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Kabyle is a Berber language (Kabyle: Ṯaqbayliṯ, Taqbaylit , pronounced [ˌθæqβæjˈlɪθ]) spoken by the Kabyle people. In 1995, there were 7,123,000 speakers worldwide, the majority in Algeria, where there were more than 4,500,000. However, according to INALCO estimates, there are 5.5 million speakers in Algeria and about 7 million worldwide. Kabyle was (with some exceptions) rarely written before the 20th century; however, in recent years a small but increasing body of literature has been printed. The originally oral poetry of Si Mohand is particularly notable in this respect. Famous Kabyle singers include Matoub Lounes, Idir, Takfarinas and Ait Menguellet.
[edit] ClassificationThe classification of Kabyle is Afro-Asiatic, Berber and Northern Berber languages. [edit] Geographic distributionKabyle is a Berber language native to Kabylie, it is present in seven Algerian districts. The populations of Tizi Ouzou, Béjaïa (Bgayet) and Bouira (Tubiret) are in majority Kabyle-speaking. Kabyle is majority language in Bordj Bou Arreridj, Sétif and a minority language in Boumerdes and Jijel where it coexists with Algerian Arabic. Kabyle is also spoken as a mother tongue among the Kabyle diaspora in Algerian and European cities (mainly France). It is estimated that half of Kabyles live outside Kabylie. [edit] Official statusBerber languages have no official status in Algeria. Kabyle faces an unfavourable environment in this nation, 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 tragic 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" [1]; 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".[2] [edit] VarietiesFrom 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. [edit] Phonology
The phonemes below reflect the pronunciation of Kabyle. [edit] VowelsKabyle language has four vowels: (e is not considered to be a true vowel, it just makes the reading easier)
Historically, schwa (e) 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. aẓru = [az̴ru] 'stone' vs. amud = [æmud] 'seed'. [edit] Consonants
[edit] AssimilationInside 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:
Gemination affects the quality of certain consonants, turning fricatives into stops; in particular, geminated ɣ becomes qq and y becomes gg. [edit] Fricatives vs StopsKabyle 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 gemination turns fricatives into stops).
[edit] Writing system
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. During the Middle Ages, religious literature in Kabylia was written in the Arabic language, which was sometimes annotated with footnotes in Kabyle using the Arabic script, however, entire texts were not written in Kabyle. During the Ottoman era, 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. Other dictionaries were edited when the French colonized North Africa, mainly by priests, the pères blancs, who also compiled dictionaries in Algerian Arabic. They also collected many stories from the local population. By the beginning of the 20th century, contributions of educated Kabyles in their own language, and written in the Latin script, began appearing―"tamacahutt n wuccen" by Brahim Zellal being an example of this trend. 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 logos. 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: Čč Ḍḍ Ɛɛ Ