Languages of Algeria

thumb|[[Trilingual signs at the Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou]]

The official languages of Algeria are Arabic and Standard Algerian Amazigh, as specified in its constitution since 1963 for the former and since 2016 for the latter. Arabic, particularly the Algerian Arabic dialect, is the most widely spoken language in Algeria, but a number of regional and foreign languages are also spoken. Standard Algerian Amazigh has been recognized as a national language by constitutional amendment since 8 May 2002. In February 2016, a constitutional resolution was passed making this Berber Language an official language alongside Arabic. Arabic is spoken by about 81% of Algerians, French, though it has no official status, is still used in media (some newspapers) and education due to Algeria's colonial history. Kabyle, with 3 million speakers, is the most spoken Berber language in the country, is taught and partially co-official (with a few restrictions) in parts of Kabylie.

The 1966 Algerian census, the last to include a question about the mother tongue, showed that 81.5% of the population spoke Arabic as a native language, with about half of the Berber population also speaking it as a second language, while 17.9% spoke Berber languages natively.

Malika Rebai Maamri, author of "The Syndrome of the French Language in Algeria," said "The language spoken at home and in the street remains a mixture of Algerian dialect and French words." Due to the number of languages and complexity involving those languages, Maamri argued that "[t]oday the linguistic situation in Algeria is dominated by multiple discourses and positions." The PCGN stated that French, not Arabic, is the actual lingua franca of Algeria. In 1963, of the 1,300,000 literate people in Algeria, an estimate of 300,000 read literary Arabic. Mohamed Benrabah, author of "Language maintenance and spread: French in Algeria," said that during that year, "linguistic competence in Standard Arabic was relatively low." Malika Rebai Maamri, author of "The Syndrome of the French Language in Algeria," said that as of 2009, "classical Arabic is still not mastered even at higher educational levels" and that "dialectical Arabic cannot express things in writing."

Berber

thumb|right|200px|Berber-speaking areas in Algeria

The Berber languages are considered the native language of Algeria since antiquity. They are spoken in five major dialects in many parts of the territory, but mainly in Kabylia, in the Awras, and in the Algerian Sahara desert (by Algerian Tuaregs).

Before, during and after Phoenician settlers' arrival, Berber remained spoken throughout ancient Algeria (Numidia), as later attested by early Tifinagh (or Libyco-Berber) inscriptions, and as understood from Latin and Greek historical sources. Despite the presence or growth of Latin, and later Arabic, in some urban areas, Tamazight remained the majority language of Algeria since ancient times until well after the French invasion in 1830.

Arabic remained Algeria's only official language until 2002, when Berber was recognized as a second national language. And in 2016 Berber was recognized as a second official language of Algeria.

The 1963 constitution and the 1976 constitution do not mention Berber and French. The Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN) stated "official attitudes towards both Berber and French have been largely negative" and "The Algerian authorities have even at times rejected use of the very word “Berber”, either on the secular grounds that the term undermines national unity, or on the religious grounds that it is a term hostile to Identity and prefer to call it Tamazight another name for Berber."

Shawiya (also called Tachawit, Chawi) in the Aurès, with about 2 million speakers.
Shenwa, in the Dahra region, particularly of Jebel Chenoua in Algeria, just west of Algiers near Tipaza province and Cherchell and the Chlef., estimated 56,300 speakers. Two main dialects: Beni Menacer, west and south of Mount Chenoua area, in the Mount Chenoua area, 55,250 speakers.
The Tamazight of Blida, traditionally spoken in the wilaya of Blida.
The Matmata dialect, spoken in some villages of the Ouarsenis region.

In the extreme northwest

Beni Snous and Beni Said, dialects of Berber spoken in various villages of the wilaya of Tlemcen.

In the Sahara

Mozabite (Tumẓabt) in the M'zab
language of Touat-Gourara (called "Taznatit" by the Ethnologue, but that name is used for most of the Zenati languages)
language of Touggourt and Temacine
Tamahaq, among the Tuareg of the Hoggar (see Tuareg languages)

French

thumb|right|300px|Bilingual French-Arabic sign in Algiers.

The CIA World Factbook states that French is a lingua franca of Algeria. The Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN) states "In reality, French is the lingua franca of Algeria", Algeria is the second largest Francophone country in the world in terms of speakers. In 2022, 14.9 million Algerians, or 33% of the population were classified as Francophone by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.

The 1963 and 1976 constitutions do not mention Berber and French. The PCGN stated "official attitudes towards both Berber and French have been largely negative".

Korandje

The Korandje language of the Saharan oasis of Tabelbala is a heavily Berber-influenced variety of Songhay. A Nilo-Saharan language, it is more widely spoken far to the south in Niger.

Sign languages

Algerian Sign Language is used in Algeria by the deaf; it has sometimes been used on national TV.

Formerly spoken languages

Phoenician

Phoenician, particularly in its North African Punic form, was brought to Algeria by Carthage's influence, it was an influential language in the region; Augustine learned it, and quotes occasional phrases. However, by his time the language was losing ground to Latin, and no trace of it survives now (apart from occasional names of places).

Latin

Latin (which later developed into the brief-existent, little-known African Romance language) was the language of the Roman occupation; it became widely spoken in the coastal towns, and Augustine attests that in his day it was gaining ground over Punic. However, it continued to flourish until the 11th century especially in towns and in Tunisia. It died out in the 14th century.

