American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 23, December, 2023 189 | P a g e LANGUAGE POLICY AND THE BERBER ISSUE IN THE MAGREB COUNTRIES Kadyrova Mashkhura Mirzaakbarovna Lecturer at the Department of «Arabic Language and Literature al-Azhar» The International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan Annotation The article examines the features of language policy pursued in the countries of North Africa as well as problems of a national-ethnic nature. Despite being little studied, this topic is still the subject of research by orientalists and Arabists around the world. The article also discusses issues of language policy and the problems of bilingualism and multilingualism in this region. Keywords: language conflicts, Arabization, dialects, Frenchization, billingism, language policy, Berber question. Introduction In the modern world, one of the phenomena that evolves along with human development is language. As far as we know, language, the main exponent of the identity of a culture, is also the main mediator in the intercultural communication process. The relationship between language and people is a complex and multifaceted issue. However, their close relationship is obvious. It has long been known that human society develops under conditions of linguistic communication. The linguistic situation in the modern world is such that, in the context of globalization, a person finds himself surrounded by several cultures. The reason for this is often mass emigration, business trips, tourist trips, etc. Knowledge of the language, as well as the spoken version of this language, are the main aspects of intercultural interaction—the relationship between the language of thinking and reality. According to Araslanova A.N., “language facilitates the exercise of power by transmitting certain values to the masses, thereby shaping reality. At the same time, the linguistic situation (in particular, the question of the status of the language) is becoming increasingly dependent on the political factor. Direct confirmation of this is contained in the well-known aphorism: “A language is a dialect that has an army and a navy.” [1:3] It should be noted that what was said above is completely true in relation to the countries of the Maghreb, where the originality of Arabic-language material is associated with the fact of symbiosis within a single cultural-linguistic area of two types of communication systems: literary (book-written) and oral. colloquial (dialect). The latter, in our time, ceases to be exclusively oral. Language policy is often identified with state policy in the fields of language and education— a set of principles, practices, and institutions for solving language problems in the state or American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 23, December, 2023 190 | P a g e society. In modern times, languages were destined to play a key role in the formation of nation-states and the identity of their populations. At the same time, some languages acquired the status of official, supported by the entire power of the state, while others found themselves in the position of subordinates, often suppressed, to the point that some were generally denied the right to be called independent languages; they moved into the category of dialects, dialects, and adverbs. [8:8] The countries of the Maghreb are no exception, which, as we know, have long been under the influence of French-speaking colonialists. This reform is known as the wave of “Arabization,” which affected almost all spheres of social life. The task of Arabization was the introduction of AAL into all spheres, which was interrupted by the invasion of Western culture and languages, as a result of which the natural historical course of its development was interrupted, which led to its conservation and lag. [6:176] However, fulfilling this task turned out to be much more difficult since the multinational composition of the countries in North Africa is slowly amenable to the assimilation of the Arabization process. Following the country's independence from European colonial powers, government policies were introduced to homogenize languages. The end result of this was that all Maghreb countries began to use Arabic instead. It can be said that Arabization campaigns are most widespread in Algeria compared to any other country in the Maghreb. Repeating the situation presented in Libya, some Berber languages are suppressed—in the army, for example, the use of the Kabyle language is prohibited. The homogenization policy also meant that some Berber words and names were changed from their original spelling and pronunciation to more closely resemble the Arabic phonetic equivalent. [9:8,9]. The complex national-linguistic situation in Arab countries is also characterized by the fact that the Arabic language (in its literary and dialect forms) is in constant interaction with numerous native languages of various (non-Arab) ethnic groups. The spread of Arabic among these population groups occurs slowly, as a result of gradual assimilation (for example, Nubians in Egypt) or through their use of Arabic (along with their native language), i.e., as a result of the spread of bilingualism. Forced Arabization, which was used in some countries (for example, against the Berbers in Morocco), did not and could not have yielded positive results. [7 :8] However, despite the fact that the official language in Arab countries is Arabic, it is still worth recognizing the fact that the consequences of the language policy pursued by the colonialists still retain their positions in all spheres of socio-political and economic life. During the era of colonization, the French government pursued a language policy taking into account the specifics of Arab-Muslim society and the importance of the Arabic language for it. Moreover, this policy had a two-fold character: on the one hand, it was aimed at making Arabic language education available in all French schools in the Maghreb countries and in some lyceums in large cities in France; on the other hand, in the interests of the metropolis, French was