Tunisian Arabic
Encyclopedia
Tunisian Arabic is a Maghrebi dialect
of the Arabic language
, spoken by some 11 million people. It is usually known by its own speakers as Derja, which means dialect, to distinguish it from Standard Arabic, or as Tunsi, which means Tunisian. It is spoken all over Tunisia
, and merges, as part of a dialect continuum
, into similar varieties in eastern Algeria
and western Libya
. Its morphology
, syntax
, pronunciation
and vocabulary
are quite different from Standard or Classical Arabic
. Tunisian Arabic, like other Maghrebi dialects, has a vocabulary mostly Arabic, with significant Berber
substrates, and many words and loanwords borrowed from Berber
, French
, Turkish
, Italian
and Spanish. Derja is mutually spoken and understood in the Maghreb countries, especially Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, but hard to understand for orientals.
It continues to evolve by integrating new French or English words, notably in technical fields, or by replacing old French and Spanish ones with Standard Arabic words within some circles. In Eastern Arab countries the similar term (العامية (al-)`āmmiyya) is more commonly used for the colloquial varieties of Arabic there. Moreover, Tunisian is also closely related to Maltese
, which is not considered to be a dialect of Arabic for sociolinguistic reasons.
Almost all literate speakers of Tunisian also understand and can speak some Standard Arabic. Most Tunisians view Tunisian Arabic as a derivative form of Classical Arabic with loanwords from Berber, French, Italian, Turkish and Spanish though awareness of Tunisian as a distinct language is growing, especially among the younger generation.
, especially North African ones. Some of its distinctives (from other Arabic dialects) are listed here.
, Bizerte
, Nabeul
, Hammamet, Sousse
, Monastir
, Mahdia
, Kairouan
, and Sfax
, while the rest of the country to the west and south of this coastal strip uses rural varieties, including the towns of Gabès
, Gafsa
, Tozeur
, El Kef
and Béja
. Rural dialects are also found in small villages not far from the centres of the urban dialects.
All the urban varieties use the voiceless
uvular plosive /q/ in words such as qal 'he said', while rural varieties have the voiced
velar
plosive /ɡ/ in such words ɡal 'he said'. Urban varieties also pronounce a final root vowel before another vowel, as in the word msha:u 'they went', while rural varieties delete this final vowel, giving mshu. Urban varieties also share with Maltese the distinction amongst Arabic dialects of not marking gender in the second person. The otherwise feminine inti is used to address men and women, much to the bemusement of other Arabic speakers, while in the verb no feminine marking is used. Rural dialects maintain the usual distinctions found in Arabic, whether standard or spoken.
There is further variation within both urban and rural dialects. For example, the dialect of Sfax maintains the diphthongs of Standard Arabic in words such as layl 'evening' (commonly pronounced as lēl in other regions), a trait shared by Maltese and the traditional women's dialect of Tunis.
Further information on Tunisian dialectology
can be found in Gibson (1998), Marçais (1950), Singer (1984), and Talmoudi (1980).
Tunisian Arabic has the role of the low variety in an example of classic diglossia
, where Standard Arabic is the high variety.
As such, the use of Tunisian is mainly restricted to spoken domains, though cartoons in newspapers may be written in it, and since the 1990s many advertising boards have their slogans (though not the name of the company) written in Tunisian.
Increasingly, Tunisians are also choosing to communicate in Tunisian online, especially on social-networking sites and in mobile-phone text messages. Latin characters are used for online communication, using French phonology and inserting numbers in lieu of diacritics as signifiers of non-Latin phonemes (e.g., by using number 9 to show the letter "qaf"). This trend accelerated during the recent street protests that brought down the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in which text messaging and social networking played a major role.
The current trend among young people is to dismiss Standard Arabic as pretentious and, since it is not well-understood among those who have not been through secondary school, as a tool of control and oppression by the country's various regimes. One sign of this trend is that, for the first, time, at least one private radio station, Chems FM, now broadcasts news bulletins and many panel discussions entirely in Derja. In the weeks following the fall of Ben Ali, Derja has also been heard far more frequently on both state and private television. Significantly Ben Ali's last address to the nation prior to his flight abroad was given in Derja, the first time he had used this language in an official capacity (unlike his predecessor, Habib Bourguiba, who frequently gave speeches in Derja). General Ammar, head of the Tunisian army in the post Ben Ali era, also spoke to protesters in Derja outside the government head quarters (el-qasba). His first words were in standard arabic but switched to Derja to really reach out and connect to the youth and persuade them to go home.
