Lhou Elbourkhissi / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
12 No.
Online version available in : http://arbitrer.
JURNAL ARBITRER
| 2339-1162 (Prin.
| 2550-1011 (Onlin.
| Article Language Policy and the Pursuit of a New Linguistic Identity in Morocco: A Critical Analysis of Pro-English Discourse on Twitter Lhou Elbourkhissi1.
Khalid Houssaini2 Department of English Studies.
Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences Dhar El Mahraz.
Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University.
Fes.
Morocco National School of Commerce and Management (ENCGF).
Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University.
Fes.
Morocco
Submission Track
A B S T R A C T
Received: May 17, 2025 Final Revision: September 19, 2025 Accepted: September 21, 2025 Available Online: September 28, 2025 MoroccoAos sociolinguistic landscape has been shaped by enduring historical, political, and ideological forces that continue to structure public discourse on language policy.
Moroccan language policy has fluctuated between the unassailable dominance of French in economic, educational and political domains and Arabisation initiatives to reinstate Arabic as the language of national identity.
Recently, online campaigns, particularly on social media platforms like Twitter, called for the displacement of French in favour of English as the primary foreign language in the country.
Drawing on a corpus of tweets posted between 1 September 2021 and March 2023, this paper uses corpus-assisted discourse studies to examine language ideologies articulated in Arabic.
English.
French, and Tamazight Findings reveal that English, on one hand, is framed as a language of global opportunity, related to scientific advancement, professional mobility, and cultural modernity.
On the other hand.
French is portrayed as a colonial remnant, indicative of restricted economic horizons and historical inequality.
Concurrently.
Arabic and Tamazight emerge in the data not only as symbols of national identity but also as ideological anchors, invoked by some users to advocate for linguistic sovereignty.
However, these official languages remain discursively marginal concerning science, technology, and international communication.
This paper sheds light on the digital negotiation of MoroccoAos linguistic future, where public discourse blurs the boundaries between language policy, colonial past, economic aspirations, and globalisation.
By tracing these discursive struggles, this study adds substantially to the understanding of the evolving role of social media in shaping language planning and language ideologies.
Keywords Language policy, anglophonism, social media, linguistic identity, language ideologies, hashtags Correspondence *E-mail: elbourkhissi.
lhou@usmba.
INTRODUCTION
further reinforced its worldwide ubiquity (Thynh The common use of English has gained notable et al.
, 2.
prominence recently, mirroring its global status as a Language policy in Morocco is influenced crucial instrument for international communication by socio-political and economic factors, notably in commerce, research, and technology.
Long shaped by its colonial past, which made French theorised as a powerful Aolanguage of wider the dominant language (Boutieri, 2016.
Ennaji, communicationAo (Edwards, 1.
English gained 2.
The neoliberal economic policies and official language status in various regions, making globalisation have, nevertheless, triggered a steady it an ever more compelling choice for learners change by increasing the belief that the mastery The widespread use of the Internet has of English is required to integrate into the global DOI: https://doi.
org/10.
25077/ar.
Under License of Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.
0 International.
Lhou Elbourkhissi / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
12 No.
market (Commission Spyciale sur le Modyle de MoroccoAos 2021 New Development Model further Dyveloppement [CSMD], 2021.
Duchyne & Heller, expedited this change by placing a clear priority on digitalisation, human capital development, and Emerging conditions and the evolving integration into global value chains (Commission breakthroughs Spyciale sur le Modyle de Dyveloppement progressively influence these macro-level language [CSMD], 2.
Within a neoliberal frame that Due to these conditions.
Internet usage has commodifies linguistic skills.
English fluency is markedly increased in Morocco, further influencing regarded as a need for entering competitive global linguistic practices.
In 2023, approximately 21 markets (Duchyne & Heller, 2012.
Elkhayma & million individuals, 56.
6% of the population.
Ezzaidi, 2024.
Laaguid, 2.
utilised social media, while an estimated 88.
of the population had Internet access.
This increased young exposure to multilingual content and English in particular.
(DataReportal, 2023.
High Commission for Planning [HCP], 2014.
World Bank, 2015.
United Nations, 2.
Digital media have emerged as important platforms for language learning (Hikmah, 2019.
Khazhgaliyeva et al.
, 2023.
Wang et al.
, 2.
, social networking (Onwuchekwa, 2.
, and the diffusion of linguistic trends across various demographics (DiMaggio et al.
, 2001.
Kim, 2011.
Morris & Ogan, 1.
, reinforcing and accelerating ongoing shifts in MoroccoAos linguistic landscape (Bouziane & Saoudi, 2021.
Zakhir, 2.
Existing scholarship has highlighted that MoroccoAos evolving linguistic landscape, particularly the increased visibility of Moroccan Arabic, as a battlefield of language ideologies (Zakhir & OAoBrien, 2.
, in urban areas like Hamriya (Mekny.
, reflects shifting sociolinguistic hierarchies (Moustaoui, 2019.
Following MoroccoAos independence in 1956 (Laybi, 2.
, many advocates of Arabisation challenged the dominance of French (Zakhir & OAoBrien, 2.
However, modernists position French as the gateway to international communication (Vetchinova, 2.
In recent years.
MoroccoAos linguistic landscape has evolved to recognise the importance of its native languages while promoting multilingualism and cultural diversity (Ennaji, 2005.
Daniel & Ball, 2.
Since the late 1990s and early 2000s, economic liberalisation, including structural adjustments .
romoted by institutions like the World Bank and IMF) and deeper market integration, has further elevated the perceived necessity of English for trade, investment, and tourism, and has legitimised its profile as a lingua franca for international business communication (Boutieri, 2016.
Ennaji, 2.
More recently, the debate has shifted towards advocating for English.
From September 2021 to March 2023.
A social media-driven movement has emerged to challenge the legitimacy of French and promote English as a preferable alternative microblogging sites into sites of language planning Aufrom belowAy.
This surge in Audigital activismAy (Fuentes, 2.
is linked to rising Morocco-France political tensions (Atalayar, 2023.
Ghoulidi, 2024.
McKenna, 2.
and to ministerial initiatives to introduce English at the middle-school level (Billings, 2023.
