aspects of languages in contact in algeria

339 Pages·2011·3.71 MB·English

Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific research
University of Oran
Faculty of Letters, Languages and Arts
Department of Anglo-Saxon Languages
Section of English

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE
DEGREE OF DOCTOR IN LINGUISTICS
ASPECTS OF LANGUAGES IN CONTACT IN ALGERIA:
THE CASE OF THE MZABI AND KABYLE MINORITIES
OF ORAN

SUBMITTED BY : SUPERVISED BY:
Benhattab AbdelkaderLotfi Professor Bouhadiba F.A.N
Members of the Jury
Bouamrane Ali Professor University of Oran President
Bouhadiba Farouk Professor University of Oran Directeur of thesis
Riche Boutheldja Professor University of Tizi Ouzou Examiner
Benmoussat Smail Professor University of Tlemcen Examiner
Benali Med Rachid Maitre de Conference ‘A’ University of Oran Examiner
Dendane Zoubir Maitre de conference ‘A’ University of Tlemcen Examiner

Academic Year 2010/2011
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Dedications

„Incomplete‟ though it is, this work is dedicated to my parents because it is owing
to their faith that I was equal to the task and that it is now as good as I can make it. I
thank them for always being there to provide support and encouragement through my
many years of graduate and post graduate studies. They didn‟t always understand what I
was doing, but they understood my need to devote time and energy to my dissertation.

To My beloved Sihem, the kindest, the most loving, and the most tolerant wife in
the world. I thank her for helping me raise our fourth child (The present dissertation),
for taking care of me, my children, and everything when I was in the other world. She
has been here as always at times of extreme stress and demand, always selflessly and
without complaint. She is the one who resisted to my hard times and had to put up with
my mood in times when things became difficult for me.
To my shining, bright and boundless children: Saleha, Mohamed Amine and
Ismahen.
To Soraya my sister, to my aunts and uncles.
To Larbi, and Abla, my parents in law who took care of my garden when I was
drafting my dissertation.
To my brothers in law Abdou, Kader, Amine, Sofiane, and their wives who prove to be
true brothers in hard times.
To Issam, the financial analyst who still believes in virtue.
To Karima, my sister in law

To my brothers Houari and Mokhtar who have always been here for me in all times.

To Samir a true Kabyle and a faithful friend.

To my friends, because without their friendship I am empty and incomplete

To the Berber students who helped me in the data gathering process (Siham, Kahina,
and others).
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Acknowledgements

„ Whoever is thankful (to God) is in fact thankful for his own self. But if anyone is
ungrateful, god is self-sufficient and glorious‟ (Coran 31 :12) … Thank God

Anything of substance is rarely the product of a lone individual – this dissertation
is no exception. It is not possible to thank everyone who contributed to this physical
product or my intellectual growth, but I sincerely hope that you all know what your
support, encouragement, and wisdom have meant to me.

Nevertheless, I would like to single out a few people for special recognition.

I would first of all like to acknowledge the work and insights of my thesis to my
supervisor, Pr Bouhadiba Farouk, His rigorous attention to the details over the course of
the study from beginning to end have greatly improved my skills as a researcher. His
demonstrated confidence in me and his words of encouragement were more valuable
than he knew. His continual and unwavering support and guidance has helped to give
this study a breadth it would otherwise lack. I thank him for his never lacking
enthusiasm for research and for his professionalism which never ceased to push me
forward.

Besides, I also owe a debt of gratitude to Pr Bouamrane Ali whose expertise and
academic excellence added considerably to my post-graduate experience. I want to
thank him for his advice, support and encouragement from the start of my course work
to the day of my defence.

Pr Bouamrane has helped shape my reasoning as a researcher. His undergraduate
and post graduate courses helped direct my attention to contact linguistics as a field of
study. He opened my eyes to the realm of code switching research which is now my
field of interest. Pr Bouamrane I consider as one of the pioneers of contact linguistics in
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Algeria. Not only this work but also my whole career as a researcher has been shaped
by the knowledge he transmitted to me.

I would like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to Dr Benali for his
continuous assistance in preparing this thesis. His kind guidance, support and his
helpful discussions and valuable suggestions kept me on the right track. Dr Benali is to
my eyes a true model of academic excellence. He initiated me to research in Berber and
I thank him indeed for having helped in my making as a researcher. Dr Benali has
always believed in my capacity as a researcher, and his words mean much more to me
than he will never imagine.

My appreciation and thanks are extended to the members of my thesis jury who
are participating in the making of the future of the country at the expense of their own
lives. I thank you indeed as your local product for being what you are for us university
will be teachers and researchers. The knowledge and life insights you are transmitting
us are shaping our lives as human beings.

I am also grateful to the Department of Anglo-Saxon Languages at the University
of Oran for their financial support in the form of fully- financed trainings offered to me
every year to undertake bibliographical research.

Last but not least, I am deeply indebted to Pr Ben Rampton, Pr Ad Backus,
Pr Louis Boumans, Dr Gardner Chloros, Dr Malcolm Edwards, Dr Ziamari Karima,
for opening my eyes to new perspectives of research in the domain of contact
linguistics, and for providing me with considerable amount of literature relevant to my
research.

Thanks are also due to my colleagues at the section of English - Department of
Anglo-Saxon Languages. My years as a doctoral student would not have been as much
fun without you: Thank you for your moral help, encouragements, and for having so
strongly believed in me.

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As I thanked the people who helped me so much in this endeavour, please remember
that wherever I have failed in any regard, it is my failure alone.

