LINGUISTIC TOUR IN TUNISIA

 

LINGUISTIC TOUR IN TUNISIA

        Linguistic tour is an activity by which the POSFI (Postdoctoral for Islamic Higher Education) participants were actively and/or passively involved in communication. Reading sign directions in streets, noticing price list in supermarkets, having dialogues with sellers in traditional markets, asking directions to public transportation drivers, discussing with lecturers and students at campus were a few examples of linguistic tour.

Relying on the linguistic tour I had, I come to the conclusion that Tunisia is linguistically unique. First, in Tunisia there is dominance dualism between the official language, Arabic, and the second one, French. It is officially stated in the constitution that Arabic is the official language, and French is the second one. The second language, however, empirically is not less dominant or even seems more dominant than the official one. Official documents such as official letters issued by government institutions, announcements at campus, teaching schedules at campus are written in French.  The names of building are commonly written in two languages, indicating that French is equal with the Arabic language. See my picture.

     My background is the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities written in both Arabic and French 

Second, Darija language is the means of communication among Tunisians. Darija is the variant of the standardized Arabic commonly used in Arabic speaking countries. The apparent difference between the two lies in the word formation or morphological aspect. Words in Darija are much influenced by French and other languages existing in Tunisia. Thayyib is an Arabic term which is equivalent to Okay in English referring to a positive comment toward something. In Darija, it gets dakurdoo. The word syukran which means ‘thank you’ in Darija is mershee . The words coinage of dakurdoo and mershee and others is the linguistic creativity of Tunisians who live a multiple linguistic community. This hypothesis, however, needs further and deeper study on the Darija morphology.

My linguistic tour geared me to the conclusion that there is a ‘competition ‘between  Arabic and French. They are competing for the Tunisians’ sympathy. Language is not merely a means of communication. It represents culture, power, and dominance. Those who would like to conquer a certain region have to conquer the language. Through the language, culture and belief can be easily displayed. By way of language, power and dominance can be exercised. Tunisia was once under the colony of France. The influence of the power of France remains alive now. The dominance of French is one of the evidence.  

Note:  What I am writing is my experience in following Postdoctoral for Islamic Higher Education by The Ministry of Religious Affair of the Republic of Indonesia in Tunisia in 2015. This writing is the translated version of the article entitled Wisata Bahasa di Tunisia published on 6 November 2015 in http://diktis.kemenag.go.id/NEW/index.php?berita=detil&jenis=artikel&jd=890#.XeMXtcJ7nug

 

September 23, 2022