Code Alternation in Media Talk

The linguistic situation in Algeria is known for the co-existence of both Arabic and French. Algerians always go back and forth between these two languages in their everyday interaction. The competence in these two languages seems to be a pre-requisite for any significant participation in social life. In a research involving two languages: French and Arabic, this study attempts to examine the patterns of Arabic religious expressions as a code alternation practice in Algerian television interviews. It is more concerned with investigating what participants may accomplish by selecting Arabic over French in some points of interaction to deploy religious expressions in their utterances. The current study identifies that Insha'Allah 'God willing' and its cognates are not only expressions of invocation and praise to Allah; rather, they can also be conceived as effective tools to achieve certain conversational purposes.They are used as small techniques and specific practices to provide participants with a number of resources to deal with each other and to organize their talk-in-interaction.