Dialects

So, about dialects.
Dialects are a thing of evil, created specifically to cause weeping and gnashing of teeth in the hearts of all Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco. Well, not quite. I actually think it’s cool how language changes and evolves when distance, mountains or whathaveyou separate people from each other. Be that as it may, the language that people speak in my site is quite different from the language that I have been spending the last 2 months trying to learn. Hence my initial frustration.
However, I have since realized that it’s not as different as I originally thought. Also, there are good things about the dialects, too. They’re beautiful. Just listen to anyone from Glasgow or the Deep South speak English. It’s beautiful. I suppose once I speak these well enough I might find a deeper appreciation for the beauty of the dialects in Tamazight as well.
The thing with language in Morocco is its fluidity. It’s REALLY different from place to place. Moroccan Arabic is pretty consistent throughout, but that in and of itself is a dialect of Arabic. Classical Arabic is also spoken in certain situations. French is also widely spoken. And then there are the Berber languages/dialects. They are called dilects, but are (as far as I can tell) completely different from each other. People speaking one cannot communicate to people speaking in another. Instead they resort to Moroccan Arabic (Darija). The dialects are three: Tashelhit, Tamazight, and Tarafit. Within each of those there are MANY dialects. Further, some who technically speak Tam claim to speak Tash. So, it’s all rather confusing.
Interestingly, these dialects survived quite a few years in Morocco even when they were technically illegal to speak. The Arabs had control of the country, and made it a law that everyone should speak Arabic. They were trying to get the Berber out of the Berbers, for many reasons, some religious in nature, while others were more for reasons of political control. However, Berber survived in the remote mountains. Certain aspects have mostly disappeared, though. Their number system is all but gone, and the written script has been largely forgotten. This is changing though, as "Berber Pride" has become more and more popular. They use the last symbol of the Berber alphabet as their symbol. And all Berber children now have a least some exposure to Tifinagh, the script, in school. This is one of the many things that have changed in recent years in Morocco. I am really glad to find that people are embracing their old culture… it’s encouraging! In an era of globalization, you have to be really intentional about preserving cultural heritage, or it just fades away.
So, really, I am happy that I have to learn an obscure, difficult dialect of a language spoken by very few people… it’s just that right now I the lazy part of me wishes it were a little bit easier. J