4550 UNIVERSiTY OF Hj~W/\n LIBRARY DIALECT LEVELING, MAINTENANCE AND URBAN IDENTITY IN MOROCCO FESSI IMMIGRANTS IN CASABLANCA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LINGUISTICS MAY 2005 By Atiqa Hachimi Dissertation Committee: Michael L. Fonnan, Co-Chairperson Miriam Meyerhoff, Co-Chairperson Patricia J. Donegan Ibrahim G. Aoude Robert J. Littman ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to extend my deepest and sincere thanks to both my supervisors: Professors Michael L. Forman and Miriam Meyerhoff. Professor Michael L. Forman has been there from the very beginning and has supported me in all my endeavors. His guidance and intellectual stimulation have been instrumental in developing my understanding of sociolinguistics. I am grateful to him for introducing me to linguistic anthropology and to advising me to explore the richness of language. His kindness and sense of humor have kept me going for all these years. I am particularly indebted to my advisor and chair, Professor Miriam Meyerhoff, who has constantly been pushing me to go beyond my limits. She has always had faith in me when I believed I had already given my best. I am grateful to her for introducing me to variationist linguistics and for her brilliant insights. She gave me invaluable advice, guidance and critiqued my work, and materially improved my understanding of my own work. I am deeply humbled by her generosity and big heart. She invited me to Edinburgh to help me with my work and she was a gracious host. I am eternally grateful to her. I wish to extend a very special thanks to Professor Patricia J. Donegan who has been there from the very beginning. She has been a great support. Her teachings were a springboard for my future work and research. The insights I gained in phonetics and phonology and other broader linguistic concepts have been invaluable assets. I would like to extend my warmest thanks to Professor Ibrahim G. Aoud6, who has also been an invaluable help and mentor from the very beginning. I worked with him as his research assistant and he steered me towards ever widening goals and scopes of research. I am greatly indebted to him for his endless and tireless efforts on my behalf. He always encouraged me and inspired me to learn and to succeed. Last but not least, a most sincere and deep felt thanks to Professor Robert J. Littman for his dedication and unrelenting help, and without whom this thesis would not have been accomplished in a timely fashion. He came into the picture at a time when I had run out of focus in putting my thesis into one comprehensive work without loose ends. He helped me with the reorganization and editing process all throughout the final stages with unwavering passion, enthusiasm and energy. And for this I am eternally grateful. I would like to extend my thanks to Geoffrey White, who was part of my committee in the earliest stages. I wish to thank him for his suggestions on ethnography and fieldwork methods. I am grateful to all the people who participated in this study. They have been generous with their time. They trusted me with their stories and allowed me into their lives. 11l I wish also to thank my fellow students and friends, too numerous to name, who encouraged and supported me during the long process of this dissertation. My greatest thanks are to my family; my late father, Allah yarharmuhu 'may God rest his soul' first inspired me to learn. It was his suggestion that I come to the United States to study. After his death, my brothers and sisters fulfilled his wish by continuing to encourage and support me, both financially and morally. My mother, who is illiterate, encouraged and pushed me to learn and enter higher academia. Her prayers and hopes inspired and guided me. IV ABSTRACT In Morocco today two competing local urban models co-exist. On one hand, there are the Old urban dialects of the historical cities, which have defined urban and prestigious linguistic practice in Morocco for centuries. These dialects have acted as badges of a well-established urban and bourgeois identity. On the other hand, there are the newly formed koines that have emerged as a result of massive internal migration to large urban centres in the 20th century. These koines are establishing themselves as new urban dialects and are shaping a new brand of urban identity. The best representatives of these types of dialects and identities in contemporary Morocco are, without doubt, Fessi (from the city of Fez) and Casablancan (from the city of Casablanca), respectively. This study examines the social and linguistic outcomes of the Fessi-Casablancan contact, considering in particular how Fessi women of Andalusian descent construct linguistic and social identity in Casablanca. Data come from in-depth ethnographic interviews that I have carried out with migrant (first generation) and Casablanca-born (second and third generation) Fessis during a 14-month period of fieldwork in 1999-2000 in