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The Use of Dialectal Arabic in Visual Media: Dubbed Series As A Case Study
The Use of Dialectal Arabic in Visual Media: Dubbed Series As A Case Study
The Use of Dialectal Arabic in Visual Media: Dubbed Series As A Case Study
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End of study project submitted in partial fulfillment of a BA
degree in English studies.
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Supervised by:
DR S, JAOUHARI
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Prepared by :
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KOUIHI SOUKAINA
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2014/2015
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Dedication
To our beloved
mothers and
fathers…
To our brothers
and sisters…
To our friends
and
colleagues…
To our teachers
and
professors…
3
Abstract
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To better understand the nature of using dialectal Arabic in Moroccan
visual media, one has to look at the study problem from two different
perspectives. The first section in the theoretical field sheds light on the
Moroccan language profile and mixture of varieties while the second one
focuses mainly on some theories concerning visual media, language
change, and social effect.
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intermediate language between CA and MA , it is used essentially in
education , administration and the mass media .
2.1.2.Berber
2.1.3.Foreign languages
A-1 French
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Spanish, like French, is associated with the protectorate past of
Morocco, and stems its power from the geographical proximity to it.¨
Spanish draws much of its importance from the geographical proximity of
Spain to Morocco and is spoken mainly in the areas occupied by
Spain¨(Zouhir,2013 :274) .That is to say,the influence of this foreign
language can be felt in the northern variety of Moroccan speakers.
However, many scholars agree that Spanish did not have a strong
linguistic impact on Morocco and does not enjoy an official status and
prestige as French. Spanish has lost its official status and prestige since
Morocco’s independence and has gradually replaced by French.(see
Ennaji,2005 ). Concerning English it is expected, from many point of
views, to become more important and to dominate more domains. Sadiqi
(1991) arguest hat English hadbegun to catch up to French in terms of its
prestige, claiming that “English has certainly started to compete with
French in Morocco (… )given that French is offered from the primary school
onward, in addition to its predominant use both in and outside school; it
would thus be expected to be chosen by more students” (p. 111).These
are the effects of globalization, which lead Bendaoud (2000) to state that
English’s “prestige is very high, especially among youngsters who like it
for its music, songs and films” (p. 14).
2.2.1 .Diglossia
In his article, Ferguson classifies Arabic varieties into high and low ; a
‘’high ‘’ variety that is prestigious (classical Arabic) and a low variety with
no official status (Dialectal Arabic). He distinguishes between the two
registers in terms of Acquisition, standardization, stability, Grammar,
lexicon and phonology. However, Ennaji (2005 :48) considered that
Ferguson’s classification of Arabic does not correspond to the linguistic
situation in Morocco and Maghreb at large, for we have three Arabic
varieties which are in triglossic relation : classical Arabic(CA),Standard
Arabic(SA) and Moroccan Arabic(MA). He claims that each variety is used
in different domains. CA is used in the religion aspects and literary
domains. SA is employed in political or scientific discourse and in the
mediaand administration. MA is used in informal settings (P 48). Apart
from the three varieties, Ennaji has added another one are called
« Educated spoken Arabic » P 49. By adding this variety, he has called for
the existence of Quadriglossia in Morocco and Arab World.
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as a form of linguistic behaviour and a strategy ‘’(Jamai ,2008 :93). This
linguistic behaviour has certainly some reasons that often push the
speaker to perform it as Trudgill (2000:81) said : “The same speaker uses
different linguistic varieties in different situations and for different
purposes”. The reasons and purposes may differ, That is exactly what
Chakrani (2011) explains when he discusses Moroccan Arabic as a
language that is not equipped enough with linguistic robustness to tackle
formal topic, and he claims that ‘’this is the reason why Moroccan often
switch to SA or French ‘’ (P.169).
3) conclusion
The stages at which the remaining variants
are (i)
replaced completely by new variants or (ii)
remain as a
residue after the change has terminated.
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3.2 Language change in Media
19
4. Visual Media and social effect
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thus more likely to be learned. When observing an event, which receives
some kind of reward like social approval, pleasant experience and when
the observer feels confident to perform, its symbolic imitation is
facilitated.
