in /maTar/ (rain) /D/ voiced emp hatic dental stop, as in /Daraba/ (He hit) /k/ voiceless velar stop, as in /kataba/ (He wrote)
/g/ voiced velar stop, as in the French word gourde /guRd/ (flask) /q/ uvu lar stop, as in /qarja/ (village)
/ / glottal stop, as in / akala/ (He ate)
/f/ voiceless labio-dental fricative, as in /fa r/ (dawn)
/v/ voiced labio-dental fricative, as in the French word veste /vest/ (jacket) /T/ voiceless interdental fricative, as in /Ta r/ (revenge)
/D/ vo iced interdental fricative, as in /ha:Da/ (this) /s/ vo iceless alveo lar fricative, as in /sa: a/ (watch)
/ / vo iceless emphatic dental fricative, as in / aba: / (morning) /z/ vo iced alveolar fricative, as in /za:ra/ (He visited)
/ / vo iceless alveo-palatal fricative, as in / ams/ (sun) / / vo iced alveo-palatal fricative, as in / a:r/ (neighbour) /h/ voiceless glottal fricative, as in /huwwa/ (he)
/ / vo iceless pharyngeal fricative, as in / a: ina/ (lo rry) / / vo iced phar yngeal fricative, as in / abd/ (slave) /x/ voiceless uvular fricative, as in /xuru : / (exit) /R/ voiced u vular fricative, as in /Rarb/ (west) /m/ bilabial nasal, as in /maka:n/ (p lace) /n/ dental nasal, as in /nu:r/ (light) /l/ lateral, as in /la m/ (meat) /r/ flap, as in /kabi:r/ (great)
/w/ labio-velar semi-vowel, as in /walad/ (boy) /j/ palatal semi-vo wel, as in /jad/ (hand)
Contents
INTRODUCTION... 1
CHAPTER ONE
:
The Language Situation in Algeria... 5Introduction... 5
1.1. Language Contact... 5
1.2. The Language Situation in Algeria... 7
1.2.1. Historical Perspective... 8
1.2.2. The Socio linguistic Profile... 11
1.3. Diglossia... 19
1.4. Bilingualism... 22
1.5. Languages in Education... 28
1.6. Arabization... 32
1.6.1. Reasons for the Arabization Policy... 32
1.6.2. Resistance to Arabization... 37
1.6.3. Arab ization and Education... 39
1.6.4. Arab ization in the Maghreb... 42
Conclusion... 47
CHAPTER TWO: Code-Variation in the Literature... 49
Introduction... 49
2.1. Language Alternation... 50
2.2. Mixing Patterns Terminology... 56
2.2.1. Code-Switching... 57
2.2.2. Code-Switching vs. Code-Mixing... 60
2.2.3. Code-Switching vs. Borrowing... 64
2.3. The Structural Approach... 73
2.3.1. The Early Structural Constraints... 73
2.3.2. The Matrix Language Frame (MLF) Model... 76
2.3.3. Arabic Bilingu al Code-Switching... 80
2.4. The Sociolinguistic Approach... 85
2.4.1. Social Meaning... 85
2.4.2. Motivations for Code-Switching... 99
2.5. Attitudinal Dimensions... 107
Conclusion... 112
CHAPTER THREE: The Functional Framework of the Study... 114
Introduction... 114
3.1. Research Procedures... 114
3.2. Selection of Participants... 116
3.3. Ethnographic Study... 116
3.3.1. Database... 116
3.3.2. The Sample... 118
3.3.3. Data Analysis... 121
3.3.4. Results... 122
3.4. Questionnaire... 128
3.4.1. Database... 128
3.4.2. The Sample... 131
3.4.3. Data Analysis... 132
Conclusion………..………. 164
CHAPTER FOUR: The Linguistic Analysis of the Language Data………. 166
Introduction... 166
4.1. Phonology... 167
4.1.1. Arabic and French Pho nolo gy. ... 167
4.1.2. Co nsonants... 170
4.1.3. Vowels... 174
4.1.4. Discu ssion... 177
4.2. Lexis... 179
4.2.1. Borrowing... 181
4.2.2. Code-Switching... 188
4.3. Gra mmar... 195
4.3.1. Borrowed Elements... 201
4.3.2. Code-switching... 202
4.4. Structural Constraints... 203
4.4.1. Free Morpheme Co nstraint………..……….………….. 204
4.4.2. Equivalence Constraint………..…….……… 205
4.4.3. Government Constraint………..….……… 207
4.4.4. Functional Head Co nstraint………..……….. 207
4.5. Spoken Algerian Arabic: Classification... 209
4.5.1. Pidgin………..……….. 210
4.5.2. Creole……… 211
4.5.3. Koiné………. 211
Conclusion... 212
CHAPTER FIVE: Language Choice of Students
...
