Kabyle language
Encyclopedia
Kabyle or Kabylian kəˈbaɪl(iən) (In Kabyle: Taqbaylit, ˌθæqβæjˈlɪθ) is a Berber language spoken by the Kabyle people
north and northeast of Algeria
. Estimates about the number of speakers range from 5 million to about 7 million speakers (INALCO) worldwide, the majority in Algeria
.
and Northern Berber languages
.
(Kabylia), it is present in seven Algerian districts.
Approximately one-third of Algerians are Berberphones, clustered mostly near Algiers
but with some communities in the south. Kabyles are the largest Berber group in Algeria, but may not constitute a majority.
The populations of Tizi Ouzou
, Béjaïa (Bgayet)
and Bouira (Tubirets)
are in majority Kabyle-speaking. Kabyle is majority language in Bordj Bou Arreridj
, Boumerdes
and a minority language in Algiers
, Setif
and Jijel
where it coexists with Algerian Arabic
.
Kabyle is also spoken as a mother tongue among the Kabyle diaspora European and north American cities (mainly France). It is estimated that half of Kabyles live outside Kabylie.
In 1994, Kabyle pupils and students boycotted Algerian schools for a year, demanding for the officialization of Berber, leading to the symbolic creation of the "Haut Commissariat à l'Amazighité" (HCA) in 1995. Berber languages were subsequently taught as a non-compulsory language in Berber speaking areas.
After the events of the Black Spring
in 2001, The Kabyle population organized itself under the label of the Arouch. One of their main goals was to officially recognize Berber. President Bouteflika
said "Berber will never be an official language, and if it has to be a national language, it has to be submitted to a referendum"; however he had to submit to the pressure of the Black spring and recognize Berber as a "national language" without a referendum.
In 2005, Bouteflika contradicted himself about the Berber issue, saying that "there is no country in the world that has two official languages" and that "this will never be the case of Algeria".
At the west of Tizi Ghenif, Kabylie of the Djurdjura, Soummam valley and the zone starting from Bejaïa to the east.
< e > is used to write the epenthetic schwa
vowel [ə] which occurs frequently in Kabyle. Historically it is thought to be the result of a pan-Berber reduction or merger of three other vowels.
The phonetic realization of the vowels, especially /a/, is influenced by the character of the surrounding consonants; emphatic consonants invite a more open realization of the vowel, e.g. = [azˤru] 'stone' vs. amud = [æmud] 'seed'. Often /a, i, u/ are realized as [æ, ɪ, ʊ]
Gemination
affects the quality of certain consonants, turning fricatives into stop
s; in particular, geminated ɣ becomes qq and y becomes gg.
turns fricatives into stops
).
The most ancient Berber writings were written in the Libyco-Berber script (Tifinagh
). Such writings have been found in Kabylie (also known as Kabylia) and continue to be discovered by archeologists. In fact, Tifinagh alphabet disappeared in the 7th century, when Latin
became the official and administrative language in North Africa (as in rest of ex-Roman empire).
The first French–Kabyle dictionary was compiled by a French ethnologist in the 18th century. It was written in the Latin script with an orthography
based on that of French
.
However, the Kabyle language really became a written language again in the beginning of the 19th century. Under French influence, Kabyle intellectuals began to use the Latin alphabet
. "tamacahutt n wuccen" by Brahim Zellal was one of the first Kabyle books written using the Latin alphabet.
After the independence of Algeria
, some Kabyle activists tried to revive the Libyco-Berber script, which is still in use by the Tuareg. Attempts were made to modernize the writing system by modifying the shape of the letters and by adding vowels, but its use remains limited to logo
s. Kabyle literature continued to be written in the Latin script. This new version of Tifinagh has been called Neo-Tifinagh and has been adopted as the official script of Berber languages in Morocco
.
Mouloud Mammeri
codified a new orthography for the writing of the Kabyle language which avoided the use of the archaic French orthography. His script has been adopted by all Berber linguists, the INALCO and the Algerian HCA. It uses diacritics and two letters from the extended Latin alphabet: Č
č Ḍ
ḍ Ɛɛ Ǧ
ǧ Ɣɣ Ḥ
ḥ Ṣ
ṣ Ṭ
ṭ Ẓ
ẓ.
, Kabyle has two genders
: masculine and feminine. Like in most Berber languages
, masculine nouns and adjectives generally start with a vowel (a-, i-, u-), while feminine nouns generally start with t- and end with a -t, e.g. aqcic 'boy' vs. taqcict 'girl'.
