A linguistic analysis of MTG a spoken dialect of Arabic

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A linguistic analysis of MTG:

A spoken dialect of Arabic

Souad Hamerlain Universit y of Most aganem, Algeria

Résumé :

Le présent art icle rent re dans le cadre de la dialect ologie maghrébine à t ravers une ét ude synchronique du dialect e Most aganemois MTG qui a visé quelques phénomènes linguist iques. Nous avons pu ét ablir la chart e des phonèmes avec les sons emphat iques et non-emphat iques, et la charpent e syllabique du dialect e en quest ion. Parmi les problèmes qu'on a soulevés, les phonèmes dans la région cit adine. Ce qui nous a poussés à f aire cet t e ét ude, c'est le manque d'art icles t rait ant de ce parler par comparaison avec les dialect es Oranais, Const ant inois, et ceux du Sud Algérien.

Mots-clés :

linguist ique, dialect e arabe, Most aganem, phonèmes, parler.

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The present paper const it ut es a humble at t empt t owards a synchronic descript ion of Most aganem Spoken Arabic(1). t hat one should be ref erring t o t hroughout as MTG.

By applying t he met hods devel oped by modern Linguist ics, one int ends t o examine - t hough succinct l y - some phonological phenomena at t est ed f or t he vernacular under invest igat ion. Here, and f or space limit at ions, one has select ed among an exhaust ive list of phonological processes, t wo maj or phonological aspect s. Namely, t hose of emphasis and syllable st ruct ure. These are preceded by a brief hist orical survey of t he t own f ollowed by MTG’ s phoneme invent ory.

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prest ige, non enseignée dans les écoles, a pu se généraliser sur le domaine ext ra-péninsulaire. . . "(2)

The inst igat ion of t heir evolut ion, in f act , can be drawn t o t he Islamic conquest s f or conversion (during t he 7t h and 8t h c. ), when bot h t he Arab armies and t he convert ed indigenous were brought t oget her due t o mixed marit al bonds. This event gave rise t o a spect rum of vernaculars. Hence, it was only f or ease of ref erence t hat philol ogist s divided t he result ing speeches int o t wo maj or geographical sect ors: an orient al and an occident al (or maghribi)(3) area t o which MTG pert ains.

Among t he pioneering works t hat dealt wit h t he descript ion of an Arabic spoken variet y, is t hat of François de Dombay’ s "Grammat ica linguae-arabicae".

An art icle in which he account s f or Tanger’ s dialect . Since t hen, and especially f rom 1850 onwards, ext ensive at t empt s were conduct ed in t his linguist ic avenue t hat summoned t he cont ribut ion of many dist inguished dialoct ologist s such as G. S. Colin, W. Marçais, Ph. Marçais, J. Cant ineau, D. Cohen, A. Dhina. . . - t o name but a f ew.

As f ar as one knows, relat ively lit t le has been writ t en on MTG, part icularly if one compares t he brief inst ances advanced in it s issue wit h t hose of ot her cent ral Algerian t owns (Al giers, Oran, Const ant ine and some Saharian t owns). In t his respect , Ph. Marçais (1941) writ es: "La seule vue un peu générale qu’ on est t ent é de prendre des f ormes variées que revêt l’ arabe parlé en Algérie se présent e comme un t ript yque reposant sur un socle : chaque volet recouvre le t errit oire d’ un départ ement administ rat ive, l’ Oranie, l’ Al gérois, le Const ant inois ; et le socle, se sont les t errit oires du Sud"(4).

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previously report ed about t his vernacular.

To st art wit h, t he t own’ s coast al posit ion had t he role of f acilit at ing regional cont act s - t hrough commercial t ransact ions - and dialect cont act by t he same t oken. Besides, an int roduct ory survey of t he hist orical incursions experienced by t he t own, as well as it s key geographical set t ing, all owed us t o make a direct link bet ween t he l inguist ic het erogeneit y of MTG and t he cont ribut ion of t hese f act ors t o it .

Most aganem wit nessed t he presence of Spain (16t h c), Turkey (18t h c), and France (19t h c) on it s land. These Indo-European count ries lef t t heir print s in t he cit izens dail y conversat ions and some linguist ic int erf erences st ill part ake t heir lexical repert oire. These int erf erences are manif est ed t hrough some of t he sound drif t s and l exical borrowings illust rat ed below: (likul) f rom French "l’ école" "school"

(ravaj ) f rom French "réveil" "alarm-clock" (baxnuq) f rom Turkish "clot h" (Tobsi) f rom Turkish "plat e" (Rokna) f rom Spanish "rincón" "corner" (kola) f rom Spanish "cola" "queue"

1 - Emphasis:

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An ext ended reading in t he lit erat ure will perhaps disclose t he f irst inst it ut ionary work of t he present dist inct ion bet ween "emphat ic" vs. "non-emphat ic" consonant s. In his "Kit ab" - writ t en around 750 A. D - Sibawayhi account s f or t he ent ire phonet ic repert oire of Arabic. He ident if ies, on t he one hand, t he muTbaqa (which are t he emphat ics) as being t he dAd, t he sAd, t he TA and t he Za’ ; t hat is S, D, T, Dh respect ively.

