Editing Nemadi dialect

{{short description|Dialect of Hassaniya Arabic}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Nemadi
|nativename=Ikoku
|states=[[Mali]], [[Mauritania]]
|region=Timbuktu into Mauritania
|speakers=200
|date=1967
|ref=<ref name=e18>{{e18|mey|Hassaniyya}}</ref>
|familycolor=Afro-Asiatic
|fam2=[[Semitic languages|Semitic]]
|fam3=[[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]]
|fam4=[[Central Semitic languages|Central Semitic]]
|fam5=[[Varieties of Arabic|Arabic]]
|fam6=[[Maghrebi Arabic|Maghrebi]]
|fam7=[[Hilalian dialects|Hilalian]]
|fam8=[[Hassaniya Arabic]]
|isoexception=dialect
|glotto=none
}}

'''Nemadi''' is a language spoken by a small hunting tribe of eastern [[Mauritania]] known as the Nemadi people. It is, according to some sources, a dialect of [[Hassaniya Arabic|Hassaniyya]], according to others, a mixture of [[Zenaga language|Zenaga]], [[Azer (language)|Azer]] and Hassaniyya.<ref>Christopher Moseley, ''Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages'',  Routledge, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-7007-1197-0}} p. 623: No data exists on this language. It is not unlikely that the language can be linked to Azer, Zenaga, Soninke and/or Hassaniya</ref><ref>Muriel Devey, ''La Mauritanie'', KARTHALA Editions, 2005 {{ISBN|978-2-84586-583-9}}, p.39: "leur langue est un mélange d'hassaniya, de zenaga et d'azer"</ref>  The name "Nemadi" itself appears to come from Soninke, where it means "master of dogs".

==Accounts of the language==
According to [[Robert Arnaud]] (1906), "around [[Tichit]] the Nemadi employ a dialect called Azeïr which is close to Soninke."  Chudeau (1913), perhaps following him, adds that "We have little information on their language, which [[Maurice Delafosse|M. Delafosse]] classifies provisionally with Soninké." However, Brosset (1932) says that they speak Hassaniyya, and that "their special vocabulary does not consist of vocables different from Hassaniyya, but of technical terms which need has forced them to create, which are forged from [[Arabic]], [[Zenaga language|Zenaga]], and maybe [[Azer (language)|Azer]]."

[[Chinguetti]]'s ''Kitab El Wasit'' says that "The Nmadi speak the dialect common to all the [[Moors]] (i.e. Hassaniyya).  However, they do not pronounce the final ''m'' of the affixed second person plural pronoun, so they say: ''as-Salam alayku'' ("peace be upon you") for ''alaikum'', and ''kayfa haluku'' ("how are you?") for ''halukum''."{{cn|date=March 2017}}

Laforgue claims that they speak "[[Zenati languages|Zenati]]", i.e. [[Berber languages|Berber]], a claim seen by Hermans as "very improbable".{{cn|date=March 2017}}

According to Gerteiny (1967), they speak "their own dialect, probably a mixture of Azêr [Soninke], Zenaga, and Hassaniyya, called ''Ikôku'' by the Moors.  They express themselves in brief idiomatic phrases, and the language has neither singular nor plural."{{cn|date=March 2017}}

The [[Ethnologue]]'s former description of their language appears to be based solely on this source.<ref>Nemadi entry in the [http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/ethno/Mali.html Languages of Mali] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929140454/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/ethno/Mali.html |date=2007-09-29 }}, 13th edition (1996)</ref> Later editions say that "The Nemadi (Ikoku) are an ethnic group of 200 (1967) that speak Hassaniyya, but they have special morphemes for dogs, hunting, and houses".<ref name=e18/>

Hermans' opinion is that "the language spoken by the Nemadi in general (there may remain some Azer-speaking Nemadi) is Hassaniyya. But one must recognize certain peculiarities", including the lack of plural, certain [[argot]]-like expressions (cf. Fondacci), and the technical terms (cf. Brosset, Fondacci, Gabus.){{cn|date=March 2017}}

==See also==
*[[Imraguen people]]

==In literature==
The Nemadi feature in a side story in [[Bruce Chatwin]]'s semi-fictional book ''[[The Songlines]]'' about [[Aboriginal Australians]].

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* [[Robert Arnaud]], 1906. "Chasseurs et pêcheurs du Tagant et du Hodh", in ''La Géographie'', vol. 16.
* Capt. Diégo Brosset 1932, "Les Némadi", in ''Bulletin de l'Afrique de l'Ouest Française''.
* [[Sid Ahmad Lamine ech-Chinguetti]] 1911. ''Kitab al-Wasît''.  Cairo.
* [[Raymond Chudeau]] 1913. "Peuples du sahara central et occidental", in ''l’Anthropologie''.
* Capt. P. H. Fondacci 1945. "Les Némadis" (Mémoire du CHEAM n° 1009).
* [[Jean Gabus]] 1951. "Contribution à l’étude des Némadis", in ''Bull. Soc. Suisse d’ Anthropologie-Neuchâtel.''
* [[Alfred G. Gerteiny]] 1967, ''Mauritania''.  Frederic A. Praeger.
* [[Jean-Michel Hermans]], [http://site.voila.fr/hermans/lesnemadis.doc Les NEMADIS, chasseurs-cueilleurs du désert mauritanien]
* [[Pierre Laforgue]] 1926. "Une fraction non musulmane : les Némadi", in ''Bulletin de l'Afrique de l'Ouest Française''.

{{Arabic language}}
[[Category:Languages of Mauritania]]
[[Category:Mixed languages]]
[[Category:Maghrebi Arabic]]