Arabic and French Speakers of Morocco: A Dynamic Bilingualism

The everyday linguistic reality of a portion of the Moroccan population who code-switch between French & Arabic is investigated by focusing on the phenomenon of foreign accent in French. A comparison of French & Casablanca Arabic phonetics reveals contrasts between, respectively, vowels coloring consonants vs consonants coloring vowels; open vs closed syllables; & vowel nasalization vs consonant emphasis & a diversity of posterior consonantal phonemes. Two types of interference are found in the French of Arabic speakers: (1) vowel assimilations & insertion of emphatic consonants, resulting in posteriorized articulation of both consonants & vowels, the opening of closed vowels, & the loss of one degree of vowel aperture; & (2) sociolinguistically based phonetic interference, exemplified by a coexistence of affricated /t/, spirantized /b/, & labiovelarization in the speech of all informants (N unspecified), whether urban or rural in origin, that reflects the attenuation of the traditional distinction between native city dwellers & Bedouins. 38 References. Adapted from the source document