Shilha language

Shilha (/ˈʃɪlhə/ SHIL-hə; from its name in Moroccan Arabic, Šəlḥa), now more commonly known as Tashelhiyt, Tachelhit (/ˈtæʃəlhɪt/ TASH-əl-hit; from the endonym Taclḥiyt, IPA: [tæʃlħijt]),[a] is a Berber language spoken in southwestern Morocco.The largest urban centres in the area are the coastal city of Agadir (population over 400,000) and the towns of Guelmim, Taroudant, Oulad Teima, Tiznit and Ouarzazate.In Moroccan colloquial Arabic, a male speaker is called a Šəlḥ, plural Šluḥ, and the language is Šəlḥa,[6] a feminine derivation calqued on Taclḥiyt.The now-usual names Taclḥiyt and Iclḥiyn in their endonymic use seem to have gained the upper hand relatively recently, as they are attested only in those manuscript texts which date from the 19th and 20th centuries.With 4.7 million speakers or 14% of Morocco's population, Tachelhit is the most widely spoken Amazigh language in the Kingdom, ahead of Tamazight and Tarifit.Like the high concentration of Tachelhit-speaking speakers in Dakhla, Tachelhit is spoken significantly by many inhabitants, in Moroccan municipalities outside the area where the language historically originated.These situations are reminiscent of the historical migrations that have followed one another over the long term and especially the massive rural exodus that began in the 20th century towards the economic metropolises.[13] The earliest datable text is a compendium of lectures on the "religious sciences" (lɛulum n ddin) composed in metrical verses by Brahim u Ɛbdllah Aẓnag, who died in 1597.[19][20] The first attempt at a grammatical description of Shilha is the work of the German linguist Hans Stumme (1864–1936), who in 1899 published his Handbuch des Schilḥischen von Tazerwalt.A problem with the work is its use of an over-elaborate, phonetic transcription which, while designed to be precise, generally fails to provide a transparent representation of spoken forms.On the eve of the First World War there appeared a small, practical booklet composed by Captain (later Colonel) Léopold Justinard (1878–1959), entitled Manuel de berbère marocain (dialecte chleuh).Emile Laoust (1876–1952), prolific author of books and articles about Berber languages, in 1921 published his Cours de berbère marocain (2nd enlarged edition 1936), a teaching grammar with graded lessons and thematic vocabularies, some good ethnographic texts (without translations) and a wordlist.Edmond Destaing (1872–1940) greatly advanced knowledge of the Shilha lexicon with his Etude sur la tachelḥît du Soûs.Vocabulaire français-berbère (1920) and his Textes berbères en parler des Chleuhs du Sous (Maroc) (1940, with copious lexical notes).Lieutenant-interpreter (later Commander) Robert Aspinion is the author of Apprenons le berbère: initiation aux dialectes chleuhs (1953), an informative though somewhat disorganized teaching grammar.Typically, a transitional vowel is audible following the onset of a vowelless syllable CC or CCC, if either of the flanking consonants, or both, are voiced,[24] for example tigmmi [tiɡĭmmi] "house", amḥḍar [amɐ̆ʜdˤɐr] "schoolboy".[32] Positing four distinct phonemes is necessitated by the fact that semivowels and high vowels can occur in sequence, in lexically determined order, for example tazdwit "bee", tahruyt "ewe" (not *tazduyt, *tahrwit).The discussion is summed up in Ridouane (2008, with listing of relevant publications), where he conclusively demonstrates that a perfectly ordinary Shilha phrase such as tkkst stt "you took it away" indeed consists of three vowelless syllables [tk.ks.tst:.The traditional metrical system confirms the existence of vowelless syllables in Shilha, and Jouad's data have been used by Dell and Elmedlaoui, and by Ridouane to support their conclusions.Gender and number are all explicitly marked, but historical and synchronic sound changes have in some cases resulted in the neutralization of the difference between EL and