| Moroccan Arabic |
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Information AboutMoroccan Arabic |
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Overview Native speakers typically consider Moroccan Arabic a Dialect because it is not a Literary Language and because it lacks prestige compared to Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic . Its vocabulary and pronunciation are substantially different from Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic as it has been influenced by Berber , French and Spanish . Its grammar is also simpler than Classical or Modern Standard Arabic. Nowadays, Moroccan Arabic continues to evolve by integrating new French or English words, notably in technical fields, or by replacing old French and Spanish ones with Modern Standard Arabic words within some circles. It is worth mentioning that Darija can be divided into two groups:
A similar phenomenon can be observed in Algerian Arabic and Tunisian Arabic . Relationship with other languages Moroccan Arabic has a distinct pronunciation and is nearly unintelligible to other Arabic speakers, but is generally Mutually Intelligible with other Maghrebi Arabic dialects with which it forms a Dialect Continuum . It is grammatically simpler, and has a less voluminous vocabulary than Classical Arabic. It has also integrated many Berber , French and Spanish words. Other Moroccans speak Berber Languages such as Tashelhit and Tarifit . There is no clear cut division between Moroccan Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. Most Moroccans would more or less understand the Modern Standard Arabic spoken on Satellite TV channels like Al Jazeera . Depending on cultural background and degree of literacy, some will prefer to use Arabic words instead of their French or Spanich borrowed counterparts, while others often adopt Code-switching between French and Moroccan Arabic. As everywhere in the world, how someone speaks, what words or language he uses is often a very good indicator of his Social Class and even religious opinion in Morocco. Pronunciation Moroccan Arabic has a distinct pronunciation and is nearly unintelligible to other Arabic speakers apart, to a certain degree, from those from other Maghreb countries. One of the most notable features of Moroccan Arabic is the collapse of short vowels. Short /a/ and /i/ are deleted entirely in most positions, and short /u/ is either deleted or maintained only as rounding on an adjacent labial consonant. This can result in long strings of consonants (a feature shared with Berber and almost certainly derived from it). These clusters are never simplified; instead, consonants occurring between other consonants tend to syllabify, according to a sonorance hierarchy. Long /a/, /i/ and /u/ are maintained as semi-long vowels, which are substituted for both short and long vowels in borrowings from Modern Standard Arabic. Long /a/, /i/ and /u/ also have many more allophones than in most other dialects; in particular, /i/ and /u/ show up as /e/ and /o/ in the vicinity of emphatic consonants (emphatic spreading occurs much less than in dialects such as Egyptian Arabic , for example); in some dialects, such as that of Marrakesh , front-rounded and other allophones also exist. Non-emphatic /t/ is pronounced with noticeable affrication, almost like /ts/ (although still distinguished from a sequence of /t/ + /s/), and hence is easily distinguishable from emphatic /T/. Unlike in most other Arabic dialects (but, again, similar to Berber), non-emphatic /r/ and emphatic /R/ are two entirely separate phonemes, almost never contrasting in related forms of a word. Original /q/ splits lexically into /q/ and /g/; for some words, both alternants exist. Vocabulary Moroccan Arabic is grammatically simpler, and has a less voluminous vocabulary than Classical Arabic. It has also integrated many Berber , French and Spanish words. Spanish words are probably older in Moroccan Arabic than the French ones. Some words might have been brought by Moriscos who spoke Andalusi Arabic which was influenced by Spanish (Castilian), others might have been brought in because of commercial contacts with Spain. French words came with the French Protectorate ( 1912 - 1956 ). There are noticeable lexical differences between Moroccan Arabic and most other dialects. Some are innovations ( "two", from Classical ''zawj'' "pair"); others are unusual retentions of Classical vocabulary that has disappeared elsewhere (''hDeR'' "talk", from Classical ''hadhar'' "babble"; ''temma'' "there" from Classical ''thamma''; ''hbeT''' "go down" from Classical ''habaT''). The only Moroccan Arabic dictionnary ''Dictionnaire Colin d'arabe dialectal marocain'' (Rabat, éditions Al Manahil, ministère des Affaires Culturelles), was written by a Frenchman named Georges Séraphin Colin, and to which he devoted nearly all his life from 1921 to 1977 . The dictionnary contains 60 000 entries and was published in 1993 , after Colin's death. Some words borrowed from Berber
Some words borrowed from French
Some words borrowed from Spanish Some of those words might also have come through Andalusi Arabic brought by Moriscos when they were expelled from Spain following the Christian Reconquest .
