Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Algeria

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

Badji Mokhtar University- Annaba

Department of English Third Year: BAC+3

The Influence of the Algerian Dialects on the

English Language Pronunciation
The case study of Annaba, Constantine and Tebessa Dialects

Dissertation submitted in partial Fulfillment of the

Rrequirement for the licence degree in English in

Language Sciences third year LMD

Supervised by:
Presented by:
Ms. Ammari Fatima El Zahraa
Miss Ouanada Narimen Saida

Miss Chebouki Laalia

2
 In the name of Allah; most gracious and most merciful. All
the praise is due to God alone the sustainer of the entire world.

At least we can offer humble gratitude to our dear parents,

whose excitement over my educational goals helped me when
we would lose sight of what we were doing, they never doubted
us, and freely gave unbelievable support of all kinds, and gave
us more than they can. Thank you for all your sacrifices, your
encouragement, and all your love.

To our best friends who have always been a source of motivation.

To all those who foster us and contributed in the elaboration of this

modest work.

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 At the outset, we have to express our sincere gratitude to Allah. Without the help of the Almighty Allah, these
dissertations world never have internalized.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to our supervisor, Ms.Amari Fatima El Zahraa for her great help,
precious advice and patience. Thanks for the inspiring exchange of ideas and reading suggestions that helped us so
much. We benefited a lot from her acute efforts as a teacher. My highest praise is merited for her advice.

Our deep thanks should be expressed to all our teachers. If it were not for each and every one of them, we would
not be where we are today. They lit our path, and for that we are very grateful. Special thanks are to Mrs. Edress,
Mrs. Zouaoui, Ms. Belfarhi Khadija, Ms. Guéch Meriem and Ms. Rahmouni.

This thesis appears in its current form due to the helps in collecting data, assistance and guidance of several
people we would therefore like to offer our sincere thanks to all of:
Mr. Hamadouch Mokhtar, a university teacher at the English department in Constantine.
Mr. Laabed Nacer chief department of translation and a university teacher in the department of english in
Constantine.
The English chief department of the ENS( Ecole National Supperieur) in Constantine.
Ms. Koussa Lamia a teacher at the ENS school in Constantine.

Heartfelt thanks to all the teachers who trained us all throughout our education and by who we were inspired to
study English. Special thanks to our teachers: Mr. Fareh Abd El Latif, Mrs. Chenatlia Nadjia, Ms. Messai Hakima.

A grateful and respectful expression of thanks by Ouanada Narimen Saida, to My Friends, Mr. B. Abd El Wahed
, Mr. A. Houcine and Mr. A. Zen Eddine for giving me all the support I needed, and for enabling me to collect and
create many of the necessary documentation without which it would not be possible for me to complete this work.

Possibly no words could accurately convey our profound gratitude and heartfelt thankfulness for our dear family.
Our parents remain unmatched in their incomparable sacrifices , deepest love, boundless patience, and chiefly
greatest encouragement.

We must thank outside the academic realm, but crucial to the eventual completion of this work, a number of
people helped me during critical moments, Ms Chebouki Lamia and her friends for their welcomed entertainment at
the campus of Nahas Nabil during the research period at Constantine.

List of abbreviations

4
E.g. : Example

F L : Foreign Language

F.L.A : First Language Acquisition

L1  : First Language

L2  : Second Language

MT : Mother Tongue

NL : Native Language

SL : Second Language

S.L.A : Second Language Acquisition

TL : Target Language

(:) : vowel length of English

(‘) : primary stress

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List of tables:
1. Table 1 : Arabic Alphabet (Bouras:2006 P.13-14)

2. Table2: Phonetic Features of Standard Arabic Consonants ( Beghoul:2007)

3. Table 3: Short Vowels in Arabic

4. Table 4: Long Vowels in Arabic.

5. Table 5: Doubled Vowels in Arabic

6. Table 6 : Phonetic Features of Vowels in Standard Arabic(Beghoul:2007.P:64)

7. Table 7: Algerian Berber Tribes, Dialects and Geographic Positions(Abderrahim,1972: 22)

8. Table 8 : The Evolutionary Steps in the Arabisation Process

9. Table 9: Merdji, A phonological Study of Arabic / French / English and Implications For

Teaching

10. Table 10: English diphthongs and triphtong

11. Table 11:the pronunciations of some consonant accordinf to AD(k.Smailé, K. Meftouh,

N.Bouchemal)

12. Table 12: Interrogative particles and pronouns in AD and their equivalents in MSA.

13. Table 13: A sample of the dictionary MSA-Annaba’s dialect.

14. Table 14: levenshtein distance for dialectwords and their equivalents in msa

15. Table 15 : Sousse/Tebessa Consonant Data

16. Table 16: Sūsi/tbessa Interrogatives

17. Table 17: pronunciation of consonant by constantinien dialect

18. Table18: the overall pourcentage of teachers answers of the questionnaire in Constantine

19. Table19: value measure “1”

20. Table 20: “No” percentage according to each level in Constantine

21. Table 21: “Yes” percentage according to each level in Constantine

22. Table 22: the overall pourcentage of teachers answers of the questionnaire in Annaba

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 23. Table 23: value measure”2”

24. Table 24: “No” percentage according to each level in Annaba

25. Table 25: “Yes” percentage according to each level in Annaba

26. Table 26: the overall pourcentage of teachers answers of the questionnaire in Tebessa

27. Table 27: value measure “3”

28. Table 28: “No” percentage according to each level in Tebessa

29. Table 29: “Yes” percentage according to each level in Tebessa

30. Table 30: influenced and non influenced part of speech of Constantine

31. Table 31: influenced and non influenced part of speech of Tebessa

32. Table 32: influenced and non influenced part of speech of Annaba

List of figures:

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1. Figure 1: the vowel quadrilateral including short vowels(Radford:,2009)

2. Figure 2: the vowel quadrilateral with long vovels(Radford:,2009)

3. Figure 3: manner of articulation of each consonant. (Akmajian, Demers, Farmer, &

Harnish P74 2001)

4. Figure 4: A sample of parallel corpus MSA-Annaba’s dialect.(k.Smailé and k.Meftouh)

5. Figure 5: Histograms about teachers respond to the questionnaire”1”

6. Figure 6: Histogram about “No” answers percentage according to each level in Constantine

7. Figure 7: Histogram about “Yes” answers percentage according to each level in

Constantine

8. Figure 8: Histograms about teachers respond to the questionnaire”2”

9. Figure 9: Histogram about “No” answers percentage according to each level in Annaba

10. Figure 10: Histogram about “Yes” answers percentage according to each level in Annaba

11. Figure 11: Histograms about teachers respond to the questionnaire”3”

12. Figure 12: Histogram about “No” answers percentage according to each level in Tebessa

13. Figure 13: Histogram about “Yes” answers percentage according to each level in Tebessa

14. Figure 14 : influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at university level in

Constantine

15. Figure 15 : influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at university level in

Constantine

16. Figure 16: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at middle school in

Constantine

17. Figure 17 : influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at middle school in

Constantine

18. Figure 18 : influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at secondary school in

Constantine

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19. Figure 19: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at secondary school in

Constantine

20. Figure 20: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at university level in Annaba

21. Figure 21: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at university level in Annaba

22. Figure 22: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at middle school in Annaba

23. Figure 23: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at middle school in Annaba

24. Figure 24: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at secondary school in Annaba

25. Figure 25: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at secondary school in Annaba

26. Figure 26: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at university level in Tebessa

27. Figure 27: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at university level in Tebessa.

28. Figure 28: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at middle school in Tebessa

29. Figure 29: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at middle school in Tebessa

30. Figure 30: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at secondary school in

Tebessa.

31. Figure 31: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at secondary school in

Tebessa.

 Contents

9
 General Introduction1………………………………………………………………………13

 Chapter One: Sociocultural Aspect of Language Varieties…………………………………16

1.1. Language Varieties………………………………………………………………………….16

1.1.1. Language………………………………………………………………………………….16

1.1.2. Dialect……………………………………………………………………………………..17

1.1.3. Multilingualism……………………………………………………………………………18

1.1.4. Bilingualism………………………………………………………………………………18

1.1.5. Borrowing…………………………………………………………………………………19

1.1.6. Code Switching……………………………………………………………………………21

1.1.7. Diglossia………………………………………………………………………………….23

1.2. The Language Situation in Algeria........................................................................................25

1.2.1. Historical Perspective...........................................................................................................25

1.2.2. The Sociolinguistic Profile...................................................................................................28

1.2.2.1 Arabic …………………………………………………………..……………………..28

A. Varieties of Arabic………………………………………………………………………29

a. Modern Standard Arabic................................................................................29

b. Classical Arabic.................................................. ..........................................30

c. Colloquial Arabic ..........................................................................................31

B. Characteristics of Arabic ………………………………. …………………………31

1.2.2.2 Berber…………………………………………………………………………………36

1.2.2.3 French…………………………………………………………………….………..39

1.2.3. Languages in Contact in Algeria: Multilingualism and Borrowings……………………42

1.2.4.Arabization…………………………………………………………………………………43

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 Chapter Two: The Influence of the Dialects on the English language use…………………

48

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………48

2.1. Literary Review on the English Language in Algeria and Some Properties……………48

2.1.1. Historical Background of English Language in Algeria…………………………………48

2.1.2. English in Education…………………………………………………………………….49

2.1.3. English Phonological System……………………………………………………………50

2.2. The Phonological Properties of the Algerian Dialects the Case of:

2.2.1. Annaba…………………………………………………………………………………59

2.2.2 Tebessa……………………………………………………………………….…………..65

2.2.3. Constantine……………………………………………………………………………..67

2.3. Impact of Dialects on English Language Pronunciations………………………………69

2.3.1. Overview According to Many Linguists…………………………………………………..69

2.3.2. The Case of Manchester and Chinese dialects……………………………………………74

2.3.3. The Case of Joseph Conrad ……………………………………………………………….78

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………83

 Chapter three: Practical Framework of the Study………………………………………85

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………85

3.1. Rational………………………………………………………………………………………85

3.2. The Research Instrument……………………………………………………………………86

3.3. The Sample……………………………………………………………………………………87

3.4. Software for Analysis…………………………………………………………………………87

3.5. Obtained Results………………………………………………………………………….…..87

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3.6. Discussion and Interpretations………………………………………………………………115

3.7. Pedagogical Resolution…………………………………………………………………….117

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….118

 General Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………118

 Bibliographie………………………………………………………………………………120

 Appendices………………………………………………………..…………………………129

Influence of Algerian Dialects on the English Language Pronunciation

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 General Introduction

I/ Statement of the Problem:

Learning a language means learning its grammar, phonology, vocabulary and even its

culture. This research will be concentrated to the second language acquisition. The problem we are

confronted with is the mother tongue factor in the second/ foreign language acquisition. In this

research we will focus on the Algerian dialects influence on the English language pronunciation,

the cases of Annaba, Constantine and Tebessa, at the levels of Universities, High Schools and

Middle Schools. This influence would be further a barrier in the fluency of the English

pronunciation and may cause misunderstood by the listener.

II/ Aims of the study:

The primary aim of this study is to make a small contribution towards the database of

information accessible on language, particularly on mother tongue influence in second language

acquisition. The main focus is on linguistic implications of first language interference and

language contact. Because of the lack of studies about this phenomenon in Algeria, the research

project aims at shedding some light on this phenomenon and relating it to that existing elsewhere.

Most importantly, we will check the reliability by the solution of teaching phonetics at early stages

like middle and high schools throughout some statistics based on questionnaires and interviews.

III/ Research Question and Hypothesis

Before we undertake our research we ask the following questions:

1. Do the Algerian dialects influence the English language pronunciation?

2. Is this phenomena related to Algeria historical background?

3. Does it influences the leaning process?

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 4. Is teaching phonetics at early stages like middle schools and high schools is a reliable

solution?

In the light of the previous questions, we made the following hypothesis:

If the educational system obtains teaching phonetics at early stages like middle schools and high

schools, the Algeria n learners will enjoy fluency and accuracy in their education.

IV/ Structure of the Study:

Our research will consist of three chapters. Chapter one highlights the language variations

with the historical profile of Algeria. Chapter two tackles the phenomenon of mother tongue

influence in second language acquisition in relation to Algerian dialects influence on English

language pronunciation. The third chapter is devoted to field work.

V/ Research Tools and Methodology:

In the present research we intend to use a questionnaire. It will be administrated to teachers

from different places: Annaba, Constantine and Tebessa throughout the three levels. It aims at

collecting different views to reinforce the investigation about Algerian dialects influence in

English pronunciation. An audio-recording interview performed in order to discuss the influenced

part of the speech of Algerian teachers of English. Those tools aimed at showing the differences

between the three levels percentage of influenced parts and prove the reliability of teaching

phonetics at early stages as a solution to that phenomenon.

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Chapter One

Chapter 1

15
Introduction
The current study aims at introducing some Sociocultural Aspect of Language Varieties in
Algeria. it points out the different ages which marked the history of the country .and the role of
the differentraiders who contributed in the shaping of the sociolinguistic profile of Algeria .it also
states the tools of the verbal repertoire of the Algerian speech community :classical Arabic,
modern standard Arabic, colloquial Arabic, Berber, and French, and the different position given to
them .we will also points out some initial general information on the characteristics of the Arabic
language .furthermore, this chapter is also an attempt to discuss the concisely the sociolinguistic
situation in Algeria in terms of multilingualism, and borrowing .then we will give a brief
information concerning arabization in Algeria .

1.1 Language Varieties

1. 1.1. Language:

Linguists have defined language as the system of human communication which entails

structured arrangement of sounds into larger units such as morphemes, words, and utterances. It is

through this means that the interaction between human beings takes place. It is a crucial part of the

life of human knowledge that distinguished him from the rest of the animal world. However; other

linguists said that language also refers to the nonhuman systems of communication for example

the language of bees, the language of dolphin…etc.

Edward Sapir in (Edward, 2009, p53) once stated that: ‘language is a purely human and

noninstinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of a system of

voluntarily produced symbols’

Pinker in (Johansson, 2005,p 8) Johansson defines language as a system with two main

components:words and grammar, a finite (though extensible) set of symbols, and a likewise finite

set of rules for combining these symbols, giving us “the infinite use of finitemeans”

1.1.2. Dialect:

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 The term dialect is usually applied or referred to a language variety.it is associated with

particular group or region .in common usage, indeed, a dialect is substandard, low status, often

rural form of language, generally associated with the peasantry, the working class or other groups

lucking in prestige

Dialects are reciprocally understandable forms of a language that differ in systematic ways.

Every one, whether rich or poor, no matter of region or racial origin, speaks at

Least one dialect, just as each individual speaks an idiolect. A dialect is not an Inferior or

degraded form of a language, and logically could not be so because a Language is a collection of

dialect.

Dialect is also a diversity of a language that varies from others along three scopes:

vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. In this context (chamber and trudgill)(1992)provides a

good example of such case: if two speakers say, respectively, I done it last night and I did it last

night; we can say that they are speaking different dialects’.

The Word dialect is to be distinguished from the term accent because the latter

refers to a speaker pronounces, and therefore refers to a variety which is

phonetically and/or phonologically different from other varieties.as a technical term;

accent refers to the way in which people pronounce when they speak. In this context

we should give a good example that illustrates the phonological differences among

dialects of American English. According to Some people pronounce caught [kɔt] with

the vowel [ɔ] and cot [Kat] with[a], whereas others pronounce them both [kat]. Some

pronounce Mary, merry, and marry the same; others pronounce the three words

differently as[meri], [mɛri], and [mӕri]; and still others pronounce two of them the

same. Many speakersof American English pronounce pin and pen identically, while

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others pronouncethe initial [pɪ ̃ n] and the second [pɛ ̃ n ]Seems to be understood by the

visitors though it is unlikely to be part of their own dialect.

1.1.3. Multilingualism:

Properly speaking,a multilingual person is the one who is able to communicate in more

than one Language, be it active (through speaking and writing) or passive (through

listening and reading). Multilingualism could be firmly defined as being Native-like in two or

more languages. It could also be lightly defined as being less than native-like but still able to

communicate in two or more languages. Simply, Multilingualism is the use of at least three or

more languages either by inhabitants of a particular region or nation with some degrees of fluency

or: and literacy.

As Sridhar in (Wardhaugh, p96) says:

Multilingualism involving balanced,Native like command of all the

languages in the repertoire is rather uncommon. Typically, multi-linguals
have fluctuating degrees of command of the different repertoires. The
differences in competence in the various languages might range from
command of a few lexical items, formulaic expressions such as greetings,
and rudimentary conversational skills all the way to excellent command of
the grammar and vocabulary and specialized register and styles.
An interesting example of multilingualism is common in, forinstance, some countries of west

Africa .For example Nigeria, Ghana, Malaysia, Singapore, and Israel.

1.1.4. Bilingualism:
A bilingual person is the one who is able to use at least two codes with some degree of

proficiency or literacy .in other word is the one who speaks, reads, and comprehends two codes

equally well.

Most linguists agree that bilingualism entails of at least two languages or varieties of

languages by an individual or a community in situation in which such languages are in free or

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parallel distribution. Bilingualism, at the individual level, however, is pertained with issues such

as how one acquires two or more languages, when it is considered as a societal phenomenon;

bilingualism is concerned with its institutional dimensions such as the status and roles of the

languages in a given society.

Bilingualism has three types which are: horizontal bilingualism, diagonal bilingualism, and

vertical bilingualism. The first type may be defined as a society which has equal status in the

official, culture, and family life. , Canada is likely the best known instance of a horizontally

bilingual country. The second type obtains when only one language has officials’ standards’ status

.the last type involves dialects of the same language rather than different languages.

A good example of a different bilingual situation exists in Paraguay because of its long

separation from Spain and the rareness of its Spanish-speaking Population, an American Indian

language, Guaraní, has prospered in Paraguay to the level that today it is the native language of

almost 90 percent of the population and it is regarded as the second language of many additional

percent. (Wardhaugh, p 98)

1.1.5. Borrowing:

Bill Bryson had observed one of the most common sources of new words in English which

is the process of borrowing. This process occurs when one language adds a word or morpheme

from another language to its own lexicon. It often happens in situations of language

contact/multilingualism, when speakers of different languages regularly communicate, especially

where there are many bilingual or multilingual speakers it is more than only borrowing because

English does not return them back.

