Siwi language
Siwa | |
---|---|
Siwi | |
Žlan n Isiwan | |
Native to | Egypt |
Region | Siwa Oasis, Gara Oasis |
Native speakers | 15,000 (2010)[1] to 20,000 (2013)[2] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | siz |
Glottolog | siwi1239 |
ELP | Siwi |
The Siwa (Sioua) language, Siwi, also known as Oasis Berber or ambiguously as Zenati, is a Berber language of Egypt, spoken by 15,000 to 20,000 people[1][2] in the oases of Siwa and Gara, near the Libyan border. The language has been heavily influenced by Egyptian Arabic,.[3] Its use by the ethnic Siwi population is in decline,[4] as most have shifted to Arabic as their primary language.[5] Some native adult Siwis express a certain distaste for the language, believing it would be better for their children's educational prospects if they spoke Arabic from the start.[1] Overall, the majority of the native population views Arabic in a positive light[1] and nearly all learn to speak Arabic as a second language from an early age.[1]
Classification
Ethnologue[6] places Siwi in an Eastern Berber group with the Awjila–Sokna languages of central and eastern Libya. Kossmann (1999)[7] links it with Sokna and the Nafusi dialect cluster of western Libya and Tunisia, but not with Awjila. The "Endangered Languages Project"[8] classifies the Siwa language as vulnerable to extinction, listing a 20% certainty based on compiled evidence[9][10]
Phonology
A preliminary inventory of the Siwa language shows a total of 42 distinctive segments, 38 consonants and 4 vowels.[11]
Consonants
The Siwa language contains 38 consonants and 38 long counterparts of these consonants.[11]
Labial | Alveolar (Apical) |
Palatal (Laminal) |
Velar | Uvular | Epiglottal | Glottal | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | phar. | plain | phar. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | |||||
Nasal | m | mˤ | n | |||||||||
Stop | voiceless | t | tˤ | c | k | kʷ | q | qʷ | (ʔ) | |||
voiced | b | bˤ | d | (dˤ) | ɟ | ɡ | ɡʷ | q | qʷ | |||
Fricative | voiceless | f | fˤ | s | sˤ | ʃ | χ | χʷ | ʜ | h | ||
voiced | z | zˤ | ʁ | ʁʷ | ʢ | |||||||
Approximant | l | lˤ | j | w | ||||||||
Flap | ɾ | ɾˤ |
- Notes
- /c ɟ/ can appear as [t͡ʃ d͡ʒ].
- /ʁ ʁʷ ʢ/ can appear as approximants.
Vowels
In Siwa, there are 4 vowels and 1 or 2 diphthongs: /a, i, u, ə/; /ai/ [e:] and /au/ [o:].[clarification needed][11]
Writing samples
The thumbnail picture at the following link contains a list of pronouns and typical greetings first written in Siwi, then with the English pronunciation and translation, and ending with a description of the word in Arabic.[12]
Numerical system
The Siwi utilize a numerical system almost entirely borrowed from Arabic, and have only retained two traditional Berber numerals: one and two.[11] This system uses numerals 3-10 both for counting and qualifying nouns.[11] Numbers 11-19 have two separate forms for counting and qualifying nouns.[11]
1. waʜəd ~ əd͡ʒːən, əd͡ʒːən, əd͡ʒːət | 22. ətnaina wa ʢəʃrin ( c. and q. ) |
2. ətnain ~ sən, sən | 23. ətlata wa ʢəʃrin ( c. and q. ) |
3. ətlata | 24. arˤbˤəʢa wa ʢəʃrin ( c. and q. ) |
4. arˤbˤəʢa ( c. and q. ) | 25. χamsa wa ʢəʃrin ( c. and q. ) |
5. χamsa ( c. and q. ) | 26. sətti wa ʢəʃrin ( c. and q. ) |
6. sətti ( c. and q. ) | 27. səbʢa wa ʢəʃrin ( c. and q. ) |
7. səbʢa ( c. and q. ) | 28. ətmanja wa ʢəʃrin ( c. and q. ) |
8. ətmanja ( c. and q. ) | 29. təsˤʢa wa ʢəʃrin ( c. and q. ) |
9. təsˤʢa ( c. and q. ) | 30. ətlatin ( c. and q. ) |
10. ʢaʃrˤa ( c. and q. ) | 40. arˤbˤəʢin ( c. and q. ) |
11. əʜdaʃərˤ (counting), əʜdaʃ (q.n.) | 50. χamsin ( c. and q. ) |
12. ətˤnaʃərˤ(c.), ətˤnaʃ (q.n.) | 60. səttin ( c. and q. ) |
13. ətlətˤaʃərˤ(c.), ətlətˤaʃ (q.n.) | 70. səbʢin ( c. and q. ) |
14. arˤbəʢtˤaʃərˤ(c.), arˤbəʢtˤaʃ (q.n.) | 80. ətmanjin ( c. and q. ) |
15. əχməstˤaʃərˤ(c.), əχməstˤaʃ (q.n.) | 90. təsˤʢin ( c. and q. ) |
16. səttˤaʃərˤ(c.), səttˤaʃ (q.n.) | 100. məjja ( c. and q. ) |
17. əsbaʢtˤaʃərˤ(c.), əsbaʢtˤaʃ (q.n.) | 200. məjjətain ( c. and q. ) |
18. ətmantˤaʃərˤ(c.), ətmantˤaʃ (q.n.) | 1000. alf ( c. and q. ) |
19. ətsaʢtˤaʃərˤ(c.), ətsaʢtˤaʃ (q.n.) | 2000. alfain ??? * not attested |
References
- ^ a b c d e Grammatical Contact in the Sahara: Arabic, Berber, and Songhay in Tabelbala and Siwa, Lameen Souag, PhD thesis, SOAS, 2010
- ^ a b Siwa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Werner Vycichl. 2005. "Jlân n Isîwan: Sketch of the Berber Language of the Oasis of Siwa (Egypt)," Berberstudien & A Sketch of Siwi Berber (Egypt). Ed. Dymitr Ibriszimow & Maarten Kossmann. Berber Studies, vol. 10. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN 3-89645-389-0
- ^ Battenburg, John (1999). "The Gradual Death of Berber Language Communities in Tunisia". International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 137: 147–161. ISSN 0165-2516.
- ^ Dimmendaal, Gerrit, and Erhard Voeltz. 2007. "Africa". In Christopher Moseley, ed., Encyclopedia of the world's endangered languages.
- ^ "Siwi". Ethnologue.
- ^ Kossmann, Maarten. 1999. Essai sur la phonologie du proto-berbère. Köln: Köppe.
- ^ "Endangered Languages Project - Siwi". The Endangered Languages.
- ^ Brenzinger Matthias. 2007. "Language Endangerment in Northern Africa." Matthias Brenzinger- Mouton de Gruyter. Ch.6: 123-139
- ^ Moseley, Christopher. 2010. "Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger." Christopher Moseley (edt.) 3rd edn.
- ^ a b c d e f Mr. Christfried Naumann, Doctoral Student, Department of Linguistics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. June 26, 2009.
- ^ "www.siwaoasis.com * Siwa Oasis - Culture - Language *". siwaoasis.com.
External links
- ELAR archive of Siwi narrative and conversation recordings
- World Atlas of Language Structures entry
- Siwa [1] at the Endangered Languages Project
- A young boy speaking Siwi [2]
Ongoing research on Siwi: