Tunisian: An Arabic Dialect or a Complete Language

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When we talk about the language spoken in any region of the world, it is greatly influenced by its culture, heritage and history. Tunisian culture is extremely diverse culture due to its long and rich historical past and carries a layer of variations in language with a passage eras and centuries. Even today, we find the glimpses of Roman Empire, French, Arabs and Ottomans in their rich historical culture and heritage.

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Today’s modern day Tunisia consists of three major languages including local Tunisian language, Arabic and French. Arabic is the main language which is used as an official language for all the official purposes like documentations, television news channels, sign boards, bill boards and restaurants.

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On the other hand, French also plays an important in Tunisia as it is taught to the students from the age of eight. French is also used at secondary educational level. Around 60% of the population in Tunisia read or understand French. Even many of the Tunisian newspapers are published in French language for local and international readers.

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Third and the most important language in Tunisia is local Tunisian language which is also known as Darija and this language is spoken by almost 11 million people in Tunisia. Many people have misconception that Arabic and Local Tunisian language are the same language. When foreigners who are fluent in Arabic visit Tunisia, they are unable to understand local language or find difficulty in understanding the local language but local people are fluent in Arabic and French which makes it easier for the cross cultural communication between the locals and the foreigners.

ACCORDING TO THE AUTHOR DR. NADIA SOUAYEH FROM TUNISIA:

Tunisia is a small country located in the north of Africa. The official language is Arabic but what most people don’t know is that the spoken Arabic is so different from the standard one, in another words, the one used to write, in “Quran”

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And it differs from one Arabic country to another, for example the word “Shoe”, in the standard Arabic it’s حذاء hetha, in the spoken Arabic in Tunisia it’s sabait, in Egypt it’s gazma.

So where did all of these words come from??

It’s depends on some historical facts: the amazigh indigenous people of North Africa. Many words from that area are still used until today, in darja such that bakouch which means the one who can’t speak or hear.

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Some people still speak amazigh until today in Tunisia, they are about 50000.

And also the effect of French Spanish Italian and even Turkish.

It’s a unique mixture that made this spoken language, a three thousand years of history and a really interesting multi-ethnic influx.

And even in the same country, some words would change from one City to another, such that the” I “, it goes from “ana”انا” to “aini”اني” to “any”آني”.

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Tunisian start learning how to write the standard Arabic at the age of 6, then they start to learn French at the age of 8, which is the second most used Language there, in fact so many words are casually used in a day to day life , such that train , métro, taxi….. And starting from high school, every scientific subjects is though in French, math, physics, science.

Actually, they won’t even know the scientific names of many things in Arabic.

At the age of 12 they start learning English, and in the last two years of high school they have to choose one other subject, which can be another language such that Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Russian , Chinese… or it could be a painting or music class, but most choose a language.

So an average educated Tunisian would be able to understand and communicate using Arabic and French besides the spoken Arabic, which should be a language itself.

NOTE: Kindly give us feedback about the article, if you are willing get more about knowledge about linguistic similarities and differences between Arabic, its dialects and other languages including Local Tunisian Language; kindly let us know because it is just the beginning.