Casablanca. Three linguistic variables are examined in order to assess Fessi women's leveling or maintenance of Fessi forms: two phonological variables; the alveolar trill variable (r) and the uvular stop variable (q), and one morphosyntactic variable; the second person singular feminine clitic (-i). Drawing on the latest research on language and identity which emphasizes the agency of speakers in constructing their own identities (e.g., Eckert 2000; Gubbins and Holt 2002), the study identifies the categories that have emerged as a result of the Fessi­ Casablancan contact such as 'pure Fessis', 'Fessi-Casablancans' and 'Casablancans'. v The study then goes beyond identifying categories to looking at the linguistic and non­ linguistic practices that are used to construct and give meaning to these identities. The findings of this study show that sounding 'normal', i.e., leveling out stereotypical regional traits, becoming 'tough', and being 'one of the folks, not snob' are important components in thinning out 'pure Fessi' identity. These practices may also be considered rites of passage to becoming 'Fessi-Casablancan' or 'Casablancan'. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgtnent .iii Abstract .iv List ofTables xii List ofFigures , xiv List ofSymbols, Abbreviations and Conventions xv Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 The Sociolinguistic Market in Morocco .1 1.2 Statement ofthe Problem 2 1.3 Theoretical Framework 4 1.4 Methodology 7 1.5 Women's Place in Social/Linguistic Change 8 1.6 Organization ofthe Dissertation 11 Chapter 2: Fez and Casablanca: The Cities and the People .13 2.1 Introduction 13 2.2 Fez and Casablanca: Two Stories ofUrbanization 13 2.2.1 Fez: Tale ofthe City and Its people .14 2.2.1.1 Memory ofthe City ofFez 15 2.2.1.2 The People ofFez in the 20th Century .17 2.2.1.3 Population ofFez after the 1950s 18 2.3 Casablanca: The City and the People .19 2.3.1 Pre-Colonial Casablanca .20 2.3.2 Casablanca During the French Protectorate (1912-1956) 22 2.3.4 Casablanca After Independence (1956 -Present) 24 2.3.4.1 The Socio-spacial make up ofCasablanca .26 2.3.4.2 The Major Regional Groups of Casablanca .28 2.3.4.2.1 frubis 'Rurals' .28 2.3.4.2.2 Soussis or Shleuh 'Berbers' 31 2.3.4.2.3 Fessis and Non-Fessis 'Urbanites' 31 2.4 Conclusion 35 Chapter 3: Fessi and Casablancan Dialects 36 3.1 The Urban/Rural Split 36 3.2 Fessi Dialect Today 37 3.2.1 Linguistic Sketch ofFessi Dialect 38 3.2.2 Fessi Dialect: 'Posh' and 'Feminine' .41 3.3 Casablancan Dialect Today .42 3.3.1 Linguistic Sketch ofCasablancan Dialect .43 3.3.2 Social Evaluations Toward Casablancan Dialect .47 3.4 Conclusion 48 vii 4.2 Contact-induced Linguistic Change 49 4.2.1 The Study ofDialect Contact and Change 51 4.2.1.1 Linguistic Constraints .51 4.2.1.2 Extra-Linguistic Constraints 52 4.2.1.3 Salience 53 4.3 Problems in Studying Accommodation 54 4.4 Contact-induced Linguistic Change in the Arabic Speaking World 56 4.4.1 Case Studies ofContact ofArabic Dialects 57 4.4.2 Case Studies ofContact in Moroccan Arabic 59 4.4.3 Case Studies ofCasablancan Dialect. 60 Chapter 5: Methods and Data Collection 63 5.1 Introduction 63 5.2 Ethnography as a Methodology 63 5.3 Ethnographic Work in Morocco in the Past 64 5.4 Doing Fieldwork in Casablanca 65 5.4.1 Discovering Casablanca all Over Again 66 5.4.2 Fieldwork Site 66 5.4.3 Dimensions ofIdentities in Fieldwork 68 5.4.3.1 Being a Native Researcher: Challenges and Advantages 68 5.4.3.2 Being a Female Researcher 71 5.4.3.3 Not Being Native ofCasablanca 73 5.5 Data Collection 74 5.5.1 The Interview 74 5.5.2 Interview Sites 77 5.5.2.1 The Bank 77 5.5.2.2 Boutiques 77 5.5.2.3 Private Homes 78 5.6 Themes ofthe Interview 78 5.6.1 Life Histories 79 5.6.2 Male-female Relationships in Morocco 80 5.6.3 Modernity Questions 80 5.6.4 Defining Categories and Boundaries 81 5.6.5 Attitudes Toward Dialects 81 5.7 Other Data Collection Techniques 82 5.7.1 Participant Observation 82 5.7.2 Collection ofEthnic Jokes 82 5.8 Sampling 83 5.8.1 Fessi Subjects 83 5.8.1.1 First Family 84 5.8.1.2 Second Family 85 5.8.1.3 Third Family 85 5.8.1.4 Non-related Individuals 86 5.9 The Interview Data 86 5.10 Social Profile ofthe Speakers 87 5.10.1 Social Profiles ofImmigrant Fessis 87 VllI 5.10.2 Social Profiles ofCasablanca-bom Fessis 88 5.11 Data Analysis 88 5.12 Conclusion 89 Chapter 6: The Variable (r) 90 6.1 Introduction 90 6.2 The ra' in Arabic 90 6.2.1 Emphatic and Plain [r] in Arabic 91 6.2.1.1 The Emphatic/Plain Consonant Distinction in Arabic 91 6.2.1.2 Emphatic [r] versus Plain [r] in Arabic 93 6.2.2 The Variable (r) in Moroccan Arabic 93 6.3 Sociolinguistic profile ofthe ra? (r) in Arabic 94 604 Ra? (r) in Moroccan Arabic 96 604.1 Phonetic characteristics ofCasablancan and Fessi Iris 96 604.2 Sociolinguistic profile ofthe variable (r) in Moroccan Arabic 98 604.2.1 Casablancan [r] 99 6.4.2.2 Fessi [.u 99 604.2.2.1 Stratification of(r) in Fez 100 604.2.2.2 Social Evaluation ofFessi [r].