The Berbers
of the island of Jerba and the southern part of Tunisia speak Tunisian Arabic as a second language along with a Berber language called Shelha.
told by wandering storytellers and bards at marketplaces and festivals, but it has almost disappeared due to the widespread introduction of television and mass media in general. Notable examples of this folk literature are "El Jaziya El Hilaliya" and "Hkayet Ommi Sisi w'Dheeb". Most authors who write novels or short stories prefer to write in standard Arabic or in French. In some cases, the dialogue in a novel will be in Tunisian Arabic, but the main narrative will be in standard Arabic. An exception is Hedi Balegh, who has published collections of Tunisian proverbs and translated The Little Prince
into Tunisian Arabic. Plays are almost always written in Tunisian Arabic, except when they are placed in a historical setting. The lyrics to folk and popular music are usually in Tunisian Arabic. Newspapers and magazines are printed either in standard French or standard Arabic. Television newscasts and documentaries are broadcast in standard Arabic, while locally-produced soap operas, sitcoms and movies are usually delivered in Tunisian. In recent years, private radio stations have also begun broadcasting news bulletins and panel discussions in "Derja", which has also found favor (written in Latin characters) as a medium of expression on social websites.
, Spanish
, French
, Punic
, Berber
and Turkish
. For example:
Electricity is kahrabaːʔ in standard Arabic. It is trisiti in Tunisian (a word mainly used by older people), from the French électricité. Other loans from French include burtma:n 'apartment', and bjaːsa 'coin', from pièce.
Kitchen is matbax in standard Arabic, but is kuʒiːna in Tunisian, from the Italian word cucina.
Shoe is hiðaːʔ in standard Arabic and is sˤabbaːt in Tunisian, either from the Spanish word zapato or Turkish zabata. There are also words from Berber
, such as ʃlaːɣim 'moustache' and fakruːn 'tortoise', and from Turkish, such as baːlik, 'perhaps', baɾʃa 'very, much', and ɡaːwri (Gavur) 'European', as well as the suffix of occupation ʒi as in, among others, bustaːʒi (postacı) 'postman' and kawwarʒi 'footballer'. Some more words similar to French, Italian or Spanish are below (taken from Tunisien):
These loans are not to be confused with the actual use of French words or sentences in everyday speech by Tunisians (codeswitching
), which is common in every day language and business environments. However, many French words are used within Tunisian Arabic discourse, without being adapted to Tunisian phonology, apart from the French 'r' [ʁ] which is often replaced, especially by men, with [r] (Jabeur 1987). For example, many Tunisians, when asking "How are you doing?" will use the French "ça va?" instead of, and in addition to the Tunisian ʃnija ħwaːlik. It is difficult in this case to establish whether this is an example of using French or borrowing.
However, the greatest number of differences between Tunisian and Standard Arabic are not due to borrowing from another language, but due to shift in meaning of an Arabic root, as well as some neologisms. Almost all question words fall into the latter category: compare Tunisian and aːʃ 'what' with Arabic maːða, waqtaːʃ 'when' with mataː, ʃkuːn 'who' with man and ʕalaːʃ 'why' with limaːða. Shifts in meaning are demonstrated by roots such as xdm which means 'work' in Tunisian and 'serve' in Arabic, which is narrowed to 'do', and cannot mean 'work' as in Arabic, and which has broadened to 'go' from 'walk'.
Common Phrases and Vocab:
Short vowels are frequently omitted, especially where they would occur as the final element of an open syllable. This was probably encouraged by the Berber substratum
. For example,
/kataba/ he wrote in standard Arabic becomes /ktib/.
/katabat/ she wrote in standard Arabic becomes /kitbit/.
Regular verbs exhibit this shifting of the vowel in their conjugation, and it also occurs in nouns:
/dbiʃ/ stuff
/dibʃi/ my stuff
. Classical Arabic
/dˤ/ has merged with /ðˤ/.
See Arabic alphabet
for explanations on the IPA
phonetic symbols found in this chart. Pharyngealisation
in Arabic can also be represented with a dot below the letter, e.g. ⟨⟩.
Some consonants are bracketed in the table above because they are not universally considered to be separate phonemes, but there is strong evidence indicating they are. There are two sources for these bracketed consonants: the pharyngealised forms are internal developments while /p/ and /v/ are due to borrowing from French, and /ʔ/ from Standard Arabic. Minimal pair
s are not always easy to find for these contrasts, but there are nonetheless examples showing that these marginal forms do not represent allophone
s of other phonemes, e.g.
/baːb/ [bɛːb] door
/bˤaːbˤa/ [bˤɑːbˤɑ] (my) father
alongside a minimal pair:
/ɡaːz/ [ɡɛːz] petrol
/ɡaːzˤ/ [ɡɑːzˤ] gas
The realisation of the vowels within each pair is dramatically different. Pharyngealiastion on the consonants themselves is relatively weak, the main realisation being on adjacent vowels, and is being lost amongst some speakers, such as in [sbɛːħ] morning, with there being no vowel to carry any pharyngealisation on the first consonant. There are other words such as /nˤaːnˤa/ old lady, whose form, while not having any minimal or analogous pairs, cannot be attributed to conditioned variation, and which justify an (admittedly rare) phoneme /nˤ/. Minimal pairs for the more commonly admitted phonemes /rˤ/ and /lˤ/ can be given, as in
/ʒra/ [ʒrɛː] he ran
/ʒrˤa/ [ʒrˤɑː] it happened
/walːa/ [wɛlːɛ] or
/walˤːa/ [wɑlˤːɑ] by God!
