Language Research

ARABIC

Diglossia exists in the country due to the fact that two variants of Arabic are used for different purposes.

Modern Standard Arabic, a streamlined, modernized form of Classical Arabic (the language of the Koran, of poetry, and of other literature) is used in education, for official purposes, and for written communication within the Arabic-speaking international community. In contrast, Algerian colloquial Arabic is the language of spoken communication in informal settings, such as in the home, the work place, the market, and among friends and common acquaintances. There is also a spoken form of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) that is used by educated persons for communication in semiformal situations, for example, in debates and interviews. Speech forms from the local vernacular often influence it.

Major cities, such as Algiers, Oran, and Constantine, are identified as centers of their own urban dialects. Linguistic differences between these communities are sufficiently large to create serious problems in comprehension. Proficiency in Algerian colloquial Arabic does not always translate into proficiency in either Classical or MSA. An uneducated person who has had no experience with either will not understand it beyond a few words and common sayings.

AMAZIGH (BERBER) LANGUAGE

The Amazigh language is an oral language still in the process of being codified.

In Africa, Berber is not used in public services, the media or the administration of justice and is apparently not taught at any level of mainstream education subsidized by the State. After a boycott of formal education in Algeria lasting one year, some experimental use of Berber has been allowed, but in such a way that it is marginalized in mainstream education. There are however, professorships in the Amazigh culture at the University of Tizi Ouzou. The government-owned national television station broadcasts a brief nightly news program in the Amazigh language.

Berber speakers in France, 1 million of whom are French citizens, have petitioned the French Government to have Berber recognized as a language entitled to recognition under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

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