Narration in Moroccan Talk Shows

The main objective of this article is to analyze the narrative structure of the stories of women subjected to violence. Specifically, we will analyze the stories narrated by these women in a Moroccan TV talk show called “Qesset Ennass” (The story of people). The framework of Critical Discourse Analysis will be adopted in order to understand the elements of discourse being articulated in a Moroccan context. We have mapped the stories onto a six part structure of narrative, which has been an effective tool in locating the way in which the women establish cognitive scripts related to the necessity to take action to make sure that the nasty situations they live in would change. The six parts structure of narrative consists of the abstract, the orientation, the complication, the evaluation, the resolution and the coda. Our purpose within this framework is to scrutinize the structure of the Moroccan discourse about the violence committed against women so as to understand how narration plays a pivotal role in legitimizing/delegitimizing women’s discourse. Within this analysis, we will be concerned with answering questions related to the way women represent themselves, their situations, and the general Moroccan context on TV.

sees that one of the principal elements of ideological arguments are presuppositions "because they pertain to knowledge or other beliefs that are not asserted, but simply assumed to be true by the speaker, they are able to 'introduce' ideological propositions whose truth is not uncontroversial at all". Fairclough (1995a, p. 219) states, "…it is mainly in discourse that consent is achieved, ideologies are transmitted, and practices, meanings, values and identities are taught and learnt". Because presuppositions appertain to knowledge and beliefs that are not asserted, but simply assumed, speakers are able to infuse ideological propositions into texts that take specific beliefs for granted".
For Kress (1985, p. 7, qtd. in Noth, 2004, "the grammar of a language is its theory of reality". The Hallidayan approach to language sees that language grammar is manipulated to construct ideological arguments and presuppositions for the construction of reality based on experience, but also sees that individuals introduce ideological statements for reproduction that control not only the grammar and the representations within ideology, but also the messages that are contained within the grammar and experiences (Stubbs, 1996, p. 60).
Many CD Analysts have scrutinized the ways media discourse constructs and perpetuates particular images of groups which the hegemonic ideology constructs as marginalized or deviant in some respect (Schiffrin & Hamilton, 2001). The name CD Analyst itself refers to those practitioners who agree on the cause and the belief to do research that would eventually contribute to the modification of injustice and inequality in society (Jørgensen & Philips, 2002, p. 77). The cross-disciplinary boundaries between media studies, linguistics, semiotics, and the social sciences has enabled these studies to dissect the different stereotyped portrayals of racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities produced by the mass media outlets (Schiffrin & Hamilton, 2001).
Chouliaraki and Faiclough perceive CDA as an explanatory critique; they have borrowed Roy Bhaskar's concept that revolves around the idea that social research should set as an objective the identification of problems so as to solve such identified inconsistencies or problems (Bhaskar, 1986, cited in Chouliaraki & Faiclough, 1999. The explicit emphasis upon social domination and social inequality also encompasses discourse research in gender. Scholars in this field have tried to understand how the enactment and perpetuation of male dominance and female resistance operate. It was found that the significant changes in women's condition in the last decades did not eradicate discursive gender domination which still persists, despite the fact that it may have taken more subtle and indirect forms (Jahnsen, 2007).
In this critical approach, texts are not neutral and "all texts are critical sites for the negotiation of power and ideology" (Burns, 2001, p. 138). For Fairclough (1989), CDA is a really helpful tool for understanding the relationships within language because of its Hallyidayan view of language where language is inseparable from its socio-linguistic context, its mediation of ideology and its relation to power structures within society. A characterization of the linguistic mechanisms through which ideology is constructed gives CDA an invaluable resource to crystallize the hidden methodology an author adopts in discourse to enclose representations of the world, consciously or unconsciously.
This means that CDA is dedicated to dealing with social issues by paying close attention to the notions of ideology, power, inequality, etc. The exploitation of social and philosophical theory, which makes CDA an explanatory critique, is clear when Fairclough (2001, p. 26) stated that: "CDA analyses texts and interactions, but it does not start from texts and interactions. It starts rather from social issues and problems, problems which face people in their social lives, issues which are taken up within sociology, political science and/or cultural studies".
Within this mode of thinking, CDA is a multidisciplinary approach (and a historical outcome of linguistics, post-structural and neo-Marxist influences) to the study of language use that stresses the intimate relationship between language and power. The quality of being an explanatory critique obliges CDA adepts to adopt the idea that social research should set as an objective the identification of problems so as to solve such identified inconsistencies or problems (Chouliaraki & Faiclough, 1999, p. 33).
We can say that CDA aims at spotting the prominent textual features of a text to decode the ideologies implicit within the representations and grammatical structure of the discourse. It is multidisciplinary in that it seeks to unravel the nature of social power and dominance by making explicit the intricate relationships between text, talk, social cognition, power, society and culture (Van Dijk, 1995). The same Marxist orientation is made clear when Paltridge (2006) presents four principles of CDA: (1) "social and political issues" are reflected and constructed in discourse; (2) power relations are "negotiated and performed" through discourse; (3) "discourse both reflects and reproduces social relations"; and (4) "ideologies are produced and reflected in the use of discourse" (pp. 178-184). Below, we expose the elements of the narrative of the show.

