Tunisian Phonological and Morphological Varieties: Differences between the Regional Dialects of El Kef and Tozeur (original) (raw)

Three for the price of one: The dialects of Kerkennah (Tunisia)

This article reports on a linguistic survey carried out in the Kerkennah Archipelago in Tunisia, where three varieties were identified: two pre-hilalian dialects amongst which one conservative and one more innovative variety and one /g/ dialect spoken in Mellita. The most striking feature of the conservative variety is that it maintains /a/ in unstressed open syllables. Genereally, Kerkennah Arabic lacks raising of medial /ā/ and raises the feminine ending -a to [e].

The Phonology of the Judaeo-Arabic Dialect of Gabes (Southern Tunisia)

Journal of Semitic Studies, 2022

This paper presents a phonological analysis of a hitherto unexamined endangered Arabic dialect, that of the Jews of Gabes in Southern Tunisia, combining a comparative examination of various phonological phenomena in selected Arabic dialects of the region. The primary aim of the study is to establish the features distinguishing Jewish Gabes from other Jewish North-African dialects, and, since no south-Tunisian Jewish dialect has been studied to date, to produce a thorough analysis of the sound system of this variety. Special attention was paid to the alternations of sibilants in the region, which distinguish North-African Arabic from the dialects spoken East of Egypt. Moreover, this article constitutes the very first attempt at acoustic analysis of the emphatics and vowels in North-African Arabic. Based on the data obtained by means of the Praat software, it has been shown that the emphatic consonants in Jewish Gabes have different levels of spreadability.

Mahdia Dialect: An Urban Vernacular in the Tunisian Sahel Context

Special Issue "The Classification of Arabic Dialects: Traditional Approaches, New Proposals, and Methodological Problems", 2021

This paper aims to present some preliminary results of the linguistic analysis of the dialect of the Wilāya of Mahdia on which few studies exist, focused mainly on phonology. My analysis, here extended to the morpho-syntactic level, is based on a corpus of interviews taken from some social media pages. The sample will be composed of respondents of different geographical origin (from Mahdia and some nearby towns), gender, age and social background. A deeper knowledge of the Arabic of Mahdia region, which is a bundle of urban, Bedouin and “villageois” varieties, would contribute to throw new light on the features of the Saḥlī dialects and would add a small piece to the complex mosaic of Tunisian and Maghrebi dialects, whose traditional categories of classification should be reconsidered.

The Phonological System of the Berber Dialect of Ajdir (Rif Area of Morocco)

1980

The purpose of this thesis is to carry out a phonemic analysis of a specific Berber dialect so as to be able to commit spoken material from this dialect to written form. The main aim therefore was to lay the foundations for a practical orthography for synchronic purposes. The dialect chosen for study is that of the investigator, namely of the village of Ajdir in the igyzannayan tribal area of North Eastern Morocco. In addition to the main body of lexical items based on the investigator's own experience as a native speaker, a quantity of taped material was also collected in the field and subjected to phonemic analysis in terms of the investigator's own idiolect. A description of the system was then carried out on the basis of minimal pairs. All lexical items used for the description of the sounds and for the establishment of minimal oppositions were tape-recorded and are reproduced on a cassette which accompanies the thesis.

Dialectal Change in a Northwestern Algerian City: The Case of Sidi Bel-Abbes

International Journal of Arabic Linguistics, 2019

Due to the dialectal contact resulting from a massive migration from different parts of the country, the Arabic variety of Sidi Bel-Abbes, a city in northwestern Algeria, is undergoing change. Countless studies have been suggested to account for dialectal change in Arab and/or Arabic speaking countries; however, most of them have either relied solely on phonological changes such as interdentals to dentals and the status of q, g, and the glottal stop ?, or suggested a single model to account for dialectal change. In addition to phonological changes, this work examines other linguistic level features, for example, lexical and morphosyntactic markers. Furthermore, it proposes a complex analysis whereby a combination of factors pertaining to the speakers' social relations, attitudes, representations, and identity are considered.

The Impact of Arabic in Tunisian Dialect: A Sociolinguistic Analysis

2023

Tunisian Arabic, also known as Tunisian Dialect, is a unique variant of Arabic spoken in Tunisia. Due to its historical and geographical context, Tunisian Arabic has been influenced by other languages, including French, Italian, and Berber, among others. This research paper aims to explore the impact of Arabic on Tunisian dialect from a sociolinguistic perspective. The study will examine the linguistic features of Tunisian Arabic that have been influenced by Arabic, the social factors that affect the use and perception of Arabic in Tunisian dialect, and the implications of these linguistic and social factors for language policy and planning.