Investigating the Attempt of the Algerian Vernacular’s Monopoly over Modern Standard Arabic in its Literary Heritage: The Case of the Algerian Book “Dubai Khirlek’’ by Moussa MADAGH

Abstract

For its sociolinguistic and literary dimensions, this actual research is made to investigate the dialectal use of vernacular Arabic in literature, taking the Algerian book “Dubai Khirlek” written by Moussa MADAGH as a subject area in which a bold move has been made in Arabic Algerian literature history to be the first book written in colloquial Arabic in Algeria. The investigation’s main goal aims at examining the factors that led the writer decide to write in Non-Standard Arabic instead of the Standard one, rising to the challenge in praising the Algerian dialect and competing Modern Standard Arabic in its literary properties. Moreover, this study seeks to figure out the consequences of this recent obtrusive phenomenon on the status of MSA within Algeria in general as well as the Arabic Algerian literature and the intellectual level of its readers in specific. For the target demographic, members of Algerian reading clubs on Facebook are selected to be interrogated by an online detailed questionnaire as well as a structured interview is specifically made for Arabic teachers of both linguistics and literature at Belhadj Bouchaib University Centre in order to help us accomplish this investigation. After the process of collecting as well as analyzing the needed data from the participants involved in this study paper, this conducted research has brought out the answers of the investigation’s two research questions that we tried to explore. Thus, it has been shown that Moussa Madagh’s intentional purpose in using colloquial Arabic (‘Daridja’) entirely in his book entitled “Dubai Khirlek” is highlighted in the fact of achieving a larger audience in which his book is not only and highly concerned with the Algerian elites, but also tends to make the uneducated people experience reading through facilitating the language to them by putting MSA aside and writing by the daily Algerian vernacular. Moussa Madagh’s inconsiderate decision will bring out both linguistic and literary unpleasant consequences in case this phenomenon is becoming hugely adopted by many Algerian writers, representing in stripping MSA from its valuable terms and then, disunifying Algerians from their Arabic unity and identity. As a result, this may negatively affect the Arabic Algerian literature and deteriorate the linguistic-intellectual level of its readers.