The Perceptions of Dialects in Libya

This study focuses on the perceptions of dialects of 40 Libyan students living in different cities in Libya; it employs the Perceptual Dialectology method used by Preston (1999) and Montgomery (2007). A study of the perceptions of Libyan dialects would seek to investigate variations across the whole area, whereas studying the perceptions of regional dialects allows the informants and the researcher to concentrate on a limited area of which they are more aware. Data have been collected via a questionnaire which was designed to encompass a variety of aspects: dialect area names; placement lines; writing comments on the perceived dialect area; voice sample placement; and rating tasks. The participants’ answers are represented in tables, graphs and a composite maps model using overhead transparencies. The results show that the three big cities in Libya - Tripoli, Sebha and Benghazi - can be regarded as the dialect areas most frequently perceived by the participants. The results support the finding of Montgomery (2007) that the proximity factor plays an essential role in dialect perceptions. It is worth noting that the findings of this study are compared with other studies in different countries due to the limiting factor that there were no previous studies on this topic in Libya.