ORIENTALIA GOTHOBURGENSIA 4 The Arabic Dialect of Stisa (Tunisia) By FATHI TALMOUDI vu a 6110 Ta T34 1980 ACTA UNIVERSITATIS GOTHOBURGENSISABSTRACT Title: The Arabic Dialect of Stisa (Tunisia) Author: Fathi Talmoudi University: University of Gdteborg, Department of Arabic Studies A gap between Classical Arabic and the different dialects causes a very serious problem in the Arabic speaking countries. The first mentioned form is prestigious and practically the only language form considered in the Arab world to be worthy of serious study and linguistic care. The different dialects have been ignored due to many reasons, inter alia the variation of the different dialects. The aim of this study is to fill a gap in Tunisian dialectology since there have been, when compared with other subjects, few studies devoted to collo- quial Tunisian Arabic. The main task of this study is to give a precise linguistic description of the genuine dialect of Susa which is spoken in the old city, the Medina. A structural and consistent description of the language spoken in the whole of modern Susa is impossible to achieve due to the population explosion and the violent immigration of the sixties and seventies. In this phonological and morphological study the description is, however, not solely based on the indisputable, genuine idiom of the old generation, but large considera- tion is given to the linguistic change which is reflected in the vernacular of the younger generation. After the descriptive part, which is a synchronic description of the collo- quial speech of the Medina of Susa, where segmental phonemes, suprasegmental features, phonological and morphophonological alternations, verbal system and nominal morphology are discussed in detail. A non-islamic Arabic dialect of the Jews in Tunis and another sedentary Western dialect (the dialect of Cherchell, Algeria) are compared with the dialect of Sisa in order to show up their different’ linguistic characteristics. Finally the last part of the study is devoted to particularize the different Tunisian dialect groups and furthermore outline major dialect boundaries by using selected features of the dialects. Key words: Phonology and Morphology, Semitic Linguistics, Arabic Dialectol- ogy, North African Dialects. © Fathi Talmoudi 1980 ISBN 91-7346-079-6 ISSN 0078-656X Distributors ACTA UNIVERSITATIS GOTHOBURGENSIS Box 5096 S-402 22 Géteborg 5 SwedenAcknowledgements I am indebted to my Professor Heikki Palva who directed my postgraduate studies and the writing of this thesis. My gratitude to him is beyond ex- pression for his valuable help and constant encouragement and care. With- out his guidance and helpful advice this study would not have been done. I owe him also much of my training in Arabic Linguistics. His humanity and deep understanding are beyond praise. I am also indebted to Professor Usten Dah1 who directed my studies in General Linguistics. I would like to ex- press my sincere thanks to Professor Kerstin Hadding who directed my stud- ies in General Phonetics. I am grateful to my colleague Jan Retsd and the Postgraduate students participating in the research seminars for their in- cisive comments on various parts of this work. My colleague Pierre Javanaud was kind enough to go through this thesis and correct my English. Thousand thanks to my wife Agnetha Talmoudi who helped me with the typing job. I am also indebted to my Tunisian friends and informants for much of my infor- mation on the dialect of Sisa and the other Tunisian dialects. Last but not least I would like to thank the assistant at the Department of Arabic stud- ies, Erik Wachenberg, for his patience and administrative help. Gothenburg, September 1979 Fathi TalmoudiContents INTRODUCTION 0.1 General. 0.2 The Arabic dialects..... eee siete cherie su secaiee 9.3 The Tunisian dialects 0.4 Siisa fi 0.5 The aim, corpus and method 0.6 Previous studies.....sscnceve.vectserusts tier oesdwseets 0.7 Symbolism. .+...e5 ee ee ee PHONOLOGY AND PHONOTACTICS......seseseeeseseeseusseeeeeuseen eres I THE PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE ...........csecseeseeeeeee ees wd SEGMENTAL PHONEMES el The vowel system 1.1.2 The consonant system, 1.1.3 Conclusion... .s6seees ceeded cede see ese Gots ce ese ges 1.2 PROSODY. « 1.2.1 Duration. 1.2.2 Stress.. 1.2.3 Intonationsctscss 5: de seccssnese sone ee eee 1.2.4 Emphasis....ssseeees ageuannaan 1.3 MANNERS OF ARTICULATION, 1.3.1 The consonants. 1.3.2 The semi-vowels.....sseeeee eacune vee ce eens eee een eens 1.3.3 The VOWEIS.ssssecseceeeeeeeenes ee ee 1.3.4 Conclusion. . 14 PHONOLOGICAL CHANGES. 1.4.1 The consonants: 1.4.2 The semi-vowels......seceeee scene 1.4.3 The vowels 1.4.4 Conclusion. IL PHONOTACTICS. . : 2.1 SYLUABIE PATTERNS. (sss eoeceecsccses cece st ses eects : 2.2 DISTRIBUTION OF VOWELS WITH /w/ AND /y/. 2.2.1 Initially v7 v7 W7 v7 19 38 42 42 42 43 43 45 45 48 48 49 50 50 55 56 59 60 60 61 612&2 202.3 2.3 2.4 2.4.1 2.4.2 MORPHOLOGY 1 14] 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.1.3 1.1.4 1.1.5 1.1.6 RLF 1.1.8 La 1.2 Lai 1.2.2 1.2.3 1.2.4 1.2.5 1.2.6 1.2.7 1.2.8 1.2.9 II 2.1 2.1.1 L2 1.3 z 2.1 Medially 62 Finally. 63 DISTRIBUTION OF VOWELS WITH CONSONANTS . 63 CONSONANT CLUSTERS ......0sseocenesseasisieniecinsiesie dh osn . 64 Two-consonant clusters . 64 Three-consonant clusters . n Car ND nrCP RR AmaE nae seve 76 VERBAL MORPHOLOGY . 76 REGULAR FORM . 78 The regular verb. 78 Tpeigeminate verbo es suedieeeosee 80 The initial-weak verb. 82 The middle-weak verb 84 The final-weak verb. 86 The doubly weak verb 89 The verbs /3a/ and /raf.........4. ae 90 Verbs corresponding to the Classical Arabic...........05 92 "hamzated' verbs The quadriradical verb.......-. 94 DERIVED THEMES 98 Form Isiess ess 98 Form III.. 99 Form IV. 100 Form V 101 FomVies eee ee eae 102 Form Wiis eect ees eee ea raaaee acai 103 Form VIII. 104 Form IX. 106 Form X.seeeeee 107 NOMINAL MORPHOLOGY 0 PARTICIPLES . 110 Verbal participles 10 Nominal participles 10 Derived participles m VERBAL NOUNS . ie Triradical verbal nouns 12 Derived verbal nouns .. : 14 Quadriradical verbal nouns ......s.seeeceeeeseeeeeeee tees 115 SUBSTANTIVES ... 116 Biradical substantive stems 11623.2: 2.3.3 2.3.4 2.3.6 2.4 2.4.1 2.4.2 2.5 2.5.1 2.5.2 2.5.3 2.5.4 2.6 2.6.1 2.6.2 2.6.3 2.6.4 Bal 2.8 2.8.1 2.8.2 2.8.3 2.8.4 2.9 2.9.1 2.9.2 2.9.3 2.9.4 2.9.5 2.9.6 2.10 2.10.1 2.10.2 2.11 2.11.1 2.11.2 2.11.3 2.12 2.12.1 2.12.2 Triradical substantive stems ........... Quadriradical substantive stems .... Substantive stems with five radicals Affixed substantive stems, ADJECTIVES <8 cites vis ticem vcive Gist es ative NPge ac Mcgee te Regular adjectives, Elative adjectives GENDER Formation of feminine of substantives Formation of feminine of participles . Formation of feminine of adjectives The feminine allomorph /t/... WWMBERI is eae asase scores cage ic ae cscs e se The singular. The dual .. The collective, The plural DEFINITENESS . NUMERALS Cardinals . Ondinalsicsy caeevew esti scnececs sacs Fractions .... Basic measures . PRONOUNS AND ADJECTIVES . Personal pronouns Relative pronouns .. Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns ...... ta eabeatenee 147 Interrogative pronouns and adjectives Reciprocal pronouns Reflexive pronouns PREPOSITIONS . . Single prepositions Compound prepositions . ADVERES Single adverbs .. Compound adverbs . Interrogative adverbs CONJUNCTIONS . . (Coordinate conjunctions @ 163 subordinate conjunctions cs eee Ue eae 1642.13 NEGATIVE PARTICLES .....s+seecesseeccensenss . CONCLUSION COMPARISON BETWEEN THREE DIFFERENT NORTH AFRICAN DIALECTS « 170 I PHONOLOGY AND PHONOTACTICS 170 ii MORPHOLOGY cee seers eee im MUNISIANSDIAUECTSS eee ce ns 180 I URBAN AND RURAL DIALECTS ... 180 1 URBAN DIALECTS 180 1.2 RURAL DIALECTS 180 I FURTHER DIALECTAL SUBDIVISION 18 21 NORTHERN DIALECTS. «++. 0sseeeeeeceeeee 181 2.1.1 Urban Northern dialects 181 2.1.2 Rural Northern dialects. 181 2.1.3 '3ba:li'-dialects.. ++ 182 2.2 SAHIL DIALECTS .. : 182 202) Unban dialecte ogee ee 182 2.2.2 Semi-urban dialects... 183 2.3 CENTRAL WESTERN DIALECTS 183 2.3.1 Urban dialects 183 2.3.2 Rural dialects ..........c.0cceeeeseeeees 183 2.4 SOUTHERN DIALECTS . 184 2.4.1 Urban dialects. 184 2.4.2 Rural dialects 184 2.4.3 Nomadic dialects 185 IIT CONCLUSION... 00... eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeen eee eo ee 185 REFEREHCES. sc scisss¥-a oc <0 187 Figure 11: North Africa Figure 12: Tunisian dialect-groupsIntroduction 0.1 General The gap between the written language and the different dialects (spoken vernaculars) causes a very serious problem in the Arabic speaking countries. The first-mentioned is prestigious and practically the only language form considered in the Arab world to be worthy of serious study and linguistic care. The different dialects had been ignored due to many reasons, inter alia the variation of the different dialects which had led to the general delusion that vernaculars have neither granmar nor rules. This argument is, naturally, wrong since each genuine dialect has a proper linguistic system, the structure of which can be compared with the structure of any other lan- guage form. In other words each genuine dialect has its own grammar which linguistically speaking is neither "better" nor "worse" than any other gram- mar. The fact that the spoken dialects were prevented from playing the role of the official language in the Arab world depends on deep historical reasons, in the first place religious and national. Classical Arabic is the language of the Koran and the common language form which unifies all the Arab coun- tries. This fact also has its drawbacks in the different countries. The North African population for example suffers froma very serious linguistic disease. Learning Classical Arabic at school is not the way to abolish il- literacy, thereby raising social standards. The North African countries ur- gently need a written form of spoken Arabic which allows the use of the different dialects at school and in daily administrative matters. Uneducat- ed and semi-educated people must be able to write and read in their own mother tongue because it is a prioré unjustified to ask them to leave their own dialect for the benefit of an unmastered and rather more complicated