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Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Research University of Oran Faculty of Letters, Languages and Arts Department of Anglo-Saxon Languages MAGISTER THESIS OPTION: SOCIOLINGUISTICS THE EMERGENCE OF EDUCATED SPOKEN ARABIC IN ALGERIA Submitted by: Supervised by: KERMA Mokhtar Dr: OUAHMICHE Ghania Members of the Jury Soutenue le 22 Janvier 2015 President : Dr. MOULFI Leila MC(A) University of Oran Supervisor : Dr. OUAHMICHE Ghania MC(A) University of Oran Examiner : Dr.BENHATTAB Abdelkader Lotfi MC(A) University of Oran Examiner : Dr. BOUKRERIS Louafia MC(A) University of Oran 2014/2015 I To all my family my wife my sons MONCIF and MOUANIS my butterfly NOUR EL FAJR I First and foremost, my utmost gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr. Ouahmiche Ghania, for her many valuable comments and stimulating suggestions on my work. I am grateful to her for helping me to focus my ideas. I have immensely benefited from her talent in simplifying complex linguistic issues. In the absence of her guidance and assistance, this research work would never been realized. I would like to acknowledge my thesis examiners Dr. MOULFI Leila, Dr.BENHATTAB Abdelkader Lotfi and Dr. BOUKRERIS Louafia at the University of Oran for their constructive suggestions, their mentoring and advice regarding the organization of this research work and its results. Very special thanks go to Dr. Benyamina for his understanding and assistance. II ABSTRACT The present research studies the use of different varieties of Arabic within the Algerian society. The concern of my field research is to try to demonstrate through investigation, and sociolinguistic interpretations the extent to which the Algerians, namely the educated ones, are driven by the necessity to use an intermediate level of Arabic to express themselves. The purpose of the current study is to compare MSA and AA with ESA at the phonological level and check if there are differences between the three varieties of Arabic at the above level. I chose as informants some educated people for I reckon that they can give me suggestions about the impact of the Arabization policy, proclaimed from 1962 and reinforced as years went on. From a realistic point of view Classical / Modern Standard Arabic no longer represents spoken Arabic in Algeria as well as in the Arab world. Today’s educated generation manifests an overt tendency towards the use of a third and intermediate level of Arabic in their daily speeches. This verbal behaviour is a clear evidence of the linguistic change undergone by my informants in the realm of phonology and lexis. The linguistic usage of one level of Arabic at the expense of other levels can be accounted for by socio-cultural phenomena such as Arabization, i.e. act of identity. The friction between Classic/Modern Standard Arabic and dialectal Arabic is supposed to be lessened by a third level of Arabic, commonly known as Educated Spoken Arabic. This research work deals with the distribution and the functions of language varieties in Algeria. I will first present a brief overview of the historical developments that shaped the specific sociolinguistic situation in twentieth-century. I will then present the generally accepted views on the social stratification of language varieties and language use in this society. In the core of the text, I will argue in favour of a revision of these views, drawing on the results of a case study of pragmatic variety choices among educated Algerians. I will endeavour to highlight the sociolinguistic factors underlying language choice using three basic levels of Arabic which constitute the linguistic repertoire of the speakers notably the Arabic dialect (Algerian Arabic,Classical/Modern Standard Arabic and Educated Spoken Arabic.) III A particular interest will be given to the study of the role ESA plays in the speech community. The collected data show that ESA combines features from Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)and Algerian Arabic (AA), as well as hybrid forms. This research project will be divided into four main chapters. The first three chapters focus on theoretical sides in which different linguistic phenomena will be mentioned. By doing so, the reader will have an overview about the literature review which serves as a support for the present work. The fourth chapter is the practical part where the obtained results will be investigated. Each chapter contains an introduction and a conclusion in which the major points of the chapter are presented. KEY WORDS: Code-Switching-levels of Arabic-bilingualism– diglossia - educated spoken Arabic- language policy. IV RÉSUMÉ La présente recherche étudie l'utilisation de différentes variétés de la langue arabe dans la société algérienne. Le souci de ma recherche sur le