Ait Seghrouchen Berber

Ait Seghrouchen Berber
Tmaziġt, Tamaziġt
Native to Morocco
Region Central Morocco – Middle Atlas
Tifinagh, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Linguist list
 tzm-cen (Seghrušen of Mzab-Wargla)
Glottolog None

Ait Seghrouchen Berber, or Seghroucheni (Seghrusheni), is a Berber language. It is spoken by the Ait Seghrouchen tribe inhabiting east-central Morocco.

Classification

Ait Seghrouchen Berber commonly classed as Central Atlas Tamazight, and it is reported to be mutually intelligible with the neighbouring Central Atlas Tamazight dialect of Ait Ayache.[1] Genetically, however, it belongs to the Zenati subgroup of Northern Berber, rather than to the Atlas subgroup to which the rest of Central Atlas Tamazight belongs,[2] and are therefore excluded by some sources from Central Atlas Tamazight.[3]

Ait Seghrouchen is part of a larger cluster of Zenati dialects spoken in the eastern Middle Atlas.

Phonology

Consonants

Ayt Seghrouchen is notable for having the lateral fricative [ɬ] as an allophone of the sequence /lt/.[4] /k, g/ are pronounced as stops, unlike the closely related Ayt Ayache dialect in which they are fricatives.[5]

In the table below, when consonants appear in pairs, the one on the left is voiceless.

Ayt Seghrouchen consonants (Ayt Ayache)[6][7]
Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn-
geal1		 Glottal3
Nasal m nˤ
Plosive voiceless tˤ4 k
voiced b3 dˤ ɡ
Fricative zˤ ʒ ʁ ʕ
voiceless f sˤ ʃ χ ħ h
lateral (ɬ)2
Approximant ɬˤ j w
Flap/Trill[nb 1] rˤ

Phonetic notes:

  1. mainly in Arabic borrowings
  2. realization of the sequence /lt/ for some speakers, e.g. ultma 'sister', altu 'not yet'
  3. For a small number of speakers, /b/ is sometimes lenited to [β][8]
  4. /t/ is aspirated [tʰ][8]

Vowels

Ait Seghrouchen Berber has a typical phonemic three-vowel system, similarly to Classical Arabic:

Tamazight vowel phonemes[9]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Open a

These phonemes have numerous allophones, conditioned by the following environments:

(# denotes word boundary, X denotes C[−flat −/χ/ −/ʁ/], C̣ denotes C[+flat], G denotes C, /χ/, and /ʁ/)

Tamazight vowel allophony[10]
Phoneme Realization Environment Example Gloss
/i/ [i] #_X /ili/ 'to exist'
[ɨ] #_Xː / Xː_ /idːa/ 'he went'
[ɪ] [e] _G / G_ /dˤːiqs/ 'to burst out'
[ɪj] X_# /isːfrˤħi/ 'he made me happy'
/u/ [u] #_X / X(ː)_X /umsʁ/ 'I painted'
[ʊ] [o] _G / G_ /idˤurˤ/ 'he turned'
[ʊw] X(ː)_# /bdu/ 'to begin'
[ʉ] kː_ / ɡː_ /lːajɡːur/ 'he goes'
/a/ [æ] #_X(ː) / X(ː)_X /azn/ 'to send'
[ɐ] X(ː)_# /da/ 'here'
[ɑ] _C̣ / C̣_ /ħadˤr/ 'to be present'

Phonetic Schwa

There is a predictable non-phonemic vowel inserted into consonant clusters, realized as [ɪ̈] before front consonants (e.g. /b t d .../) and [ə] before back consonants (e.g. /k χ .../).[11] These are some of the rules governing the occurrence of [ə]:

(# denotes word boundary, L denotes /l r m n/, H denotes /h ħ ʕ w j/)

Tamazight schwa epenthesis[12]
Environment Realization Example Pronunciation Gloss
#C(ː)# əC(ː) /a/ [əɡ] 'to be, to do'
#LC# əLC or LəC /ns/ [əns] ~ [nəs] 'to spend the night'
#CC# CəC /tˤsˤ/ [tˤəsˤ] 'to laugh'
#CːC# əCːəC /fːr/ [əfːər] 'to hide'
#CCC# CCəC / C1C2 are not {L H} /χdm/ [χdəm] 'to work'
/zʕf/ [zʕəf] 'to get mad'
#CCC# əCCəC or #CəCəC# / {C1 C3} is {L H} /hdm/ [əhdəm] ~ [hədəm] 'to demolish'
#CCC# CəCəC / C2C3 = {L H} /dˤmn/ [dˤəmən] 'to guarantee'

Stress

Word stress is non-contrastive and predictable — it falls on the last vowel in a word (including schwa).[13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Abdel-Massih refers to this as a "flap" produced with "vibration" of the tongue.

References

  1. ↑ Abdel-Massih (1971b:xiii)
  2. ↑ Edmond Destaing, "Essai de classification des dialectes berbères du Maroc", Etudes et Documents Berbère, 19-20, 2001-2002 (1915)
  3. ↑ Augustin Bernard and Paul Moussard, Arabophones et berbérophones au Maroc, Annales de Géographie 1924, Volume 33 Numéro 183, pp. 267-282.
  4. ↑ Abdel-Massih (1971b:19–20)
  5. ↑ Abdel-Massih (1971b:4, 6, 19–20)
  6. ↑ Abdel-Massih (1971b:4, 6, 19–20)
  7. ↑ Abdel-Massih (1968:16)
  8. 1 2 Abdel-Massih (1971b:5)
  9. ↑ Abdel-Massih (1971b:11)
  10. ↑ Abdel-Massih (1971b:13–15, 20)
  11. ↑ Abdel-Massih (1971b:15)
  12. ↑ Abdel-Massih (1971b:15–17)
  13. ↑ Abdel-Massih (1971b:17–18)

Bibliography


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