language. A deeper study of the Norwegian educational policy and school system would perhaps be of good help for the creating of such a written language form.a S 0.2 The Arabic dialects The Arabic dialects can be roughly divided into two main groups: Western and Eastern. The boundary between these two groups can be drawn approxi- mately from the Salum gulf on the East Egyptian border to lake Chad in North Central Africa. This geographical division should as any other dia- lect geography in the Arab world be completed with a further division based on the different cultural traditions, principally sedentary and nomadic. Compared with each other, the dialects reveal a certain individuality: phonological, morphological and syntactical peculiarities can be noticed in the different vernaculars. Phonologically the Western dialects differ from the Eastern ones e.g. by the loss of short vowels in initial open syllables, which is due to different accent patterns, and the complete disappearence of the stop /?/. Morphologically there are features which can be considered to be typical of the Western dialects such as the presence of the prefix /nV/ in the first person singular of the imperfect, replacing the prefix /*V/ in Old Arabic. The suffix /u/ in the imperfect in the first person plural, and the new verb form fra: (e.g. /kya:t/ ‘he has become black') are also typical Western features. 0.3 The Tunisian dialects The Tunisian dialects can be roughly divided into four main groups: The Sahil dialects They are of two main types: urban and semi-urban. The semi-urban dialects spoken in small villages as Ksibet Sisa and Khnis display features of both nomadic and sedentary dialects. The Northern dialects They can also be divided into two types: urban and rural. The villagers on the left side of Oued Medjerda speak so-called 3ba:li-dialects (mountain dialects) which have features in common with North East Algerian vernacu- lars. The Central Western They are subdivided into two groups: rural and nomadic. The rural dialects resemble in several respects the East Arabic dialects. ialectsThe Southe They are divided into three main groups: urban dialects i Sfax, rural in the oases and nomadic. The latter is spoken by semi-pastoral people in Sahara. 0.4 Sisa (Sousse The Phoenicians established a port in SUsa of an unknown name long before their final settlement in Carthage. Later it got the name Hadrumatum that the Roman emperor Trajan changed to Colonia UIpia Trajana Augusta Friqifura Hadrumatina. The Vandals named the town Hurinicopolis and the Byzantines Justiniana. The Arabs gave it its present name and made it to a very impor- tant religious centre which attained its zenith under the Achlabid dynasty at the beginning of the ninth century. The Arabs built the walls and gave the old city its present boundaries. Since the seventh century and up to the end of the nineteenth only Muslims were allowed to reside in the Medina. Jews and other minorities lived around the city. The majority of merchants settled near the famous market Siq Irrba* which attracted the villagers who used to buy or sell their goods. Due to the limited housing possibility, outsiders who worked in the city were obliged to live in other places such as Sahlal and Hammam SUsa. The isolation of the inhabitants of Sisa was mainly guaranteed by the Bourgeoisie who possessed all the buildings in the Medina and strictly controlled all kinds of immigration. Marriage was the only way to settlement. This system made it very difficult for merchants from bigger cities to settle in Siisa. At the end of the nineteenth century it became easier for Jews and villagers to live or to possess a shop in the Medina. This did not however affect the old dialect of Sisa. The immigrants tried of recent years to learn the genuine dialect in order to become inte- grated to the society. The population explosion and the violent immigration of the sixties and seventies made of Siisa a big town with 192.000 inhabitants, while the figure of 1962 was only 50.000. This radical change affected mostly the environ- ments of the city in spite of the infiltration of villagers in many places in the Medina which now has about 40.000 inhabitants.Sisa 250 $00 metres ‘Big mosque Bab elFinga \ 6 Sabbanit elGhorba 7 EIMasnie i 8 9 Irrahba 1 E 3. Bab elqibli 4 Siq Irrbae 5 lasba Bab elGharbi0.5 The aim, corpus and method of the study The main task of the present study is to give a precise linguistic descrip- tion of the genuine dialect of SUsa which is spoken in the old city, the Nedina. A structural and consistent description of the language spoken in the whole modern Sisa is impossible to achieve due to the above-mentioned development in the town during the last two decades. It is of course always a difficult task to decide whether a language form is genuine or not, but I proceeded from the definition that genuineness can be defined in terms of the nature of the linguistic development. As far as the direction of the de- velopment substantially is determined by the innerdialectal trend, we can call a given dialect genuine. As soon as the development is due