The Arabic Language

14.3 Language choice and language attitudes in North Africa
During the French period, the French language had acquired such a symbolic 
value in the Maghreb countries that even though it was the language of the 
former colonisers, and even though officially Arabic became the new national 
language, knowledge of French was still regarded as an essential key to success. In 
spite of the official policy of introducing the Arabic language (
taʿrīb
) into domains 
that had formerly belonged to French, it has taken people a long time to get used 
to the idea that Arabic can serve just as well as French as an official language. 
As a cultural language, French continues to play an important role, and one still 
overhears well-educated Moroccans and Tunisians switching in midstream from 
one language to the other.
As far as proficiency in French is concerned, the linguistic situation has 
changed, too. During the colonial period, only a very small proportion of the people 
received an education in a school system which was based entirely on French. As 
a result, this elite became bilingual in French and in the vernacular, and in some 
cases, depending on the situation at home and the degree of schooling, French 
even became their dominant language. In extreme cases, particularly in Algeria, 
this led to virtual monolingualism in French. Most members of the elite, whether 
they continued using the vernacular at home or switched to French completely, 
had virtually no knowledge of Standard Arabic and were unable to read or write 
in that language. After independence, this situation became unstable, and with 
the introduction of Standard Arabic in the school system it disappeared. A few 
older individuals in the Maghreb countries may still refuse stubbornly to learn 
Standard Arabic, but on the whole the pressure on them to use Standard Arabic 
in their professional life has become inescapable.
Apart from the elite who had most access to the French school system, anyone 
who came into contact with the French language during the colonial period 
acquired at the very least the minimal knowledge of (informal) French that was 
needed for dealings with the authorities or French colonists. These people devel
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Bilingualism 
267
oped a kind of bilingualism in which French was definitely subordinate, since for 
them the primary language was their vernacular. The degree of knowledge of 
French depended on the amount of exposure and the nature of the contacts with 
the French authorities and colonists. After independence, a similar type of bilin
-
gualism continued to exist, but nowadays its degree is a function of the amount 
of schooling. In contrast to the colonial period, in the post-colonial period anyone 
who goes to school has to learn Standard Arabic as well.
The development of proficiency in French and Standard Arabic may be 
estimated on the basis of a few statistics that are available. In Table 14.1 an 
estimate is given for 1968 on the basis of numbers of graduates from various 
types of schools. Recent statistics by the 
Organisation internationale de la fracoph
-
onie 
(2007) give figures of 13.5 per cent complete francophones and 19.5 per cent