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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which the language of Moroccan public storytellers reflects both the social context of the narration and the context of the narrated event. To achieve this, oral sample data of this language were recorded in three public places in Morocco. The data were transcribed, translated, and examined from a sociolinguistic perspective. This article includes a brief review of the literature and a description of the sociolinguistic context of Moroccan public storytelling. It also describes some of the characteristics of public Moroccan storytelling such as its special location in a halqa (circle) in specific public places on specific times. Data analysis reveals that the type of story influences the extent to which the story conveys some social reality about the narrated event, the conveyed social information about the individual storyteller, and the social context itself. Data analysis and participant observer’s information describe the techniques used by these men of words to impact their audiences. The study points to the risk of this valuable oral tradition’s extinction due to modem home entertainment technology and calls for help to preserve this rich heritage of Moroccan society.

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