Dahbi, 2.
In these debates, advocacy for English frequently questions the inherited hierarchy that privileges French.
Linked to this framing is a narrative of FrenchAos declining symbolic capital, particularly in higher education.
Dissatisfaction with Frenchmedium instruction has grown, driven by the sense that French is insufficient for the Anglophone knowledge economy and that it narrows international visibility for students and scholars (Loutfi & Noamane, 2.
As Morocco attempts to internationalise its universities and connect with global economic shifts that favour English, the historically attached capital to French has started to decline.
These dynamics have contributed to the emergence of new bottom-up shifts in language policy (LP), wherein individual actors, educational institutions, and civil society mobilise discursively and practically in favour of English.
True to form, issues of language policy and planning arise both locally (Liddicoat & Jr.
Wiley & Garcya, 2016.
Civico, 2.
and globally (Hanna, 2011.
Jr, 2012.
Chua, 2.
, as government institutions decide which languages can be used (Cardinal & Lyger, 2018.
Fishman.
Spolsky & Shohamy, 2008.
van Els, 2.
, taught (Spolsky, 2004.
Kaplan & Baldauf, 2.
, or promoted (Bertrand, 2003.
Ngcobo, 2009.
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Romaine, 2017.
Roy-Campbell, 2005.
Williams.
Whilst making these choices, language planners may empower some languages at the expense of others (Fishman, 1.
, consequently, affecting how languages are acquired, developed, and utilised in society.
valorising indigenous language and heritage, with subsequent proposals for an organic law to implement TamazightAos official character across education and priority public domains (Ennaji.
Errihani, 2023.
Kruse i, 2013.
Redouane & Sabiri, 2.
As the implementation lags.
Amazigh organisations continue to decry the slow pace and unevenness of institutionalisation (Bourhrous.
Ghilani, 2.
Scholars describe a pattern of fragmentation across ministries, weak regulatory enforcement, and regional disparities that keep ambitious provisions aspirational (Boukous, 2013.
Ennaji, 2.
In BamgboseAos .
terms, policy can appear as a Audo-nothingAy stance that rhetorically supports mother tongues while underdelivering on concrete measures.
Overall, language policy in Morocco is laden with paradoxes.
In essence, these policies often fail to establish cohesive, sustainable frameworks for equitable implementation across From the establishment of the French Protectorate in 1912 until MoroccoAos independence in 1956, the French language was imposed as the principal medium of administration and public life (Bahij, 2013.
Boulahnane, 2018.
Lawson.
Segalla, 2009.
Shahu, 2014.
Wyrtzen.
Even after independence, the French language retained a strong presence in economic, financial, and political spheres.
Boukous .
observes that Authe presence of the French language weighs heavily on the linguistic marketAy .
underscoring FranceAos enduring role as MoroccoAos leading economic partner and foreign investor.
The broader framework of Francophonie has often been criticised for privileging elite reproduction Against this background.
English was over mass education (Barclay, 2.
and for introduced in a noticeable way during World War constraining linguistic equity while reinforcing a II with Military presence (Conway, 2019.
Dworak, stratified social order (Blommaert, 1.
English is widely perceived Ae even among After gaining its independence.
Morocco French-educated elites- as the language of science, adopted a new language policy commonly known technology, business, and cyberspace (Sadiqi, as Arabisation (Ennaji, 1988, 2013.
Errihani, 1991, 2006.
Elbiad, 1.
In addition, the youth Loutfi, 2020.
Marley, 2004.
Moustaoui, increasingly rely on English for online research Strengholt, 2009.
Tomatyk, 2010.
Zakhir & and social media use (Putra & Nopember, 2.
OAoBrien, 2017.
Zouhir, 2.
Early works in this These perceptions go hand in hand with critical area noted that policymakers meant to preserve research that views the spread of English as a part the countryAos Arab-Islamic heritage by reinstating of enduring and historical structures of political the Arabic language in education (Ennaji, 2005.
and economic hegemony (Phillipson, 1.
, a Moatassime, 1.
, media (Zaid, 2.
, and perspective that is necessary to keep in analytical administration (Yacine, 2.
Despite its efforts to tension with accounts that emphasise agency, strengthen national identity and cultural cohesion aspiration, and strategic choice (Ennaji, 2005.
within the country, this policy drew criticism for Salomone & Salomone, 2022.
Belhiah, 2020.
implicitly marginalising Amazigh communities Belhiah et al.
, 2020.
Kachoub, 2.
(Crawford, 2002.
Spaulding, 2.
Observers note that the emphasis on Arabic risked overlooking MoroccoAos diverse historical and cultural references (Miller, 2.
, thereby undermining national unity rather than reinforcing it (Dines, 2021.
Elboubekri.
Lounnas & Messari, 2018.
Naguib, 2020.
Qasmi, 2.
The state also has invested in Amazigh recognition and standardisation.
The Royal Speech of Ajdir .
and the establishment of the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) marked a major symbolic and institutional shift toward These changes bear the possibility of English serving as MoroccoAos new primary gateway to the modern world.
However.
English remains largely absent from Moroccan television (Ennaji, 2005.
Concerning education.
MoroccoAos recent educational reforms have introduced a multilingual program known as Aulanguage alternationAy (LA), which promotes the use of French.
English, and Spanish as mediums of instruction for science subjects at the secondary level.
In spite of the ambition for plurilingualism, teachers highlight a policy gap in classrooms (Ben Hammou & Kesbi.
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Although there is a global demand.
English still does not enjoy its rightful status, reflecting broader tensions in MoroccoAos evolving linguistic landscape, particularly with FrenchAos deeply rooted To further explore these developments, this paper addresses the following research questions:
In what ways are English and French discursively represented within Twitter discourse related to language policy in Morocco? What discursive roles do MoroccoAos official languagesAiArabic and TamazightAiplay within the broader linguistic movement observed on Twitter? II.
METHODS
Study Design This study adopts a qualitative corpusassisted discourse studies (CADS) design (Baker.
Baker et al.
, 2008.
Partington et al.
, 2013.
Putri & Mardiah, 2.
to examine how language ideologies are articulated, contested, and reimagined in Moroccan social-media discourse, focusing on campaigns advocating English as a replacement for French as the primary foreign language.