EA."urnotiqqaddait.is.likelyaythatyak°rhe.stealsablaexceptk°nniyou.mplur iqqadda ay yak°r abla k°nninot it.is.likely that he.steals except you.mpl"no one could have stolen [it] except you lot"The direct object clitics are used with transitive verbs: yuznhe-senttnthemstotmzgidaEA-Koranic.schoolyuzn tn s tmzgidahe-sent them to EA-Koranic.school"he sent them to the Koranic school"iɣwhenyyimeyuthe.beatsarI.am.running.awayttrwalɣ iɣ yyi yut ar ttrwalɣwhen me he.beats I.am.running.away"when he beats me I run away" Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 5 word(s) in line 1, 4 word(s) in line 2 (help);The 3rd singular feminine variant stt is used after a dental stop, compare: The direct object clitics are also used to indicate the subject with pseudo-verbs,[40] and with the presentative particle ha "here is, voici": The pronominal suffixes are used with prepositions to indicate the object (see § Prepositions), and with a closed set of necessarily possessed kinship terms to indicate possession (see § Possessed nouns).The plural forms add an infix -t- before the suffix with kinship terms, for example baba-t-nɣ "our father" (never *baba-nɣ); this infix also occurs with some prepositions as a free or dialectal variant of the form without the -t-: The indirect object clitics convey both benefactive and detrimental meaning: alliɣwhenimmuthe.diedbabasfather-heriflhe.leftasto.herdhitheraydaEL-possessionsnnsof.himalliɣ immut babas ifl as d ayda nnswhen he.died father-her he.left to.her hither EL-possessions of.him"when her father died he left her his possessions"tamurɣiEL-locusttccashe.ateyto.herasEL-vegetable.patchtibḥirtof.hernns tamurɣi tcca y as tibḥirt nnsEL-locust she.ate to.her EL-vegetable.patch of.her"the locusts, they've eaten her vegetable patch" Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 6 word(s) in line 1, 5 word(s) in line 2 (help);The possessive complements follow the noun (see § Possession).The tens, hundreds and thousand were formed by combining the numerals 1 to 10 with the numeral nouns: snattwotmrawinEA-tensomessnat tmrawintwo EA-tensomes"twenty"snattwotmaḍEA-hundredssnat tmaḍtwo EA-hundreds"two hundred"sintwowafḍanEA-thousandssin wafḍantwo EA-thousands"two thousand" The numeral nouns are connected with the preposition n "of" to a noun, which is most often in the singular: timiḍiEL-hundrednofwag°marEA-horsetimiḍi n wag°marEL-hundred of EA-horse"a hundred horses"snattwotmaḍEA-hundredsnofwag°marEA-horsesnat tmaḍ n wag°martwo EA-hundreds of EA-horse"two hundred horses"ifḍEL-thousandnoftfunastEA-cowifḍ n tfunastEL-thousand of EA-cow"a thousand cows"sintwowafḍanEA-thousandsnoftfunastEA-cowsin wafḍan n tfunasttwo EA-thousands of EA-cow"two thousand cows" In the modern language the Arabic tens are used, which have developed a separate feminine form: ɛcrintwentynofwag°marEA-horseɛcrin n wag°martwenty of EA-horse"twenty horses"ɛcrinttwentynoftfunastEA-cowɛcrint n tfunasttwenty of EA-cow"twenty cows" The numerals between the tens are most frequently made with the Arabic numerals 1 to 10: xmsafivewandɛcrintwentynofwag°marEA-horsexmsa w ɛcrin n wag°marfive and twenty of EA-horse"twenty-five horses"xmsafivewandɛcrinttwentynoftfunastEA-cowxmsa w ɛcrint n tfunastfive and twenty of EA-cow"twenty-five cows" The Arabic hundreds and thousands are used in the modern language, taking the places of the original numeral nouns while the original syntax is maintained: miyahundrednofwag°marEA-horsemiya n wag°marhundred of EA-horse"a hundred horses"snattwoidPLmiyahundrednofwag°marEA-horsesnat id miya n wag°martwo PL hundred of EA-horse"two hundred horses"alfthousandnoftfunastEA-cowalf n tfunastthousand of EA-cow"a thousand cows"sintwowalfiwnEA-thousandsnoftfunastEA-cowsin walfiwn n tfunasttwo EA-thousands of EA-cow"two thousand cows" There is also a vigesimal system built on the Arabic numeral ɛcrin "twenty, score",[45] for example: sintwoidPLɛcrintscorenoftfunastEA-cowsin id ɛcrint n tfunasttwo PL