A language may borrow a word directly or indirectly. On one hand, direct borrowing

means that the borrowed item is a native word in the language from which it is borrowed. For

19
example, feast was borrowed directly from French, along with a host of terms as a result of the

Norman Conquest (the French aristocracy were the overlords of England). On the other hand, the

word algebra was borrowed from Spanish, which itself had borrowed it from Arabic. Thus

algebra was indirectly borrowed from Arabic, with Spanish as an intermediary. Throughout its

history, the English language has adopted a vast number of words from other languages, including

terms like: croissant (French), dope (Dutch), lilac (Persian), piano (Italian), pretzel (German),sofa

(Arabic), tattoo (Tahitian), tycoon (Japanese), yogurt (Turkish) and zebra(Bantu). Other

languages, of course, borrow words from English, like in the Japanese use of suupaa or

suupaamaaketto (“supermarket”) and taipuraitaa (“typewriter”).

A special type of borrowing is described as loan-translation or calque (/kælk/) into this

process; there are direct translations of the elements of a word into the borrowing language.

Interesting examples are the French term gratte-ciel, which translated as “scrape-sky,” the Dutch

wolkenkrabber (“cloud scratcher”) or the German Wolkenkratzer (“cloud scraper”), all of which

were calques for the English skyscraper. The pronunciation of loan words is often altered to fit the

phonological rules of the borrowing language. For example, English borrowed ensemble [ãsãbəl]

from French but they pronounce it [ãnsãmbəl], with [n]and [m] inserted, because English does not

ordinarily have syllables centered on nasal vowels alone. Borrowing is one of the primary forces

behind changes in the lexicon of many languages. The degree of borrowing from language to

language or dialect to dialect is related to the perceived prestige of the lending speech. Romans

borrowed many words from the Greeks, while the Germans in contact with the Romans took up

many Latin words. Many terms relating to Western technology and culture have become part of

the vocabulary of the world’s languages. The vocabularies of Modern Japanese and English, for

example, share a significant number of common words, among them: karate, sushi, hibachi,

tsunami, and computer.

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 1.1.6. Code Switching:

Code switching can be dated to a 1972 study of language use in Hemnesberget, conducted

by Jan Blom and John Gumperz and described in a volume on sociolinguistics edited by Gumperz

and Hymes(1972). Linguists have observed that the particular dialect or language a person

chooses to use on any occasion is a code, a system of communication between two or more

parties. They have also indicated that it is unusual for a speaker to have command of, or use, only

one code or system. Command of only a single variety of language, whether it is a dialect, style, or

register, would appear to be an extremely rare phenomenon. Most speakers use several varieties of

any language they speak. Bilingualism and multilingualism are the norms for many people

throughout the world rather than unilingualism. People are usually required to select a particular

code whenever they choose to speak, they may also decide to switch from one code to another or

to mix codes even within very short utterances and thereby create a new code in a process known

as code-switching.

Code-switching (also called code-mixing) is a change by a speaker (or writer) from one

language or language variety to another. It can occur in conversation between speakers’ turns or

within a single speaker’s turn, commonly in everyday speech with regard to levels of style, as

when speakers mix formal and informal styles. In the latter case it can occur between sentences

(intersententially) or within a single sentence (intra sententially). Code-switching can arise from

individual choice or used as a major identity marker for a group of speakers who must deal with

more than one language in their common interests. As Gal says, ‘codeswitching is a

conversational strategy used to establish, cross or destroy group boundaries; to create, evoke or

change interpersonal relations with their rights and obligations.’(1988, p. 247) Code switching

can be a symbol of cultural solidarity or dimension or serve as an identity card.

21
 Additionally, we can describe two kinds of code-switching: situational and metaphorical.

Situational code-switching occurs when the languages used change according to the situations in

which the conversant find themselves speak one language in one situation and another in a

different one. When a change of topic requires a change in the language used we have

metaphorical code-switching. This kind of code-switching differs from diglossia. In diglossic

communities the situation also controls the choice of variety but the choice is more stiffly defined

by the particular activity that is involved and by the relationship between the participants.

Diglossia reinforces differences, whereas code-switching tends to reduce them As the term itself

suggests, metaphorical code-switching has an affective dimension to it: you change the code as

you delineate the situation – formal to informal, official to personal, serious to humorous, and

politeness to solidarity. We can contrast this situation with that of borrowing. When speakers of

one language borrow words from another language, the foreign words come to be used as regular

vocabulary items. In contrast, the Spanish phrase ocho y media is not a borrowed vocabulary item

that English speakers now use, but rather is a result of code switching between English and

Spanish. In this context we must shed light on the issue of what brings a speaker to choose variety

X of a language A rather than variety Y, or even language A rather than language B. A number of

answers have been suggested, including solidarity, accommodation to listeners, choice of topic,

and perceived social and cultural distance. Appel and Muysken (1987) cite five motivation

functionsof code-switching:

First, code switching may serve a referential function by compensating for the speaker’s

lack of knowledge in one language,perhaps on a certain subject. Second, it may serve a

directive function by including or excluding the listener. Third, code switching may have

an expressive function by identifying the speaker as someone having a mixed cultural

identity. Fourth, it may have a phatic function indicating a change in tone in the

22
 conversation. And fifth, it may serve a metalinguistic function when code switching is used

to comment on the languages involved.

Chinua Achebe’s novel No Longer at Ease (1975b, pp. 66–7) shows how code-switching can be

used within a situation involving a creole to imply wrong-doing.

‘...He said: “Good evening, sir.” I said: “Good evening.” Then he said: “Is

she your wife?” I remained very cool and said: “No.” Then he said: “Where you

pick am?” I couldn’t stand that, so I blew up. Clara told me in Ibo to call the

driver and go away...’

In addition to the police officer’s switch from the standard Is she your wife? To the creole Where

you pick am?, we have the reported shift to the use of Ibo, which has the immediate effect of

changing the police officer’s attitude because he too speaks Ibo. Another example in a speech of a

politician from Arizona said:

We must not permit the State of California to deplete the water supply

of the State of Arizona. Ain’t no way we’re gonna give ’em that water.

The speaker is mixing styles for a certain reasons: the juxtaposition of formal speech-making style

with informal colloquial style adds emphasis to the speaker’s position on the water issue; and the

use of the informal style is intended by the speaker to increase a feeling of solidarity with the

audience.

1.1.7. Diglossia:

The term diglossia was first introduced into English from French by Ferguson

(1959;reprinted in Giglioli, 1972, to which page numbers mentioned here) to refer to ‘one

particular kind of standardization where two varieties of a language exist side by side throughout

the community, with each having a definite role to play’ (p. 232). Diglossia

23
tends to be stable over several centuries. Usually, one is a more standard variety called the High

variety or H-variety, which language used in formal situations (e.g. Classical Arabic) in

government, the media, education, and for religious services. The other one is usually a non-

prestige variety called the Low-variety or L-variety, which is used locally and informally (e.g.

Lebanese Arabic) is used in the family, with friends, when shopping, etc.

A diglossic situation exists in a society when it has two distinct codes which show clear functional

separation; that is, one code is employed in one set of circumstances and the other in an entirely

different set. Ferguson(1959, p. 336)has defined diglossia as follows:

diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the

primary dialects of the language (which may include a standard or regional standards),

there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed

variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier

period or in another speech community, which is learned largely by formal education and

is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of the

community for ordinary conversation.

In the same article he identifies four language situations which show the major characteristics of

the diglossic phenomenon: Arabic, Swiss German, Haitian (French and Creole), and Greek. In

each situation there is a ‘high’ variety (H) of language and a ‘low’ variety (L). Each variety has its

own specialized functions, and each is viewed differently by those who are aware of both. In

addition, H usually has more prestige than L, although Trudgill (1974a) points out that in

situations like that which pertained in Greece at the time when Trudgill was writing, where the

two varieties Katharevousa (H) and Dhimotiki (L) had particular political orientations associated

with them, the status of each tends to vary according to individuals’ political points of view; the

situations in which each may be employed, and which is taught in schools will also vary according

to the politics of the ruling group at any one time. It is therefore useful to have some definition

24
other than status of H and L, and Ferguson uses the notion of the superposed variety for this

purpose. The superposed variety (H) is typically the variety which has been used in the literature

of a community rather than as a spoken language among the majority of the populace (L), in a

community where literacy has been the prerogative of the few for some time. In the communities

Ferguson studied, only the H form had received academic treatment inside the communities

themselves; any study of the grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc., of the L variety had been

carried out by scholars foreign to the speech community in question; the grammars of the two

varieties tended to be very different, while the bulk of the vocabulary was shared. However

(Ferguson, 1959/Giglioli, 1972, p.242):

a striking feature of diglossia is the existence of many paired items, one H

one L, referring to fairly common concepts frequently used in both H and

L, where the range of meaning of the two items is roughly the same, and

the use of one or the other immediately stamps the utterance or written

sequence as H or L.

1.2. The Language Situation in Algeria

1.2.1 The Historical Background:

Algeria’s history back nearly 30,000 BC. There are discovered Cave paintings have that are

believed to date between 8000 and 4000 BC. It shows elephants, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus

that were in the area at that time. Nowadays Algeria is a desert land. Settlers getting in later

became known as Berbers. By 900 BC Phoenician traders had moved into the area and established

seaward cities. Under their rule, Berbers became slaves. In the 4th century BC, the Berbers formed

an army and revolted towards independence and was successful. Berber kingdoms were then

established and remained in reign till the Romans arrived in AD 24. The Roman rule was brutal

for the Berbers peoples who resisted their domination. Primarily coastal areas and cities became

under Roman control. The establishment wholly profited from North Africa’s natural wealth such

25
as fruits, figs, and olive oil. Christianity and Judaism were introduced into the area during this

time. Some Berber groups transformed to Christianity whilst others transformed to Judaism. In the

earlier part of the fifth century, the Vandals invaded Northern Africa from Spain. Led by King

Gaiseric, troops defeated the Roman monopoly in the area, permitting Berbers to restart their

lands. Nearly one hundred years later emperor Justinian of the Byzantine Empire fled the area

conquering the Germanic kingdom.

The most significant invasion of North Africa happened in the mid seventh century when

Arabs swept across the northern half of the continent. Mass groups of Berbers converted in Islam

under the persuasive influence of the Arabs. All non Arab peoples were seen as inferior. While the

Umayyad empire leaders enforced the dominance of Arabs, the Kharijite sect required equality for

all Muslim peoples. As they gained support, the Kharijites overthrew the empire and recognized

numerous kingdoms. By 751 the Abbasid dynasty moved into the area. Mystical Islam (a Shi’a

form of Sufism) grew and converted numerous Berber tribes which led to a revolt against the

dynasty forming the Fatimid Dynasty in the early tenth century. Berber forces resisted the new

dynasty. Massive numbers of Arabs immigrating eventually led to the “Arabization” of Algeria,

the rest of North Africa and smaller Arab kingdoms tracked. The sixteenth and seventeenth

centuries obtained North African pirates to the seas as the slavery of European and American

peoples. In 1815 frequent European countries and the U.S. coupled forces to fight the Barbary

pirates.

In 1830, an attack planned by Charles X against Algeria, which was to be a civilizing mission

or more exactly a attempt to boost his fame. The armed forces snatched into Algiers and occupied

the city after three weeks. In 1834 Algeria officially curved into a French settlement. Algerians

were obliged to leave their lands which were then sold at low price to French and other European

immigrants, most of whom were criminals sent to Algeria in exile. A Famous Algerian Muslim

leader named Abd al-Qadir unified tribes guiding roughly a victorious revolution against the

26
French army. Two-thirds of the country became under this control, a temporary government was

created and the economy strengthened. Hence, the French sent around one hundred thousand

soldiers to combat Abd al-Qadir’s army. The French also smashed crops, orchards, and livestock,

in order to hunger the Muslims of Algeria, which led to famine murder plenty. Twenty percent of

the inhabitants of the city of Constantine was killed through the famine only. The French also

captured more land during the period of the revolt and famine. Virtually 200,000 Algerians

defended for France in World War I, 1914-1919. Those veterans demanded rights and French

nationality according to their years of service, an appeal that was rejected. Algeria was turned

actually to a part of France,

However, the only way for an Algerian to live as human was to abandon Islam. In World War

II, 1939-1945, the Algerian people fought again beside the Allied forces against the Nazi rule. The

latter took over France, Algeria also became under their rule. All Jews in Algeria were taken to

Europe and positioned in concentration camps. Many Jews in Algeria shrouded in houses of their

Muslim neighbors. As soon as the Nazi’s were crushed, the Algerians called for independence as a

country in appreciation of their accompaniment of the Allied forces throughout the war. Their

requirement was refused and Nazi’s former behind French officers were put in control positions in

Algeria. Thence Algerians commenced a war of independence against the French in 1954, it was

one of the bloodiest to be fought on the continent. The war was guided by Algerian Muslim

nationalist parties with a chain of bombings on French military and later civilian intentions. The

French reactions resulted the death of 12, 000 Muslims. From 1957-1960, French forces place 2

million Algerians into concentration camps where tens of thousands died. At some stage in the

course of the war more than one million Algerians were murdered over one-tenth of the total

population.

By 1962, President Charles de Gaulle sensed that retaining the war and Algerian occupation

was too expensive, and negotiated for independence. July 5, 1962, Algeria officially became an

27
self-governing nation, 132 years after the French began their rule. The new established self-

government was led by the Nation Liberation Front (FLN) who had originated the war. Abdelaziz

Bouteflika became Algeria’s first President. A combination of French and Islamic law was shaped

to rule the land. By 1988 joblessness was a high 18.1% which lead to revolt by the young native

poor who consisted almost half of the population. In 1989 the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was

recognized including both moderate and radical members, amongst those incorporated were

Afghanistan previous mujahedeen or jihad fighters.

Recently in 1995 they have assassinated President Boudiaf. In 1997 what had given birth to an

organized jihad developed into an unorganized overflowing of uncontrolled brutal activities.

During the holy month of Ramadan terrorist slaughtered whole villages of people with axes. Such

carnage remained into 1998 whilst many of the former Afghan fighters murdered and destroyed

412 villagers in the west next to Relizane at the opening of the fast. As of 1999 130,000 people

had died as a consequence of the civil war. Bouteflika became president on April 27 at the same

year. With a hope of terminating the atrocities, the government affirmed to liberate all militants

seized captive who did not commit murder or rape, and in 2000 a general pardon was issued for all

members of the Islamic Salvation Army who would agree to surrender. However a revolt of

Berbers in the north followed, it gradually decreased throughout the country. The Algerian

government was helped by the U.S. government subsequently in September 11, 2001, with the

supplying of night goggles and the freezing of extremist’s assets. Bouteflika was reelected in 2003

and since 2005 violence has been diminished.

1.2.2. The Sociolinguistic Profile

1.2.2.1 Arabic:

28
 Language is the means of communication by which a person expresses his thoughts, and

feelings in such a way that he can be understood by others. Indeed, Arabic is consideredas the

most developed semantic language because it is marked by restricted vocalic system and a rich

consonantal system. Today Arabic is considered as one of the most essential languages of the

world.

Arabic is the fourth most-commonly-spoken language in the world and it is one of the six

official languages ofthe United Nations.it is itself part of the wider Afro-asiatic phylum including

ancientEgyptian,Coptic, Cushitic, Berber,and Chadic.

The Arabic of today is descended mainly from the old dialects of Central andNorth Arabia

which were divided by the classical Arab grammarians into three Groups: Hejaz, Najd, and the

language of the tribes in adjoining areas. The original homeland of speakers of Arabic is the

central and northern regions of the Arabian Peninsula. The lower half of the Arabian Peninsula

was populatedby speakers of languages known as Epigraphic South Arabian.

Arabic is the exclusive official language in twenty countries in a region expanding from

West of Asia tothe Northof Africa. These are Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt

Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates,

Oman, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. It is the language which is spoken by Israel’s

Palestinian population and by Palestinians who lived in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Besides It has speakers in the south-western corner of Iran, in southern Turkey, in Chad, in some

areas in the south of the Sahara, in some territories of the Central.

A. Varieties of Arabic:

A.1/ Modern standard Arabic

29
 Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) also refers to as Literary or Standard.it is regarded as the

official language of an estimated 320 million people in the 22 Arab countries represented in the

Arab League.it the official language in Algeria.

(fischer1997:188) stated that the literary Arabic or modern standard Arabic began to attain

a standard form through the development of grammatical norms in the eighth century.

MSA is deduced from Classical Arabic, which is the language of the Qur’an (the holy book

of Muslims) and other early Islamic literature. It is applied for government, trade, and literature.it

is the subject of grammar writers and instrumental that is the medium of education and

advancement. It is limited to formal written and spoken occasions.

Modern standard Arabic has two variations which are the written and the spoken. The

former is basically the same all over the world. Whereas the second, that is the spoken can be

different based on geographical location, usage, context and regional dialects.

MSA is to be distinguished from regional and social colloquial varieties of Arabic in terms

of phonemics, word structure, sentence structure, and vocabulary.

A.2/ Classical Arabic:

Classical Arabic is the formal version that was used in the AL_hijaz region. It carries the double

prestige of being the words of God and the language that survived through many centuries. It is regarded as

a crucial part of the culture of the Arab .it is to be distinguished from modern standard Arabic because the

final grammatical features are dropped in the endings of the words. Purportedly, Classical Arabic,

according to the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh.

It is considered normative). In practice, however, present-day authors approximately never write in arrant

Classical Arabic, instead using a standard Arabic with its own grammatical norms and vocabulary. This is

the variety used in most current, printed Arabic publications, and understood by most educated Arabic

speakers.

30
 Classical Arabic is characterized by some norms such as In CA, the verb normally precedes the

subject (VSO order); when the subject is fronted (SVO order), that is it prefers the order:

verb+subject+predicate. For example:Wrote+The boys+letters. Furthermore, in such cases the

verb is alwayssingular.

A.3/ Colloquial Arabic:

Colloquial Arabic also refers to as spoken Arabic. It is a variety of Arabic.it is the language

of Algerian people.Unlike MSA and classical Arabic that are uniform in all Arab countries,

colloquial Arabic is subject to local variation, not only between different countries, but also across

provinces in the same country.it is a mixed form, which has many variations, and often a

dominating impact from local languages. Differences between various spoken Arabic can be large

enough tomake them incomprehensible from one region to another one Colloquial Arabic has

some characteristics such as:

1. It has almost no case endings, and verb suffixes are far fewer.

2. Simplicity that is the structure of the sentence is very simple.

3. Stresspatterns: the place of the stress in an utteranceis approximately determined by

fixed rules

4. Formality: it has many ritual or formal phrases inGreeting, salutation etc.

B/ Characteristic of Arabic :

Consonant and vowels :

Arabic language originated out of Semitic group of languages. It is illustrated by its

inflectional nature. The characteristics of the Arabic alphabet are consonants which are twenty-e
31
 ight consonantal phonemes occurs in nine places of articulation.

