• The Conference
  • Home
  • Programme
  • Venue & directions
  • Organizing Committee
  • Scientific Committee
  • Exhibitors & sponsors
  • Satellite events
  • Conference Party
• Past & future
  • Previous symposia
  • Finland 2014
  • Spain 2016
• About FU Berlin
  • University homepage
  • Humanities at FU

Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 294

Part of Session 130: Language in Multilingual Cities (Other abstracts in this session)

Ethnolect in the Arabo-Berber City of Oum El Bouaghi: A Social Network Study

Authors: Hadj, Bouri
Submitted by: Hadj, Bouri (University of Oum El Bouaghi, Algeria)

Geograhically speaking, the Algerian East comprises two major dialects of Imazigen language: First, is the Kabyle, a dialect spoken in the North next to the capital Algiers. The second is the Shawia, a dialect spoken in the north east of Algeria next to the Tunisian  Borders. Oum El Bouaghi, a large city in the Norh East of Algeria, is a geographical region that consist of two linguistic systems: Berber and dialectal Algerian Arabic. The former linguistic system is spoken by four major ethnic groups two of them are considered as dominant tribes and the others are regarded as submissive ones. The latter system, on the other hand, is spoken by arabophone speakers coming from different parts of the country for different social and economic purposes. This is why language diversity is crystal clear for the laymen as well as the variationists. We undertake this research to clarify the linguistic situation in this region. Besides, there is a substantial demand of such studies that really counts at both macro and micro levels of sociolinguistics. Previous Berber studies focused on remote regional dialectal varieties or on glottopolitical issues of the language. This is why this paper, as other carried on studies, came to describe a linguistic situation produced by a variety of ethnic groups and analyse the effect of pople's relationships on the language practices. The research seeks to compare individual's ethnic differences in the degree of integration in relationships that exert normative pressures on their linguistic behaviour. Our description of the linguistc situation is two fold: The data will be collected and analysed in terms of ethnic and group networks in different types of contact. Using analysis of variance (ANOVA) on each ethnic index of the exchanged networks helps tremendously in predicting for each individual's language choice patterns