Source of Data The data for this study were drawn primarily from social media posts.
Twitter served as a social media platform that reflects language ideologies circulating in MoroccoAos digital discourse.
The dataset consists of user-generated Twitter posts produced between 1 September 2021 and March 2023, a period of heightened online activism around language choice in Morocco, particularly for the adoption of English and the decline of French as MoroccoAos primary foreign language.
Data Collection We chose to study the discourse of Anglophonism advocates on Twitter for two main reasons.
First.
TwitterAos brevity-constrained format .
, later 280 character.
affords compact ideological positioning and rapid exchange (Rosen & Ikuhiro, 2.
second, its public/semi-public interaction facilitates observation across diverse Platform conventions like @-mentions and hashtags function as organisational devices and affiliative markers that assemble issue publics.
Zappavinga .
notes that hashtags function as linguistic markers that foster social affiliation, as if saying: AuSearch for me and affiliate with my value!Ay .
In this way.
Twitter users create microdiscourses around shared interests, ideologies, or language movements.
Prior research shows that TwitterAos relational patterns are shaped by offline spatial proximity and across social geographies (Quercia.
Capra, & Crowcroft, 2021.
Takhteyev.
Gruzd, & Wellman, 2.
We therefore frame the platform as polymedia - one choice within a communicative ecology - which guides our sampling and interpretation (Madianou & Miller.
Collection proceeded by tracking predefined hashtags/keywords associated with English advocacy and French decline in Morocco.
were deduplicated and anonymised.
We used Keyhole .
ttps://Keyhole.
to retrieve historical data and real-time snapshots, distinguishing original tweets from retweets to avoid amplification bias, and applying language and geolocation filters where available (Bruns & Stieglitz, 2013.
Graham et al.
We followed ethical norms for public-data research and platform terms (Boyd & Crawford.
Kwak et al.
, 2.
, while remaining attentive to retrieval biases .
, bots, algorithmic surfacin.
noted in the literature (Morstatter et al.
, 2.
Posts were taken into consideration if they .
were in Arabic.
English.
French, or Tamazight and .
had at least one of the relevant hashtags: #Oui_ pour_anglais_au_lieu_du_franyais_au_Maroc, _AIIA AEuEIEOO_E_EAIO_EIA#, #Yes_for_ English_instead_of_French_in_Morocco.
included originals and quote-posts and excluded retweets without added text.
As Zappavinga .
observes, hashtags are searchable features that increase a tweetAos Auloudness,Ay making online texts more AubondableAy through shared topics or Posts were labelled multilingual when at least two languages appeared within the same post, based on mixed scripts from a second for example: Au#Yes_for_English_ instead_of_French_in_Morocco AEI AN IA AAo[ uEIEOOAuniversities should adopt EnglishA.
Ay Ie EN AR.
The final linguistic corpus comprises 540 public tweets and retweets, with a total of over 10,000 words, posted on Twitter during the same Data Analysis In this present study, we adopt a corpus- Lhou Elbourkhissi / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
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based discourse studies approach (Baker, 2.
to analyse these tweets.
In corpus linguistics, researchers often begin with frequency analysis, assuming that words used or avoided with notable frequency may indicate particular functions within a community (McEnery & Hardie, 2.
However, meaning does not stem from isolated words alone, but rather from their repeated usage and broader textual patterns.
As Baker .
notes, analysing multiple texts .
r a large corpu.
allows discourse analysts to identify intertextual and contextual cues that shape meaning.
Although discourse theory underlies our research, the focus here lies predominantly on how corpus-linguistic methods and findings reveal key facets of language ideologies within the collected tweets.
Prior to analysis, tweets were minimally cleaned .
nd user mention.
while preserving hashtags verbatim.
in this corpus, users consistently preserve word boundaries in hashtags with underscores, which we retained during processing .
, #Yes_for_ English_instead_of_French_in_Morocc.
(Wei & Moyer, 2.
This method ensures that the linguistic data is systematically recorded while allowing for precise analysis.
Additionally, a translated version in English is provided alongside the transcription to ease interpretation and accessibility.
Tweets originally in French were retained in standard orthography, given adequate intelligibility for the study audience.
Following best practice, transcription was treated as an analytic, non-neutral act, and decisions were documented through reflexive memos and an audit trail (Roberts, 1.
RESULTS
Frequency and distribution of hashtags We operationalised CADS through a staged workflow: .
frequency profiling and keyword clouding .
ia Keyhol.
to surface high-salience lexical items (Rayson & Mariani, 2.
collocation and concordance Key Word in Context (KWIC) reading to trace recurrent patterns.
interpretive discourse analysis linking lexicogrammatical patterning to language-ideological stances (Baker, 2006.
Baker et al.
, 2008.
Partington et al.
, 2013.
McEnery & Hardie, 2.
While exploratory frequency outputs were obtained with Keyhole, the co-occurrence network was computed independently in Google Colab .
ttps:// com/) using Python, with NetworkX to build an undirected graph .
odes = keywords, sized by term frequency.
within-tweet co-occurrences, optionally weighted by pair count.
and to compute node positions via the spring_layout FruchtermanAeReingold forcedirected algorithm.
the figure was rendered and exported at publication quality with Matplotlib .
JPEG).
One of the most immediate findings to emerge from the data pertained to frequency.
The most frequently occurring lexical items are English.
French, language.
Francophonie.
Morocco, and official languages.
These items indicate that the dominant themes centre on language policy issues in Morocco.
This aligns with earlier studies on digital discourse, where frequently used lexical items reflect key thematic concerns in online activism (Baker, 2.
However, among the most frequently occurring terms, words like Auhttps,Ay Aucom,Ay Auw,Ay Auorg,Ay and AumaAy appear These terms are typically associated with URLs, suggesting a significant presence of external links in the tweets.
The findings reveal that the frequency of AucomAy and AumaAy .
indicates that over onethird of all tweets contain at least one website link.
This finding is consistent with previous research on digital activism and information-sharing behaviours, where external links are often used to confirm claims or provide further context (Bonilla & Rosa, 2.
Similarly, frequently occurring clusters such as Facebook .