Letter Phonetic Symbol

‫أ‬ a :
‫ب‬ b
‫ت‬ t
‫ث‬ Ɵ
‫ج‬ dƷ
‫ح‬ h
‫خ‬ x
‫د‬ d
‫ذ‬ ð
‫ر‬ r
‫ز‬ z
‫س‬ s
‫ش‬ ʃ
‫ص‬ S
‫ض‬ d
‫ط‬ z
‫ظ‬ ?
‫ع‬ g
‫غ‬ f
‫ف‬ q
‫ق‬ k
‫ك‬ l
‫ل‬ m
‫م‬ n
‫ن‬ h
‫ه‬ w u :
‫و‬ j i:
‫ي‬

Table 1: Arabic
Alphabet (Bouras:2006 P.13-14)

32
The following table classified the Consonant of Standard Arabica ccording their place of
articulation:

Table 2: Phonetic Features of Standard Arabic Consonants ( Beghoul:2007)

33
 It is based on three pairs of phonemes which are short vowels /u/(damma), /a/ (fatha) and /i/

(kasra) are represented by phonetic symbols placed on the zenith or the beneath of the

consonants(Table two). To change them to long vowels, we should add « ‫ » ا‬to obtain /a:/, « ‫ » و‬to

obtain /u:/ and « ‫ » ي‬to obtain /i:/(Table three). If a word lacks the vowels, the symbol used then is

« ° » (soukoun) placed on top of the consonant. The following table shows the phonetical

transcription of Arabic alphabets according to I.P.A (International Phonetic Alphabets):

Table 3: Short Vowels in Arabic . Table 4: Long Vowels in Arabic.

It is customized by the shifting of vowels, the addition of some vowels and consonants and

the accumulation of suffixes and prefixes. When shifting from short to longue vowels, we

provide the subsequent sounds except the « fatha »

which must be long in order to be doubled.

Table 5: Doubled Vowels in Arabic

34
Vowel length is various in standard Arabic. A smallest pair like '‫'جمل‬/dƷamal/ and '‫ 'جمال‬/dƷama:l/

mean 'camel' and 'beauty' respectively.

The following table classifies the vowels of Standard Arabic:

Table 6: Phonetic Features of Vowels in Standard Arabic(Beghoul:2007.P:64)

Stress in arabic :

Word stress in Standard Arabic is not as significant as that in the English

language because the stressed syllable in the Arabic language is not as prominent as

unit(canonical forms of English) as that in the English language. in fact, the vowel quality of the

stressed syllable does not frequently stand in relation to the placement

the unstressed/ secondry stress syllables, as the case in English,. It is as well as like thecase of the

French language, the centers' of unstressed syllables in most cases are strong syllables. Arabic and

English have in common a free mutable stress.

According to some examiners (Al Ani, 1970:88), the rule of locating word stress in

Standard Arabic is as follows:

a. When a word is made up of a string of the CV type syllables, the first syllable receives

the primary stress and the remaining syllables are weak and unstressed.

'‫ 'كتب‬/kataba/ 'to write' '‫ 'درس‬/darasa/ 'to study'

35
 b. When a word contains only one long syllable, CVC, the long syllable receives the

primary stress and the remaining syllables are weak and unstressed.

'‫ 'كاتب‬/ka:tib/ 'writer' '‫ ' معلمه‬/mu¿allimuhu/ 'his teacher'

_

c. When a word contains two long syllables CVC or more, the long syllable nearest to the

last one receives the primary stress and the closest syllables to the beginning receives, in

most cases, a secondary stress.

‘‫ 'رأيسهن‬/ra?i:suhunna/ 'their chief. Fem plural'

‘‫’مستودعاتهم‬/mustawda¿a:tuhum/ 'their deposits'(Begoul:2007.P.77)

There may be some legitimacy in rule number one, but the examples provided for rules 2

and 3 are rather useless. The syllable which is submited to as a long syllable, with a closed CVC,

in the word /ka:tib/ and that is consideration to bear stress on the basis of such a rule is, actually,

an open CV pattern. “What determines the stress is most probably the vowel quality because

length in vowels is one of the prominent features that attract stress”(Beghoul:2007 P.77). The

extra examples are illustrated by the existence of a consonant geminate or 'shedda', which is, as it

is labeled suggests in Arabic, a phonetic context that is very related to stress.

1.2.2.2. Berber:

In searching over the origin of the Berbers, there isn’t one specific place mentioned but

several including Western Europe, sub Sahara Africa and Northeast Africa. However, for

centuries, a mixture of waves established in North Africa and made up its indigenous populations.

Tamazight, or Berber, characterizes one of the five branches of Afro-Asiatic (formerly Semito-

Hamitic) languages alongside with Semitic, Chadic, Cushitic and Egyptian (Greenberg 1963).

The word Berber is a derivative from the Greek in indication to the people of North Africa;

however, it was obtained by the Romans, Arabs then the French. Afro-Asiatic languages are

"spoken by people of vastly different racial, religious, and cultural origin" (Katzner, 1977:32).

36
These languages are spoken in North Africa, mostly in Morocco and Algeria, and to a slighter

scope in Niger, Mali, and other countries. The Berber languages are parallel to each other that

some establishment speaks of a sole Berber language.

When classifying themselves, the people of North Africa may use this word, the word

qabayl—the tribes—(set to them by the Arab pioneers) or the word Imazighan—the free men

(utilized by the speakers themselves.) They speak Tamazight or the Amazigh people’s language. In

contrast to today Algerian languages as well as Arabic (literate and spoken) and French, Berber is

the oldest of them all (Saadi Mokhrane 2002: 48) Before the Arabs settled in the areas, all of

Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and

Algeria represented a Berber district. Cameron &Hurst (1983:178) wrote:

As many as half of the Berber speaking minority already speak

Arabic as a second (or third) language which, added to the 81.5%

of the population (1966 census) who declared Arabic as their

mother tongue, produced a 90% Arabic speaking population.

Berber languages existed chiefly as an oral standard although Berber texts were written in Arabic

and Roman scripts during the past by means of adding a few characters to symbolize typical

Berber phonemes. Although they shared some structures and vocabulary, the Berber dialects are

totally separate. The dissimilarity can be explained in terms of geographical situation. The tribes

existing in distant regions, had slight or no communication. Within the 1970’s, the traced size of

the Berber speaking community was a propos of three millions. The Algerian Berber languages

are Kabyle (North), Chaouia (North), Chenoua (central and West), Mzab (Mzab region), and

Touareg language. For example Kabyle (Taqbailit) has two apprehensible dialects: Petite Kabylie

dialects (East) and Grand Kabylie dialects (center). Amongst the four dialects, two involve a

specific awareness; the Targui and the Kabyle. The Targui is said to be the dialect that has best

37
outlasted despite any type of influence from any other language spoken in Algeria ( Cheriguen,

2002) .

The Berber speaking Algerians are likely to be between 20-25% or as Chaker, a specialized

scholar in Berber studies, put it: one out of five Algerians speaks Berber (Chaker 1984: 8–9).

Thanks to the hard work made to bring this language back to the cultural and linguistic sight, the

late 1980’s saw the birth of a Kabyle speaking broadcasting station Concerning the linguistic

aspect, a written form using Latin characters has been developed.

According to Wardaugh: “the Islamization of the Maghrib preceded its Arabization; and the

latter was never completed (Wardaugh 1987: 178). One would say that the Islamization of the

Imazighan people and the implementation of Arabic as the language of learning were regular,

through conversion to Islam and the practice of the religion.

Berber existed before 'Arabization' and therefore, has been considered by the Arabs as an old-

fashioned language and maybe as a menace to national unity "The fact that Berber was the

previous language to Arabization-Islamization of the Maghreb, leads the Arabs to consider it as a

pre-islamic survival and therefore depreciate it " (Grandguillaume, 1983, p. 14)

Unfortunately, for some mysterious political causes, 'the Algerian state has avoided to deal with

Berber'(Chaker, 1978). Despite the existence of an alphabet labeled 'tifinagh', Berber is only used

for close matters within the family and in the cultural part, i.e. music, poetry and théâtre. 'Tifinagh'

originated from "Numidian, an ancient libyan script used in Roman times. The System consisted

only of consonants, usually written right to left". (Crystal, 1987, p.316).

After the organization of the High Commissariat for Tamazight in 1993 and the allowance of

legal recognition in 1996, Tamazight was approved as a national language through the application

of article 3 of the Algerian Constitution, amended in March 2002, to commence Tamazight as a

national language and to encourage its exploit amongst Algeria’s institutional authorities. Then, it

38
was decided that Tamazight was to be taught increasingly for all levels since the academic year

2003-2004.

Name of the Berber Tribes Name of the Dialects Name of the Regions
1. The Kabyles Kabyle In Kabylia: mountain east of
algies
2. The Chaouis Chaoui In the Aures, south west of
constantine
3. The Mozabites Mozabite Chardaia, northern sahara

 The Touaregs Targui In the central sahara, A

Haggar Massif

Table 7: Algerian Berber Tribes, Dialects and Geographic Positions(Abderrahim,1972: 22)

1.2.2.3. French:

French engagement in North Africa and particularly in Algeria was in 1830 as a colonizing

power.. In addition to strategic and economic reasons, Algeria was fated an fundamental part of

France. The French language was enforced as the language of administration and power. As a

result, Arabic, a challenging language of knowledge was censored except through Muslim prayers.

Algerians, Arabic or Berber speaking, were obliged to deal with officials in French. No analysis

was permitted and no official appreciation was given to either ones. By the end of the nineteenth

century, a policy of adaptation was enforced in which the way to success was only through

French. “In 1938, [Arabic] was declared a foreign language by a law that was rescinded only in

1961, just prior to independence, by Charles de Gaulle” (Saadi Mokhrane 2002: 52). The

colonizing government was rienforced by thousands of French and European migrants making the

society of the region more multifaceted. The colonizers were against the education of Algerians

39
who were required to employment in the colonizers farms and property which was theirs before.

One must say that admission to university reckon on the colonial policy and administration.

French learning was considered as:"....the necessity to acquire a knowledge of the language

however basic, at least, in some parts of their (the Arabs) daily life". (Murphy, 1977, p.3).

Consequently, during the colonial era, French was the widespread language. However, its

importance has being minimized today in status and number.

French has been exchanged steadily by classical Arabic at almost educational levels.

Arabic was taught in the medersas (educational vocation), the zaouias and mosques ( religious

vocation ). However these establishments barely endured the French policy, for instance, the Jules

Ferry law of 1872 ordered that the French primary school was obligatory. In addition to that, the

French language was fetching the language of administration and social support, reducing Arabic

and Berber to the grade of vernacular Languages. As Djite ( 1992: 17 ) states it : « The French

imposed a system of direct administration, seized control of the educational system and undertook

to displace Arabic”.

After almost a century of colonization, the French departed leaving the nation in an

environment fulfilled by a language of “discrimination, anger, and violence”(Arfi: 2008).

Contrasting the general inhabitants, a minority of Algerians Arab and Berber were educated in

French. Along with those who did, French elite was created and used to rule after independence.

However, the level of Arabic literacy was at a lowest level and after independence less than few

thousands were capable of reading and writing Arabic (Wardaugh 1987: 183). At sovereignty, in

1962, most of Algerians were illiterate, and French sustained to be the language of the

government. As a matter of fact, French continued to be widely used regardless of the Arabization

platform since independence. Today most educated Algerians are fluent in both languages French

and Standard Arabic.

40
 Currently, French keeps enjoying a honored position in all of the three Maghreb’s

countries in spite of governmental Arabization programmes. French is still used properly and in

code switching situations by a lot of people. According to Balta (1982) cited in Haoues 2008:

Twenty times more children learn French than during the time of

French Algeria. Even though the government refuses to recognize

bilingualism and francophonie, Algeria is the second most

francophone nation in the world.

In fact, official discourse avoids pointing out French as a second language in Algeria; it is

submited as "the first foreign language" (Morsly, 1984:25). Boumediene, the Algerian president

from 1965 to 1978, identified the position of French as the following (cited in Morsly, ibid.):

“Une langue étrangère qui bénéficie d'une situation particulière du fait des considérations

historiques objectives”. (a foreign language which benefits from a special situation because of

objective historical considerations).Translated by the writer of this thesis. Hence, the language

situation in Algeria might be portrayed as a diglossic, bilingual, and even multilingual. Diglossia

refers to the uses of Arabic beside a written-spoken continuum, while bilingualism means the

continuing contact between Arabic and French. Multilingualism is characterized by the use of

Tamazight as a mother tongue besides Arabic and French.Concerning this aspect, Djite (1992: 2)

says :

There is an overriding attitude of the elite who regard French as an “ habitude de société”

a part of their culture that they find very difficult to deny. To this day many of them

purchase parabolic antennas and transcoders to view French television programs.

It must be mentioned that during 2004, the French programs are no more limited to that

elite. They became now part of the everyday life of the whole Algerian society. The educational

41
policy with its conditions tends to introduce French earlier ( 2nd year )to the primary school to

emphasize French in the cultural and linguistic prospect more strongly than ever. It seems to

represent, in the minds of the people, a feature of modernization, civilization and development.

1.2. 3. Languages in contact in Algeria: multilingualism and borrowings:

Like that of other Arabic countries, Algerian speech takes place in ‘multiglossic’ and multilingual

relationship over the different languages it includes. According to the Algerian situation, diglossia

might take place over FuSHa/ Darja (H variety/ L variety, defined before according to Ferguson

1959) However, Versteegh notes this model “restricted the notion of ‘diglossia’ to situations

where the low variety was genetically related to the high variety, of which it was a simplified

version” (Versteegh 1997: 190). In revising Ferguson’s model, Versteegh also explained that there

is no “distinction of two discrete varieties” which means that the speaker has to choose one or the

other via a method of code-switching. Alternatively, there is a continued speech in which “the two

varieties are the extremes” (p.190). In countries similar to Algeria, individuals do not speak one

language or the other with each other but use Berber, Darja, French, and MSA depending on the

social conditions as well as their linguistic devotion and harmony. Khadidja Arfi in her thesis to

floida said:

I experience this, myself in the United States, adding English to the table, whenever I meet

with other Algerians. That is one reason, why most middle easterners do not understand

Algerians or maghribis when they speak among themselves. Yet, they maintain that

Algerians speak French.

Arabic and French in contact in Algeria gave birth to a kind of transfer of the language that goes

within simple borrowing. Approaches in bilingual situation are various; Rubin (1968:15) cited in

Bouras:2006,required the attention to the fact that:

42
 A bilingual situation may be expected to produce different

types of attitudes; some reflect emotional value of a language

for its speakers, others the value of a language from a social or

group point of view, still others reflect its value from the point

of view of formal attributes.

All the three types of approaches might be portrayed in the Algerian context. The first type might

reflect the attitude towards both varieties of Arabic in addition to Berber; the second type

replicates the attitudes into both Algerian mother tongues, the third type reflects the attitudes over

French and yet those towards Classical Arabic.

This phenomenon is obvious in oral communication as mention to french terms with the

matter concerned is scientific, practical or institutional. Whilst the indication of the discussion is a

local reality, the measure of Arabic terms used will raise higher. The use of idiomatic expressions

of one of the languages as the other characterizes the vital medium of communication can also

justify the ensuing mixed segment of language. This sort of language is used very suddenly by the

community without any effort or awareness by the speakers. Borrowings and linguistic

transformation are sociolinguistic phenomena. The Algerian population can be separated into

several sociolinguistic level: educated, uneducated and semi-educated bilinguals. Educated

bilinguals: they speak both the local dialect and standard French. This is defined by Meillet (1934)

cited in Hassaine:2011 as ‘le bilinguisme des hommes cultivés’

According to Lanly(1962), the contact between human societies leads to an evolution of

the value sand a long modification of the forms.

1.2.4. Arabization:

During the colonization, the majority of Algerians received French education; however, to

use the language of past tyranny as a principal medium of tutoring or communication would be

43
considered as a national shame. After independence, Algeria fronted an enormous problem of

language. In Algeria, where different languages and numerous dialects have coexisted during

many years, it would be convenient to have one language.

Arabization is the process of bring back Arabic to a principal position on the language

plight of the country. After independence, the leaders of the country were chiefly required to

restore the cultural identity of the country. Arabic was , certainly, an essential variable to be

considered in the process. As described by Djite (1992 : 21):

“ In the Tripoli program of June 1962, the FLN* restated that the role of the revolution was

to restore Arabic, the very expression of the cultural values of the country, its dignity and

its sufficiency as a language of civilisation”.( * Front de liberation National : National

liberation Front)

The Algerian government wanted to reinstate its Arabo-Islamic patrimony by executing the

arabization process to combine the Algerian people after 130 years of unsteadiness, war and lost

harmony. Talking about defending the national identity, the preceding president Houari

Boumedienne (who died in December 1978) asserted addressing himself to secondary school

students, and clarified that Algeria:

Ce que nous ne saurons trop vous conseiller, c’est de sauvegarder la

personnalité Algérienne. Il est vrai que l’Algérie est située entre

deux continents. Elle appartient en effet au continent Africain mais

elle se trouve aux portes de l’Occident. Nous faisons donc partie

d’un continent arriéré en voie de développement et nous avons en

face un continent qui a ses qualités et ses personnalités. Autant nous

sommes ouverts aux sciences et au progrès que nous ont apportés

les nations qui nous ont devancés dans ce domaine, autant nous

devons être soucieux de conserver notre personnalité et nos valeurs

44
 et autant nous devons faire pour préserver notre patrie et renforce

ses bases.(Thus virtue of its history and language Algeria is Algerian. Our past andpresent,

our culture and civilization prove that we are Algerians. Underdevelopment is caused by

man himself. The preservation of our culture will help us avoid being apopulation without

soul and history.that Arabic and Berber survived after Algerian independence.) (Hassaine:

2011)

However, after long period, the reinstatement of Arabic as the national language is too fragile to

be sudden. This is initiated in Taleb Ibrahimi’s speech when he said that:

“Arabization is essential but it must not be rushed or chaos will follow; ‘witness’,

he said, (Gordon, D.C: 191).

