The Role of Language Attitudes in Language Maintenance: The Case of Kabyle Immigrants in France

Sabrina  Zemmour; Sharif  Alghazo

doi:10.35516/hum.v50i4.5649

Authors

Sabrina Zemmour Department of English Language and Literature, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
Sharif Alghazo Department of English Language and Literature, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8163-283X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35516/hum.v50i4.5649

Keywords:

Language maintenance, language attitudes, Kabyle, France

Abstract

Objectives: This sociolinguistic study aims to explore Kabyle immigrants’ perspectives of and attitudes towards their home language (Kabyle) and the language of the host country (French). It also investigates the effects of gender and age on their attitudes towards and maintenance of their home language.

Methods: To achieve these objectives, an online questionnaire adapted from Al-Rahal (2014) was distributed to 60 Kabyle immigrants (30 males and 30 females) aged between 18 and 78 in the French language. The data were analyzed quantitatively using SPSS.

Results: The results showed that the Kabyle participants have positive attitudes to a great extent towards their home language and positive attitudes to some extent towards the host language. Neither gender nor age was found to be effective on the participants’ attitudes towards either language.

Conclusions: The results are discussed in terms of different sociocultural factors. The study recommends that more investigations about Kabyle be conducted to maintain the language and protect it from loss.

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