Sened is an extinct

Extinct language

An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...

 Berber language

Berber languages

The Berber languages are a family of languages indigenous to North Africa, spoken from Siwa Oasis in Egypt to Morocco , and south to the countries of the Sahara Desert...

 that was spoken in the nearby towns of Sened

Sened (town)

Sened is a commune and small town in central Tunisia in Gafsa Governorate, and is also the name of the extinct Berber language that was spoken there and at the nearby town of Tmagourt until the mid-twentieth century. At the 2004 census it had a population of 8,931. In 1911, the whole town spoke...

 and Majoura (Berber Tmagurt) in Southern Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

 until the mid-twentieth century. In 1911, the whole town of Sened spoke Berber; by 1968, only the elderly did.

Sample

From a section translated from the epic Taghribat Bani Hilal

Taghribat Bani Hilal

Taghribat Bani Hilal is an Arabic epic recounting the Banu Hilal's journey from Najd to Tunisia via Egypt and conquest of the latter. It is built around historical events that took place in the 11th century...

, detailing the incursion of the Banu Hilal

Banu Hilal

The Banu Hilal were a confederation of Arabian Bedouin tribes that migrated from Upper Egypt into North Africa in the 11th century, having been sent by the Fatimids to punish the Zirids for abandoning Shiism. Other authors suggest that the tribes left the grasslands on the upper Nile because of...

, in Provotelle's Etude sur la Tamazir't ou Zenatia de Qalaât Es-sned (Tunisie) (1911). The Arabic and French transcriptions of the text are reproduced unchanged; in the latter, r' represents a voiced uvular fricative, kh a voiceless uvular fricative, ch represents English sh, ou represents /u/ or /w/, i represents /i/ or /j/, and e represents schwa

Schwa

In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...

.

الوختي دياب الاَلاَلَي ينغاَ خليفا الزناتي يليس غيداء تني زنق نزيمل نبويس - ومان الاَلاَلي - تسكركوست تنغيتتش او يني زنق نزيمليس - يني دياب زنق نزيمليس - يونس باش اّينغيت.

El Oukhti Diab Elalalia ienr'a Khlifa Ezzenati ill-is R'ida tenni zenneg n ezzimmel n ebboïs. Oumman El Alali, teskerkoust tenr'it-etch. Aou ienni zenneg n ezziml-is. Ienni Diab zenneg n ezziml-is, ious-es bâch aïenr'it.

Word-for-word: When Diab El Hilali killed Khlifa Ezzenati, daughter-his Ghida rode top of horse of father-her. Said-they the-Hilalis, you-have-lied you-killed-him-not. Here-he-is rides top of horse-his. Rode Diab top of horse-his, goes to kill-her.

Less literally: When Diab El Hilali killed Khlifa Ezzenati, his daughter Ghida got on her father's horse. The Hilalis said "You lied; you didn't kill him!. There he is riding his horse." Diab mounted his horse and went forth to kill her.

External links

• Tamazight in Tunisia: by Ahmed Boukous (Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
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