213Introduction... 213
5.1. Language Choice... 214
5.2. Participants... 214
5.2.1. Language Proficiency... 214
5.2.2. Age... 218
5.2.3. Gender... 219
5.2.4. Ethnic Background... 222
5.2.5. Place o f Residence...224
5.2.6. Educatio n... 228
5.2.7. Socio-economic Status... 234
5.2.8. Kinship Relation... 237
5.2.9. Intimacy... 239
5.2.10. Language Preference... 241
5.2.11. History of Linguistic Interactio n... 242
5.2.12. Power Relation... 243
5.2.13. Language Attitudes... 245
5.3. Situation... 245
5.3.1. Setting... 246
5.3.2. Formality... 248
5.4. Content of Discourse... 250
5.5. Function of Interaction... 252
Conclusion... 255
CHAPTER SIX: Attitudes towards Code-Switching...258
Introduction... 258
6.1. Negative Attitudes... 258
6.2. Positive Attitudes...268
6.3. Attitudes towards SAA-MSA code-Switching... 277
Conclusion... 281
CONCLUSION... 283
BIBLIOGRAPHY... 287 Appendix A: Transcription of Sample Conversations
Appendix B: Questionnaire
INTRODUCTION 1 . Statement of the Problem
Algeria is a very interesting area for sociolinguistic stud ies because o f the d iglossic, bilingual, and even multilingual situations that p revail. These linguistic situations have created a phenomeno n of mixing between the existing varieties so that code-switching has b ecome a common practice among all p arts o f the Algerian society. Despite this prevailing phenomenon and the somewhat large body of literature ab out language variation in some areas around the world, no lingu istic stu dy has, to my knowledge, been mad e ab out co de-switching in Algeria.
This stud y is an attempt to see how Arabic and French, the two languages in co ntact, are related lingu istically and so cially and to check the attitudes to ward s code-switching in one speech co mmunity in Algeria. To keep the stu dy within manageable bo unds, the accessible and fairly homogeneous community o f students at Mentouri University, Co nstantine, was chosen, since this is one of the gro ups in Algeria where one can rely o n a reasonable b ilingual proficiency.
These speakers have b een in contact with Standard Arabic and French for a lo ng time. Therefore, they are a perfect site to o bserve the language contact p henomena between Arabic and French.
The research project is entitled "Code–Variation among Algerian University Stu dents". The main questio ns that it raises are:
1. Does the contact between Arab ic and French in a community resu lt in d ifferent language mixing patterns?
2. Why do university students switch codes despite majoring in one of the languages only (Standard Arabic or French)?
3. What are the students’ attitudes towards patterns of code-switching?
2 . Aims o f the Study
The primary aim of this study is to make a small contribu tion to wards the d atabase of info rmatio n available o n language, particularly on code-switching.
The main focus is o n linguistic, social, and attitudinal implications o f language variation because o f language contact. Because of the lack of stu dies about this p henomeno n in Algeria, the research project aims at shed ding so me light on this p henomeno n and co mparing and/or contrasting it to that existing elsewhere.
Mo st importantly, we will check whether the theo ries abo ut mixing really ap ply to the Algerian situ atio n.
3 . Hypotheses
This research will examine three main hyp otheses:
1. Different patterns of cod e-mixing (b orro wing and code-switching) occu r when stud ents use the codes available in their rep ertoire. The type o f mixing used will allow us to predict the language o f stu dy o f the stud ent.
2. Altho ugh so cial and educational factors are the main reasons fo r language choice and code-variation, they do not always necessarily lead to the predictio n of language choice.
3. Stu dents’ attitu des towards co de-switching are not always negative, and langu age choice is no t necessarily in confo rmity with language attitud es.
4 . Means o f the Research
The data needed have been collected u sing recordings and a questionnaire as research to ols. Reco rd ings will p ro vide examp les of the way stud ents co de switch and instances of the different patterns o f code-mixing, and the q uestionnaire will sho w the motivations and factors of language choice and code-switching and the attitudes toward s code alternation. The sample consists o f university students of b oth sexes from different faculties stu dying at Mentou ri University, Constantine. It is a random samp le where every student has a non- zero chance of b eing selected.
5 . Outline of the study
Chapter One is a background to this study of Arabic-French language contact in a community o f students at Constantine University in Algeria. It examines the current langu age situatio n and how it has evolved .
Chapter Two is a review of the literatu re in relation to the linguistic features and the social facto rs leading to language cho ice as well as the attitudinal dimensions to code-switching and the different co des that are part o f it. Insights fro m code-switching researches are examined and Grosjean’s factors influencing langu age choice are chosen as a mod el.
Chapter Three p resents the method ology of this investigation concerning the follo wing chapters, alo ng with the b ackgro und o f the speech community and
the individuals fro m whom sp eech data were obtained. It describ es the two research pro cedures u sed to co llect data abou t the different aspects of the research.
Chapter Four is a lingu istic analysis of the speech data obtained throu gh an ethnographic stu dy. It examines the different phenomena o f mixing d ue to language contact, mainly co de-switching and bo rro wing. One o f our goals is to examine the extent o f langu age change and to check whether the language o f study is a clue to the use o f these phenomena.
Chapter Five is an analysis of language choice and the langu age types id entified in the data, as correlated to the social facto rs and the information from each respo ndent regarding when, where, and with whom each language is used . Chapter Six is an investigation o f language attitud es towards code- switching. Our goal is to verify the existence of negative and/or p ositive attitudes to wards cod e-variation and to lo ok for po ssible discrepancies between language choice and language attitud es.
The stu dy co ncludes with a su mmary of the b asic results o f the stu dy.
Conclu sio ns are presented alo ng with the limitations o f the stu dy. It also o utlines some implications o f the study and po ssible recommendations for further research.
CHAPTER ONE
The Language Situation in Algeria
Introduction
The interplay between languages has always aroused the interest o f linguists. Since it is accepted that a p articular language will reflect the culture o f the society fo r which it is a medium of expression; language problems have also attracted socio logists.
