Tarifit

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other Template:Main other Tarifit (Template:Langx, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; Template:Langx), also known as Riffian is a Zenati Berber language spoken in the Rif region in northern Morocco. It is spoken natively by some 1,200,000<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Riffians, comprising 3.2% of the population,<ref name="RGPH 2024">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> primarily in the Rif provinces of Nador, Al Hoceima and Driouch.

NameEdit

The traditional autonym of the language is Tmaziɣt (Tamazight), a term that is widely used, albeit in different forms, among Berber speaking groups all over northern Africa. Tarifiyt (pronounced Tarifect in central dialects), as a linguistic term, is a new coinage, developed when it became more and more relevant to distinguish it from other Berber varieties.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>

ClassificationEdit

File:WIKITONGUES- Anass speaking Tarifit.webm

Young man speaking Riffian Berber, recorded in Cuba.

Riffian is a Zenati Berber language<ref name=e18>Template:Ethnologue18</ref> which consists of various sub-dialects specific to each clan and of which a majority are spoken in the Rif region, a large mountainous area of Northern Morocco, and a minority spoken in the western part of neighbouring Algeria.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Geographic distributionEdit

File:Percent of Tarifit speakers in Morocco by census 2004.png

Percent of Rif-Berber speakers in Morocco by census 2004 Based on data found Here [1]

Riffian is spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif on the Mediterranean coast and in the Rif mountains, with a large minority in the Spanish autonomous city of Melilla.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There are also speakers of Riffian in Morocco outside the Rif region, notably in the rest of Moroccan cities where they compose a minority. The neighbour state of Algeria is also home to Rif minorities. A Riffian-speaking community exists in the Netherlands and Belgium as well as to a lesser extent other European countries.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

MoroccoEdit

There is a large amount of dialectal variation in Riffian Berber; this can easily be seen using the dialect Atlas (Lafkioui, 1997), however Riffian compose a single language with its own phonetical innovations distinct from other Berber languages. Majority of them are spoken in Northern Morocco, this includes the varieties of Al Hoceima, Temsamane, Nador, Ikbadene (including Iznasen) and the more southernly variety in the Taza province. Besides Riffian, two other related and smaller Berber languages are spoken in North Morocco: the Sanhaja de Srair and the Ghomara languages. They are only distantly related to Riffian and are not mutually intelligible with it.<ref name=":1" />

AlgeriaEdit

File:Berbères en Algérie occidentale.svg

Linguistic map of western Algeria showing Berber-speaking areas, including Riffian cluster of Bettioua, Marsa Ben-Mhidi, Aït Snous and Aït Bousaïd

A few Riffian dialects are or used to be in the western part of Algeria, notably by the Beni Snouss tribe of the Tlemcen, as well in Bethioua but also in various colonial districts Riffians started to emigrate to since the 19th century.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

DialectsEdit

File:Riffian dialectal groups.png

Riffian dialectal groups according to Mena B. Lafkioui

There is no consensus on what varieties are considered Riffian and not, the difference of opinion mainly lie in the easternmost dialects of the Iznasen and the westernmost dialects of Senhaja de Sraïr and Ketama.<ref name=":1" /> Dialects include West-Riffian (Al Hoceima), Central-Riffian (Nador) and East-Riffian (Berkane). Iznasen (Beni Znassen) is counted as a dialect in Kossman (1999), but Blench (2006) classifies it as one of the closely related Mzab–Wargla languages.

Lafkioui (2020) argues that the Berber varieties of the Rif area (North, Northwest, and Northeast Morocco), – including the varieties of the Senhaja (westernmost group) and of the Iznasen (easternmost group) – form a language continuum with 5 stable core aggregates:

Western Rif Berber: cities such as Ketama and Taghzout.
West-Central Rif Berber: cities such as Al Hoceima, Targuist, Imzouren.
Central Rif Berber: cities such as Nador, Midar and Kassita.
East-Central Rif Berber: cities such as Al Aaroui, Driouch and Ain Zohra.
Eastern Rif Berber: cities such as Berkane and Ras Kebdana.

