Aspects of Language Contact in Algerian Comics: a Sociolinguistic
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PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research University of Tlemcen Faculty of Letters and Foreign Languages Department of Foreign Languages Aspects of Language Contact in Algerian Comics: A Sociolinguistic Study of Sabaou’s Houma Fighter Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Letters and Foreign Languages in Candidacy for the Requirement of the Degree of Magister in Language Contact and Sociolinguistic variation Presented by Supervised by Miss Dalila Belhassena Dr. Lotfi Abdelkader Benhattab Board of Examiners: President (Int.): Pr. S. Benmoussat Pr. University of Tlemcen Supervisor: Dr. L.A. Benhattab MC (A) University of Oran Examiner (Ext.): Dr Z. Sebane MC (A) University of Oran Examiner (Int.): Dr. F. Senouci MC (A) University of Tlemcen Examiner (Int.): Dr Z. Dendane MC (A) University of Tlemcen Academic Year: 2013/2014 ii To my supervisor Dr. Benhattab, I owe a great deal of respect and esteem for his inexhaustible advice, engaging help and constant support. A special thank to the members of the jury; Pr. Benmoussat, Dr. Senouci, Dr. Sabane and Dr. Dendane who spent their time reading and commenting my work. I cannot forget thanking my teachers, who throughout these two years were a source of inspiration. Thank you Dr. Dendane for your kindness and support Thank you Dr. Nagadi for your valuable advice Thank you Dr. Semoud though we didn’t spend much time together Thank you Dr. Serir for encouraging me to go on with this topic I am further indebted to the talented Said Sabaou, the author of this manga for his precious help. Last but not least, my sincere thanks goes to all those who contributed to the achievement of this dissertation. iii To my beloved parents. iv Abstract This dissertation is a study which attempts to explore the comic book world where emotions and thoughts are conveyed through sequential art. It aims foremost to acknowledge comic books as a stand-alone medium of expression via empirical research and to provide a multidisciplinary approach to this medium melting Visual Culture, Discourse Analysis, Intertextuality and Pragmatics. Framed under Sociolinguistics, the inquiry lays on the social motivations for code switching in comic books in maintaining group identity, showing solidarity and / or creating stylistic effects (sarcasm, irony, realism, etc….). The data under investigation represent chunks of speech uttered by characters where code switching is prevalent. These data are linguistically analyzed using the Markedness Model of Myer-Scotton. Key words: Comic books, Manga, Visual Culture, Discourse Analysis, Visual Discourse Analysis, Code Switching (Algerian Arabic/French) and the Markedness Model. v Table of contents Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................... iii Dedication ...................................................................................................................... iv Abstract ........................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... vi List of Tables .................................................................................................................. x List of Figures ....................................................................................................... xi List of Acronyms & Abbreviations xiii List of Phonetic Symbols xiv General Introduction 1 Chapter One: Into the Comic Books World: Historical Perspectives 1.1Introduction 8 1.2 Defining Comic Books as a Genre 9 1.3 Comic Books, Comic Strips and Graphic Novels 12 1.3.1 Comic Books 12 1.3.2 Comic Strips 13 1.3.2.1 Production 13 1.3.2.2 Distribution 14 1.3.2.3 The Art Form 14 1.3.2.4 Culture 15 1.3.3 Graphic Novels 15 1.3.4 Bandes Déssinées 16 1.4 Development of the Medium 19 vi 1.4.1 The Era of Invention 22 1.4.1.1 Comic Strips and Pulp Fiction 23 1.4.1.2 Modern Comic Books 25 1.4.2 The Era of Proliferation 27 1.4.3 The Era of Diversity 29 1.4.4 The Era of Retrenchment 30 1.4.5 The Era of Connection 31 1.4.6 The Era of Independence 32 1.4.7 The Era of Ambition 35 1.4.8 The Era of Reiteration 37 1.4.9 Manga 38 1.5 Origin of Manga 39 1.5.1 Opening to the West 42 1.5.2 Osamu Tezuka, the God of Manga 44 1.6 Visual Culture / Visual Studies 46 1.8 Comic Books’ Status in Algeria 50 1.9 Conclusion 54 Chapter Two: From Theory to Practice 2.1 Introduction 57 2.2 The Field of Discourse Analysis 58 2.3 Intertextuality and Discourse 61 2.4 Visual Discourse Analysis 62 2.5 Iconology versus Iconography 68 2.6 Aspects of the Sociolinguistic Situation of Algeria 70 2.7 Today’s Algerian Linguistic Repertoire 71 vii 2.7.1 Classical Arabic 71 2.7.2 Modern Standard Arabic 71 2.7.3 