Translingual Practice and Transcultural Connections in Assia Djebar’s La Femme sans sépulture

Abstract

Abstract La Femme sans sépulture is one of Djebar’s recent publications which carries on with the author’s self-proclaimed project of recreating an Arabo-Berber past in a French text. The recreation process is achieved through writing in French, which is invaded by Algerian women’s oral voices. In this article, I will argue that French and Algerian oral languages – Arabic and Berber – mutually influence each other, allowing the emergence of new linguistic structures. This is evidenced in the text by the use of free indirect discourse which allows the oral to modify French while being modified by it. Relying on Suresh Canagarajah’s studies on cross-language relations, the mutual relations between Algerian orality and French are interpreted as translingual practices aimed to promote transcultural communication.