THE STIGMATISATION OF THE GLOTTAL STOP IN TLEMCEN SPEECH COMMUNITY: AN INDICATOR OF DIALECT SHIFT

Tlemcen speech, an old urban variety of Arabic, has long distinguished itself from other Algerian Arabic dialects by a number of linguistic features. Its most characteristic phonological trait, not used anywhere else in the country, is the realisation of /q/, the Classical Arabic qāf , as a glottal stop [?], as in [?æ:l], ?He said?, for CA /qaal/. But, as a result of the massive long-term migration of rural people towards the city and the contact of two types of Arabic dialectal forms, the recent decades have witnessed drastic changes in the dialect of Tlemcen. There is indeed much evidence that native speakers, particularly among younger males, tend to avoid the use of the glottal stop [?] for its tight association with femininity and thus its strong stigmatisation and negative attitudes towards its users.