As far as the manner the human mind and society co nstru ct and use language is concerned , the stud y of co de-variatio n offers insights not available in the study of mono lingu alism alone. Co de-switched speech highlights the interaction of social and grammatical categories du e to the greater contrast b etween the p honological, mo rp ho-syntactic, and lexical features of the available codes as co mpared to tho se of o ne language. Varying combinations o f uses result when these codes come into contact over a perio d of time.
1 .1. Language Co nta ct
Language contact over time leads to language change. This change involves the contact of different lexical and grammatical systems as well as varying social p atterns in the co mmunity.
Unlike most o ther language contact studies in the literatu re that examine language contact situations where sp eakers o f different languages come into contact by living and wo rking together, o ur research treats a very d ifferent language contact situation where the same sp eakers use the two languages with
varying d egrees of fluency. These speakers are Algerian university stud ents who have been in contact with Arabic and French for a long time since. In o ther words, in addition to the spo ken dialectal variety of Arabic, they have learnt the Stand ard variety as a first langu age and used it as a mediu m of instruction and French as a first foreign langu age right fro m the primary school. They are a p erfect site to o bserve language co ntact pheno mena between Arabic and French.
To my kno wledge, no study has examined these phenomena in Algeria in the way this stud y do es.
Cod e-switching, the alternatio n b etween two different varieties of the same language or two different languages, is a frequent p henomeno n of language contact which may lead to langu age change. This study fo cu ses on the relationship between code-switching and all of monolingual speech, b ilingual speech, and the pheno menon of mixing in this particular community. When two languages get in co ntact for a certain perio d of time, the processes o f language change are almost inevitable. The process of change due to contact involves code-switching and b orrowing. This investigation will examine the d ifferent p atterns o f mixing across a commu nity which has used Arab ic and French for a lo ng time.
Cod e-switching is typically viewed by researchers from either linguistic o r extra-lingu istic persp ectives. By ‘linguistic’ we refer to the structu re o f sentences and d iscourse, realized in the phonolo gy, morp hology, and syntax. By
‘extra-linguistic’ we refer mainly to the social meanings conveyed by code-
switching and its so cial factors. For a better und erstanding of the phenomenon in o ur sp eech community, the linguistic and the extra-lingu istic perspectives in the code-switching literature by several researchers are examined.
In add ition, languages in contact lead to different attitu des toward s these languages and the language phenomena that result from this contact. Acco rd ing to cod e-switching literature, attitud es are mainly negative. This stu dy will examine attitudes toward s code-switching in this p articu lar co mmunity to check whether these attitudes are really always negative. It will also examine the p ossible discrepancies between language cho ice and attitu des.
1.2. The Language Situation in Algeria
Algeria is the second largest country in Africa, almost ten times the size o f the United Kingdom. A countr y with a long co lonial history; it is one of the most problematic postcolonial spaces. The debate o ver the linguistic situation is neither over nor solved, and is capab le of provoking the same passio n and contro versies almost half a century after the cou ntry's ind epend ence, almost as much as it did in the early years of ind ependence. Due to the divergent asp ects that characterize each of the three main languages at work, namely Arab ic, Berber and French1, controversial opinions as to the representability and legitimacy o f each of these languages have always prevailed.
Leaving asid e the po litical implications of recognizing or d enying fu ll- statu s to any of the three abo ve mentioned languages, this study describ es the
1 To a voi d c o nt r o ve r s i e s , l a n gu a ge s a r e gi ve n a c c or d i n g t o t h e a l p h a be t i c a l o r d e r .
current language situ atio n in Algeria. However, the linguist’s criteria shou ld take into consideration the historical facts and acknowledge the irreversible character o f events, bu t only in so far as these facts and events sustain the underlying explanations to the changes and the phenomena affecting the language and the society being analyzed. Thu s, a historical perspective is necessary to shed light o n the evolutio n that led to this situation.
1 .2.1. Historica l Perspective
The early inhabitants of Algeria were the Imazighen (singular Amazigh), meaning "free men", who sp oke varieties o f Tamazight, a Semito-Hamitic language, which came to be called Berber by the early invaders. The word
"Berber" is derived from the Latin o ne "Barb arus", which was app lied to anyo ne living beyo nd the confines of the Roman sphere. Algeria was first invaded by Phoenicians. It b ecame a Roman p ro vince in 4 6 BC and part of the Byzantine Empire in 395 AD. In the seventh century, Algeria, along with the whole o f the North African littoral was co nquered by the Arabs. Arab ru le lasted almost nine centuries befo re the country came u nder Ottoman sup remacy in 151 8 and was governed by an Ottoman "Dey" and his subord inates, the "Beys". Algeria continued to be an ou tpost of the Ottoman Empire until 18 30 when the French o ccupying forces began to invade the country. By 18 48 Algeria was declared a French territory. Right u p until the twentieth century, Europeans, not only from France but also fro m Italy, Spain and Malta settled in the co untry. In 1872 the Eu ro pean popu lation was estimated at just fewer than 2 50,00 0. By 19 60 it
reached one million. Yet it was the Europ ean minority who took contro l of the rest of the p opulation. The French ruled the country until 19 62 when Algeria gained independence.
Befo re the Arab conquest, the Tamazight-sp eaking p opulation resisted adop ting the languages and religions o f their invaders. Following the Arab conq uest, however, Algerians, alo ng with the inhabitants of the other North African co untries, adopted the Arabic language and emb raced Islam. Ho wever, they managed to retain their language and customs. Acco rd ing to Camp s (19 87:13 5),
La Berbérie d evient musulmane en moins de deux siècles alors qu'elle n'est pas entièrement arabisée, treize siècles après la première conquête arabe.