5.Related works
In the process of reviewing previous studies, we have selected some of
them according to their relevance to the core of study problem.
Conclusion
Introduction
The key purposes of the current study are to describe the
nature of the dialectal Arabic used in the dubbed series broadcasted in the
Moroccan national television, the reason behind shifting from MSA to DA
and the viewers attitudes toward this change. The data collected for this
study are both qualitative and quantitative . The researchers used three
main techniques during the data collection process, first through
Recording dubbed versions series aired on national television 2M , followed
by structured questionnaires and finally semi structured interviews. This
section provides a full Description of the following: 1) Type of the study, 2)
techniques of the study 3) sample and sampling 4) validity and
generalizability 5) problems 6) Conclusion
b) Questionnaires
c) Interviews
b) Sampling method
The data collected for the study were (82), that is a ratio of 90.8%
of the total distributed, (20) of which were excluded because of
invalidity for statistical analysis, that is 5% of the unaccepted
questionnaires. Thus, the number of questionnaires valid and
suitable for statistical analysis is (62). Results obtained from the
collected data cannot be generalized and applied to all context
since the sample chosen in the process of sampling is not
representative of the whole population , as it only represents
uneducated and educated females and males from Agadir city
only which means that the study is not applicable to other regions
.
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7. the inability to make contact with specialist in the field of
media, as we reached 2m Station building it seems
impossible to get inside in order to make an interview with
specialist in the field most of them tried to avoid answering
our questions and claimed they have nothing to do with the
process of dubbing or the use of DA .
Conclusion
The data collection is physically and mentally a
demanding process on which the second part of any research is
based, the collected data of this study varied from
questionnaires, recording documents, interviews and note
taking in order to be provided with rich data that will be
analyzed later, sample of this study were randomly selected
according to gender age and level of education . a number of
difficulties were presented during the process of gathering
information from participants .
2. Data analysis
02 01 Samhini 2M
613 02 Samhini 2M
02 01 Lara 2M
99 01 Taman lhob 2M
32 01 Loabat lhob 2M
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The data collected for the purpose of this study were recorded for further
analysi
1-1 corpus
1-2 Results
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- Madame
Modern Standard
Variety of dubbing Dialectal Arabic
Arabic
The above figure revealed that language of dubbing is a new form that
stems from both MA and SA However it is in fact more near to MA.
1. Phonological Level
1.a. Exclusion of
1. b. Inclusion of
2.Morphological-Syntactic level
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2. a. Exclusion of:
3. Lexical-Semantic
2.a. Exclusion of :
• Borrowing
• Codeswitching or codemixing
• Swearing
• Slang or taboo words
• Offensive or rude words from vernacular Arab
• Diglossia
• A new form of Arabic
· Titles in standard Arabic
Discussion of results
The results obtained from this study make one fact apparent that media
prefabricate the language; they avoid adopting a specific variety in order
to remain neutral they try to find an adequate level of language to satisfy
the needs of all Moroccans. This functional expansion widens the
opportunity of styles/code mixing. Exclusive use of MSA as well as
exclusive use of French appears to become more and more restricted at
some levels even in formal contexts
2. Questionnaires analysis
ü general questions
ü specific questions
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1- how often do you watch dubbed series broadcasted in 2m
channel ?
5-how did you find the variety used in the dubbing process?
ü closed-ended questions
1-do you think the selection of varieties used in media are that
important?
ü Open-ended questions
48.38 30 males
Variable
age
% Number
61.29 38 15-35
38 ,70 24 35-45
The results show, as is clear from table number (2) that the age
group (15-35) represents 38(61.29%), while the age group (35-45)
represents 24 (38.70%).
Males Females
Males Females
The results show, as is clear from table number (4) that a ratio of
37 % of educated females tends to watch DS in other languages
while 41% OF UNEDUCATED females prefer to watch it in the
Dialectal Arabic on the other hand the opposite sex 38% of
educated males prefer to watch DS in Modern standard Arabic
while uneducated males prefer to watch it in Dialectal Arabic.
