Capital Algiers

Capital: Algiers Population: 32,3 million (is 2004) official Language: classical Arabic Groups majority: varieties of Arabic (83,2 %) but particularly the Algerian Arab (60 %) Minority groups: Berber languages (27,4 %), classical Arabic and French, hausa, Tzigane and tadaksahak colonial Language: political French System: unit republic constitutional Articles (language): preamble and art. 3 of the Constitution of 1996 linguistic Laws: the ordinances No 66-154 and No 66-155 of June 8, 1966 on justice; the ordinance of April 26, 1968 on the obligatory knowledge of Arabic for the civils servant; the circular of the ministry for the Interior of July 1976 on posting; the law No 91-05 of bearing 16 January 1991 generalization of the use of the Arab language; the ordinance No 96-30 of December 21, 1996

Algeria (officially democratic and popular Algerian Republic) is a State of the Maghreb bordered in north by the Mediterranean, the east by Tunisia and Libya, in south-east by Niger, south-west by Mali and Mauritania, in the west by Morocco and the Western Sahara (see the detailed chart). On the African continent, Algeria is the second country by its surface (2,3 million km²), whose four fifths are occupied by the Sahara. The name of Arabic Algeria is ir Al-Djazâ', i.e. "islands" by allusion to the some small islands that Barberousse (Turkish corsair which founded Algiers) attached to the town of Algiers in 1517. The French name of Algeria was given in 1839 per Antoine Scheider, Minister for the War, with the "country occupied by the French in the north of Africa".

Algeria is divided into 48 Wilayates (departments or provinces): Adrar, Ain Defla, Ain Temouchent, Algiers, Annaba, Batna, Bechar, Bejaia, Biskra, Blida, Bordj Bou Arreridj, Bouira, Boumerdes, Chlef, Constantine, Djelfa, El Bayadh, El Oued, El Tarf, Ghardaia, Guelma, Illizi, Jijel, Khenchela, Laghouat, Mascara, Medea, Mila, Mostaganem, Me Sila, Naama, Oran, Ouargla, Oum el Bouaghi, Relizane, Saida, Setif, Beautiful Sidi Abbots, Skikda, Ahras Souk, Tamanghasset, Tebessa, Tiaret, Tindouf, Tipaza, Tissemsilt, Tizi Ouzou and Tlemcen. These provinces are divided into 160 sub-prefectures and 1540 communes.

2 demolinguistic Data the population of Algeria is composed of two important ethnic groups: the Berber ones and Arabs. The majority of the Algerians go down from these two ethnos groups. The Islam (sunnite), practised by nearly 99 % of the population, unifies the Algerian people; the others are catholics of French extraction or Jews. It is however difficult to determine the exact distribution of the Arabs and with Berber, so much their population was mixed during the history. Historically, the Berber ones (called Arabic qabaïl) form oldest of the communities of North Africa and several features of their civilization are in continuity with those of the prehistoric cultures. They occupied all the coast of North Africa, between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean. It is only at the time of the Arab conquest in VIIe century that the Arabs took seat at the side of Berber plains. It is known that practically all the Berber ones were Islamized, but those living the mountains were never arabisés.

2.1 Arabic-speaking people:

Today, the majority of the Algerians are Arabic-speaking people in a proportion of 72 %. Among the Arabic-speaking people, it is the Algerian Arab who dominate clearly with 60 % of the total population and 83,2 % of the Arabic-speaking people. The other Arabic-speaking people speak the hassaniyya (11,3 %), Moroccan Arabic (0,4 %), Arabic of the Sahara (0,1 %), the Egyptian Arabic, even Iraqi Arabic. All the varieties of Arabic belong to the Semitic group of the Hamito-Semitic family. But all the Arabic-speaking people of Algeria speak Algerian Arab to communicate between them. In other words, with the oral examination, it is the Algerian Arab who is used as common language, but with the writing, it is the classical Arabic. The dialectical Arabic, also called wattani ("Arabic of the Algerian nation"), which one speaks in Algeria is particular. In his current form, this Algerian Arab reflects the various stages which it lived during his history. From the lexical point of view, one notes the presence of Berber words such as aïreuj ("strainer"), aghhtal ("snail"), asselwan ("soot"), khemmal ("to clean"), etc, and a great number of other words drawn from the vocabulary of agriculture, the breeding and toponymy. Words like tebsi ("plate"), ma' adnous ("parsley"), braniya ("aubergine"), boukraj ("kettle"), etc, testify to the influence of Turkish in the Algerian Arab. Before the arrival of the French, Spanish words entered the language, for example, fitchta ("festival"), sberdina ("espadrille"), bodjado ("lawyer"), kanasta ("basket"), essekouila ("primary school"), etc.

The famous humorist and Algerian actor, Mohamed Fellag, thus described its language: "Algerian of the street is a trilingual language, a mixture of French, Arabic and kabyle." In a maintenance, it also declared: But the Algerian Arab in general is not very snuffed by the capacity. He is often qualified like "nonsense" unable to convey a "higher culture". In 1993, the critic Egyptian Taha Husain would have written in connection with the Algerian Arab: "the dialectal one does not deserve to be called language and is not appropriate for the objectives of the intellectual life." In general, the Algerian Arabs do not have any problem to communicate with Arabs of Morocco, Tunisia or Libya, but it is more difficult for them to communicate with the Arabic-speaking people of more distant countries in the Middle East such as Syria, Iraq or Jordan.