Compétences et difficultés pour la compréhension des écrits en contexte plurilingue : le cas du Liban

Abstract

Competencies and Difficulties for Understanding Writings in a Plurilingual Context: the case of Lebanon

The reading comprehension activity requires several linguistic and non-linguistic skills. These skills become more complex when we are in a context of languages in contact and when we read texts produced in a second language. In this article, we look at a multilingual country, Lebanon, by analyzing articles published in Orient-Le Jour, a French-language newspaper. We seek to determine the multilingualism’s impact and the universe of reference on the texts’ comprehension produced in French. These texts are written by Azouri; a Franco-Lebanese journalist whose writings testify to her dual cultural affiliation. After analyzing several linguistic processes, such as borrowing, code switching, neologism, etc., the obtained results show that this journalist uses Lebanese language in her columns written in French, to highlight the Lebanese specificities and to affirm the Lebanese identity. This linguistic mix as well as the Lebanese socio-cultural background, that emerges through the studied texts, could cause comprehension difficulties for the non-Lebanese speakers, especially French readers.