Mouhoubi, Rabirha (1997) A comparative study of a minority language for teaching purposes : Kabyl Tamazight as a case study. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/79000 Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF A MINORITY LANGUAGE FOR TEACHING PURPOSES: KABYL TAMAZIGHT AS A CASE STUDY by Rabirha MOUHOUBI Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. in the University of Glasgow Department of Education July 1997 Volume 1 To my dear mother who has never agreed with my staying in Glasgow and to the memory of my dear nephew, Yacine, who died at the age of fourteen. I thank him for completing a questionnaire and for giving me his history book to read the few pages in it about the history of Imazighen. ABSTRACT This work deals with the comparative study of a minority language for teaching purposes with Kabyl Tamazight as a specific case study. Since teaching is a sociolinguistic behaviour, a sociolinguistic approach has been adopted to understand the present-day social setting of that vernacular in relation to the people making use of it within the multilingual Algerian society. A questionnaire was conducted in Algeria to explore the attitudes of the native speakers of Kabyl Tamazight towards their language and its teaching at primary school level. Several countries were visited to inform thinking about the education of bilingual children from minority groups and to observe classroom activities in bilingual pnmary schools. Accordingly, contacts were established with minority language teachers in the following locations: Scotland (Lowlands, Highlands and Western isles) at different times. The latest visits were to the isles of Lewis (Stornoway), Harris and Skye from March 18th to 26th 1997. The Republic of Ireland (Dublin, Ceathru Rua and Galway) in 1994 (May 28th-June 4th) Wales (Aberystwyth) in 1996 (14-21 February) Brittany (Rennes) in 1995 (16-23 May) and Catalonia (Barcelona) in 1997 (8-15 March). Personal interviews with minority language advisers, mainly Scottish Gaelic, have been made to discuss the nature of problems encountered in the teaching of that language. It is concluded that, in the short term, research about the Tamazight language and its cultivation is needed so as to establish a standard form of the language which can then be used in Education. ABSTRACT ( continued) In the long term, objectives could be best achieved if a top-to­ bottom approach is adopted, i.e., Tamazight should firstly be taught at university level then at secondary school level and finally at primary school level. The bilingual (Tamazight-Arabic) primary school education is a continuing process which started already. It is proposed that an approach to the teaching of Kabyl Tamazight should specifically consist of a communicative and mother-tongue teaching approach. More attention to reading and writing skills should be given since the majority of children in primary school (for those aged 6 to 13) in the Amazighophone regions (where the Tamazight language originated) already know the spoken form of their language. During the first two years of primary education (P1 and P2), the language learning process should be conducted only in the children's first language. According to the results of the questionnaires given to children's parents, Latin characters are favoured to transcribe Tamazight during the early stages of its being taught at school. Later on, Tifinagh signs could be used once these are fully discovered and developed. Prior to learning Arabic (which has to be taught starting from P3, once the reading and writing skills in the mother tongue are mastered), the teaching of Islamic religion should be done orally in P1 and P2. Finally, an adequate curriculum reflecting aspects of the Amazigh culture has to be developed and used as a support to the teaching of Kabyl, one variety of the Tamazight language spoken in Higher and Lower Kabylia. These regions - divided by the deep gorge formed by the Summam wadi - are situated on east of Algiers, as shown on map 1 .2, page 4. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Ministry of Higher Education in Algeria for offering me a grant to conduct this research. While the opinions In this study and responsibility for views given, are entirely my own, lowe an enormous debt to my supervisor, Professor Nigel Grant. He has helped me in every possible way in improving my understanding of minority languages and their present-day status. I should like to thank Professor Thompson, LB. for his helpful comments and criticism. I would also like to thank all those teachers, students, pupils and others who accepted to complete the questionnaires conducted in Algeria. Members of institutions and heads of schools visited in Scotland (Lowlands, Highlands and Western Isles) in Wales, Brittany, Ireland, Barcelona and in Algeria are not forgotten. I am also most grateful to them for allowing me to observe classroom activities which provided me with useful information and many of the ideas discussed here. III CONTENTS ABSTRACT ACKNO~EDGEMENTS I I CONTENTS I I I LIST OF TABLES, ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS VIII TRANSCRIPTION SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS X PART I - INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION page 1 -1 Introduction to the research 1 1 - 2 Background of the research 9 1 - 3 Objectives of the study 1 4 1 - 4 Delimitations of the study 1 7 1 - 5 Methodology 26 CHAPTER 2 MINORITY LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD 2-1 Minority language; delimiting the concept and related problems 46 2-2 The political and social status of some minority languages (e.g., Breton, Welsh and Catalan) 64 2 - 3 Cultural identity and related Issues 11 2 IV PART II - TWO CASE STUDIES: TAMAZIGHT AND GAELIC CHAPTER 3 TAMAZIGHT IN ALGERIA - GENERALITIES 3 - 1 Geographical delimitations where the varieties of Tamazight are spoken 120 3 - 2 History of Imazighen 130 3 - 3 Linguistic situation in Algeria 150 3 - 4 Algerian educational system 84 CHAPTER 4 THE IMAZIGHEN. 4 -1 Their origin and different appellations 207 4 - 2 Description of the Kabyl group 215 CHAPTER 5 SHORT HISTORY OF THE STRUGGLE FOR AMAZIGH CULTURAL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS 5 - 1 Struggle on the political field 222 5 - 2 Struggle on the cultural field 231 5 - 3 The role of cultural associations 243 5 - 4 Other forms of struggle 245 CHAPTER 6 GAINS AND PROBLEMS OF IMAZIGHEN 6 -1 Gains 249 6-2 Problems 255 v CHAPTER 7 TAMAZIGHT LANGUAGE page 7 -1 What is the Tamazight language? 261 7-2 What are its origins? 269 CHAPTER 8 GAELIC IN SCOTLAND 8 -1 A brief historical background 273 PART I I I - COMPARISON OF THE SITUATION OF TAMAZIGHT WITH GAELIC CHAPTER 9 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES OF THE SITUATION OF TAMAZIGHT AND GAELIC 285 CHAPTER 10 TAMAZIGHT AND GAELIC IN EDUCATION 1 0 -1 The writing system of Gaelic 297 1 0 - 2 The writing system of Tamazight 300 1 0 - 3 The teaching of Tamazight 317 1 0 - 4 The teaching of Gaelic 321 PART IV- THE TEACHING OF KABYL TAMAZIGHT: PEDAGOGIC PROPOSALS CHAPTER 11 TAMAZIGHT AT SCHOOL 1 1 -1 Recognition and revival of minority languages: implications for education 330 VI 11 -2 Aims of teaching Tamazight at school 337 1 1 -3 Language planning in education 352 CHAPTER 12 -" TAMAZIGHT DI LAKUI " (TAMAZIGHT AT SCHOOL) 1 2 -1 Tamazight language planning 358 1 2 - 2 Background and motivation of the pupils 366 12- 3 Teaching the language as a subject or teaching other subjects in the language? 370 1 2 - 4 Tamazight-Arabic bilingual primary education 374 1 2 - 5 Teaching the language as mother tongue 384 CHAPTER 13- TEACHING ASPECTS OF KABYL CULTURE 13-1 What is Culture? 408 1 3 - 2 Difference between Culture and folklore 409 1 3 - 3 What is Algerian culture? 41 0 1 3 - 4 What IS Amazigh culture? 41 4 13- 5 What IS Kabyl culture? 434 13- 6 Third World theory of Education 446 1 3 -7 Which aspects of Kabyl culture can be taught at school and how? 448 VII CHAPTER 14- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 460 APPENDICES 469 BIBLIOGRAPHY 489 VIII LIST OF MAPS, TABLES, PICTURES, CHARTS, FIGURES, DIAGRAMS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Maps Map 1.1, page 3, Tamazight speaking areas in North Africa. Map 1.2, page 4, Geographical regions of Algeria and Kabylia. Map 2, page 69, Lower and Higher Brittany. Map 3.1, page 81, Geographical regions of Wales. Map 3.2, page 81, Percentage of population able to speak Welsh in 1991 Map 3.3, page 81, Number of Welsh-speakers in 1991. Map 4, page 94, Main Catalan dialects. Map 8.1, page 282, Scotland. Map 8.2, page 282, Gaelic speakers in Scotland according to 1991 Census. Tables Table 2.3.1, page 118. Concepts of Culture. Table 3.3.1, page 162. Language attributes in Algeria Table 3.4.1, page 188. Pass rate in Baccalaureat 1980-96. Table1 0.2.1, page 308. The Greco-Latin Alphabet (according to Mammeri and Boulifa). Table10.2.2, page 308.