Males Females
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v Table number 7) does the variety used in dubbed series
reflects a certain area in the society ?
Males Females
Always29%
sometimes50 Always23%
% Sometimes3
Never20% 2%
Never25%
Males Females
Males females
Normal 20%
Normal 31%
Not bad 26%
not bad25%
Ridiculous
ridiculous42%
39%
The results obtained shows that the most of the viewers find it
ridiculous.
2-3 Results and discussion
Ø Results
Ø Discussion
According to the information obtained from the analyzed
data, the majority of the spectators (educated) did not accept the use of
dialectal Arabic in the dubbed series that they quite found it much
ridiculous and non-representative of the geographic and social diversity of
Moroccan Arabic. According to this wave it is impossible to imagine
Moroccans engaged in such type of love interactions, the vocabulary was
inadequate and it sounded like advertising. Stylistic choices were not
pertinent with the characters, the variety used in the dubbing process was
too awkward and not that convincing for the educators . In the last five
years, the expansion of Moroccan Arabic in the Media has been particularly
perceptible in domains like advertising, radio and TV broadcasting,
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Internet and sms writings, and start to enter other written domains.
nowadays it had become more popular and well accepted by a wide
audience which is the main target of media producers .unlike educated
viewers, most the uneducated seems to be satisfied with national TV
programs broadcasted in DA , a group of viewers tends to watch foreign
series dubbed in DA more than they used to, since it has become less
complicated and much easier to grasp , unlike past years when they had
to watch it in MSA which few of them can understand and follow. This lead
us to think about the main reasons behind this shift, the sudden focus on
DA instead of MSA, the expansion of dialectal Arabic and weather Media
influence or try to influence people’s attitudes. The question remains
whether media are indeed key actors of language changes.
3) Interviews analysis
3- How could you explain the shift from using MSA to DA?
4-Could we consider this shift a sign that would call for the possibility of
standardizing DA?
Media have no other choice better than using DA. Not all Moroccan viewers
speak or understand MSA uneducated people are more affected more than
young ones by this. I think that dubbed series do not even represent MA in
its original status. Some words are added and they are not included in
DA vocabulary. This language change could unfortunately affect many
aspects in a negative way either cultural religional… I do not agree with
standardizing DA, as they are some vulgar words that do not have their
relevant alternatives in the lexis of MSA .
I think that language change in media is a positive issue in the way that it
allows people to discover other cultures and represent their norms in
Moroccan context. In fact, DA used in dubbed series is very different from
our own DA in terms of vocabulary and the one can see that adolescents
are the most affected group. This could be a sign for the possibility of
standardizing DA and I’m totally satisfied with this idea. All nations are
proud of their native language, so why Moroccans can’t
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A Cultural studies professor from the English department:
The shift from SA to DA can be explained from the capitalist economic and
the materialistic perspectives, the production of such series and the use of
dialectal Arabic are just a tool to get loyalty of viewers hence raise the
number of viewers for materialistic reasons .Their first aim is to stupidify
people since most of viewers are either less educated , belongs to the low
class or still didn’t reach the age of puberty to be able to think and
criticize what they are receiving passively . Media’s first concern is gains.
That’s why they thought about marginalizing standard Arabic and replace
it with a language which is more connected emotionally with the majority
of the citizen in daily speech. The language used in advertisements and
dubbed series as well seems to be a refined variety it’s not vulgar between
classical Arabic and the real dialectal Arabic however it still not that
adequate. Such use may directly affect our norms and values in different
ways ; children start unconsciously to imitate and repeat certain terms
which are unfamiliar to our daily speech . it also lead to the normalization
of certain values and norms which are not invaded in our culture, Mexican
cultural norms for example when they are given to us in our mother
tongue we engage ourselves in a sort of a process of generalization of
those norms that’s is to say we take them as being normal, this may shake
our cultural norms and identity as a conservative society.
