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Almost all literate speakers of Tunisian also understand and can speak some classical or standard Arabic. Most Tunisians do not view Tunisian Arabic as a language in its own right, but as a corrupted form of Classical Arabic. Because of this, there is no official standard, and a limited interest in the variety as a topic worth studying. DISTINCTIVES Tunisian Arabic is a spoken variety of Arabic, and as such shares many features with other Modern Varieties , especially North African . Some of its distinctives are listed here.
DIALECTS The major distinction within Tunisian Arabic is that between sedentary (mainly urban) and Bedouin -origin (rural) dialects (see Sedentary Vs. Bedouin ). Note that most speakers of these rural varieties are not actually nomadic. Sedentary varieties are spoken in large cities on or near the coast, such as Tunis , Bizerte , Nabeul , Hammamet , Sousse , Monastir , Mahdia , Kairouan , and Sfax , while the rest of the country to the west and south of this coastal strip uses rural varieties, including the towns of Gabès , Gafsa , Tozeur , El Kef and Beja . Rural dialects are also found in small villages not far from the centres of the urban dialects. All the urban varieties use the Velar plosive /g/ in such words. Urban varieties also pronounce a final root vowel before another vowel, as in the word ''mʃa:u'' 'they went', while rural varieties delete this final vowel, giving ''mʃu''. Urban varieties also share with Maltese the distinction amongst Arabic dialects of not marking gender in the second person. The otherwise feminine ''inti'' is used to address men and women, much to the bemusement of other Arabic speakers, while in the verb no feminine marking is used. Rural dialects maintain the usual distinctions found in Arabic, whether standard or spoken. There is further variation within both urban and rural dialects. For example, the dialect of Sfax maintains the Diphthongs of Standard Arabic in words such as ''lajl'' 'evening', a trait shared by Maltese and the traditional women's dialect of Tunis. Further information on Tunisian Dialectology can be found in Gibson (1998), Marçais (1950), Singer (1984), and Talmoudi (1980). DOMAINS OF USE Tunisian Arabic has the role of the low variety in an example of classic Diglossia , where Standard Arabic is the high variety. As such, the use of Tunisian is mainly restricted to spoken domains, though cartoons in newspapers may be written in it, and since the 1990s many advertising boards have their slogans (though not the name of the company) written in Tunisian. The Berbers of the island of Jerba and the southern part of Tunisia speak Tunisian Arabic as a second language along with a Berber language called Shelha . Literature in Tunisian Arabic There are very few works of literature written in Tunsian Arabic. A large body of Folk Tales and folk poems existed in the past. This was mainly an Oral Tradition told by wandering storytellers and bards at marketplaces and festivals, but it has almost disappeared due to the widespread introduction of television and mass media in general. Notable examples of this folk literature are "El Jaziya El Hilaliya" and "Hkayet Ommi Sisi w'Dheeb". Most authors who write novels or short stories prefer to write in standard Arabic or in French. In some cases, the dialogue in a novel will be in Tunisian Arabic, but the main narrative will be in standard Arabic. An exception is Hedi Balegh , who has published collections of Tunisian proverbs and translated The Little Prince into Tunisian Arabic. Plays are almost always written in Tunisian Arabic, except when they are placed in a historical setting. The lyrics to folk and popular music are usually in Tunisian Arabic. Newspapers and magazines are printed either in standard French or standard Arabic. Television newscasts and documentaries are broadcast in standard Arabic, while locally-produced soap operas, sitcoms and movies are usually delivered in Tunisian. VOCABULARY The most immediately apparent difference between Tunisian and standard Arabic is the extensive use of words borrowed from Italian , Spanish and French (also true of Algerian and Morrocan). For example: Electricity is ''kahraba:ʔ'' in standard Arabic. It becomes ''trisiti'' in Tunisian (a word mainly used by older people), from the French ''électricité''. Other loans from French include ''burtma:n'' 'appartment', and ''bya:sa'' 'coin', from ''pièce''. Kitchen is ''matbax'' in standard Arabic. It becomes ''kuʒi:na'' in Tunisian, from the Italian word ''cucina''. Shoe is ''hiða:ʔ'' in standard Arabic. It becomes ''sˤabba:t'' in Tunisian, from the Spanish word ''zapato''. This is not to be confused with the actual use of French words or sentences in everyday speech by Tunisians, which is common in business environments particularly. However, many French words are used within Tunisian Arabic discourse, without being adapted to Tunisian phonology, apart from the French 'r' which is often replaced, especially by men, with [r (Jabeur 1987). For example, many Tunisians, when asking "How are you doing?" will use the French "''ça va''?" instead of, and in addition to the Tunisian ''ʃnuwa ħwa:lik''. It is difficult in this case to establish whether this is an example of using French or borrowing. Moreover, certain words are of Berber origin; for example: 'Fig' is ''teen'' in standard Arabic, but ''karmous'' in Tunisian. Cock or rooster (a male chicken) is ''deek'' in standard Arabic, but ''sardu:q'' in Tunisian. PHONOLOGY