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List of Abbreviations
AA: Algerian Arabic
accompl :accomplished
AdjP Proj: Adjective Phrase projection
AdjP: Adverb Phrase
AdvP Proj: Adverb Phrase Projection
AdvP: Adverb Phrase
aff :affix
Ber: Berber
BR: Borrowing
Clit: Clitic Affix
CM: Code mixing
Comp: complementizer
CompP Proj: Complement Phrase projection
CP: Complement Projection
CS: Code switching
Def: Definite Article
EL Isl: Embedded Language Island
EL: Embedded Language
fem: feminine
Fr: French
Gend: Gender Affix
Inaccompl: unaccomplished
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mas:Masculine
Mixed Isl: Mixed Matrix+Embedded Island
ML Isl: Matrix Language Island
ML: Matrix Language
neg: Negative affix, Negative marker
Neut: Neutral affix
Nom aff: Nominal Affix
NP Proj: Noun Phrase Projection
NP: Noun Phrase
NP: Noun Phrase
Num: Number Affix
Obj: Object
plu: Plural
pref: Prefix
PrepP Proj: Prepositional Phrase projection
SA: Standard Arabic
sing: singular
sub: Subject
Suf: Suffix
VP Proj: Verb Phrase Projection
VP: Verb Phrase

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TTAABBLLEE OOFF CCOONNTTEENNTTSS

Dedications
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations……………………………………………………………… I
Table of contents…………………………………………………………………... III
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………. X
Résumé de la thèse.................................................................................................... XI
ثثححببللاا صصخخللمم............................................................................................................. XIII
Presentation of the Thesis and Research hypotheses................................................ XV
General Introduction................................................................................................. 01

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1.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 12
1.2 Berber in Algeria………………………………………………………………. 13
1.1.1Berber Varieties or Berber languages………………………………………... 16
1.3 The Present Study……………………………………………………………... 19
1.4 A Brief Overview of the Literature................................................................... 23
1.4.1 Early Prescriptive Approaches to Code Switching.......................................... 23
1.4.2 Macro social studies on Code Switching during the 50ths and the 60ths........ 27
1.4.2.1 Diglossia…………………………………………………………………… 29
1.4.3 Micro Sociolinguistic Approaches to Code Switching................................... 34
1.4.3.1 The Use of Code Switching as a Conversational Strategy............................ 40
1.4.3.2 Myers Scotton (1993) Markedness model………………………………… 44
1.4.3.3 The conversation Analysis Approach to code switching.............................. 53
1.4.3.3.1 Discourse related switching…………………………………………… 54
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1.4.3.3.2 Extra conversational knowledge………………………………………… 55
1.4.3.3.3 Preference related Switching…………………………………………… 57
1.4.3.3.4 Participants‟ Related Switching…………………………………………. 58
1.4.3.4 The Social Interpretative Approach to Code Switching............................... 58
1.4.3.5 Integrating the Social and Linguistic Approaches for a Better
Interpretation of Code Switching............................................................................. 61
1.4.3.5.1 Integrating the Social and the Linguistic Approaches in the

interpretation of the Present data............................................................................. 63
1.4.3.5.2 Bourdieu‟s (1991) application of the „Theory of Language Practice‟ in
the Interpretation of Code Switching........................................................................ 66
1.4.3.5.2.1 Presenting key concepts in Bourdieu‟s (1991) model with a special
reference to the data of the present study............................................................... 66
1.4.3.5.2.2 Criticisms to Bourdieu‟s (1991) „Theory of language Practice‟ in the
literature.............................................................................................................. 71
1.4.3.5.3 Milroy‟s (1987) and Milroy & Li Wei‟s (1995) Investigation of
Language Choice in Relation to Social Networks................................................... 74
1.4.3.6 Bell‟s (1984, 2001) Speech Accommodation Approach to bilingual
discourse................................................................................................................ 76
1.4.3.7 Gardner Chloros‟ (1991, 1995) Continuum Approach to Code Switching
and other Contact Phenomena................................................................................ 81
1.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….. 88

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2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 91
2.2 Methodological Considerations of the Study...................................................... 92
2.2.1 The Informants of the Study and data collection............................................ 92
2.2.2 Transcription of the Data in the Study.............................................................. 94
2.2.3 The Approach Advocated in the Study........................................................... 95
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2.3 Grammatical Approaches to Code Switching…………………………………. 97
2.3.1 Early Interests in the Grammar of Code Switching......................................... 97
2.3.2 Modern Approaches to the Grammar of Code Switching............................... 98
2.3.2.1 Distinguishing Code Switching and Borrowing………………………… 100
2.3.2.2 The Equivalence Based Approaches…………………………………….. 102
2.3.2.2.1 The Equivalence Constraint……………………………………………... 103
2.3.2.2.1.1 Criticisms and counter Evidences to the Equivalence Constraint Drawn
from Other Bilingual Corpora.................................................................... 106
2.3.2.2.1.2 Counter Evidences to the Equivalence Constraint from the Corpus of
the Study.............................................................................................................. 112
2.3.2.2.1.2.1 Mismatch in the positions of adjectives in relation to their head
nouns(Ordinary adjectives, possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives)…… 112
2.3.2.2.1.2.2 Mismatch in patterns of Berber-Algerian Arabic-French switching
involving prepositional constructions.................................................................... 116
2.3.2.2.1.2.3 Code switching patterns involving gender assignation mismatches.... 117
2.3.2.1.1.2.4 Code switching patterns involving the sub-categorization of object
accusative and dative clitic affixes........................................................................ 119
2.3.2.2.1.3 Poplack‟s Response to the Criticisms Put Forward in the Literature in
Relation to the Equivalence constraint................................................................. 122
2.3.2.3 The Free morpheme Constraint……………………………………………. 129
2.2.2.3.1 Criticisms to the Free Morpheme Constraint in the Code Switching
Literature............................................................................................................. 130
2.3.2.3.2 Some Violations of the Free Morpheme Constraint in the Data of this
Study.................................................................................................................... 132
2.4 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………… 137

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