Plurals generally are formed by replacing initial a- with i-, and either suffixing -en ("regular/external" plurals), changing vowels within the word ("broken/internal" plurals), or both. Examples:
As in all Berber languages, Kabyle has two types of states or cases
of the noun
: free state and construct state (or 'annexed state'). The free state is morphologically unmarked. The construct state is derived either by changing initial /a-/ to /u-/, loss of initial vowel in some feminine nouns, addition of a semi-vowel word-initially, or in some cases no change occurs at all:
As in Central Morocco Tamazight
, construct state is used for subjects placed after their verbs, after prepositions, in noun complement constructions, and after certain numerals. Kabyle also places nouns in construct state when they head a noun phrase
containing a co-referential bound pronoun earlier in the utterance
Examples:
After a preposition (with the exception of "ar" and "s"), all nouns take their annexed state:
(past), intensive Aorist (present perfect, present continuous, past continuous) and the future (Ad+Aorist). Unlike other Berber languages, the aorist
alone is rarely used in Kabyle (In the other languages it is used to express the present).
Verbs are conjugated for person by adding affixes. These suffixes are static and identical for all tenses (only the theme changes). The epenthetic vowel e may be inserted between the affix and the verb. Verbs are always marked for subject and may also inflect for person of direct and indirect object.
Examples
Kabyle is a satellite-framed
based language, Kabyle verbs use two particles to show the path of motion:
Examples:
Kabyle usually expresses negation in two parts, with the particle
ur attached to the verb, and one or more negative words that modify the verb or one of its argument
s. For example, simple verbal negation is expressed by « ur » before the verb and the particle « ara » after the verb:
Other negative words (acemma...etc.) are used in combination with ur to express more complex types of negation. This system developed via Jespersen's cycle
.
Verb derivation is performed by adding affixes. There are three types of derivation forms : Causative
, reflexive
and Passive.
Interestingly, two prefixes can cancel each other:
Every verb has a corresponding agent noun
. In English it could be translated into verb+er. It is obtained by prefixing the verb with « am- » or with « an- » if the first letter is b / f / m / w (there are exceptions however).
Verbal nouns are derived differently from different classes of verbal stems (including 'quality verbs'). Often a- or t(u)- is prefixed:
Example : « Ula d nekk. » – "Me too."
Possessive pronouns are bound to the modified noun.
Example : « Axxam-nneɣ. » – "Our house." (House-our)
There are three demonstratives, near-deictic
('this, these'), far-deictic ('that, those') and absence. They may either be suffixed to nouns, or appear in isolation. Examples: « Axxam-agi» – "This house.", (House-this), «Wagi yelha» – "This is nice." (This-is.nice).
Some prepositions have two forms : one is used with pronominal suffixes and the other form is used in all other contexts, e.g. ger 'between' → gar.
Some prepositions have a corresponding relative pronoun
(or interrogative), for example:
'Predicative particle 'd'
The predicative particle 'd' is an indispensable tool in speaking Kabyle. "d" is equivalent to both "it is + adjective" and "to be + adjective", but cannot be replaced by the verb "ili" (to be). It is always followed by a noun in free state.
Examples:
The predicative particle "d" should not be confused with the particle of coordination "d"; indeed, the former is followed by a noun at its annexed state while the first is always followed by a noun at its free state.
Examples of berberized Arabic or french words :
Many loanwords from Arabic have often a different meaning in Kabyle:
All verbs of Arabic origin follow a Berber conjugation and verbal derivation:
Only the first two numbers are Berber; for higher numbers, Arabic is used. They are yiwen (f. yiwet) "one", sin (f. snat) "two". The noun being counted follows it in the genitive: sin n yirgazen "two men".
Note: the predicative particle d was translated as "it.is", the particle of direction d was translated as "here".
Kabyle people
The Kabyle people are the largest homogeneous Algerian ethno-cultural and linguistical community and the largest nation in North Africa to be considered exclusively Berber. Their traditional homeland is Kabylie in the north of Algeria, one hundred miles east of Algiers...
north and northeast of Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. Estimates about the number of speakers range from 5 million to about 7 million speakers (INALCO) worldwide, the majority in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
.