The Abstract
The abstract anticipates the story beforehand and sketches an abridged organization of the narrative. At this level, the "tellability", the credibility, and the audience's trust are established (Toolan, 1988). As a rule of thumb, this part of the show is located in the introduction read by the presenter. In this sense, the introduction acts as an abstract, outlining the major plot of the narrative (Elharraki, 2019). Below are the titles of the episodes under scrutiny (together with the semantic categories that make them up like "recipient, problem, etc."), which are attempts from the production of the show to foreshadow the issue dealt with later.
Titles of the selected episodes Title 1: I live in violence (recipient, problem, and setting). Title 2: My husband beats me in front of my children (agent, problem, recipient, and setting).
Title 3: My relation with my husband led me to suicide (agent, recipient, setting, and problem).
Title 4: I got married at an early age (recipient, implied agent, and setting).
Women (recipients) are the focus of this show; this is signalled by women sitting in front of the presenter waiting to disclose their stories. The abstract signals the major characters in the story who are in the case of this narrative the husbands who behave in an aggressive way towards their wives. The violent husbands are established as the agent, and women subject to violence are the recipients of the acts of the violent husbands. The "tellability" of the narrative is established through an implicit call to action in the introduction. The audience of the introduction is assumed to be the public, and the assumption is made that the audience shares the world view presented by the narrators. This world view presupposes that women subject to violence are victims of both the husbands and the system in general and that it is important to think about solutions engendered in setting goals-economic empowerment, and a prosperous future of every helpless woman.
The introduction, as a mini-narrative, anticipates the full narrative that will follow and provides a setting (a country where disparities between men and women exist), an orientation (the violent husbands and the helpless women are the characters; the narrative is related to the past, the present and the future), a complication (women are at risk, change is needed), an evaluation (pay attention to this story; it shows the injustice women live, and how society does nothing to help), a resolution (we will try to figure out solutions), and a coda (there is no happy ending!). As in all narratives, we have a narrator who can be fallible and untrustworthy (Olsen, 2003). The following introduction exemplifies the concept of the abstract.
Show One: The Show Host "More than 50 percent of Moroccan women are subject to violence (recipient, problem). More than 50 percent of Moroccan women live violence in all its versions (recipient, problem). To be clear, more than 50 percent of women are beaten, insulted, humiliated, undergo discrimination and harassment at home, in the street, in the workplace, in all places and all the time (recipient, problem, setting). What is the reason behind this violence? Who is responsible? Is it the man, the woman herself, or the circumstances that are the real cause behind this number and this violence (recipient, agents, and problem)? The subject today is: I live in violence (recipient, problem).
I welcome you on Medi 1 TV, the public in the studio, Souad Taoussi, an associative figure and a social assistant, who will accompany me in Qesset Nnass, and I welcome all the WSV present here with us (audience, recipient).
Fatima (p. 41) stood in the face of the family and accepted the man who wanted to marry her (recipient, agent, setting). After three years of marriage, her life turned into hell (problem). She got her divorce but she could not stay with her child (solution, problem). Habiba (p. 31), she spent thirteen years of marriage where she has undergone all types of violence and torture (recipient, agent, problem, and setting). Nobody was fair to her and as a result she was neither married nor divorced (recipient, agent, and problem).