Thus, Arabization must have taken place increasingly. The other factors

which extend the difficulty to arabize the country is connected to teaching. In Algeria

more than 80% of the people were illiterate, therefore starting arabizing in the

country with teachers who were not competent took time to train teachers for primary,

secondary and university levels. Between the age of six and eleven, the children

were trained accurately in Arabic. Nyrop (1972:122) refers to this aspect as follows : “ …having

adopted a deliberately moderate and pragmatic position on the language issue , the Boumedienne

government is not likely to enact drastic measures”. This policy was in perfect concord with the

communist tendency of the country. As Ageron ( 1974: 122-123) states it clearly : “ It is not

possible to build socialism without arabizing”. A developmental program with soft steps was to be

applied . The subsequent table shows the first proposal to be put into perform :

The progression went on until the BAC ( exam of the end of the secondary cycle and

leading to the university) was to be taken in all specialities in Arabic in 1990. At the

university level , very few technical subjects remain to be taught in French : a field still

dominated by French is biology and all its branches. T.V parabolic programs that we

45
referred to as maintainers of French in the Algerian growing generation, are also playing

an essential part in developing the Arab Islamic culture thanks to the middle east

programs that constitute a rich cultural and linguistic bath and to which all the population

is very attracted.(Bouras:2006 P.28)

Table 8 : The Evolutionary Steps in the Arabisation Process

46
Chapter Two

47
 Chapter 2

Introduction

In this chapter we will briefly shed light on the historical background of Englishlanguage

in Algeria, and its phonological system. Next we will move to shed light on the phonological

properties of the Algerian dialects; wetake cases of Annaba, Tebessa, and Constantine. Then we

will turn our attention to give good examples concerning the impact of dialects on the English

language pronunciation.

2.1. Literary Review on the English Language in Algeria and Some Properties:

2.1.1. Historical background of English in Algeria:

Algeria has two official languages: Arabic, the chief language of government, and

Tamazight, a Berber language. Arabic is the most commonly spoken language in Algeria, with

close to 98% of the Population speaking it according to the most recent trade sources. It becomes

the first truly global language. It is such a Language, which is used by the most as their mother

tongue. For the majority it is used as an everyday second language, and it is by far the language

most learned as a foreign language. as the case of Algeria. English is taught as a foreign language

or third language for a general educational aims that is with no specific purposes. English

language is used to an ever-increasing degree all over the world.

French and Arabic are the most frequently used business languages in Algeria. However, with the

Advance in importance of foreign companies, as well as growing trends in the global marketplace,

this is slowly altering and an understanding of the benefits of communicating in English is

becoming more appreciated overall

English in Algeria started to be taught as the secondary compulsory foreign language for

students beginning in the fourth grade in the middle school cycle, from the end of the 1970s to the

48
early 1990s. In September 1993 the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education made French

and English two separate choices for the first mandatory foreign language; students were required

to pick one over the other The Minister of Education said that English was to be promoted because

it was "the language of scientific knowledge".

2.1.2. English in education:

Since its independence in 1962, Algeria has struggled to establish an educational system

tailored to the needs of the population it may address. Considering the historical connection with

France, Algeria has always looked at the French language as a cultural imperative until late in the

seventies. After the Arabization policy of 1971 and the socioeconomic changes taking place

worldwide, the use of English as a communicating vehicle started to gain more space within

globalized Algeria. Consequently, disparities in the use of French started to fade away at the

cross-roads leaving more space to the teaching of English. As a second foreign language we can

say that English started to be part of the Algerian system since the period of the French colonial.

First it was taught in private schools and then it spread to public ones. The existence of French

schools and the spread of English language enabled it to become definitive part of the system.

The English language is very important in Algeria whether in the educational system, for

economical aims or, the international relationships. First of all, English is the language of science,

due to multi-national enterprises, and also international exchange it is considered to have major

importance in bringing civilization and technology to Algeria. Moreover, it is used in industry to

build economical system; also it is part of our educational system as a second foreign language.

English occupies the status of a second language in the Algerian education system in both primary

and secondary schools.Algerian students has been exposed to English language as a foreign

language from their eighth year in fundamental school (as shown in the following table )

49
Language taught Age Form Level

English French Standard Arabic

_ _ + 6 to 7 first

_ _ + 7 to 8 second

_ _ + 8 to 9 third

_ + + 9 to 10 fourth Primary
_ + + 10 to 11 Fifth
School
_ + + 11 to 12 Sixth

_ + + 12 to 13 seventh

+ + + 13 to 14 eighth Fundamental

+ + + 14 to 15 nineth School

+ + + 15 to 16 first

+ + + 16 to 17 second Secondary

+ + + 17 to 18 third School

Table 9: Merdji, A phonological Study of Arabic / French / English and Implications For
Teaching

2.1.3. phonological system of English

According to (Yule, 2006)Phonology is the study of the sound system of a given language

and the analysis and classification of its phonemes. By contrast with phonetics, which is the

analysis and classification of speech sound including its production and perception and acoustic

analysis. When we talk about the phonological systemof English, we are denoting to the total of

phonemes which are used in this language, and to how they are organized.

English vowels :

Vowels can be classified into different ways .the principle of vowel classification is

50
the length: English has 12vowels, 4long and 8 short vowels: the former take more time in its

articulation whereas short vowels take less time in its articulation.

English short vowels are:

/ı/ close, front, unrounded, short vowel.E.g. bit

/e/ mid, front, unrounded, short vowel .E.g. edge

/ӕ/open,front, unrounded, short vowel.E, g: bat

/u/ close, back, rounded, short vowel e.g. put

/ʌ/ open, central, unrounded, short vowel .e.g.up

/ə/ close, central, unrounded, short vowel.E.g.about

/o/ open, back, rounded, short vowel. E.g. stop (Roach, 1991)

Figure 1: The vowel quadrilateral including short vowels. (Radford:,2009)

English long vowels:

/i: / close, front, unrounded, long vowel.E.g. Peace.

51
/a: /open, back, unrounded, long vowel.E.g.half.

/3:/mid, central, unrounded, long vowel.E.g.Purse.

/o: /open, back, rounded, long vowel.E.g. board.

/u: /close, back, rounded, long vowel .E.g.soon. (Roach, 1991).

Figure 2: The vowel quadrilateral with long vovels(Radford:,2009)

DIPHTHONG / EXAMPLE

/ıə/ peer/pıə /

/əʊ/ poor/pʊə /

/аʊ/ bough / bаʊ /

/eə / air/eə /

/ᴐı/ boy/bᴐı /

/eı / take/teık /

/аı / bay /bаı /

Table 10: English diphthongs

52
English consonants.

Consonants are distinguished by more than just their manner of articulationStops or

plosives.

/p/ voiceless, bilabial, stop.e.g pin.

/b/ voiced, bilabial, stop. e.g. bob.

/t/ voiceless, alveolar, stop.e.g tin.

/d/ voiced, alveolar, stop.e.g dad.

/k/ voiceless, velar, stop.e.g kite.

g/ voiced velar, stop.e.g gag.

Fricatives

/f/ voiceless, labiodental fricative.e.g fish.

/v/ voiced, labiodental fricative.e.g vine.

/ɵ/voiceless (inter)dental fricative.e.g thin.

/ɟ/ voiced, interdental fricative.e.g that.

/s/ voiceless, alveolar, fricative.e.g sit

/z/ voiced, alveolar, fricative.e.g Zeke

/ƪ /voiceless alveopalatal fricative.e.g ship

/Z/ (/6/) voiced alveopalatal fricative.e.g Jacques

53
/h/ voiceless, “glottal”, fricative .e.g. here

Affricates

/ʧ/ voiceless, palate-alveolar, affricate.

/ʤ/ voiced, palate-alveolar,affricates.e.g judge

Nasals

/m/ voiced, bilabial, nasal.e.g mice

/n/voiced, alveolar, nasal.e.g nice

/n/ voiced, velar, nasal.e.g sing

Lateral

/l/ voiced alveolar, liquid.e.g.life

Retroflex

/r/ voiced, post alveolar, retroflex.e.g red

Semi_vowels

/w/voiced, bilabial, glide.e.g wood

/j/voiced velar, glide.e.g.yes.

The consonants of English would be better shown in the form of a chart that reveals the

place and manner of articulation of each consonant.

54
Figure 3: Manner of articulation of each consonant. (Akmajian, Demers, Farmer, & Harnish P74
2001)

English stress and rhythm

Strictly speaking, stress is the force of the breath with which speech sound are

pronounced .stressed syllable is more prominent than the other unstressed ones .perceptual

experiments have clearly shown that, in English, the four features from a scale of importance in

bringing syllables into prominence, the pitch of the voice being the most efficient factor in the

perception of stress, and loudness is the least significant one. The two other factors which are the

length and vowel quality are more important than the last factor.

Levels of stress

In English, there are three basic levels of stress, viz , primary stress, secondary stress , and

unstressed .these are some examples illustrating the three degrees of stress specified above.

*Primary stress, e.g. a’round /ərаʊnd/

*Secondary stress, e.g. Photographic /fəʊtəgrӕfık/

*Unstressed, e.g. about /əbаʊt/

Placement of stress within the word

In some languages, describing word stress is a simple affair. That is to say stress always

falls on the same syllable of words. Such languages are said to have fixed word stress. For

instance, in Czech, stress falls on the first syllable of the word .in English, however, word- stress

is not fixed, but that does not it is not predictable. The placement of stress in English words is

related to the information described below.

1/morphological information

55
 . A word may be simple, consisting of a single stem/base. Here the stem by itself

carries a primary stress. For example:good

.Some words are compounds, consisting of two stems together, each one existing as an

independent word in the language .for example: typewriter, tea cup.

.Some words are complex word is consists of identifiable parts, that is,

STEM+AFFEXES.when the affix precedes the stem, it is called a prefix; when the affix comes

after the base, it is called a suffix.in English, all the suffixes fall into 3 categories according to the

influence they may or may not have on the location of the primary stress in such complex words.

A.weak suffixes: are those which have no influence on the primary stress

e.g. ‘-ish’ devil _ ‘devilish

‘-ful’ wonder _ ’wonderful

‘-ing’ amaze _ amazing

B. Stress -carrying: these are strong suffixes because ,when added to a base ,they attract

the primary stress from the stem onto the suffix itself.

e.g. ‘-ain’ entertain

‘-ette’ cigarette

‘-resque’ picturesque

C. Stress –shifting: these are strong suffixes which cause the primary stress to shift from one

syllable of the stem to another one.

e.g. ‘-ic’ climate climatic

‘-ion’ perfect perfection

56
 ‘-ive’ reflex reflexive

Phonological information

The place of stress in particular words depends on part on the phonological structure of the

last two syllables. We need to consider whether a syllable is an open syllable, that is ending with a

vowel and no consonant after it, e.g. money, envy ,or whether it is a syllable closed by a certain

number of consonants. We need also to consider if the vowels are short or long.

Here we are presenting a simplified set of rules for stress placement in simple words

Verb of two or three syllables

There seems to be a tendency for English verbs of two or three sylls to behave according to the

following rules

(1) If the verb has the final syllables ending with a long vowel or diphthong and with no

consonants after it; or either of these (long vowel or diphthong) followed by one

consonant, then the primary stress falls on the final syllable.

E.g. Apply determine

(2If the verb has the final syllable sending in a short vowels followed by consonants, then the

primary stress will occur on that final syllables

E.g. Attract

Note: Adjectives behave the same way as verbs with regard to stress placement, that is the same

stress rules as for verbs should be used.

E.g. Lovely

Noun

57
 (1) If the final syllable of the noun contains a short vowel, then the primary stress will not fall

on the last syllable but on the one just before.

E.g. disaster

Grammatical information

The place of stress in a word also depends on the grammatical class the word belongs to

(noun, verb, adjective, etc.)

English rhythm

Thenatural rhythm of English consists of an alternation of stronger (stressed) and weaker

(unstressed) syllables. English is said to have a “stress-timed rhythm». The stress timed –rhythm

theory states that the times for each stressed syllable to the next will tend to be the same,

irrespective of the number of intervening unstressed syllables. The basic principle is that in

English stresses tend to occur at regular interval of time, whatever the number of unstressed

syllables in-between the stresses; the latter are squeezed in between the strong stresses and often

pronounced with weak vowels.an example is given below.in this sentence, the stressed syllables

are given numbers: syllables 1 and 2 are not separated by any unstressed syllables, 2 and 3 are

separated by one unstressed syllable, 3 and 4 by two and 4 and 5 by three.

1 2 3 4 5

‘Walk’down to the’ path to the ‘end of the canal.

(Roach, 1991)

2.2. The Phonological Properties of the Algerian Dialects the Case of:

2.2.1 Annaba:

58
Introduction to the city

Annaba is a north eastern Algerian city which was called Bona that is near to the Tunisian

borders because of its closeness to the mouth of Wadi Seybouse. As a result of its strategic

situation, many empires ,such as Phoenicians arround the12th century as well as Romans who

turned it to be a place for Numedian kings and a center of christian thought called Hippo Regius,

became obssessed with the idea of acquiring it both as a place of establishement for their troops

and as a market to fresh their trade opening new markets where they can buy their goods. It

remained a small city under the succession of many rulers untill its capture by the French

colonialism in 1832. For many people, Annaba is considered to be number one as a touristic place

consisting of ancient buildings such as early French houses, the Mosque of Salah Bey, the Mosque

of Sîdî Bou Merouan which was built with columns taken from Roman ruins, the cathedral, and

basilica of Saint-Augustine.

Annaba’s Phonological Properties

spoken Arabic in Algeria differs from written Arabic; it has a vocabularies stimulated from

Arabic but the innovative words have been changed phonologically, with major Berber substrates,

and many other words like loanwords borrowed from Turkish, French and Spanish. Algerian

Arabic has dropped the case endings of the written language likewise all Algerian dialects. It is

used only in intimate cases rather than in schools, television or newspapers, which usually use

standard Arabic or French, However, more common, heard in songs, in Algerian homes and on the

street. It is spoken daily by the enormous majority of Algerians. It is part of the Maghreb Arabic

dialect continuum, can be divided into Moroccan Arabic and Tunisian Arabic all along the

respective borders. Algerian Arabic vocabularies are pretty much similar all over Algeria,

although the easterners sound closer to Tunisians whereas the westerners speak Arabic closer to

that of the Moroccans. We spotlight, in this paper, one of the easterners’ dialects of Algeria:

59
Annaba’s dialect (AD). This choice is justified by the fact that this dialect is the one we know best

and practice.

Annaba’s dialect (AD) is spoken in the city of Annaba that is located at the east of Algeria.

It is spoken mostly by one million people. Its most notable feature is the collapse of short vowels

for example the word ‫ كتاب‬/ kita:b/ in MSA that is a book is pronounced‫ كتاب‬/ktab/ in Annaba

dialect. Therefore the short vowel /i/ in the first consonant that is called in Arabic “kasra” is

deleted by dialectal Arabic and replaced by the “sukun”. In AD there are some consonant that

their not pronounced as they usually be pronounced in MSA, the following table can illustrate this

case.

Consonant Pronunciation
‫ق‬,/q/ ‫ڨ‬,/v/
‫ت‬,‫ث‬,/Ɵ/, /t/ ‫ت‬,/t/
‫ذ‬,/ð/ ‫د‬,/d/

Table 11: The pronunciations of some consonant accordinf to AD

(k.Smailé, K. Meftouh, N.Bouchemal)

In contrast to MSA, the « Hamza » is avoided by algerian dialects as well as Annaba dialect.

For instance in the word /maeida/ it is changd into the easier pronounced word /mida/.Personal

pronoun may appear in two forms. The detached pronouns which are used in the appropriate form

(the equivalent of”I”,”he”, etc) are separated from other words. The suffixed pronouns which are

60
used in the possessive (the equivalent of”my”,”his”, etc), or in the objective form (the equivalent

of”me”,”him”) are attached to nouns, verbs or certain particles.

 The separate personal pronouns

It can be distinguished in the following use of singular and plural forms.

a. Si ngular form:

b. Plural form:

During using AD it is

possible to omit pronouns specially

once asking about something like

saying /dƷi?a:ne/? instead of MSA:/hal enta dƷai?/And in English : are you hungry!

Pronoun also can be expressed by a abbreviated form which is added to the end of a noun, verb or

certain particles. The common suffixes used in singular and plural forms are:

a. Singular fom:

61
 b. Plural form:

The following table show the different types of interrogatives that are used by Annaba dialect:

Table 12: Interrogative

particles and pronouns in AD and their

equivalents in MSA.

While the following table illustrates some sample of Annaba dialect compared to modern standard arabic :

62
 Table 13: A sample of the dictionary MSA-Annaba’s dialect.

Figure 4: A sample of

parallel corpus

MSA- Annaba’s

dialect. (k.Smailé

and k.Meftouh)

63
 Table 14: Levenshtein distance for dialect words and their equivalents in MSA

2.2.2. Tebessa:

Introduction to the city

Tebessa is an Algerian city which is situated about 20 kilometers from Tunisian borders

that have as well as other cities a long history which can be seen clearly in terms of traditions,

64
customs, and the dialect used in daily life situations. The name of the city has passed through

many stages from a town of a north African Berbarian kingdom called Nomedia before becoming

a part of the Roman empire in 146 CE when it was called Thevest up to the point of the French

colonialism in 1851 in which it has been labelled Tebessa . It has been given a great importance

because of its connection with roads and rails additionally to its neighborhood with Tunisia what

tourists find an attractive place to visit. Adding to all these are the ancient buildings of numerous

empires and kingdoms including the The Gate of Caracalla dating back to 214 CE which is a

Roman tiumphal arck and The richly mosaic decorated Temple of Minerva that dates back to the

early part of the third century. Moreover, the city which consists of Consisting of 12 districts and

28 municipalities is well known for its proffciancy in making traditional carpets, a phosphate

mine, as well as meuseums and temples. In brief, Tebessa's rich traditions and customs

additionally to its long history encourage touriststs from different places of the world to dicover its

extreme beaty.

Tebessa phonological proprieties

Actually Tebessa is the neighbor of tunusia and its dialects are as similar as much,

concerning intonation patterns, stress, rhythm and place of articulation. It is based mainly on

modern standerd Arabic transmition of words that are influenced by latter part French, roman,

numidians ..etc. According to unreliability of research made on Tebessa dialect we tend to

testimony Tunisian dialect phonological system as similar as much to Tebessa dialect.

The following table presents the

significant phonemes of Sibawayh‟s account (Al-

Nassir 11), representative of Old

Arabic, with their realizations in the modern

dialect of Sousse (Talmoudi 19-41). The

65
orthographic form of each sound has been included for ease of reference, and inconsistencies are

bolded:

Table 15: Sousse/Tebessa Consonant Data

The question words of the Arabic dialect of Sousse/ Tebessa are as follows, with the

corresponding Classical Arabic elements presented for comparison.

