ABSTRACT
Fes is a Moroccan city which symbolizes tradition, modernity, social prestige, education, know-how, and wealth in a developing multilingual Muslim country where religion and cultural values control the social norms and behavior of individuals, especially women. Although the social meanings of these symbols have changed relatively over the years as a result of modernity, migration and social movement, they are still strongly adhered to by present-day inhabitants of the city of Fès. These symbols have created a number of oppositions inside the community, such as between the rich and poor or between the Fassis – that is, the people whose families originally came from southern Spain and settled in Fes – and the non-Fassis. These oppositions are sociolinguistically important as they involve an interesting interplay of the variables of local geographical origin, class, sex, and age, and thus, affect identity in no trivial way. The fact that these oppositions are indexed in introductions attests to their social significance, as introductions take a relatively short "space" in the process of social interactions, and highlight only what is socially most important.