They cut across the traditionally used groupings of Senhaja, Rif, Iznasen which are in fact ethnonyms and hold no classification value of any kind, neither do they correspond to the sociolinguistic landscape of the Rif area, which shows considerable complexity.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Lexical differences<ref name=":1" />
	Western	West-Central	Central	East-Central	Eastern
Cat	amcic	amcic	mucc	miccew	mucc
Chick	asiwsiw, afullus	afiǧus, fiǧus	fiǧus	iceḵʷcew, icewcew	iceḵʷcew, icewcew
Ram	abeɛɛac	abeɛɛac, iḵerri, iḵaari	icaari, acaari, acraa	iḵaari, aḵraa	iḵerri
Land	tamazirt	tamurt, tamuat	tammuat	tammuat, tamuat	tammurt
Woman	tameṭut, tamɣert	tamɣert, tamɣaat	tamɣaat, tameṭṭut, tameṭut	tamɣaat, tameṭut	tamɣert, tameṭṭut, tameṭut

PhonologyEdit

VowelsEdit

	Front	Central	Back
High	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Mid		(Template:IPA link)
Low		Template:IPA link

A mid-central vowel /ə/ can occur in lax positions.
Lax allophones of /i, a, u/ are heard as [ɪ, æ, ʊ].
In the vicinity of pharyngealized consonants, /i, a, u/ are heard as [ɪˤ, ɑˤ, ʊˤ].
Vowels lengthen in closed final syllables, e.g. tisit [θɪsɪˑθ] 'mirror'.

Vocalized r<ref name=":1" />Edit

Vocalization		Example
Phonemically	Phonetically	IPA	Originally	Translation
main}}	main}}	main}}	ssird	to wash
main}}	main}}	main}}	uyur	to walk
main}}	main}}	main}}	zemmar	to be able to
main}}	main}}	main}}	iṛḍ	to dress
main}}	main}}	main}}	ccuṛ	to fill
main}}	main}}	main}}	tamɣaṛt	woman

ConsonantsEdit

All consonants except for /ŋ/, /tʃ/ and /ʔ/ have a geminate counterpart. Most of the time, a geminate is only different from its plain counterpart because of its length. Spirantized consonants have long stops as their geminate counterparts, e.g. yezḏeɣ {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'he lives' vs. izeddeɣ {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'he always lives'. There are only a few phonotactic exceptions to this, e.g. in verb suffixes before vowel-initial clitics, ṯessfehmeḏḏ-as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. A few consonants have divergent geminated counterparts; ḍ (/dˤ/ and /ðˤ/) to ṭṭ (/tˤː/), w (/w/) to kkʷ (/kːʷ/), ɣ (/ʁ/) to qq (/qː/), and ř (/r/) to ǧ (/dʒː/). There are some exceptions to this. This is most common with ww, e.g. acewwaf {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'hair', and rarely occurs with ɣɣ and ḍḍ e.g. iɣɣed {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'ashes', weḍḍaạ {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'to be lost'. /dʒ/ and /dʒː/ are allophonic realizations of the same phoneme, both are common.<ref name=":0" />

Consonants (Iqeřɛiyen variety)<ref name=":0" />
		Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
		plain	phar.	plain	phar.	plain	phar.	plain	phar.	Palatal	plain	lab.	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPA link				Template:IPA link					Template:IPA link
Plosive	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Plosive	voiced	Template:IPA link				Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Fricative	voiceless	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link ~ Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
Fricative	voiced	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		(Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link ~ Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Approximant						Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Flap						Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Trill						Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link

Notes:

/ʝ/ has become /j/ in most of Central Riffian e.g. ayenduz {{#invoke:IPA|main}} instead of aɡ̠enduz {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'calf'.
/ç/ has mostly become /ʃ/ in Central Riffian and only occurs in a few words, e.g. seḵsu {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'couscous'.
Pharyngealization is a spreading feature, it may spread to a whole word.
The only pharyngealized consonants common in Berber roots are /dˤ/, /ðˤ/, /zˤ/ and /rˤ/; the others seem to mainly occur in words of Arabic and Spanish origin.
/ʃˤ/ seems to only occur in the nouns ucca {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'greyhound' and mucc {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'cat'.
/ŋ/ occurs exclusively before the consonant /w/, it may be an assimilatory variant of n.
Labialization only occurs with the geminates /kːʷ/ and /gːʷ/.

