Adaptive Linguistic Change and Ecolinguistic Structures: Some processes of language dynamics within an Algerian Dialect

Abstract

As a culture area the Arab world had undergone tremendous ecological changes which triggered off transitional stages as natural correlates to three ecolinguistic structures, namely Bedouin, rural and urban. Within this framework advocated by Cadora (1993), we try in this paper to identify some lexical developments in concomitance with ecological transitional change within a variety of Tiaret (hereinafter, TRT) in continuous transformation.
The study of some lexical changes in TRT which undergoes significant changes inevitably leads to the conclusion that language is primarily a social phenomenon under constant development, and cannot thus be studied without reference to the social system of values and common beliefs. Henceforth, linguistic change is the product of a dynamic in the social fabric that is reflected in sociolinguistic variation and language change stances.
The transitional patterns of the lexical items under study correlate most closely with changes in community type. The three structures Bedouin, Rural, and Urban may explain the spread of lexical innovations at different rates and perhaps in different directions. The changes in ecolinguistic structures in TRT are paralleled with progressive social changes, notably increased geographical mobility of the population, the economy of market, and political disturbances. The study of the evolutionary developments of certain lexical items leads to the conclusion that TRT undergoes drastic changes and other deep investigations would reveal such changes.