Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses the issue of how Berber (Amazigh), a newly empowered language in Morocco, is perceived by its native speakers in order to see to what extent they view it as significant in the era of globalization, as a conveyor of scientific knowledge, and as a tool for national development.

Paper long abstract:

One of the oldest languages of the African continent, as attested by archeological documents, is Berber (Amazigh), a North African language whose domain of use extends from the Siwa oasis in the west of Egypt to the west of Morocco, and from the Mediterranean coast to the South of Niger. Today, the largest communities of Berber speakers live in Morocco and Algeria with a minority of Touaregs living in Mali, Niger, and Chad. According to the last Moroccan national census, Berber is the native language of 28.3% of the overall Moroccan population. In 2001, this language was recognized by a royal decree as a basic component of the Moroccan identity and culture, and in 2011, it became an official language in the revised constitution. The goal of this paper is to address the issue of how Moroccan Berberophones perceive their newly empowered language in the face of strong and powerful co-present languages such as Arabic and French, which represent the colonial legacy, and English, which has become dominant internationally. The data on which this paper is based consists of a language attitude questionnaire that was administered to a sample of 300 male and female respondents who live in different towns, belong to different age groups, and have different levels of education. Some of the questions the paper endeavors to answer are to what extent Berberophones perceive their language as significant in the era of globalization, as a conveyor of scientific knowledge, and as a tool for national development and progress.