Singer (1984:37-60) gives a full list of oppositions for each phoneme.
Tunisian Arabic has substantial borrowing from French, and many words and expressions used by those who do not speak French maintain /p/ and /v/, e.g.
pisiːn swimming pool
mɡarrap suffering from influenza (derived from French grippe)
jnarvisni He annoys me
ɡaːriv on strike (derived from French grève).
/ʔ/ tends to occur in the learnèd register
, in loans from Standard Arabic, often in masdar (verbal noun
) forms at the onset of the word, but also in other words like /biːʔa/ environment and /jisʔal/ he asks, though many (mainly less educated) speakers substitute /h/ for /ʔ/ in the latter word.
substrates, has a very different syllable structure from Standard Arabic. While Standard Arabic can have only one consonant at the beginning of a syllable, after which a vowel must follow, Tunisian commonly has two consonants in the onset. For example Standard Arabic book is /kitaːb/, while in Tunisian it is /ktaːb/. The nucleus may contain a short or long vowel, and at the end of the syllable, in the coda
, it may have up to three consonants, e.g. /ma dxaltʃ/ I did not enter; Standard Arabic can have no more than two consonants in this position. Word-internal syllables are generally heavy
in that they either have a long vowel in the nucleus or consonant in the coda. Non-final syllables composed of just a consonant and a short vowel (i.e. light syllables) are very rare, and are generally loans from Standard Arabic: short vowels in this position have generally been lost, resulting in the many initial CC clusters. For example /ʒawaːb/ reply is a loan from Standard Arabic, but the same word has the natural development /ʒwaːb/, which is the usual word for letter.
between Tunisian and Standard Arabic. Standard Arabic marks 13 person
/number
/gender
distinctions in the verb
al paradigm, whereas the dialect of Tunis
marks only seven (the gender distinction is found only in the third person singular). Rural or Bedouin
-origin dialects in the interior also mark gender in the second person singular, in common with most spoken varieties of Arabic elsewhere in the Arabic world.
In urban dialects, regular verb
s are conjugated
according to the following pattern:
In most rural dialects, the second-person singular has distinct masculine and feminine forms, with the masculine forms being as above ( and ), and the feminine forms being (perfective) and (imperfective).
, known as "weak" verbs, have a different pattern:
Most rural dialects have a different third-person singular feminine perfective form: .
Dialects with the phoneme /eː/ tend to use it in place of /iː/ in the perfective conjugation.
Rural dialects delete the stem vowel in the plural imperfective forms, giving forms such as . Probably encouraged by the berber substrat.
, Passive.
, more precisely Zenata
Berber
that was spoken by the majority of Tunisians ancestors:
for nouns is only used for quantity measures and things often occurring in twos (e.g. eyes, hands, parents).
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of the Arabic language
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, spoken by some 11 million people. It is usually known by its own speakers as Derja, which means dialect, to distinguish it from Standard Arabic, or as Tunsi, which means Tunisian. It is spoken all over 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...
, and merges, as part of a dialect continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
, into similar varieties in eastern Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
and western Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
. Its morphology
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
, syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
, pronunciation
Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
and vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
are quite different from Standard or Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic , also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times . It is based on the Medieval dialects of Arab tribes...
. Tunisian Arabic, like other Maghrebi dialects, has a vocabulary mostly Arabic, with significant Berber
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...
substrates, and many words and loanwords borrowed from Berber
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...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and Spanish. Derja is mutually spoken and understood in the Maghreb countries, especially Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, but hard to understand for orientals.
It continues to evolve by integrating new French or English words, notably in technical fields, or by replacing old French and Spanish ones with Standard Arabic words within some circles. In Eastern Arab countries the similar term (العامية (al-)`āmmiyya) is more commonly used for the colloquial varieties of Arabic there. Moreover, Tunisian is also closely related to Maltese
Maltese language
Maltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic...
, which is not considered to be a dialect of Arabic for sociolinguistic reasons.
Almost all literate speakers of Tunisian also understand and can speak some Standard Arabic. Most Tunisians view Tunisian Arabic as a derivative form of Classical Arabic with loanwords from Berber, French, Italian, Turkish and Spanish though awareness of Tunisian as a distinct language is growing, especially among the younger generation.
Distinctives
Tunisian Arabic is a spoken variety of Arabic, and as such shares many features with other modern varietiesVarieties of Arabic
The Arabic language is a Semitic language characterized by a wide number of linguistic varieties within its five regional forms. The largest divisions occur between the spoken languages of different regions. The Arabic of North Africa, for example, is often incomprehensible to an Arabic speaker...
, especially North African ones. Some of its distinctives (from other Arabic dialects) are listed here.
