리비아의 사회언어학적 환경과 언어 정책

Abstract

Located between the Maghreb(the west) countries and the Mashriq(the east) countries in the Arab world and bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, Libya has been a crossroads where most of the civilizations of the Mediterranean world met and fused together. Because of the geographical location, Libya has been a target for conquest by Phoenicia, Rome, Greek, Arab-Islam, Ottoman Turk and more recently European imperial countries. These complicated historic experiences have much influenced the cultural identity of Libya including the linguistic situation. In this study, I will discuss the sociolinguistic situation in Libya specifically from the independence of Libya in 1951 to the ‘Arab Spring’ in 2011. I have taken much interest in the variety of the languages and its status as it relates to the future of Libya. In Libya, the Arab Spring in 2011 was a revolt against and ousting of the Gaddafi regime and led to a revolutionary change. The Arab spring has changed all situations in Libya including the language. The Gaddafi regime had carried out a language policy to realize Gaddafi’s revolutionary ideas since 1969 and his will acted as an important variable in deciding Libya’s language policy. So, I will try to evaluate the merits and demerits of the language policy. In Libya after the Arab Spring, the Berber language (Tamazight) that can be considered as the language of substratum of North Africa has had a historical opportunity to be recognized as an official language and English also has increased its influence. It means that the new democratic trend since the Arab Spring is providing an opportunity for the Berber language to be acknowledged as an official language along with Arabic. It is also expected to provide educational rights to the Berber population and will give practical support for the Berber language. Therefore, I will research the language policy of the new regime (National Transitional Council) and the hybridity of the Arabic and Berber languages and English in Libya. Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate the overall language situation and to analyze its background by examining the relationship among the language variety in Libya.