The Diglossic Phenomenon of Arabic and Adrar University

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The Diglossic Phenomenon of Arabic and Adrar University 1 University of AHMED DRAIA, Adrar Faculty of Letters and Languages Department of English The Diglossic Phenomenon of Arabic and French in Adrar The Case Study of Students Studying Arabic at Adrar University This Research Paper is Presented in Partial Fulfilment of Requirements for Master Degree in Linguistics and Didactics Presented by: Supervised by: Ms. Souda OULHADJ Dr. Rachid MAHIEDDINE Academic Year: 2016/2017 2 Dedications In the name of God (ALLAH), most merciful and compassionate. I should be very thankful to our Allah, for giving me the chance to continue my study. This humble work is dedicated to: My sweet mother, the queen of my heart: Amina, who has always supported me a lot in my life. To my beloved father, Tayeb, for his material and spiritual support, without him I would not be who I am. All my family, particularly to my lovely sisters and my kindest brothers. To my dearest aunt Saliha, To my grandmothers for their prayers, To all my dearest aunts and uncles, Also I dedicate my work to all graduate friends, to all my relatives, friends, and classmates, Finally, this work is dedicated to all those who believe in the richness of learning. 3 Acknowledgment All the praise is due to God alone who guides, helps, and gives me the capacity of doing this work. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Mr.Mahieddine Rachid for his valuable guidance, encouragements, help and especially patience during the progress of this work. I owe him great respect. I would like to express my deep appreciation to all my teachers from primary school to university. We also would like to express our warmest thanks to our teachers at the English department for their constant efforts throughout these five years. I would also like to thank all students who helped me for collecting the data to be analysed. Special thanks to those who agreed to be recorded, because without their time and cooperation, this project would not have been possible. Last, but not least, I pray God to covey that thanks in his own way back to you all “Ameen”. 4 Abstract Algeria is a famous and very interesting area for sociolinguistic studies. Thus, there the highlight has always been an interest in diglossia as a sociolinguistic phenomenon, and its relation to society and concerning special on Adrar. To investigate this phenomenon a questionnaire has been administered to a hundred students in Ahmed Draia Adrar University, master students aiming at proving that students really need to use tow ways of language, formal or informal, way to facilitate communication. In addition, recording students’ speech outside and inside classroom to strengthen the study and reveal the most used elements of the language that are changing between CA, VA, and zenet. 5 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms AA: Algerian Arabic CA: Classical Arabic F: French Eng: English H: High L: Low MSA: Modern Standard Arabic MT: Mother Tongue SA: Standard Arabic VA: Vernacular Arabic 6 List of Tables Table 1.1: Examples of Lexical Items in the High and low Variety..............................11 Table 1.2: Possible situations of language use in diglossic communities…..................12 Table 1.3: The Relationship between Bilingualism and Diglossia.................................18 Table 2.1: Spanish Borrowings.......................................................................................25 Table 2.2: Distribution of the Tamazigh Varieties.........................................................30 Table 2.3: Using some Words in VA and MSA.............................................................35 Table 2.4: Using Words in MSA, VA, and Zenet..........................................................37 Table 2.5 Words in the Tuareg Dialect….......................................................................38 Table 3.1: Learners’ Gender...........................................................................................48 Table 3.2: Impact of Colloquial Arabic on Students’ proficiency..................................50 Table 3.3: Language Preferences....................................................................................52 Table 3.4: Difficult Zenet or VA in speaking.................................................................53 Table 3.5: During speaking mixing the High and low variety…...................................54 Table 3.6: The Sensitive and richest language for expressing ideas…..........................55 Table 3.7: The most socially valued Language ….........................................................55 Table 3.8: Preferences in language use in performing of Different Activities…...........56 Table 3.9: language preferences in various skills….......................................................57 Table 3.10: The most logical language in conversation at Arabic department..............59 Table 3.11: Teaching in Algeria.....................................................................................60 Table 3.12: French as a component in the Algerian culture identity..............................61 Table 3.13: The best variety in understanding a lesson…..............................................62 7 List of Figures Figure 2.1: The Tamazight places Varieties...................................................................29 8 List of graphs Graph 3.1: Gender of the Participants............................................................................49 Graph 3.2: Impact of Colloquial Arabic on Students’ proficiency................................50 Graph 3.3: Language Preferences…..............................................................................51 Graph 3.4: Difficult Zenet or VA in speaking...............................................................52 Graph 3.5: During speaking mixing the High and low variety......................................53 Graph 3.6: The Sensitive and richest language for expressing ideas.............................54 Graph 3.7: The most socially valued Language.............................................................55 Graph 3.8: Preferences in language use in performing of Different Activities.............56 Graph 3.9: language preferences in various skills.........................................................57 Graph 3.10: The most logical language in conversation at Arabic department.............59 Graph 3.11: Teaching in Algeria...................................................................................60 Graph 3.12: French as a component in the Algerian culture identity............................61 Graph 3.13: The best variety in understanding a lesson................................................62 Graph 3.14: Consideration of Using Standard Arabic in a Dialect………...………….63 9 Table of Content Dedication..........................................................................................................................I Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................II Abstract…........................................................................................................................III List of abbreviations........................................................................................................IV List of Tables....................................................................................................................V List of Figures ................................................................................................................VI List of Graphs ...............................................................................................................VII Table of Contents..........................................................................................................VIII General Introduction ........................................................................................................1 Chapter one: Diglossia as a Sociolinguistic Phenomenon 1.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................5 1.2 History of Diglossia…................................................................................................5 1.2.1 Language Defined….......................................................................................6 1.2.2 Definition of Diglossia....................................................................................6 1.3 Historical Development of diglossia….......................................................................8 1.3.1 Psichari (1928) Dimotiki and Katharévusa in Greece…................................8 1.3.2 Ferguson’s Conceptualization of diglossia….................................................9 1.3.2.1 High and Low Variety….................................................................10 1.3.3. Fishman’s Extended Diglossia…................................................................12 1.4 Criteria of Diglossia…..............................................................................................14 1.4.1 Function…....................................................................................................14 1.4.2 Prestige….....................................................................................................14 1.4.3 Literary heritage...........................................................................................15 1.4.4 Acquisition...................................................................................................15 1.4.5
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