Editing Awjila language

{{Short description|Endangered Berber language of Libya}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Awjila
|nativename={{lang|auj|Jlan n Awilen}}
|states=[[Libya]]
|region=[[Cyrenaica]]
|speakers={{sigfig|2,690|2}}
|date=2020
|ref=e26
|familycolor=Afro-Asiatic
|fam2=[[Berber languages|Berber]]
|fam3=[[Eastern Berber languages|Eastern]]
|fam4=[[Eastern Berber languages|Awjila–Sokna]]
|iso3=auj
|glotto=awji1241
|glottorefname=Awjilah
}}

'''Awjila''' (also ''Aujila'', ''Augila'', ''Aoudjila'', ''Awgila'', ''Awdjila''; own name: '''Jlan n Awilen'''; in other Berber varieties '''Tawjilit'''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://salvadorjafer.net/linguasfera/1Afroasiatic/10Tamazic/lingtamazic.htm |title=Linguasfera: Tamazic (Berber) |lang=ca |website=Llengües, Literatures i Cultures del Món, [LLCM] |access-date=2015-10-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maroc.nl/forums/nieuws-de-dag/122656-berbers-willen-geen-arabieren-meer-zijn-12-print.html |title=Berbers willen geen Arabieren meer zijn |lang=nl |website=maroc.nl |date=2014-12-20 |access-date=2015-10-27}}</ref>) is a severely [[Endangered language|endangered]] (considered "moribund" by ''Ethnologue'')<ref name="Auj">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/25/language/auj/| title=Awjila| publisher=Ethnologue|access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref> [[Eastern Berber language]] spoken in [[Cyrenaica]], [[Libya]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=11198&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |title=Libya: UNESCO-CI |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=2015-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030150653/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=11198&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |archive-date=2020-10-30}}</ref> in the [[Awjila]] oasis. Due to the [[Libyan Civil War (2014–present)|political situation in Libya]], immediate data on the language has been inaccessible.<ref name = "van Putten">{{cite thesis |last=van Putten |first=M |year=2013 |title=A Grammar of Awjila Berber (Libya): Based on Umberto Paradisi's Material |degree=PhD |hdl=1887/21848 |publisher=Leiden University}}</ref>  However, Facebook postings by speakers and younger semi-speakers have provided some recent supplementary data.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van Putten |first1=Marijn |last2=Souag |first2=Lameen |url=http://corpus.revues.org/2593 |title=Attrition and revival in Awjila Berber: Facebook posts as a new data source for an endangered Berber language |journal=Corpus |volume=14 |pages=23–58 |year=2015 |issue=14 |doi=10.4000/corpus.2593|s2cid=158251022 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==General information==

Awjila is a member of the [[Berber languages|Berber]] branch of the [[Afroasiatic language family]], of the Eastern Berber subgroup. It is closely related to the extinct [[Sokna language|Sokna]] language of Libya and is considerably endangered, with an estimated 2,000–3,000 native speakers remaining.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Brenzinger |first=Matthias |title=Language Endangerment in Northern Africa |encyclopedia=Language Diversity Endangered |doi=10.1515/9783110905694-008 |year=2008 |page=123 |isbn= 9783110170504}}</ref> [[UNESCO]] considers Awjila to be seriously endangered as the youngest speakers have reached or passed middle age.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The Berber languages of Libya faced severe oppression during the period of [[Muammar Gaddafi]], which has likely been the cause of the demise of some varieties such as [[Sokna language|Sokna]] and the endangerment of others, including Awjila and Ghadames. The usage of Berber/[[Amazigh language|Amazigh]] languages was effectively prohibited, and Gaddafi completely denied the existence of the [[Imazighen]] people, reportedly saying, "call yourselves whatever you want inside your homes – Berbers, children of Satan, whatever – but you are only Libyans when you leave your homes".<ref name = "gaddafi">{{cite news |url=http://muftah.org/denied-existence-libyan-berbers-under-gaddafi-and-hope-for-the-current-revolution/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325093654/http://muftah.org/denied-existence-libyan-berbers-under-gaddafi-and-hope-for-the-current-revolution/#.VvUGu-vP32c |archive-date=2016-03-25 |last=Solieman |first=Ishrah |title=Denied Existence: Libyan-Berbers under Gaddafi and Hope for the Current Revolution |publisher=Muftah |date=2011-03-24}}</ref> He denied the existence of Berbers as a separate ethnicity, and called Berbers a "product of [[colonialism]]" created by the West to divide Libya.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201103200010.html |title=Libya: Gaddafi Rails Against 'No Fly' Attacks and Berbers |date=2011-03-20 |publisher=allAfrica.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/libyan-rebels-seize-western-border-crossing-as-fighting-in-mountains-intensifies/2011/04/21/AFaoxhIE_story.html |title=Libyan rebels seize western border crossing, as fighting in mountains intensifies |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2011-04-21 |last=Denyer |first=Simon |location=Tripoli}}</ref> He repeatedly targeted Amazigh rights activists (including linguists from abroad), to which can be attributed the lack of current and updated information on the Libyan Berber languages and the relatively limited content available, even in [[Arabic]], on the Internet (as opposed to the more extensive resources found on Moroccan and Algerian Amazigh varieties).  The language is, however, used on Facebook by some Awjili members.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://orientalberber.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/awjili-negation-and-facebook/ |title=Awjili negation and Facebook |website=Oriental Berber |date=2014-02-18 |last=Souag |first=Lameen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140603053102/http://orientalberber.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/awjili-negation-and-facebook/ |archive-date=2014-06-03}}</ref>