- A conservative consonantConsonantIn articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
al phonologyPhonologyPhonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
(due to BerberBerber languagesThe 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...
substrates), with /q/ and interdentalInterdental consonantInterdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors...
fricatives maintained. - The use of inti in urban varieties meaning 'you' when addressing both men and women, and a concomitant loss of this genderGrammatical genderGrammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
distinction in the verbVerbA verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
al morphologyMorphology (linguistics)In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
. This distinction is still maintained in rural varieties by using inta for male and inti for female. - The lack of an indicative prefix in the verbal system, resulting in no distinction between indicative and subjunctive moodSubjunctive moodIn grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
s. - The innovation of a progressive aspectGrammatical aspectIn linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
by means of the participleParticipleIn linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
qā‘ed, originally 'sitting' and the preposition fī 'in' in transitiveTransitivity (grammatical category)In linguistics, transitivity is a property of verbs that relates to whether a verb can take direct objects and how many such objects a verb can take...
clauses. - The distinctive usage of future tense by using the prefix besh + verb which is nearly equivalent to 'will' + verb.
- Some vocabulary such as fīsa‘ 'fast', behi 'good' and barsha 'very much'. (e.g.: behi barsha = 'very good')
- Unlike most of the other Muslim countries, the greeting as-salamu alaykumAs-Salamu AlaykumAs-Salāmu `Alaykum is a traditional Muslim greeting, often translated as Peace be upon you.-Usage:*In Arabia, the greeting is associated with shaking right hands and then possibly two or three light cheek to cheek kisses....
is not used as the common greeting word in Tunisia. Tunisians use the expression ‘asslema (formal) or ahla (informal) for greeting. Also, bisslema (formal) or the Italian ciao (informal) are used as the Tunisian 'goodbye' expression, and barak allāhu fīk, ‘ayshek or aḥsent for 'thank you', in lieu of shukran, which is seldom heard among Tunisians. - The passive derivation of verbs is similar to BerberBerber languagesThe 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...
and does not exist in Classical Arabic. It is obtained by prefixing the verb with t- / tt- / tn- / n- (ex: ::shreb 'to drink' → tteshreb 'to be drunk'). - Nearly all educated Tunisians can communicate in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, which is widely used in business and as the main means of communication with foreigners. French expressions and vocabulary are used in the local language itself.
Dialects
The major distinction within Tunisian Arabic is that between sedentary (mainly urban) and Nomade-origin (rural) dialects (see Sedentary vs. Nomade). Note that most speakers of these rural varieties are not actually nomadic. Sedentary varieties are spoken in large cities on or near the coast, such as TunisTunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
, Bizerte
Bizerte
Bizerte or Benzert , is the capital city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia and the northernmost city in Africa. It has a population of 230,879 .-History:...
, Nabeul
Nabeul
Nabeul is a coastal town in northeastern Tunisia, on the south coast near to the Cap Bon peninsula. It is located at around and is the capital of the Nabeul Governorate...
, Hammamet, Sousse
Sousse
Sousse is a city in Tunisia. Located 140 km south of the capital Tunis, the city has 173,047 inhabitants . Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The name may be of Berber origin: similar names are found in Libya and in...
, Monastir
Monastir, Tunisia
-Areas within Monastir:Monastir's north-eastern territories lead into a place called Route de la Falaise, through which you will reach its most notable suburb, Skanes, which is 6 miles from Monastir's town centre...
, Mahdia
Mahdia
Mahdia is a provincial centre north of Sfax. It is important for the associated fish-processing industry, as well as weaving. It is the capital of Mahdia Governorate.- History :...
, Kairouan
Kairouan
Kairouan , also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan , is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. Referred to as the Islamic Cultural Capital, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was founded by the Arabs around 670...
, and Sfax
Sfax
Sfax is a city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD 849 on the ruins of Taparura and Thaenae, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate , and a Mediterranean port. Sfax has population of 340,000...
, while the rest of the country to the west and south of this coastal strip uses rural varieties, including the towns of Gabès
Gabès
Gabès , also spelt Cabès, Cabes, Kabes, Gabbs and Gaps, the ancient Tacape, is the capital city of the Gabès Governorate, a province of Tunisia. It lies on the coast of the Gulf of Gabès. With a population of 116,323 it is the 6th largest Tunisian city.-History:Strabo refers to Tacape as an...
, Gafsa
Gafsa
Gafsa is the capital of Gafsa Governorate of Tunisia. Its name was appropriated by archaeologists for the Mesolithic Capsian culture. With a population of 84,676, it is the 9th Tunisian city.-Overview:...
, Tozeur
Tozeur
Tozeur is an oasis and a city in south west Tunisia. The city is located North West of Chott el-Djerid, in between this Chott and the smaller Chott el-Gharsa. It is the capital of the Tozeur Governorate....
