Hassānīya Arabic

Infobox Language
name=Hassaniyya Arabic
nativename=Hassānīya
familycolor=Afro-Asiatic
states=Algeria, Mauritania, southern Morocco, Western Sahara
speakers=2,787,625 (2002) [ [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=mey ethnologue.com] : gives 2,475,000 in Mauritania (2002). Population total all countries: 2,787,625. ]
fam2=Semitic
fam3=West Semitic
fam4=Central Semitic
fam5=South Central Semitic
fam6=Arabic
fam7=Maghrebi
script=Arabic alphabet
nation=National language of Mauritania
agency="none"
iso3=mey

Hassānīya Arabic ( _ar. حسانية Hassānīya; also known as Hassaniyya [ISO 639-3] , Klem El Bithan, Hasanya, Hassani, Hassaniya) is an Arabic variety originally spoken by the Beni Hassān Bedouin tribes, who extended their authority over most of Mauritania and the Western Sahara between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. It has almost completely replaced the Berber languages spoken in this region. Though clearly a western dialect, Hassānīya is relatively distant from other North African variants of Arabic. Its geographical location exposed it to influence from Zenaga and Wolof. There are several dialects of Hassaniya. The primary differences among them are phonetic. Today Hassaniya is spoken by inhabitants of Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal and the Western Sahara. [Raymond G. Gordon, Jr, ed. 2005. "Ethnologue: Languages of the World". 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.]

Pronunciation

The phonological system of Hassānīya is both very innovative and very conservative. All phonemes of Classical Arabic are represented in the dialect, but new phonemes are numerous, too. As in other Bedouin dialects, Classical /q/ corresponds mostly to dialectal IPA|/ɡ/, IPA|/dˤ/ and IPA|/ðˤ/ have merged into IPA|/ðˤ/ and the interdentals IPA|/θ/ and IPA|/ð/ have been preserved. In common with most western Arabic varieties, the equivalent of Modern Standard Arabic IPA|/ʤ/ is realised as IPA|/ʒ/.

For reasons not quite clear, however, there is sometimes a double correspondence of a classical sound and its dialectal counterpart. Thus classical IPA|/q/ is represented by IPA|/ɡ/ in IPA|/ɡbaðˤ/ 'to take' but by IPA|/q/ in IPA|/mqass/ 'scissors'. Similarly, IPA|/dˤ/ becomes IPA|/ðˤ/ in IPA|/ðˤəħk/ 'laugh (noun)', but IPA|/dˤ/ in IPA|/mrˤədˤ/ 'to be sick'. Some consonant roots even have a double appearance: IPA|/θaqiːl/ 'heavy (mentally)' vs. IPA|/θɡiːl/ 'heavy (materially)'. Some of the "classicizing" forms are easily explained as recent loans from the literary language (such as IPA|/qaː.nuːn/ 'law') or from sedentary dialects in case of concepts pertaining to the sedentary way of life (such as IPA|/mqass/ 'scissors' above). For others, there is no obvious explanation (like IPA|/mrˤədˤ/ 'to be sick'). Etymological IPA|/ðˤ/ appears constantly as IPA|/ðˤ/, never as IPA|/dˤ/.

Nevertheless, the phonemic status of IPA|/q/ and IPA|/dˤ/ as well as IPA|/ɡ/ and IPA|/ðˤ/ appears very stable, unlike in many other Arabic varieties. Somewhat similarly, classical IPA|/ʔ/ has in most contexts disappeared or turned into IPA|/w/ or IPA|/j/ (IPA|/ahl/ 'family' instead of IPA|/ʔahl/, IPA|/wak.kad/ 'insist' instead of IPA|/ʔak.kad/ and IPA|/jaː.məs/ 'yesterday' instead of IPA|/ʔams/). In some literary terms, however, it is clearly preserved: IPA|/mət.ʔal.lam/ 'suffering (participle)' (classical IPA|/mu.ta.ʔal.lim/).

Hassānīya has innovated many consonants by the spread of the distinction "emphatic/non-emphatic". In addition to the above-mentioned, IPA|/rˤ/ and IPA|/lˤ/ have a clear phonemic status and IPA|/bˤ fˤ ɡˤ mˤ nˤ/ more marginally so. One additional emphatic phoneme IPA|/zˤ/ is acquired from the neighbouring Zenaga Berber language along with a whole palatal series IPA|/c ɟ ɲ/ from Niger-Congo languages of the south. At least some speakers make the distinction /p/–/b/ through borrowings from French. All in all, the number of consonant phonemes in Hassānīya is 33, or 39 if you count the marginal cases, too.

