May 8 th 2006: Presentation in Haifa Jacomine Nortier [email protected].
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Transcript of May 8 th 2006: Presentation in Haifa Jacomine Nortier [email protected].
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!