, El Kef
El Kef
El Kef , also known as Le Kef, is a city in north western Tunisia and the capital of the Kef Governorate.Situated in the northwest of the country, to the west of Tunis and some east of the border between Algeria and Tunisia, El Kef has a population of . The old town is built on the cliff face...
and Béja
Béja
Beja is a town in Tunisia, Africa. It is the capital of the Béja Governorate. It is located 105 km from Tunis, between the Medjerdah River and the Mediterranean, against the foothills of the Khroumire, the town of Beja is situated on the sides of Djebel Acheb, facing the greening meadows,...
. Rural dialects are also found in small villages not far from the centres of the urban dialects.
All the urban varieties use the voiceless
Voiceless
In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...
uvular plosive /q/ in words such as qal 'he said', while rural varieties have the voiced
Voice (phonetics)
Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate...
velar
Velar consonant
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
plosive /ɡ/ in such words ɡal 'he said'. Urban varieties also pronounce a final root vowel before another vowel, as in the word msha:u 'they went', while rural varieties delete this final vowel, giving mshu. Urban varieties also share with Maltese the distinction amongst Arabic dialects of not marking gender in the second person. The otherwise feminine inti is used to address men and women, much to the bemusement of other Arabic speakers, while in the verb no feminine marking is used. Rural dialects maintain the usual distinctions found in Arabic, whether standard or spoken.
There is further variation within both urban and rural dialects. For example, the dialect of Sfax maintains the diphthongs of Standard Arabic in words such as layl 'evening' (commonly pronounced as lēl in other regions), a trait shared by Maltese and the traditional women's dialect of Tunis.
Further information on Tunisian dialectology
Dialectology
Dialectology is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their associated features...
can be found in Gibson (1998), Marçais (1950), Singer (1984), and Talmoudi (1980).
Domains of use
Tunisian Arabic or derja is the mother tongue of the Arabic-speaking population in Tunisia. It is also the second language of the Berber minority living in the country. Standard Arabic and French are taught at school.Tunisian Arabic has the role of the low variety in an example of classic diglossia
Diglossia
In linguistics, diglossia refers to a situation in which two dialects or languages are used by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety , a second, highly codified variety is used in certain situations such as literature, formal...
, where Standard Arabic is the high variety.
As such, the use of Tunisian is mainly restricted to spoken domains, though cartoons in newspapers may be written in it, and since the 1990s many advertising boards have their slogans (though not the name of the company) written in Tunisian.
Increasingly, Tunisians are also choosing to communicate in Tunisian online, especially on social-networking sites and in mobile-phone text messages. Latin characters are used for online communication, using French phonology and inserting numbers in lieu of diacritics as signifiers of non-Latin phonemes (e.g., by using number 9 to show the letter "qaf"). This trend accelerated during the recent street protests that brought down the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in which text messaging and social networking played a major role.
The current trend among young people is to dismiss Standard Arabic as pretentious and, since it is not well-understood among those who have not been through secondary school, as a tool of control and oppression by the country's various regimes. One sign of this trend is that, for the first, time, at least one private radio station, Chems FM, now broadcasts news bulletins and many panel discussions entirely in Derja. In the weeks following the fall of Ben Ali, Derja has also been heard far more frequently on both state and private television. Significantly Ben Ali's last address to the nation prior to his flight abroad was given in Derja, the first time he had used this language in an official capacity (unlike his predecessor, Habib Bourguiba, who frequently gave speeches in Derja). General Ammar, head of the Tunisian army in the post Ben Ali era, also spoke to protesters in Derja outside the government head quarters (el-qasba). His first words were in standard arabic but switched to Derja to really reach out and connect to the youth and persuade them to go home.
The Berbers
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
of the island of Jerba and the southern part of Tunisia speak Tunisian Arabic as a second language along with a Berber language called Shelha.
Literature in Tunisian Arabic
There are very few works of literature written in Tunisian Arabic. A large body of folk tales and folk poems existed in the past. This was mainly an oral traditionOral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
told by wandering storytellers and bards at marketplaces and festivals, but it has almost disappeared due to the widespread introduction of television and mass media in general. Notable examples of this folk literature are "El Jaziya El Hilaliya" and "Hkayet Ommi Sisi w'Dheeb". Most authors who write novels or short stories prefer to write in standard Arabic or in French. In some cases, the dialogue in a novel will be in Tunisian Arabic, but the main narrative will be in standard Arabic. An exception is Hedi Balegh, who has published collections of Tunisian proverbs and translated The Little Prince
The Little Prince
The Little Prince , first published in 1943, is a novella and the most famous work of the French aristocrat writer, poet and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ....
into Tunisian Arabic. Plays are almost always written in Tunisian Arabic, except when they are placed in a historical setting. The lyrics to folk and popular music are usually in Tunisian Arabic. Newspapers and magazines are printed either in standard French or standard Arabic. Television newscasts and documentaries are broadcast in standard Arabic, while locally-produced soap operas, sitcoms and movies are usually delivered in Tunisian. In recent years, private radio stations have also begun broadcasting news bulletins and panel discussions in "Derja", which has also found favor (written in Latin characters) as a medium of expression on social websites.
