Interrelation Between Linguistic Change and Socio-Cultural Identity
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ABOU BEKR BELKAID UNIVERSITY OF TLEMCEN FACULTY OF LETTERS AND LANGUAGES DEPARTEMENT OF ENGLISH Interrelation between Linguistic Change and Socio-cultural Identity Preservation in Ain-Sefra Speech Community: Case of ‘El-Amour’ Variety. Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctorate in Sociolinguistics Presented by: Supervised by: Ms. Anissa MBATA Prof. Amine BELMEKKI Board of Examiners Prof. Ilhem SERIR Chairwoman University of Tlemcen Prof. Amine BELMEKKI Supervisor University of Tlemcen Dr. Zohra LABED External Examiner University of ENSO Dr.Mohammed DIB External Examiner University of Mascara Dr. Mimouna ZITOUNI External Examiner University of Oran Dr. Mohammed Nassim NEGADI Internal Examiner University of Tlemcen Academic Year: 2017- 2018 MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ABOU BEKR BELKAID UNIVERSITY OF TLEMCEN FACULTY OF LETTERS AND LANGUAGES DEPARTEMENT OF ENGLISH Interrelation between Linguistic Change and Socio-cultural Identity Preservation in Ain Sefra Speech Community: Case of ‘El-Amour’ Variety. Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctorate in Sociolinguistics Presented by: Supervised by: Ms. Anissa MBATA Prof. Amine BELMEKKI Board of Examiners Prof. Ilhem SERIR Chairwoman University of Tlemcen Prof. Amine BELMEKKI Supervisor University of Tlemcen Dr. Zohra LABED External Examiner University of ENSO Dr.Mohammed DIB External Examiner University of Mascara Dr. Mimouna ZITOUNI External Examiner University of Oran Dr. Mohammed Nassim NEGADI Internal Examiner University of Tlemcen Academic Year: 2017- 2018 Statement of Originality I, Anissa MBATA, declare that this thesis entitled “Interrelation between Linguistic Change and Socio-cultural Identity Preservation in Ain-Sefra Speech Community: Case of ‘El Amour’ Variety” is of my own composition, and that it contains no material previously submitted for the award of any other academic degree. The research reported in this thesis has been carried out by myself, except where due acknowledgement is made in the text. May, 16th 2018 Anissa MBATA I DEDICATION I firstly dedicate this work to my life-assistant, my dear mother to whom I say I owe it all to you, and without you I would never be who I am today To my sisters, Aziza and Salima, who have always believed in me. To my brothers Djamel and Med Amine To the source of inspiration my brother Abdelkarim To my life-partner my husband Abbes TALBI To my lovely son Med Riyadh To the memory of my father Anissa MBATA II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my thesis advisor Prof. Amine BELMEKKI; I am gratefully indebted to his person for his very valuable encouragements, patience and comments on this thesis. He never accepted less than my best efforts. I am heartily thankful to the board of examiners who accept to read and evaluate my thesis. Prof. Ilhem SERIR, Dr. Zohra LABED, Dr.Mohammed DIB, Dr. Mimouna ZITOUNI, and Dr. Med Nassim NEGADI Appreciations go also to the teachers of the department of English, especially Prof. S. BENMOUSSAT, Prof. G. HADJOUI, Prof. H. HAMZAOUI, Prof. I. SERIR, Prof. Z. DENDANE, and Dr. N. NEGADI I owe several debts of thanks in writing this thesis to the informants of Ain-Sefra especially El-Amour individuals. A special thank goes to M. Hamza ABDEL-ALI. Anissa MBATA III ABSTRACT The current thesis examines the linguistic and social correlates of early language change in ‘El-Amour (Amr) ethnic group’ within Ain-Sefra speech community. The ultimate aims are to seek for the aspects of language change which are noticed as apparent time pilot study results of phonological and lexical features and to account for an interrelation between this change in progress and identity preservation. Moreover, the questionnaire and the focus group interview findings display an externally-motivated change of the status of the Amr sociolinguistic variables and certain lexemes which are extremely associated with the bedouin life-style of El- Amour individuals. The fundamental statistical significance of the findings reveals that the sound change and the co-existence of its variants among women are more prominent than that of men and participants who have a low level of education. Furthermore, lexical change is conditioned by the lack of use of those vocabulary items in urban environment as opposed to its original Bedouin /nomadic setting. Hence, the qualitative results have testified the tight relationship between linguistic change and Amr speaker’s identity preservation which is perceived as an age-based and context-concomitant phenomenon. Key-words: ‘El-Amour’ dialect – language change - identity – Bedouin - IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of