Bilingualism and language aHitude in Melilla (Spain)

This study examines levels of bilingualism and language attitude in the autonomous Spanish city of Melilla. Located on the North African coast, Melilla has a population of 86,000 inhabitants that is roughly divided between residents of Iberian origin and residents of North African Origin. Based on r...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Sayahi, Lotfi, Montero Alonso, Miguel Ángel
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
Repositorio:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/49171
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10017/49171
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Melilla
Tamazight
Arabic
Bilingualism
Lan­guage attitude
Spanish
Español
Árabe
Bilingüismo
Acti­tud lingüística
Lingüística
Sociología
Linguistics
Sociology
Descrição
Resumo:This study examines levels of bilingualism and language attitude in the autonomous Spanish city of Melilla. Located on the North African coast, Melilla has a population of 86,000 inhabitants that is roughly divided between residents of Iberian origin and residents of North African Origin. Based on responses to a language question­naire (111 participants) and sociolinguistic interviews (20 partici­pants ), our results show high levels of bilingualism between Spanish and Tamazight among the sector of the population that is of North African origin, while the population of Iberian origin remains monolingual in Spanish. We also show that Spanish is the dominant language in the public domain, including administration and educa­tion, while Tamazight is maintained as a family and community lan­guage. Overall, the participants in our study express positive attitude towards the Melillan variety of Spanish and Tamazight, and their co­existence as part of the multicultural nature of the city.