Vocabulary
The most immediately apparent difference between Tunisian and standard Arabic is the extensive use of words borrowed from ItalianItalian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Punic
Punic language
The Punic language or Carthagian language is an extinct Semitic language formerly spoken in the Mediterranean region of North Africa and several Mediterranean islands, by people of the Punic culture.- Description :...
, Berber
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...
and Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
. For example:
Electricity is kahrabaːʔ in standard Arabic. It is trisiti in Tunisian (a word mainly used by older people), from the French électricité. Other loans from French include burtma:n 'apartment', and bjaːsa 'coin', from pièce.
Kitchen is matbax in standard Arabic, but is kuʒiːna in Tunisian, from the Italian word cucina.
Shoe is hiðaːʔ in standard Arabic and is sˤabbaːt in Tunisian, either from the Spanish word zapato or Turkish zabata. There are also words from Berber
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...
, such as ʃlaːɣim 'moustache' and fakruːn 'tortoise', and from Turkish, such as baːlik, 'perhaps', baɾʃa 'very, much', and ɡaːwri (Gavur) 'European', as well as the suffix of occupation ʒi as in, among others, bustaːʒi (postacı) 'postman' and kawwarʒi 'footballer'. Some more words similar to French, Italian or Spanish are below (taken from Tunisien):
|
|
|
These loans are not to be confused with the actual use of French words or sentences in everyday speech by Tunisians (codeswitching
Code-switching
In linguistics, code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in conversation. Multilinguals—people who speak more than one language—sometimes use elements of multiple languages in conversing with each other...
), which is common in every day language and business environments. However, many French words are used within Tunisian Arabic discourse, without being adapted to Tunisian phonology, apart from the French 'r' [ʁ] which is often replaced, especially by men, with [r] (Jabeur 1987). For example, many Tunisians, when asking "How are you doing?" will use the French "ça va?" instead of, and in addition to the Tunisian ʃnija ħwaːlik. It is difficult in this case to establish whether this is an example of using French or borrowing.
However, the greatest number of differences between Tunisian and Standard Arabic are not due to borrowing from another language, but due to shift in meaning of an Arabic root, as well as some neologisms. Almost all question words fall into the latter category: compare Tunisian and aːʃ 'what' with Arabic maːða, waqtaːʃ 'when' with mataː, ʃkuːn 'who' with man and ʕalaːʃ 'why' with limaːða. Shifts in meaning are demonstrated by roots such as xdm which means 'work' in Tunisian and 'serve' in Arabic, which is narrowed to 'do', and cannot mean 'work' as in Arabic, and which has broadened to 'go' from 'walk'.
Common Phrases and Vocab:
- Hello: Aslema / Ahla Bik/ Salut
- How are you: Labes? Ichnawelek (sometimes pronounced as "Shnahwalik") / Kif ennek?
- Response: Labes/Hamdoullah
- Thank you: Merci/ Merci alik / Aychek/ barakallahufik/ Chokran
- A lot: Barcha
- Nothing: Hata Shay
- How Much: Qaddesh? / Qaddeh?
- French: Suri
- When (in a question form): Waqtesh? / Waqteh?
- Who: Ashkoun? / Shkoun?
- What: Ashnowa? (for masculin) / Ashnya? (for femenine)
- Goodbye: Beslema / Bye / Ciao
- Maybe: Momkin
- Understand: Fihmtni
- Why: Alash
- How: Kifash
- Sorted: Mrigla
Some Berber words in Tunisian Derja
- louz - louza (brother / sister in law)
- Chlaɣem (mustache)
- Fertass (bold)
Phonology
There are several differences in pronunciation between Standard Arabic and Tunisian.Short vowels are frequently omitted, especially where they would occur as the final element of an open syllable. This was probably encouraged by the Berber substratum
Substratum
In linguistics, a stratum or strate is a language that influences, or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum is a language which has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum is the language that has higher power or prestige. Both substratum and superstratum...
. For example,
/kataba/ he wrote in standard Arabic becomes /ktib/.
/katabat/ she wrote in standard Arabic becomes /kitbit/.
Regular verbs exhibit this shifting of the vowel in their conjugation, and it also occurs in nouns:
/dbiʃ/ stuff
/dibʃi/ my stuff
Consonants
Standard Arabic qâf has both /q/ and /ɡ/ as reflexes in both urban and rural varieties, with /q/ predominating in urban varieties and /ɡ/ in rural ones (e.g. He said is /qaːl/ vs. /ɡaːl/). But some words have the same form whatever the dialect: cow is always /baɡra/ and I study /naqra/. Interdental fricatives are also maintained, except in the traditional dialect of MahdiaMahdia
Mahdia is a provincial centre north of Sfax. It is important for the associated fish-processing industry, as well as weaving. It is the capital of Mahdia Governorate.- History :...
. Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic , also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times . It is based on the Medieval dialects of Arab tribes...
