French, Standard Arabic and Amazigh: experiences and challenges in Morocco

Presentation by Prof Dr Yamina El Kirat El Allame, Mohamed V University, Morocco.

Morocco is seen as a multilingual society where national, official and foreign languages coexist and are used on an everyday basis. Morocco has undergone the ‘Arabization’ process (i.e. replacing French with Modern Standard Arabic in all the formal domains), as a symbol of linguistic and cultural independence and has adopted Modern Standard Arabic as the official language of the state. The Moroccan 2011 New Constitution recognizes Amazigh (widely known as Berber), the indigenous language of North Africa, as the second official language of the country, besides Modern Standard Arabic. More than a decade after its officialization, the implementation of Amazigh as an official language is still facing serious challenges. The constitution also encourages the learning of foreign languages. The present talk addresses and tries to answer the following questions: (i) What is the state of the Arabization process in Morocco? What is the state of the official adoption of Amazigh, its teaching, and its standardization? What is the status of mother tongues, official and foreign languages in Morocco, more than six decades after its independence? What governs Moroccan language policy? What do the educational policies in Morocco reveal about the state’s language policy?  The presenter will try to answer these questions and all the questions of the audience.