The State of Shelha in Benisnous

Abstract

The region of Benisnous has witnessed significant changes at the linguistic level throughout its history. The original inhabitants of the region spoke a Tamazight variety known as Shelha. However, this variety has approximately disappeared from the region as a result of the introduction of Arabic with Islamic, and the imposition of French during the colonial era. These historical stations affected the position of Shelha in its native land. This study aimed at identifying the state of Shelha in the region under investigation. The study was also meant to measure the attitudes of the native inhabitants towards their ancestral language. The results confirmed that Shelha is still alive in Benisnous. However, its existence is limited to some region, and it is only spoken by a marginal minority of old people. As far as attitudes are concerned, the informants are divided in that some of them showed positive attitudes while still others exposed negative attitudes.