/dˤ/ has merged with /ðˤ/.
| Bilabial | Inter- dental |
Dental | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Uvular | Pharyn- geal Pharyngeal consonant A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.-Pharyngeal consonants in the IPA:Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet :... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | emphatic | plain | emphatic | |||||||||
| Stop Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
voiceless | (p) | t | tˤ | k | q | (ʔ) | |||||
| voiced | b | (bˤ) | d | ɡ | ||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | sˤ | ʃ | χ | ħ | h | |||
| voiced | (v) | ð, ðˤ | z | (zˤ) | ʒ | ʁ | ʕ | |||||
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | (mˤ) | n | (nˤ) | ||||||||
| Lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... |
l | lˤ | ||||||||||
| Tap | r | rˤ | ||||||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||||||||
See Arabic alphabet
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...
for explanations on the IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
phonetic symbols found in this chart. Pharyngealisation
Pharyngealisation
-Further reading:*Ian Maddieson, -See also:*Velarization*Creaky voice *Pharyngeal consonant*Epiglottal consonant*Pharynx...
in Arabic can also be represented with a dot below the letter, e.g. ⟨⟩.
Some consonants are bracketed in the table above because they are not universally considered to be separate phonemes, but there is strong evidence indicating they are. There are two sources for these bracketed consonants: the pharyngealised forms are internal developments while /p/ and /v/ are due to borrowing from French, and /ʔ/ from Standard Arabic. Minimal pair
Minimal pair
In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language, which differ in only one phonological element, such as a phone, phoneme, toneme or chroneme and have distinct meanings...
s are not always easy to find for these contrasts, but there are nonetheless examples showing that these marginal forms do not represent allophone
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
s of other phonemes, e.g.
/baːb/ [bɛːb] door
/bˤaːbˤa/ [bˤɑːbˤɑ] (my) father
alongside a minimal pair:
/ɡaːz/ [ɡɛːz] petrol
/ɡaːzˤ/ [ɡɑːzˤ] gas
The realisation of the vowels within each pair is dramatically different. Pharyngealiastion on the consonants themselves is relatively weak, the main realisation being on adjacent vowels, and is being lost amongst some speakers, such as in [sbɛːħ] morning, with there being no vowel to carry any pharyngealisation on the first consonant. There are other words such as /nˤaːnˤa/ old lady, whose form, while not having any minimal or analogous pairs, cannot be attributed to conditioned variation, and which justify an (admittedly rare) phoneme /nˤ/. Minimal pairs for the more commonly admitted phonemes /rˤ/ and /lˤ/ can be given, as in
/ʒra/ [ʒrɛː] he ran
/ʒrˤa/ [ʒrˤɑː] it happened
/walːa/ [wɛlːɛ] or
/walˤːa/ [wɑlˤːɑ] by God!
Singer (1984:37-60) gives a full list of oppositions for each phoneme.
Tunisian Arabic has substantial borrowing from French, and many words and expressions used by those who do not speak French maintain /p/ and /v/, e.g.
pisiːn swimming pool
mɡarrap suffering from influenza (derived from French grippe)
jnarvisni He annoys me
ɡaːriv on strike (derived from French grève).
/ʔ/ tends to occur in the learnèd register
Register (linguistics)
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...
, in loans from Standard Arabic, often in masdar (verbal noun
Verbal noun
In linguistics, the verbal noun turns a verb into a noun and corresponds to the infinitive in English language usage. In English the infinitive form of the verb is formed when preceded by to, e.g...
) forms at the onset of the word, but also in other words like /biːʔa/ environment and /jisʔal/ he asks, though many (mainly less educated) speakers substitute /h/ for /ʔ/ in the latter word.
Vowels
Given that pharyngealisation is a property of consonants, most dialects have three vowel qualities /i, a, u/, all also distinguished for length, as in Standard Arabic. The length distinction is suspended word finally. A final vowel is realised long in accent-bearing words of one syllable (e.g. /ʒa/ [ʒɛː] he came), otherwise short. Some dialects, for example those of Monastir and Gabès, also have long vowels /eː/ and /oː/, derived from Old Arabic /aj/ and /aw/. These latter forms are maintained in Sfax, and in the more traditional, but receding, women's dialect of Tunis, but are merged with /iː/ and /uː/ in most dialects. Tunisian maintains a robust distinction between all short vowels, unlike Moroccan and Algerian: e.g. /qimt/ I resided vs. /qumt/ I rose. Except in varieties where Old Arabic forms are maintained, there are no diphthongs. In non-pharyngealised environments there is a strong fronting and closing of /aː/, which, especially among younger speakers in Tunis can reach as far as [eː], and to a lesser extent of /a/.Syllable
Tunisian Arabic, like many other North African varieties due to their BerberBerber 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...
substrates, has a very different syllable structure from Standard Arabic. While Standard Arabic can have only one consonant at the beginning of a syllable, after which a vowel must follow, Tunisian commonly has two consonants in the onset. For example Standard Arabic book is /kitaːb/, while in Tunisian it is /ktaːb/. The nucleus may contain a short or long vowel, and at the end of the syllable, in the coda
Syllable coda
In phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a rime. Some syllables consist only of a nucleus with no coda...