Some useful sentences Grammar The grammar of Moroccan Arabic is not always simpler than Classical Arabic Grammar , but fortunately, as the language is never written, nobody is concerned about spelling. It is also heavily influenced by the Berber . The regular Moroccan verb conjugates with a series of prefixes and suffixes. The stem of the conjugated verb may change a bit depending on the conjugation. Example: The stem of the Moroccan verb for "to write" is "kteb". The present tense of this verb: I write: Kankteb You (masculine) write: Katkteb You (feminine) write: Katktebii He/it writes: Kaykteb She/it writes: Katkteb We write: Kanketbuu You (pl) write: Katketbuu They write: Kayketbuu In the North, ''you write'' is always Katkteb, regardles of whom you are speaking to. Instead of the prefix "ka",some speakers prefer the use of "ta"(eg:tankteb:I write).The co-existence of these two prefixes has historical reasons.In general "ka" is more used in the north and "ta" in the south The past tense of this verb: I wrote: Ktebt You wrote: Ktebtii He/it wrote: Kteb She/it wrote: Ketbat We wrote: Ktebna You (pl) wrote: Ktebtuu They wrote: Ketbuu To form the future tense, just remove the "ka-" from the present and add "gha" or "ghadi" instead. Evolution In general, Moroccan Arabic is one of the most innovative (in the technical sense of "least conservative") of all Arabic dialects. Nowadays Moroccan Arabic continues to integrate new French words, mainly Technologic and modern words. However, in recent years constant exposure to revived Classical forms on television and in print media and a certain desire among many Moroccans for a revitalization of their Arab and Islamic identities has inspired many Moroccans to integrate words from Standard Arabic, replacing their French or Spanish counterparts or even speaking in Modern Standard Arabic while keeping the Moroccan Accent to sound less pedantic. This is a phenomenon mostly among literate people. Though rarely written, Moroccan Arabic is currently undergoing an unexpected and pragmatic revival. It is now the preferred language in Moroccan Chat Rooms or for sending SMS , using Arabic Chat Alphabet composed of latin letters supplemented with the numbers ''2'', ''3'', ''5'', ''7'' and ''9'' for coding specific Arabic sounds as is the case with other Arabic speakers. The language continues to evolve quickly as can be noted while consulting the Colin dictionary. Many words and idiomatic expressions integrated during its making from 1921 to 1977 are now obsolete. Diglossia and social prestige While being a natural localization of Classical Arabic for geographic and historical reasons, as French has evolved from Vulgar Latin , Moroccan Arabic is considered as a language of low prestige and suffers from the fact that Classical Arabic is the language of the Qur'an which serves as a reference. While being the Mother Tongue of nearly twenty million people in Morocco it is rarely written, this situation probably explains in part the high illiteracy rates in Morocco. This situation is not specific to Morocco, but occurs in all Arabic speaking countries. The French Arabist William Marçais coined in 1930 the term ''diglossie'' ( Diglossia ) to describe this situation, where two (often) closely-related languages co-exist, one of high prestige, which is generally used by the government and in formal texts, and one of low prestige, which is usually the spoken Vernacular tongue. Oddly enough the situation in Morocco is also very similar to the one found in Brazilian Portuguese , although this can be explained by the similar historic and immigration patterns. Artistic expression There exists some poetry written in Moroccan Arabic like the Malhun . In the troubled and autocratic Morocco of the ’70s with no freedom of speech, The legendary Nass El Ghiwane band wrote beautiful and allusive lyrics in Moroccan Arabic which were very appealing to the youth even in other Maghreb countries. Another interesting movement is the development of an original Rap Music scene which explores new and innovative usages of the language. Generally, Moroccan Arabic remains the preferred language of Moroccan singers. See also
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