I am not against using Darija in communicating with the masses; this is what a dialect for. However, turning Darija into a written language, a language of science is a plain joke. This call is coming from those who didn’t go to public schools and never learned the formal (or standard) Arabic and those who have Arabic as their second or third language…. Unsurprisingly, they are all francophone…
I can understand, if you are lucky enough to own an FM station and can’t speak formal Arabic, you may use Darija, to make it easy for you and maybe for the so-called majority of illiterates; but I can’t understand the logic behind using the French language as the principal mean of communications, a language that only less than 1% of the population speak at home.
Don’t worry about the illiterates, they understand the formal Arabic, they even understand the Egyptian and the Syrian dialects; the only problem they have is the French language.
As for using Darija as way to cut Moroccan’s relationship with “East” and combat extremism, I think that may cause the opposite. Ignorance of the classical Arabic makes it hard for young people to understand the true meanings of their religious texts and makes them an easy prey for the radicals (like in the case of the Casablanca terrorists, or those of the second generation European Muslims)
Saturday, July 07, 2007
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Sunday, July 08, 2007
Anonymous said...
Tom has given us the full article... so to read the uncut version follow the link: http://riadzany.blogspot.com/2007/07/darija-debate-revisited.html
I posted on another link on what I thought to be the history of Darija, but I found this thread noteworthy as well.
There is a certain etiquette and delicacy that an outsider should observe in commenting on the languages and customs of others. It is part of the obligation of the respectful guest.
I agree - as a respectful non-Moroccan outsider - with the commentator here that making it into a written language is poor form and politics. It is also culturally dangerous in a reductionist way.
It would be the equivalent of taking a specific American street dialect and making it into THE formal register of Spoken and Written English for culture and diplomacy in America.
1. There are dialectical variants of Darija itself, mini-darijaat if you will. People in different regions of Morocco express themselves in somewhat different way, there is a general broadly understood register but there are slight differences so who is to say which one should be the official.
2. like ALL Arabic 'ammi dialects, Darija has been around for well over 1000 years (and I suspect much, much, longer - going back to Punic times) as a daily mode of communication of the folk. All of the Arabic 'ammi dialects are essentially darijaat - spoken casual regional dialects. All colloquial dialects in every language are distinguished from the formal and official registers of the language taught in school by their informality and lacking degrees of of precision necessary for a formal dialect and register.
Things should be respected for what they are, grits polenta or oatmeal are delicious as they are, Chateaubriand and a nice two cheese and Rosemary focaccia are nice as they are - they are not the same all are simply as they are.
The regional dialect of a rural Alabama farmer is capable of expressing many many things about his world, far more than the Boston Harvard student's - and vice versa.
Darija is Arabic just as the Egyptian or Shami 'ammi is. None of them are formal fusha - same language in two separate registers, one very informal, the other very formal - no one but an idiot expects the Queen of England, or the President of the United States, to talk like London East End Cockneys or rustic planters in Yorkshire, or Pennsylvania Coal; Miners, or for that matter New York Stock brokers.
For 1400 years Fusha classical Arabic has been known and studied in Morocco, or Syria, or Egypt, or Iraq, or Algeria, as a formal language of culture, art, diplomacy, spirituality, and religion - why would anyone, anyone, want to cut this off from their heritage when it is part of their collective heritage ?
Friday, September 02, 2011
The Middle East news website "The Media Line" has a provocative article on the place of Darija - and we would love to hear your responses. LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY IN MOROCCO
The everyday language of Moroccans, Darija – a mix of Arabic, Thmazight (Berber), French and Spanish – has become a point of controversy in Morocco, according to Reuters.
While Darija may be spoken by almost everyone, it is not the official language, which is Arabic.
During the era of Pan-Arabism in the 1970s the Moroccan government tried to eradicate the use of colonial words – words from French and Spanish. For example, schoolteachers were forbidden to communicate in Darija with their students.
“This is the language of the people in the street, that [is] the language of Morocco and our target is the youth,” said Yunis Lacak, a DJ and a producer at Hit Radio in the Moroccan capital, Rabat. “This is the language they speak. This is why we use it so that [we] can get the message straight to them.”
Some also see Darija as a protest against the pure form of Arabic being taught at Quranic schools in the country.
Despite the popularity of Darija, there are still some problems for those who suggest that it should be the official language – there is no written form of Darija.
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Friday, July 06, 2007
I am not against using Darija in communicating with the masses; this is what a dialect for. However, turning Darija into a written language, a language of science is a plain joke. This call is coming from those who didn’t go to public schools and never learned the formal (or standard) Arabic and those who have Arabic as their second or third language…. Unsurprisingly, they are all francophone…
I can understand, if you are lucky enough to own an FM station and can’t speak formal Arabic, you may use Darija, to make it easy for you and maybe for the so-called majority of illiterates; but I can’t understand the logic behind using the French language as the principal mean of communications, a language that only less than 1% of the population speak at home.
Don’t worry about the illiterates, they understand the formal Arabic, they even understand the Egyptian and the Syrian dialects; the only problem they have is the French language.
As for using Darija as way to cut Moroccan’s relationship with “East” and combat extremism, I think that may cause the opposite. Ignorance of the classical Arabic makes it hard for young people to understand the true meanings of their religious texts and makes them an easy prey for the radicals (like in the case of the Casablanca terrorists, or those of the second generation European Muslims)
Saturday, July 07, 2007
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Tom has given us the full article... so to read the uncut version follow the link: http://riadzany.blogspot.com/2007/07/darija-debate-revisited.html
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
I posted on another link on what I thought to be the history of Darija, but I found this thread noteworthy as well.
There is a certain etiquette and delicacy that an outsider should observe in commenting on the languages and customs of others. It is part of the obligation of the respectful guest.
I agree - as a respectful non-Moroccan outsider - with the commentator here that making it into a written language is poor form and politics. It is also culturally dangerous in a reductionist way.
It would be the equivalent of taking a specific American street dialect and making it into THE formal register of Spoken and Written English for culture and diplomacy in America.
1. There are dialectical variants of Darija itself, mini-darijaat if you will. People in different regions of Morocco express themselves in somewhat different way, there is a general broadly understood register but there are slight differences so who is to say which one should be the official.
2. like ALL Arabic 'ammi dialects, Darija has been around for well over 1000 years (and I suspect much, much, longer - going back to Punic times) as a daily mode of communication of the folk. All of the Arabic 'ammi dialects are essentially darijaat - spoken casual regional dialects. All colloquial dialects in every language are distinguished from the formal and official registers of the language taught in school by their informality and lacking degrees of of precision necessary for a formal dialect and register.
Things should be respected for what they are, grits polenta or oatmeal are delicious as they are, Chateaubriand and a nice two cheese and Rosemary focaccia are nice as they are - they are not the same all are simply as they are.
The regional dialect of a rural Alabama farmer is capable of expressing many many things about his world, far more than the Boston Harvard student's - and vice versa.
Darija is Arabic just as the Egyptian or Shami 'ammi is. None of them are formal fusha - same language in two separate registers, one very informal, the other very formal - no one but an idiot expects the Queen of England, or the President of the United States, to talk like London East End Cockneys or rustic planters in Yorkshire, or Pennsylvania Coal; Miners, or for that matter New York Stock brokers.
For 1400 years Fusha classical Arabic has been known and studied in Morocco, or Syria, or Egypt, or Iraq, or Algeria, as a formal language of culture, art, diplomacy, spirituality, and religion - why would anyone, anyone, want to cut this off from their heritage when it is part of their collective heritage ?
Friday, September 02, 2011