The Orientation
The time, the place, and the persons involved in the story represent the backbone of this element, which is manifested at the very outset of the show. "The who, when, where and what of the narrative constitutes its orientation as the entities presented as participants in a text's representation of events together with the processes in which they are involved are necessary ingredients of the stories narrated" (Elharraki, 2019, p. 130).
From the previous section, we feel that the orientation has already been established early in the narrative, namely in the introduction as the abstract/introduction establishes the key macrostructure of the text related to the imperative to ensure that women suffer and thus need change. There are other characters that appear in the show; however, they do not count as major characters. These include experts and the audience in the studio. The orientation of the media text in Qesset Nnass appeals to both the emotional and mental states of the reader and the percentage given by the presenter, and the women who feature in the show are examples of elements that address the pathos of the audience. For space constraints, we will exemplify with one woman subjected to violence, namely Fatima. Below is a summary (semantic macrostructures) of her narrative.

Fatima
In the city of Laayoune, Fatima stood in the face of the family and accepted the man who wanted to marry her. After three years of marriage, her life turned into hell after they moved to Bejje3d (A Moroccan city). She got her divorce but she could not keep her child.
This description gives the audience an idea about the main characters, the time, the location (sometimes unspecified) and the main event.

The Complication
Elharraki (2019), following Mullins (2012), stated that the complication is made up of events that constitute danger for the recipients due to their extreme and urgent character. In narratives, the complication, which may be caused either by an agent or by external circumstances, triggers prompt action according to the author. The complication is italicized and in bold in the next script.
Fatima (Note 1) After three years of marriage, her husband started to disappear directly after his two brothers came to live with them and started to beat her for no reason. After a period, he beat her, took away the child from her and kicked her out of the house. She went to the hospital where her aunt brought her the child. After that, she realized that he sold all the furniture of the house, took the money of the lease and left to an unknown destination. She went to the tribunal where they told her that theft between the husband and the wife is not included in the Moroccan law. In the tribunal he beat her again and took her child away from her. In the police station, they told her that she had to divorce in order to sue him. She was divorced and she begged him to give her the child, but in vain.
This last segment forms the complication as it marks the climax of the story that leaves the main protagonist no choice but to look for an option that the show aims at figuring out.

The Evaluation
For Toolan (1988), the evaluation is instrumental in founding the significance of the story as it rationalizes the narrative and the narrator's main message. It may involve a temporary suspension from the telling of the story proper and heighten the audience's interest at any time during the narrative (Labov, 1972;Mullins, 2012). "In other words, opinions on the events of the story, alternative outcomes, or adding credibility to the story on the part of the narrator are evaluative options up the narrator's sleeves in case they are needed to make the story more persuasive" (Elharraki, 2019, p. 131).
As far as this narration component is concerned and relying on Labov (1972), Elharraki (2019) posits that the answer to the question "So what?" is key because the narrator finds it necessary to stop telling the story "what's going on", i.e., suspending narrative action and interrupting the sequence of temporally ordered clauses of the core narrative's complicating action in order to make a point. Below, evaluative remarks are underlined.