YouTube .
, and TikTok .
highlight the role of other social media platforms in disseminating and popularising this linguistic movement, supporting findings by Zappavigna .
, who argued that social media affordances amplify collective discourses.
In this study.
IPA transcription was chosen to maintain consistency and uphold an academic approach throughout the paper.
Rather than presenting the original tweets in Arabic or Tamazight, which might introduce inconsistencies in script usage and formatting.
IPA transcription offers a standardised representation of the text The use of polling as a technique for interactive participation is a remarkable finding.
The term AupollingAy appeared twice, but was crucial in encouraging public involvement in Twitter In addition to allowing users to vote for the languages they preferred, these polls promoted conversations regarding linguistic ideology and Lhou Elbourkhissi / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
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Twitter polling serves as an engagement strategy that surfaces viewpoints and mobilises collective opinion (Zappavigna, 2.
This highlights the role social media as a discursive platform of active participation rather than passive consumption (Graham et al.
, 2.
The frequency analysis also revealed that tweets were written in a variety of languages, with Arabic and English being the most commonly used Not unexpectedly, these two languages were used to create the majority of these hashtags.
Nonetheless, a number of functional terms were present in both French and Tamazight, indicating that multilingualism influenced discourse.
Multilingual hashtags align with findings that multilingualism enhances the interpretability and reach of digital activism (Bruns & Stieglitz, 2.
In Tamazight, either in Tifinagh script or Romanised letters, words such as AuawalAy .
peech, .
AuBerberAy .
, and AuTifinaghAy .
In French, notable clusters included AulAoanglaisAy .
AuouiAy .
Auau lieuAy .
, and AunonAy .
The patterns indicate the movement drew linguistically diverse users and that multilingual practices coconstructed meaning in the discourse, consistent with work showing social-media language indexes cultural positioning and ideological stance (Boyd & Crawford, 2.
As we relied on using Keyhole and Google Colab for key clouds.
Figure 1 represents the most co-occurring words that emerged from the As shown in Figure 1, the co-occurrence network reveals the complex and ideologically charged discursive landscape of Moroccan Twitter concerning language and identity.
English emerges as the most frequent and centrally connected node, discursively associated with themes of modernity, education, science, and globalisation.
This centrality underscores EnglishAos symbolic function as a language of progress and international engagement, potentially aligned with grassroots calls for linguistic shift (Zouhir, 2.
In contrast.
French is clustered with terms like colonial.
Francisation, and imperialism, reflecting its contested status as a remnant of colonial hegemony and a target of postcolonial resistance (Youssi, 1.
Meanwhile.
TamazightAos co-occurrence with concepts such as culture, multilingualism, and identity points to ongoing assertions of indigenous linguistic rights and symbolic inclusion within Moroccan national The associations between language, policy, and power further highlight awareness of institutional language planning and its sociopolitical ramifications (Tollefson, 2.
Thus, the visualisation not only captures lexical proximities but also maps the ideological terrain in which Figure 1.
Co-occurrence Network of Language Discourse Keywords Lhou Elbourkhissi / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
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languages are imbued with historical, cultural, and frequency as #English_time.
Other hashtags with political meaning.
relatively lower frequencies include #No_To_ The hashtags in this study were grouped into French_Yes_To_English .
occurrences, 1.
four major thematic groups.
The first two groups and #Morocco_instead_of_Maroc .
occurrences, consist of hashtags advocating for the integration 1.
5%).
of English and those devaluing French and the These hashtags (Table .
include different Francophonie ideology in Morocco.
The role of the expressions related to English advocacy and remaining two groups will be elaborated upon in opposition to French in Morocco.
The most the subsequent sections.
frequently used hashtag was #A( E_EEAIOANo to Frenc.
occurrences, 19.
63%), followed by #A( E_EEAIANo to Francisatio.
The hashtags (Table .
represent different 18.
70%).
The hashtag #_AII_EuEIEOO_E_EAIOA expressions of preference for English over French A( EIAYes to English instead of French in in Morocco.
The most frequently used hashtag Morocc.
appeared 96 times .
78%).
Other #Yes_To_English_No_To_French .
hashtags with notable frequency include #AIIA occurrences, 4.
6%), followed by #Yes_To_English 24( A EuEIEOOAoccurrences, 4.
4%) and #_AII_EuEIEOOA .
occurrences, 3.
7%).
The hashtag #Yes_ A( E_EEAIOAYes to English.
No to Frenc.
for_English_instead_of_French_in_Morocco occurrences, 2.
59%).
The hashtag #A( E_EEAIEAOIOANo appeared 16 times .
0%).
Other hashtags with to Francophoni.
appeared the least frequently in notable frequency include #No_To_French .
this dataset, with 13 occurrences .
4%).
occurrences, 2.
6%) and #English_instead_of_ The first group of hashtags shows that French .
occurrences, 1.
9%).
Arabic-language hashtags advocating for English The hashtag #Oui_pour_anglais_au_lieu_du_ accounted for 65.
5% of the total tweets, a higher franyais_au_Maroc appeared the least frequently in proportion than tweets using English or French this dataset, with 5 occurrences .
9%), the same hashtags to advocate for the same language.
Table 1.
Frequent Hashtags in English and French Hashtag #Yes_To_English #Yes_To_English_No_To_French Translation Frequency Percentage (%) #No_To_French_Yes_To_English #No_To_French Yes to English instead of French in Morocco #English_instead_of_French #Morocco_instead_of_maroc #YES_to_ENGLISH_NO_to_French_LANGUAGE #Oui_pour_anglais_au_lieu_du_franyais_au_Maroc #English_time #Yes_for_English_instead_of_French_in_Morocco Table 2.
Most Repeated Hashtags in Arabic
Hashtag
Translation Frequency Percentage (%) #AII EuEIEOOA
Yes to English
Yes to English instead of French in Morocco
#AE_EEAIA
No to Francisation #AE_EEAIOA No to French
#AE_EEAIEAOIOA
No to Francophonie Yes to English.
No to French #AII_EuEIEOO_E_EAIO_EIA #AII_EuEIEOO_E_EEAIOA Lhou Elbourkhissi / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
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The second group of hashtags (Table .
was related to geographical locations .