On t he ot her hand, he sees t he munf at iha as all t he consonant s exclusive t o t hese. This is merely because t heir t ongue’ s posit ion dif f ers radically f rom t hat of t he previously ment ioned ones. The muTbaqa alt oget her wit h q, x, g f orm t he must aâliyya. That is, "Consonant s which have a raising (of t he t ongue) t oward t he upper palat e"(8).

In t he t ime when Ph. Marçais (1948) brought his cont ribut ion t o t he invest igat ions done on t he Arabic of t he Maghreb, a new f eat ure of "emphat ic" specif icat ion was advanced. Pharyngealizat ion became a ref erence as t o t he way t hose t hick sounds are produced. Thus, and by point ing out t o t he narrowing of t he pharyngeal cavit y on account of t he lowering of t he dorsum of t he t ongue and t he ret ract ion of it s root , Ph. Marçais st ood against Sibawayhi and ot her t radit ional grammarians previous assumpt ions.

A great number of st ruct uralist s during t he decade bet ween 1950 and 1960 geared all t heir ef f ort s t o model t his binary opposit ion of "emphat ic / non- emphat ic" consonant s of Arabic on t he grounds of dist inct ive f eat ures. This was probably done in an at t empt t o rest ruct ure t he asymmet ry of a broken syst em, in order t o creat e - as many phonol ogist s st rived t o do - a harmonic balance bet ween t he allocat ed segment s in phoneme repert oires.

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Unlike De Sacy (1810), f or inst ance, who considered in his select ion t he voiced S, D, T, Dh, q wit h t heir corresponding voiceless s, t , d, z, k, Jakobson came wit h a more ext ensive list including t he f our dent als S, D, T, t he velars q, x, y and 9 which he called pharyngealized laryngeals. Then, t he less dist ribut ed B, M, N.

Such are f ew at t empt s t hat cannot cover t he subst ant ial works and explored avenues done on t his unset t led issue. Thereby, it may be appropriat e at t his st age t o leave t he t heoret ical aspect and embark on a more pract ical procedure t o discriminat e bet ween what can be considered as "surf ace-emphat ics" and what one regards as t rue "t hick t imbers" in MTG.

A considerat ion of t he f ollowing perf ect ive and singular f orms t oget her wit h t heir imperf ect ive and plural t ransf ormat ions will help in making t his dist inct ion.

Set: 1 Perfective Imperfective

t arf : "a slice" mt arraf : "sliced" met ra: "a met re" emet ar: "he measures" 9ad: "he bit " e9ad: "he bit es" byud: "he hat ed" j abyud: "he hat es" saab: "he f ound" eseb: "he f inds" sna9: "he f abricat ed" masnuu9: "f abricat ed"

Singular Plural

t aabla: "a t able" t waabal: "t ables" gat : "a cat " gt uut a: "cat s" mesmaar: "a screw" msamiir: "screws" rgas: "he danced" ragsu: "t hey danced"

Set: 2 Perfective Imperfective

wallah: "and God" billaah: "by God" kbaar: "grown up" j akbar: "he grows up" baarak: "he congrat ulat ed" mabruuk: "congrat ulat ions"

Singular Plural

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f aar: "mouse" f iiraan: "mice" maaj da: "cof f ee-t able" mwaaj ad: "cof f ee-t ables"

Following Farouk. A. N. Bouhadiba’ s Thesis (1988)(9), t he coronals T, S, D do preserve t heir f ull qualit y of emphat ics irrespect ive t o t he morphophonemic cont ext s in which t hey occur. The liquids l, r, by cont rast , are real ized solely as such in specif ic environment s. This is basically due t o some phonological derivat ions which, as soon as t hey are applied, alt er t heir emphat ic st at us and reveal t heir plain realizat ions at surf ace levels. The labials "b", m and t he dent al "n" are t oo vict ims of t his loss of t he + prosodeme f eat ure.

The "t rue-emphat ics" t hat one recognizes f or MTG are, t hereupon, t he S, T, D. While t he ot her exercised consonant s, and on account of t heir inst abilit y, exclude t hemselves f rom t his phonological considerat ion. Hence, becoming unqualif ied f or t he t hick brand.

