Linguistic variation in e-commerce discourse in Morocco

Abstract

Abstract: This research aims to examine the linguistic characteristics of online sellers’ discourse in Morocco. It questions whether linguistic standardization or diversification exists in this expanding digital commercial context, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Several questions emerged at the beginning of this study, notably: does the discourse of online sellers in Morocco reflect linguistic standardization or does it preserve the characteristic features of their original dialects? And how do these sellers manage linguistic and cultural differences to ensure communication with a broad target of potential customers throughout Morocco? To provide answers to these questions, a corpus was compiled from several videos from platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, etc. The analysis of Moroccan e-commerce linguistic practices revolves around several linguistic levels: phonetic, morphological, morphosyntactic, and suprasegmental. At the phonetic level, the study notes the complete absence of interdentals and affricates, with pronunciation of the phoneme /q/ generally as a voiceless velar stop [q]. At the morphological level, the analysis identifies various variations, notably the almost systematic use of the particle dyal for nominal annexation, with rare exceptions. The study also observes regularizations in nominal paradigms and morphosyntactic variations in both simple and complex sentences. Suprasegmental analysis highlights the importance of speech rate, intonations, accentuations, and pauses in commercial discourse. Furthermore, the research identifies a specific technolect among computer hardware sellers, with terms such as [ʔi saṭ/sæk], [ženeṛasyɔ̃] or [ṛram]. The results reveal a nuanced reality where elements of linguistic standardization coexist with the preservation of characteristic features of regional varieties of Moroccan Arabic.