Fatima
They spent three years of a calm marriage before the child was born, but when the child was one year and six months old, her husband started to beat her after his two brothers came to live with them for no reason and in front of them and then disappeared. He did not pay the bills. She was patient just for the sake of the baby as the husband used to leave her without money.
The external evaluation mentioned by Labov (1972) is meant to raise questions on the part of the audience as the narrator points towards the strange fact that the beating started to take place for no apparent cause. This violation of the narrative's cause-effect logic acts as an intensifier that is intended to attract the audience sympathy. We have to clarify that Labov sees that external evaluation takes place when: a) the narrator stops the narrative to say what the point is, or b) when the narrator tells the listener what he/she thought at the moment of the events (indirect discourse addressed to the listener).
The theme of patience is advanced in this narrative segment as a response to the audience implicit question about the rationale behind the decision to live with a violent husband who beats his wife for no apparent cause. Mixing patience with the child's interest also intensifies the tempo of the narrative as we are all bound to believe that women sacrifice themselves to protect children, and addressing the pathos by referring to the family, children, mothers, the nation, religion etc., has been proved as an efficient tool to persuade the general public about the legitimacy of any action although sometimes the cause effect relationship is violated as in the case in hand.
After a period, he beat her savagely, took away the child from her and kicked her out of the house. She went to her aunt, who took her to the hospital and brought her the child. Her aunt told her to wait to see what would happen. After that, she realized that he sold all the furniture of the house, took the money of the lease and left to an unknown destination. She complained, but they told her that there is no theft between husbands and wives. After four months, in the tribunal he beat her again and took her child. In the police station and in the tribunal, they told her there was nothing they could do for her.
Referring to the authority's proposition is yet another argument to justify her helplessness. We mentioned before that she was helpless because of her child and after she was helpless because the authorities did not have any measures to implement to get her rights. The embedded evaluation shows, among other things, the impotence of the system to protect women; thus the discourse of the official documents is contradicted and considered null and void in reality. As a matter of fact, we flagrantly realize, as with the other women, that there is no continuity between the two opposing types of discourse as the official one idealizes the situation and the women's discourse marks the total helplessness of this fragile category. Concerning embedded evaluation, Labov (1972) posits that it contains the following elements: 1) The narrator quotes what he/she was thinking at the moment of the events.
2) The narrator quotes his/her words to someone else in the story.
3) The narrator introduces a third person/character who evaluates the actions, quoting that character's words.
4) The narrator uses evaluative action, telling what people/characters were experiencing vs. what they said (often with the verb "to be"-"they were screaming"-vs. the narrative/complicating action-"they screamed".).
5) The narrator departs from basic narrative syntax, using: A D. explicatives (add information looking forward or backward in time).
Later she filed a complaint, and the authorities sent her to bejje3d (a Moroccan small town). At that time, she was not divorced yet. She made medical certificates that did not exceed eighteen days of disability, which means that they are judicially useless.
This remark made by the woman refers to this crucial point in the current conflict between men and women, namely the interference of the medical institution with the judicial one. Giving an eighteen days disability certificate is like telling the court that nothing happened; in other words, doctors cover wrongdoers and the court's reaction to these medical documents in a passive way is a factor that promotes violence. It is like telling the violent husbands to beat, but not to kill! They told her that she had to be divorced in order to sue him. She did not find any solution. Later, she was divorced and she begged him to give her the child, but it was in vain. Before divorce, she had been battered four times but she forgave him in the police station because her family told her to be patient.
His brothers were the cause as they used to tell him things about her; he told her that she was responsible for holding him in Laayoune.
The evaluative segment refers us to the other stories in the show where women refer to the husband's family as accomplices who form a clan to make the wife and the children suffer. Understanding this phenomenon is complicated in a Moroccan context as families negate the borders between the personal and the familial. Even when a man is married, he has to give priority to his old family at the expense of the wife who is generally perceived as a stranger, a person who comes to steal the husband from his mother, sisters, brothers, etc. In the Moroccan mentality, a man who sides with his wife for whatever reason is generally conceived as "not a man", a man who listens to his wife, a man who is under the spell of the evil wife.
She looked for him; they jailed him for two months only! She said, "I haven't been able to see my child for eight months now". She was battered four times and the last time he beat her, he used a construction tool, but she forgave him in the police station. Her aunt told her to forgive him because it was the first time, but he became even more violent afterwards. Her family used to tell her to be patient. The judge told her theft accusations between a husband and a wife is not acceptable in the Moroccan law. After that, he took the child away from her with the furniture. She said, "I think only about my child, not money". The direct quote summarizes the rationale behind her patience: the child. The child, under the current family law, should be under her custody, but the problem in Morocco has mainly to do with the implementation of the laws and this is an issue that should be debated publicly to find a quick solution if we want to call ourselves a country that aspires to be democratic.
When she went to the authorities, they told her to go away. She found no solution and she even sent a letter to the former prime minister, Mr Benkirane. "My solution is you", she said. She could not find him as he was always escaping with the child, who lived in different houses of his family. He accused her of adultery too and his family was his witness, but his complaints were null and void. She suffered so much that she had to take drugs to sleep because the child was young. The police and the authorities told her to look for him, how come! They were far away and if she went there, they would kill her.
Nobody wanted to accompany her in her search. "Authorities are corrupt; they took money to cover him", she said. She continued, "These people take money from him; I have no money; all I have is the option of death".
This accusation of the judicial system is direct and unambiguous. In another country, this allegation would open a quick investigation. Bribery, another impediment that hinders the normal evolution of Morocco towards democratization, helps in the process of leaving the woman alone in her struggle to have her rights. The confessions of women like Fatima prove that the phenomenon is omnipresent, but as it is the case with all sorts of illicit practices, it is very hard to prove. This leaves women subject to violence in a dilemma as the only organism capable of solving their problems and making an end to their suffering sides with the person who can pay, and knowing that the Moroccan woman is in most cases materially deficient, the result is clear: despair and depression that pushes them to hope they would die. The question that comes to the surface in this type of situations is: where are human rights associations? The answer given by Fatima is clear.
She complained in an anti-violence cell in laayoune (a human rights office), but they did not do anything. "I eat a sandwich and I sleep in a ouali (a saint) because even my sister refused to host me", she said.
The evaluation of Fatima's discourse is very significant as her case does not only prove that the prevalent discourse in Tamkine, which is the articulation of the official Moroccan discourse on the ground, does not have any positive impact on women, but it also raises a big question about the role of human rights associations in lending a helping hand to this fragile category. This goes contra the discourse of human rights associations too, which is a discourse that criticizes the way the government handles the case. We normally anticipate a different treatment from these organisms. technology, universities, science, political office, and finance-in short, every avenue of power…including the coercive force of the police, is entirely in male hands" (p. 25).
Patriarchy prevails where positions of authority are appropriated by men in all walks of life: the economy, the law, religion, education, etc. (Johnson, 2005, p. 9). Patriarchy is a very important concept that helps in understanding the power relations established in society (Pillay, 2008). This key term in feminist studies is referred to as a means to account for the social and static inequality of women in terms of rights.

