The impact of the ideology of modernity on language attitudes in Morocco

Abstract

This paper investigates how the ideology of modernity affects Moroccan youths' attitudes towards local and foreign languages. Covert attitudes data from a Matched Guise Test show the alignment of French, as compared with Moroccan Arabic (MA) and Standard Arabic (SA), with the status-bearing traits of modernity and open-mindedness. Additionally, overt data from a language attitudes questionnaire show that the higher their social class, the more likely respondents are to hold favourable attitudes towards French and the increasing use of English and move away from the local codes of MA, SA, and Berber. The impact of the ideology of modernity on Moroccan youth shows that the valorisation of Western languages, a product of the French colonial era, maintains a linguistically and socially asymmetrical position between speakers of local codes and those of foreign languages. Members of the Moroccan elite play the role of 'ideology brokers' (Jaffe 1999), whose linguistic practices, language attitudes, and ascription to the ideology of modernity serve to reinforce a system of privileges, class structure, and lines of power on the basis of linguistic segregation.

Language Ideologies and Policies at Work: Obstructing Arabic Instruction from the French Colonial Era to the Present

“…The Left defends Arabic instruction and its presence in the school system based on the need for learners to acquaint themselves with Arabic as a "literary language" (Bubola 2019). This demonstrates that Arabic is framed as belonging to the domain of the cultural (Chakrani 2013), which means that it is not designated to represent the modern construction of France. In fact, Jean-Michel Blanquer, the French Education Minister since 2017 from the new La republic en marche (LREM) party, which formed a coalition from the Left and the Right, states that by introducing Arabic in school, we inject prestige into the language.…”

Language Shift Among Speakers of Kalhuri Kurdish in Iran

“…Occurring in bilingual or multilingual settings, it is the result of complex political, social, economic and cultural situations where the dominant language is associated with superior status, prestige and social success (Holmes, 2014). Extensive scholarly contributions to different aspects of language ideologies such as social class, language revival and bilingualism have fueled hot debates and discussions on minority language rights, language planning and language policies (Brubaker, 2004;Chakrani, 2013;Kalan & Skutnabb-Kangas, 2016;Lai, 2010;Santello, 2015)). The main concern comes from the current status of many very widely-spoken languages that happen to be unofficial (Barrena et al, 2007).…”

The spread of English in Morocco

“…One key aspect of this spread is that Moroccan universities have witnessed an increasing number of students enrolling in the English department (El Kirat & Laaraj, 2016; Jebbour, 2019). Moroccan scholars have ascribed this spread to the influence of the ideology of modernity on language attitudes (Chakrani, 2013; Chakrani & Huang, 2014), achieving socioeconomic goals (Buckner, 2011; Jaafari, 2019; Ouakrime, 2016), instrumental perspective (Marley, 2004) and English language's lack of association with any colonial connotations for Moroccans (Ennaji, 1991; Zouhir, 2013). However, considering that most university students are young, it is important to examine other factors that might have been unaddressed by previous studies.…”