Ottoman Turkish

Ottoman rule after the 16th century brought a dominant minority of Turks to Algeria, particularly concentrated in the large cities; for a while, Ottoman Turkish became a major governmental language. However, over time these Turks gradually assimilated, and, while many families of partial Turkish descent remain in Algeria, none speak the language.

Other

Ladino was formerly spoken by some Algerian Jews, particularly around Oran, in the Tetuani dialect; however, most shifted to French during the colonial period.
The Mediterranean Lingua Franca, a mixture of many Mediterranean languages, was once widespread as a means of communication with foreigners in the ports, including the slaves of the bagnios and the European renegades that joined the Barbary pirates; after 1830, it gradually disappeared, its functions taken over by French.
Spanish has a long history in Oran, which was occupied by Spain for long periods between 1509 and 1790; it has left some traces in that city's dialect. It was also spoken by pied-noirs immigrating from the Spanish Mediterranean. Spanish is also spoken by the Sahrawis living in refugee camps in the area of Tindouf. As of 2020, there are two Instituto Cervantes in Algiers and Oran, promoting the study and the teaching of Spanish language and culture.
Patuet is a Catalan dialect with French and Arabic influences spoken by pied-noirs from Catalan-speaking areas.

Languages used in the Algerian government

Mohamed Benrabah, author of "Language maintenance and spread: French in Algeria," said that as of 2007, "Arabization is either complete or almost complete" in the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and registry offices in Algerian town halls. He also said that the Ministry of Education had been affected to a "lesser extent."

In 1968 the Algerian government decreed that all civil positions use the Arabic language. In 1990 the government ruled that Arabic is the only language to be used in institutions and public service, and imprisonment was a penalty for violating this law. Around 1997 the Algerian government had passed laws prohibiting officials from speaking any language other than Arabic publicly. The government laws called for a fine for officials who prepared government documents not in Arabic. The government mandated that all textbooks and lectures must be Arabic, with French ones being phased out. The laws also stated that all television broadcasts must be in Arabic only.

History of languages in Algerian education

The first President of Algeria, Ahmed ben Bella, introduced Arabization in the education system in 1962. The Arabic language was introduced in all levels and all programmes in the 1963–1964 period. As time passed, the time in the educational system spent on French gradually declined. In 1964–1965 primary grade one was fully Arabized with all other levels each receiving ten hours of Arabic per period. The plans were complicated by the flight of 25,000 European teachers from Algeria and the illiteracy rate of 90%. The demographics also complicated the plans. Of 10 million Algerians, about 300,000 were fluent in Modern Standard Arabic while 1 million were able to read French and 6 million were able to speak French. To remedy this, the Algerian government hired 10,988 academic monitors. C. F. Gallagher, author of "North African problems and prospects: Language and identity", said that the monitors' "intellectual horizons [were] at times only slightly less limited than their pupils". In 1963 the government recruited 1,000 Egyptians as Arabic teachers. Mohamed Benrabah, author of "Language-in-Education Planning in Algeria: Historical Development and Current Issues", said "Most of these teachers turned out to be unqualified for teaching and totally ignorant of the Algerian social reality" and that "Their spoken Egyptian Arabic was incomprehensible to Algerians in general and Tamazight-speaking populations in particular and their traditional pedagogy (learning by rote and class recitation, physical punishment and so on) proved inadequate".

The Algerian government had plans to totally Arabize the university sector effective December 1980. In all levels of education, bilingual education ended in 1985. In that period many Algerian elites practiced "elite closure" by sending their own children to schools controlled by the French government while promoting Arabization for the masses, so their own children would learn French and have access to jobs open to those with French knowledge. Since most young Algerians had a poor command of French and were in Arabized school streams, they enrolled in Arabic-language university departments such as Islamic law and Arabic literature and were exposed to Islamist points of view. Algiers had many unofficially bilingual primary and secondary schools and Benrabah said that the elite closure practice was "most visible in Algiers". took in students from the tchitchi (children of wealthy) backgrounds instead of bohi ("rejects"). In the middle of March 2001 the National Commission for the Reform of the Educational System (CNRSE according to its French name) proposed that French would be reintroduced in grade two of the primary cycle, serving 6–7 year olds, instead of grade four, serving 8–9 year olds, and that scientific subjects in secondary school should be taught in French. Therefore, students would be biliterate in French and Arabic instead of having French as a subject. In 2002 the opponents to the bilingual educational proposal declared a fatwa against the pro-bilingual supporters. The reforms were intended to be implemented in September 2001 but the Ministry of the Interior suspended them on 3 September 2001.

By 2008 the Algerian government began reintroducing French in the school system.

References

Benrabah, Mohamed. "Language maintenance and spread: French in Algeria." International Journal of Francophone Studies. Intellect Ltd. Volume 10 Numbers 1 and 2. p. 193–215. English language. Accessible on EBSCOHost.
Benrabah, Mohamed. "Language-in-Education Planning in Algeria: Historical Development and Current Issues." Language Policy, June 2007. Volume 6, Issue 2. p. 225–252. . Available at Springer Link.
Berger, Anne-Emanuelle. Algeria in Others' Languages (Cornell French studies series). Cornell University Press, 2002. , 9780801488016.

Notes

External links

"Langues d'Algérie." Université Laval.
PanAfriL10n page on Algeria
http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/country/Algeria