Table 16:

As can clearly be seen, the forms of the Sūsi/ Tebessa interrogatives varies sharply from their

Classical Arabic equivalents. Are they, however, bimorphemic, consisting of two compounded

66
elements? Even a cursory analysis of the Sūsi/ Tebessa forms shows that this is quite likely the

case.

With regard to lexicosemantics, the dialect of Sousse/ Tebessa emerges to be more creole-

like in nature than it does in the other domains examined in this study. The two features examined

were:

 bimorphemic question words

 a reduced pronominal system (Thomas A. Leddy-Cecere:2010)

As regards the first point, the Sūsi/ Tebessa question words are nearly all bimorphemic, as is

predicted for a product of creolization. The pronominal system, on the other hand, does not

display any strong creole traits, though the general reduction in semantic distinctions could be

seen as consistent with a process of restructuring. Thus, though Sūsi‟s / Tebessa’s

lexicosemantics are more creole-like than its phonology or morphosyntax, they are far from

incontrovertible evidence for prior creolization.

2.2.3. Constantine

Introduction to the city

The north eastern Constantine is considered to be the third largest cities in Algeria.

It was first called Sewa or royal city by Phoenicians before returning it into a capital by the

Numedian king Syphax who renamed it as Cirta. Under the Roman reign, it one one of the

wealthiest cities in north Africa before the war that preceeded the reign of Constantine who took

the responsibility of rebuilding it then it was renamed by his name. This city is almost known by

the el-Kantara Bridge. the Constantinians may still remember bitterly the invasion of Ibn El

Ahrache to Constantine. That was on July 20 th, 1804 - that is during the Ottoman’s reign – when

67
the leader of the tribes of Jijel, Ibn El Ahrache, gathered his army and attacked Constantine,

(Khennouf, 2007: 34) The social background goes back to

the French burned land policy when the inhabitants of the region of El Milia (fifty kilometres to

the east of Jijel) displaced to Constantine, and when they were asked for the reasons of their

exodus they replied: |hrabna mən lah0rika di laZba:l| (‫)ھربن ا م ن الحریك ة دي الجب ال‬

our mountains are burning, so, we have fled away.(Kaouzch: 2 December)

Constantine phonological settings

As well as annaba and Tebessa Constantine dialect is a dialect of educement and vowel

weakeness. Constantinois tends to pronounce some sounds differently then their phonetic

transcription accordind to modern standard Arabic. The following table shall llustrates some

unpronounced consonant in Constantine dialects:

Consonant Pronunciation
/ð/,/d/ /d/
/q/ /q/
/t/ /ts/
/Ɵ/ /t/
Table 16: pronunciation of consonant by constantinien dialect

The following examples had bee took from mister Beghoul dissertation, the transcription of words

were according to Constantine dialect to make a comparatibe study by a friznd who himself is

from Constantine. Eg:

.1/ A: |waSra:k?| (‫‘ ) ؟ واش راك‬How are you? ’

B: |la:ntatbiib| (‫‘ ) ؟ ال أنت طبیب‬Why? Are you a doctor? ’

- Here B deliberately deviates the phatic function to the referential function, though

68
 pretending to be friendly.

The result is that the conversation is over.

eg. 2/ A: |waSra:k| (‫‘ ) ؟ واش راك‬How are you? ’

B: |Gir mannak| ( ‫‘ ) خیر منّك‬Better than you. ’

- Here B is bad intentioned, he is expressing his deep seated competition.

The result is a quick interruption of the conversation.

eg. 3/ A: |waSra:k| (‫‘ ) ؟ واش راك‬How are you? ’

B: |wkingullak maniSmli:h0waS ra:jah ddirli ra:jah0t¿awanni| (‫وكنقول ك من یش مل یح واش‬

‫‘ )رایح ّدیر لي ؟ رایح تعونّي؟‬And if I tell you I’m not fine, are you going to help me? ’

- Here B’s reply implies that there are no solid relations between people. No one relies on

the other.

eg. 4/ A: |waSra:k| (‫‘ ) ؟ واش راك‬How are you? ’

B: |walla:hi nəh0mad rabbi| (‫‘ ) ؟ وهللا نحمد ربي‬I swear by Allah that I’m fine. ’- Here B’s

reply does not leave any field of doubt. He wants to show that his state is

always at a peak. (Kaouach : 2 december).

2.3. Impact of Dialects on English Language Pronunciations:

2.3.1 Overview according to many linguists :

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 The term second language acquisition, also called L2acquisition, broadly denotes to the

acquisition of another language or languages by someone who has already acquired a first

language. Second language acquisition is to be distinguished from first language acquisition.

Many linguists argue that the There are several factors influencing the acquisition of L2.

Among these factors is the learner’s first language or the mother tongue. Rod Ellis (1985) stated

that the most absolved support for this notion arrives from ‘foreign’ accents in the second

language speech of learners. When a Frenchman speaks English, his English sounds French.

The learner’s first language also affects the other language levels vocabulary and grammar.

First language or the mother tongue played a crucial and negative role in the second language

acquisition in term of interference .the mother tongue interferes in the learner’s second language.

One basic supposition in language education is that learners depend basically on their NL

during the learning process. This offers the role of the native language an important part of SLA

research. As Lado stated it clearly (1957,2):

“Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings , and the distribution of forms and

meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language – both productively

when attempting to speak the language and to act in the culture , and receptively when

attempting to grasp and understand the language and the culture as practised by natives”.

The theory of learning and acquisition is based on the crucial assumption that all

knowledge we acquire is interrelated chronologically, in the logic that prior knowledge always

affects new learning. It represents a starting point. This is chiefly true about adult learners who are

constantly depending on their past experiences to build up new concepts. It can logically be

resumed from this theory that, learning is a cumulatively process. Presenting habit construction

and cumulative acquisition, Postman (1971,1019) says:

70
 “Learning is a cumulative process. The more knowledge and skills an individual acquires,

the more likely it becomes that his new learning will be shaped by his past experiences and

activities. An adult, rarely, if ever, learns anything completely new; however unfamiliar

the task that confronts him, the information and habits he has built up in the past will be

his point of departure. Thus transfer of learning from old to new situations is part and

parcel of most , if not all, learning. In this sense, the study of transfer is coextensive with

the investigation of learning.”

According to Hammerly (1991), the learners attempt to use the foreign language as a tool

of communication. Since they have constantly been communicating in their mother tongue, this

will have a straight effect on their foreign language production. He says:

“Faced with something to learn(the SL)1that is similar , something they know and use for

the same communicative purposes the NL, beginners tend to rely initially on their mother

tongue. Thus there are frequent NL intrusions in their SL output.” (Hammerly,1991,5).

Interference refers to the psychological and sociological effect of the MT on the foreign language:

“The psychological use of the term interference refers to the influence of the old habits

when new ones are being learned, whereas the sociolinguistic use of interference refers to

language ‘interaction‘ such as linguistic borrowing and language switching.” (Dulay,

Burt and krashen,1982: 98).

Linguists depicted a distinction in transfer that is between diachronic and synchronic.

Cook (1992: 580) defines diachronic transfer as “…transfer over time…” and synchronic transfer

as”… transfer at a specific point in time…”. For James(1994: 182-183), synchronic transfer:

“…has more to do with language processing, performance and communication. It is used

in encoding/decoding messages rather than breaking the code. One is reminded of the

ambiguous status of the L1 transfer as either learning or communicative strategy”.

71
 Diachronic transfer, on the other hand, is used by the learner to break the code of second

language, i.e. to learn (ibid.: 182). Thus, diachronic transfer helps learning rationale

and synchronic transfer communication principle. Actually, There are four major types of

language transfer; positive, negative, avoidance and over-use. A positive transfer tends to approve

learners’ performance. The newly habits which compose the FL are comparable to the old ones

which constitute the MT. Therefore, the latest behavior is the same as the old one Ellis (1985: 22)

says:

“it is quite possible that the means of expressing a shared meaning are the same in the

first and second language. In such cases, it is possible to transfer the means used to realise

a given meaning in the L1 into the L2 . When this is possible , the only learning that has to

take place is the discovery that the realisation devices are the same in the two languages”.

Also can be illustrated by Hammerly (1991:63):

“Previous knowledge can facilitate learning(positive transfer or facilitation) to the

extent that the established knowledge and the “new”(which is not knew since its already

known).

This means that languages have similar part that can further facilitate rapid and easy learning. This

shall certainly be observed, as Odlin (1989) commented that when having learners from different

origins, with diverse native languages, It is not merely the absence of certain mistakes in which

facilitation can be observed moreover during rapid and smooth learning.

In accord with this, Ellis( 1994: 303) argues that :

“Facilitation is evident not so much in the total absence of certain errors - as would be

expected on the basis of behaviourist notions of positive transfer - but rather in a reduced

number of errors and , also in the rate of learning.”

Whereas negative transfer can be defined as the process by which old knowledge

interferes with FL language acquisition to produce unsuitable behavior. Dulay, Burt and Krashen (

72
1982: 101) identify negative transfer as those occasion of transfer which result in error since old

ordinary behavior is distinct to the new behavior which is being educated . For James( 1994: 184),

“Intrusion causes the learner to use wrong forms”. Under this cover, negative transfer is an

intrusion. It occurs mainly when the L1 and the language to be learned share thesame significance

with different ways of articulating it. At this juncture, an error in the L2 production is probable to

happen. The learner shall use his L1 realization device to express the meaning shared with the TL.

As the FL learners develop through the acquisition process, they shall meet more new structures

that have no correspondent in their NL. Because of this ability to express oneself suitably without

using these structures, the learners will favor to carry on the same path ( i.e. avoiding the use of

the structures they don’t feel the need to learn)

In addition to that, avoidance transfer is distinct from “interruption” which results in

the presence of NL structures in the FL. Distinguishing intrusion from avoidance,

Ellis( 1994:304) says:

” Learners also avoid using linguistic structures which they find difficult because of

differences between their native language and their target language. In such cases,

the effects of the L1 are evident not in what learners do (errors) but in what they do

not do (omissions)”.

Schatchter (1974) discovered that Chinese and Japanese learners of English produced and

made fewer errors in the relative clauses than Persian and Arab learners. It was clarified by

the structure similarity to the one in Arabic but the variety from the one in Chinese. As

Ellis ( 1994: 308) argued that : “It only makes sense to talk of avoidance if the learners

know what they are avoiding”. One can only say that “avoidance” occurs if the learners

know the structures they are avoiding and if the native speakers of that language would

have apply it in that particular situation.

73
Kellerman (1992) distinguishes three categories of avoidance. The first category occurs

when there is a least condition for avoidance to take place, i.e. when the learner predict

that it will be a difficulty with a given form and has some general ideas of what the target

form is like. The second type is marked when the learner knows the target form but has

difficulty in applying it to specific conditions where it should be used. The third type

occurs when the learner knows the target form and knows when it should be applied but

does not want to use it because s/he finds it dissimilar from his/her own norm of

behaviour.

Subsequently, Over-use trandfer commonly comes as a direct result of avoidance.

The learners, struggle to do without the complex L2 structures, will tend to demonstrate a

certain preference for other terms and structures which they will generalize to a large

number of contexts despite that the used structures might sound correct in the broadest

range of situations they are applied to; they are not always suitable nor do they symbolize

the best or most precise choice.

Finally one shall say that first language/ mother tongue is not always a barrier in learning

second/ foreign language. . In other words, different persons have different learning and

acquisition rates. This means that individual differences among language learners play an

influential part in the learning degree of success of learning process.

2.3.2. The Case of Manchester and Chinese dialects:

2.3.2.1. The case of Manchester:

Introduction to the city:

74
 Manchester is a city metropolitan brought in Greater Manchester, England. It is situated in

the south-central part of North West England. The name Manchester originates from the ancient

Rome name”Mamucium”, the name of the roman fort and settlement generally thought to be a

latinisation of an original celtic name possibly meaning “breast like hill” for mamm, plus old

English ceaster= “ town”, which is derived from latin castra=”camp”. An alternative theory

suggests that the origin is Bythonic mamma=”mother” was a river-goddess of the River Medlock

which flows below the fort. Today’s manchestar is a mixture of many civilization that passed by

throughout the years as well as “ Roman Fort” and “Victorian Era”

Manchester phonological system :

There are considerable quantity of motivating and recognized research into the

acquisition of a second dialect in the equivalent language (Payne 1980; Chambers 1992;

Munro, Derwing et al 1999; Sankoff 2004). A slight investigation about the dialect acquisition in a

second language like: (Sharma 2005; Fox and McGory 2007; McGory, Frieda and Fox, in press). This

attainment can happen when non-native speakers of English are exposed to a non-standard dialect

(i.e. different from the pedagogical model). Drummond PhD research addresses this topic by looking

at the extent to which the pronunciation of Polish people living in Manchester, who are using English

as a second language, is influenced by the local accent.

The research covered five phonological features of a Manchester accent: the vowel sound

in ‘STRUT’ words, the vowel sound in ‘BATH’ words, the hard /g/ in __ng syllables, ‘t’

glottalisation, and ‘h’ dropping, though this paper focused only on the first one. Data were being

gathered by recording informal interviews and providing a task involving the description of cartoon

pictures. Preliminary the results suggest that while some people do obtain features of the local accent

into their own pronunciation,” this acquisition is not a foregone conclusion and, at least at first glance,

appears to be inconsistent”(Drummond) . The variables being examined in order to explain the grade

of attainment includes:

75
 “amount of exposure to the local accent, motivation to improve English, desire to integrate into

the local community, attitude towards local accent and accent change, amount of L1/L2 use,

amount of formal instruction”, (Drummond)

English language level, length of time in Manchester, perceptual ability, and level of education;

variables to be explored in order to explain the obvious inconsistency in foreign language acquisition

include (among others):

“lexical frequency, lexical simplicity, phonetic/phonemic simplicity, phonemic similarity to L1,

phonemic context, and syllable stress. Although the research is in its early stages, this paper

will report on findings so far and offer some initial thoughts as to the relevance of various

factors influencing the degree of acquisition amongst the participants”(Drummond)

Manchester dialect are known here to be as similar as the case of Constantine dialects which may

refer to the interrelated historical setting by Romans and Jews who came before to Algeria and

established Constantine. Their dialects are mostly known by the conversion of the sound/t/ into the

sound /ts/ as well as the same at Constantine. Similarly, their dialects also influence English

language acquisition according to the theory of second/ foreign language acquisition and mother

tongue barrier.

2.3.2.2. The case of Chinese dialects:

The target language is regarded as the majority of researchers agree that the learner’s

mother tong affects the pronunciation of the substantial factor in describing for foreign accents.

First language or the mother tong may interfere to cause mistakes in aspiration, stress, and

intonation in the target language.

Some Chinese students incline to have Trouble with English sounds because they are

deeply affected by similar Chinese sounds; however, they are very different from each other. For

the second language learners, a particular sound which does not exist in the native language can

therefore pose a difficulty to develop or some times to try to replace those sounds with similar

ones in their mother tong. These sounds embrace both vowels and consonants .for instance vowels

76
like /ae/,/U:/,and consonants like /0/,hence learners have difficulty first of all in perceiving these

sounds , and consequently try to find closest equivalents to substitute those new sounds. A

distinctive case will be the substitution of /s/ or /z/ for the English /ð/, /ai/ or /e/ for the English /æ/

as in the word ‘that’. Sometimes sounds do exist in the native language

It should be noticed that, although some consonants exist in both languages and

represented by the same phonemic symbol, they may differ, at least, in one phonetic feature which

can be of importance. . For instance, the English /r/ and /􀆌/ are very different from the Chinese /ƪ/

and /r/. hence it is not surprising when the words ‘English’, ‘pronunciation’, ‘rose’ and ‘rise’ are

uncomfortably heard when they are produced by ESL learners It was therefore suggested that the

degree of perceived differences influences learners’ competence in acquiring second language

phonetic segments

.it should be noticed that Chinese is a syllable timed language while English is a stress-

timed language and therefore they have a great deal of differences in stress and rhythmic patterns.

The basis for Chinese rhythm is the number of syllables, and the production of every syllable

virtually takes the same amount of time, while the basis for English rhythm is that of stresses and

the stressed syllable takes more time to pronounce. With no knowledge of this significant feature,

Chinese learners of English often clearly articulate every English syllable and word in speeches.

This results in a foreign-sounding accent, and possibly misconceiving.

Another difference between Chinese and English is that Chinese is a tone language while English

is an intonation language. Intonation transfer from the second language learners’ L1 to L2 is a

natural phenomenon. A number of studies have found that English spoken by different Chinese

dialect groups have different accents (Bolton & Kwok, 1990). The distinctive system of

pronunciation and intonation of Chinese as compared to English may cause Chinese to be

77
perceived as rude and thoughtless. More serious intonation transfer may even affect

comprehension

In china there are many significant dialects and different local accents which will cause

difficulty in learning English .As the case of students from Yunnan province often have difficulty

in distinguishing /ae/ with /e/ in the words ‘bad’ and ‘bed’.

Chinese speaker’s dialectal background can be predicted from acoustic properties of his/her EFL

(English as a foreign language)

2.3.3. The Case of Joseph Conrad:

Introduction to Joseph Conrad:

Jozef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski was born in 1857 in Berdyczow in the Ukraine. He

was the son of Apollo Korzeniowski and Ewa Bobrowska, Polish aristocrats. His parents weresent

in 1862 to live in exile in Vologda in northern Russia during the Russian-occupation of Poland

because of their anti-Czarist Polish National Messianist sentiments. Consequently, while Polish

was his mother tongue, he acquired some Russian early in childhood, though he selected to reduce

it as one of his languages and bore a lasting hatred to the language and all things Russian.

Korzeniowski received a living as a translator, and Conrad obtained an early admiration of

English and French literature during his father's translations of Shakespeare, Hugo, and other

writers. Conrad was taught French at home, and this education was continued all over Conrad's

youth yet after his father's death, ensuing in a balanced bilingualism of Polish and French. He had

a French governess, a Mlle. Durand, whose last words to him were:"N'oublie pas ton français,

mon chéri." He mentioned in A Personal Record that "simply by playing with us she had taught

me not only to speak French, but to read it as well" (64-65). He also learned German and Latin

that were taught in written form in school very quickly, despite his poor

Health, he spent little time in formal classes.

78
 In 1874, he left Poland for Marseilles in order to heal himself and learn a skill. He spent

four years working on French vessels in the West Indies and South America. He chose English

from the few intimate English sailors amid the international crews and from British newspapers.

