The Role of Intermarriages in Language Maintenance the Case of Kabyle Variety in Tizi Ouzou Speech Community

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to conduct a study about Intermarriages in the area of Tizi-Ouzou Between Kabyle people to see to what extent it did or did not help in preserving and maintaining the Kabyle variety. This study aims at investigating different attitudes that Kabyle people will show towards the Arabic language. To carry out such an investigation and to better understand it, we began by shedding some light on Algeria's current verbal repertoire: MSAADA-CA-French-Berber and its varieties, and on Algeria's sociolinguistic situation in terms of language maintenance, contact, conflict, ethnicity, identity, bilingualism, and language attitudes. The data gathered from this study came from questionnaires distributed in one month to seventy-two respondents but only fifty of them fit the criteria and all from the Tizi-Ouzou region. The variables used to study these respondents’ attitudes included age, gender, language use in various settings. as well as language attitudes towards Arabic and their thoughts about language maintenance and preservation of “Kabyle” variety, and by using another method which Is Observation Since we are a member of the community under investigation, so it was not difficult for us to obtain a large amount of data. To this end, we were involved in observing and taking notes from the natural interactions or behaviors of Kabyle families of Tizi-ouzou. The findings of this work come out with the conclusion that Kabyle Intermarriages indeed played a significant role in preserving and maintaining the Kabyle variety in the speech community of Tizi-Ouzou by transmitting it through generations and also the role of elders in oral transmission. Moreover, the French colonizer’s role in introverting the tribes.