Features of Arabic-French code-switching in Morocco A sociolinguistic case study on intra-sentential code-switching in Morocco Juhan Luomala Centre for Languages and Literature Lund University Sweden Supervisor: Maria Persson Examiner: Lena Ambjörn Acknowledgements I want to thank Maria Persson, supervisor for this study, for her guidance and supervision throughout this process, as well as assigning me as a representative of Lund University to conduct field work in Morocco. I want to thank The Birgit Rausing Language Programme, for a generous scholarship to make the required field work in Morocco possible. I want to thank Professor Yamina El Kirat and Laila Mounir, for receiving me as a guest at Mohammed V University of Rabat, and sharing their knowledge regarding Moroccan sociolinguistics and being of great help when organising the practical arrangements in order to make this study possible. I want to thank Souhaila Khamlichi, for being the moderator of the required focus group discussions. Without her help the recordings would not have been as authentic. I want to thank Taha El Hadari, Ismail Bardaoui and Mohamed Sabaoui, who were of great help when transliterating the recorded data. Without their effort and time this thesis would remain being in process. Finally, I want to thank my family and dear friends: Mehdi Bendkia, especially for his help with transliterations, as well as Ieanah Veronica Svensson and Edith Salminen for all the help and support, proof readings and feedback. !3 Abstract This Master’s thesis is a sociolinguistic case study about intra-sentential code-switching, also known as code-mixing, between colloquial Moroccan Arabic and French. The data is collected by arranged interviews with focus groups consisting of university students in Rabat, Morocco, in order to investigate the trends and the extent of the occurrence of French in speech situations where intra- sentential code-switching between colloquial Moroccan Arabic and French is present. The hypothe- ses are based on findings of previous research conducted on code-switching in North Africa by Ben- tahila (1983a/b), Bentahila & Davies (1983, 1995), and Sayahi (2011a/b, 2014). The most important independent variables in the study are gender and field of education through five different focus groups consisting of participants from five different fields of study, including both the fields of humanities and sciences. This study investigates French verbs, whether adapted into colloquial Moroccan Arabic verb morphology patterns or not, the occurrence of numerals, whether used in Arabic or in French, the realisation of the phoneme /r/ in French words, whether French, guttural ["] or alveolar trill [r], the role of code-switching in repetition and rhetorical emp- hasis, as well as examining whether there is a difference in the frequency and amount of intra-sen- tential code-switching performed by male and female speakers and the different focus groups. The analysis provides examples of the examined phenomena, offering an insight to what intra-sen- tential code-switching in the Moroccan context may look like. The results show that all the features of intra-sentential code-switching mentioned above occur in the data: the usage of French verbs be- ing adapted into colloquial Moroccan Arabic exceeds the amount of cases of code-switching with French verbs; the usage of numerals in Arabic exceeds the usage of numerals in French; the pro- nunciation of the phoneme /r/ in French words differs between male and female speakers, as the female speakers use more French, guttural ["] while the male speakers use more alveolar trill [r], yet the language of instruction being French for certain participants significantly had an impact on the realisation of the phoneme. Furthermore, the data presents in total 16 cases of repetition reached by code-switching, and the analysis of the independent background variables shows differences be- tween groups regarding both gender and field of education: the male participants used more French verbs than the female participants, whereas female participants provided more cases of French nu- merals and the French, guttural ["] when pronouncing French words with /r/ in comparison to the male participants. Finally, the field of education certainly is proven to have an impact on the partic- ipants' likelihood to use French. Key words: code-switching, sociolinguistics, Morocco, Arabic, French, focus group interview !4 Table of contents 1. Introduction 7 1.1. Introduction 7 1.2. Aim of research 8 1.3. Limitation of research 9 1.4. Previous studies 10 1.5. Problem definition 16 1.5.1. Hypothesis 16 2. Theory 17 2.1. Code-switching 17 2.2. Lexical borrowing 19 2.3. Gender 22 3. Method 23 3.1. Data collection 23 3.2. Method used in data analysis 27 3.3. Limitations of the chosen method 29 3.4. Ethics 31 3.5. The transliteration system used in the study 32 3.6. Focus groups in the study 33 4. Background to the linguistic situation in Morocco 34 4.1. Moroccan Arabic 34 