Die Sprachensituation im Kleinen Maghreb : Die Sichtbarkeit der Sprachen am Beispiel von Tunesien

Abstract

The Linguistic Situation in The Maghreb: The Visibility of Languages through Tunisia as a Case Study

The written form of language is a wide field and so here the "visibility of languages" is limited to the aspect that languages are perceptible to the eyes, namely on signs. The relevant examples all come from the Maghrebi country of Tunisia. These are the undirectedly acquired languages, which primarily include Tunisian Arabic, Derya, and to a much lesser extent the Berber languages, Jewish Arabic and French, so that in Tunisia has a homogeneous language situation. In addition, there are the languages that are acquired in a controlled manner, which primarily includes written Arabic, the Fusha. This range of languages is supplemented by the foreign languages French and English as compulsory subjects. Chinese, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish is offered as a compulsory elective in the modern language branch. Thanks to its rich historical heritage and its educational system, Tunisia is linguistically diverse and the signs reflect this wealth in many different ways.