Classification
The classification of Kabyle is Afro-Asiatic, BerberBerber languages
The Berber languages are a family of languages indigenous to North Africa, spoken from Siwa Oasis in Egypt to Morocco , and south to the countries of the Sahara Desert...
and Northern Berber languages
Northern Berber languages
The Northern Berber languages form a dialect continuum across the Maghreb that constitute a branch of the Berber language subgroup of the Afroasiatic family...
.
Geographic distribution
Kabyle is a Berber language native to KabylieKabylie
Kabylie or Kabylia , is a region in the north of Algeria.It is part of the Tell Atlas and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Kabylia covers several provinces of Algeria: the whole of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia , most of Bouira and parts of the wilayas of Bordj Bou Arreridj, Jijel,...
(Kabylia), it is present in seven Algerian districts.
Approximately one-third of Algerians are Berberphones, clustered mostly near Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
but with some communities in the south. Kabyles are the largest Berber group in Algeria, but may not constitute a majority.
The populations of Tizi Ouzou
Tizi Ouzou
Tizi Ouzou is a city in Kabylia, Algeria, where it ranks second in population after Béjaïa. It is the capital and largest city of Tizi Ouzou Province and of Great Kabylia .-Etymology:The name comes from the Kabylian Berber Tizi n Uzezzu and is pronounced Tizuzzu, commonly...
, Béjaïa (Bgayet)
Béjaïa
Béjaïa, Vgaiet or Bejaya is a Mediterranean port city on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province, Kabylia. Under French rule, it was formerly known under various European names, such as Budschaja in German, Bugia in Italian, and Bougie...
and Bouira (Tubirets)
Bouira
Bouïra is the capital of Bouïra Province, Algeria.-Demographics:It has 75,086 inhabitants as of the 1998 census, which gives it 15 seats in the PMA.-Geography:...
are in majority Kabyle-speaking. Kabyle is majority language in Bordj Bou Arreridj
Bordj Bou Arreridj
Bordj Bou Arréridj population 140,000 , is the capital city of Bordj Bou Arréridj Province, Algeria. It is situated 148 miles by road east of Algiers, near the Hodnar Massif in the southern Kabylia Mountains, at an elevation of 916 metres....
, Boumerdes
Boumerdès
Boumerdès is the capital city of Boumerdès Province, Algeria. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea. It had a population of 28,500 in 1998 and 15,000 in 1987....
and a minority language in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
, Setif
Sétif
Sétif |Colonia]]) is a town in northeastern Algeria. It is the capital of Sétif Province and it has a population of 239,195 inhabitants as of the 1998 census. Setif is located to the east of Algiers and is the second most important Wilaya after the country's capital. It is 1,096 meters above sea...
and Jijel
Jijel
Jijel is the capital of Jijel Province in northeastern Algeria. It is flanked by the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Corniche Jijelienne, and has an estimated population of 148,000 inhabitants .Jijel is the administrative and trade centre for a region specializing in cork processing, leather...
where it coexists with Algerian Arabic
Algerian Arabic
Algerian Arabic is the variety or varieties of Arabic spoken in Algeria. In Algeria, as elsewhere, spoken Arabic differs from written Arabic; Algerian Arabic has a vocabulary mostly Arabic, with significant Berber substrates, and many new words and loanwords borrowed from French, Turkish and...
.
Kabyle is also spoken as a mother tongue among the Kabyle diaspora European and north American cities (mainly France). It is estimated that half of Kabyles live outside Kabylie.
Official status
Berber languages have national but non-official status in Algeria. Kabyle faces an unfavourable environment, although there exists a public radio (Channel II, which dates back to the Algerian revolution), and some TV news reports on the unique Algerian TV channel. Since private ownership of TV channels is illegal in Algeria, Kabyles have launched a private Kabyle speaking TV channel that broadcasts from Paris, France (Berbère Télévision).In 1994, Kabyle pupils and students boycotted Algerian schools for a year, demanding for the officialization of Berber, leading to the symbolic creation of the "Haut Commissariat à l'Amazighité" (HCA) in 1995. Berber languages were subsequently taught as a non-compulsory language in Berber speaking areas.
After the events of the Black Spring
Black Spring (Kabylie)
The Black Spring was a series of violent disturbances and political demonstrations by Kabylian Berber activists in the Kabylia region of Algeria in 2001, which were met by repressive police measures and became a potent symbol of Kabylian discontent with the national government...
in 2001, The Kabyle population organized itself under the label of the Arouch. One of their main goals was to officially recognize Berber. President Bouteflika
Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the ninth President of Algeria. He has been in office since 1999. He continued emergency rule until 24 February 2011, and presided over the end of the bloody Algerian Civil War in 2002...
said "Berber will never be an official language, and if it has to be a national language, it has to be submitted to a referendum"; however he had to submit to the pressure of the Black spring and recognize Berber as a "national language" without a referendum.
