The Arabic Language


Chapter 14  Bilingualism 14.1 Introduction



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Kees Versteegh & C. H. M. Versteegh - The Arabic language (2014, Edinburgh University Press) - libgen.li

Chapter 14 
Bilingualism
14.1 Introduction
The diglossic situation sketched above in Chapter 13 also obtains in North African 
countries, but there the situation is complicated by the presence of a second 
prestigious language, the language of the former colonial power, France. In the 
literature on the Maghreb, this situation is often described as one of ‘bilingualism’. 
In the original version of Ferguson’s model this term referred to the coexistence of 
two unrelated languages within one speech community (cf. above, p. 242). In more 
recent literature, ‘bilingualism’ is used as a psycholinguistic term referring to a 
speaker’s proficiency in two or more languages. Yet the bulk of the literature on 
the linguistic situation in the Maghreb uses ‘bilingualism’ (or its French equivalent 
bilinguisme
) in Ferguson’s original sense. It seemed, therefore, best in the present 
chapter to retain the term ‘bilingualism’ for the coexistence of Arabic and French 
(and to some degree of Arabic and Berber/Tamazight) in the Maghreb. 
In this chapter we shall first look at the French colonial policy in North Africa 
(and Lebanon) and its effects on the linguistic situation in these regions (section 
14.2). Then, we shall discuss the various ways in which these countries imple
-
mented a policy of Arabicisation after independence (section 14.3). After that, we 
shall investigate the attitudes towards French, and the patterns of code-mixing 
and borrowing between Arabic and French (section 14.4). Finally, we shall deal 
with the language policy with regard to Berber (Tamazight, Amazighe) and the 
present situation of this language in Morocco and Algeria (section 14.5).
Whatever the term that is used to describe the present linguistic situation in 
the Maghreb (and in Lebanon), its roots lie in the colonial period, in which the 
French language became indissolubly connected with this region. Unlike British 
colonial policy, the French authorities aimed at the assimilation and integration 
of the indigenous population. The official point of view was that France did not 
colonise other countries in order to exploit them, but in order to bring them 
French civilisation. French officials presented the colonial policy as France’s 
mission civilisatrice
, and some of them may even have believed in this, but this 
attitude was certainly not shared by most French colonists (
colons
), who opposed 
any effort to educate the indigenous population.


260
The Arabic Language
During the long years of French occupation (Morocco 1912–56; Algeria 
1830–1962; Tunisia 1881–1956), the population of the ‘colonies’ was constantly 
exposed to the French language and French culture. Even though the official aim 
of educating the indigenous population as inhabitants of the French empire with 
equal rights was rarely, if ever, put into practice, it remained the framework in 
which relations between French and Arabs were defined. In practice, only a small 
elite of the Arab inhabitants of the colonies got the chance to learn French. These 
individuals became Gallicised to such a degree that they adopted the French 
language, and French literature and culture as their own; when it turned out 
that even with this education and attitude they would never be accepted as real 
French citizens, this small class of French Arabs became the core of the opposition 
movement to French domination. For the population at large, some knowledge of 
French was indispensable in their dealings with the French administration, but 
most people were denied any formal education in the language.

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