Male and Female Related Use of Language in Ain Temouchent Speech Community

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to elicit Ain Temouchent speakers’ attitudes towards using language. It aims to highlight the main socio-cultural factors that affect the construction of their language. It attempts to gain a deeper understanding of the language situation in Ain Temouchent and, therefore, its impact on social interaction between both genders. It also tends to prove that gender is one of the sociolinguistic variables that direct communication between humans. Another important purpose of this study is to determine the position of both genders in this society. It aims to give an overview of the main stereotypes surrounding women’s behaviour and language. Thus, it provides a real image of the attitudes of both genders. Moreover, this work is built on certain objectives which open a gate on the real sociolinguistic situation of using language in Ain Temouchent speech community in relation to gender. Firstly, it attempts to prove that the attitudes of speakers depend largely on their way of speaking, identity, gender and age. Secondly, it tends to examine the effect of the social position of females on their language use. Thirdly, it tends to prove that the geographical location of Ain Temouchent is a major factor that pushes males and females to develop a new vocabulary. In this regard, we have relied on some research tools such qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the differences in using language. Consequently, the outcomes of this research work show that there is a wide difference between males and females in constructing and using language. The findings also indicate that the sociocultural structure is the first and main factor for such difference