Ḥassāniyya Arabic in contact with Berber
The case of quadriliteral verbs
Generally speaking, it is at the edges of the Arabic speaking world that one finds the most borrowings and where the influence
of contact on the internal development of Arabic is most visible. Although Mauritanian Ḥassāniyya is an exception to this
general trend (Taine-Cheikh 1994, 2007),
the dialect has nonetheless retained traces of the region’s past and namely of the very gradual disappearance of Zenaga
Berber.
My goal here is to assess, based on the study of a particular lexical sub-category (verb forms with quadriliteral roots), the
influence Berber may have had on lexical formation in Ḥassāniyya Arabic.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Ḥassāniyya Arabic
- 1.2Reciprocal influence between Berber and Arabic
- 1.3Quadriliteral verbs
- 2.Probable borrowings from Berber
- 2.1Strong formal and semantic convergence
- 2.1.1With no other known origins
- 2.1.2Foreign terms found in Berber
- 2.2Partial formal and/or semantic convergence
- 2.2.1Partial semantic convergence
- 2.2.2Partially divergent roots
- 2.3Roots where the 1st consonant was originally an affix
- 2.3.1With the factitive affix ‘s’
- 2.3.2With the nasal affix m-/n-
- 3.Possible borrowings from Berber
- 3.1Cognate(s) in a single Berber dialect
- 3.1.1Nominal cognates
- 3.1.2Pluralities of cognates
- 3.1.3Verbal cognates
- 3.2Presence in Ḥassāniyya of a distinctive ‘Berber’ feature
- 3.2.1Nouns with unusual syllable structures and affixes
- 3.2.2Presence of non-Arabic phonemes:
ẓ, d
y
,t
y
- 4.Puzzling etymologies
- 4.1Insufficient or contradictory indications
- 4.1.1Zenaga verb of the type yaCa(Ca …)Cah
- 4.1.2Possible internal changes
- 4.2Notable correspondences outside of Berber
- 4.2.1In Maghreb Arabic
- 4.2.2In Classical Arabic
- 4.2.3In other languages
- 4.3Complex etymologies
- 4.3.1A note on derivatives in sa-
- 4.3.2Arabic root and Berber formant
- 4.3.3Complex cases of (re)borrowings
- 5.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
References