(The Berbers embraced Islam in less than two centuries; yet, thirteen centuries after the first Arab conquest they were still not completely arab ized.) Translated by the author of this thesis
Thus, Arab ic came to be spo ken in some of the major cities bu t d id not infiltrate into remote mou ntain regio ns where only Tamazight continued to be spoken.
In spite of the fact that Algeria came und er direct Ottoman influ ence fo r three centuries, Turkish d oes no t seem to have left its mark on either Arabic o r Tamazight, apart from a negligible number of terms. When the French forces finally took over the whole cou ntry in the nineteenth century, French became the o nly langu age o f administration and instru ction and was u sed exclusively on signposts and pu blic po sters. In 193 8 the French administration p assed a law
making Arabic a "foreign" language in Algeria. According to Abdu rrahman Salameh (197 6:15), laws d iscouraging the use of Arabic date as far back as 1 904 when the teaching o f Arabic literature and Arab history were no t allowed in schools and colleges. Salameh adds that althou gh the co lonial powers did not o bject to Muslims reading the Qu ran, they preferred them to learn the suras by heart without understanding them.
The langu age policies implemented in Algeria by the colonial authorities were a direct reflectio n of tho se imp lemented in France itself during its linguistic unificatio n. In this connection, Murphy (197 7:2) states:
During the French Revolution, the patois of the French provinces had been proscribed in order to impose the u se of Parisian, bourgeois French o n the natio n…. There was only one language for u niting the nation or for subju gating new colonies.
Arab ic was b anished from the educational system in Algeria, just as the p atois were banished “from the edu cational system o f the Metro pole under the Third Repu blic and were only reinstated, in certain cases, under the Loi Deixonne in 195 1” (ib id.).
It may b e noticed that the policy fo llowed by France in colonies and p ro tectorates was not uniform and differed from one country to the other. Hence, what was ado pted in Algeria regard ing language was more or less different from the policy adopted in Moro cco and Tu nisia. According to Bentahila (1 983:6 ), when settling in Morocco, the French
Seemingly had the idea of educating a Moroccan elite to speak and think like them, and to believe in the u niversality and
superiority o f the French cu lture and language, which they imposed as the o nly language of civilization and advancement.
This was an efficient means to co nquer the country, as is stated by Besnard (cited in Bentahila, ibid .):
Pour l'étab lissement durab le de notre influence dans le pays, chaque école ouverte vaut mieu x qu'une bataille gagnée.
(For the purpose of the permanent establishment of our influ ence in the country, ever y schoo l which is opened is worth more than a battle won).Translated by the author of this thesis
According to Hawkins (20 00:3 ), the situation is quite similar in Tunisia.
Fo r a variety of reaso ns,
The French occupation was not as draco nian or harsh as it was in the more well known case of Tunisia’s western neighbor, Algeria. While the French tried to incorporate Algeria into metropolitan France and ruthlessly suppressed Arabic education and cu lture, they ruled Tunisia through a figu re-head Tu nisian lead er and developed a Tunisian educational system that taught both the standard French and classical Arabic curricula.
However, the situ ation was not the same in Algeria. It was a colo ny and not a protecto rate, and it was co nsidered an integral part o f France (a d épa rtement) instead o f a mere colony.
1 .2.2. The Sociolinguistic Profile
When examining Algeria's sociolinguistic situation fo llowing the indep endence, we can say that Algeria fitted what Fishman (19 72) describes as a type B nation. Type B nations are called uni-mod al and are characterized by an indigeno us language with a literary tradition (Classical Arabic or Mod ern
Stand ard o ne), plus a language of wider co mmunicatio n (French) that o ften exists as a resu lt of co lonial policy.
Fu rthermore, Algeria's socio lingu istic p ro file is more co mplex than it seems. Measu red by the yardstick of history, the French co lonizatio n which lasted a hundred and thirty-two years seems relatively sho rt. Yet, the consequences of the French linguistic impact are very strong. The long and sustained spreading of French language and cultu re had gradually succeeded in maintaining Algeria as a strongho ld u ntil independence. Thus, when Algeria b ecame ind epend ent in 196 2, in additio n to Algerian Arabic and Tamazight, the languages of indigeno us inhab itants, French was commo nly used. To this day and despite massive and intensive continuou s p olicies and programmes o f Arab ization, one can notice that the influ ence of the French presence did not cease with the ind epend ence.
Consequently, there are three languages that are spoken and /or written in Algeria. The spo ken languages include a variety of Arabic (Algerian Arabic), French, and the four dialects of Tamazight: Kab yle, Shawia, Mozabite, and Tamashekt – the mother tongue o f Touaregs. The written languages are a variety o f Arab ic (Mod ern Stand ard Arabic) and French.
1 .2.2.1. Arabic
Arab ic was first introdu ced to North Africa with the Arab conq uest o f the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. It gained prominence among the Berbers with the sp read o f Islam and the u se of Arab ic as a liturgical language. This first
"Arabizatio n" was greatly aided by the ob ligation to say in Arabic the few sentences necessary for the conversion to Islam and the other rituals like prayer and the reading of the Quran (Camps, 1987 :135). In recent times, urbanization tended to homogenize the pop ulation in terms of langu age use becau se of a certain tendency b y the Berb ers who are living in towns to shift to French o r Arab ic. It is in this fashion according to Grandgu illau me (1 983:1 4) that
Bien d es régions d'Algérie ou du Maroc d écrites comme berbérophones par des ethno grap hes du début du siècle sont maintenant totalement arabophones.