The Resolution
Since the problem has to be addressed, according to Labov (1972) and Toolan (1988), solutions have to be figured out. For Elharraki (2019), the resolutions introduce laws women should have recourse to, and spot the set of procedures that might help in improving the current state of these women.

Show One:
The Expert Below are some solutions suggested by the expert: -The first step to fight violence is to talk about it. There are many types of violence including economic and sexual one. Women also commit violence on women under the control of patriarchy (referring to the husband's mother and sisters). Custody is also a solution (act 53) because it gives the right to women to keep the children in the case of divorce. For the Rahn "lease" problem, she should sue the people who gave money to the husband because the leasing was under the name of the woman.
-Violence impacts everybody and even the state; that is why we should mobilize all associations and the ministry which has the program "tamkine", meant to fight violence committed against women.
-She needs therapy.
-She should let him down.
-There is also legal violence because there is no act to resort to or to apply.
-The mentality of society that promotes patience is key to understanding this phenomenon.

The Abstract
The coda marks the end of the narrative texture as it bridges the gap between the past and the present (Mullins, 2012). In this narrative segment, the future is foregrounded and hope is revitalized as the coda of the show underscores the legitimacy of the action adopted by the WSV.

Fatima
She looked for him; they jailed him for two months, but she could not see her child. She found no solution and she even sent a letter to Mr Benkirane (the previous prime minister). She could not find him as he was always escaping with the child so much so that she had to take drugs to sleep.
A brief look at the coda of the show, and contrary to Mullins (2012), there is no positive outlook that emerges from the current situation of the women; hence, the closing of all the shows without exception points towards the obscure future that awaits the women. This is comprehensible in the light of the Moroccan scene where real change is still a myth under the prevailing legal, cultural and economic state of affairs. Unlike movies, real TV problems are not solved at the end and happy endings remain a Hollywood label.

Conclusion
In this article, a critical analysis of the show "Qesset Nnass" and a description of the way the narrative has been constructed to address the problem of WSV have been provided. The semantic macrostructures used throughout the texts constitute a range of cognitive scripts related to the threats of this fragile category of women and the need for change to enable them to face all sorts of challenges.
We have dealt with these texts as narrative by following the six parts structure of Labov (1972), namely an abstract, an orientation, a complication, an evaluation, a resolution and a coda. Narrated by the women themselves, the stories establish them as the central characters, who at the same time feature like the recipients of action, rather than active participants in the events, i.e., they are portrayed as vulnerable and as a problem to which solutions should be found. The violent husbands, on the other hand, are presented as the active and dynamic agents. The most important section in the stories structure is evaluation as it has given us insights about the cultural variable of discourse in the Moroccan context.