LANGUAGES OF ALGERIAN DIASPORA IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH ALGERIAN DIASPORA IN FRANCE By KHADIDJA ARFI A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2008 © 2008 Khadidja Arfi 2 To the Algerian Community in the United States 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to present my thanks and gratitude to my advisor Dr. Gerald Murray and my committee members Dr. Abdoulaye Kane and Dr. Maria Stoilkova for their mentoring, advice, encouragement, and positive critic throughout this project. I also extend my appreciation to my professors in the Anthropology Department at the University of Florida and Southern Illinois University for their mentoring in anthropological knowledge in general. I am grateful to the Algerian community in the US, specifically those who welcomed me in their homes and allowed me to write about their lives. I am grateful to my parents, who never stopped showing their love and compassion until they passed away. I appreciate my brothers and sisters and family-in-law for their closeness and respect. I am mostly thankful for my daughter Soumaya’s kindness, love and friendship. I am pleased for having her husband Noureddine as a son-in-law. I am the most grateful for their precious daughter, my granddaughter Mariam, a gift from God, who I hope would follow on the footsteps of her ancestors in their love for knowledge and living in harmony. Finally, my greatest thanks is for my husband Badredine’s love, respect, compassion, and companionship. Our journey together has been full of cherished moments, growing together in a continuous reciprocity of ideas and thoughts about life and science. I hope this paper is a beginning in an endeavor in academic writing, seeking knowledge and doing good on earth. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................................8 ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................11 Literature Review ...................................................................................................................12 Methodology...........................................................................................................................17 Native Anthropology and Reflexivity .............................................................................17 Data Collection and Fieldwork........................................................................................19 Comparative Analysis .....................................................................................................21 Structure and Organization of the Thesis ...............................................................................22 2 BACKGROUND AND ASSESSMENT: THE ALGERIAN IM/MIGRATION TO FRANCE AND THE U.S.......................................................................................................26 Introduction.............................................................................................................................26 Algerian Im/migration to France ............................................................................................28 Labor Migration...............................................................................................................30 War and Family Reunion.................................................................................................32 Pieds Noirs ...............................................................................................................33 Algerian Jews ...........................................................................................................36 Harkis .......................................................................................................................36 Algerian Migration to the United States.................................................................................40 Mission of Higher Education...........................................................................................41 Graduates Return to Serve in a Conflict-Ridden Homeland ...........................................47 Second Im/migration to the U.S ......................................................................................49 Migration for studies or work and the role of network ............................................50 The lottery visa.........................................................................................................53 Fleeing terrorism looking for stability .....................................................................55 Fleeing hard conditions and looking for better opportunities ..................................58 Escaping the national army service..........................................................................60 Marriage: Al-maktuub [Providence] ........................................................................60 How do New Comers Make the Transition? ...................................................................63 ‘La Montagne’ Neighborhood.........................................................................................66 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................67 3 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON ALGERIAN LANGUAGES .................................70 Genesis and Development ......................................................................................................70 5 Berber Languages and the First Contact with Arabic .....................................................72 Summarized Comparison between Berber and Arabic Phonology and Morphology .....74 Classical Arabic...............................................................................................................75 Modern Standard Arabic .................................................................................................76 Darja ................................................................................................................................76 Dialects cline ............................................................................................................77 Algerian multidiaglossia ..........................................................................................79 French in Algeria.............................................................................................................79 Linguistic Conflict and Nation Building ................................................................................80 Arabic/Politics and Linguistics Discourse.......................................................................80 Darja the ‘Neutral’ Tongue .............................................................................................81 Berber Reform and Ethnic Revival .................................................................................82 French: Not National but Integrated Language...............................................................82 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................83 4 CODESWITCHING AND BORROWING: CONTACT BETWEEN ARABIC AND FRENCH VS. ARABIC AND ENGLISH..............................................................................84 Description of Codeswitching in General...............................................................................86 Matrix illustration ...................................................................................................................86 French Matrix ..................................................................................................................86 Arabic Matrix ..................................................................................................................88 Use of (F) adverbial expressions in Arabic matrix ..................................................89 Use of (F) verbial expressions in Arabic matrix ......................................................89 Arabic matrix (borrowed English lexical)................................................................92 The definite article [al].............................................................................................94 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................97 5 LANGUAGE CONTACT AND CONFLICT IN THE EARLY ALGERIAN DIASPORA: FRANCE ..........................................................................................................98 Introduction.............................................................................................................................98 Linguistics Performance and Cultural Belonging on the French Soil ....................................98 French competency ................................................................................................100 Mother tongue teaching..........................................................................................102 The Kabyle