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Margreet DorleijnJacomine Nortier

A Moroccan accent in Dutch in Utrecht: restricted to the Moroccan

community?

m.dorleijn@uva.nl j.nortier@let.uu.nl

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This presentation:

Some demographic facts about NL

Cases in Utrecht

MFD: When?

What?

Why?

Rotterdam

Topics for discussion

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NL:

• North-South: 300 km

• East-West: 150 km

• 16 million inhabitants

• Capital: Amsterdam, almost 1 million

• (Rotterdam: 600,000; Den Haag 400,000)

• Utrecht: 285,000

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Demography

Netherlands:1.7 million non-Western

320,000 Moroccan (= 2%)

365,000 Turkish (= 2.28%)

330,000 Surinamese (=2.06%)

130,000 Antillean

392,000 Indonesian

Utrecht:24,000 Moroccan (= 8.7%)

12,500 Turkish (= 4.5%)

9,500 Surinamese (= 3.45%)

Rotterdam:36,000 Moroccan (6%)

45,000 Turkish (7,5%)

72,000 Sur/Ant (12,2%)

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Utrecht (Only!) (MFD = Moroccan Flavoured Dutch)

mother father brother sister Friends L1

Other friends

Berber Saida

L1 L1 L1 Du CS

Du Du MFD

Du MFD

Turkish Hakan

L1 L1 L1 Du CS

L1 Du CS

L1 Du CS MFD

Du MFD

Greek Yannis

L1 L1 Du

n.a. L1 Du

L1 Du MFD

Du MFD

Dutch Steven

Du Du n.a. Du Du MFD

Du MFD

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MFD: in what situations? Research is needed but this we know:

• Insiders

• Tough

• Jokes

• Informal

• Insolent towards (adult) outsiders

• In- and exclusion

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MFD: what is it?

• Moroccan Arabic / Berber

• Only pronunciation

• Characteristics: /g/, /z/ (voice + gemination), Ø schwa; overgeneralised and exaggerated

• Also Moroccans: exaggerate

• Turks: on top of ‘own’ accent

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• Why Moroccan and not an other language?

• What do MFD-users say themselves?

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M = Moroccan; D = Dutch; A = Afghani; T = Turkish

M: It is well-known that Moroccan have a -uhm kind of

funny accent

D: Is that because there are more Moroccans than Turks?

A: No

D: No? Maybe there are, in Utrecht?

T: No I think there are more Turks!

D: Do they make more noise? Or uh

T: Yes, Moroccans are more present

M: No but the accent is striking. ‘Ik gga naar šgool’, I

think hello! That is something very strong.

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“We find it remarkable and T is dull”.

“Moroccans are hip”.

But: in Hamburg the same happens, but there

Moroccan is replaced with Turkish.

NB: In other Dutch cities the dynamics are not

necessarily the same!!

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2 kinds of explanation:

• 1: group identity+construction (internal, socio-psychological factors) related to questions like: Muslims vs others? SES?

• 2: why this variant: (external, socio-political factors) Numerical? Covert prestige?

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Changing boundaries?

• 18 year old Afghani (Utrecht): “I feel insulted when they say nasty things about Moroccans: I am a foreigner, too!”

• 19 year old Turkish girl (Amsterdam): “Sometimes I feel more ‘allochtoon’ than Turkish”

• Socio/political developments: group ‘allochtones’ is diverse but feels solidarity

• But: in Rotterdam increasing distance between ethnic groups has been observed.

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• May 6th 2002: Pim Fortuyn (Rotterdam!!) killed: he was the voice of the white Dutch ‘anti-immigrants-movement’. Became a hero after his death. 2 weeks later: elections.

• Nov 2nd, 2004: Theo van Gogh killed by Moroccan muslim fundamentalist Mohammed B. Discussion about ‘freedom of speech’.

• Mohammed B: member of ‘Hofstadgroep’: Moroccan fundamentalists who planned assaults.

• At the same time: problems with Moroccans, mainly teenage boys.

• Consequences for society: strong polarisation; immigrant = muslim = dangerous. Particularly Moroccans.

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Utrecht vs other cities

Different dynamics:

• Inter- and intra-ethnic interaction

• Interaction with indigenous urban dialects

• Language attitudes and vitality

• Different linguistic features in MFD

• Local politics

• etcetera

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Rotterdam

Interview with Moroccan author

Salaheddine (25); Rotterdam, June 30th, 2006.

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Main observations based on the interview:

• Development of ‘In-between language’ among

Moroccans in Rotterdam

• Linguistic features: insertion of grammatical

elements from Morarab in Dutch; hardly

content words: articles and pronouns.

• Amsterdam: local accent in MFD: Utrecht and

Rotterdam: definitely NOT.

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Topics for discussion

1. The variant can be based on M or any other language (T in Hamburg). Choice based on factors like Muslim subculture; hiphop-urban subculture. Real or desired. What is the choice based on? ‘Heavy’ presence of the group (numerical; prestige).

2. Language use within groups determines the type of influence on ‘the variant’’

3. Why do outsiders recognize a Moroccan accent (and not Turkish or Afghani)? Same reason?

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Topics for discussion (4)

The concepts of markers and indicators are problematic Simple, according to the literature (Labov). But: Saida had noperceptable accent in Dutch when she was small. Started to weara head scarf when she was (about) 15; and her accent becameMFD. A marker! But how deliberate and conscious was this?It was a conscious choice to stress her identity. But also tovoice her /z/’s and swallow her schwa’s?? Now, she can’tspeak the original accentless kind of Dutch anymore. MFD hasbecome an indicator for herself (=not conscious) but not forthe outside world (recognizes it immediately). But when sheexaggerates her accent consciously, it is a marker for herselfànd the outside world.

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Topics for discussion (5)

It seems that there are several parallel processes within and between groups, cities, communities. Are they all caused by the same dynamics? Is it possible to develop one theoretical framework that covers this myriad of processes?

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References:

• Dorleijn, M, J. Nortier, L. Boumans, L. Cornips, A. El Aissati (2005): ‘Turks en Marokkaans Nederlands’ in N. vd Sijs: Wereldnederlands, SDU.

• Labov, W. 1972: Sociolinguistic patterns. University of Pennsylvania Press.

• Preston, D.(1992) ‘Talking black and talking white. A study in variety imitation’. In: J. Hall, N. Doane & D. Ringler (eds.) Old English and New. NY: Garland, 327-355.

• Dirim, I. & Auer, P. (2004) Tükisch sprechen nicht nur die Türken- über die unschärfe Beziehung zwischen Sprache und Etnie in Deutschland. Berlijn: De Gruyter