In my point of view I think that the main reason behind this shift
is due to business and materialistic reasons, industry ,money,
views rate are all they think about changing a language is just a
tool to achieve these goals ,the targeted category is definitely
the less educated viewers and women for sure , I personally never
watched these kind of series because they are ridiculous, this
shift may certainly affect our language habits especially kids and
the uneducated that may imitate and repeat those words
unconsciously ,media may create this new variety to unify a one
spoken variety due to the fact that morocco has different
varieties.. The possibility of the standardization of DA is not up to
us if it was meant to happen it will definitely be achieved since it
was adopted in media it has means something, a new trend that
will be largely accepted and transformed from one generation to
another .
Ø Results
The results obtained from the collected data, lead us to this
conclusion ; the main reasons behind this shift may be seen from
different perspectives ; in one hand due to materialistic reasons which
is the producers first concerns as they see language only as tool and
they are only concerned with what they serve them best, just to attract
a number of blind passive consumers that will make them make money
later .on the other hand its considered as a sociopolitical issue , that is
49
to say there is a political agenda behind the adoption of DA and the
graduate marginalizing of modern standard Arabic . in which the
francophone and French-speaking class are involved in, as they
promote for DA instead of MSA considered to be an essential part of the
Moroccan identity thus ends up by creating a gab between DA and
MSA .
media’s first target are the less educated viewers especially women
and children who watch soap operas mostly and can easily be affected
in a way or another . According to the data provided this shift affected a
certain category of viewers in terms of the process of normalization
foreign norms and values and adopting expressions and terms which
does not belong to our conservative society in first place .the thing that
may lead to a language change issue in the future .the idea of the
standardization of DA A was highly refused and not warmly welcomed
by particular group which defends MSA in front of DA that is seen as
low variety that must be used only in daily life speech and in our
houses .while another wave supported the idea of standardizing DA
and thought it would be a good idea of promoting our dialect outside of
the country that Moroccans should be proud of instead of being
ashamed of their mother tongue language .
Ø Discussion
Speaking of effect one may argue that media may have other intentions
apart of financial ones behind using dialectal Arabic; their goal is to
stupidity and manipulate the uneducated to watch and consume their
production , and influence their social aspects “the more familiar language
you us the wider influence you get” dubbed series uses DA because they
know that 62% of viewers are blindly illiterate and are easy to affect ,
those series invaded certain norms and values that we don’t have in the
Moroccan society, one aspect to be added which is the normalization
process in which viewer are involved in a way or another that they
normalize unfamiliar behaviors which are not part of our society .
General conclusion
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The current study has attempted to analyze the use of Dialectal Arabic in
Moroccan visual media from a sociolinguistic perspective with an attempt to
involve people attitudes as they are an integrated part in the process language
change. from all the procedures followed, we could finally come to conclude the
study by arguing that visual media in general can be a factor in language change.
From the analysis of the case study(dubbed series), we have seen how
media change some aspects of language to reach an adequate level. This level is
supposed to be acceptable and satisfy the needs of a maximum number of
viewers. However, not all of them have positive attitudes. The opinions differ
from one personal perspective to another and the results revealed how variables
like education and age could determine how an individual think and believe and
how they construct their own understanding of their surroundings, following this
pattern leads us to another dimension( the effect of
Bibliography
Hilali-Bendaoud, F.Z. (2000). Cohesion and coherence in EFL writing: The case of
Moroccan university students. Unpublished Disseration. Mohammed V University,
Department of English.
53
Hudson, R.A. (1980) Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press.
Kamaruzaman, J. & Sahimi Nurul N., (2009) .Television and Media Literacy in
Young Children: Issues and Effects in Early Childhood. The Journal of International
Education Studies.
Willie, M. (1979). The Mass Media and Language Development. Australian Journal
of Teacher Education.
(Dubbed series)
This questionnaire is designed as a data collection tool for
academic research purposes. It is intended to be applied to help the
researcher analyze viewers attitudes toward language change in media,
your participation is highly appreciated.
Gender:
Male
Female
Age:
15-35
35-45
Always
Sometimes
Never
Image
Content
Language
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3) To what extant you watch dubbed series ?
Always
Sometimes
Never
MSA
DA
Others
Normal
Not bad
Ridiculous
Familiar
Unfamiliar
Casawi variety
A new variety
Very much
Negative
Yes
57