May 8th 2006: Presentation in Haifa

Jacomine Nortier

j.nortier@let.uu.nl

Topics in this paper

• The Netherlands – demography

• Ethnicity

• Language

• Moroccan accent

The Netherlands

• North-South: 300 km

• East-West: 150 km

• 16 million inhabitants

• Capital: Amsterdam, almost 1 million

• (Rotterdam: 600,000; Den Haag 400,000)

• Utrecht: 275,000

Amsterdam and Utrecht:

Netherlands:

1.7 million non-Western

320,000 Moroccan (= 2%)

365,000 Turkish (= 2.28%)

330,000 Surinamese (=2.06%)

130,000 Antillean

392,000 Indonesian

Utrecht:24,000 Moroccan

(= 8.7%)

12,500 Turkish (= 4.5%)

9,500 Surinamese

(= 3.45%)

Reason for migration:

• Surinamese, Antillean, Indonesian: post-colonial. Antillean: most recent.

• Turks, Moroccans: came as guest workers in the sixties, chain migration

Important recent history:

• May 6th 2002: Pim Fortuyn killed: he was the voice of the white Dutch ‘anti-immigrants-movement’. Became a hero after his death. 2 weeks later: elections.

• Nov 2nd, 2004: Theo van Gogh killed by Moroccan muslim fundamentalist Mohammed B. Discussion about ‘freedom of speech’.

• Mohammed B: member of ‘Hofstadgroep’: Moroccan fundamentalists who planned assaults.

• At the same time: problems with Moroccans, mainly teenage boys.

• Consequences for society: strong polarisation; immigrant = muslim = dangerous. Particularly Moroccans.

What is ethnicity?What is the relation with

language?

Two perspectives:1. Joshua Fishman (1977): ‘Language and

Ethnicity’2. Robert LePage & Andrée Tabouret-Keller

(1982): ‘Models and Stereotypes of Ethnicity and of Language’

Fishman:

Paternity:

• Inherited

• Looks

• Blood

• Genetic

• Cannot be changed;

Patrimony:

• Culture

• Can change

• Negotiable

• Collective heritage

• It is possible to fail

• Ethnicity only exists when group members attach value to Paternity and Patrimony: Phenomenology

• Image of ethnicity is part of ethnicity itself

• So now we know the difference between ethnic and cultural minorities!

Role of language:

• Language has a symbolic function (activates the whole).

• If a group has thier own language, it is their most outstanding symbol of ethnicity.

• Language is needed for any form of ethnic activity.

• Mutual understandability: less important than symbolic function.

LePage & Tabouret-Keller:

A group can distinguish itself from other groups in

different (sometimes overlapping) ways:• a sense of place • a sense of family relationship • a sense of fysical similarities • a sense of common cause • a sense of common religious faith/ other

traditional belief

Example: Caribian, very dynamic:

• Slaves with roots in the same (African) village, relatives

• Blurring boundaries re. roots • Sense of togetherness with other islanders• Jamaicans (e.g.) are not necessary descendants of

slaves • UK: earlier separate island identities • Anno now: shared Afrocaribian identity and

language; felt to be common in spite of differences.

Jump to the Netherlands

Changing boundaries?

• 18 year old Afghani: “I feel insulted when they say nasty things about Moroccans: I am a foreigner, too!”

• 19 year old Turkish girl: “Sometimes I feel more ‘allochtoon’ than Turkish”

• Socio/political developments: group ‘allochtones’ is diverse but feels solidarity

Moroccans and Turks

• 1st generation: characteristics of their L1 in pronunciation of Dutch

• 2nd generation: learned Dutch in NL; less problems with Dutch.

Accent that every Dutch person recognizes:

Some characteristics of ‘Moroccan’ Dutch:

[g], [z], Ø schwa (2nd generation). [gezellig] (cosy) pronounced as [GZellig]

• This accent can be exaggarated (by Moroccans) but it is also observed among Turkish teenagers.

In what circumstances and with whom?

• ‘Tough’ behaviour

• Ali B towards his audience

• When a foreign accent is needed (Movie: Schnitzelparadijs)

• Informal contacts

Explanations:

• Act of identity

• Strong covert prestige

• Moroccans serve as examples for other allochtonous groups; fragment from a conversation:

M = Moroccan; D = Dutch; A = Afghani; T = Turkish

M: It is well-known that Moroccan have a -uhm kind of

funny accent

D: Is that because there are more Moroccans than Turks?

A: No

D: No? Maybe there are, in Utrecht?

T: No I think there are more Turks!

D: Do they make more noise? Or uh

T: Yes, Moroccans are more present

M: No but the accent is striking. ‘Ik gga naar šgool’, I

think hello! That is something very strong.

Moroccans and Moroccan: tough attractive :

• Moroccans are more visible in Dutch society; scapegoats, as in the

• Media

• Popular music: rappers.

• Turks: invisible. Oriented on own language and culture. Books, music, etc: Turkish.

Precautions• Individual observations; no large-scale study.• Not all allochtonous groups were studied. No

native Dutch.• ‘Randstad’: Utrecht and Amsterdam; even

between U and A much difference. • West-Netherlands: [g] • Major cities: more than 50% of school population

is ‘allochtonous’• Only teenagers in mixed schools.

The end

• Thank you for your attention!