A predominantly urban population
More than 67% of the population lives in cities, and urbanization continues to grow. The capital Tunis and its governorate alone have a population of 1.056 million, or just over 10 per cent of the national population. The population is concentrated in the coastal regions, while some 30% of the population live in the arid regions of the South and Centre, which account for 70% of the country's surface area. Sfax is the second largest city in Tunisia - 955,421 inhabitants were counted in its governorate in 2014. The population growth rate is around 1.1% (2020). The fertility rate of 2.17 children per woman (2019) is among the lowest in the Arab world and has declined in less than five years.
A command of European languages in addition to Arabic
The official language of Tunisia, as well as the mother tongue of almost all its inhabitants, is Arabic. This language, which is written from right to left, is difficult to learn. Each character is written in different ways depending on whether it is isolated or whether it is at the beginning, middle or end of a word. Only the 28 consonants are written, including semi-consonants which have eliminated the need for vowels. There are different variations of the Arabic language: the classical, "written" language is the language of the Koran, used by a small elite. The Maghrebi dialect is the common language in Tunisia. This dialect has borrowed many words from Berber, French and Spanish, and its pronunciation has many differences with classical Arabic
From 1958 onwards, President Bourguiba chose to generalize bilingual education, making the dual Arabic and French culture official. This made it possible to maintain a French-speaking status, while keeping a wide opening to the Arab world. Today, children learn French at school from the age of 7-8. It is thus gradually that Arabic has conquered its rightful place, becoming the only language of instruction in primary school since 1975. However, French remains the preferred foreign language of organizations directly dependent on the French government. These organizations do not hesitate to multiply free language courses in Tunis and in other large cities. French is therefore spoken and understood almost everywhere in Tunisia, especially in the most developed part of the country and around the tourist areas. However, knowledge of a few words of Arabic will always be appreciated by the locals. It would take too long to list all the words of Arabic origin that are used in the French language, but a sample allows us to visualize the influence of this language on ours: cipher, chance, alchemy, sugar, cumin, camphor, guitoune, maboul, souk, toubib, un chouïa, kawa, nouba, sahel, cafard, which comes from the word cafer, and means "unbeliever", etc.
Traditions still firmly rooted
Anyone can see that a large part of the population speaks French perfectly and often has a solid foundation in English, Italian, Spanish and German. It is thus with its own genius that the society manages to weave links between tradition and modernism. Despite the country's economic and tourist development, Tunisians still deeply respect certain traditions; the Ramadan period is a typical example. If women rarely wear the hijab and if the girl is a little more emancipated in the street, it is nevertheless advised to the visitor to respect the country in which he is, by trying not to shock by too provocative dress or inappropriate acts. Conviviality is always a must. Drinking mint tea with friends, entertaining each other, chatting for hours and even going to the hammam together; all these rites are part of the Tunisian art of living
Traditional values are based on a few basic principles: obedience to the father, holder of the authority over the family within which the woman also plays a primordial role, honor, linked to the three essential values of the tribe, the clan and the family, the word given, which, in the absence of a written document, was equivalent until recently to a moral and legal contract, hospitality towards anyone coming from afar, or freedom, a fundamental value since the real name of the Berbers, "lmazighen", means "free men".
The Berber culture
Even if this community tends to disappear, it has remained very anchored in history and mentalities. Tunisians who have become Arabized, but who are still Berber-speaking, are the descendants of a people whose culture goes back to the Neolithic period. Today they are all bilingual (Berber/Arabic) as were their ancestors since antiquity (Berber/Punic, Berber/Latin). Their community represents less than 1% of the Tunisian population and is found in the southeast of the country. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer Berbers who respect their traditions, and the last descendants are trying to keep this culture as alive as possible. The vestiges of this culture are nevertheless still detectable in the mentalities and traditions.
The societal and linguistic heritage of the Qur'an
Published in Arabic in 634, two years after the death of Mohammed, the Koran (Al Quran) is the only sacred book of Muslims. It consists of a mixture of doctrines drawn from the foundations of Islam, but also from those of the Jewish and Christian religions (from the Torah and the Gospel). The Qur'an only repeats the words of God, instilled in Mohammed by the archangel Gabriel (Jibrael). The right reading and its knowledge are the basis of the traditional Muslim education (Koranic schools). Its avowed aim is to govern the social life of the community of believers, both militarily and politically as well as religiously. This is why Islamic republics have flourished throughout the Muslim world (Iran, Pakistan...), based politically on the Koran. He also had a major historical importance on Arabic literature. He imposed the Arabic dialect as a language associated with the triumph of the doctrine.