Algerian Arabic 72 2.7.4 French 72 2.7.5 Berber 73 2.8 Code Switching 74 2.9 Mapping the Linguistic Varieties Existing in Houma Fighter 77 2.10 Methodology 82 2.11 Conclusion 87 Chapter Three: Marked vs. Unmarked Choice in Houma Fighter 3.1 Introduction 90 3.2 Outlining the Markedness Model 91 3.3 Pragmatics and the Markedness Model 95 3.4 Varieties’ Distribution in Houma fighter 98 3.5 Choices’ Variations in Houma fighter 100 3.5.1 Urban vs. Rural Varieties of AA 102 3.6 Social Motivations for Code Switching in Houma fighter 104 3.6.1 Code Switching as Indexical of Social Negotiations 107 3.6.2 Code Switching, the Vehicle of Social Norms 108 3.6.3 Code Switching and Transmission of Social Values 111 3.6.4 Code Switching as Echoic 112 3.6.5 Code Switching as Indicator of Folkloric Speech 113 3.7 Conclusion 115 viii General Conclusion 117 Appendices 121 Bibliography 130 ix List of tables Table 2.1: Characters of Houma fighter and their and linguistic varieties. 73 Table 3.1: Urban versus Rural (some) words in Houma Fighter 98 Table 3.2: Words indexing social negotiations 104 Table 3.3: Words denoting social norms words in Houma Fighter 106 Table 3.4: Words indexing social values 107 Table 3.5: Instances of CS as echoic 108 Table 3.6: Instances of CS as folkloric speech 110 x List of figures Figure 1.1: Maus I and II 7 Figure 1.2: Persepolis I and II 7 Figure 1.3: An excerpt from ‘Le Lotus Bleu’ 17 Figure 1.4: An excerpt from the Aztec manuscript 20 Figure 1.5: An excerpt from the Bayeux Tapestry 20 Figure 1.6: An excerpt of The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck 23 Figure 1.7: The Yellow Kid 24 Figure 1.8: A cover of The Funnies 26 Figure 1.9: A cover of Famous Funnies 26 Figure 1.10: Action Comics # 1 27 Figure 1.11: Captain America punching Hitler 28 Figure 1.12: An excerpt from American Splendor 33 Figure 1.13: Choju Giga 40 Figure 1.14: The great wave of Konnagawa 41 Figure 1.15: Shōnen magazine covers 43 Figure 1.16: Matryoshka dolls 46 Figure 1.17: The Arnolfini Marriage 46 Figure 1.18: The Christ in the House of Mary and Mar 47 xi Figure 1.19: The Meninas 48 Figure 1.20: Excerpt of Bouzid 51 Figure 1.21: M’Quidech cover 51 Figure 1.22: Oppression 53 Figure 1.23: El-Menchar 53 Figure 2.1: Albers’ Model of VDA 64 Figure 2.2: Map1: Distribution of Arabic and Berber in Algeria 75 Figure 2.3: Map2: Urban and Rural varieties 77 Figure 3.1: Varieties Distribution 95 Figure 3.2: Urban vs. Rural varieties 99 xii List of Abbreviations & Acronyms AA Algerian Arabic CA Conversation Analysis CAT Communication Accommodation Theory CS Code switching DA Discourse Analysis F French MM Markedness Model MSA Modern Standard Arabic Lit. Tan. Literary Translation RO Right and Obligation SAT Speech Act Theory VDA Visual Discourse Analysis WWII Second World War xiii List of Phonetic Symbols Arabic Letters Phonetic Symbols Arabic Letters Phonetic Symbols ď ض ا ŧ ط b ب đ ظ t ت ʕ ع θ ث ɣ غ ʒ ج f ف ħ ح q ق ɣ خ k ك d د l ل ḍ ذ m م r ر n ن z ز h ه s س w و ʃ ش j ي ș ص َ /Vowel Signs: ‘ Haraka’:/a/ َ ,/i/, َ ,/u xiv General Introduction Belhassena Dalila General Introduction: Comic books (1) have contributed to provide joy to their readers from their early days, they were parts of news magazines all painted in rose. These rose pages were devoted entirely to comics and superhero stories, depicting the adventures of fictional characters and their escapades. Despite their growing popularity, comic books faced rude criticism; they were depicted as mindless stories perverting teenagers and child stories with no literary merit. In this vein, anticomics’ crusaders aimed at discarding comics claiming that they were nothing but injections of sex and violence besides of considering them as pathologies. But through time, people familiarized with works in this appealing and diverse format, where artists like Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner, Hèrgé and Naoki Urasawa with respect to all remaining comics’ creators, illustrated their masterpieces like ‘Maus’, ‘The Spirit’, ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ and ‘20th century boys’. In fact, more innovative, experimental and high-quality stories flourished and people became eager to read more and more of them. Indeed, some specialists claim that comic books reading is an act of participation, as emphasized by Scott McCloud (1993:65), comics “is a medium where the audience is a willing and conscious collaborator”. This process is reflected in the fact that comic books are a combination of words and images through which the reader gives entirely him/herself to an autonomous content through the text. Reading comic books is in a sense, object-driven and essentially based on dialogues and reflections (illustrated in sorts of balloons).