Conrad's advancement in the English language was afterward very fast “ His habit of using

extravagant gesture further added to the foreignness of his English speech “(Coolidge1975: 62).

In all, Conrad wrote eighteen novels, twenty-nine short stories, three play

adaptations, five collections of autobiographical and personal essays in English. For instance:

Almayer's Folly (1895), Outcast of the Islands (1896) and Lord Jim (1900),

In most of his works, one can discover indications of themes of multilingualism and cultural

adaptation. Hugh Walpole almost lost Conrad's friendship by reporting that Conrad "thought in

Polish, arranged his thoughts in French, and expressed them in English" (Young 1924:8). Conrad

quickly him out portrayed that in a personal letter in 1918:

I began to think in English long before I mastered, I won't say the style (I haven't done that

yet), but the mere uttered speech...Is it thinkable that anybody possessed of some effective

inspiration should contemplate for a moment such a frantic thing as translating it into

another tongue? (Conrad:1927)

Conrad's English language proficiency

Jeremy Hawthorne (1979: xi) covered in his analysis of Conrad's stylistics, that Conrad's

writing was blessed with:

“...a more than commonly developed consciousness of language...an awakened

philosophical curiosity about language, more easily developed when one speaks and thinks

in more than one tongue...”

Throughout Conrad’s entire life, in spite of an unbelievable seize of the stream and rhythm of the

English language, despite a extraordinary vocabularies and deluxe wording, he remained

79
essentially an outsider, an émigré to the English civilization and community "His very mastery of

the language, advancing from early richness and exoticism to later ease and spareness, never lost

the conscious dignity of an acquired speech" (Zabel 1947: 113-4.)

He wrote novels in English that develop into classics of English literature, his English

speech preserved the strong Polish accent of his L1. Therefore some features of an L2 (e.g.

vocabulary and grammar) are easier to learn than others (e.g. pronunciation). Some linguists

suggested that the influence of Joseph Conrad Polish accent on his English is due to the later

period in which he learned English and the said that learning a second language must be on a

sensitive period that some define it at the age of ten:

“The term "sensitive period," on the other hand, refers to the fact that the

age limitation on L2 acquisition is not absolute in the same sense as above.

It is indeed possible to acquire a second language after the sensitive period,

but it would theoretically not be possible to do so to the extent of attaining

native-like proficiency and thus being able to upass for native."( MarkS. Patkowski :1980)

Studies on accent by Oyama (1976) and Seliger et al. (1975) examined the relation of age of

acquisition with the ability of native· like pronunciation have added supporting evidence for the

conception of a sensitive period for the acquisition of a second phonological system. The results in

both cases resumed that age of acquisition is a strong predictor of accent, while various

motivational and practice factors (including period of stay in the United States) have tiny effect.

The study account here examined the existence of a sensitive period for the acquisition of

language rules in a second language. The theory suggestion was that full, native-like acquisition of

language rules in a nonnative language can be reached merely if learning begins before the age of

fifteen years. It should be illustrated that native-like proficiency is not the necessary product of

any second language acquisition experience prior to puberty, but rather is a possible outcome

under optimal sociolinguistic conditions. Adult second language acquisition would never be

80
expected to result in total native nuency. Scovel referred to this as the “Conrad Phenomenon" in

honor of the Polish-born novelist who became one of the greatest literary figures of the English

language despite being practically unintelligible in his spoken production.( MarkS.

Patkowski :1980.P:462)

Many of Conrad’s friends comments regarding his English as H.G. Wells wrote once in his

autobiography that Conrad spoke English "strangely...not badly altogether" but

that he had the habit of pronouncing the final e of these and those (Baines 1960: 233).

Galsworthy (1924:2) as well described Conrad's speech as being in "a strong but fascinating

accent". Also Paul Valéry, the French poet, was surprised by Conrad's "horrible" accent in English

(Valéry 1924: 663-665). The Countess Eleanor Palffy (1929: 534-538) noted that "Conrad spoke

English with a guttural Polish twist. Good came out ringingly as "gut" and blood as "blut," which

fitted in curiously with the complex beauties of his phrases."

Ford Madox Ford, described Conrad's speech as that:

“He spoke English with great fluency and distinction, with correctitude in his syntax, his

words absolutely exact as to meaning but his accentuation so faulty that he was at times

difficult to understand and his use of adverbs as often as not eccentric "(34-35).

Likewise, Ford's own biographer Douglas Goldring illustrated Conrad's prose as "largely pastiche

Flaubert translated into English by someone with no great ease in the use of the language"

(Goldring 1943:151).

His sensitivity with regard to his accent almost lost him the friendship of his trusty agent

Pinker after a tiff in which Pinker cried that he should speak English if he could. Conrad

screamed: "Speak English...if I can...what does he call all I have written?"

(Conrad,Jessie1964:142).

It is also not entirely clear that Conrad could be considered fully native·like, as indicated in the

fotlowing passage by Kurt Vonnegut (1980):

81
 “The writing style which b most natural for you is bound to echo the speech you

heard when a child. English was the novelist Joseph Conrad's third language. and

much that seems piquant in his use of English was no doubt colored by his. first

language, which was polish”(P.463)

It is clear from Conrad's correspondence that he found writing in English arduous. He

confessed to his confidante and fictitious "aunt" Marguerite Poradowska that English for him was

still "a foreign language and its use require a formidable effort on my part"(Najder 1983: 326).

According to Larson and Smalley1972: 398):

“When a language learner has reached the point where he can translate from his mother

tongue into the new language in a style and a dimension appropriate to a given situation

and can do so fluently, so that his translation is received by native speakers of the new

language with ease, appreciation, and interest, and when he can preserve the intentional

meaning of the message from which he is translating, he has proved without a shadow of a

doubt that he has become bilingual.There is no doubt that Conrad's written English was

received "with ease, appreciation,and interest."

Early on in his writing career, Conrad had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of

Edward Garnett, who became a life-long friend and faithful editor of his work. Garnett. When

Almayer's Folly was accepted for publication, Conrad made three rounds of corrections of the

galley proofs and changed 800 words. Conrad confessed to Garnett in a letter in 1898: "The more I

write the less sure I am of my English" (Najder 1983: 208).

In addition to those discussed above, some studies on child-adult differences have centered

on children in formal foreign language acquisition condition in school background. Such research

82
(e.g., Burstall 1975, Stern 1976) has shown basically no differences in second language

accomplishment between younger and older children. According to Lamendella (1977):

“formal settings are conducive to an essentially rational, inteUectual, and conscious

learning process where little or no use is made of the language acquisition system. Thus, it

is only under conditions of prolonged exposure to the target language in a.. natural'•

setting that the intrinsically greater potential for effective second language acquisition of

children can be detected. Studies of formal language learning situations therefore do not

bear directly upon the hypothesis of anage limitation”.(P.466)

The high potency of the age aspect also seems to dispute a "social learning" approach (e.g.,

Gardner et al. 1976) or an "optimal distance" approach (e.g .• Brown 1980). Such approaches

embrace that sociocultural factors affect the attitudinal and motivational factors which determine

success or failure, irrespective of age factors(P.466-467)

Conclusion
In conclusion, by far the influence of the mother Tongue on the second language

acquisition or foreign language .it has both positive or negative influence .it is considered by many

linguists as the most important factor which interferes when we acquire another foreign language,

for example English language. In this chapter we point out a special emphasis on the influence of

the dialect on the English language use. We talked about the historical background of English in

Algeria, and briefinformation on the phonological system of it. Besides, to prove the idea that the

dialect may influences the English language pronunciation we have chosen examples which

reveals such influence.

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 Chapter Three

Introduction

Mother tongue influence is tending to be a huge phenomenon throughout the wide world. It

has been examined by most linguists under the study of second language acquisition. This

84
influence is considered a barrier factor in the acquiring of second language. This chapter is an

attempt to give an overview about influence of Algerian dialects on the English language

pronunciations. We will analyze the speech of some people and identify the influenced parts of

each dialect according to the appropriate place that hinder the fluency of English pronunciation.

Furthermore we will suggest some resolution that will help the Algerian speakers of English to be

fluent afterward.

3.1. Rational

For the purpose of proving the influence of Algerian dialects on the English language

pronunciation, a questionnaire is given to English teachers in Constantine, Annaba, and Tebessa.

From the three different levels, that is middle schools, high schools, and universities. The findings

of the questionnaire and the audio recording will constitute the data of our study. These data will

be quantified and submitted for statistical analysis and histograms. This test is processed to find

out possible significant solution concerning the influence of Algerian dialects on the English

language pronunciation. On the basis of the obtained results of analyses, some generalizations will

be made.

3.2. The instruments

85
 A questionnaire and an audio recording interview were administrated to subject in the

investigation with some minor modification were made to fit the purpose of the study. The

questionnaire consists of fourteen statements; each statement was scored on two-point squared

scale ranging into “Yes” and “No”, otherwise into some points according to the quantity that the

question requires. All the statements presented were reflective of the Algerian dialects influence

on the English language pronunciation as a mother tongue barrier is second language acquisition.

For that reason we deemed that it would be both theoretically and practically proper to use that

scale in our current investigation. (See the appendix)

In order to check the hypothesis stated at the beginning of this research, an audio-recording

interview were carried out. This step was taken to see whether the Algerian dialect of the

appropriate places influences the English language pronunciation by presumably talking with

different teachers randomly. The participants’ oral performance were recorded and transcribed for

analysis. Teachers’ oral performance was assessed in terms of the mother tongue influence factor.

The interview was conducted through asking few questions about the influence of the Algerian

dialects on English language pronunciation and the general background of the appropriate area.

The choice of the topic was made on the fact that all participant in our sample were English

teachers originated from the appropriate areas we have chosen. The interviewer asked the

questions and the teachers were discussing and exchanging ideas, the interviewer interfered each

time to provide some related examples that have been found on the previous studies in order to get

new comments. Teachers were informed that they are being recorded. This aims at offering the

credibility to the work. The interview was untimed thus we could avoid such change because

people may, consciously or unconsciously, change the way they behave while they are being

observed, and therefore observational accounts of their behavior may be erroneous representations

of how they behave ‘naturally’.

86
 The quantitative data from the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive and

comparative statistics. The qualitative data collected from the test were also analyzed used

descriptive, comparative and inferential statistics. The data collected from the questionnaire were

correlated with teachers’ oral performance in the audio-recorded interview.

3.3. The sample

A total number of thirty two (32) teachers of the three levels universities, high schools and

middle schools were chosen randomly to participate in the study. However we focused only on

twenty (20) teachers considering two teachers from each level at each area merely three university

teachers from both Annaba and Constantine because of availability of the teachers originated from

each area. The choice of the different levels’ English teacher elements in the study was done for

the sake of practicality, appropriateness and for the comparative study between the three levels

degree of mother tongue influence in their pronunciation. The same teachers who participated in

responding the questionnaire were also interviewed.

3.4. Software for analysis

In our statistical analysis of the data, both descriptive and inferential, we used two

computer software programs, one designed for typing information and Histogramme (Microsoft

WORD 2007) and the other designed for general statistics (Microsoft EXCEL 2007).

3.5. Obtained results

I. Questionnaire

1. Constantine

Constanti
ne Middle School High School University Pourcentage of Answers:

87
 Infor Infor Infor Infor Infor Infor Infor The
mant mant mant mant mant mant mant The Pourcentage Pourcentage of
Answers 1 2 1 2 1 2 3 of "Yes"*100 "No"*100

Answer(1
) Q1 No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes 71.42857143 28.57142857

Answer(2
) Q2 No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes 71.42857143 28.57142857

Answer(3
) Q3 No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes 71.42857143 28.57142857

Answer(4
) Q4 No No No No No No No 0 100

Answer(5
) Q5 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(6
) Q6 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No 85.71428571 14.28571429

Answer(7
) Q7 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(8
) Q9 No No No No No No No 0 100

Answer(9
) Q10 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(1
0) Q11 No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 85.71428571 14.28571429

Value 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Table 18: the overall pourcentage of teachers answers of the questionnaire in

Constantine

Value
Yes 10
No 10

Table 19: value measure “1”

88
 As can be seen in the table above we have illustrated the percentage of each question solely

to indicate the percentage of the correctness of the ideas that we have mentioned before which

was merely about the influence of Algerian dialects on English language pronunciation. The

table above discusses these answers according to teachers from Constantine. It shows that

according to them the Algerian dialects influences our use of English with a percentage of 71%.

Fewer had said no with a 28% from the teachers questioned.

100
90
80
70 Pourcentage of Answers: The
60 Pourcentage of
Pourcentage of Answers: The
50 Pourcentage of
40 University Informant 3
University Informant 2
30 University Informant 1
20 High School Informant 2
High School Informant 1
10
Middle School Informant 2
0 Middle School Informant 1

Figure 5: Histograms about teachers respond to the questionnaire”1”

To be clearer we have computed those data into a histogram since it is better for showing

the responds clearly and briefly. The above figure discusses the data of the latter table. It draws

those percentages into vertical axes that grow higher according to percentage rates. Another kind

of statistics was made to show the percentage of teachers’ respond to the answer according to their

89
level that is middle school, high school and university. The following tables tend to show the No

question number of answers according to the tree level in Constantine.

no Middle School High School University

Answer(1) Q1 1 0 1
Answer(2) Q2 1 0 1
Answer(3) Q3 1 0 1
Answer(4) Q4 2 2 3
Answer(5) Q5 0 0 0
Answer(6) Q6 0 0 1
Answer(7) Q7 0 0 0
Answer(8) Q9 2 2 3
Answer(9) Q10 0 0 0
Answer(10) Q11 1 0 0

Table 20: “No” percentage according to each level in Constantine

This table also is computed into vertical axes that clearly illustrate the “No” percentage

according to the education level of the teachers from Constantine. The higher percentage is

according to university teachers respond to question number four. All the gathered percentages

seems to be equal according to the three levels mainly questions number 1 o 3.

90
 Answers with "No"
(CONSTANTINE)
3 Middle School
2.5 High School
University
2
Number of informants

1.5
1
0.5
0

Figure 6: Histogram about “No” answers percentage according to each level in

Constantine

As similar process of computing data, a similar investigation was made about

“Yes“answers percentage considering the teachers’ level in Constantine. The following table is a

statistic to show the number of the “Yes” answers according to teachers’ level. Whilst the next

figure is a histogram of vertical axes that illustrates the percentage rates according to each level.

The latter figure demonstrates that the higher percentage of yes is in university teachers respond to

both of questions number five and seven, ten and eleven.

91
 yes Middle School High School University
Answer(1) Q1 1 2 2
Answer(2) Q2 1 2 2
Answer(3) Q3 1 2 2
Answer(4) Q4 0 0 0
Answer(5) Q5 2 2 3
Answer(6) Q6 2 2 2
Answer(7) Q7 2 2 3
Answer(8) Q9 0 0 0
Answer(9) Q10 2 2 3
Answer(10) Q11 1 2 3

Table 21: “Yes” percentage according to each level in Constantine

Answers with "Yes"

(CONSTANTINE)
3 Middle School
2.5 High School
University
2
Number of informants

1.5

0.5

Figure 7: Histogram about “Yes” answers percentage according to each level in

Constantine

92
 2. Annaba

Annaba Middle School High School University Pourcentage of Answers:

Infor Infor Infor Infor Infor Infor Infor
mant mant mant mant mant mant mant The Pourcentage The Pourcentage
Answers 1 2 1 2 1 2 3 of "Yes"*100 of "No"*100

Answer(1
) Q1 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes 71.42857143 28.57142857

Answer(2
) Q2 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes 71.42857143 28.57142857

Answer(3
) Q3 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes 71.42857143 28.57142857

Answer(4
) Q4 No No No No No No No 0 100

Answer(5
) Q5 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(6
) Q6 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(7
) Q7 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(8
) Q9 No No No No No No No 0 100

Answer(9
) Q10 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(1
0) Q11 No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 85.71428571 14.28571429

Value 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Table 22: the overall pourcentage of teachers answers of the questionnaire in

Annaba

93
 Value
Yes 10
No 10

Table 23: value measure”2”

The table above have illustrated the percentage of each question only to specify the

percentage of the rightness of the thoughts that we have stated before which was simply about

the influence of Algerian dialects on English language articulation. The table above discusses

these answers according to teachers from Annaba. It demonstrated that according to them the

Algerian dialects influences our use of English with a percentage of 71%. Fewer had said no

with a 28% from the teachers questioned as well as constantinois teachers.

100
90
80
70 Middle School Informant 1
60 Middle School Informant 2
High School Informant 1
50
High School Informant 2
40 University Informant 1
30 University Informant 2
University Informant 3
20
Pourcentage of Answers: The
10 Pourcentage of
Pourcentage of Answers: The
0 Pourcentage of
1

10

1
Q2

Q4

Q6

Q9
An (1) Q

An (3) Q

An (5) Q

An (7) Q

Q1
)Q
2)

4)

6)

An r(8)

0)
(

(9
er

er

er

er

er

er

er

(1
e

er
sw

sw

sw

sw

sw

sw

sw

sw

er
sw

sw
An

An

An

An

An

Figure 8: Histograms about teachers respond to the questionnaire”2”

To be comprehensible we have computed those facts into a histogram since it is better for

the presentation of the responds clearly and briefly. The previous figure discusses the data of the

94
latter table. It portrayed those percentages into vertical axes that grow higher according to

percentage charge. An additional category of statistics was made to show the percentage of

teachers’ respond to the answer according to their level that is middle school, high school and

university. The following tables tend to show the No question number of answers according to the

tree level in Annaba.

no Middle School High School University

Answer(1) Q1 0 1 1
Answer(2) Q2 0 1 1
Answer(3) Q3 0 1 1
Answer(4) Q4 2 2 3
Answer(5) Q5 0 0 0
Answer(6) Q6 0 0 0
Answer(7) Q7 0 0 0
Answer(8) Q9 0 2 3
Answer(9) Q10 0 0 0
Answer(10) Q11 1 0 0

Table 24: “No” percentage according to each level in Annaba

This table also is computed into vertical axe that clearly illustrate the “No” percentage

according to the education level of the teachers from Annaba. The higher percentage is according

to university teachers respond to question number four and five. All the collected percentages give

the impression to be equal according to the three levels mainly questions number 1,2 and 3

95
 Answers with "No"
(ANNABA)
Middle School
3
High School
2.5 University
2

1.5
Number of informants

1
0.5

Figure 9: Histogram about “No” answers percentage according to each level in

Annaba

As parallel procedure of computing data, a similar examination was made about

“Yes“answers percentage considering the teachers’ level in Annaba. The following table is a

statistic to show the number of the “Yes” answers according to teachers’ level. At the same time

as the next figure is a histogram of vertical axes exemplify the percentage rates according to each

level. The latter figure demonstrates that the higher percentage of yes is in university teachers

respond to both of questions number five, six and seven, ten and eleven.

