The Status of English in Language Policy Models Proposed for the Moroccan Multilingual Context

Abstract

This paper suggests a language policy model for Modern Morocco, which can respond to both, the national needs of identity and the demands of Globalization, These two needs are the two major forces that shape the status of the various languages involved in the Moroccan sociolinguistic context, including English. The paper concisely describes how different sociolinguistic phenomenon produced by the ex-colonial powers shape the status of the different languages involved in the Moroccan multilingual context (i.e. language conflict, language competition, language selection and linguistic militantism). It also gives a detailed account of the different approaches and language policy models proposed by various Moroccan intellectuals and linguists in order to face such a de facto multilingualism. Finally, it proposes a multidimensional model that may contribute to reducing tensional relations between the different linguistic varieties cohabiting in Morocco, meeting the requirements of the Moroccan identity, and responding to the needs of modernity, prosperity, science and technology imposed by globalization.