Morocco was the most frequently mentioned location across three languages: Arabic.
French, and English.
Other Moroccan cosmopolitan cities were also present, along with international locations such as France and Guinea-Bissau.
Additionally.
Ghana was mentioned in some tweets.
national and international events, #Moroccan_Sahara and #World_Cup.
All the hashtags amplifying this linguistic movement appeared in multiple languages, with Arabic.
English.
French, and Tamazight being the most prominent.
Notably, users across both tweets and retweets frequently employed the same hashtags across different languages, reinforcing The third group of hashtags shown in Table the multilingual nature of the discourse.
Overall, 4 was related to media outlets, particularly news all tweets .
were either: .
promoting the In addition to Moroccan news sources, adoption of English, .
critiquing the dominance mentions included Middle Eastern.
American, and of French, or .
advocating for the protection of British media outlets.
A variety of news outlets official or national languages.
appeared in the dataset, including the Moroccan Analysing the tweets: qualitative insights English-language e-newspaper MWN, which was In the qualitative analysis of the study, several frequently referenced.
users expressed support for making English the Another significant group of hashtags (Table first foreign language in the country.
To better .
was associated with politics, social movements, understand the ideological underpinnings of the and international events.
In reference to politics, tweets, the analysis is restructured around three the hashtags #Parti_RNI (RNI Part.
and #RNI key axes: .
internationalisation, .
the market were linked to the Moroccan political party economy, and .
the colonial legacy of the Rassemblement National des Indypendants (RNI).
French.
These leitmotifs frequently recur in usersAo Additionally, individual politiciansAo accounts, such arguments and function as discursive strategies that as @ChefGov_ma and @Aziz_Akhnnouch, were legitimise the preference for English.
mentioned alongside these hashtags.
Furthermore, some hashtags in this group referred to economic Internationalisation concerns, such as #7dh_Gazoil .
Dirhams Diese.
In the first example, the tweeter advocates for and #8dh_Essance .
Dirhams Gasolin.
, which wider English usage to provide new opportunities appeared in the dataset alongside other politically for the current generation.
This reflects the view of oriented hashtags.
Other hashtags referenced English as a tool of power, where those proficient Table 3.
Frequent Geography Hashtags Hashtag #Morocco #Maroc #AEIA #AEI_OEA #France #Ghana #Casablanca #Guinea-Bissau Translation Morocco Morocco Morocco First Frequency Table 4.
Common Repeated News Outlets Hashtags Hashtag Frequency #CNN #Al-Jazeera #AJEnglish #BBC Arabic #Hespress #2M Table 5.
Political.
Social and International Hashtags Hashtag #Parti_RNI #RNI #7dh_Gazoil #8dh_Essance #Moroccan_Sahara #World_Cup Translation Frequency RNI Party RNI (Abbreviation for Rassemblement National des Indypendant.
7 Dirhams Diesel 8 Dirhams Gasoline #MWN Lhou Elbourkhissi / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
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in it have greater access to opportunities than those timeAyAiinvokes a call to action rooted in temporal who are not.
urgency and policy reform.
This forward-looking stance, framed around youth empowerment and Example 1:
national progress, aligns English with modernity It is time to officially include English language as a 1st foreign language in education & other fields to develop and advancement, while positioning alternative the horizons of this generation and make it able to open linguistic choices as barriers to global integration.
up to the world, armed with a language that crosses all A number of Twitter users expressed support for English while also voicing dissatisfaction with French.
Example 2, while deceptively brief, encapsulates a rich ideological orientation that constructs a stark symbolic dichotomy between English and French.
It operates through a binary alignment strategy, in which English is positively valorised and French is openly rejected.
The tweetAos minimalism amplifies its rhetorical impact, distilling sociohistorical and political tensions into a pitchy, emotionally charged formulation.
This tweet .
advocates for the formal prioritisation of English as MoroccoAos primary foreign language in education and other institutional domains.
It constructs English as a developmental asset, symbolically linked to opportunity, openness, and global mobility.
The phrase Aoa language that crosses all bordersAo casts English as a universally accessible medium, implying ideological neutrality and global This framing naturalises EnglishAos Example 2:
prominence while obscuring the geopolitical and Yes to English.
Ugh to French.
historical power relations that sustain it.
The interjection AuUghAy is especially salient.
The tweet adheres to the instrumentalist ideology of language in which linguistic value is As a paralinguistic marker, it conveys embodied determined by perceived economic and global affect that indexes a visceral rejection of French It draws on militaristic imagery (AuarmedA.
that transcends logical criticism by expressing to imply empowerment and readiness, while embodied feelings such as disgust, annoyance, or simultaneously invoking the global hegemony of fatigue.
Here, the affective stance does ideological English, a language constructed here as neutral, work: it delegitimises French not by argument universal, and unbounded by political or cultural but by emotional dismissal.
This linguistic choice Simultaneously, the appeal to Audevelop importantly presupposes a shared cultural schema the horizons of this generationAy embeds a temporal wherein the referential and symbolic weight of contrast between a past limited by current policies French and English are already understood by the and a future enabled by English, thereby indexing a intended audience.
Furthermore, the tweet also performs a kind of indexical reversal: historically, narrative of modernisation and transformation.
French has indexed prestige, education, and The absence of any reference to French or other modernity in Moroccan public life.
This utterance languages reflects a strategic silence that indirectly inverts that indexical chainAiFrench now critiques existing Francophone dominance in signals alienation, frustration, and obsolescence.
Morocco.
French becomes the unstated opponent, while English inherits the symbolic capital of its status implicitly challenged without being cosmopolitanism and future potential.
Of note.
There is also a monoglossic tendency the exclusion of Arabic and Tamazight from this that ignores MoroccoAos multilingual reality, since binary implies a foreign-language-centric framing Arabic and Tamazight are completely left out of the of linguistic legitimacy.
anticipated linguistic future.
Moreover.
The tweet uses a macro-level development frame to link Example 3:
Imagine our country dropping French as number one language policy to Auopen up to the world.
Ay This foreign language and replacing it with English, that reflects an ideological alignment with neoliberal would be a dream come true not only for me but for so globalisation, where English is not merely a many people like me.
medium of communication, but a gateway to The user imagines a cultural and linguistic economic opportunity, international legitimacy, change in Morocco in Example 3, where English and modernity.
takes the place of French as the most dominant The rhetorical structureAibeginning with AuIt is foreign language.
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conveys emotional investment, while Auso many people like meAy implies a shared sentiment among Moroccan users who support this change.
The tweet casts English as a symbol of international integration and national advancement.
AuImagineAy invites readers into an envisioned future, aligning them with the userAos stance.
It opens a space of counter-hegemonic imagination, wherein the current linguistic order, anchored in French, is seen as outdated or misaligned with the speakerAos replacement, of French.
The tweet also leverages enumeration as an argumentative strategy.
The quantitative precision gives the appearance of objectivity, yet it is mobilised in the service of a clearly ideological position.
It implies that linguistic superiority is measurable and that French falls short on a global scale.
English is portrayed as a sign of rebirth, global connectedness, and national advancement, whereas French is portrayed as a holdover from colonial This implicit binary logic is performed by the juxtaposition of Audropping FrenchAy and Aureplacing it with English.
Ay The speakerAos position is extended to a community imagined group by the use of the phrase Aunot only for me but for so many people like me.
Ay This use of affiliative stance-taking (Du Bois, 2.
constructs a collective subjectivity around linguistic aspiration, suggesting support for English is not an isolated opinion but a growing ideological current among Moroccans.
Therefore, this tweet functions not only as personal testimony but rather as an implicit mobilisation towards this linguistic vision.
The structure of this statement consists of three declarative sentences, with the final sentence summarising the previous points to reinforce the perceived global dominance of English.
In this dataset, the linguistic and social backgrounds of users are unclear because Twitter does not usually give demographic information.
The themes that appear often in these instances, however, imply that English is seen as a sign of modernity and advancement in addition to being a language of opportunity and movement.
This tweet in Example 4 advances a statistical and oppositional framing of linguistic legitimacy, positioning English as the hegemonic global language and French as its diminished rival.
The tweet draws on quantitative data, such as.
Au1.
billion peopleAy and Au67 different countriesAy, as a rhetorical strategy of legitimisation.
By citing numerical scope, the speaker constructs English as globally ubiquitous and, by implication, universally The phrase Auall together against AoFrench languageAoAy conveys a sense of alignment among English supporters, invoking a collectivist stance, while the preposition AuagainstAy is especially ideologically charged.
It injects a combative tone into the tweet, implying that the global proliferation of English entails the marginalisation, if not Example 4:
There are 1.
35 billion people and 67 different countries who speak English around the world, all together against AuFrench languageAy.
In Example 5, the user adopts a direct and assertive tone, suggesting a shift from Francophonie to Anglophonism:
Example 5:
Sorry dear, itAos time for Anglophones now.
The expression AuSorry dearAy introduces a tone of mock politeness or ironic courtesy, which functions as a mitigating device to soften the force of the assertive declaration that follows.
However, this politeness does not undermine the speakerAos ideological stance.
rather, it renders the utterance more rhetorically strategic, implying that the shift being proposed is self-evident or inevitable, and thus no longer open to debate.
The phrase AuitAos time for Anglophones nowAy explicitly signals a temporal and ideological rupture, positioning EnglishAior more precisely.
English speakersAias the new locus of linguistic authority and prestige.
This phrasing may indicate a broader discourse on shifting language policies, implying that English should now take precedence in Morocco.
The speakerAos use of AuAnglophonesAy is particularly notable.
It shifts the focus from language to identity, suggesting that the linguistic shift involves more than the adoption of English as a communicative tool.
In other words, it entails a symbolic realignment of cultural and ideological belonging.
A significant number of tweets .
were written in Arabic, highlighting the prevalence of the language in discussions about English language In Example 6, the tweet emphasises the importance of English for Moroccan students, presenting it as a language that facilitates learning.
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knowledge acquisition, and career growth.
The phrase Auproviding them with self-learning opportunities beyond descriptionAy conveys a strong endorsement of English as a means of academic and professional advancement.
Example 6:
tqcan ollccao loloza mon tycf o toloby olmocaby kofial bon jo tjah lohom fucas tcilom nyat lca tOsyf, won jo fteh lohom cafcaqca mostoqbolijy w moiofijy kobca sOca calo ylmostOwia ol Exsia iow olmihcania [Mastering the English language by Moroccan students is instrumental in providing them with self-learning opportunities beyond description and opening up great knowledge and future horizons for them, both on a personal and professional level.
The tweetAos structure employs collective referentialityAiusing third-person pronouns such as AuthemAy and AutheirAy to speak of Moroccan students as a unified category.
This collective positioning constructs a national subjectivity, whereby the advancement of students is framed not simply as personal development but as a matter of broader societal progress.
The tweet thus contributes to a nationalist educational discourse, wherein mastery of English becomes a vehicle for producing modern, globally integrated Moroccan citizens.
The use of hyperbolic language.
Auopportunities beyond descriptionAy, is also rhetorically significant.
It suggests that English possesses almost limitless potential, portraying it as a transformative force capable of opening Augreat knowledge and future The use of adjectives such as AuinternationalAy and AufutureAy highlights English as a forwardlooking language, while the mention of Chinese as an emerging language acknowledges global linguistic trends.
The user expresses astonishment at the continued preference for French, framing it as an irrational and outdated choice in an era where English dominates the domains of science, commerce, education, and tourism.
The tone is not only evaluative but also normative, prescribing a new linguistic order in which English .
nd eventually Chines.
should supplant French as the default foreign language in Morocco.
Once again, the tweet is silent on Arabic and Tamazight, reflecting a broader pattern of erasure of national and indigenous languages from discourses about economic advancement and global integration.
The perceived competition is framed exclusively between foreign languages, revealing the extent to which global language ideologies overshadow local sociolinguistic realities.
In Example 8, the tweet supports English over French while advocating for the preservation of Arabic and Tamazight as MoroccoAos national Example 8:
DonAot speak French uo speak English ui AArabic and Tamazight and nothing else baby.
