The Use Of English In Maghrebi Songs: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Some Lyrics

Résumé: The present dissertation is intended to investigate the presence of English in the Maghrebi Linguistic Landscape by focusing on songs comprising words in English, originated particularly from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Having two main objectives, the study aims first, to explore the frequency of English use in Maghrebi countries and its impact on the musical environment in there, and, second, to look at the main reasons inciting the Maghrebi singers to use this language in their song lyrics. For this purpose, a number of Maghrebi songs involving English were gathered to serve as a corpus for the study. Relying on Fairclough‟s Critical Discourse Analysis Approach, the analysis of the song lyrics was divided into two main categories: at the level of vocabulary and at the level of grammar. The research is qualitative in nature; therefore, the results are interpreted through a Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) as an attempt to try to understand the ideologies and other incentives leading the singers to use English in their songs. The results of the present study show that despite the Maghrebi‟s acceptance of the infiltration of English in their sonorous Linguistic Landscape, its influence in such environment remains marginal. Besides, Maghrebi singers take advantage of English as a global language and use it to call for change both at the local and international levels, and to make the messages related to their personal experiences heard. Finally, recommendations are provided for future intending to investigate the field of Linguistic Landscape

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