In 2005, Bouteflika contradicted himself about the Berber issue, saying that "there is no country in the world that has two official languages" and that "this will never be the case of Algeria".
Varieties
From west to east, some linguists distinguish four zones characterized by three distinct—but mutually intelligible—pronunciations in the following regions:At the west of Tizi Ghenif, Kabylie of the Djurdjura, Soummam valley and the zone starting from Bejaïa to the east.
Vowels
Kabyle has three phonemic vowels:| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i | u | |
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a |
< e > is used to write the epenthetic schwa
Schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
vowel [ə] which occurs frequently in Kabyle. Historically it is thought to be the result of a pan-Berber reduction or merger of three other vowels.
The phonetic realization of the vowels, especially /a/, is influenced by the character of the surrounding consonants; emphatic consonants invite a more open realization of the vowel, e.g. = [azˤru] 'stone' vs. amud = [æmud] 'seed'. Often /a, i, u/ are realized as [æ, ɪ, ʊ]
Consonants
| Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Labio- dental Labiodental consonant In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.-Labiodental consonant in IPA:The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Dental | Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Post- alveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and... |
Pharyngeal Pharyngeal consonant A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.-Pharyngeal consonants in the IPA:Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet :... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | plain | emph. | plain | emph. | plain | emph. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | |||||
| Stop Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... and Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
voiceless | t [t] | [tˤ] | tt [ts] | č [tʃ] | k [k] | k [kʷ] | q [q] | q [qʷ] | |||||||||
| voiced | b [b] | b [bʷ] | d [d] | zz [dz] | [dʒ] | g [ɡ] | g [ɡʷ] | |||||||||||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
voiceless | f [f] | t [θ] | s [s] | [sˤ] | c [ʃ] | c [ʃˤ] | k [ç] | k [çʷ] | x [χ] | x [χʷ] | [ħ] | h [h] | |||||
| voiced | b [β] | d [ð] | [ðˤ] | z [z] | [zˤ] | j [ʒ] | j [ʒˤ] | g [ʝ] | g [ʝʷ] | [ʁ] | [ʁʷ] | [ʕ] | ||||||
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m [m] | n [n] | ||||||||||||||||
| Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
r [r] | ṛ [rˤ] | ||||||||||||||||
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
central Central consonant A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue. The class contrasts with lateral consonants, in which air flows over the sides of the tongue rather than down its center.... |
y [j] | w [w] | |||||||||||||||
| lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... |
l [l] | l [ɫ] | ||||||||||||||||
Assimilation
Inside the Kabyle language there are various accents which are the result of assimilations (these accents are generally divided into western and eastern Kabyle). Some of these assimilations are present among all Kabyle "dialects" and some not. These assimilations are not noted in writing, such as:- « Axxam n wergaz. » – "The house of the man." is pronounced either « Axxam n wergaz. » or « Axxam bb wergaz » or « Axxam pp wergaz » ...etc. (N+W=BB)
- « D taqcict. » – "It's a girl." is pronounced « tsaqcict ». (D+T=TS)
- Here is a list of some of these assimilations: D+T=TS, T+T=TS, N+W=BB/PP, I+Y=IG, W+W=BB, Y+Y=GG.
Gemination
Gemination
In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
affects the quality of certain consonants, turning fricatives into stop
Stop consonant
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &...
s; in particular, geminated ɣ becomes qq and y becomes gg.
Fricatives vs. Stops
Kabyle is mostly composed of fricatives, phonemes which are originally stops in other Berber languages, but in writing there is no difference between fricatives and stops. Below is a list of fricatives vs. stops and when they are pronounced (note that geminationGemination
In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
turns fricatives into stops
Stop consonant
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &...
).
| Consonant | B | D | G | K | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fricative | /β/ | /ð/ | /ʝ/ | /ç/ | /θ/ |
| Stop | /b/ | /d/ | /ɡ/ | /k/ | /t/ |
| Is a stop after | m | l,n | b,j,r,z,ɛ | f,b,s,l,r,n,ḥ,c,ɛ | l,n |
| Is a stop in the words (and their derivatives) |
ngeb, ngeḥ, ngeẓwer, angaẓ, ngedwi, nages,ngedwal |
Writing system
Tifinagh
Tifinagh is a series of abjad and alphabetic scripts used by some Berber peoples, notably the Tuareg, to write their language.A modern derivate of the traditional script, known as Neo-Tifinagh, was introduced in the 20th century...