substantial- ly to outside interference, the dialect - for some time, at least - ceases to be a wholly autonomous linguistic structure. In this study I have not, however, solely based the description on the in- disputable, genuine idiom of the old generation but have also considered the linguistic change which is reflected in the vernacular of the younger generation. After the descriptive part I shall with the support of the ac- cessible dialect material particularize the different Tunisian dialect groups and furthermore outline major dialect boundaries by using selected features of the dialects. A non-islamic Arabic dialect, i.e. the Arabic dialect of the Jews in Tunis and an other sedentary Western dialect (the dialect of Cherchel1, Algeria) will also be compared with the dialect of Sisa in order to show up their different linguistic characteristics. This study is based on the colloquial speech of the Medina of Stsa and the other Tunisian dialects. The material of the study was gathered in three parts. The first part was recorded in SUsa while the second part was re- corded in Gothenburg in Sweden. The informants in Stsa came from three dif- ferent districts, namely, Irrahba, Bab elGharbi and elNasni*. During the two months July and August 1978 the author, who was born in Siisa and lived there until 1974, did intensive work with about twenty informants whose age varied between twelve and seventy years. Both sexes were equally represented. During the same period he had the opportunity to speak with people of a wide range of social status and at the same time make linguistic observations. The recordings consist of anecdotes, tales, personal narratives and local popular songs. The informants in Sweden also came from Stisa and lived in the Medina before they moved to Gothenburg. The author took different pre- cautions to insure that the speakers used genuinely colloquial speech. 13The recordings made here consist of set sentences, discussions and answers to the author's questions. The third part was recorded during the months dune, July and August 1979. The author traveled round Tunisia and did in- tensive work with many informants living in different places in the country. I The recordings consist of anecdotes, tales, personal narratives, popular songs and answers to the author's questions. 0.6 Previous studies The aim of this study is to fill a gap in Tunisian dialectology since there have been, when compared with other subjects, few studies devoted to col lo- quial Tunisian Arabic. The Tunisian dialects have long remained almost un- Studied. In 1896, STUMME published 'Granmatik des tunisischen Arabisch nebst Glossar' which is the first linguistic description of Tunisian Arabic. W. MARCAIS and A, GUIGA published (1925) a collection of folk tales and songs from Takroina. ‘Trois textes arabes d”El-Hamma de Gabés' (1931-1933) consists of Arabic texts collected by W. MARGAIS and J. FARES. BACCOUCHE's "Description phonologique du parler arabe de Djenmal', is a phonological de- scription of the dialect spoken in Djemmal with texts and translations. The dialect of Gabés has been studied by CANTINEAU (1951) and by H. SKIK (1969). The collection of texts of D. COHEN ‘Le parler arabe des Juifs de Tunis’ (1964) and the linguistic study of the same dialect published later (1975) are available. Besides, there are some other general articles such as BORRMAN's (1969) ‘A propos dune nouvelle granmaire arabe tunisienne', SKIK's ‘Les problémes linguistiques en Tunisie’ (1969), ‘Une enquéte sta- tistique sur le vocabulaire de l’enfant tunisien' (1972) and BACCOUCHE's ‘Le phonéme /g/ dans les parlers arabes citadins de Tunisie’ (1972). Finally a recent study on Tunisian Arabic is the American-style book by M. MAAMOURI ‘The phonology of Tunisian Arabic' (1968) which is a synchronic description of present-day educated colloquial Tunisian Arabic. The study was primarily based on the author's dialect, the dialect spoken in Nabeul. Segmental phonemes, suprasegmental features and morphophonological alter- nations were discussed in detail. 0.7 Symbolism As far as possible the terms and the transcriptions of the International Phonetic Alphabet are used. The following symbols have the indicated values:= phoneme, a1 lomorph phone morpheme any consonant peace " < Oo mON any vowel Jength alternation 2 Emphasis is indicated by the symbol ~ under the pertinent consonants. h Classical Arabic the author means Old Arabic as described by old Grammarians. Segmental phonemes The consonants ? a voiceless laryngal stop voiced bilabial stop voiceless dental stop voiceless interdental fricative voiced palatoalveolar fricative or[dg]a prepalatal affricate voiceless pharyngal fricative voiceless uvular fricative voiced dental stop voiced interdental fricative voiced alveolar tril] voiced postdental fricative voiceless postdental fricative voiceless front palatal fricative voiceless emphatic postdental fricative voiced emphatic interdental fricative Saxwruoaedc voiceless emphatic alveolar stop Wid aw aun s voiced emphatic interdental fricative voiced pharyngal fricative voiced uvular fricative mob &$8 ELL Vena ny OLE e voiceless labiodental fricative voiceless uvular stop voiced velar stop voiceless velar stop voiced dental lateral voiced bilabial nasal saa 4-7 OB HK a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a voiced postdental nasal a oC ICY GE voiceless laryngal fricative9 W a voiced labial semi-vowel (Ss ¥ a voiced palatal semi-vowel The vowels i close front close rounded front half close front half open front open front open back central half open half close half close back close back 8 2 mo =: © °Phonology and Phonotactics I THE PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE 1.17 SEGMENTAL PHONEMES 1.1.1 The vowel system The dialect of Siisa has, as Classical Arabic, three vowel phonemes, namely Jal, fil and /u/.! Figure 1: The vowel phonemes High Front Back Low Due to the fact that it does not have more than three vowel phonemes the dialect has many allophones which occur depending on the surrounding con- sonants. The phoneme /a/ has allophones [a],(a] , [€] and [e]. The allo- phones [a],[a] , and [€] also occur as long vowels. [arbi ] Arab [rab:i ] : my God [raqba ] : neck [merkot] : boat [terkib] : you ride [ra:lin] scholar [92: eid] : sitting [ne: be : useful 1 the dialect of E1-Hanma has three short vowel phonemes and five long ones, see CANTINEAU, Analyse phonologique du parler d'El-Hamma de Gabés, pp. 216- 219. In the Jewish dialect in Tunis there are as many vowel phonemes as in the dialect of Stisa, see D. COHEN, Le parler arabe des Juifs de Tunis, II p. 50.The phoneme /u/ has allophones [u] and [o] . Both allophones can be short and long: [kut:] : any [ktub] : books [ngos] : it was reduced [mektuzb] : destiny [margo:s] : crowded The phoneme /i/ has allophones [i] and[ tu] . Both allophones can be long and short: [min] : from [te:sir] : merchant (hiib:] : love (imp. ) [rkizk] + stupid [shih] : strong, right The dialect of Siisa has then three vowel phonemes and eight allophones. The short vowels, especially /i/ and /u/, frequently also /a/ are dropped in open unstressed syllables in most Arabic sedentary dialects, the last-men- tioned vowel, however, most often only after a total or partial assimilation to the vowel of the next syllable (vowel harmony), e.g. CiCa:C»CCa:C, CuCa:C>CCa:C, CaCi:C*CiCi:C/CoCi:C>CCi:C, Ike / + book » /ktazb/ /eura:b/ : sand > /era:b/ Iqarizb/ + near > /qri:b/ The loss of short vowels in unstressed open syllables is quite frequent in al] the Tunisian dialects. Thus the older /qarub/ (cf. Cl. garuba) yields /qrub/ in the dialect of Sisa. /harabal —: to run away » /hrab/ (CaCAC>CCaC) /kat tbal 1 to write > /kicdb/ (CaCTC>CCiC) Jal = fAt /qag:a/ za cloth /qigzal 2a fairy tale Ja/ - fu/ /rad:/ : he answered /rud:/ : answer (imp. ) 18: tell (imp. ) : cut (imp. ) fa:/ - /iz/ /yazrl : he got jealous /ytzr! : else than fa:/ ~ Juz/ /qa:m/ : he got up /qu:m/ : get up (imp. ) Lisl ~ /urs Iei:f/ : summer /gu:fl : wool The dialect of Sisa has, as Classical Arabic, two falling diphthongs, /aw/ and /ay/. In Siisa the older diphthongs have normally been preserved in final position, where their second component is doubled when preceded by a short /a/. Medially and initially the older /aw/ and /ay/ have been normally mon- ophthongised into /u:/ and /i:/ respectively.” (hay } : living [Saw:] : light [yurra] ( repenter [Bay ib/ : benefactor 20/d/ - /t/ /dub:/ /eub:/ Jaf - /k/ da 1 /kab:tr] Ja - fq/ /dub:a/ /qub:al /d/ - /8/ /da:r/ /8a:r/ /d/ - /8/ /dab:/ [ab:/ : bear : medicine : think (imp.) : make it bigger (imp.) : bear (female) + dome : house : he revolted : he went slowly : he jumped Alveolar consonants /tf ~ /k/ /tab:af Jkab:a/ /t/ - /a/ /eatraf /qal°af /t/ - /f/ feat / fat. /t/ - 18/ Igazb/ [azb/ /t/ - [of Iebar/ [8ba*/ : a piece of land : a throw : hill, slope > fort : divorce (imp. ) : slash (imp.) : troublesome : honest : it cooked ready : it melted : character : wild catVelar consonants /k/-- fof Jkub:af : yarn /qub:a/ : dome ki ~ 1S/ /kma:1/ = perfection Wart): left Ik/ ~ 1x/ /kvan:/ + Fig-trees Jevan:/ + sewage /g/ has the same point of articulation as /k/ but is accompanied by the vi- bration of the vocal cords. In the dialect of Sisa it occurs frequently, but in the genuine dialect of the older generation in the Medina its occur- rence is restricted to a limited number (about 30) of lexical items suspect of being old loans from the dialect of the countryside. Such words are, e.g [gdim] the bit', [gdif] ‘he vomited’, [deg:] ‘he stuck’ and [mriig:] ‘he was made a fool of. In other lexical items it is regarded as negligent and i11- mannered to use[g]. Instead, most of the speakers in the older generation and women in particular, consistently use[q] or[k]. In some cases there are differences between the two last groups too. Thus (gemi:1e] ‘food keeper' (which is the current form of the word in the suburbs and among the younger generation) is pronounced [kemi:1¢] by the majority of women and [qami:1¢] by a11 men in the older generation in the Medina Generally it can be noticed that [g] up til] now has been infiltrated into the vernacular of the Medina to a little extent only. In the new suburbs, on the other