Genealogical Koineisation in Oran Dialectal Arabic : A Case Study

Human mobility is an old-age world phenomenon involving individuals who move within or out of some geographical bordered space. Internal migration illustrates the former case which has been well experienced by Algerian cities, notably Oran. After the country's independence from France in 1962, a massive number of Europeans evacuated Oran, paving the way to void-filling by newcomers from diverse Algerian, particularly western, regions. Contact between the arrivals and the indigenous inhabitants has resulted in contact between their different dialects; and, koineisation, whereby a new dialect (or koine) emerges, has occurred. The current research has been undertaken on the basis of Ibn Khaldoun's genealogical typology (14th century) to explain dialectal Arabic koineisation in Oran. Whether bedouin or sedentary, the transplanted dialects in contact have contributed in the alteration of the originally bedouin composition of the local dialect, specifically among young university population. This work is an investigation into the current affiliation of Oran dialectal Arabic under the conflictual intersection between bedouinisation and sedentarisation.