(Many areas of Algeria or Morocco described as Berber - speaking areas b y early twentieth century ethnographers are now totally arabized.) Translated by the author of this thesis
Arab ic has been traditionally classified into two categories: Classical Arab ic and the vernacu lar variety. Classical Arab ic is a language with a long literary tradition and a closely guarded sense o f grammatical and rhetorical correctness. This classification is no longer valid as the Arab renaissance of the 19th century and the renewed interest in the language, coupled with its use for education, saw the development of a third categor y emerging from elevated forms o f speech in the M iddle East. Nowadays, Arab ic is categorized into three major varieties: Classical, Modern Standard, and the vernacular form.
As the langu age o f the Quran, Classical Arabic (CA) is considerably valued b y Mu slims, Arabs and non Arabs alike; it is consid ered to be a mod el o f linguistic excellence and the key to a prestigio us literary heritage. It is valu ed o ver and abo ve any other form of Arabic that is spo ken natively b y the Arabs, to
the point that "when so mebody says he does no t speak Arabic well, he usually means the Classical one" (Mu rp hy, 1977 :4).
Mo dern Stand ard Arabic (MSA) is the form that evolved after the Arab renaissance of the nineteenth centu ry lab ored to mo dernize Classical Arab ic and make it effective enough to meet the demands o f modern life. Certain western structu res such as clau se and phrase sub ordination have b een adapted and a scientific terminolo gy develop ed (Gordo n, 19 85:13 5).
Vernacular Arabic is the language of everyday communication in the family and the street. It is the native langu age of Arabs. Differences between the vernacu lar and the written form are manifested in mo rpholo gy, syntax, the lexicon, and the complex system of case endings.
The vernacular, in this case Algerian Arabic (AA), is the native to ngu e o f the vast majority of the Algerian po pulation and the second language of a large p ercentage o f the Berber po pulations. It is kno wn as the "Derdja" (dialect) in Algeria. Algerian Arab ic differs from bo th Modern Stand ard Arabic and the o ther dialects in use in other Arab countries. It has a much-simplified vowel system, a substantially changed vo cabulary with many words from Berber, Tu rkish, and French, and, like all Arab ic dialects, it is witho ut the case endings typical of the written language. Algerian Arabic is a part of the Maghreb Arabic d ialect continuu m since Algerians use a variety which is similar to Tunisian Arab ic at different lingu istic levels near the eastern borders with Tunisia and speak a variety which fades with Mo ro ccan Arabic near the western borders with
Mo ro cco. In ad dition, it is no t uniform throughout the country, since it d iffers from one region to the o ther. However, there is a continu um between the regional varieties.
1 .2.2.2. Ta mazight
Tamazight, or Berb er, rep resents one o f the five b ranches o f Afro-Asiatic (formerly Semito -Hamitic) languages along with Semitic, Chadic, Cushitic and Egyptian (Greenberg 19 63). Afro-Asiatic langu ages are "spo ken b y people o f vastly d ifferent racial, religious, and cu ltural o rigin" (Katzner, 19 77:32 ). These languages are spo ken in North Africa, mostly in Morocco and Algeria, and to a lesser extent in Niger, Mali, and o ther countries. The Berber languages are so similar to each other that some authorities speak o f a single Berb er language (ibid .).
Berb er langu ages exist p rimarily as an oral medium although Berb er texts were written in Arab ic and Roman scripts in the past with the addition of a few characters to represent distinctive Berber phonemes. The ancient Berber script, Tifinagh, which still survives among the Tou areg of the Algerian Sahara is used more for specific purpo ses such as inscriptio ns on weapo ns and jewelry than fo r communication (ib id.).
The Berber dialects spo ken in Mo ro cco are Tashilhit, Tamazight, and Tarifit. Tashilhit is spoken in the sou th (Haut-Atlas) of Morocco, Tamazight in the Moyen-Atlas and Tarifit in the North. Kab yle, Shawia, Mo zabite and Tamashekt are the four dialects spo ken in Algeria; Kabyle is spoken in Greater
and Lesser Kabylia, east o f Algiers, Shawia in the Aures range south east o f Algeria, Mo zabite in the Mzab and Tamashekt in the Sahara Desert.
Berb er has been ab le to survive d espite of its o rality because o f its cap acity for b orro wing and incorporating words from languages with which it came into contact. Its success in resisting variou s influences and maintaining itself as the language of the ho me may have co me from the fact that Berbers have insulated themselves from the su ccessive foreign influ ences that came to d ominate the cou ntry. In Bratt Pau lsto n's words (1986 :124):
Geo grap hic iso lation (which is historically uninteresting but nevertheless effective) is also a form of external boundary which contributes to language maintenance as Gaelic in the Hebrides, or Quechua in the Andes.
However, the very insulation which has so well guarded the Berbers from outside influences has also kept their language from being cod ified.
Fu rthermore, as Ro berts (1980 :117 ) wrote:
As a consequence of their geo graphical separation from o ne another and the absence of both any sustained commercial intercourse between them and of a written language, there has been no tend ency for their culture to become u nified or for their langu age to become standardized in the course of their histor y.
Befo re the Arabs settled in the area, all of Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Algeria constituted a Berber territo ry. Camero n &Hurst (198 3:178 ) wrote:
As many as half of the Berber speaking minority already speak Arabic as a second (or third) language which, added to the 81.5%
of the population (1966 census) who declared Arabic as their mother tongue, produced a 90% Arabic sp eaking population.
