Wargli language

Ouargli
Twargrit (Təggargrənt, Təggəngusit)
Spoken in	Algeria
Region	Ouargla, N'Goussa
Native speakers	5,000  (1995)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Berber Northern Zenati Mzab–Wargla Ouargli
Language codes
ISO 639-3	oua
Berber-speaking areas of the Mzab, Ouargla, and Oued Righ

Ouargli, or Teggargrent, is a Zenati Berber variety spoken in the oases of Ouargla (Wargrən) and N'Goussa (Ingusa) in Algeria. As of 1987, it had no more than 10,000 speakers;^[1] the Ethnologue estimated only 5,000 speakers as of 1995.^[2] There are some differences between the dialects of Ouargla (Təggargrənt) and N'Goussa (Təggəngusit), notably in the position of pronominal clitics; within Ouargla, there are minor differences between the three tribes At-Brahim, At-Sisin and At-Waggin.^[3]

Speakers from Ouargla regard the varieties of Ouargla, N'Goussa, Temacine, Tumzabt (and possibly other Zenati varieties) as dialects of a single language, which they call twargrit,^[4] and, according to Delheure (1987:355), at Wargrən fəhhəmən d awəḥdi tawsint, "the Ouarglis understand Temacine very well."

The principal grammatical study is Biarnay (1908);^[5] a less detailed sketch is provided in Basset (1893).^[6] Its lexicon is fairly extensively documented in Delheure's (1987) dictionary^[7] The bilingual texts in Biarnay and Basset are more recently supplemented by the texts on daily life in Delheure (1988)^[8] and the folk tale collection in Delheure (1989);^[9] the latter, unlike other work on Ouargli, includes texts from N'Goussa as well.

References

1. ^ Delheure 1987:1
2. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=oua
3. ^ Delheure 1987:2
4. ^ Delheure 1988:20, 24; Delheure 1987:273
5. ^ S. Biarnay, 1908, Etude sur le dialecte berbère de Ouargla, Paris: Ernest Leroux
6. ^ René Basset, 1893, Etude sur la Zenatia du Mzab, de Ouargla et de l'Oued-Rir'. Paris: Ernest Leroux.
7. ^ Jean Delheure, 1987, Agerraw n iwalen teggargarent-tarumit / Dictionnaire ouargli-français, Paris: SELAF
8. ^ Jean Delheure, 1988, Vivre et mourir à Ouargla. Tameddurt t-Tmettant Wargren. Paris: SELAF
9. ^ Jean Delheure, 1989, Contes et légendes berbères de Ouargla : Tinfusin, Paris: Boîte à Documents

Bibliography

• René Basset, Etude sur la zénatia du Mzab, de Ouargla et de l'Oued-Rir', Paris, Leroux, 1893
• Samuel Biarnay, Etude sur le dialecte berbère de Ouargla, Alger, Leroux, 1908
• Jean Delheure, Dictionnaire Ouargli-Français (Index Ricapitulatif Français-Ouargli), Paris, SELAF, 1987 - ISBN 2-85297-197-6
• Jean Delheure, "Id akkaz ini id ahaji. Devinettes et énigmes de Ouargla (Sud Algérien)", Etudes et Documents Berbères 3 (1987), pp. 76–83 - ISSN 0295-5245
• Jean Delheure, Vivre et mourir à Ouargla / Tameddurt t-tmettant wargren, Paris, SELAF, 1988 - ISBN 2-85297-196-8
• Jean Delheure, "Baghdidis et l'Ogre. Saynète dans le parler de Ouargla", Etudes et Documents Berbères 4 (1988), pp. 103–115 - ISSN 0295-5245
• Jean Delheure, Contes et légendes berbères de Ouargla, Paris, La Boîte à Documents, 1989 - ISBN 2-906164-05-4
• Jean Delheure, "Izlan d id aghanni. Poésie et chants de Ouargla", Etudes et Documents Berbères 5 (1989), pp. 85–104 - ISSN 0295-5245
• Alain Romey, histoire, mémoire et sociétés, L'exemple de N'goussa: oasis berbérophone du Sahara (Ouargla), Paris-Alger, L'Harmattan-Awal, 1992 ISBN 2-7384-1579-2