, it may have up to three consonants, e.g. /ma dxaltʃ/ I did not enter; Standard Arabic can have no more than two consonants in this position. Word-internal syllables are generally heavy
Syllable weight
In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In classical poetry, both Greek and Latin, distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to the meter of the line....
in that they either have a long vowel in the nucleus or consonant in the coda. Non-final syllables composed of just a consonant and a short vowel (i.e. light syllables) are very rare, and are generally loans from Standard Arabic: short vowels in this position have generally been lost, resulting in the many initial CC clusters. For example /ʒawaːb/ reply is a loan from Standard Arabic, but the same word has the natural development /ʒwaːb/, which is the usual word for letter.
Verb conjugation
There are significant differences in morphologyMorphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
between Tunisian and Standard Arabic. Standard Arabic marks 13 person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
/number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
/gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
distinctions in the verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
al paradigm, whereas the dialect of Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
marks only seven (the gender distinction is found only in the third person singular). Rural or Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
-origin dialects in the interior also mark gender in the second person singular, in common with most spoken varieties of Arabic elsewhere in the Arabic world.
In urban dialects, regular verb
Regular verb
A regular verb is any verb whose conjugation follows the typical grammatical inflections of the language to which it belongs. A verb that cannot be conjugated like this is called an irregular verb. All natural languages, to different extents, have a number of irregular verbs...
s are conjugated
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
according to the following pattern:
| perfective | imperfective | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| 1st person | |||||
| 2nd person | |||||
| 3rd | masculine | ||||
| feminine | |||||
In most rural dialects, the second-person singular has distinct masculine and feminine forms, with the masculine forms being as above ( and ), and the feminine forms being (perfective) and (imperfective).
Weak verbs
Verbs with a final semivowelSemivowel
In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel is a sound, such as English or , that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.-Classification:...
, known as "weak" verbs, have a different pattern:
| perfective | imperfective | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| 1st person | |||||
| 2nd person | |||||
| 3rd | masculine | ||||
| feminine | |||||
Most rural dialects have a different third-person singular feminine perfective form: .
Dialects with the phoneme /eː/ tend to use it in place of /iː/ in the perfective conjugation.
Rural dialects delete the stem vowel in the plural imperfective forms, giving forms such as . Probably encouraged by the berber substrat.
Verb derivation
Verb derivation is done by adding suffixes or by doubling consonants, there are two types of derivation forms : CausativeCausative
In linguistics, a causative is a form that indicates that a subject causes someone or something else to do or be something, or causes a change in state of a non-volitional event....
, Passive.
- Causative: is obtained by doubling consonants :
-
- khrej "to go out" → kherrej "to make to go out"
- dkhel "to enter" → dekhkhel "to make to enter, to introduce"
- Passive: This derivation is similar to BerberBerber languagesThe 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...
and does not exist in Classical Arabic (the passive voice in classical Arabic uses vowel changes and not verb derivation), it is obtained by prefixing the verb with t- / tt- / tn- / n- :
-
- qtel "to kill" → teqtel "to be killed"
- šreb "to drink" → ttešreb "to be drunk".
Future tense
The future tense in Tunisian Arabic is also similar to BerberBerber 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...
, more precisely Zenata
Zenata
Zenata were an ethnic group of North Africa, who were technically an Eastern Berber group and who are found in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco....
Berber
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 by the majority of Tunisians ancestors:
-
- bash + verb → "will" + verb (ex: bash tettkasser → it will break)
Noun
Marking of the dualDual
Dual may refer to:* Dual , a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another** Dual , a formalization of mathematical duality** . . ...
for nouns is only used for quantity measures and things often occurring in twos (e.g. eyes, hands, parents).
See also
- Varieties of ArabicVarieties of ArabicThe Arabic language is a Semitic language characterized by a wide number of linguistic varieties within its five regional forms. The largest divisions occur between the spoken languages of different regions. The Arabic of North Africa, for example, is often incomprehensible to an Arabic speaker...
- Maghrebi Arabic
- Algerian ArabicAlgerian ArabicAlgerian Arabic is the variety or varieties of Arabic spoken in Algeria. In Algeria, as elsewhere, spoken Arabic differs from written Arabic; Algerian Arabic has a vocabulary mostly Arabic, with significant Berber substrates, and many new words and loanwords borrowed from French, Turkish and...
- Libyan ArabicLibyan ArabicLibyan Arabic is a collective term for the closely related varieties of Arabic spoken in Libya. It can be divided into two major dialect areas; the eastern centred in Benghazi and Bayda, and the western centred in Tripoli and Misrata...
- Moroccan ArabicMoroccan ArabicMoroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco. For official communications, the government and other public bodies use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries. A mixture of French and Moroccan Arabic is used in business...