Dr. Nadia Ghounane,
University of Saida-Dr.Moulay Tahar, Algeria
The Algerian linguistic repertoire consists of set regional dialects. About 17 dialects are part of the Tamazight language, while other people speak Algerian Arabic varieties. As many Arabic varieties that are spoken in Arab countries, Algerian Arabic dialects are rich in words that have connotative meanings. Algerian people use many terms taken from Classical Arabic and Quran in daily conversations; however, they do not know their real meanings. In this vein, the focal aim behind this pertinent enquiry is to unveil the nature of these expressions. It also attempts to cover-up the real meaning of these words through conducting a study in Tlemcen city, West of Algeria. The researcher undertook a corpus-based analysis of a set of terms employed in Tlemcen variety. The researcher also employed a questionnaire to test Tlemcen speakers’ attitudes towards these expressions. Grounded in down-in-earth evidence, this study reveals that Tlemcen speakers use some of these expressions as their daily politeness strategies such as الله يخليك and لعقوبة ليك انشاء الله. The findings also show that Tlemcen speakers have low background knowledge on the real meanings of some terms that are used as insults such as الله يعطيك النو. The results also demonstrate that most of these words were seeded in Algerian dialects by the Jews ancestors although they are borrowed from Classical Arabic.
The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The Fifth Annual International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature (WWW.LLLD.IR), 2-3 February 2021, Iran-Ahwaz.