96
 yes Middle School High School University
Answer(1) Q1 2 1 2
Answer(2) Q2 2 1 2
Answer(3) Q3 2 1 2
Answer(4) Q4 0 0 0
Answer(5) Q5 2 2 3
Answer(6) Q6 2 2 3
Answer(7) Q7 2 2 3
Answer(8) Q9 0 0 0
Answer(9) Q10 2 2 3
Answer(10) Q11 1 2 3

Table 25: “Yes” percentage according to each level in Annaba

Answers with "Yes"

(ANNABA)
3 Middle School
High School
2.5 University
2
1.5
Number of informants

1
0.5
0

Figure 10: Histogram about “Yes” answers percentage according to each level in

Annaba

97
 3. Tebessa

Tebessa Middle School High School University Pourcentage of Answers:

Inform Inform Inform Inform Inform Inform The Pourcentage The Pourcentage
Answers ant 1 ant 2 ant 1 ant 2 ant 1 ant 2 of "Yes"*100 of "No"*100

Answer(1)
Q1 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(2)
Q2 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(3)
Q3 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(4)
Q4 No No No No No No 0 100

Answer(5)
Q5 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(6)
Q6 No No Yes Yes Yes Yes 66.66666667 33.33333333

Answer(7)
Q7 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100 0

Answer(8)
Q9 No Yes No No Yes No 33.33333333 66.66666667

Answer(9)
Q10 Yes No Yes Yes No Yes 66.66666667 33.33333333

Answer(10
) Q11 No Yes Yes Yes No Yes 66.66666667 33.33333333
Value 10 10 10 10 10 10

Table 26: the overall pourcentage of teachers answers of the questionnaire in

Tebessa

98
 Value
Yes 10
No 10

Table 27: value measure “3”

As similar as the previous, the table above indicated the percentage of each question in order

to point out the degree of the accuracy of the ideas that we have mentioned before which was

purely about the influence of Algerian dialects on English language pronunciation. The table

above talked about these answers according to teachers from Tebessa. According to them the

Algerian dialects influences our use of English with a percentage of 71%. Fewer had said no

with a 28% from the teachers questioned as parallel to the previous investigation

100
90
80
70
Middle School Informant 1
60
Middle School Informant 2
50 High School Informant 1
40 High School Informant 2
University Informant 1
30 University Informant 2
20 Pourcentage of Answers: The
Pourcentage of
10 Pourcentage of Answers: The
0 Pourcentage of

Figure 11: Histograms about teachers respond to the questionnaire”3”

99
 We have calculated data and draw it in a histogram since it is superior for the indication of

the responds evidently and temporarily. The above figure discusses the data of the latter table. It

shows a portrayed investigation of those percentages into vertical axes that raise higher according

to percentage rates. One more sort of statistics was made to describe the percentage of teachers’

respond to the answer according to their level that is middle school, high school and university.

The following tables tend to show the No question number of answers according to the tree level

in Tebessa.

no Middle School High School University

Answer(1) Q1 0 0 0
Answer(2) Q2 0 0 0
Answer(3) Q3 0 0 0
Answer(4) Q4 2 2 2
Answer(5) Q5 0 0 0
Answer(6) Q6 2 0 0
Answer(7) Q7 0 0 0
Answer(8) Q9 1 2 1
Answer(9) Q10 1 0 1
Answer(10) Q11 1 0 1

Table 28: “No” percentage according to each level in Tebessa

This table also is tansfered into vertical axes that clearly illustrate the “No” percentage

according to the education level of the teachers from Constantine. The higher percentage is

according to middle and high school teachers respond to question number four, six and nine. All

the obtained percentages seems to be equal according to the three levels mainly questions number

four.

100
 Answers with "No"
(TEBESSA)
2 Middle School
1.8 High School
1.6
1.4 University
1.2
Number of informants

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

Figure 12: Histogram about “No” answers percentage according to each level in

Tebessa

As an analogous process of computing data, a comparable analysis was made about “Yes“

answers percentage considering the teachers’ level in Tebessa. The following table is a statistical

review of the number of the “Yes” answers according to teachers’ level. Whereas the next figure is

a histogram of vertical axes that point up the percentage charge according to each level. The latter

figure demonstrates that the higher percentage of yes is in all of the levels.

101
 yes Middle School High School University
Answer(1) Q1 2 2 2
Answer(2) Q2 2 2 2
Answer(3) Q3 2 2 2
Answer(4) Q4 0 0 0
Answer(5) Q5 2 2 2
Answer(6) Q6 0 2 2
Answer(7) Q7 2 2 2
Answer(8) Q9 1 0 1
Answer(9) Q10 1 2 1
Answer(10) Q11 1 2 1

Table 29: “Yes” percentage according to each level in Tebessa

Answers with "Yes"

(TEBESSA)
2 Middle School
1.8
High School
1.6
1.4 University
1.2
Number of informants

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

Figure 13: Histogram about “Yes” answers percentage according to each level in

Tebessa

102
 II. Audio-recorded interview

1. Constantine

The above table summarizes and reveals the percentage of the influence of the dialect of

Constantine on the different levels of the English teachers.it should be noticed here that the

university English teachers are more influenced by their dialect than the middle school or

secondary school teachers. Let’s take for example the informant (1), she is extremely influenced

by her dialect. She is 100% influenced.

Constantine :    
university  
Informant 1  influnced 1
    non influnced 0
Informant2  influnced 0.75
    non influnced 0.25
Middle school  
     
Informant 1 influnced 0.5
    non influnced 0.5
Informant 2 influnced 0.25
    non influnced 0.75
Secondary school    
       
Informant1 influnced 1
    non influnced 0
Informant 2 influnced 0.5
    non influnced 0.5

Table 30: influenced and non influenced part of speech of Constantine

These figures represent the percentage of the influence of Constantine dialect on the

English language pronunciation of the university teachers’ .from the figures we can assume that

the impact of the dialect is really there. A good example is The informant number (2) who is

really influenced by her dialect .she is 75% influenced.

103
 university

Informant 1

influnced
non influnced

Figure 14: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at university level

Informant 2

influnced
non influnced

Figure 15: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at university level

104
 These figures represent the influence of the dialect of Constantine on the pronunciation of

English language of the middle school .we noticed that the middle school English teachers are also

influenced by their dialect.

Middle school

Informant 1

influnced
non influnced

Figure 16: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at middle school

Informant 2

influnced
non influnced

Figure 17 : influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at middle school

105
 This figures represent the percentage of the influence of the dialect of Constantine on the

pronunciation of the English language of the secondary school teacher.it can be seen that the

dialect may interfere and influence the pronunciation of English language

Secondary school

Informant 1

influnced
non influnced

Figure 18 : influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at secondary school

Informant 2

influnced
non influnced

Figure 19: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at secondary school

106
 2. Tebessa

The above table clarifies and summarized the influence of tebessa dialect on the English

language pronunciation .we can see that the majority of the English teachers are influenced by

their dialect.

Tebessa      
university  
Informant 1  influnced 65.00%
  non influnced 35.00%
Informant2  influnced 45.00%
    non influnced 55.00%
Middle school  
   
Informant 1 influnced 75.00%
  non influnced 25.00%
Informant 2 influnced 70.00%
    non influnced 30.00%
Secondary school  
   
Informant1 influnced 70.00%
  non influnced 30.00%
Informant 2 influnced 50.00%
    non influnced 50.00%

Table 31: influenced and non influenced part of speech of Tebessa

These figures represent the influence of Tebessa dialect on the English language

pronunciation of the university teachers. We can notice here that university teachers are mainly

influenced by their dialect. For example the informant (1) is 65% influenced. The second

informant (2) is 45% influenced.

107
 university

Informant 1 

35%

influnced
non influnced

65%

Figure 20: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at university level

Informant 2

45% influnced
55% non influnced

Figure 21: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at university level

108
 These two figures represent the percentage of the influence of Tebessa dialect on the

English language pronunciation of the secondary school English teachers .here w can noticed that

the influence of the dialect on the English language pronunciation do exist

Secondary school
Informant 1 

30%

influnced
non influnced
70%

Figure 22: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at secondary school

Informant 2

50% 50% influnced

non influnced

Figure 23: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at secondary school

109
 These two figures show the percentage of the influence of Tebessa dialect on the English

language pronunciation .we can see that the middle school English teachers are influenced by their

dialect.

Middle school

Informant 1 

25%

influnced
non influnced
75%

Figure 24: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at middle school

Informant 2

30%

influnced
non influnced
70%

Figure 25: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at middle school

110
 3. Annaba

The table above points out the percentage of the influence of Annaba dialect on the

pronunciation of the English language .this table accumulates all 6 English language teachers from

different levels, university level, secondary level, and middle level. We can assume that the

majority of the English teachers are mainly influenced.

Annaba      
university    
Informant 1  influnced 90.00%
    non influnced 10.00%
Informant2  influnced 90.00%
    non influnced 10.00%
Middle school  
   
Informant 1 influnced 100%
    non influnced 0%
Informant 2 influnced 65.00%
    non influnced 35.00%
Secondary school  
   
Informant1 influnced 85.00%
    non influnced 15.00%
Informant 2 influnced 65.00%
    non influnced 35.00%

Table 33: influenced and non influenced part of speech of Annaba

These two figures represent the percentage of the influence of Annaba dialect on the

English language pronunciation .the case of university level of English teachers .these figures are

mainly the same .both informants’ pronunciation of English is highly influenced by their dialect.

111
 university
Informant 1

10%

influnced
non influnced

90%

Figure 26: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at university level

Informant 2

10%

influnced
non influnced

90%

Figure 27: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at university level

112
 These two figures represent the percentage of the influence of Annaba dialect on the

pronunciation of the English language .the case of middle school level of English teachers.We can

assume that the secondary school teachers of English are influenced by their dialect the informant

(1) is highly influenced by his dialect. He is 100% influenced.

Middle school
Informant 1

influnced
non influnced

100%

Figure 28: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at middle school

Informant 2

35%
influnced
non influnced
65%

Figure 29: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at middle school

113
 These two figures represent the percentage of the influence of Annaba dialect on the

English language pronunciation .the case of secondary school level of English teachers .the two

informants are influenced by their dialect .the first informant is 85% influenced whereas the

second informant is just 65% influenced.

Secondary school
Informant 1

15%

influnced
non influnced

85%

Figure 30: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 1 at secondary school

Informant 2

35%
influnced
non influnced
65%

Figure 31: influenced and non influenced pat of informant 2 at secondary school

114
 Discussion and interpretation

In the present study, the first research question explored whether the Algerian dialects have

an influence on the English language pronunciation or not. The second test which is the audio

recording is the result of whether the Algerian dialects have clear influence on the Algerian

teachers of English or not. In other word, it is used to prove our research hypothesis concerning

the influence of Algerian dialects on the English language pronunciation.

The influence of Algerian dialects on the English language pronunciation is evidentlystated

in the audio recording. This test points out that the English teachers of the differentlevels that is

middle level, secondary level, and university,are mainly influenced in a way or another by their

dialects.one of the participants (1) of university of Constantine seemed to be more influenced by

her dialect, she made a 29 mistakes concerning pronunciation, instead of saying /ɟ/ she says /d/.she

is 100%influenced.

Another participant (1) of the University of Annaba is also influenced by his dialect,

instead of saying /ɟ/ he says /d/.he is 90% influenced.

We noticed also that the majority of the English teachers in their response to the

questionnaire showed that their dialects can affect the English language pronunciation, and they

gave examples of such influence. For instance, the participant (1)of Tebessa University gave

example that shows that influence, he stated that learners of English from skikda instead of

saying /t/ they say /ʧ/.the same case of leaners of English fromAnnaba, instead of saying /ɟ/ they

say /d/.this reveals that a dialect may influence the English language pronunciation. When this

participant was interviewed, his English pronunciation seemed to be 65% influenced by his

dialect.

115
 In the audio recording, the influence of the dialect is clearly there .the majority of the

Algerian English teachers of all the different levels are mainly influenced by their dialects. The

case for example of Annaba secondary school English teachers are influenced by their dialect.

Let’s take for example the case of the participant (1) she says /deı təʊld mi: ɟӕt/ instead of /ɟeı

təʊld mı ɟӕt/, furthermore, she says also /dıs ız/ instead of saying /ɟıs ız/, she is 85% influenced by

her dialect.

Furthermore, the results points out that the two middle school English teachers from

Annaba appear to be more influenced than the middle school teachers of English in whether

Constantine, or tebessa. The result obtained through the audio recording attested that the dialect

interferes on the English language pronunciation. The first participant or the first middle school

teacher of English of Annaba is 100% influenced by his dialect concerning the pronunciation of

English.

The middle school teachers of English in both Constantine and tebessa are also influenced

by their dialect; however when we contrast them with English teachers of Constantine or tebessa

the result showed that the latters seemed less influenced than the middle school teachers of

English in Annaba.

Besides, the results indicate that the English teacher pauses and repetitions were high, in all

the levels of teaching. This latters affectthe rhythm of the English sentences they produced .for

example, one participants (2) of secondary school of tebessa repeats many words such as ‘yes, no,

a, which…etc.’ these latters affected the rhythm of Englishsentences.

116
 Pedagogical suggestion:

Strictly speaking, the mother tongue is considered by many linguists as one of the factors

that interfere whether positively or negatively, when we acquire a second language or foreign

language. Algerian students may encounter difficulties with English sounds due to the interference

from their native language. It is difficult for them to produce certain English sounds which do not

exist in their native language. For example, some English consonants do not exist in Algerian

dialects, for example the case of Annaba and Constantine; they do not have such English

consonants like /ɵ/, /ɟ/. This would be difficult for them to produce English consonants correctly.

As we know, English occupied the second foreign language in Algerian educational system in

both primary and secondary schools. However, learning English as a second language is not an

easy task etc. As we were saying, that the dialect can interfere when we acquire a second

language, and thus would influence the pronunciation of some English sounds. In our research we

have proved the idea that the Algerian dialects influence the English language pronunciation. The

dialect interferes on the acquisition of second language negatively. So, in our research we have

suggested to teach phonetics as a separate module starting in middle school/ high schools.

Approximately, the majority of the English teachers agreed on this idea. They supported

teaching phonetics as a separate module in middle schools/ high schools. And they said it would

be a very helpful solution for all the learners to avoid the influence of their dialects on the English

language pronunciation .and they will be able to produce all English sounds correctly.

117
Conclusion

In this chapter, we have brought suggestion resulting from the experimental works we

conducted .To avoid the influence of the dialect on the English language pronunciation is to teach

phonetics as a separate module in middle schools .thus the Algerian education system should

include phonetics which will help the learners pronounce English sounds correctly .

General conclusion

In this work, the chief point is of course to know if the Algerian dialects influence the

English language pronunciation or not. Through his research, we have look on the sociolinguistic

profile in Algeria and the influence of the dialect on the English language use .here we have given

an attempt in discussing the phonological properties of the Algerian dialects, cases of Annaba,

Tebessa and Constantine. Through this work, we have chosen three examples that prove the idea

that the dialect has a clear influence on the English language use. The first one is the case of

Manchester; the second one is the case of China. And the last one is about or around an

extraordinary writer, Josef Conrad. The English teachers‟ questionnaire and the audio recording

show that the dialect may influence the English language pronunciation.

118
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 Appendices

Informant n°=

Teacher’s Questionnaire

Dear teachers,

129
We would be so grateful if you could answer the following questions for the sake of gathering
information about the influence of Algerian dialects on English language pronunciation.
Please, put a tick (√) in the corresponding box and make full statements whenever necessary.

1. Do you think that Constantine/Annaba/Tebessa dialects affects English language

pronunciation

A. Yes B. No

2. Do you think that such phenomenon is only related to Algeria and to the other countries or
only in the other countries

A. Yes, both B. No, only the other counties

2.1. If yes give us examples that picture such influence

 ………………………………………………………………………………………
 ………………………………………………………………………………………
 ………………………………………………………………………………………

3. Do you think that your colleges dialects affect their pronunciation of English

A. Yes B. No

3.1. If yes can you give us examples of such effects

 ………………………………………………………………………………………
 ………………………………………………………………………………………
 ………………………………………………………………………………………

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4. Do you think that teachers are aware of their pronunciation when talking in natural
circumstances

A. Yes B. No

5. Do you think that mother tongue influence in second language acquisition can affect the
generation throughout the years

A. Yes B. No

6. Do you think that a dialect is a matter of identity

A. Yes B. No

7. Do you think that there is an interference between Algerian dialects

A. Yes B. No

8. What is your comment about the saying that the identity of Algerian dialects depress the
identity of the other languages

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………

9. Some teachers said any one has the capacity to pronounce sounds correctly and it is only a
matter of fashion do you agree? Explain your view?

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A. Yes,………………………………………………………………………………

B. No, ………………………………………………………………………………..

10. Do you think that the influence of the mother tongue on the acquisition of second
language is a matter of habit

A. Yes B. No

11. Do you think that teaching phonetics at early stages like middle/high schools is a reliable
solution

A. Yes B. No

12. What other solution do you suggest

 ………………………………………………………………………………
 ………………………………………………………………………………
 ………………………………………………………………………………
 ………………………………………………………………………………

University Constantine

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Informant: 1

Of course to a large extent the dia theAlgerian dialect contributes to a large extent to the

pronunciation of English words in academic sitting because if the learner has already recognize

some particular sounds in his or her dialect they can be more familiar with them when he or she

produces sentences or phrases in English ok so the influence is e can exist of course especially

with leaners who hasn’t an accent or haven’t an accent to the English language e to listen to

English language or the contact tact contact with the English language only in in schools in

the schools so they need to make some or to to e use some sounds form their language to

pronounce them correctly fluently through the an d put them to pronounce English language

correctly ok.

Yes it’s very appropriate because to teach phonetics is to teach the of pronunciation the

learners they can be aware of the different sounds at that early age they can improve their level

improve their pronunciation know the different between the the sound through something

scientific for teacher they know the symbols the different between the symbols and the different of

the e different symbols different pronunciation different e use of different organs of course they

can reallyunderstand e the these differences in pron producing the sounds and they know that

sounds are very important .