hand, [g] is relatively as frequent as /k/ and /q/ in.many lexical items, no doubt due to the mass immigration of villagers from the countryside in the fifties. Boys of the younger generation in the Medina tend to replace[q] by[g] in most lexical items in order to appear as tough. (A sociolinguistic phenomenon related to slang.) Now it might seem uncertain whether or not[ g] could be defined as an in- dependent phoneme in the genuine dialect of the Medina of Sisa. Even if the lexical items where it is used by women and speakers in the older generation most probably are loans from dialects having the phoneme /g/, the relative- ly high number of words where the pronunciation of [ g] is well-established, justifies, in my opinion, the definition of /g/ as an independent phonene. Jgetin{ : he bit Jadim] : it became older /adifl : he vomited /adif! : he rowed Jgru: rf + horns /qru: nf: centuries 22/guvbt| 2 hut : my nearness Idag: | : he stuck aq : he knocked In the old genuine dialect[ q] and[ g] are in lexical distribution; in the koineized 'Sisi* of the suburbs and of the younger generation the pattern is changed: [g] is rather a stylistic variant of [q] and can replace it any- where, whereas the /g/ in early loans cannot be replaced by /q/. /g/ - /b/ : salive : personality /9/ - /t/ /gan:ariy:a/: artichoke neaviy:a/: hut /g/ - /d/ [ntigal : salive /vi:dal : a big change /9/ - /t/ /gatbal : twenty litres Igalbal : request /gf - /k/ /gasbal : bamboo-cane /kasbal : a purchase /9/ - /9a/ Jgruznl : horns Jqruzny + centuries Jol - /*/ /gurbi/ hut I furbi/ : private plans /g/ - /8/ : rubber 2 garlic /9/ - 18/ 1°gazb/ : falcon /°Bazb/ : torture /9/ - 18/ Igid:/ : make it good (imp.) [Sid:/ : contrary /g/ - /s/ /ga:nid/ : hidden Joa: nid] > Support (imp. )/9/ - /s/ /gazytd/ /9/ - /2t /gttu: nl /ettu: /9/ - 13/ /gtt:t/ Biist/ /a/ - Sf Igucbi/ /Surbi/ /9/ - 1x/ /gdim/ /xdim/ fof = 141 /gasbal Nasbal /g/ - fof Iga: nial /°a: wd/ /9/ - /ht fet:gal /vt:ha/ /g/ - /h/ /gurbi/ Shurbe/ /g/ - /m/ Igia:/ Imid:/ /g/ - (nf /ga:di} /ra:di/ /9/ - [e/ gdim| /rdim/ ‘gf - NI /gu:m/ /tazm/ 24 : governor : hunting : tent : olives : rare ? respected > hut : my wine : he bit : he worked : bamboo-cane : an obligation : hidden : be obstinate (imp. ) : salive : odour : hut i my flight : make it good (imp. ) : take out (imp. ) : fix (imp.) : call (imp.) : he bit : he buried : rubber : reproach/9/ - Iw/ jgta:/ poid: | /9/ - fyl Igid:/ lyid: : make it good (imp. ) : give something good (imp. ) : make it good (imp. ) : hand Uvular consonants I9/ - /x/ /qirbal /xirba/ ‘gf - /¥/ Jyaqti! JyaYti/ /a/ - /d/ Igaztf Igazt! Fricatives : waterskin : ruins : he is frying something : he is boiling (angry) : he said : state Labiodental consonants /f/ - /0/ /fa:r/ /8a:r/ Mf/ - [1 Ifa: Pazt/ /f/ - [8/ /fre/ /Snal /f/ - [s/ /fuzq/ /euzq/ if] - fs /fuks vi] /guk: ni] /f/ - 13/ [pal isnal : rat : he revolted : he passed by : originality, essence : he worked himself to death : baby : over : market : let me loose (imp. ) : kick me (imp. ) : he worked himself to death : he harvested: the second : the adulterer /0/ - /3/ /@a:yér] + revolting Isa:yir/ + suffering from indigestion /8/ - /§/ /9ahlu:t/ : (skin) eruption Mahtu:t/ + sweet (adj. ) 19/ - /x/ /®a:yib/ + benefactor /xa:ytb/ + dishonest POH ks P9ni/ za two-year old animal Nail : rich /8/ - [of (Bazr/ : he revolted Parr] : shame /8/ - fh/ /9na:yal 3 roads : inazyal + my happiness 18/ - /h/ /9ntzn/ + two gnt:n/ — merciful /8/ - /m/ /®vay:a/ + pendant lamp Imeay:a/ + wife (dim.) 13/ - /8/ Pazyt"/ + loud-voiced [Bazyi*/ > lost r 191 - /s/ Pad: / : he jumped /sab:/ : he swore /6/ - /2/ Pat:a/ + shame faal:al : mistake 18/ - /3/ Pazb/ : it melted /3azb/ : he brought 26 af/ SM. Nat:/ /#/ - Ixf /fa:U/ /xa:1/ ff) - N1 /fal:a/ is int /fnaf Jhnal /f/ = fh/ /fan:/ (han: / 7F/ - /m/ /farg/ Ima] /f/ - {nf /fa:e/ Jna:e/ : he collapsed : he got diarrhea : prediction of bad news : maternal uncle : jasmine 2 fruit : rat : shame : he worked himself to death : happiness : art : he became merciful : obligation : illness : pick (axe) : people Interdental consonants /9/ - /8/ /Ba:ytb/ Bazytb/ 101 - /8/ /®:a:yal Ppa: yal /8/ - /s/ /8:a:nya/ + His:a:nya/ : /8/ - /s/ [Buzm/ Jgu:m/ : almsgiver : melting : roads : my baby the second (fem. ) the farm 2 garlic : fast (imp.)Pol - 1S [bizb/ Wizb/ 71 - [xf /bab:a/ /xab:af 281 ~ 1X1 /batza/ MNatzal 18/ ~ /o/ Pazyiq/ Jeazytq/ /8/ - /h/ /udib:/ unib:/ 181 - b/ Wab:/ Ihab: 1 19/ ~ Inf Wazb/ Jna:b/ /8/ - Is/ Bral /enal 18/ - /s/ Wezfl Jat: fl 18/ ~ f2/ [naz t/ /ana:t/ 181 - 13/1 Pinal [nal /8/ - Sf /vab/ /\rab/ DL - Ix/ Patral /xal af 28 : wolf : old age : a jump : he hid : shame : fruit : tasting : very troublesome : he jumps : it blows : he jumped : he loved 1 it melted : incisor : baby : years : guest : summer : she got pregnant : she committed adultery : baby : he harvested : he hit : he drank 2 rib : door-brake181 - 1X1 nal /inal // - 1° Mya: fal /°ya: fal /o/ - fbf Pna/ Jhnal /9/ - /m/ Paral Jmar:a/ /9/ - Inf Dazbir/ Inaibir] : baby : songs : hospitality : sickness : baby : here : I got pregnant : I became hunchbacked : a wife in a harem 