New Media of Communication and Language Shift in Morocco

Abstract

In the wake of globalization, Morocco witnessed the emergence of highly sophisticated media of communication which affected people’s life and the way they communicate with each other. Communication facilities such as Internet and mobile phones had various effects on the linguistic situation of the country. One of the remarkable changes the Moroccan linguistic repertoire knew in the last decade due to the wide use of Internet and mobile phones is the promotion of the status of Moroccan Arabic (MA) from an oral linguistic variety to a written medium of communication in social media and text messaging. Students, as will be revealed in this study, showed positive attitudes towards MA as a new medium of communication in Internet and mobile phones. They regarded it as an intimate language which transfers meaning in an easy way. This wide use of MA among students had also a remarkable effect on its spread in education, for many secondary school teachers started to give it importance due to its easiness in explanation. Such promotion of MA encouraged many scholars (Caubet 2004; Bowen 2008; Dorian 2012; Hall 2015) to talk about a new diglossic shift which Moroccan society is undergoing. The aim of this empirical research is to study the effects of new media of communication on language use in society and education, and the reason behind the shift in role of MA as a written medium of communication.