South Oran and Figuig Berber
| South Oran and Figuig Berber | |
|---|---|
| tašəlḥit, tabəldit | |
| Native to | Algeria, Morocco |
| Region | Ksour Mountains, Saoura basin, Figuig region |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
| Arabic, Latin, Tifinagh | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
qb8 Figuig | |
| Glottolog | sout3056 South Oran |
| ELP | Figuig |
 South Oran Berber speakers are found in oases scattered across southwestern Algeria and far eastern Morocco. | |
South Oran Berber and Figuig Berber (Figig) are the two dialects of a Zenati Berber language[1] spoken in a number of oases of southwestern Algeria and across the border in Morocco. These include most of the ksour between Mecheria and Béni Abbès: Tiout, Ain Sfisifa, Boussemghoun, Moghrar, Chellala, Asla, Fendi, Mougheul, Lahmar, Boukais, Sfissifa, Ouakda, Barrbi near Taghit, Igli, and Mazzer in Algeria, and Figuig, Iche and Ain Chair in Morocco.[2] Of these towns, the only one whose dialect has been studied in any detail is Figuig (Kossmann 1997).[3] A cursory study of the northern dialects, including texts and vocabulary, is Basset (1885),[4] while a sketch grammar of its southernmost member, Igli, is provided by Kossmann (2010).[5]
Like many other Berber varieties, these dialects use bipartite verbal negation. The preverbal negator is ul (locally un, il); the postverbal negator is ša (Igli, Mazzer) / šay (Figuig, Iche, Moghrar) / iš (Boussemghoun, Ain Chair), with both the latter two appearing as allomorphs in Tiout.[6] The numerals 1–2 are Berber, while higher numerals are Arabic borrowings throughout.[7]
References
- ^ This language has no established name in English; in French literature it is referred to as Kçours du Sud-Oranais or parlers des Kçours Oranais et de Figuig, and its speakers mostly call it by the vague term Shelha or Tashelhiyt.
- ^ André Basset, La langue berbère dans les territoires du sud, Revue Africaine vol. 85, 1941, pp. 62-71
- ^ Maarten Kossmann, Grammaire du parler berbère de Figuig: Maroc oriental, Peeters 1997 [1]
- ^ René Basset : "Notes de lexicographie berbère 3e série : dialecte des k'çours oranais et de Figuig" in Journal Asiatique 1885 t. II pp. 302-371
- ^ Maarten Kossmann, "Grammatical notes on the Berber dialect of Igli (Sud oranais, Algeria)", in ed. D. Ibriszimow, M. Kossmann, H. Stroomer, R. Vossen, Études berbères V – Essais sur des variations dialectales et autres articles. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 2010.
- ^ Kossmann, op. cit.:94
- ^ Kossmann, op. cit.:84