4.2. French 38 5. Analysis 40 5.1. Verbs 40 5.1.11. Summary of groups - verbs 53 5.2. Numerals 58 5.2.11. Summary of groups - numerals 64 5.3. Pronunciation of the phoneme /r/ 68 5.3.11. Summary of groups - pronunciation of the phoneme /r/ 75 5.4. Repetition / confirmation 79 !5 5.4.11. Summary of groups - repetition 83 5.5. Summary of analysed features of intra-sentential code-switching 85 6. Conclusion 95 7. Suggestions for further research 106 8. Appendix 108 9. References 119 !6 1. Introduction 1.1. Introduction Code-switching, broadly defined as the “alternate use of two or more languages in the same utter- ance of conversation” (Fishman 1999, p. 147), is an extensively studied topic that often is a result of bi- or multilingualism. Regarding sociolinguistics in the North African perspective, code-switching is a well-studied, frequently occurring phenomenon known to many, and a significant feature of the local way of speech. It is worth mentioning that the phenomenon is not unique to North Africa alone; code-switching occurs in numerous bi- or multilingual societies where two or more lan- guages or varieties of a language are used simultaneously (Gardner-Chloros 2009, p. 4). Moreover, Gardner-Chloros (2002) suggests that “The study of why and how people code-switch provides in- sights about many aspects of language as well as speech.” (ibid., p. 4). Due to the chequered history of North Africa, as well as the international contact and natural mobility among people throughout the times, the languages in use in the Maghreb1 are many. The colonial era has left its traces in the society which has resulted in extensive code-switching between the colloquial Arabic varieties and French, as Sayahi (2011b) suggests: “the continuing presence of French in Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco have contributed to considerable competence in French that has allowed colloquial Arabic and French to coexist in several domains and, inevitably, often end up being used in the same con- versation.” (Sayahi 2011b, p. 114). Therefore it should be noted that these two languages have ex- isted side by side for such a long time that code-switching hardly is something new, but on the con- trary, has been used for generations, and, as is natural for languages, keeps changing and developing (Ziamari 2007, p. 287). Moreover, contact between domestic and foreign languages, as well as dif- ferent varieties of Arabic, existed already long before the French protectorate in North Africa (Sayahi 2011b, p. 128). Bentahila & Davies (1983b) consider this variety of language reached by code-switching as a third ‘code’, its own form of a language, un mélange, between the colloquial Arabic varieties and French (Bentahila & Davies 1983b, p. 303). Therefore, it is not only interesting, but also highly relevant to conduct a sociolinguistic study in the Maghreb in order to see what the tendencies of code-switch- 1 Maghreb is a term used to refer to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia (Sayahi 2014, p. 16). Fishman (1999, p. 382) considers even Mauritania to be a part of the Maghreb countries, at least, linguistically speaking. !7 ing among a few university students are: it is a representation of the trends of code-switching of a certain time, in a certain space, by certain speakers. During the three months of conducting the study in Rabat, Morocco, extensive code-switching could be heard and seen in various contexts in the local society: public transportation, local markets, interaction with people, lectures, seminars and even doctoral dissertations etc. are just examples of the many settings where both intra- and inter-sentential2 code-switching could be heard. Plenty of the features of Arabic-French code-switching described in previous studies (see chapter 1.4.) were found to be realised in practice. 1.2. Aim of research Based on previous research conducted on North-African sociolinguistics and code-switching one can expect to find various types of intra-sentential Arabic-French code-switching and even predict its frequency of use to vary between the participants in this study, both regarding gender and field of study. The aim of this study is to examine how and to what extent certain features of intra-senten- tial code-switching between colloquial Moroccan Arabic and French occur among university stu- dents at Mohammed V University of Rabat, Morocco. The analysis focuses on intra-sentential code- switching, also known as code-mixing. The study also investigates whether any specific factors can be observed to affect the distribution of intra-sentential code-switching, as well as how and when the phenomenon takes place, and whether the gender and field of study impact the likelihood of its occurrence. Based on previous research, as will be presented below in chapter 1.4., one can await to find intra-sentential code-switching regarding French verbs; the usage of numerals both in Arabic and in French and emphasis and confirmation reached by code-switching.