There are several differences in pronunciation between Standard Arabic and Tunisian. Short Vowels are frequently omitted, especially where they would occur as the final element of an Open Syllable . This was probably encouraged by the Berber Substratum . For example, /kataba/ ''he wrote'' in standard Arabic becomes /ktib/. /katabat/ ''she wrote'' in standard Arabic becomes /kitbit/. Regular verbs exhibit this shifting of the vowel in their conjugation, and it also occurs in nouns: /dbiʃ/ ''stuff'' /dibʃi/ ''my stuff'' Consonants Standard Arabic ''qâf'' has both /q/ and /g/ as reflexes in both urban and rural varieties, with /q/ predominating in urban varieties and /g/ in rural ones. But ''cow'' is always /bagra/ and ''I study'' /naqra/. Interdental Fricative s are also maintained. Old Arabic /dˁ/ has merged with /ðˁ/. See Arabic Alphabet for explanations on the IPA phonetic symbols found in this chart. Pharyngealisation in Arabic is often represented with a dot below the letter, e.g. ‹›. The bracketed phonemes are ones to which not all linguists would necessarily attribute phonemic status, but there is a strong case for their being separate phonemes. There are two sources for these bracketed consonants: the pharyngealised are internal developments while the other three are due to substiantal borrowing from French, and Standard Arabic in the case of /ʔ/. Minimal Pair s are not always easy to find for these tokens, but there are nonetheless plenty of examples showing that these marginal forms do not represent Allophone s of other phonemes, e.g. ''door'' ''(my) father'' alongside a minimal pair: ''petrol'' ''gas'' The realisation of the vowels in these four words are dramatically different. Pharyngealiastion on the consonants themselves is relatively weak, the main realisation being on adjacent vowels, and is amongst some speakers being lost, such as in ''morning'', with there being no vowel to carry any pharyngealisation on the first consonant. There are other words such as ''old lady'', whose form, while not having any minimal or Analagous Pair s, cannot be attributed to conditioned variation, and which justify an (admittedly rare) phoneme . Minimal pairs for the more commonly admitted phonemes /rˁ/ and /lˁ/ can be given, as in ''he ran'' ''it happened'' ''or'' ''by God!'' Singer (1984:37-60) gives a full list of oppositions for each phoneme. Tunisian Arabic has substantial borrowing from French, and many words and expressions used by those who do not speak French maintain /p/ and /v/, e.g. pisi:n ''swimming pool'' mgarrap ''suffering from influenza'' (derived from French ''gripe'') jnarvisni ''He annoys me'' ga:riv ''on strike'' (derived from French ''grève'')''. /ʔ/ tends to occur in the learnèd Register , in loans from Standard Arabic, often in ''masdar'' ( Verbal Noun ) forms at the onset of the word, but also in other words like /bi:ʔa/ ''environment'' and /jisʔal/ ''he asks'', though many (mainly less educated) speakers substitute /h/ for the /ʔ/ in the latter word. Vowels Given that pharyngealisation is a property of consonants, most dialects have three vowel qualities /i, a, u/, all also distinguished for length, as in Standard Arabic. The length distinction is suspended word finally. A final vowel is realised long in accent-bearing words of one syllable (e.g. /ʒa/ ''he came'', otherwise short. Some dialects, for example Monastir and Gabès, also have long vowels /e:/ and /o:/, derived from Old Arabic /aj/ and /aw/. These latter forms are maintained in Sfax, and in the more traditional, but receding, women's dialect of Tunis, but are merged with /i:/ and /u:/ in most dialects. Tunisian maintains a robust distinction between all short vowels, unlike other Moroccan and Algerian: e.g. /qimt/ ''I resided'' vs. /qumt/ ''I rose''. Except in varieties where Old Arabic forms are maintained, there are no diphthongs. In non-pharyngealised environments there is a strong fronting and closing of /a:/, which, especially among younger speakers in Tunis can reach as far as [e: , and to a lesser extent of /a/. Syllable Tunisian Arabic, like many other North African varieties, has a very different syllable structure from Standard Arabic. Two consonants in the Onset is common, the Nucleus may contain a short or long vowel, and the Coda may have maximally three consonants. Word-internal syllables are generally Heavy in that they either have a long vowel in the nucleus or consonant in the coda. Non-final syllables composed of just a consonant and a short vowel (i.e. light syllables) are very rare, and generally loans from Standard Arabic, as short vowels in this poistion have generally been lost, resulting in the many initial CC clusters. For example /ʒawa:b/ ''reply'' is a loan from Standard Arabic, but the same word has the natural development /ʒwa:b/, which is the usual word for ''letter''. MORPHOLOGY There are significant differences in Morphology between Tunisian and Standard Arabic. Standard Arabic marks 13 Person / Number / Gender distinctions in the Verbal Paradigm , whereas the dialect of Tunis marks only seven (the gender distinction is found only in the third person singular). Rural or Bedouin -origin dialects in the interior also mark gender in the second person singular, in common with most spoken varieties of Arabic elsewhere in the Arabic world. Marking of the Dual for nouns is only used for quantity measures and things often occurring in twos (e.g. eyes, hands, parents). SEE ALSO NOTES AND REFERENCES Notes |
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