This statement prioritises Arabic and Tamazight as core components of Moroccan The use of imperatives (AuDonAot speakAy In Example 7, the user presents English as / AuSpeakA.
conveys a strong rejection of French, the dominant global language, arguing that it has reinforcing the userAos preference for English surpassed French in relevance.
The phrase AuFrench alongside national languages.
has lost its place as an international language!Ay Following other tweets that advocate for suggests a declining status for French, positioning English in scientific and academic contexts while English as more relevant in science, commerce, critiquing Arabisation and French linguistic and global communication.
These examples illustrate attitudes towards linguistic hierarchy, research accessibility.
Example 7:
toorubo mo.
man ju:su.
ruan ia.
laa tia.
mot iyt.
and language policy discussions in Morocco.
Olca.
hom ol.
Olc.
ct or.
jo ol.
bia ol.
Olc ol.
sia iu Olias ol.
Oia.
zia Onc.
icm Olol iin.
d eol.
Oia.
zia bo.
dcl ol.
siao iyf iyn hyOzom.
mon kol.
Oct ic.
j ol.
Oia.
zio Oiu mos.
Olyn ol.
nioa Olua.
ct ol.
lcOm Owo tiec.
Orc Owo di.
Orca.
Owo se.
Ojca.
ho Owol mos.
Olo [I find those who insist on teaching their children the first foreign language as French instead of English so astonishing! French has lost its place as an international language! English and, in the future.
Chinese, are the languages of science, commerce, study, tourism and the In Example 9, the tweet challenges Arabisation policies in Moroccan universities, questioning the extent to which research is produced in Arabic.
The phrase Aubut the shock comes when you know the number of research and discoveries presented in Arabic languageAy conveys a sense of surprise regarding the limited availability of Arabiclanguage academic research.
The statement contrasts support for Arabisation in education with a critique of its effectiveness in producing scientific Lhou Elbourkhissi / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
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contributions, reinforcing the argument that English market imposes French as a priorityAy uses the verb is better suited for research and higher education.
AuimposesAy to frame the relationship between the individual and the job market as coercive rather Example 9:
than elective.
This lexical choice implies that jadiun litairiab aldeaamiiaat, jadaafiuwn ian siasaat attairiab atta an-nihaaja, lakin a-adma ian tirif language choices are subject to external regulation, iadad albauwi wal-iktishaafaat almuqaddama bil- revealing a system of institutional language lua-ti-liarabiaa.
planning driven more by market pressures than by [They call for Arabisation of universities, defending governmental or educational regulations.
In this Arabisation policy until the end, but the shock comes case.
French maintains its symbolic and commercial when you know the number of research and discoveries significance despite its ideological contestation in presented in Arabic language.
public discourse because it is positioned here as a Lexically, the tweet .
deploys necessary requirement for employment rather than language associated with scientific output a cultural choice.
(Auresearch,Ay AudiscoveriesA.
, embedding the Example 10:
discussion within discourses of higher education I think that is a good idea, but Labor market in Morocco and epistemic productivity.
The rhetorical strategy imposes French as a priority Think of it, at All we have juxtaposes ideological persistence (Auuntil the to say That English is to learned .
in Morocco.
with evidence-based surprise (Authe shock In Example 11, the user highlights English as an comesA.
, producing a dissonant stance.
The tweet essential language for economic and scientific omits reference to any alternative language, but the contrast between ideology and academic Example 11:
productivity implies a hierarchisation of languages Il est temps de se projeter vers lAoanglais comme 2yme based on epistemic utility.
The absence of ArabicAos langue, myme si ya va prendre bcp de temps mais c mtn, presence in scientific knowledge domains is les franyais myme apprennent lAanglais pr avoir plus foregrounded as the basis for challenging its dAoopportunitys c la langue de science et d commerce appropriateness as the main medium of instruction in Moroccan universities.
The tweet also suggests [It is time to project towards English as the second language, even if it will take a lot of time, but itAos now, the implicitly that shifting gears towards using English French even learn English to have more opportunities language at universities would be of great use.
and the language of science and world trade.
The market economy The second axis concentrates on the market economy to support the internationalisation In this regard.
French is presented as being out of step with the needs of the market, whereas English is usually presented as the language of economic opportunity, employment, and access to international enterprises.
Tweets invoking this axis often reflect a utilitarian view of language, where linguistic value is determined by its capacity to generate socioeconomic mobility and facilitate integration into competitive labour In Example 10, this tweet captures a discursive negotiation between ideological aspiration and structural or institutionalised constraint.
On the one hand, the user acknowledges the practical and desirability of English, but this enthusiasm is tempered by an awareness of the institutional dominance of French, particularly in the labour Interestingly, the statement AuLabour The phrase Ause projeter vers lAoanglaisAy .
o project ourselves towards Englis.
suggests a forward-looking perspective, reinforcing the notion of English as a language of future growth.
The use of Aumyme siAy .
ven i.
and Auc mtnAy .
tAos no.
conveys a sense of urgency, while Aules franyais myme apprennent lAoanglaisAy .
ven the French are learning Englis.
implies that English has become a necessity rather than a choice in global markets.
This statement performs reversal and irony: the former colonial power, historically associated with linguistic prestige, is now portrayed as subordinating itself to English.
This inversion serves to delegitimise French indirectly, while bolstering the symbolic authority of English through the perceived actions of the French themselves.
It suggests that if the centre of Francophonie is shifting towards English, then MoroccoAos continued prioritisation of French is both irrational and anachronistic.
This tweet aligns with broader economic narratives that associate English with employment, commerce, and science.
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In Example 12, the tweet explicitly supports English as the preferred language for scientific and academic fields while simultaneously expressing a reluctance to alter the official language policy.
The phrase Auwe want English to be the language of science, engineering, medicine, and economicsAy conveys a clear preference for English in technical and professional fields, reinforcing its perceived role as the language of modernity and progress.
However, the tweet also includes Aubut I donAot support changing the official languageAy, which suggests a desire to maintain the status quo regarding national language policies.
Example 12:
ncriad ol luso ylUnoliazo kyloo Ulwom wun Uhundosa wun tyb wun UkutEcascad lca ca duaom toOiar ol luo rusOmioa [We want English to be the language of science, engineering, medicine, and economics, but I donAot support changing the official language.
support for linguistic reform.