Originality I II Dedication III Acknowledgements IV Abstract V Table of Contents XI List of Abbreviations and Acronyms XIII List of Tables XV List of Pie-Charts XVII List of Bar-Graphs XVIII List of Figures XIX List of Diagrams XXI List of Symbols XXII List of Phonetic Symbols 01 GENERAL INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE CONCEPTUAL GROUND 1.1. Introduction 09 1.2. Language Study 09 V 1.3. Language Variation 13 1.3.1. Linguistic Item 15 1.3.2. Linguistic Variety 16 1.3.3. Geographical / Diatopical Variation 17 1.3.3.1. Dialect continuum 18 1.3.3.2. Isoglosses 19 1.3.4. Social Variation 20 1.3.5. Contextual Variation 20 1.4. Language Functions 22 1.4.1. Grammar and Discourse 22 1.4.2. Semantic and Pragmatics 25 1.4.3. Semiotics 29 1.4.4. Sociocultural Consideration 31 1.5. Language and Identity 33 1.5.1. Historical Background 33 1.5.2. The Nature of Identity 34 1.6. Ethnicity 36 1.6.1. Definition of Ethnicity 37 1.6.2. Community Approaches 40 VI 1.6.2.1. Speech community 40 1.6.2.2. Social network 41 1.6.2.3. Community of practice 41 1.7. Types of Identity 42 1.7.1. Personal Identity (internal) 43 1.7.2. Group Identity (external) 46 1.7.3. Ethnic Identity 46 1.8. Language Change 49 1.8.1. Language Change Motives 54 1.8.2. Dialect Contact 55 1.9. Conclusion 57 CHAPTER TWO SOCIOLINGUISTIC PROFILE OF AIN SEFRA 2.1. Introduction 60 2.2. Ain-Sefra Geographical Position 60 2.3. Sociolinguistic Situation of Ain-Sefra 63 2.3.1. Arabic Language 64 2.3.2. Ethnic Groups 67 2.3.2. Linguistic Varieties 68 VII 2.4. Social Review of El-Amour 74 2.4.1. Arm Origins 75 2.4.2. Arm Original Environment 76 2.5. Conclusion 77 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION 3.1. Introduction 80 3.2. Research Methodology and Design 80 3.2.1. Research Paradigm 83 3.2.1.1. Quantitative /Qualitative approach 84 3.2.1.2. Emic/ Etic techniques 85 3.2.2. Population Sampling and Distribution 86 3.3. Pilot Study 89 3.3.1. Data Collection 93 3.3.1.1. Field observation and recording 93 3.3.1.2. Semi-structured interview 94 3.3.2. Preliminary Results 97 3.3.2.1. Amr phonemes 97 3.3.2.2. Amr lexicon 99 VIII 3.4. Instrumentation 103 3.4.1. Questionnaire 103 3.4.2. Focus Group Interview 106 3.5. Conclusion 109 CHAPTER FOUR DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 4.1. Introduction 113 4.2. Data Analysis 113 4.2.1. Recorded Conversation Results 113 4.2.2. Questionnaire Analysis 116 4.2.3. Focus Interview Analysis 145 4.3. Data Interpretation 151 4.3.1. Gradual Change 152 4.3.2. Lexical Change 157 4.3.3. Cultural Orientations 160 4.3.4. Language Change Motives 162 4.3.4.1. Gender as a social force 163 4.3.4.2. Age effectiveness 163 4.3.4.3. Educational level and illiteracy 164 4.3.4.4. Identity status and prestige 164 IX 4.4. Discussion of Findings 165 4.4.1 Causal Mechanisms for Amr Dialect Change 165 4.4.2. Square-based Pyramid Identity Model 166 4.4.2.1. Language 167 4.4.2.2. Acquired variables 169 4.4.2.3. Ethnicity 174 4.4.2.4. Religion 175 4.4.2.5. Culture 176 4.4.2.6. Amr Base identity 177 4.4.3. Ethnic Identity Preservation 178 4.4.4. Amr Function and Functionality 178 4.5. Conclusion 181 GENERAL CONCLUSION 183 BILBLIOGRAPHY 188 APPENDICES 197 Appendix I: Recording 199 Appendix II: Semi-structured Interview 202 Appendix III: Questionnaire 205 Appendix IV: Focus Group Interview 216 Appendix V: Focus Group Consent Form 219 X List of Abbreviations and Acronyms AA Algerian Arabic AD Anno Domini Amr ‘Amour’ Amr (-/+) Dialect change in progress BC Before Christ Br Berber Language Cl A Classical Arabic C.P. Collected Papers Diag. Diagram F. Female Fig. Figure FG Focus Group Ksr Ksour LI Lexical Item Lge Language M Male mn Minute MSA Modern Standard Arabic n Number Ob. Observer Pl. Plural XI qtd. Quoted qual./quan. Qualitative / quantitative S Speaker SA Standard Arabic SC Speech community sec Second XII List of Tables Table 2.1 The Ksr Decay of Short Vowels ..………..…………… 71 Table 2.2 The Alternation of Diphthongs after Emphatic Consonants. ....................................................................... 72 Table 3. 1. Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods (from Marshall, 1996, p.524) ………..………..………. 84 Table 3. 2 The Methods Used in Emic/ Etic Continuum …………. 86 Table 3. 3 Distribution of Informants in correlation with Age and Gender. ………..………..………..………..………….. 88 Table 3.4 Goals and Procedures of the Pilot Study. ………..……… 91 Table 3.5 Distribution of the Informants within the Pilot Study… 92 Table 3.6 Vowels of Amr dialect .................................................. 98 Table 3.7 Amr dialect Salient Consonants Vis-a-vis MSA. …….. 99 Table 3.8 Amr Lexical Categories with Illustration 100 .......................................................................................