After the establishment of the High Commissariat for Tamazight in 1993 and the grant of legal recognitio n in 1996, Tamazight was granted recognition as a national langu age through the application of article 3 of the Algerian Constitution, amended in March 2002, to establish Tamazight as a national language and to promote its use among Algeria’s institutional authorities. Then, it was decided that Tamazight was to be taught progressively for all levels since the academic year 2003-2004.
In July 2007, the Academy o f the Tamazight Language and the Higher Council of the Tamazight Language were created with the aim to disseminate the langu age and conduct research into it. The Academy is in charge of matters related to the standardization o f Tamazight. The Higher Council, meanwhile, has a more political role and is to work to introduce the language in public administration, the justice system, pro fessio nal training and all areas of institutional life.
1 .2.2.3. French
The fact that France's dominatio n of Algeria occurred at a time when Algeria’s linguistic u nification was still u nderway had profound implications fo r its linguistic situation. Before the military conq uest of Algeria was achieved, the colonial authorities implemented language policies that proved d etrimental to the Arab ic language competence and statu s. The functional domains of the French language reached into p ractically every field b ecause as Grandguillaume (1983 ) stated:
C'est dans cette langue qu'ont été mises en p lace toutes les institutions qu i ouvraient ces pays à la vie occidentale.
(It is in this language that the institutions which gave these countries (French colonies) access to the western world were established). Translated by the author o f this thesis.
Because of d eliberate attempts to erad icate the use of Arabic as a language o f ed ucation and written communicatio n, contact with the o utside world was p ossible only thro ugh the use of French. Even if Arabic language teaching was tolerated in Tunisia and Mo rocco, such was no t the case in Algeria where the institu tions in charge of teaching the Arabic langu age and culture were wiped ou t.
Nowadays, French co ntinues to enjo y a privileged po sitio n in all three countries of the Maghreb despite governmental Arab ization p ro grammes. French is still used fo rmally and in co de switching situations b y a lot of p eop le. In fact, according to Balta (198 2):
Twenty times more children learn French than during the time of French Algeria. Even though the go vernment refuses to reco gnize bilingualism and francopho nie, Algeria is the second most francop hone nation in the world.
Indeed, official discourse avoids mentioning French as a second language in Algeria; it is referred to as "the first foreign language" (Mo rsly, 198 4:25 ).
Bou mediene, the Algerian p resident fro m 19 65 to 1 978 , defined the p osition o f French as follo ws (cited in Morsly, ibid .):
Une langue étrangère qui bénéficie d'une situation particulière du fait des consid érations historiques objectives.
(a foreign language which benefits from a special situation because of objective historical considerations). Translated by the author of this thesis.
Thus, the language situation in Algeria may be characterized as diglossic, b ilingu al, and even mu ltilingual. Diglo ssia refers to the u ses of Arabic along a written-spo ken continuu m, while b ilingu alism involves the ongoing interaction b etween Arabic and French. Multilingualism concerns the use of Tamazight as a mother tongue in addition to Arabic and French.
1.3. Diglossia
Ever since Ferguson (1959) first proposed the term “diglo ssia”, it has become a theoretical co nstruct widely used in the d escription and analysis o f societal multilingualism. Ferguson’s original proposal1 was designed to d istinguish paired language varieties having sp ecific kinds o f structural and functio nal relatio nships. Within a few years, the co ncept underwent substantial expansion in meaning and was applied to a wid e range of situations characterized b y quite different structural and functional relationship s among the language varieties invo lved. The result is that diglo ssia is d efined as “the alternate use o f two or more languages for certain more or less distinct fu nctions in certain more or less specific situations” (Stevens, 1983:102).
1 F e r gu s on ’ s d e f i ni t i on d e s c ri b e s t w o va r i e t i e s of a l a n gu a ge h a vi n g ve r y d i f f e r e nt d i s t ri b ut i o n s w i t h i n a c om m u n i t y o f l a n gu a g e u s e r s . “ D i gl os s i a i s a r e l a t i ve l y s t a b l e l a n gu a ge s i t u a t i o n i n w h i c h, i n a dd i t i on t o t h e p r i m a r y d i a l e ct s o f t h e l an gu a g e ( w h i ch m a y i n c l u d e a s t a n d ar d or r e g i on a l s t a n d a r d s ) , t h er e i s a ve r y d i ve r ge n t , h i gh l y c od i fi e d ( o f t en g r a m m a t i c a l l y m o r e c o m pl e x) s u p e r p os e d va r i et y, t h e ve h i c l e o f a l a r g e a n d r e s pe c t e d b od y o f w r i t t e n l i t e r at u r e, e i t h e r of a n e a r l i e r p e r i o d or i n a n o t h e r s p e e c h c om m u n i t y, w h i c h i s l e a rn e d l a r g e l y b y f or m a l e d u c a t i o n a n d i s u s e d f o r m o s t w r i t t en a n d f or m a l s po ke n p u r p os e s bu t i s n o t u s e d by a n y s e c t i on o f t h e c om m u n i t y f o r or d i n a r y c on ve r s a t i o n ” ( F e r gu s o n 1 9 5 9: 3 36 )
Arab ic is one o f the languages described b y Ferguson (1959) as d iglossic.