Teachers, but teachers they they cannot declare it explicitly that there is aninfluence but

they can, they know that the teacher when he teaches, the teacher when he teaches, he know he

knows the sound that the learner is familiar with, and the sounds that the learner is not familiar

with. Ok but there was no explicit if you want e e declaration or it is just e every all these

conditions or these reasons.

Dialect is our colloquial language the language that we used to use we used to use from e

our title we imitate our parents our e brothers our sisters e using such words it the our mother ton

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the real mother tongue this is our mother tongue I don’t speak about academic Arabic because

academic Arabic for me it is the second language ok so the mother tongue is our dialect the dialect

that we have already acquired unconsciously unconsciously through imitation through e e..

/ti :ʧəz,bət ti :ʧəz dei dei kən not dikleər it iksplisitli b,thət deər iz ən influ :əns bət dei kən,dei

nəu dət thə ti :ʧə wen hi ti :ʧəz ,thə ti ;ʧə wen hi ti :ʧəz,hi nəʊz dəsаʊnds dӕt ɟə lɜ :nər iz fəmılıə

wıɟ,ənd ɟə sаʊnds dӕt ɟə lɜ :nər ız not fəmılıə wıɟ/

Informant: 2

Of course yes,yes we said at the beginning that we have the intonationit is mainly the

intonation, because as Constantine here students don’t have really problem concerning the the

pronunciation of the sounds, but intonation mainly we have yes, the intonation because they say

they have a kind of rhythm. They make rhythm when they speak yes but mainly concerning with

the other sounds I don’t think that they have problem concerning but it affects and the dialect

affects obviously yes we have……Of course yes Ok, iti m the because I am a visual learner, an I

have to see the paper, I cannot h h listen correctly. That’s it .

Of course yes ,because e first of all, em high learning .if we say at university is the last stage of

learning and the student first they have to face their parents at home, and then we have firsty it

mean the elementary school and we have middle school, and then high school, and then at

university.it means all this students already when he comesfor example he came at university

already has an identity it means very difficult to change it especially when we have if we talk we

have many things to talk about concerning here the identity talk for example about English our

students mainly they did not chose to study English at the beginning so when we talk to them to

talk they are going to talk about different things and in Arabic they are ot going to use English .so

this is why we say that a the dialect it means we have a differences even we are in the same for

example country and we are in the same region but we have differences….interference a a we can

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say that there is an interference because when we have for example you see that we have for

example in Algeria we have what we say a a for example towns which are famous than other

towns ,towns which are famous than other towns .for example when we talk about Algeria as a

capital we say for example when he go their he try not to imitate but try to dissolve in the society

……yes indeed it means like you say .yes this is for sure for example if we talk about an

American who is going to study English for example his mother language is going to influence a

the learning of another language for example Arabic …..yes this one I tried it I tried it with some

students yes I told them to start pronouncing for example like /t/ for example I found some

students from eastern south I told them to pronounce the / t/ they there are some students who

could pronounce it but others couldn’t it means they don’t have this /t/ they could not pronounce it

like this but it is a matter of habit ….it can be a solution ……solutions phonetics maybe and oral

expression.

/ɟeı hӕv ə kаınd ov rıdəm/

Secondary school

Informant: 1

The origin of people what do you mean by the origin of people ….ok where they came

from....so most of people here in Constantine they were originated in here and some from they are

saying that their origin came from society because different people they coming from place to

place and some people from here in Constantine very … so there is a link between them and those

who came …. Which is the origin of people in Algeria and even people from Milan … if we take

even the example of trida the meals itself fromJewishpeople people ….if we take the example of

people of belhamla people belhamla they did not speak like middle but the other they speak

like the Constantine people .some they speak like shawi so it takes from way …its very helpful to

135
teach phonetic if we take for example the/ t/ we don’t use the /ta/ in the dialect of Constantine

…….

/dı ᴐrıʤın ᴐf pi:pl wᴐt du: yʊ mi:n bаı ɟı ᴐrıʤın ᴐf pi:pl/

Informant 2

Yes the Algerian dialects affect the English language pronunciation…the the pronunciation

of the English language is because they pronounce differently from the way its written ……sure

sure sure it can help really the learner to pronounce English correctly …when we teach phonetics

starting from middle school it will help the the learners …and also to learn a language you need to

practice it …

/də də prənʌnsıeıʃn ᴐf dı ıɳglıʃ ız bıkᴐz deı prənаʊns dıfrəntlı frᴐm ıts rıtən/

Middle school

Informant 1

……origin of the student ……people of Constantine have have most of them ….our speech is

more teibl teibl teibl ….they have the/ t/ not/ ta/…me as a teacher I learn English …. They can’t

….of course so practice is the most important thing to learn English for practice is the most

important thing …

/deı hӕv ɟə t nᴐt tа mi: ʌz ə ti:ʧə аı lɜ:nıɳ ıɳglıʃ/

Informant:2

The influence of what? Dialect the first thing that you are going to talk about is it is

about cultural background in a region in Algeria don’t pronounce the same way whereas in

England they have got the same pronunciation which is the same accent or but the words

don’t change they are the same words but I think in Algeria it doesn’t affect in pronunciation

136
Annaba, or Constantine or jijl they pronounce the same way English I think ah I think because I

didn’t a I didn’t speak to Annabi or Jijli or even Ghelmi I don’t know how do they pronounce

……..so tebessa is nearly nearly the same pronunciation of Constantine with a little difference

we don’t practice because Algerian people as they think they pronounce English because they

didn’t learn English in England they learn English here……citizens of Constantine are in a bad

job expansion

Annaba University

Informant: 1

No, why, why, it doesn’t that’s we can yes , but this is not Algerian dialect it’s not true it

experience of skikda it’s not a a if you want a how can I say the Algerian language the

exceptional No I don’t think so……it is as I have told, it is the first question likesome…

your personal language, your native language influences your not the other languages your the

way your brain identify sounds if you are not get used to the sound in your deal when you hear

them your brain doesn’t recognize them what he does he looks for similar sounds to close that

sound of it ok and this is you what you hear and so this is what you produce not only to think that

not only skikda Any language, the French people, for instance they have not the sound /th/, in

English they say /d/ because the glottal sound to /th/ in French language is /th/ not /t/ .it is if you

want …it they say z ok a are you with me the Italians if you want do not hear the French r

instead of if it exist they have the r they they put role the e this is if you want in what way a

native language ok influences our a pronunciation of other languages because we don’t hear

some sounds so we identify em with sounds we know then we produce an of course ok a a

every language as we call it sound that we lean in phonetics which are different in English we

have if you want stresses strong stresses if you want semi stresses weak stresses in other

language and we do not it affects the rhythm not only the pronunciation but also in hearing

137
that’s why we have problem in hearing English and American speech we feel that they are going

to fay , no it is because our strong pattern is different in pronounce all the words we are

expecting other people to do the same are you with me that’s why for our ear the way English

people stress some sounds and not others create struggle for them to identify the syllables and it

makes whole in our understand so we face and but if you really pay attention understand

American English easily because if you want this is we call our brain is used to a rhythm tone

ok that other language have not why we understand like French the French also pronounce all

the syllables so we hear everything we can understand an even we can reproduce ok and there

are a lot of things which if you want interfere in our language acquisition or foreign language

acquisition and our if you want articulation and of course identity is culture because language is

made of many many a....... ….

/enı lӕɳgwıʤ ɟə frenʃ pi: pl fər ınstӕs ɟeı hӕv not ɟə sаʊnd ɟ ın ıɳglıʃ ıt ız d bıkoz ɟə glotl sаʊnd

tə ɟə ın frenʃ lӕɳgwıʤ ız ɵ not t /

/а:r jʊ wıd mı/

Informant: 2

Teaching and learning has, of course , taken place since man has been man ,but it is only over the

last century that a conscious effort has been made to find out exactly what is involved .before the

latter part of the nineteenth century it was generally considered that the term learning covered the

same process both in man and animals. But towards the end of the century there arose the behavior

school which attempted to explain the behavior ofanimals simply in terms of reflexes. There is a

little practical value in clarifying the mental process of learning if there is not accompanying

indication of the uses to which that learning can be put .a teacher must have some idea of what ,in

his terms ,are the subjects of education.

/bət ıt ıs əʊnlı əʊvə də lʌst sentry dət ə kᴐnʃəs efət əz bın meıd tə fаınd аʊt ıgzӕktlı wᴐt ız ınvᴐlvd/
138
Secondary school

Informant: 1

For me I don’t think so…..i don’t a that depends on the mother tongue may be I don’t think so….I

think so, our dialect is may be closest to a a dialect of tebessa maybe….theytold me that . That’s

it ……..we don’t use English in Algeria we use French yes we don’t use English a more than

French ah.….yes we can if if we we learn harder we can produce more and more sounds and

pronunciation and better English if we do we get ….matter of t a when you when you study hard

you will get better result ……yes a for me when I was a student I didn’t learn phonetics at high

school, a for me it’s better to teach phonetics in middle school …..to to with oral oral class more

than when you practice when you pronounce you will get better.

/ аı ɵıɳk səʊ аʊər dаıəlekt ız meı bı kləʊzəst tə ə ə dаıəlekt əf tbesəə meıbı deı təʊld mı dӕt/

Informant: 2

So i really I believe strongly that any dialect is going to affect the foreign language learning

especially if it was a mother tongue like the Arabic language .so yes it does any dialects affect the

learning of any academic language and I have experienced tht in my in my pupil’s pronunciation

their mother tongue is affecting their producing of English words English sentences in general

…..so dialect dialect is or expresses the origin of the individual so the dialect yes it does show

what who we are .if you talk Annabi or Skikdi a people even in the street would know your region

would know where do you came from .so yes dialects really affects our language and it does show

who we are yes …….Algerian dialects ,yes of course as far as I am concerned I do believe that as

Algerian there is many similarities between Algerian dialects we have shared words we have

common words we have common expressions so yes dialect are linked alright a they are different

they seem different but if we go close if we take a closer look we shall see that did are particularly

the same ….i do think so Algerian dialects do are influential alright they do influence the learning
139
of any foreign language a I get in touch with Algerian people and I am a teacher of a foreign

language so when I teach a foreign language any kind of lessens grammar vocabulary I do feel

how my pupils are affected by their dialect ….i do believe that people have a difficulty of

pronunciation alright let say dialects as I have said before are influential….so there is and thank

god our mother tongue Arabic we have all the sounds that exist in Arabic and do not exist in

English so I believe that our people our Arabic talking people can learn any language alright

thanks to our Arabic dialect…….yes I do believe that that teaching phonetics is crucial alright it is

highly recommended especially in middle schools so that we will have a better basic built on as a

teacher of high school so if I were a minister of education I will devoted sequence or my

sequences on phonetics .finally or at last language what is language ? language is pronunciation

language is a means of communication .and communication relies on pronunciation ……..the use

of material alright the use of audio material it does motivates pupil it does improve his

pronunciation when he listen to native speakers so the use of audio vocal materials is really

recommended to solve trouble this problem of mispronunciation

/jes ıt dʌz enı dаıəlekt ӕfekts ɟə lɜ: nıɳ əv ənı ӕkədemık lӕɳgwıʤən аı həv ikspıərıənst dӕt ın mаı

pjʊ:pl prənʌnsıeıʃən/

Middle school

Informant 1

Yes, I think so; I think so, yes also because I have seen the English pronunciation algies is

different than in Annaba ok ….. no I don’t think that they are showing something but it is the

influence of the mother tongue language ……Algerian yes yes each each region have got

different pronunciation in in e e either it means in the English e e or in another language …..yes

yes yes yes they have each e e I think I think that each group persons e region has got its special

e e pronunciation …….in phonetics … because of it is e they haven’t got enough e knowledge

140
about phonetics ..they have got knowledge about phonetics they learn phonetics so in in lessons

but not enough for people and etcetera they pronounce as they pronounce as they want to

pronounce it ……yes yes yes it is very important it is very important ,to have e e phonetic lessens

e isolated as a module isolated in at schoolfrom the middle school to the university ……….I think

that pupils our pupils need to have more hour of English because here the first AM they have got

the only two hours in e the week, but they need more. ……It is not enough at all; it is not enough

to have 2 hours of English. Yes they and they have got other subjects all the week.

/jes deı ənd ɟeı hӕv got ʌɟər sʌbʤekts o:l ɟə wi:k/

Informant 2

Yes to some extent …..So this is not necessary it depends on the person’s personality …..yes yes I

think so …sorry I don’t agree with this …I can agree with them to some extent because yes

everybody has the capacity to pronounce the sound correctly correctly ….yes it is a reliable

solution in addition to others…..i suggest to for example to that people t listen to music for

example in English a a watching movies in English yes using internet for example in

communicating with a with foreigners specially the English native speaker.

/ın kəmjʊ:nıkeıtıɳ wıɟ wıd forənəz speʃəlı ɟı ıɳglıʃ neıtıv spıkə

Tebessa of University

Informant: 1

Sure, the Algerian dialect or dialects have some influence on pronunciation of English

language.eh for the case for example of learners of English in Annaba or skikda as you’ve

mentioned ,e they their English is mainly influenced in a way or another since for example e they

e find difficulty, they are able but they find difficulties to pronounce some sounds like the

sound /ɟ AH / instead of saying /ɟ/ they say /d/ that’s the case of English learners in the region of

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Annaba or even in some other regions like I think skikda. Or Ghelma na3am …….practice

make perfect. The more students listen to native speakers the more they learn new habit

concerning pronunciation ……if a the teachers in middle school have learn English well I think

they have some influence on their learners as well and vice versa ………look a student in middle

school are just beginners so I don’t see it workable to teach them phonetics in a early stage

instead they may be taught basic notions like phonetic symbols for example to mae the able to

use dictionaries as helpful sources…………it is a question of fashion by the way ..Some people

feel proud when they are not able to pronounce a sound don’t you think it become a fashion

….native Algerian are all able to pronounce Arabic sounds well since they had been learnt Arabic

for years and years .

/ɟeı ɟeər ıɳglıʃ ız meınlı ınflʊənsəd ın ə weı or ənoɟər/

Informant: 2

Yes, of course as you know I studied in a one of the big universities on the east part of

Algeria which is the University of Annaba. Of course the class I studied in had of course different

students coming from different parts of Algeria .so; logically they speak different e Algerian

dialects... ……yes I agree that the Algerian dialects affects English language pronunciation ….for

example in skikda, the sound /ʧ/ instead of /t/.In Annaba also the sound /d/instead of the sound /ɟ/

……….yes I think that phonetics is really important .student will get used to the sound, and they

are going to pronounce them correctly ……for me I think that washing television and interaction

with native speakers of English can be a solution to avoid such influence.

/jes ov ko:s ӕz ju nəuə аı stʌdıəd ın wʌn of ɟə bıg ju: nıvɜ:sıti:z on ɟı i:st pа:t ov ӕlʤıərıə/

Secondary school tebessa

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.Informant: 1

Yes of course, since we studied in university we had different student, from different regions or

from different areas …….. Well, since we studied in the training school, I may say that their

pronunciation were good ,though we may say tha there was some e an influence on their

talking .ok e .or on our ,not their talking emm…….Yes, I totally agree that our dialects affect

our pronunciation .yes starting by Constantine for example the sound /d/ instead of /ɟ/ ok ,also

here in tebessa we have the sound/ ta/ instead of /t/……yes I think that phonetics is very

important because someone who learn phonetics so much is going to pronounce correctly

….for me I suggest washing television, movies, films, because when you listen to a native

speaker you are going to learn from him or her ok the correct language.

/wel sıns wı stʌdıəd ın ɟi: treınıɳ sku:l aı meı seı ɟӕ ɟeər prənʌnsıeıʃən wer gʊd ɟəʊ wı meı seı ɟӕe

ɟeər woz sʌm ə ən ınfluəns on ɟeər to: kıɳ əʊkeı ə o:r on аʊər not ɟeər to:kıɳ ım/

Informant 2

In some ways we can say a yes because actually the person who uses the English language can be

affected by his by his I mean by his dialect in terms of pronunciation or in terms of some sounds

which are which belong to a a to his dialect and he uses them to pronounce the the English word

so this is why we can say yes we or it depends on the person first because some people can get get

get free from that wrong use of the English language through his knowledge or through the good

mastery of the language …….. so we can say that a dialect is a matter of identity of ….. the

person who uses this or who uses the English language wants to show off that he he belongs to to

for example to Annaba through the use of the /t/ instead of /ɵ/which is the correct English sound a

and maybe we can say that a the person a or the dialect can be a matter of identity of identity..

…..of course there is an interference between Algerian dialects for example people from em there

is there is first of all a common register between all dialects in Algeria because we can use the or

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reuse actually the same words throughout all a the a all the Algerian a regions but with a little

difference from one region to another for example we in tebessa can use some words which cannot

be understood by the or by the by the other regions I mean there is some differences so

especially in terms of vocabulary items that we use and also maybe in terms of pronunciation

because we in tebessa for example

Tebessa: middle school

Informant 1

Yes actually personally I think so and I guess that I saw that when I was a student a especially

the /t/ sound when I was studying in Constantine I found a huge problem with that especially the

/t/ because in English we have the /t/ with a light sound the final word but it’s ok I think that it

does not really influence that much the the dialect but it does not influence to the pronunciation to

that extent ……personally I don’t think so because I guess maybe the language the Arabic

language is a matter of our if identity is part of our identity but not the dialect personally I don’t

think so ….yes , always ,yes there is always an interference and there is a huge blend between the

the dialects between the languages .we are using the French language but it is a broken language

.so always there is an interference between the dialects….yes it depresses the other languages

because the the language is a matter of identity you cannot take the identity of the others and make

it your own may be you will take the good thing ….yes why not at early stages it will be a new

idea.

/jes ӕkʧʊəlı pɜ:sənəlı аı ɵıɳk səʊ ӕnd аı ges ɟӕt аı so: ɟӕt wen аı woz ə stʊdnt/

Informant 2

YesI do I think that in a certain level in some areas and regions of Algeria but not all the

regions especially in tebessa I don’t think so ,yes…..i don’t think that a dialect is a matter of

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identity .i don’t think so …..no, no, a I don’t agree with this idea…..yes I think that because the

language has got a certain a a certain phonetic phonetics leads the person to pronounce English

correctly….yes I think that I think that this is the only one solution is to teach phonetics a a at a

certain level a for the beginners.

/jes аı du: аı ɵıɳk ɟӕt ın ə sɜ:tən levəl ın sʌm а:rıəs ənd rıʤənz of ӕlʤeərıə bət not o:l ɟi/

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