score of EA-cow"forty cows"First and last are usually expressed with relative forms of the verbs izwur "to be first" and ggru "to be last": tawriqqtpageizwarnwhich.is.firsttawriqqt izwarnpage which.is.first"the first page"ussandaysgg°raninwhich.are.lastussan gg°ranindays which.are.last"the last days" There are also agent nouns derived from these verbs which are apposed to a noun or used independently: aḍrffurrowamzwaruthe.first.oneaḍrf amzwarufurrow the.first.one"the first furrow"tuckashe.arriveddhithertamggarutthe.last.onetucka d tamggarutshe.arrived hither the.last.one"she arrived last" The other ordinals are formed by prefixing masc.The most common way is to use the "exist with" construction: tllashe.existsdarswith.himyatonetxsaytEA-pumpkintlla dars yat txsaytshe.exists with.him one EA-pumpkin"he has a pumpkin"urnotdariwith.meylliit.existswmyaEA-anythingmawhatnnthitherlssaɣI.wearur dari ylli wmya ma nn lssaɣnot with.me it.exists EA-anything what thither I.wear"I've got nothing to wear"The verb ili "exist" (perfective lli/a) is usually omitted, leaving a verbless clause: darnɣwith.usarganEL-arganarit.is.growinginkkrinɣEA-foresttagant darnɣ argan ar inkkr ɣ tagantwith.us EL-argan it.is.growing in EA-forest"we have an argan tree growing in the forest" Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 6 word(s) in line 1, 5 word(s) in line 2 (help);isquestionurnotdarkwith.youkrasomethingyaḍnin?otheris ur dark kra yaḍnin?question not with.you something other"don't you have something different?"Alternatively, the verb ṭṭf, ṭṭaf "hold, possess" can be used: iṭṭafhe.possessesyanoneuɣyulEA-donkeyimmudduhe.travelssrswith.itiṭṭaf yan uɣyul immuddu srshe.possesses one EA-donkey he.travels with.it"he has a donkey which he travels with"nkkiIwrnotṭṭifɣI.possessluraqqpapersinuof.menkki wr ṭṭifɣ luraqq inuI not I.possess papers of.me"[as for] me, I haven't got my papers"In addition, there is the verb ili "possess" (perfective li/a), whose use is restricted to (inalienable) part-whole relationships and kinship relationships: liɣI.possessallnEL-eyesɛdlninwhich.are.goodliɣ alln ɛdlninI.possess EL-eyes which.are.good"I have good eyes"lanthey.possesssḍissixtarwaEA-childrenlan sḍis tarwathey.possess six EA-children"they have six children"In al its usages ili can be replaced with ṭṭaf or the "exist with" construction, but not the other way around: azrgEL-hand-millilait.possessesyanoneusktiEA-handle(or azrg iṭṭaf yan uskti) azrg ila yan usktiEL-hand-mill it.possesses one EA-handle"a hand-mill has one handle"ṭṭafɣI.possesssnattwotg°mmaEA-houses(not *liɣ snat tg°mma) ṭṭafɣ snat tg°mmaI.possess two EA-houses"I have two houses"These are a subtype of uninflected nouns.They also serve to indicate descent, origin and ethnicity: When w is followed by another (phonemic) w the result is gg°: Ayt occurs in many Shilha ethnonyms: The proprietive elements masc.tar "she without" are made up of a gender prefix (masculine w-, feminine t-) and an element ar which is probably related to the negation wr "not".They do not require the annexed state, and should probably be translated as "who does not have", with the following noun phrase as object: warhe withoutacrikEL-partnerwar acrik{he without} EL-partner"God"idPLwarhe withouttawwuriEL-jobid war tawwuriPL {he without} EL-job"the unemployed"tarshe withoutazalEL-daylighttar azal{she without} EL-daylight"wide-brimmed hat"tarshe withoutlamancertaintytar laman{she without} certainty"the world, worldly existence" Tashlhiyt, like other Berber languages, has a small number of loanwords from Phoenician-Punic, Hebrew, and Aramaic.[citation needed] Another example is ibkkaḍan "sins", obsolete in the modern language, but attested in a premodern manuscript text,[54] whose singular abkkaḍu is borrowed from Romance (cf.[56] Destaing[57] mentions a secret language (argot) called inman or tadubirt which is spoken by "some people of Souss, in particular the descendants of Sidi Ḥmad u Musa."