Sociolinguistics Symposium 19 Berlin, August 21-24, 2012

TAMAHAQ: A VULNERABLE LANGUAGE IN THE CITY

Daphné Laure Romy, Département de l’Instruction Publique, Switzerland

Samira Houcine , Djilali Liabes University of Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria

• The background:

Multilingual and diglossic context

• Wrong image or wrong identity?

Sociolinguistics Symposium 19 Berlin, August 21-24, 2012

THE TOUAREGS AND ALGERIA

ALGERIAN LINGUISTIC SITUATION

DEMOGRAPHY LANGUAGES AND PEOPLE

Algeria’s sociolinguistic landscape

(bessah, fi, beli, the verb « dire » , inchah allah or « avoir » ,yerkhdam fort, activi chouya , amany ma'n pardonniche ,dillili gosto

avonsi lor, avansilqadam,pikani wahed lizoursin, a hittiste (hit mur ), a taxieur, dégoutage ,vacancer, défiancer, nerfaza,mariager, parkingueur, chawarmiste, trabendiste,Mdigouti,

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Algeria and Tamahaq

French linguistic hegemony and ensuing Arabization;“Arabic is an essential component of the cultural identity of the Algerian people.

One cannot separate our personality from the language which expresses it. Therefore,

the widespread use of the Arabic language and its mastery as a creative and functional

instrument, is a primordial task for the Algerian society at every level of cultural

manifestations and of socialist ideology. (National Charter, 1976:65)

Algerian multilingualism and perpetual diglossia;Diglossia “remains the single greatest impediment to Arabization in the Maghreb”

(Mc Ferren, 1984:5).

The People (Targi/touareg): the culture and the (lost) language.

Diversity and globalization: Tamanrasset has tripled its population since the 60s.

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TAMAHAQ IN THE CITIES

• Sedentarization;• Tamanrasset (Fort Laperrine);• Aghadez, Niger;• Ménaka, Mali;• Tamahaq in the media;• And in world music thanks toTinariwen

illustrations

• Urbanized tuareg

IALL 2010

Azawad and political unrest

• « Since the military coup of March 22nd in Mali, followed by the conquest of the northern part of this territory by Mali’s Touareg Independentists, Tamanrasset, birthplace of Algerian Touareg in the Hoggar, is on the alert» Le Monde, 11 April 2012

IALL 2010

Tamazight

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NATIONAL

PREVALENT LINGUISTIC SITUATION

• MSA (Modern Standard Arabic);

• Dialectal variety;• National, Official Language(s);• Non standardized varieties;• Foreign Languages: French

and English;

French

Algerian arabic

Tmq

Berlin 2012

The spread….cf. Le Diplo 1994 and 1995

AƔRƏM WA N BABEL/The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-

9)Tamajaq

Tamahaq/Tamasheq/Tuareg• Daɣ əddənet ket-net wər-

itawašawal ar awal iyyanda. • Əmalan-tu aytedan

ətagalatnen ad d-əhanen sas dənnəg, əgrawnen asalwa iyyan daɣ amadal ən Šinar, əɣsaran daɣ-as.

• Ənamannan gar-essan: «Əndawat, ad-nagu bargitan, nassaŋŋ-en əs tamsay.»

• English translation (2002)

• Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

• And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

• And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly."

Berlin 2012

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Recognition vs Application of a Law

In Algeria, The 1989 Constitution, article 3, stipulates that « l’arabe est la langue nationale et officielle ». However a major step is taken in the preamble where a mention is made of the « amazighity », i.e. the Berber Civilization :

Aboutissement d’une longue résistance aux agressions menées contre sa culture, ses valeurs et les composantes fondamentales de son identité que sont l’islam, l’arabité et l’amazighité, le 1er novembre aura solidement ancré les luttes présentes dans le passé glorieux de la Nation.

• April, 2002 RECOGNITION of Tamazight as a « national language »

• Executive Decree nr. 03-470, December, 2003 on National Educational and Linguistic Centre for the Teaching of Tamazight »

• And even if a law were enacted and enforced…

Tifinagh alphabet

• Tifinagh characters

IALL 2010

application

• Transliteration• Imdanen, akken ma

llan ttlalen d ilelliyen msawan di lhwerma d yizerfan-ghur sen tamsakwit d lâquel u yessefk ad-tili tegmatt gar asen.

• Translation:

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

IALL 2010

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BibliographyAbid-Houcine, S. (2006). Plurilinguisme en Algérie, Sidi Bel Abbès.Albaka et D.Casajus (1992), Poésies et chants touaregs de l’Ayr. Awal/L’Harmattan,

Keenan, J. (2004) « The lesser gods of the Sahara: social change and contested terrain amongst the Tuareg of Algeria », Taylor & Francis.

Koubi, G. (2000). Penser les Minorités en Droit. Le Droit et les Minorités: analyses et textes. A. Fenet, G. Koubi and I. Schulte-Tenckhoff. Bruxelles, Bruylant: 385-468.

Lenore A. Grenoble & N. Louanna Furbee (Eds) (2010) Language Documentation Practice and values, John Benjamin Publishing Company.

Henri Lhote, Les Touaregs du Hoggar. Ed. Armand Colin, 1984.Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn.

Paris, UNESCO Publishing. Online version:http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas

Schulte-Tenckhoff, I. (2000). Le Droit et les Minorités. Le Droit et les Minorités: analyses et textes. A. Fenet, G. Koubi and I. Schulte-Tenckhoff. Bruxelles, Bruylant: 661.

http://www.sorosoro.org/en/the-tamasheq-languageVinding, D. & S. Stidsen (Eds) (2005) The Indigenous World 2005.

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Samira Houcine <samhouc.univ@gmail.com>

• Sociolinguists on FB and Académie Sans Frontières on FB;

• Cosmopolitanism.wordpress.com

• Droit et Cultures on English and Cultures issue S’entendre sur la Langue.