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Miloud Taifi
The Berber lexicon today is affected by two major factors. First, there is the historically strong influence of Arabic; and second, there is irregulär individual neologism, in the sense that there exist many newly coined words or phrases that usually disobey the Berber linguistic norms and have not yet received general public acceptance. The desire to purify the language by eliminating the foreign loans and supplanting them by newly coined erratic terms may do more härm than good to the Berber lexicon.
The main cause of this wide-ranging borrowing is Moroccan Arabic/ Berber bilingualism, which characterizes the speech of Berberophones.
Moroccan Arabic is spoken or at least understood by most Berber Speakers across Central Morocco. Moroccan Arabic, however, is used by Berberophones out of necessity, especially in formal settings or when the Speakers are in contact with local authorities of public administration personnel This sociolinguistic Situation is due to the large linguistic and cultural impact of urban centres over rural areas, and to the fact that literacy is achieved through Arabic in schools. This kind of bilingualism has engendered a regression of Berber äs a language of communication, but it does not imply that Berber isfaced with imminent death.