). Such writings have been found in Kabylie (also known as Kabylia) and continue to be discovered by archeologists. In fact, Tifinagh alphabet disappeared in the 7th century, when Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
became the official and administrative language in North Africa (as in rest of ex-Roman empire).
The first French–Kabyle dictionary was compiled by a French ethnologist in the 18th century. It was written in the Latin script with an orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
based on that of French
French orthography
French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French c. 1100–1200 CE and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite...
.
However, the Kabyle language really became a written language again in the beginning of the 19th century. Under French influence, Kabyle intellectuals began to use the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
. "tamacahutt n wuccen" by Brahim Zellal was one of the first Kabyle books written using the Latin alphabet.
After the independence of Algeria
History of Algeria
The history of Algeria takes place in the fertile coastal plain of North Africa, which is often called the Maghreb . North Africa served as a transit region for people moving towards Europe or the Middle East, thus, the region's inhabitants have been influenced by populations from other areas...
, some Kabyle activists tried to revive the Libyco-Berber script, which is still in use by the Tuareg. Attempts were made to modernize the writing system by modifying the shape of the letters and by adding vowels, but its use remains limited to logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
s. Kabyle literature continued to be written in the Latin script. This new version of Tifinagh has been called Neo-Tifinagh and has been adopted as the official script of Berber languages in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
.
Mouloud Mammeri
Mouloud Mammeri
Mouloud Mammeri is an Algerian Kabyle writer, anthropologist and linguist. Born on December 28, 1917 in Taourirt Mimoune Ait Yenni in Tizi Ouzou Province, Algeria; died in February 1989 near Aïn Defla in a car accident while returning from a conference in Oujda, Morocco.- Biography :Mouloud...
codified a new orthography for the writing of the Kabyle language which avoided the use of the archaic French orthography. His script has been adopted by all Berber linguists, the INALCO and the Algerian HCA. It uses diacritics and two letters from the extended Latin alphabet: Č
C
Ĉ or ĉ is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing the sound .Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for all four of its postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets...
č Ḍ
D
D is the fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic letter Dâlet may have developed from the logogram for a fish or a door. There are various Egyptian hieroglyphs that might have inspired this. In Semitic, Ancient Greek, and Latin, the letter represented ; in the...
ḍ Ɛɛ Ǧ
G
G is the seventh letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter 'G' was introduced in the Old Latin period as a variant of ⟨c⟩ to distinguish voiced, from voiceless, . The recorded originator of ⟨g⟩ is freedman Spurius Carvilius Ruga, the first Roman to open a fee-paying school,...
ǧ Ɣɣ Ḥ
H
H .) is the eighth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The Semitic letter ⟨ח⟩ most likely represented the voiceless pharyngeal fricative . The form of the letter probably stood for a fence or posts....
ḥ Ṣ
S
S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent...
ṣ Ṭ
T
T is the 20th letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets...
ṭ Ẓ
Z
Z is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Name and pronunciation:In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed , reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English, its name is zee , deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal...
ẓ.
Nouns
Being an Afro-Asiatic languageAfro-Asiatic languages
The Afroasiatic languages , also known as Hamito-Semitic, constitute one of the world's largest language families, with about 375 living languages...
, Kabyle has two genders
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
: masculine and feminine. Like in most Berber languages
Berber languages
The Berber languages are a family of languages indigenous to North Africa, spoken from Siwa Oasis in Egypt to Morocco , and south to the countries of the Sahara Desert...
, masculine nouns and adjectives generally start with a vowel (a-, i-, u-), while feminine nouns generally start with t- and end with a -t, e.g. aqcic 'boy' vs. taqcict 'girl'.