In Arabic, the high variety (H) used in read ing, writing, and no n-spontaneous or scripted speech usually fro m an o fficial source, is Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The low variety (L), differing from MSA but sharing some features, is variou sly referred to as “vernacu lar,” “dialect,” “co lloquial,” “slang,” or, as here, “spoken Arabic.” It is the d efault variety of spoken language.
Algerian Arabic (AA) is the language of communicatio n in everyday life, particularly in the family, but it is also sometimes used in the media (radio and televisio n programmes) and more often in plays and mo vies. AA is a spoken form with a variety o f mutually intelligib le regional d ialects.
The Algerian d iglossic case is very particular since the low variety is not very close to the high variety. Illiteracy and co lonizatio n are the main factors b ehind this gap . The language used at ho me, for low functions, is a local version o f Arabic. The language recognized pu blicly in formal situatio ns, for high functio ns, is Mod ern Stand ard Arabic which takes its no rmative rules from the Classical Arabic of the Quran.
According to Romaine (1994 :46), the ‘high’ and ‘low’ varieties differ from each other:
…no t only in grammar, pho nolo gy, and vocabular y, but also with respect to a number of social characteristics, namely function, prestige, literary heritage, acquisitio n, standardization, and stab ility.
Romaine means that, grammar is o ne of the most striking d ifferences between the high and low varieties. There is probably wide agreement amo ng linguists that the high variety has grammatical categories not present in the low variety and it has an inflectional system of nouns and verbs which is mu ch reduced or totally absent in the low variety. We teach at schools the formal language which is the high variety and we cannot teach the lo w variety simply because it lacks a stand ardized grammar.
Lexis is different, too . The b ulk of vo cabulary of the high form and the lo w o ne is shared but with variation in form and differences of use and meaning.
However, the high form inclu des in its total lexico n technical terms and learned expressions but they do not have their regu lar eq uivalents in the lo w variety, and vice versa, i.e. there are some p opular expressions and names of ho mely o bjects in the low form bu t not in the high form.
The two varieties are not only different in terms of structural features but also in terms of some social features that characterize diglossia. One of the most important features of d iglossia is the specializatio n of function for the high and low varieties. In one set of situations o nly the high variety is appropriate and in another only the low o ne. For example, the high variety is used in the mosque, and the low variety is appropriate in family and friends' conversatio ns.
As far as prestige is co ncerned, the Arabic language speakers regard the high form as superior to the low one in a number of respects. Sometimes the feeling is so strong that the high variety is regarded as real and the low variety
as if it does not exist. Even when strong feelings do not exist, still the high variety is seen as more logical, more beautiful, and better in expressing important thoughts. Altoma (1969:3-4) says:
In spite of its use as the dominant medium of the spoken word in conversatio n, and in various cultural or artistic contexts su ch as songs, stages and movies, the colloquial lacks the p restige enjo yed b y the classical and is loo ked upo n, often with a considerab le degree o f co ntempt, as a stigma o f illiteracy and ignorance. The fact that it represents -- in most cases -- the first and o nly natural language to which its speakers are exposed and with which they become actively associated in their lifetime does not modify the biased attitude held b y many against it.
Fleish (196 4:3) shows the prestige of Classical Arabic as follows:
L’arabe classique, … a pour lui le prestige, u n immense prestige, qui se multip lie encore par deux, car il est double: prestige de grand e langue de culture..., prestige de langue religieu se.
(Classical Arabic has the prestige, an immense prestige which is multiplied by two because it is twofold: the prestige o f a great langu age o f culture..., and that of a language of religion.)
1 .4. Bilingua lism
The Algerian popu lation was so d eeply influ enced linguistically d uring the French occu patio n that, to day almost 50 years after the ind epend ence, French language co ntinu es to play an important ro le in sp oken as well as in written d omains. Grafted o nto the Arabic continuu m, French is often mixed in with the spoken variety of Arabic (Algerian Arabic) in everyday conversation (Arabic- French), o r used in the media (at least five daily newspapers, several weekly p ublications, a radio channel and a television channel), higher education (in
scientific disciplines), as well as social, work and p ro fessional settings. In fact, in addition to the great number of French loanwo rd s that have slipp ed into Algerian Arabic, being adap ted pho nolo gically, morpho logically and syntactically, many Algerian peop le understand French and u se it in day to day interactions.
The Algerian b ilingualism is a sp ecial one. It is the result of the long and gradual occu patio n of the who le country by the French, with mo re co ncentration o n the northern part. In fact, bilingualism in Algeria is not ho mogeneo us since not all the po pulation is bilingu al. In many parts of the co untry we can find mono linguals. It is much more practiced in the cities where there is a high contact o f Arabic with French, a high level and a high style o f life. According to Myers-Sco tton (20 06:3),
A bilingual is one who has acquired or learned to sp eak o r understand … some p hrases that show internal structural relations in a seco nd language.
Thus, during the colo nial and post-independence periods, the majority, if not all, of the Algerians no matter what their edu cational and cultural levels were, were bilinguals co ntrary to no wadays where bilingualism is much more common amo ng those who are scho oled , and those who are in contact with the French langu age.
