The impact of education on language use in the Algerian context: Case of the Nedroma Speech Community

Abstract

Nedromi speakers, especially the new generation, tend to correct some mistakes that they believe are stigmatised features in their speech and thus they try to shift to Modern Standard Arabic. This research paper aims at examining the impact of education on language use, which highlights the sociolinguistic variable, mainly that of education and age, and how it may affect the linguistic behaviour in Arabic. A Nedroma speech community is the sample population. This study emphasises phonological, morphological and lexical levels of analysis, trying to make use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. Such an analysis is viewed to help us understand some of the reasons behind such a change in linguistic behaviours essentially motivated by the influence of education. The results show that the choice of certain linguistic features by the individual is determined by the speaker’s age category, his level of education and, most importantly, his attitude towards certain linguistic characteristics. Keywords: Age, Algerian context, education, language variability, linguistic features, Nedromi Arabic