Between Arabic and French Entre l'àrab i el francès Entre el árabe y el francés

The language situation in Morocco is an ongoing process jointly influenced by historical, sociocultural, and educational dynamics. The local ethnocultural fabric, the colonial legacy, and language policy are all interrelated elements that have shaped the multilingual landscape and continue to inform the linguistic performance of Moroccan Arabic. The aim of the current study is to offer a theoretical review with linguistic examples to contextualize these forces in line with the development of Moroccan Arabic (i.e., Darija) and its frequent alternation to French. As such, the study revisits language contact between Arabic and French in this Arabic colloquial variety, examining sites of equivalence and constraints at the overt and covert levels, and unpacking the underlying language ideologies at work. Adopting this approach is critical not only for understanding the linguistic applications of language shift, but also for discerning linguistic choices considering societal attitudes in post-independence Morocco and the sociopolitical implications they bear on language policy.