Représentations des langues en contexte plurilingue algérien

Abstract

Résumé :Le début des années 2000 a constitué un tournant dans l'évolution de la situation sociolinguistique de l'Algérie, marqué notamment par une ouverture sur le plurilinguisme qui se manifeste aujourd'hui sur le terrain comme un fait établi. Cette dynamique appelle un regard renouvelé sur les représentations qu'ont les locuteurs algériens des différentes langues en contact. C'est l'objectif de cet article qui présente les résultats d'une enquête sur les représentations sociales des quatre langues en présence (arabe standard, arabe dialectal, berbère et français) chez une population d'étu-diants universitaires. Cette recherche, qui se base sur la méthode d'analyse combinée (Maurer, 2013) a permis de mettre au jour la structure de la représentation sociale de chaque langue et de voir la prégnance des images qui circulent chez les locuteurs.Mots-clés : représentations sociales ; plurilinguisme ; action glottopolitique ; dynamique sociolinguistique et identitaire Abstract: The beginning of the 2000s constituted a turning point in the evolution of the sociolinguistic situation of Algeria, characterized particularly by an opening on multilingualism. This dynamics requires a new vision of the representations the Algerian speakers have of their various languages in contact. The objective of this article is to present the results of a survey on the social representations of four languages in presence (standard arabic, dialectal, berber and french arabic) to a population of university students. This research, which bases itself on the combined method of analysis (Maurer, 2013), allowed to shed light on the structure of the social representation of every language and to see the dominance of the images which circulate among the speakers.

Key issues in the field of macro‐sociolinguistics of the Maghreb: Societal debates and contentious discourse

“…In addition, the promotion of Tamazight as an official language in Morocco (2002) and Algeria (2016) has resulted in its appearance (written in Tifinagh characters) on many public buildings in both Berber‐speaking and Arabic‐speaking areas. In informal domains, the gap between policy and practice is even greater, for example in graffiti (Jerad, 2011; Ouaras, 2019; Belarbi, 2021), digital communication (Ali‐Bencherif, 2020a; Oulebsir‐Oukil, 2017), and music (Dallaji, 2017), as well as in youth language.…”

“…The latest of these issues looked at mother tongue teaching, as school Tamazight has shown its limits. This is partly because everyday Berber languages are threatened by a double diglossic devaluation (Dourari, 2018) due to the choice in schooling of a (generally nonetheless highly valued) ‘resemanticized’ variety assigned to formal functions (Ali‐Bencherif & Mahieddine, 2016; Baktache, 2018). The teaching of Tamazight in Morocco comes up against the same difficulties in relation to the choice of the academic standard and the script (El Mountassir, 2016, p. 130; Sguenfel, 2016, p. 169).…”