AssimilationsEdit

There are quite a few assimilations that occur with the feminine suffixes t and ṯ.<ref name=":0" />

ḇ + ṯ = fṯ/ft (e.g. tajeǧeft < tajeǧeḇṯ 'gown/djellaba')

z + ṯ = sṯ/st (e.g. talwist < talwizṯ 'gold coin')

ẓ + ṯ = ṣṯ/ṣt (e.g. tayạạẓiṣt < tayạạẓiẓṯ 'hare')

j + ṯ = cṯ/ct (e.g. taɛejjact < taɛejjajṯ 'dust')

ɣ + ṯ = xṯ/xt (e.g. tmazixt < tmaziɣt 'Berber language')

ɛ + ṯ = ḥṯ/ḥt (e.g. tqubeḥt < tqubeɛṯ 'little bird')

There are also other assimilations.

ḏ + ṯ = tt (e.g. tabritt < tabriḏṯ 'path')

d + ṯ = tt (e.g. a t-tawi < a d-ṯawi 'she will bring here')

ḍ + ṯ = ṭṭ (e.g. tyaẓiṭṭ < tyaẓiḍṯ 'hen')

m + ṯ = nt (e.g. taxxant < taxxamṯ 'small room')

ř + ṯ = č (e.g. tameǧač < tameǧařṯ 'egg')

Spirantized consonants become stops after the consonant 'n', this occurs between words as well.

qqimen da < qqimen ḏa 'they sit here'

tilifun tameqqṛant < tilifun ṯameqqṛant 'the big phone'

Sound shiftsEdit

Zenati sound shiftsEdit

The initial masculine a- prefix is dropped in certain words, e.g., afus 'hand' becomes fus, and afiɣaṛ 'snake' becomes fiɣạṛ. This change, characteristic of Zenati Berber varieties, distances Riffian from neighbouring dialects such as Atlas-Tamazight and Shilha.<ref name=":1" />

L and řEdit

In the history of Western and Central Riffian /l/ has become /r/ in a lot of words. In most dialects there is no difference in this consonant (ř) and in original r, but in some dialects it is more clearly distinguished by the fact that ř is trilled while r is a tap. The difference becomes clearer when they are preceded by a vowel, because only original r has a heightening effect on the vowel preceding it e.g. aři [æɾɪ] vs ari [aɾɪ]. This sound shift has affected other consonants as well.

Template:IPAslink in other dialects corresponds to 'ř' (/Template:IPA link/) in Riffian (e.g. ul > uř 'heart')
The geminate equivalent, (Template:IPAslink) in other dialects corresponds to 'ǧ' (/Template:IPA link/) in Riffian (e.g. yelli > yeǧi 'my daughter'). It is underlyingly řř.
{{#invoke:IPA|main}} in other dialects corresponds to 'č' (Template:IPAslink) in Riffian (e.g. weltma > wečma 'my sister'). It is underlyingly řt.

These sound shifts do not occur in the easternmost Riffian dialects of Icebdanen and Iznasen and the westernmost dialects.<ref name=":1" />

Riffian letter	Riffian word	Original word	English meaning
Ř ř	uř	ul	heart
	aɣyuř	aɣyul	donkey
	awař	awal	speech / word
Ǧ ǧ	azeǧif	azellif	head
	yeǧa	yella	he is / he exists
	ajeǧid	ajellid	king
Č č	wečma	weltma	my sister
	tacemřač	tacemlalt	blonde / white
	taɣyuč	taɣyult	female donkey (jenny)

R vocalizationEdit

Postvocalic Template:IPAslink preceding a consonantal coda is vocalized, as in taddart > taddaat 'house/home'. Thus in tamara 'hard work/misery' the Template:IPAslink is conserved because it precedes a vowel. These sound shifts do not occur in the easternmost Riffian dialects of Icebdanen and Iznasen and the westernmost dialects beyond Ayt Waayaɣeř.<ref name=":1" />

Writing systemEdit

Like other Berber languages, Riffian has been written with several different systems over the years. Unlike the nearby Tashelhit (Shilha), Riffian Berber has little written literature before the twentieth century. The first written examples of Riffian Berber start appearing just before the colonial period. Texts like R. Basset (1897) and S. Biarnay (1917) are transcribed in the Latin alphabet but they are transcribed in a rather deficient way. Most recently (since 2003), Tifinagh has become official throughout Morocco. The Arabic script is not used anymore for writing Riffian Berber. The Berber Latin alphabet continues to be the most used writing system online and in most publications in Morocco and abroad.<ref name=":0" />

