Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research University of Mostaganem Faculty of Letters, Languages and Arts Department of Anglo-Saxon Languages MAGISTER MEMOIRE OPTION : SOCIOLINGUISTICS, 2008
This research work tries to shed some lights on the socio-pragmatic mechanisms underlying the alt... more This research work tries to shed some lights on the socio-pragmatic mechanisms underlying the alternative use of two codes in the course of a single conversation, namely the passage from Algerian Arabic to French and vice-versa. The main objective is to clarify some controversial theoretical notions to be applied within an Algerian context and to give empirical evidence for initial hypotheses related to the social behaviour of some Algerian bilingual speakers.
The results of the application of theoretical findings from different disciplines (syntax, cognitive psychology and contact linguistics) on data, recorded in different contexts at the University of Oran, are presented and interpreted in the light of Myers-Scotton’s matrix-language models, namely the MLF and its supportive sub-models. The framework adopted in this micro-sociolinguistic study is socio-psycholinguistic. We attempt to explain the connection between the linguistic, social and psychological mechanisms which underlie the process of selection in code-switching and the systemic conversion rules in borrowing.
We have concluded that AA/Fr intra-sentential code-switching is used by our informants as a communicative strategy, a device which signals identity-construction in the case of MSA/AA code-switching and index social relations in other contexts. The bilingual use in mixed-codes is not only structurally determined but rather psycho-linguistically conditioned. In fact, the process of triggering is not structural in nature but a set of social parameters and a number of cognitive operations are manifested in code-choice.
We consider in this work that the context of proliferation is not stable, rather; it is in continuous change with regard to its ultimate constituents. The passage from Algerian Arabic to French or to another code can only be explained in accordance to the co-constructed context in which the bilingual speaker is the responsible of his linguistic acts.
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Another attempt is made to maintain the comparison by introducing different views exposed in the available comparative sources then stating, analyzing definitions that concentrate on the differences, and others that address the analogy of the two notions. The current endeavor concludes by highlighting the major differences between the two components of the current paper while aspiring for completion by other studies
that will develop and extend it to the field of foreign language learning.
Another attempt is made to maintain the comparison by introducing different views exposed in the available comparative sources then stating, analyzing definitions that concentrate on the differences, and others that address the analogy of the two notions. The current endeavor concludes by highlighting the major differences between the two components of the current paper while aspiring for completion by other studies
that will develop and extend it to the field of foreign language learning.
The results of the application of theoretical findings from different disciplines (syntax, cognitive psychology and contact linguistics) on data, recorded in different contexts at the University of Oran, are presented and interpreted in the light of Myers-Scotton’s matrix-language models, namely the MLF and its supportive sub-models. The framework adopted in this micro-sociolinguistic study is socio-psycholinguistic. We attempt to explain the connection between the linguistic, social and psychological mechanisms which underlie the process of selection in code-switching and the systemic conversion rules in borrowing.
We have concluded that AA/Fr intra-sentential code-switching is used by our informants as a communicative strategy, a device which signals identity-construction in the case of MSA/AA code-switching and index social relations in other contexts. The bilingual use in mixed-codes is not only structurally determined but rather psycho-linguistically conditioned. In fact, the process of triggering is not structural in nature but a set of social parameters and a number of cognitive operations are manifested in code-choice.
We consider in this work that the context of proliferation is not stable, rather; it is in continuous change with regard to its ultimate constituents. The passage from Algerian Arabic to French or to another code can only be explained in accordance to the co-constructed context in which the bilingual speaker is the responsible of his linguistic acts.
The parallel established between Arabic and French sound systems indicates significant divergences at the level of segmental structures (consonants and vowels) and suprasegmental structures (rhythm and accent). We have paid special attention to some errors triggered off by a process of regressive and progressive assimilation at work, due to consonantal anticipation characterising Arabic and its dialectal varieties, notably [i]>[é]/[è] et [u]>[i]. The results indicating the phonetic-phonological confusions identified in this study are elicited from perception and production tests focusing mainly upon disyllabic words.
We have also conducted a reflection on pronunciation learning/teaching, highlighting then many factors influencing the acquisition of the French sound system. These parameters are of a sociolinguistic nature (age "critical period" and sex) as well as psychological (attitude and motivation). For this purpose, we have established two questionnaires in order to check the hypotheses postulated in relation to beliefs, cultural representations of the French language, the mental representations of the prosodic component marking Arabic and French as well as learning strategies.
A look at the phonetic/phonological programs designed for Algerian Arab students of first and second years led us to notice a lack of awareness of the systemic divergences distinguishing the sound systems of standard Arabic, dialectal Arabic and French. The phonetic practice proposed in the manual of oral expression intended for first year students indicate also some shortcomings and drawbacks closely related to phonetic progression as well as to an absence of different techniques of phonetic acquisition. This fact led us to discuss and analyse some directive and non-directive approaches making of pronunciation their focus. We have insisted mainly upon constructive repetition, imitation and synesthetic associations in order to raise learners’ consciousness about the need of in-depth treatment of phonetic data assuring thus retention. This awareness emphasising the differences characterising the main sound systems available for Algerian Arab students is based mainly on contractiveness marking standard Arabic, colloquial Arabic and French. So, the appeal to differential pronunciation instruction is necessary and an overlapping between phonetic and oral expression seems prerequisite.
This study is a contribution to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the sound system acquisition of French as a foreign language by Algerian Arab students and the different corrective procedures liable to improve perceptive and productive abilities of these learners.
KEY WORDS
Pronunciation acquisition, perception, production, auditory discrimination, identification, Algerian Arab learners, pronunciation learning/teaching strategies, sonorities of French as a foreign language.
Title: Pronunciation learning/teaching strategies: which didactic choice(s) for French in an Algerian context (the case of Algerian students learning French at the university of Oran)
DISCIPLINE: DIDACTICS
particular interest to code-switching can offer new insights about the architecture of
language and the way syntactic constructions are interrelated to build a frame at the
level of the abstract structure and how distributional patterns of morphemes is reflected
in mixed constituents. So, it is the underlining structures of bilingual utterances which
make the focus of our study rather than surface realizations which would lead to the
misunderstanding of the process of language production in a language contact situation.
One of my working hypotheses is that bilingual speakers with different degrees of
competence in the languages involved in code-switched utterances show disparate CS
patterns. In earlier studies on code-switching, Poplack (1980) pointed out that codeswitching can be seen as a means of bilingual competence measurement. In fact, she
asserted that intra-sentential switching requires a greater degree of competence in the
two grammars involved, whereas inter-sentential switching correlates with lesser
competence in both languages. Following this line of thought, Belazi (1991) stressed on
the point that the degree of bilingualism influences in one way or another behaviour in
that fluent Tunisian Arabic-French bilinguals produce well-formed mixed utterances as
compared to non-fluent speakers. These findings indicate that the degree of balance in
the competence of the two languages involved correlates with the degree of competence
in code switching. Following this way of seeing things, I limit my study to fluent
bilingual speakers in Oran Arabic, Standard Arabic, French and to a lesser extent
English to examine the different patterns of CS obtained in naturally-occurring
conversations between University students.
The Matrix Language Frame model assumes that language processing begins with
the construction of a frame into the Matrix Language elements and EmbeddedLanguage elements are incorporated. The model thus discounts the privacy of surface
adjacency in constructing utterances and instead relies on principles ad hierarchy
(Myers-Scotton, 1991). The model also rests on the hypothesis that processing is a
chunk by chunk operation and that some constraints on code-switching should be made
by chunks.