terrain est d'essayer de montrer au moyen d'enquêtes, et interprétations sociolinguistiques la mesure, à laquelle les Algériens, à savoir les instruits, sont entraînés par la nécessité d'utiliser un niveau intermédiaire de la langue arabe pour s'exprimer. Le but de cette étude est de comparer l’arabe standard modéré et l’arabe algérien avec le parler arabe éduqué au niveau phonologique dans le but de vérifier s'il existe des différences entre les trois variétés de l'arabe au niveau au-dessus. J'ai choisi comme informateurs des gens instruits car je pense qu'ils peuvent me donner des suggestions à propos de l'impact de la politique d'arabisation, proclamée en 1962 et renforcé au long des années. D'un point de vue réaliste l’arabe classique / l’arabe standard moderne ne représente plus le parler arabe en Algérie ainsi que dans le monde arabe. La génération éduquée d'aujourd'hui manifeste une tendance vers l'utilisation d’un troisième niveau intermédiaire de la langue arabe dans les discours quotidiens. Ce comportement verbal est une preuve claire de l'évolution linguistique subie par mes informateurs dans le domaine de la phonologie et le lexique. L'usage de la langue d'un niveau d'arabe au détriment des autres niveaux peut s'expliquer par des phénomènes socioculturels tels que l'arabisation, c'est à dire acte de l'identité. Le frottement entre l’arabe classique / l’arabe standard modéré et l'arabe dialectal est censé être atténué par un troisième niveau de la langue arabe, communément connu sous le nom de la langue parlée par des intellectuels. Ce travail de recherche porte sur la distribution et les fonctions des variétés linguistiques en Algérie. Je vais d'abord présenter un bref aperçu des développements historiques qui ont façonné la situation sociolinguistique spécifique en Algérie. Je présenterai ensuite les points de vue généralement admis sur la stratification sociale des variétés de langues et de l'utilisation de la langue arabe dans la société. Dans le corps du texte, je vais plaider en faveur d'une révision de ces points de vue, en m'appuyant sur les résultats d'une étude de choix de variétés pragmatiques entre Algériens instruits comme cas d’étude. V Je vais essayer de mettre en évidence les facteurs sociolinguistiques ; choix de la langue sous-jacente en trois niveaux de base de la langue arabe qui constituent le répertoire linguistique des locuteurs notamment l'arabe dialectal (arabe algérien), l’arabe Classique / arabe standard modéré et la langue parlée des intellectuels. Un intérêt particulier sera accordé à l'étude de ce dernier dans la communauté algérienne. Les données recueillies montrent que l'arabe parlé éduqué combine les caractéristiques de l’arabe standard moderne et le parler arabe algérien, ainsi que des formes hybrides. Ce projet de recherche sera divisé en quatre grands chapitres. Les trois premiers chapitres se concentrent sur les côtés théoriques dans lesquelles des phénomènes linguistiques seront mentionnés. Dans ce cadre, le lecteur aura un aperçu de la revue de la littérature qui sert de support pour le travail actuel. Le quatrième chapitre est la partie pratique où les résultats obtenus seront étudiés. Chaque chapitre contient une introduction et une conclusion dans laquelle les principaux points de ce chapitre sont présentés. MOTS CLÉS: Code-Switching - les niveaux de la langue arabe - bilinguisme - diglossie - politique linguistique - la langue parlée des intellectuels. VI Acknowledgement………………………………………………………….I Dedications ………………………………………………...……………...II Abstract…………………………..……………………………………….III Résumé…………………………………..………………………….……..V Table of contents………...………………………………………….……VII Phonetic Symbols ………..………………………………...................… XI Abbreviations……………………………………………….….……….XIII Tables and Figures......……………………..………………….….……XIV General Introduction………………………………………………………..1 1. The Sociolinguistic Situation in Algeria ……...……………………….. 4 1.1 Introduction ……………………. …………………………………... ..4 1.2 The Stability of Classical Arabic …………………………………..….5 1.3 Modern Standard Arabic-Algeria’s national language …………...……7 1.4 MSA vs CA ………………………………………………….…..…....8 1.4.1 The Salient Characteristics of MSA …………………………..…....10 1.5 Language Use ………………………………………………….……..11 1.6 Algerian Arabic a cultural heritage…………………………….……. 13 1.6.1 The salient characteristic of AA ……………………………….…. 14 1.7 Language policy in the spirit of Arabization …………………..……..17 1.7.1 Steps of Arabization ………………………………………….……19 1.7.2 Reaction to the Arabization policy ……………………….………..21 VII 1.8 Arabic – French Bilingualism ………………………………….……24 1.9 Berber – Tamazight …………………………………………….……26 1.10 English and the impact of globalization …………….………….….27 1.11 Conclusion ………………………………………………………... 28 2. Methodological considerations and Analytical Findings
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