2 - The Phoneme Inventory of MTG:

The phoneme invent ory of language is a set of bundles of f eat ure specif icat ions. For many linguist s, Trubet zkoy (1939)(10) among ot hers, t he included phonemes are def ined in t erms of opposit ions. They are cont rast ive unit s t hat cont ribut e t o t he semant ic l oad of words. This is what happens when one cont rast s t he phonemes "k" and "g" in words like came and game.

Charles Hocket t ’ s (1942) specif icat ion speaks rat her of a "class of phones det ermined by six crit eria"(11). Among t hem, st ands t he f eat ure of pat t ern congruit y which one would like t o dwell on a bit due t o it s inexist ence in t he Algerian phonological syst em. If one compares it t o t he English arrays of sounds, f or inst ance, one shall see t hat t he aspect of cont rast is quit e obvious in it .

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equilibrium which is somehow missing in MTG’ s phoneme invent ory if one f act ors out t he number of holes which can be det ect ed at f irst sight . Furt hermore, a considerabl e number of consonant s st and by t hemselves f unct ioning as independent phonemes. Namely, t he unpaired labials "m" and "w"; t he dent al "n"; t he velar "q"; and t he gl ot t al "h".

Those individual segment s f orm indeed an uneven consonant al dist ribut ion in t he pat t ern. To draw a parall el bet ween t he Arabic and t he Engl ish phoneme invent ories will be t o not e, also, t hat while t he f ormer has only t wo oral consonant s b, f , t he l at t er has f our. These are, t he voiceless and voiced st ops p, b, and t he voiceless and voiced f ricat ives f , v, respect ivel y. Consequent ly, it is wort h point ing out t hat t he phoneme "b" - even if it exist s in Arabic - proves dif f erent f rom t hat of English, since t hat of Arabic does not have t he phoneme "p" t o cont rast wit h. The same t hing can be applied t o "f " and "v". Subsequent ly, MTG’ s phoneme invent ory overlaps t he aggregat e of t went y seven phonemes - as a close list - open t o f ree variat ion.

In one of Gleason’ s (1955) phoneme def init ions, he draws at t ent ion t o t he f act t hat phonemes should not only be "phonet ical ly similar" but t hat t hey should also: "show cert ain charact erist ic pat t erns of dist ribut ion in t he language or dialect under considerat ion"(12).

This precision, in f act , will gear us t o account f or t he palat o-af f ricat es t CH, dDJ present in our phoneme invent ory, despit e t he lack of t he f ort is af f ricat e t CH in MTG.

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binary opposit ion.

This is a necessary phonol ogical crit erion t o t ake int o account despit e having divergent cont rast s. For, on dist ribut ional grounds, it is rat her t he realizat ions CH, dDJ t hat we obt ained f rom our inf ormant s. Theref ore, it is more convent ional t o st at e t hat t he phoneme t CH rewrit es CH and t CH, while, t he f ort is f ricat ive CH is highly opt ed f or t han t he f ort is af f ricat e t CH. Addit ionall y, while t he phoneme dDJ encompasses DJ and dDJ as it s allophones, t he f ormer is mainly adopt ed by Most aganem speakers who hardly or occasionally use t he variant DJ.

From t he previous discussion, one can draw t he f ollowing illust rat ive t able t hat covers t he t ot alit y of MTG’ s phonemes.

3 - Syllable Structure:

If one want s t o underst and what may operat e in MTG at a phonot act ic level, t he least one needs is a unit on t he basis of which account s will be rendered. In t his respect , t he syllable st ands as t he most appropriat e linguist ic ground on which phonemes’ dist ribut ion can be handled and explained. Furt hermore, inf erences can be logically drawn about t heir whole organizat ion around t he nucleus.

Below is an exhaust ive list of various t ypes of syllables shapes (canons) at t ribut ed t o t he dialect under st udy.

Syllable Structure Examples Gloss

1 - cv f i "in"

2 - ccv sma "sky"

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11 - cccvcc nsra9t "I was hit "

12 - cccvccc ma nghbant ch "I was not t roubled" 13 - ccccvccc ma nddj raht ch "I was not inj ured"

One can not e t hat MTG hardly al lows f or a VC buil d-up. This is except ionally f ound in some int erj ect ions. However, and as advocat ed by A. Mart inet (1965), int erj ect ions are oust ed f rom any phonol ogical considerat ion. What he calls double art iculat ion is but a ref erence t o t he impossibilit y of such monemes as uf ? huf f ! or aj ? aw! t o be segment ed int o phonemes irrespect ive of language’ s dualit y.