On the phonetic level, the classical consonants IPA|/f/ and IPA|/θ/ are usually realised as voiced IPA| [v] (hereafter marked IPA|/v/) and IPA| [θ̬] . The latter is still, however, pronounced differently from IPA|/ð/, the distinction probably being in the amount of air blown out (Cohen 1963: 13–14). In geminated and word-final positions both phonemes are voiceless, for some speakers /θ/ apparently in all positions. The uvular fricative IPA|/ʁ/ is likewise realised voiceless in a geminated position, although not fricative but plosive: IPA| [qː] . In other positions, etymological IPA|/ʁ/ seems to be in free variation with IPA|/q/ (etymological IPA|/q/, however varies only with IPA|/ɡ/).

Vowel phonemes come in two series: long and short. The long vowels are the same as in Classical Arabic IPA|/aː iː uː/, and the short ones extend this by one: IPA|/a i u ə/. The classical diphthongs IPA|/aj/ and IPA|/aw/ may be realised in many different ways, the most usual variants being IPA| [eːʲ] and IPA| [oːʷ] , respectively. Still, realisations like IPA| [aj] and IPA| [aw] as well as IPA| [eː] and IPA| [oː] are possible, although less common.

As in most western Arabic dialects, etymological short vowels are generally dropped in open syllables (except for the feminine noun ending IPA|/-a/): *IPA|/tak.tu.biː/ > IPA|/tə.ktbi/ 'you (f. sg.) write', *IPA|/ka.ta.ba/ > *IPA|/ka.tab/ > IPA|/ktəb/ 'he wrote'. In the remaining closed syllables dialectal /a/ generally corresponds to classical IPA|/a/, while classical IPA|/i/ and IPA|/u/ have merged into IPA|/ə/. Remarkably, however, morphological IPA|/j/ is represented by IPA| [i] and IPA|/w/ by IPA| [u] in a word-initial pre-consonantal position: IPA|/u.ɡəft/ 'I stood up' (root "w-g-f"; cf. IPA|/ktəbt/ 'I wrote', root "k-t-b"), IPA|/i.naɡ.ɡaz/ 'he descends' (subject prefix "i-"; cf. IPA|/jə.ktəb/ 'he writes', subject prefix "jə-"). In some contexts this initial vowel even gets lengthened, which clearly demonstrates its phonological status of a vowel: IPA|/uːɡ.vu/ 'they stood up'. In addition, short vowels IPA|/a i/ in open syllables are found in Berber loanwords, such as IPA|/a.raː.ɡaːʒ/ 'man', IPA|/i.vuː.kaːn/ 'calves of 1 to 2 years of age', and IPA|/u/ in passive formation: IPA|/u.ɡaː.bəl/ 'he was met' (cf. IPA|/ɡaː.bəl/ 'he met').

ee also

*Varieties of Arabic
*Maghreb Arabic
*Nemadi language
*Imraguen language

References

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=mey Ethnologue entry for Hassaniyya]
*
* Hassaniya, the Arabic of Mauritania, AL-ANY, RIYADH S. / In: Linguistics; vol. 52 (1969), pag. 15 / 1969
* Hassaniya, the Arabic of Mauritania, Al-Any, Riyadh S. / In: Studies in linguistics; vol. 19 (1968), afl. 1 (mrt), pag. 19 / 1968
* Hassaniya Arabic (Mali) : Poetic and Ethnographic Texts, Heath, Jeffrey; Kaye, Alan S. / In: Journal of Near Eastern studies; vol. 65 (2006), afl. 3, pag. 218 (1) / 2006
* Hassaniya Arabic (Mali) : poetic and ethnographic texts, Heath, Jeffrey / Harrassowitz / 2003
* Hassaniya Arabic (Mali) - English - French dictionary, Heath, Jeffrey / Harrassowitz / 2004

External links

[http://www.ethnologue.com/country_index.asp Countries with Hassaniya speakers: Ethnologue, country index - languages of the world (map)]