Moroccan literary journal launches issue on language, identity, and cognitive diversity

Friday 01 - 09:28

By: Dakir Madiha

Moroccan literary journal launches issue on language, identity, and cognitive diversity

The eighth edition of the academic journal Littérature, Art et Langue has been released, centered on the tensions between linguistic dominance and cognitive diversity in an increasingly digitized world. The volume, published under the title Langues et savoirs : entre hégémonie linguistique et diversité cognitive, was produced under the direction of Professor Mounir Oussikoum of Sultan Moulay Slimane University, with the support of the Applied Research Laboratory on Literature, Language, Art, and Cultural Representations.

Prefaced by Bernadette Rey Mimoso-Ruiz, a researcher at the Institut Catholique de Toulouse, the bilingual French-Arabic volume brings together 43 contributions from researchers across Europe and Africa. The edition examines the intersecting relationships between language, knowledge, and identity amid rapid technological and cultural transformation.

A central thematic strand addresses sociolinguistics and the position of languages in the context of digital globalization. Several contributors interrogate the progressive dominance of English, the difficulties of preserving minority languages, and the impact of artificial intelligence on linguistic diversity. The authors advocate for a concept of "cognitive justice" grounded in recognition of national and vernacular languages, with particular attention given to Amazigh and Moroccan Arabic.

Translation is another focal area of the volume. Contributions examine the challenges of cultural and linguistic transfer across literary texts, sacred works, and medical communication. Multiple studies highlight the limitations of machine translation and emphasize the translator's role as a cultural mediator capable of preserving the symbolic depth of texts and discourse.

The journal also devotes substantial space to language teaching and educational policy. Researchers analyze the challenges of multilingualism in Moroccan and Tunisian schooling systems and argue for inclusive pedagogical approaches tailored to the linguistic diversity of learners. Topics include the teaching of Amazigh, code-switching strategies in French as a Foreign Language classrooms, and the contribution of neuroscience to language acquisition.

Literature and cinema are explored as privileged spaces of cultural resistance and identity transmission. Studies on African literary works, Moroccan novels, and multilingual cinema illustrate how artistic creation contributes to the valorization of languages and collective memory. Several analyses argue that multilingualism on screen functions as a "laboratory of cognitive resistance" against the forces of cultural homogenization.

Through this ambitious scholarly publication, the volume's coordinators and contributors affirm that languages are not merely instruments of communication but living inheritances that carry distinct worldviews, histories, and sensibilities. Positioned at the intersection of transmission, translation, and creation, the issue advances a humanist vision of intercultural dialogue and advocates for the preservation of linguistic diversity in a world undergoing constant change.