“This is Tunisia, Speak Arabic:”: Multi lingual Ideology and Identities in Tunisia

In multilingual societies, it is common for the individual languages used to have specific and contrasting associations, classically with power versus solidarity. Drawing on ethnographic projects over many years, this article portrays a more complicated language ideology in Tunisia. Depending on context, both French and Arabic can be languages of power and solidarity. Gender and class play important contextual roles, with men’s French being popularly held to be distinctly different from women’s French. The shifting associations with Arabic and French follow a recursive pattern, always depending on a relative comparison. Residents of Tunis may categorize themselves and their language use one way in contrast to Europe, but in a completely other way in contrast to rural Tunisia, or North Africa as a whole. Both Arabic and French can feel institutional and oppressive or comfortable and friendly, depending on who is speaking, how they are speaking, and where.