Mixing vs. separation : family language planning strategies across Berber-speaking families in Algeria

Abstract

This study examines the language strategies employed by Algerian parents of Chaouia-speaking backgrounds and Kabyle-speaking backgrounds to develop their children’s bilingualism in Chaouia/Kabyle and colloquial Arabic. It also investigates the extent to which parents prefer the adoption of language separation strategies over language mixing strategies in their interactions with children. At the centre of attention of this survey, children are up to 10 years of age, who are raised by Berber families in Algeria and exposed to at least one Berber variety at home. A web-based questionnaire was sent to 105 Berber families, who reside in different urban cities. The results revealed that Minority-Language-at-Home (ML@H) and Time-and-Place are the most favoured strategies by Berber families. Parents in both groups employ language separation strategies much frequently, a tendency that reflects the strong prevalence of a monoglossic mindset across many Berber families. Berber Parents use four extra sources of parental support to foster their children’s exposure to heritage language: Reading stories, maintaining contacts with extended families, designing home language strategy, and Berber oral literature. The adoption of an adaptive Family Language policy (henceforth FLP) echoes parents’ desire to raise bilingual children, while concomitantly maintaining a full cross-generational transmission of the home language.

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