==History of scholarship==

Because of the political issues in Libya, [[field work]] on Awjila has been limited. The earliest studies of the language were carried out by Müller in 1827,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://orientalberber.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/a-look-into-the-history-of-awjila/ |last= van Putten |first=Marijn |title=A Look into the History of Awjila |website=Oriental Berber |date=2012-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518234830/https://orientalberber.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/a-look-into-the-history-of-awjila/ |archive-date=2015-05-18}}</ref> however, his work is difficult to analyze because there were no standard conventions such as the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA) for [[transcribing]] it at that time and because he failed to make distinctions for various sounds in Awjila (such the difference between as [[emphatic consonants|emphatic]], [[pharyngeal consonants]] and their non-emphatic counterparts).<ref name = "van Putten" /> Moritz von Beurmann also contributed a short word list but some forms contradict information found in later sources.<ref name = "van Putten"/> The latest field work was done by Umberto Paradisi in 1960, whose data (in the form of texts) have become the basis for all future studies of the language, particularly that of contemporary scholar Marijn van Putten who has taken up the study of Awjila and other Eastern Berber varieties.  Van Putten, who has published extensively on the language, relies heavily on the work of Paradisi and has used it to compile a dictionary and a grammar within his 2014 book ''A Grammar of Awjila Berber''.<ref name = "van Putten" />

==Writing system==

Although historically [[Tifinagh|Libyco-Berber languages]] were written with the [[Tifinagh]] alphabet between second century BCE and third century CE, Aujila and other Amazigh languages have remained oral for most of their modern existence. In recent times most Amazigh languages are written in either [[Latin script|Latin]] or [[Arabic script|Arabic]] script, although attempts to revive the Amazigh languages and cultures have led to the reintroduction of a "[[neo-Tifinagh]]" script in several domains. Nevertheless, Gaddafi had banned the script during the 42-years of his regime and therefore it is unlikely that the few Awjila speakers make any significant use of it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tawalt.com/?p=14122 |title=سلطات الامن الليبية تمنع نشر الملصق الرسمي لمهرجان الزي التقليدي بكباو |trans-title=Libyan security authorities to prevent the publication of the official poster for the festival traditional costume in Kabaw|lang=ar |publisher=TAWALT |year=2007}}</ref>

==Phonology==

Awjila has several interesting [[phonological]] features that set it apart from most other varieties of [[Berber languages|Berber]]. A few notable distinctions are listed below: (Van Putten)

# Retention of [[Proto-Berber]] {{IPAslink|β}} as the {{IPAslink|v}} rather than being lost as in most other modern varieties.<ref name = "consonants">{{cite journal |first=Marijn |last=van Putten |title=Some Notes on the Historical Consonantism of Awjila |journal=Folia Orientalia |volume=51 |year=2014 |pages=257–274 |url=https://journals.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/99260/edition/85567/content}}</ref>
# Loss of the [[pharyngealized]] [[voiced]] [[dental consonant|dental]] [[stop consonant|stop]] and entirely replaced it with the [[voiceless]] variant. Example: Awjila ''avəṭ'' vs. Tachelhit: ''iḍ'' meaning night.<ref name = "consonants" />
# Retention of [[velar stop]] {{IPAslink|k}} where most Berber varieties have replaced it with palatal approximant {{IPAslink|j}}. Example: Awjila: ''təkəmmušt'' vs. Tachelhit: ''taymmust'' meaning bundle<ref name = "consonants" />
# [[Palatalization (sound change)|Palatalization]] of {{IPAslink|s}} and {{IPAslink|z}} to {{IPAslink|ʃ}} (written as š) and {{IPAslink|ʒ}} (written as ž) <ref name = "consonants" />
# Dominance of the {{IPAslink|i}} [[vowel]] and seeming shift from the {{IPAslink|a}} vowel of other varieties to i<ref>{{cite journal |last=van Putten |first=Marijn |title=Some Notes on the Development of Awjila Berber Vowels |journal=Nordic Journal of African Studies |volume=22 |issue=4 |year=2013 |pages=236–255 |doi=10.53228/njas.v22i4.156}}</ref>

==Morphology and syntax==

Awjila also has several distinguishing features in the domains of [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] and [[syntax]]:<ref name = "vocab">{{cite web |last=van Putten |first=Marijn |title=An Aujila Berber Vocabulary |url=https://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/293/guide/9387?hl=en}}</ref>

# Lacks overt [[Grammatical case|case-marking]] that has been retained in other Berber varieties.<ref name = "vocab" />
# Lacks clitic-fronting<ref name = "vocab" />
# Clitic –a is used with the present to express a resultative state, a feature shared only by the easternmost Berber variety, [[Siwa language|Siwa]]<ref name = "vocab" />

==Status==

Due to the already dwindled population of Awjila speakers and the continued political strife in post-[[Arab Spring]] Libya, the future of this language seems grim. Although researchers at the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]] (SOAS) and the president of the Congrès Mondial Amazigh have confirmed that speakers of the language still remain, all of the known speakers have been advanced in age, suggesting that younger generations are not learning Awjila.<ref name = "van Putten" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/293 Awjilah Profile at the Endangered Languages Project]
* [http://phoenixblog.typepad.com/blog/aujila-texts.html Collection of Awjila texts with glosses and English translation]
* [https://orientalberber.wordpress.com/category/awjila/ Awjila Blog]
* [http://www.tawalt.com/?p=14122 Libyan security authorities to prevent the publication of the official poster for the festival traditional costume Pkpau]

{{Languages of Libya}}
{{Berber languages}}

{{authority control}}
	
[[Category:Eastern Berber languages]]
[[Category:Berbers in Libya]]
[[Category:Languages of Libya]]
[[Category:Endangered Afroasiatic languages]]