Language ideologies and representations in postcolonial Algeria

The French colonial administration used languages as a tool to suppress Algerian indigenous culture and linguistic identity. The implementation of French and the restriction of Arabic resulted in the emergence of an acute linguistic conflict in the region. The conflict gained even more momentum after independence with the rise of the Arabisation policy. Despite the end of colonialism, French or the ‘coloniser’s language’ remained as a dominant language and a rival of Arabic that soon was distinguished as the ‘language of nationalism’. This ideologisation of languages was another element that widened the divide between the supporters of each language. It is within this complex interplay that Assia Djebar and Fadhila El-Farouk wrote about their perspectives of languages in Algeria in French and in Arabic. While Djebar embraces French yet yearns for Arabic to express her feelings, El-Farouk denounces the imposition of Arabic at the expense of multilingualism. This article will examine the way the politics of languages in colonial and postcolonial Algeria shaped the francophone and the Arabic-speaking literary representation of the linguistic dilemma.