An Investigation of Language Variation and Change Among Three Age-Groups: A Case Study

Abstract

Despite the hostile view and belief toward the inclusion of language use in linguistic study and theorizing by the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, some linguists have revolutionized linguistics. They authentically showed the importance to account for the social factors in linguistic theory. Indeed, the progress of research in linguistics in general and sociolinguistics in particular has led many linguists to stress the fact that no language is a monolithic and homogeneous (e.g. Bell 1976). In their view, language is a heterogeneous and dynamic system. Sociolinguists, therefore, aim to relate language and language users to the speech community where people interact. The present study is a sociolinguistic investigation which aims to relate linguistic aspects to other social aspects to examine certain linguistic features in Algerian Arabic, a variety which reflects linguistic variation in apparent time that rightly correspond to language change in real time in Sidi Bel Abbes speech community. This city is part of a diglossic and multilingual society- Algeria. As a matter of fact, our study tackles a problematic issue: How can the social changes (extra- linguistic factors) bring about changes in the linguistic system and how can individuals’ speech differences make people themselves distinct on the ground of their affiliation to a certain social group? To explore the issue from a sociolinguistic angle, concrete data have been collected from different real set-ups, aiming to provide true evidence to our scope: language variation that leads to change, change in progress and completed change.