The Relationship of Gender and Sociolinguistic Identity in the Jbala Region in Morocco: From Narration and Pronunciation to Language Representation and Cultural Revival Representation and Cultural Revival

This study explores the types of narrative, rhetorical and linguistic techniques that the Moroccan speaker adopts in the Jbala region to introduce himself and express his immediate concerns, as well as the oral tradition, both spoken and unspoken, inherited from his ancestors over time. These techniques, along with the used linguistic, verbal, textual and cultural structures, indicate that all these forms express a particular reality and narrate a hidden story or historical event. In this context, these forms combine to produce some of the most important texts and speeches on identity in oral tradition, whether literary, linguistic or rhetorical. In this way, they demonstrate the relationship between genders and reinforce their value in the daily practices and duties that characterize Arab reality in times of ideological conflicts, cultural interactions, globalization and modernity.
This paper will attempt to examine the debate on this type of narrative, literary and rhetorical forms and the difficulty of classifying them as text or discourse. Thorough research on local heritage that merges the methods of applied linguistics and textual and narrative analysis will be conducted to clarify that these types of linguistic, textual and rhetorical structures, such as the traditional “’a‘yyû' - أعيوع”, are speeches, which are simultaneously real narratives that summarize the social and economic influences on the life of the individual and the group in the Jbala region in Morocco, especially the female component of it.
Given the complexity of this multifaceted socio-historical, cultural and sociolinguistic context, this research allows us to ask the following questions:
Through the study of the historical presence of the woman in her geographical space, would it be possible to show the real role of the latter in the management of her environment, in particular the management of daily life in her home and in her rural space dominated by the importance of agricultural activity on all levels of the family and social group? Isn’t the story of al-Sayyida al-Hurra there to reveal the opposite, i.e., to say that women in the Jbâla region are capable of thinking freely, of playing politics and of governing men in a space dominated by the male junta?
The study of lexies, forms and formulas, often rhythmic, in use in Jbâla space, reveals a certain overlap and a certain complementarity between the linguistic, the poetic and the rhythmic; does the use of rhythm and rhyme increase the weight and degree of the beauty of the linguistic productions of the Jbâlas which, beyond their meaning and significance, fall within the realm of the particular, the singular and the exotic, and above all, reflect the value of the attachment to space through the expression of the sensitive that has remained hidden?
Through songs, poetry, clothing, language, etc., which also form a legacy and a considerable heritage, though ignored by centralized policies, does the Jebli speaker, man or woman, address himself only to his small community or rather to a large community including all Arabs and Arabic speakers? The mother tongue he uses is a language he understands, but does it make it understood by others?
The responsibilities and burdens assumed by women in the Jbâla area are equivalent to those of men, sometimes exceeding them; does that mean that women are more involved in society than men? Do they take care of work that they cannot bear or that is not of their concern (livestock, fodder, harvest, fetching water, plowing fields, etc.)?
In line with the rapid development known to Moroccan society in all its forms, which is reflected in individual and collective behaviors and practices in society, this study will attempt, firstly, to highlight the important role that mountain women have played throughout history in preserving the linguistic and cultural identity of their society and passing it on to their children through generations. Secondly, this article will explain the how and the quality of mountain women’s presence in their environment by showing the kind of burdens they bear in order to ensure the survival of their natural and social environment, especially since mountain women play a leading role in preserving traditions and culture through their participation in the maintenance of oral cultural heritage. Thirdly, this study, by simplifying and analyzing linguistic structures and their distinguishing characteristics such as inclination, diminutiveness of nouns, adjectives, and kinematic pairing, and the presence of built-in spoken syllables such as (dj), will confirm that linguistic features make it easier for the student and receiver to distinguish between the mountain language and the rest of the local and regional languages that characterize the Moroccan sociolinguistic space.