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MAZOUNA DIALECT: A HIGHLY IDIOMATIC DIALECT
MOSTEFA SBAA Zoulikha (Université d’Oran)
Algerian dialects are generally very idiomatic . They provide a wealth of images that are interesting and contribute to make their study exciting. Of course, one must master the dialect in use and understand its vocabulary and grammar to be able to grasp the message and become familiar with its idiomatic expressions .
To put it another way, one has to know all the nuances of meaning of a given dialect to understand and use adequately its idioms. (I personally was interested in the study of Oran dialect and its idiomatic expressions , but I was quickly discouraged and had to change my mind since I still fail to grasp some vocabulary items and master the idioms practised.
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So, a choice was almost imposed on me : the opening of a window on my parents’dialect :
‘Mazouna dialect’. Like everybody, I have always been fascinated by the poetic, the musical, and the illustrated feature ( i.e the widespread use of images and metaphores) of my mother tongue.
Like any other Algerian dialect, and especially western ones, Mazouna dialect, as I have already suggested, is highly idiomatic . It is a precious cultural patrimony that has been preserved for generations now. It is still looked upon as a treasury of wisdom and moralizing messages. And is it , of course, carefully kept among Mazouna community just like an everlasting heritage.
Obviously the idioms used in ‘Mazouna dialect’ are are parts and wholes of everybody’s speech, and especially of adults and old people. It goes without saying that some idioms are men’s preferences and others women’s. But all in all, women have a tendency to use idioms much more frequently than men.
The reason being partly because women are fond of speaking, gossiping , describing , judging, suggesting, correcting , complementing and so on.
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It is also partly because women have more opportunities to meet and embark in endless conversations. (homes, hammams, wedding celebrations, feasts and the like).
When using idiomatic expressions women generalize, or summarize a certain fact, situation, or event. They also illustrate points by showing their attitudes, and giving their point of view. The idiomatic expression not only helps them communicate quickly but also effectively. (if you want to make your message understood, just summarize your idea or simply conclude your speech by using the proper idiom in the context in question).
For instance, when women, in the course of conversation, say :
1. ‘ennar tuwled ermad’ (fire gives birth to ashes).
2. ‘aghfel etghufel’ (if you fail to go to the barber’s, your hair will grow long).
3. ‘kelb enbeh madjrah’ ( a barking dog never bites).
They do not simply give a ‘flat’ statement, but they refer to a certain morale, behaviour, criticism, objection, prejudice, and even cultural value. Naturally,
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the connotations that emerge from the message are worth considering.
In fact, the first idiom above has many connotations and interpretations, but it is generally meant to say that a child, a teenager, an adult or even an old person is different from his parents, or members of his family, in terms of behavior ( i.e., unkind, violent, rude, selfish, nervous etc.) , or in terms of thinking, or even in terms of cultural values.
It means that he does not comply to the rules, and that he is a kind of ‘scapegoat’ that has no place in the community he belongs to. The idiom used not only conveys a clear message that is quickly received by the person addressed to, but also expresses a kind of disappointment together with a certain dissatisfaction, and sometimes even anger.
The second idiom almost always refers to somebody who is lazy, or who has no sense of responsibility. It generally applies to a person who has a tendency ‘to put off to tomorrow what he can do today’.
(It may also refer to a diligent person who can seldom free himself from work in order to solve a problem or fulfill a certain task.
The third idiom is common to most, if not all Algerian dialects, and means, like the statement shows, and as translated above : ‘ A barking dog never bites’. This idiom seems to have its equivalent in the English language (It is a well-known proverb
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frequently used by our students of English and properly adapted to situations ). Not surprisingly, the image used is also shared by the French language : ‘ les chiens aboient et la caravane passe’.
For the research work proposed, i.e., ‘idiomatic expressions as used in the dialect of Mazouna and their translation’, our first task is to gather as many idioms as possible, to check the diction, to be aware of the situations and contexts to which they apply, and to determine the frequency of usage. Our objective is to establish a corpus first, then to sort out the data gathered according to themes. Therefore, a thematic approach will be selected as a first step.
Idioms will be classified according to certain criteria. For instance, there are idioms that refer to animals and are used in certain contexts only. (they can apply to family, work, wealth, patience, privacy, behavior, modesty and so on). Others refer to women and can apply to harm, patience, success, happiness, harmony and so on.
The present paper also aspires to investigate about the community of Mazouna, its traditions, and cultural values. It also seeks to ‘evaluate’ the importance and the inevitable use of idioms in everyday speech of this local community (which dialect remains tradition- bound). The cultural values, the way of life, and
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especially conservatism can be important parameters to take into consideration to better understand the dialect of a given community.
The methodology proposed is widely based on observation ( Mazouna people, their behaviour, mood, social status and dialect use). It is also based on interviews ( talking and listening to people living in Mazouna and its neighbouring).
A variety of Mazouna dialect is in use in large towns like Mostaganem, Relizane and Oran. However, if the idiomatic expressions are more or less similar, one can encounter areas of slight differences either phonetically or semantically.
An important section of the research work undertaken is ‘translation’. The point is not really to find equivalents since they do not exist most of the time.
But to paraphrase the idiomatic expressions and give extra notes if need be.
This section will certainly require a lot of reflection and is time consuming, but, on the whole, it will certainly provide a lot of fun.
We hope also to reach concluding remarks about the dialect in question which is suggestive of ingredients common to the bulk of Algerian dialects :
‘poetic dialect’ and ‘emotive dialect’.
