Multilingual Algeria and the French-Algerian Code-Switching

Aleycha's Corner
Nov 7, 2022
5 min read

Updated: Dec 12, 2022

According to estimations, about half of the world’s population speaks at least two languages (Auer 1984:1)

In a multicultural society where speakers know two or more languages, the interesting phenomenon of switching between them is quite common. Nowadays, the linguistic situation in Northwest Africa interestingly witnesses the existence of more than one diversity.

Algeria, known by its official name Al-Jamhuriyah al-Jaza’iriyah ad-Dimuqratiyah ash-Sha’biyah, currently is and has been the largest country in Africa and the Arab world. This article aims to shed light specifically on the representation of diglossia and the current code-switching situation in Algeria partly influenced by French colonisation.

With a population of 44 million, Algeria comprises two ethnic groups: Arabs and Berbers or in Chaker’s words, "Arabophones and Berberophones".

The Algerian linguistic situation is interestingly complex. A myriad of languages is conversely used by its speakers such as Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), French, Algerian Arabic (AA), and Berber (Tamazight) along with other varieties.

Where does the intricacy of the Algerian linguistic situation lie?

The complexity of this linguistic situation is vivaciously given by the co-existence of more than one language within the country alongside other influential factors such as historical, political, and sociocultural aspects. On one hand, it can be argued that this dynamic speech variation lies in the intra-lingual features of the diglossic case where two varieties of the same language are in a functional distribution, but also in the inter-lingual situation that develops when one or more separate languages are in contact.

Multilingual Algeria

Algerian speakers tend to have at least two of the following languages in their linguistic repertoire. Let’s have a look at the main languages spoken in Algeria:

Arabic is the official language of Algeria. The Arabic language is part of to the Semitic language family and it is the official language of twenty independent Middle Eastern and African countries. It is also the language of the Holy Qur’an and the sixth official language of the United Nations since 1973.
Berber belongs to the Hamito-Semitic language family. It is spoken by the Berber community where regional varieties such as Kabyle, Mzabia, Chaouia, and many others can be identified. Since 2002, Berber has been recognised as a second national language, as per chapter I/ Art. 4 of Algeria’s Constitution of 2020.
Algerian Arabic (Algerian darja) is mostly a spoken language with few cases in written form and it is the mother tongue of almost 45 million Algerians. Within Algerian Arabic itself, there are significant local language varieties such as Jijel Arabic, Annaba, Oran, etc.
French belongs to the Romance group of the Indo-European languages. It is the official language of France. In Algeria, French is considered to be the first foreign language. However, much recent actions taken by the Algerian government have shown a gradual detachment from French as the preferred second language. In Algeria’s latest initiative towards implementing English as the preferred second language in Algerian education, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced on June 19, 2022, that the country’s schoolchildren will start learning English in primary school, beginning this autumn. French is widely used across the country through various methods such as borrowing (fourchette-farcheta, frigidaire-frigider, cuisine-cuzina), code-mixing, or code-switching. Furthermore, French is used in higher education, media (newspapers such as El Watan, La Dépêche de Kabylie), administration offices, and various TV news channels. It is also worth mentioning several influential Algerian authors who have chosen to write and publish in French namely Yasmina Khadra, Assia Djebbar, Mouloud Feraoun, and Mouloud Mammeri)

What is CODE-SWITCHING?

Gumperz (1982:59) defines code-switching as "the juxtaposition within the same speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or subsystems."

Simply put, code-switching refers to the specific linguistic action where speakers of same communities combine or alternate between two or more languages. Code-Switching is mostly used in bilingual and multilingual communities. However, it does not necessarily have to apply to bilingual speakers. It can be argued that code-switching is a trademark if not the trademark of multilingual communities across the world. Therefore, with Algeria being a community where multiple languages co-exist, code-switching prevails over the sociolinguistic behaviour of most of its speakers.

Why do we even code-switch?

Most of the time, speakers don’t even realise they code-switch. It happens subtly but becomes more detectable depending on the social context. Imagine that you visit your home town. It is most likely that you’ll put more accent on the regional dialect of your hometown as an unconscious way to belong. Equivalently, when speakers code-switch in order to fit into a certain social setting, the audience is more likely to become more receptive to the content being spoken. Here are other reasons for code-switching:

Speakers might want to fit in. As humans, we often alter how we present ourselves to the world through speech in order to fit certain expectations or standards.
Speakers may want to say something in secret. Code-switching allows for privacy as it can mask what speakers are saying to each other around people who do not speak the same language
Speakers may want to express particular ideas that cannot be said another way. This is specifically used by second-language learners that might code-switch to their native tongue since they can rely on a much larger lexicon
Speakers may actually want to stand out while other speakers may want to avoid confirming stereotypes or avoid validating negative stereotypes about their group.

Now that we have established the underlying reasons for code-switching we can look at three main aspects of code-switching.

Extra-sentential switching is when ready-made expressions are inserted into the conversation:

(1) Elyoum ndirou tajine el khokh, plat traditionnel algérien.

Today I will make meatball stew, an Algerian traditional dish.

Inter-sentential switching means that the switch occurs at clause or sentence boundary:

(2) 3andi sa3tayn wana m3a la revision et je n’ai toujours rien compris.

It’s been two hours already since I’ve been revising and I haven’t understood anything.

Intra-sentential switching involves switching within the clause or sentence boundary:

(3) Rani rayha la mairie nkharraj les papiers bach n inscri lel jam3eah.

I am going to the town hall to get the papers to enroll at University.

To summarise, we have established that Algeria is a multilingual diverse country where Modern Standard Arabic is used in schools and religious sermons, Berber is spoken at a regional level while French is used for administration purposes and in newspapers. We have also analysed the existence of political, historical, and socio-cultural factors and how these all contribute to the intricate linguistic situation of Algeria. We have defined the phenomenon of code-switching and argued that it simply cannot be avoided mainly because of two noteworthy reasons: its widespread use in the wider community and the functions it plays in speeches across the world as we have seen in the case of Algeria.

Sources and further reading materials:

Ait Habbouche, K. (2013). Language maintenance and language shift among Kabyle speakers in Arabic speaking communities: The case of Oran. MA thesis, University of Oran, Algeria.

Benrabah, M. (2014). Tensions between Arabophones and Berberophones in Algeria. In M. Ennaji (Ed.) Multiculturalism and Democracy in North Africa (pp. 57-80). London: Routledge.

Berger, A. (2002). The Impossible Wedding: Nationalism, Languages and the Mother Tongue in Postcolonial Algeria In A. E. Berger (Ed.) Algeria in Others' Languages (pp. 60-78). New York: Cornell University Press.

S. Chaker (2003). LA QUESTION BERBÈRE DANS LE MAGHREB CONTEMPORAIN . In Diplomatie No. 3 (mai-juin 2003), pp. 75-77 (3 pages)

Djegdjiga Amazouz, Martine Adda-Decker, Lori Lamel: Addressing Code-Switching in French/Algerian Arabic Speech

https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01969148