Plurals generally are formed by replacing initial a- with i-, and either suffixing -en ("regular/external" plurals), changing vowels within the word ("broken/internal" plurals), or both. Examples:
-
- argaz → irgazen "men"
- adrar → idurar "mountain"
- afus → ifassen "hands"
As in all Berber languages, Kabyle has two types of states or cases
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
of the noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
: free state and construct state (or 'annexed state'). The free state is morphologically unmarked. The construct state is derived either by changing initial /a-/ to /u-/, loss of initial vowel in some feminine nouns, addition of a semi-vowel word-initially, or in some cases no change occurs at all:
-
- adrar → udrar "mountain"
- tamdint → temdint "town"
- tamurt → tmurt "country"
- asif → wasif "river"
- iles → yiles "tongue"
- taddart → taddart "village"
As in Central Morocco Tamazight
Central Morocco Tamazight
Central Atlas Tamazight is a Berber languageCentral Atlas Tamazight may be referred to as either a Berber language or a Berber dialect...
, construct state is used for subjects placed after their verbs, after prepositions, in noun complement constructions, and after certain numerals. Kabyle also places nouns in construct state when they head a noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
containing a co-referential bound pronoun earlier in the utterance
Examples:
- Free: Yewwet aqcic. "He has beaten a boy". (Verb–object)
- Annexed: Yewwet weqcic. "The boy has beaten". (Verb–subject)
After a preposition (with the exception of "ar" and "s"), all nouns take their annexed state:
- Free state: Aman (water), Kas n waman (a glass of water).
Verbs
Verbs are conjugated for three tenses : the PreteritePreterite
The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past...
(past), intensive Aorist (present perfect, present continuous, past continuous) and the future (Ad+Aorist). Unlike other Berber languages, the aorist
Aorist
Aorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...
alone is rarely used in Kabyle (In the other languages it is used to express the present).
- "Weak verbs" have a preterite form that is the same as their aorist. Examples of weak verbs that follow are conjugated at the first person of the singular:
| Verb | Preterite | ad + aorist | Intensive aorist |
|---|---|---|---|
| If (to outdo) | ifeɣ | ad ifeɣ | ttifeɣ |
| Muqel (to observe) | muqleɣ | ad muqleɣ | ttmuquleɣ |
| Krez (to plough) | kerzeɣ | ad kerzeɣ | kerrzeɣ |
- "Strong verbs" or "irregular verbs":
| Verb | Preterite | ad + aorist | Intensive aorist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aru (to write) | uriɣ | ad aruɣ | ttaruɣ |
Verbs are conjugated for person by adding affixes. These suffixes are static and identical for all tenses (only the theme changes). The epenthetic vowel e may be inserted between the affix and the verb. Verbs are always marked for subject and may also inflect for person of direct and indirect object.
Examples
- « Yuɣ-it. » – "He bought it." (He.bought-it)
- « Yenna-yas. » – "He said to him." (He.said-to.him)
- « Yefka-yas-t. » – "He gave it to him." (He.gave-to.him-it)
Kabyle is a satellite-framed
Verb framing
In linguistics, verb-framing and satellite-framing are typological descriptions of how verb phrases in different languages describe the path of motion or the manner of motion, respectively....
based language, Kabyle verbs use two particles to show the path of motion:
- d orients toward the speaker, and could be translated as "here".
- n orients toward the interlocutor or toward a certain place, and could be translated as "there".
Examples:
- « » (he came), « » (he went).
- « awi-d aman» (bring the water), « awi-n aman » (carry away the water).
Kabyle usually expresses negation in two parts, with the particle
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
ur attached to the verb, and one or more negative words that modify the verb or one of its argument
Argument
In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, or give evidence or reasons for accepting a particular conclusion.Argument may also refer to:-Mathematics and computer science:...
s. For example, simple verbal negation is expressed by « ur » before the verb and the particle « ara » after the verb:
- « Urareɣ » ("I played") → « Ur urareɣ ara » ("I did not play")
Other negative words (acemma...etc.) are used in combination with ur to express more complex types of negation. This system developed via Jespersen's cycle
Jespersen's Cycle
Jespersen's Cycle is a series of processes in historical linguistics, which describe the historical development of the expression of negation in a variety of languages, from a simple pre-verbal marker of negation, through a discontinous marker and in some cases through subsequent loss of the...
.
Verb derivation is performed by adding affixes. There are three types of derivation forms : Causative
Causative
In linguistics, a causative is a form that indicates that a subject causes someone or something else to do or be something, or causes a change in state of a non-volitional event....
, reflexive
Reflexive verb
In grammar, a reflexive verb is a verb whose semantic agent and patient are the same. For example, the English verb to perjure is reflexive, since one can only perjure oneself...
and Passive.