The phrase Auyou know what has to be done!Ay carries an imperative tone, inviting the reader to share in a presumed collective awareness and urgency.
This tactic establishes solidarity through presupposition, implying that the only rational and progressive course of action is to abandon French in favour of English.
The ellipsis (AuAA.
and informal structure amplify the emotive and conversational register, which aligns the speaker with a grassroots and populist stance rather than institutional discourse.
The rhetorical question conveys urgency and a call for linguistic The mention that AuEven the French people admit the importance of EnglishAy is a particularly notable reference to the idea that the symbolic authority of the former coloniser is reversed and repurposed to validate the argument for English.
The concluding rhetorical question.
Auwhy donAot we just move on?Ay, operates as a discourse marker of closure and impatience.
It suggests coercion under the guise of commonsense reasoning, presupposing that Aumoving onAy necessarily entails linguistic realignment towards English and away from French.
The tweetAos structure reflects both linguistic advocacy and policy conservatism, suggesting that while English is seen as a necessary tool for academic advancement, it does not need to replace existing official languages.
Example 13:
Sticking to the colonial language is not gonna get us anywhere since French is not an International because only people in France speak it because if we wanted to accomplish something you know what has to be done! A.
Even the French people admit the importance of English so why donAot we just move on ? The colonial legacy of the French The third axis centres on the colonial legacy of the French, which emerges as a recurrent theme in usersAo critiques.
In this discourse.
French is not merely a language but a symbol of historical domination, elitism, and postcolonial dependency.
In Example 13, the user explicitly articulates a forceful rejection of French as a legitimate linguistic resource in Morocco, deploying a range of ideological, rhetorical, and affective strategies to construct a postcolonial critique of the Francophone The first clause foregrounds a historical framing, where French is explicitly cast as a colonial remnant, thereby delegitimising its contemporary institutional presence.
French as a colonial language and argues that its continued use in Morocco hinders progress.
The statement AuFrench is not an international languageAy introduces a strategic devaluation of French by contrasting it with the presumed universality and functional superiority of English.
While the empirical claim is debatable, its ideological function is clear: to reposition French as parochial, declining, and geographically limited (Auonly people in France speak itA.
The tweet also utilises affective and rhetorical devices to mobilise In Example 14, the user references Shakespeare and Moliyre, juxtaposing English and French linguistic traditions.
Shakespeare symbolises the Anglophone world and, by extension, globalisation, innovation, and modernity.
Moliyre, in contrast, evokes the Francophone legacy, historical ties to France, and the cultural weight of Aula FrancophonieAy.
Example 14:
Shakespeare versus Moliyre : A mesure que le fossy se creuse avec la France et les pays de la francophonie, cet intyryt pour la langue anglaise au Maroc yvolue vers une autre ryflexion qui gagne du terrainA [Shakespeare versus Moliyre: As the gap with France and the countries of the Francophonie deepens, this interest for the English language in Morocco evolves towards another reflection that is gaining ground.
The phrase .
Aule fossy se creuse avec la FranceAy .
he gap with France is widenin.
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with the Francophone world, while Aucet intyryt pour la langue anglaiseA yvolueAy .
his interest in the English language is evolvin.
indicates a gradual movement towards English.
By contrasting Shakespeare with Moliyre, the user presents a symbolic comparison between English and French cultural legacies.
This framing may contribute to wider discussions on language preferences in Morocco, particularly regarding the cultural and educational implications of linguistic change.
The statement Aucet intyryt pour la langue anglaise.
yvolue vers une autre ryflexionAy constructs the rise of English as a gradual and reflective process, rather than a reactive or oppositional one.
This signals that the increasing preference for English is not merely a rejection of French, but rather the emergence of a new cultural orientation, underpinned by reconfigured linguistic ideologies.
The phrase Augagne du terrainAy .
aining groun.
underscores the idea that this shift is expanding in scope and influence, suggesting the gradual institutionalisation or normalisation of English in Moroccan society.
In Example 15, the tweet, written in Tamazight .
sing Tifinagh scrip.
, questions the necessity of French in Moroccan education, arguing that English has become the dominant global language for knowledge production.
The use of Tamazight .
ritten in Tifinagh scrip.
is itself a politically meaningful act, indexing both linguistic identity and discursive resistance to the historical marginalisation of indigenous languages in Morocco.
By making this argument in Tamazight, the user implicitly asserts linguistic sovereignty, repositioning the Amazigh voice within debates often dominated by Arabic-French or French-English binaries.
The rhetorical question AuWhy do we need French?Ay implies that French no longer holds the same relevance in Moroccan It does not seek information but rather challenges the continued institutional prominence of French by presupposing its functional Additionally, the phrase AuThe world speaks EnglishAy presents English as the universal language of communication.
It constructs English as a de facto global lingua franca, naturalising its role in international communication, science, and Moreover, the tweet critiques French universities for teaching knowledge in English, suggesting a contradiction in their linguistic Example 15:
my nry tUfrynsst? Umydyn or isywUl tUglzuyt.
tsdUwan n frynsy Ur sqryn tuasny so tUglzuyt.
[Why do we need French? The world speaks English.
French universities teach knowledge using English.
The linguistic data also reveals that hashtags in Arabic.
English.
French, and Tamazight, among other languages, were used to resist Arabisation, protect English advocacy, and criticise French The analysis shows that a large number of users reproduced the same hashtags in many languages, illustrating the multilingual nature of language policy conversation.
The tweets commonly frame English as a gateway to global mobility and modernity .
, as a vehicle for economic competitiveness and individual advancement .
xis i.
, and as a linguistically and politically neutral alternative to French, whose status remains tied to MoroccoAos colonial past .
xis Out of the 450 tweets analysed, most either:
A Advocated for English as the primary foreign A Criticised French linguistic dominance, or A Emphasised the importance of preserving Arabic and Tamazight as national languages.
Multilingual engagement indicates that MoroccoAos language-policy debates span diverse communities and mirror wider discussions about linguistic identity and education reform.
IV.
DISCUSSION