Affiliation:
1. Mouloud Mammeri University
2. University of Liverpool
Abstract
Abstract
Much is discussed in the literature about the Arabization of Algeria’s public space since its independence from France in
1962. This privileging of the contest between Arabic and French eclipses the stake claimed by speakers of Tamazight, the Afro-Asiatic
language spoken by the majority in the historic province of Kabylia, to the east of the capital Algiers. Taking the wilaya
of Tizi-Ouzou, in the heart of Kabylia, as the focus for this article, we adopt a performative approach to exploring the making of place,
and in particular a Tamazightophone space, by triangulating traditional Linguistic Landscape data, interviews with residents, and 200 years
of competing language management strategies. In response to the linguistic violence perpetrated by French colonial powers and aggressive
Arabisation policies, we investigate how the discourses of place, particularly Amazigh cultural and linguistic identity, challenge the
double erasure of Tamazight.
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Subject
Surfaces and Interfaces,Communication,Language and Linguistics