La langue berbère: maintien et changement

Abstract

This study deals with language maintenance and language shift in Morocco. Its primary goal is to describe the sociolinguistic Situation of the Berber language with reference to some empirical research. The Status, attributes, functions, and usage ofthe Berber language make it a vernacular employed mostly in rural areas but also increasingly in urban areas, as a result of migration. The present paper shows that both external and internal factors of language shift conspire to weaken the linguistic and communicative competence of Berber Speakers involved in linguistic contact situations. Berbers are submitted to a linguistic and cultural assimilation process because their language has a low position within the linguistic market. As a reaction to this process, a cultural identity consciousness has emerged with the aim to develop strategies for cultural survival. These strategies are discussed and some issues suggested.

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