- Causative: obtained by prefixing the verb with s- / sse- / ssu- :
-
- ffeɣ "to go out" → ssuffeɣ "to make to go out"
- kcem "to enter" → ssekcem "to make to enter, to introduce"
- irid "to be washed" → ssired "to wash".
- Reflexive: obtained by prefixing the verb with m- / my(e)- / myu-:
- "to see" → "to see each other"
- "to hold" → "to hold each other".
- Passive: is obtained by prefixing the verb with ttu- / ttwa- / tt- / mm(e)- / n- / nn-:
- krez "to plough" → ttwakrez "to be ploughed"
- ečč "to eat" → mmečč "to be eaten".
- Complex forms: obtained by combining two or more of the previous prefixes:
- enɣ "to kill" → mmenɣ "to kill each other" → smenɣ "to make to kill each other"
Interestingly, two prefixes can cancel each other:
-
- enz "to be sold" → zzenz "to sell" → ttuzenz "to be sold" (ttuzenz = enz !!).
Every verb has a corresponding agent noun
Agent noun
In linguistics, an agent noun is a word that is derived from another word denoting an action, and that identifies an entity that does that action. For example, "driver" is an agent noun formed from the verb "drive". The endings "-er", "-or", and "-ist" are commonly used in English to form agent...
. In English it could be translated into verb+er. It is obtained by prefixing the verb with « am- » or with « an- » if the first letter is b / f / m / w (there are exceptions however).
- Examples:
-
- "to hold" → "holder"
- inig "to travel" → iminig "traveller"
- eks "to graze" → ameksa "shepherd"
Verbal nouns are derived differently from different classes of verbal stems (including 'quality verbs'). Often a- or t(u)- is prefixed:
-
- ffer "to hide" → tuffra "hiding" (stem VI), « Tuffra n tidett ur telhi » – "Hiding the truth is bad".
- "to bite" →
- zdi "to be united" → azday
- ini "to say" → timenna
Pronouns
Pronouns may either occur as standalone words or bound to nouns or verbs.| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st (m) | nekk / nekkini | nekni |
| 1st (f) | nekk / nekkini | nekkenti |
| 2nd (m) | kečč / keččini | kunwi / kenwi |
| 2nd (f) | kemm / kemmini | kunnemti / kennemti |
| 3rd (m) | netta / nettan / nettani | nutni / nitni |
| 3rd (f) | nettat | nutenti / nitenti |
Example : « Ula d nekk. » – "Me too."
Possessive pronouns are bound to the modified noun.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st (m) | (i)w / inu | nneɣ |
| 1st (f) | (i)w / inu | nnteɣ |
| 2nd (m) | (i)k / inek | nwen |
| 2nd (f) | (i)m / inem | nkent |
| 3rd (m) | (i)s / ines | nsen |
| 3rd (f) | (i)s / ines | nsent |
Example : « Axxam-nneɣ. » – "Our house." (House-our)
There are three demonstratives, near-deictic
Deixis
In linguistics, deixis refers to the phenomenon wherein understanding the meaning of certain words and phrases in an utterance requires contextual information. Words are deictic if their semantic meaning is fixed but their denotational meaning varies depending on time and/or place...
('this, these'), far-deictic ('that, those') and absence. They may either be suffixed to nouns, or appear in isolation. Examples: « Axxam-agi» – "This house.", (House-this), «Wagi yelha» – "This is nice." (This-is.nice).
Prepositions
Prepositions precede their objects: « i medden » "to the people", « si temdint » "from the town". All words preceded by a preposition (except « s » and « ar », "towards", "until" ) take the annexed state.Some prepositions have two forms : one is used with pronominal suffixes and the other form is used in all other contexts, e.g. ger 'between' → gar.
Some prepositions have a corresponding relative pronoun
Relative pronoun
A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause within a larger sentence. It is called a relative pronoun because it relates the relative clause to the noun that it modifies. In English, the relative pronouns are: who, whom, whose, whosever, whosesoever, which, and, in some...
(or interrogative), for example:
-
- « i » "for/to" → « iwumi » "to whom"
- « Tefka aksum i wemcic » "she gave meat to the cat" → « Amcic iwumi tefka aksum » "The cat to whom she gave meat"
Syntax
Negation'Predicative particle 'd'
The predicative particle 'd' is an indispensable tool in speaking Kabyle. "d" is equivalent to both "it is + adjective" and "to be + adjective", but cannot be replaced by the verb "ili" (to be). It is always followed by a noun in free state.
