[1] Department of Arts and English Language, University of El-Oued, Algeria, email: ghedeir-mohammed@univ-eloued.dz
Abstract
Linguistic plurality can be a source of anxiety to some nations especially because of those groups seeking for linguistic dominance at the expense of the rest of dialects to gain political and economic benefits. However, things can be exploited differently. Linguistic diversity can help in enriching the cultural heritage and highlighting the nation’s identity. To investigate this possibility, we track the Algerian policy towards the issue of linguistic diversity. This study aims at investigating language diversity and its impact on the social security and stability in Algeria. It also attempts to shed light on the Algerian political decisions to maintain social harmony via implementing effective language planning. Results reveal that the policy adopted by Algeria to manage linguistic differentiation through the recognition of all sorts of linguistic varieties and mainly the re-consideration of the Tamazight language as a national language besides Arabic is a wise decision made by policy makers to prevent external and internal attempts to stir up linguistic –based troubles. This compromise policy maintains the nation’s stability and its success is shown through the co-existence of Arabic with its different dialectical varieties, Berber languages, spoken by non-Arab groups besides French with its predominant position imposed by the linguistic imperialism inherited from the colonial period and English with its rising competitive status to French.
Keywords: Linguistic diversity, linguistic imperialism, identity, nation’s stability
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