2 once : crazy : streaming Dental consonants Ist - Isl /eab:/ Jgab:/ (s/ ~ [21 /sat:a/ Jaat:a/ /s/ - [3/ /sval /3ra/ fS/ 2/57 /star/ /Star/ Is] ~ [x1 /say:tb/ /xay:tb/ /s/ - 1¥/ /satal Natzal : he swore : he poured : pull : mistake : it flowed : he ran : he did not show, he concealed : half : he released : he (made someone) disappointed : pull 2 fruit/s/ - 1°} jeal:tf/ /al:tf/ /s/ - /h/ Jenal imal /s/ - [hf /sinzal Ikinzal /s/ - fmf /eral /mval /s/ - {nf /sa:ytr| Ina:yir/ /s/ - f2f /gaf:/ /aaf:/ Is/ - [31 /gar:/ igav:/ Isl - 11 /ga:yib/ Mazyéb/ Isl ~ [xf /gazytb/ /xa:ytb/ Isl - 1/ Isal:a/ Natal dah a fel /gab:a/ /°ab:al Jl ~ Ih /gtizb/ Vatizb/ 30 : Tend (imp. ) : feed (imp. ) 2 years : here : tooth : henna : it flowed : woman : going : shining : queue : big liar : bundle : trees : right (person) old man : right (person) : dishonest : he prayed : fruit + mould i he filled : protector : insignificant cross : milk/s/ - /m/ /gra:ya/ + house of flats Jmea:yal + mirror Isl - In/ Jgu:r/ : surrounding wall Inure] + Light : adulterer : he came to me Jel - IS/ Jzal:/ + he made a mistake Njat:/ + he got diarrhea f2/ - {xf Jsaf:/ + big liar /xaf:/ + he felt relieved fz/ - 1Y/ Jaal:a/ + mistake Nal:a/ +: fruit fz} - 1°] Jearyif/ + false Tearyif] + sick f2/ - [ht /znal : adultery Jinal : here fz] - /h/ i] : adulterer haini/ > hunchbacked : oil : dead : false : emaciated There is also an emphatic variant of /z/ in the dialect of Susa but it can- not be regarded as a proper phoneme. That pharyngalisation here is not pri- marily due to the phonetic environments but is rather used in order to call forth certain stylistic effects, can be illustrated by following instances: [zdimt °lizh] 'I fe11 upon him' and (gdom eliy:t] ‘he fell upon me’. 31Therefore pharyngalisation here is a suprasegmental feature. The stylistic context where it most often appears is the dramatising speech especially typical of female speakers*. Thus, the most usual pronunciation of the above-mentioned instance by men is [zdum eliy:€] . Palatal consonants 731 - I§/ : bring (imp. ) : old age : bringing : dishonest : he brought : he was absent 13/ - [of fsna/ : he harvested /enal : he cared ‘SI - hf Kanial + paradise fhan:al + he congratulated A3/ ~ Tht [satoa] —: the bride's dance /patwal + (a special kind of) sweet pastry ‘/ - /m/ Bar:a/ —: big jar nar:a]——: once 11 - Inf (Ba:r] : neighbour Jnazr] 2 fire 3 SAADA in, Le language de femmes tunisiennes, noticed that women in Tunisia use emphatic consonants less frequently than men. This is however not the case in the dialect of Susa, where e.g. the contrast between [ta:q] ‘floor’ and [te:q] ‘he held out’ is fully rooted among all speakers. 32/eazyib/ Sf - dbf : an impudent old man : failure : he became old : he was absent : old man : lame : diarrhea : half-moon : my recovery : barefoot (pl.) 2 he bought = woman : he became old : incisor Uvular consonants Ix - YL /xa§:/ Na:/ det - fet /xa:t/ /ea:t/ /xf - /h/ /xazyin| Jhazyin| Dxf - /h/ /xarytf/ Ihazyif! [xf - /m/ /xal:/ Imat:/ : he came in : he cheated : maternal uncle : excellent : betrayer, traitor insignificant : scared : thief : vinegar : he became bored/xl ~ Int /xag:/ Inag:/ WN ~ fof Natt! Tait! M1 ~ [hi ral Timal AY - Th Wan:al Vhan:al Ml - Inf MNat:al Imatzal M1 - If Mazel /na:r/ Pharyngal Jf ~ /ef /°Lék/ Tnlikl 701 - fh/ /élsal /hil:al Jf ~ fof /Pilzal Imitsal 7°] = {nf /°a:r/ /na:r/ /a/ ~ /h/ Vila: Uf /hla:1/ Phy - Im/ Vha: Ui] Ina:1t] 34 : it lacked : type : dear : high : songs : here : he sang + grandmother fruit : boredom : he got jealous : fire consonants : he got fast : he destroyed : illness : chaos : illness race shame : fire permissible (and good) : half-moon : my state : my moneyhf - Inf Thgarné/ Ingarnt/ : he got me (in a corner) : he rendered me victorious Laryngal consonants Jn - /m/ The / Imazyst! /h/ - {nf /hafhaf/ Inafnafl Jal - Ir] /ituzma/ /ruzmal Mnf - Shas: | /taz:/ /h/ - /w/ thtazha/ foizzhal fhf - /y/ /razh/ Traryl Nasals : wonderful : inclined : he became scared : he sniffed : they : Rome : he took up : he drove (someone) to do something : take her up (imp.) : her geese : he saw him : view Labial consonants /m/ - /b/ /mta/ /blal m/ - /t/ /marfa°/ /tarfa*/ /m/ - /d/ /mat: / /dat:/ /m/ - /t/ Inval tral : he filled : troublesome 2 shelf : you lift up : he became bored : he showed the way > woman : it became softJm/ ~ /k/ /mval Tkeal mf - fof /mta:t/ Iqta:e/ fmf - /r/ Ima3it/ /ra:3tt/ inf - 1d Imat:al /lat:al Jm/ - Iw] mar: af /uar:al m/ - /y/ /madfar/ /yadfa*/ : woman : rent. : she filled : she fried : well, cistern : man : boredom : my older sister, (can also be used in addressing a lady) : once : he showed : cannon : he pays There is also an emphatic [g] but it can most properly be regarded as an allophone of /m/ in spite of the following opposition: (emezn] [aga:n) : peace, safety : indeed! (interjection of astonishment) Pharyngalisation is used here in order to produce a minimal allophonic con- trast between the two homonyms. Normally the shift from (q] to [m] does not influence the meaning of the word. Dental consonants th /nval bral (nl - /t/ Inivktb/ /tirkib/ Inf - /d/ na: yin/ /da:yim/ Inf - // /nazytb/ /tazysb/ 36 : I see : he recovered : I ride : you ride : asleep : eternal : merciful (referring to God) : ripeIn] ~ /k/ Infal : he denied /kfal : it was enough Jn] - /9/ /na:m/ : he slept /ea:m/ : he woke up /nf - Irt Ina:fie} + useful Joa: fie] + lifting up {Of =f} Jnazyih/ + crying, wailing /ta:yif/ + obvious Jnf - If Treark/ : I see you fova:k/ + behind you /n/ - lyf Inihiib/ +: I milk /yihlib/ + he milks Vibrants Dental consonants If - 1 Jeab:i/ > my God /lab:i/ —: say yes (imp.) dr] - /w/ /ra:°t/ : shepherd faazet/ : conscious irl - lyl /euzm/ > rum yuzm/ : day There is an emphatic Cr] but it is not a proper phoneme in spite of the following opposition: [hya:m] —: evil (hre:m] + veil The opposition occurs in one single position and forms only one minimal pair. In many idiolects, the opposition is missing, and [hra:m] denotes both ‘evil! and ‘veil’.Laterals Dental consonants MM fw/ /wa:qif/ + standing up /la:qtf/ : snatching M/ - lyl i : wearing : hard, dry Semi-vowels Jaf - /y/ fwaqral —: pimple J/yaqral he reads /yl - ful See /w/ above. 1.1.3 Conclusion According to the phoneme identification the dialect of the Medina of Sasa has the following consonant phonemes: Front_consonants Labials: bmw Labiodental: f Interdentals: 0634 Dentals: tdsgznl Alveolars: t3r Palatals: yJ Back consonants Velar kg Uvulars: axy Pharyngals: oh Laryngal: h * The interdentals disappeared in most sedentary dialects but occur in the Sahil dialects and in the vernacular of Tunis, see CANTINEAU, Cours de phonétique arabe, p. 44. 38Thus, the number of consonant phonemes in the dialect of Sisa is 27, viz. one Tess than in Classical Arabic. The older inventory of consonant phonemes - such as reflected, for instance, by Classical Arabic - has been reduced by two: the older /%/ has disapoeared, and the two older phonemes represented by the graphemes §d§ and §z§ have merged into /%/. On the other hand, the inventory of consonant phonemes has been increased by /g/. The lateralized allophone tl occurring quite often among men in the older generation may be compared with the Classical prepalatal lateralized fricative /d/® The most usual allophone of /3/ in the dialect of Stisa is an alveopalatal fricative and corresponds to the Classical prepalatal /d3/. The inventory might be increased by further consonant phonemes, but these are, in my opinion, not pertinent to the phonemic system of the dialect. In theory, any consonant contrasting with another in at least one minimal pair could be defined as an independent phoneme, but this solution seems to me unsatisfactory. As far as the concept of the phoneme has been introduced to describe the phonemic structure of a language or a dialect, it also should be defined in terms of pertinence? The question wether or not to include a consonant among the independent phonemes should not be solved irrespective of the frequency of its occurrence. Thus, e.g. any emphatic sound should contrast minimally with its non-emphatic counterpart in more than two pairs of lexical items in order to be considered as vhonemically distinctive. An emphatic can appropriately be called primary when it is considered as suf- ficiently distinctive whereas the emphatics having a very low statistical rate of occurrence and maximally forming two minimal pairs can be called secondary. The emphasis in[Q] ,{m] and [x] can most properly be regarded as secondary since it depends on the characteristic properties in the acoustic effect of the vowels. The acoustic and articulatory properties of the vowels affect the quality of the adjoining consonants. The pharyngalisation of [b} in [Iba:ba] is likely to be due to the strange behaviour of the [a] allo- phone of /a/. Thus emphasis is the only feature which distinguishes /s/, /3/ and /t/ from /s/, /8/ and /t/ respectively. The secondary emphatics [m], [b] and[r] differ from the emphatics /s/, /8/ and /t/ in distribution. The pri- mary emphatics occur freely in all positions and with all vowels while the secondary emphatics (in lexical items without /s/, /8/ and /t/) are com- binatorily limited and occur only with [a]. 2 Cf, CANTINEAU, Cours de phonétique arabe, p. 55. 6 The same solution was adopted by PALVA, Lower Galilean Arabic, p. 11. 39/s3/ /gaim] + he fasted /gu:f/ + wool /et:f/ + summer Jagar/—_; castle /agu:r] + castles Jogizr/ + blind Imqag:/ + scissors Jmug:/ + suck (imp.) /atg:/ : tell (imp. ) /8/ /a:*/ + he got lost j /8unz/——-: close (imp.) : /8i:f/ + guest : Imbay:a*/ + losing, fool /mar8/ : disease /t/ /ta:h/ + he fell down J tub:/ : medicine /gt:hf : fall down (imp. ) /mtarf > rain /Sag:/ : beach /o/ ybar\/ : material used as a shelter ~shall /tba:ba/ : soft inside of bread~to my father /n/ Jama:nf : peace, safety ~ indeed If [hea:m|/ : evil~ veil Among the various alternative analyses of emphasis? the author, due to the above-mentioned reasons, prefers the analysis rejecting the secondary em- hatics as proper phonemes. For a ef summary and fair exposition of most of the existing analyses of emphasis, see LEHN, Emphasis in Cairo Arabic,and MAAMOURI, Phonology of Tunisian Arabic, pp. 41-43. 40