المجلة الجزائرية للدراسات السياسية
Volume 5, Numéro 2, Pages 232-253
2018-12-02

An Inquiry In The Arabised Elite Use Of French Language

Authors : مسيح الدين تسعديت .

Abstract

This paper addresses the theme of The Arabised Elite Use of French Language in an attempt to answer the following Questions: Why does the Algerian Arabized Elite use the French language? Can we speak of the failure of the Arabization process which has produced Arabised elite striving to speak French even in daily- life discussions? The study reveals that The French language in Algeria is a complex issue because of both the heavy colonial legacy, and the need for a national well defined identity. In fact linguistic Nationalism adopted by Algerian leaders since the beginnings of independence failed, and the unification of one nation under one language becomes a fallacy. The failure in replacing French by Arabic is shown through the behavior of the Arabised Algerian elite that strives to show the mastery of French language, as a result of the absence of strategic planning when dealing with issues related to identity, and the ignorance of the multilingual characteristics of the Algerian society which needs a real coexistence of the different existing languages.

Keywords

Algerian Nationalism, Arabization process, French language, intelectual Arabised Elite