Some Structural Changes in the Beni Iznassen Amazigh as a Consequence of Loss and Endangerment
Submitted by:
Yamina El Kirat El Allame
Abstract:
Some Structural Changes in the Beni Iznassen Amazigh as a Consequence of Loss and Endangerment
EL KIRAT EL ALLAME Yamina, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences,
Mohammed V University in Rabat. MOROCCO
(yelkirat@gmail.com)
Abstract
The loss of a minority language does not only involve the loss of the domains of use, the reduction and erosion of the language proficiency of the speakers, the development of negative attitudes and representations among the members of the community but also the reduction and loss of forms and functions in the structural system of the language itself. The changes in the structure of the language are a clear indicator of language shift and a sign of language endangerment.
The aim of this study is to investigate the changes that the Beni Iznassen Amazigh language has undergone at the level of its structure. The study addresses the following research questions:
(i) What are the factors leading to the structural changes in Beni Iznassen Amazigh?
(ii) What are the language components most concerned by loss?
(iii) What are the consequences of these structural changes for the revitalization and/or maintenance of the language?
The study is based on exhaustive fieldwork research in the Beni Iznassen community. A set of tests have been conceived for the analysis of the structural loss. These include paradigm elicitation, translation and lexical tests. The different structural aspects of language loss in the speech of the speakers are also addressed.
The kinds of loss reported for the Beni Iznassen Amazigh language speech forms concerns all the language components. The reductions vary and can range from a total loss of a form, a construction, and a category to the reduction in the types or number used in the language as claimed by Dorian (1986).
The Beni Iznassen Amazigh grammar is subject to externally and internally induced changes. The externally induced changes include: rule generalization, meaning extension, loan translation or calquing, simplification, regularization, naturalness, intra-linguistic effects. The internally induced changes concern the modification of linguistic forms under the motivation of universal principles or by some fact in the particular grammar of the language itself. The internally induced loss in Beni Iznassen Amazigh structures manifests itself in morphology and morphophonemic areas where such process manifests itself most profoundly according to Seliger & Vago (1991).
The analysis of all the data and its interpretation are done in the light of the recent changes in the status of the Amazigh language in Morocco. The study addresses the impact of the structural loss on the officialization and standardization of the language and its revitalization and /or maintenance.
Key words: Language loss/endangerment; lexical loss; internally/externally induced loss; language revitalization/maintenance.