Bilingualism in Algeria differs fro m bilingualism in other societies and communities in many respects. Within Algeria, there is alo ngside the Arabic- French b ilingualism which is our co ncern here, a Berber-Arabic b ilingu alism
which differs from the former in a number of ways. The Berb er’s need to learn Arab ic wo uld seem to be more u rgent than the Arabic speaker’s need to learn French; only when he becomes bilingual do es the Berber p ersons have access to a respectable position or job. In a similar way Arab ic-French bilingualism can be contrasted with the bilingu alism which exists in Wales or among immigrant gro ups in the United States; knowledge of French in Algeria is not as essential as knowledge o f English in these situ ations, for it is Arabic which is the o fficial language in Algeria. Arabic-French bilingualism also differs in an imp ortant resp ect from the bilingualism of countries such as Switzerland , Finland and Canada, where there are two or more speech communities, each with a d ifferent mother tongue. It is, instead, introduced only via the edu cational system, and in this resp ect its position cou ld be comp ared to that of, say, French and German in Lu xembou rg and Alsace. The role o f French in Algeria is also to be d istinguished fro m that of English in West Africa where English serves as a lingua franca. For instance, in Ghana, where there are forty-two native tongues, English as the second language, serves to unite all speakers. French serves no u nifying fu nction in Algeria; if anything, it could be said to have a divisive effect, since not all the pop ulatio n are able to sp eak it.
As for the other Arabic-sp eaking countries, French seems to be more widely used in Algeria and the o ther Francop hone North African co untries, Mo ro cco and Tunisia, than English is used in the Mid dle East co untries, such as Egypt, Syria and Iraq. In Leb ano n, the situation is to some degree similar to that
in Algeria in the sense that several factors which co ntribute to making Arabic- French bilingualism are wid espread in Lebanon. Some of these factors, such as work and ed ucation, play similar roles in Algeria. However, the imp ortant d ifference is that in Lebanon French is inextricably bound up with the religiou s and po litical situation; for the Christian commu nity in Lebanon, French has a special value fo r its associations with western culture. Yet, becau se everyone is Mu slim in Algeria, Arab ic has a special p restige as the vehicle o f religion, whereas in Leb anon it has no such associations for a large p art of the po pulation (Bentahila 1 983).
Ano ther characteristic of Algerian b ilingualism is that it is sub tractive b ecause Arabic is rep lacing p ro gressively French in many d omains: edu cation, p olitics, and ad ministration. After the independence, the Algerian policy b egan to generalize, step by step, Arabic under ‘Arabizatio n laws’, since it is the soul o f natio nalism, and it is associated with religion. The role of French in the social life of the Algerians started to change. Two different periods are to be mentioned. In the pre-independence p eriod those who were in co ntact with French p eop le were qualified as more balanced b ilingu als. Unb alanced b ilingu als, ho wever, are those who came after and whose competence is higher in o ne language than the other and generally in the mother tongue. The recent generatio ns, indeed, have less co mpetence in French. The q uality of French spoken nowadays is b y no means uniform. It ranges from excellent to practically no French at all. Between the two extremes, all degrees of comp etence in French
may be fo und . One ind ividu al’s vocab ulary may consist of just a few wo rd s and p hrases. Ano ther person may frequently not ad here to the grammatical and lexical conventions of stand ard French, yet still b e able to u se French as a tool for communication in a limited number o f situ ations.
Ano ther distinction is b etween active and passive bilinguals. An active b ilingu al is one who has an active ab ility in produ ctive and receptive skills even if he does not read o r write. Whereas a passive bilingual has a passive ability, i.e., he understands French but does not speak it. This is the case for the child ren o f Algerian immigrants in France; they master French b ut, unfortunately, they have no t the ability to sp eak their parents’ mother tongue, though they are able to understand it.
Bilingualism in Algeria is the result o f educational strategy and social specificity. It is a co-ordinate bilingualism which emerges in the cou ntry, b ecause children learn both Arab ic and French in p rimary schoo l. The learner d evelops two systems o f meaning of words, one system for the word s he knows in the first language and the other is fo r the words he kno ws in the second language. In other wo rd s, languages are learnt sep arately and are mo re or less indep endent. So, the French word and the Arabic word will b e stored and represented in the mind independently. They would not be associated. This idea o f possessing two systems has b een reported b y Spolsky (19 98:4 8) when he d efines this linguistic comp etence and says:
For a number of years, there was an attempt to d istinguish between compound b ilinguals who se two languages were assumed to be closely connected, because o ne language had been learned after (and so through) the other, and co-ordinate bilingu als who had learned each language in separate co ntexts and so kept them d istinct.
Various degrees of bilingu alism exist at different levels of society including the school system which u ses Arabic and French as media o f instruction. It also exists for the numerous Berbers whose native language is restricted to the home but use Algerian Arabic for out-group communication.
The linguistic situation is not o nly complex but co nflictual as it is characterized b y Arab ic-French bilingualism at the educational and societal levels and diglossia within the Arabic language. Modern Stand ard Arabic is in conflict with French; first, in the school domain where each language is a med ium of instruction, the former for the hu manities and the latter for the sciences and seco nd in the workplace where French still remains the pervasive language of administration and business. In an article in the French periodical
"Le Français dans le Monde", Akouaou’s (1984:28) writes:
La tension qui domine les rapports entre le français et l’arabe risque encore de durer et, a moins d’une planification lingu istique plus cohérente, l’équilibre ne sera pas atteint tant que les contradictions qui pèsent sur l’institution sco laire (car la langue c’est aussi une faço n de voir, de penser, d’agir) persisteront.
(The tension which dominates the relations between French and Arabic may last a long time and, barring more coherent language planning, a balance will not be reached as long as the contradictions which weigh on the school institutions (because langu age is also a way of looking at things, of thinking, of acting) persist). Translated by the author of this thesis.
