Abstract

    The article deals with spirantization in a comparative perspective. The aim is to accommodate the various ways in which four Berber lects exhibit the phenomenon of spirantization. The author has tried to find the position of Spir relative to the other constraints in Optimality Theory.

    In his article, Moha Ennaji discusses the morphological structure and properties of causative elements. The author reveals the huge similarities existing between the different Amazigh varieties in this domain, which allows their standardization. He also underlines the existing overlap between causative and reciprocal elements in the language by eliciting the similarities and differences between them.

Abstract

    The article by Fatima Sadiqi is a detailed study of reciprocal forms. . The author reveals that the structure of the reciprocal form is very important at the comparative level. The derivation of the reciprocal form in Amazigh is very productive and constitutes a fundamental structure for the general economy of the language.

    In his article, Yahya Er-rramdani provides a descriptive analysis of the rarely discussed topic of the acquisition of word order by bilinguals. The study describes the most common and productive word order patterns that are acquired by Dutch-Amazigh bilinguals. The study reveals that children are able to identity the word order options available to them and commonly use SVO, while adults seem to have a preference for OVS order.

    The contribution of Ahmed Boukous deals with the “weight”of Amazigh language in Morocco. The analysis reveals that the weight of the Amazigh language remains weak, in spite of an environment that presents more opportunities than threats. According to the author, the new environment in which the Amazigh culture and language evolve will reasonably lead to a qualitative change in the speakers’ representations and attitudes.

Abstract

    Providing data from Kabyle Amazigh, Colloquial and Standard Arabic, Moussa Imarazene shows the great similarities between these languages at the syntactic level. However, unlike in Amazigh and dialectical Arabic, when the referential expansion is present, literary Arabic keeps only two bound morphemes to distinguish gender. For the noun complement which is placed, in the three languages, after a definite noun, the situation differs in Berber and literary Arabic.

    Mahmoud El Salman deals with Amazigh-Arabic code switching among Tarifit speakers in Nador. The investigation shows that Amazigh predominates in this region and that the young are more keen on preserving the Amazigh language and identity than the old who show more readiness to shift to Arabic.