GrammarEdit

NounsEdit

Tarifiyt has two genders, masculine and feminine. In countable nouns with Berber affixes, gender is derivative: in principle, every masculine noun has a feminine counterpart. Gender derivation is relatively straightforward. The feminine is derived from the masculine form by adding an element /t-/ to the prefix, and a suffix /-t/, as in most Berber languages. With humans and higher animals, masculine and feminine mark natural gender,<ref name=":0" /> e.g.

aḥenjia (M) 'boy' → taḥenjiat (F) 'girl'

ayyaw (M) 'grandson' → tayyawt (F) 'granddaughter'

asaadun (M) 'male mule' → tasaadunt (F) 'female mule'

afunas (M) 'ox' → tafunast (F) 'cow'

For a few basic items there exist suppletive pairs, e.g.

aayaz (M) 'man' → tamɣaat (F) 'woman'

amyan (M) 'he-goat' → tɣaṭṭ (F) 'she-goat'

icarri (M) 'ram' → tixsi (F) 'ewe'

yis (M) 'horse' → řɛawda (F) 'mare'

Tarifiyt countable nouns distinguish a singular from a plural. Masculine plurals generally take the prefix /i-/, feminines /ti-/, and take the suffix /-en/ in the masculine and /-in/ in the feminine,<ref name=":0" /> e.g.

axxam (SG) 'room' → ixxamen (PL) 'rooms'

tafunast (SG) 'cow' → tifunasin (PL) 'cows'

A few nouns have suppletive plurals:

uma (SG) 'my brother' → ayetma (PL) 'my brothers'

učma (SG) 'my sister' → issma (PL) 'my sisters'

Nouns with Berber affixes distinguish two forms, which are related to the syntactic context and function of the noun, "Free State" and "Annexed State". The Annexed State is used for subjects placed after the verb, after all prepositions except ař and břa, as a posttopic put in extraposition to the central clause and after a few prenominal elements. The Annexed State is formed as follows: in masculines, initial /a/ becomes /we/ and initial /i/ becomes /ye/. In feminines, initial /ta/ usually becomes /te/ and initial /ti/ also usually becomes /te/,<ref name=":0" /> e.g.

asnus → wesnus 'donkey foal (M)'

tasnust → tesnust 'donkey foal (F)'

isnas → yesnas 'donkey foals (M)'

tisnas → tesnas 'donkey foal (F)'

In the Annexed State of the masculine, the high vowels u and i are used instead of the semivowels w and y when the noun stem starts with a consonant followed by a vowel (including schwa). The feminine AS prefix does not have schwa under this condition. This has to do with the constraint on schwa in open syllables,<ref name=":0" /> e.g.

afunas → ufunas 'bull'

tafunast → tfunast 'cow'

ifunasen → ifunasen 'bulls'

tifunasin → tfunasin 'cows'

LexiconEdit

Basic vocabulary<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">Template:Cite thesis</ref>Edit

1	water	lang}} (plurale tantum)
2	nose	lang}} (plurale tantum)
3	to run	lang}}
4	fire	lang}}
5	mouth	lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang\|lang}}
6	tongue	lang}}
7	meat	lang}} ~ {{#invoke:Lang\|lang}}
8	bone	lang}}
9	clothes	lang}}
10	word	lang}}
11	neck	lang}}
12	people	lang}}
13	why?	lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang\|lang}}
14	to eat	lang}}
15	to cut	lang}} ~ {{#invoke:Lang\|lang}}
15	to be scared	lang}}
16	cold	lang}}
17	room	lang}}
18	to write	lang}}
19	dog	lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang\|lang}}
20	when?	lang}}
21	to speak	lang}}
22	cow	lang}}

Loanwords<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />Edit

Tarifit has loaned a fair amount of its vocabulary from Arabic, Spanish and French.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Around 51.7% of the vocabulary of Tarifit is estimated to have been borrowed (56.1% of nouns and 44.1% of verbs).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> All loaned verbs follow Riffian conjugations, and some loaned nouns are Berberized as well. A lot of loans are not recognizable because of sound shifts that have undergone, e.g. ǧiřet {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'night' (Arabic: al-layla), hřec {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'sick' (Arabic: halaka).