The CV st ruct ure is, t oo, dist ribut ionall y limit ed if one considers t he main st ream occurrence of t he voiced palat o-af f ricat e dDJ as opposed t o t he syst em of ORSA (here, Oran Spoken Arabic), f or inst ance, which espouses t he CV model.

As an example, consider MTG’ s verb dDJa "he came", and his equivalent ORSA DJa. Moreover, MTG replicat es t his last st ruct ure on account of it s meager manif est at ion.

What one should set out , al so, is t hat neit her of t he f oregoing sequent ial consonant / vowel classif icat ions allow f or a vocalic repeat ed occurrence. Besides, t his aspect is hint ed at by Ph. Marçais (1952) in his st udy of an east ern Algerian dialect (Dj idj elli) in part icular, and of ot her Algerian dialect s of Arabic as well st at ing t hat : "les syllabes y apparaissent le plus souvent réduit s à l eur plus simple expression : ils ne conservent que l a charpent e consonant ique et un nombre rest reint de voyelles, le st rict minimum qu’ exige l’ art iculat ion aisé et la spécif icat ion morphologique"(14).

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To bring evidence t o t his st at ement , inst ances cont aining f rom t hree syllables-word t o seven-syllables-word are put f orward.

eg:

t a - kul - ha: "you eat it / she eat s it " 9a - wan - na – ha: "we helped her"

ma - t 9a - wad - dal - humch: "she will not repeat f or t hem" ma - wad - dar - na - ha - lakch: "we did not lose it "

ma - 9al - l am - na - hum - l - humch: "we did not t each t hese t o t hem".

It f ollows f rom t he previous t hirt een syllabic pat t erns t hat t he canonical shape at t est ed t o t he syst em of MTG is C31 VC30.

Finally, one should say t hat t he present work is but a f irst t ent at ive l aunched by us in t he dialect ol ogical arena. One admit s t hat t he result s of t his undert aking - t hough limit ed in scope and conf ined t o one area - const it ut e a very promising asset f or f urt her research.

Notes:

1 - Regardless t o it s adj acent suburbs.

2 - G. - S. Colin : L’ Arabe vulgaire à l’ Ecole Nat ionale des Langues Orient ales Vivant es, (1948), p. 97.

3 - St ret ching f rom Morocco t o West ern Libya and neighboring Af rican count ries t o t he immediat e Sout h, as opposed t o East ern (or orient al) Arabic somet imes ref erred t o as Mesopot amian Arabic. See M. C. Bat eson: Arabic Language Handbook, Washingt on, Cent er f or Applied Linguist ics (1967).

4 - J. Cant ineau : Les parlers arabes du départ ement d’ Alger, in Act es du 3e Congrès de la Fédérat ion des sociét és savant es (Const ant ine), Alger (1938), pp. 703 - 711. Les parlers arabes du départ ement de Const ant ine, in Act es du 4e Congrès (Rabat ), Alger (1939), T. II, pp. 849 - 854. Les parlers arabes du départ ement d’ Oran, in Revue af ricaine, (1940), pp. 220 - 231. Les parlers arabes des t errit oires du Sud, in Revue af ricaine, (1941), pp. 71 - 77.

5 - S. de Sacy, (1810) is among t he f irst scholars t o use t his word.

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an aest het ic phenomenon. Cf . A. Khalaf allah: A Descript ive Grammar of Saidi Egypt ian Colloquial Arabic, (1969), pp. 27 - 31.

8 - Sibawayh: II, p. 285.

9 - F. A. Bouhadiba: Aspect s of Al gerian Arabic Verb, Phonology And Morphology, Universit y of Reading, Ph. D. t hesis, (1988), pp. 55 - 56.

10 - N. S. Trubet zkoy: Grundzüge der Phonology TCLP 7. Eng. Version, t rans. C. Balt axe (1969), Principles of Phonology, Berkely. Univ. of Calif ornia, Press (1939), p. 36.

11 - The ot her f eat ures are t hose of similarit y, non-int ersect ion, cont rast ive and complement ary dist ribut ion, complet eness, and economy. Ch. Hocket t : Syst em of Descript ive Phonology, (1942), p. 100.

12 - H. A. Gl eason: An Int roduct ion t o Descript ive Linguist ics. New York, Holt , Rinechart and Winst on (1955), p. 261.

13 - A. Mart inet : Neut ralisat ion et archiphonème. TCLP (1939), p. 73.

14 - Ph. Marçais : Et ude d’ un parler arabe du nord Const ant inois (Dj idj elli), (1952), p. 42.

Pour citer l'article :

 Souad Hamerlain : A linguist ic analysis of MTG: A spoken dialect of Arabic, Revue Annales du pat rimoine, Universit é de Most aganem, N° 06, 2006, pp. 27 - 37.