introduced as the official language in the three colonized countries of the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia). Algeria experienced the greatest American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 23, December, 2023 191 | P a g e "Frenchification," where French was used as a language of communication in all spheres of life. [5:3,4] Knowledge of the French language is still considered prestigious, especially in the field of education (technical and natural sciences). Many newspapers and magazines are published in French, and the fact remains unchanged that many writers from Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and other countries in the region write their works exclusively in French. The next, no less important, problem in the national-ethnic and linguistic sphere is the Berber question, which still remains unresolved due to its specific language, identity, and desire for independence. The Berbers are the autochthonous inhabitants of a region stretching from Libya to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the bend of the Niger River and are a family of related ethnic groups. This term is of Greco-Roman origin, from the word barbarus (Russian barbarians). The Berbers themselves call themselves Amazigh (Amazigh, Amazih, “free people”). Berbers are said to speak many different dialects, which are considered by most modern linguists to be independent languages. In political contexts, however, Berber is considered a single language (which also corresponds to the French tradition), also called the linguonym Tamazigh (x)t (tamazit, tamazight), derived from the self-name of the Berbers. The peculiarity of the situation is that inclusions with compactly living Berber elements exist throughout the Maghreb and are not connected to each other territorially. Many authors in the region and in Europe emphasize Berber identity. What stands out is their heightened sense of self-esteem, commitment to their traditions, and intransigence to foreign oppression throughout their history, from their appearance here in the 7th century. BC, e.g., the Phoenicians, right up to the Arab conquests in the Middle Ages and the attempts of Europeans to assert their control in the 19th and 20th centuries. [2:43]. With the creation of a monolingual (Arabic) school, Tamazigh was, in general, threatened with the prospect of extinction. However, to the general surprise of his opponents, this did not happen. The younger generation of Berbers at the end of the twentieth century began to demand Tamazigh. He got his own poets and singers, which largely predetermined his rapid success. Tamazight is a non-archaeological relic, as its opponents try to present it. This is a living language. Yes, it is far from perfect by existing standards due to the fact that it was banned for a long time, but the Berber language has every right to exist. After the conquest of the north of the African continent by the Arabs, the assimilation of the Berbers began, along with the spread of Islam among them, the imposition of the Arabic language, writing, and culture, and the falsification of Berber history. This process was quite long. In particular, in 1830, about half of the population of modern Algeria continued to speak the Berber language. Perhaps only the Tuaregs managed to resist Arab penetration. This was largely because they took refuge in remote areas that were inaccessible to the conquerors. Nowadays, the “berber problem” is, to one degree or another, characteristic of all countries in the region without exception. (M.S. Sergeev, 5 Berbers of North Africa)Thus, the Maghreb countries are faced with a difficult task: the introduction and dissemination of ALA in all spheres of public life, which is not so easy given the social situation of the Arab American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 23, December, 2023 192 | P a g e population (illiteracy, lack of education, as well as isolation in its structure). The next problem remains the dominance of the French language, which still retains its position, especially among young people and the intelligentsia. The Berber factor also remains unresolved, although in many Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco, etc.), the Berber language was declared the second state language.French and Arabic (both classical and modern) languages compete for the status of the lingua franca in the region and also compete in the fields of education, government, economics, and the media. The French language, in fact, was never completely excluded from use due to the fact that the adoption of classical Arabic as the state language led to the emergence of numerous problems associated, on the one hand, with the Arabic language itself and, on the other hand, with ethnic and political conflicts in the choice between the classical Arabic language, its dialects, and the Berber languages. Firstly, classical Arabic, the language of the Koran and writing, in a given region is often as far from being used by the population, especially rural ones, as any other foreign language. Despite the policy of compulsory schooling in all three Maghreb states, illiteracy is still widespread. [9:4]Conclusions. Thus, all of the above confirms the fact that the linguistic picture of the Maghreb countries, with their distinctive multilingual system as well as their multi-ethnic situation, is a very complex and little- studied phenomenon. The interaction of the Arabic language with the languages of the local population, as well as with the languages of the colonialists, had a significant impact on the linguistic situation in these countries. It should also be recognized that ALA is being replaced by Western European languages due to the prestige of foreign languages. A similar example is the French-language literature of the Maghreb countries, where the use of French is halfway to a stable position. REFERENCES 1. Araslanova A.N. Arabic vernacular language in the cultural policy of the Maghreb countries in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries. 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