Language shift and sentence processing in Moroccan Arabic

D-possessives and the origins of Moroccan Arabic

Diachronica ◽

10.1075/dia.32.1.01hea ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 1-33 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jeffrey Heath

Keyword(s):

Language Shift ◽

General View ◽

Moroccan Arabic ◽

Arabic Dialects

Despite the general view that Berber was the only important substratum for Maghrebi Arabic, Moroccan Arabic (MA) took shape in the 7th–8th centuries AD in Roman cities in which Late Latin (LL) was spoken. The occupation of Morocco was far more tenuous than in other areas conquered during the Arab expansion. Rapid language shift from LL to a contact Arabic introduced by eastern Berber troops left telltale signs in phonology and in morphological simplification. Archaic MA D-possessives di, d- and dyal- reflect Latin dē and pronominal combinations thereof, and must be dated to the language-shift period. Recognition of this has been delayed by hesitation to recognize the LL/MA relationship and by Arabic-internal explanations of D-possessives that must be rejected in light of what we now know about Maghrebi Arabic dialects.

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Van Immigratie Tot Etnolect

Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen ◽

10.1075/ttwia.73.07kri ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 73 ◽

pp. 63-71

Author(s):

Esther van Krieken

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

Language Shift ◽

Symbolic Function ◽

Original Language ◽

Language Varieties ◽

Moroccan Arabic ◽

Phonological Features ◽

Acquisition Processes

Ethnolects can be defined as language varieties determined by ethnicity. The ethnolect is especially attributed to the descendants of immigrants. This variety emerges from a language shift situation and takes over the symbolic function from the original language as a marker of ethnicity. The features of ethnolects can be explained by processes involving second language acquisition and bilingualism, namely interlanguage and transfer from the original language. The Moroccan ethnolect in Nijmegen is distinguished primarily by phonological and morphosyntactical features and less by the lexicon. Most of the phonological features can be explained as transfer from Moroccan Arabic and Tarifit Berber. The morphosyntactic and lexical features are due to acquisition processes. There is also an influence from the Nijmegen city dialect on the ethnolect, mainly in pronunciation.

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The Origins of Andalusi-Moroccan Arabic and the Role of Diglossia

Brill s Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics ◽

10.1163/18776930-00702002 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 157-195

Author(s):

Jamal Ouhalla

Keyword(s):

Alternative Hypothesis ◽

Language Shift ◽

Definite Article ◽

Historical Evidence ◽

Moroccan Arabic ◽

Linguistic Evidence ◽

Classical Arabic

This article aims to make a contribution to the debate concerning the origins of the Moroccan Arabic genitive preposition d(yal) and its implications for the emergence of Moroccan Arabic recently reignited in Heath (2015). The latter sources the preposition to a combination of Late Latin allative dē and pronouns in the context of a language shift that took place in Roman cities in the Maghreb. This hypothesis is shown to be inconsistent with both the linguistic and historical evidence, which favour the alternative hypothesis that the preposition arose from merger between the Old Romance genitive preposition de/i and the Classical Arabic definite article (ʔ)al (Ouhalla 2009a&b). This development took place in the context of Andalusi Arabic, which emerged in Spain in the ninth and tenth centuries and subsequently spread to Morocco by migration. In addition to outlining further linguistic evidence for the hypothesis, the article highlights the role of diglossia in the emergence of Andalusi Arabic, where Classical Arabic was the High variety that accounted for much of the vocabulary and Iberian Old Romance as the Low variety that accounted for the syntax base.

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When Hearing Does Not Mean Understanding: On the Neural Processing of Syntactically Complex Sentences by Listeners With Hearing Loss

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00262 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Margreet Vogelzang ◽

Christiane M. Thiel ◽

Stephanie Rosemann ◽

Jochem W. Rieger ◽

Esther Ruigendijk

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Sentence Processing ◽

Secondary Task ◽

Sentence Comprehension ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Cognitive Demands ◽

Sentence Complexity ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

And Task

Purpose Adults with mild-to-moderate age-related hearing loss typically exhibit issues with speech understanding, but their processing of syntactically complex sentences is not well understood. We test the hypothesis that listeners with hearing loss' difficulties with comprehension and processing of syntactically complex sentences are due to the processing of degraded input interfering with the successful processing of complex sentences. Method We performed a neuroimaging study with a sentence comprehension task, varying sentence complexity (through subject–object order and verb–arguments order) and cognitive demands (presence or absence of a secondary task) within subjects. Groups of older subjects with hearing loss ( n = 20) and age-matched normal-hearing controls ( n = 20) were tested. Results The comprehension data show effects of syntactic complexity and hearing ability, with normal-hearing controls outperforming listeners with hearing loss, seemingly more so on syntactically complex sentences. The secondary task did not influence off-line comprehension. The imaging data show effects of group, sentence complexity, and task, with listeners with hearing loss showing decreased activation in typical speech processing areas, such as the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus. No interactions between group, sentence complexity, and task were found in the neuroimaging data. Conclusions The results suggest that listeners with hearing loss process speech differently from their normal-hearing peers, possibly due to the increased demands of processing degraded auditory input. Increased cognitive demands by means of a secondary visual shape processing task influence neural sentence processing, but no evidence was found that it does so in a different way for listeners with hearing loss and normal-hearing listeners.

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