The vast majority of the population today speaks Tunisian Arabic as their native language, which is mutually intelligible to a limited degree with other Maghrebi Arabic dialects. Most inhabitants are also literate in Modern Standard Arabic (literary Arabic), which is taught at the primary and secondary education levels. A significant portion of the population can speak French to varying degrees, as French was the common language of business and administration during French rule in the region.
Eastern Berber languages are still spoken by some Tunisian minority groups (few thousands), but nowadays they use arabic as the first language.[citation needed]
During the French colonization of Tunisia, French was introduced in public institutions, most notably the education system, which became a strong vehicle for dissemination of the language. From independence, the country gradually became arabized even though the public administration and education remained bilingual.[12] Meanwhile, knowledge of French and other European languages (such as English) is enhanced by Tunisia's proximity to Europe and by media and tourism.
The 1990s marked a turning point for the Arabization process. Science classes up to the end of middle school were Arabized in order to facilitate access to higher education and promote the Arabic language in society.[12] Since October 1999, private establishments have been obliged to give Arabic characters twice the size of Latin characters.[12] This rule is not always followed, however. At the same time, the public administration is required to communicate in Arabic only. In this context, the use of French seems to be in decline despite the increased number of graduates in the educational system, which leads to the fact that a good knowledge of French remains an important social marker.[12] This is because French is widely used in the business community, intellectual domains and the spheres of natural science and medicine. Because of this, one can consider the language to have become gentrified.[12] Thus, French in Tunisia is a prestige language.[13]
According to recent estimates provided by the Tunisian government to the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, the number of French speakers in the country is estimated at 6.36 million people, or 63.6% of the population, almost all as a second language.[14]
^« Travaux de phonologie. Parlers de Djemmal, Gabès, Mahdia (Tunisie) et Tréviso (Italie) », Cahiers du CERES, Tunis, 1969
^(in French) Tilmatine Mohand, Substrat et convergences: Le berbére et l'arabe nord-africain (1999), in Estudios de dialectologia norteafricana y andalusi 4, pp 99–119
^(in Spanish) Corriente, F. (1992). Árabe andalusí y lenguas romances. Fundación MAPFRE.
^Elimam, Abdou (1997). Le maghribi, langue trois fois millénaire. Algiers: ANEP. pp. 129–130.
^Borg and Azzopardi-Alexander Maltese (1997:xiii) "The immediate source for the Arabic vernacular spoken in Malta was Muslim Sicily, but its ultimate origin appears to have been Tunisia. In fact, Maltese displays some areal traits typical of Maghrebi Arabic although during the past 800 years of independent evolution it has drifted apart from Tunisian Arabic".
^Borg, Albert J.; Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (1997). Maltese. Routledge. ISBN0-415-02243-6.
