Moroccan immigrants in Spainnegotiating language, culture and identity

Resumen

At the center of political discussion regarding the crisis of immigration in Spain, Moroccan immigrants' cultural, religious, and linguistic practices are highly contested and surveilled. Analyzing multilingual situations from a sociolinguistic perspective has traditionally involved characterizing where, when, and how languages are used, utilizing constructs that characterize language use as stable and domain-specific which references static social categories or bounded ethnolinguistic identities. These long-standing constructs in sociolinguistics are unable to account for language use within the complex social realities of Moroccans in Spain. Using a linguistic ethnographic approach to language which maintains that language and the social world are mutually shaping, I examine the relationship between the sociopolitical realities of the Moroccan community in Granada, Spain and the role of language use and identity negotiation in Moroccan immigrants' participation in Spanish society in order to refine key concepts in sociolinguistics. In addition, I examine the attitudes and ideologies surrounding these language practices. The data include 95 hours of recordings from sociolinguistic interviews, 55 questionnaires, and 77 observation and reflection entries that were collected from 30 first and 28 second generation members of the Moroccan community as well as eight interviews over the course of ten months with six focal participants. First, in regard to the language practices of Moroccans in Granada, the findings show that these practices are relational or social as opposed to a-temporal and structural. The social relationship itself thus plays an important role in the way speakers negotiate their language practices. While first generation speakers tend to use Dārīža more frequently and second generation speakers use Spanish, both groups used features from both Dārīža and Spanish more overall. In addition, speakers from both groups used features from French (for first generation speakers) and English (for second generation speakers). Speakers from both groups employed code-switched practices more frequently than any one language alone. Like the situation of Zentella (1997) study of el bloque, there was no domain that was impenetrable to one language or another. Linguistic practices do not fit into the idea of strict functional or domain separation and instead point to a need to examine the relational and interpersonal aspects of language use. Second, regarding social identities, the results show that first and second generation speakers leveraged fluid language practices to negotiate their positions as members of various communities. In other words, speakers' language practices highlight particular stances or positions. While Moroccan identity continues to be highly contested within Spanish society, first and second generation Moroccans utilize their multilingual repertoires to align themselves with specific identities and positions in sophisticated ways which supports the notion that social identities are negotiable and locally constructed (see Rampton, 1995; Blackledge and Pavlenko, 2001). Third, while the language practices can be characterized as fluid and dynamic, Moroccans hold diglossic and monoglossic views of their language practices. However, pluralist ideologies which valued multilingual practices were also present. In the diglossic and pluralist ideologies, multilingual practices as well as use of Dārīža iconize Moroccan identity (see Irvine and Gal, 2000). Through fractal recursivity, Moroccans are considered an "Other" in relation to their peers in Spain other Arabic speakers in other regions. In addition, while pluralist ideologies value multilingualism, they are often in tension with monoglossic ideologies which require speakers are to engage in monolingual language practices in certain settings, despite their multilingual repertoires. These same monoglossic ideologies can be found in the way some Moroccans call for subsequent generations to use Dārīža with other Moroccans. Given that Moroccanness is tied to Dārīža in this perspective, using Spanish with Moroccans or even code-switching practices are de-legitimized. However, the scope of influence of these ideological frameworks is limited given that their fluid language practices frequently challenged monoglossic and diglossic perspectives. This study provides the first comprehensive study of language practices among Moroccans in Spain. This contributes to the sociolinguistic literature on multilingualism and social identities in migrant communities. This research has challenged long-standing traditional constructs in sociolinguistics, namely, structural approaches in characterizing multilingual language use and has put forth a view of characterizing multilingual practices that transcends micro- and macro- level distinctions. Finally, the findings from this work have implications for European and Spanish policymakers in the areas of education, community relations, international affairs, and public opinion. As the governments at each level seek to address the needs of individuals and groups, they must take into account that identities are not visible categories and should not be taken as signs of an individual's success or lack thereof in their participation in society.