Examples:
- D taqcict 'it's a girl'
- D nekk 'it's me'
- Nekk d argaz 'I'm a man'
- Idir d anelmad 'Idir is a student'
- Idir yella d anelmad 'Idir was a student'
The predicative particle "d" should not be confused with the particle of coordination "d"; indeed, the former is followed by a noun at its annexed state while the first is always followed by a noun at its free state.
Vocabulary
Kabyle has absorbed quite some Arabic and Latin vocabulary. According to Salem Chaker, about a third of Kabyle vocabulary is of foreign origin; the amount of French loanwords has not been studied yet. These loanwords are sometimes Berberized and sometimes kept in their original form. The Berberized words follow the regular grammar of Kabyle (free and annexed state).Examples of berberized Arabic or french words :
- Kitab => Taktabt (Book, Ar.)
- Machine => Tamacint (Machine, Fr.)
Many loanwords from Arabic have often a different meaning in Kabyle:
- El Mal (Money, Ar.) => Lmal (Domestic animals, Kab.)
All verbs of Arabic origin follow a Berber conjugation and verbal derivation:
- fhem (to understand) => ssefhem (to explain).
Only the first two numbers are Berber; for higher numbers, Arabic is used. They are yiwen (f. yiwet) "one", sin (f. snat) "two". The noun being counted follows it in the genitive: sin n yirgazen "two men".
Sample text
In. MOULIERAS (Auguste), les fourberies de si Djeh'a.| Aqerruy n tixsi | Ewe Head |
|---|---|
| Yiwen wass, Ğeḥḥa yefka-yas baba-s frank, akken ad d-yaɣ aqerruy n tixsi. Yuɣ-it-id, yečča akk aksum-is. Yeqqim-d uceqlal d ilem, yewwi-yas-t-id i baba-s. Ihi, mi t-iwala yenna-yas: "acu-t wa?" yenna-yas: "d aqerruy n tixsi". -A ccmata, anida llan imeẓẓuɣen-is?
-Anida llan wallen-is?
-Anida yella yiles-is?
-I weglim n uqerruy-is, anida yella?
|
One day, Jehha's father gave him one cent, so that he buys a ewe head. He bought it, and ate all of its meat. Only an empty carcass was left, he brought it to his father. Then, when he saw it he said: "what is that?" Jehha said: "a ewe head".
-You vile (boy), where are its ears (the ewe)?
-Where are its eyes?
-Where is its tongue?
-And the skin of its head, where is it?
|
| IPA transcription : æqərruj ən θiχsi | Word by word translation : head of ewe |
|---|---|
| jiwən wæss, dʒəħħæ jəfkæ-jæs βæβæ-s frank, ækkən æ d-jæʁ æqərruj ən θiχsi. juʁ-iθ-id, yətʃtʃæ ækʷ æçsum-is. jəqqim-d uʃəqlæl ð iləm, jəwwi-jæs-θ-id i βæβæ-s. Ihi, mi θ-iwælæ jənnæ-jæs: "æʃu-θ wæ?" jənnæ-jæs: "ð æqərruj ən θiχsi".
-æ ʃʃmætæ, ænidæ llæn iməz̴z̴uʁn-is?
-ænidæ llæn wælln-is?
-ænidæ jəllæ jils-is?
-i wəʝlim ən uqərruj-is, ænidæ jəllæ?
|
One day, Jehha he.gave-to.him father-his cent, so.that he.buys head of ewe. He.bought-it-here, he.ate all meat-its. Stayed-here carcass it.is empty, he.brought-to.him-it-here to father-his. Then, when it-he.saw he.said-to.him: "what-it that?" he.said-to.him: "head of ewe".
-Oh vile, where are ears-its?
-Where are eyes-its?
-Where is tongue-its?
-And skin of head-its, where it.is?
|
Note: the predicative particle d was translated as "it.is", the particle of direction d was translated as "here".
External links
- Report on Kabyle language from the MultiTree Project
- Map of Kabyle language from the LL-Map Project
- Kabyle Music
- INALCO report on Kabyle, see also http://www.inalco.fr/crb/crb_2/fiches_thema/kabylie_dialectologie_knz.pdf and http://www.inalco.fr/crb/crb_2/fiches_crb/kabyle_SC.pdf (fr)
- Negative Preterite, The negative preterite in Kabyle Berber.
- Kabyle on globalrecordings.net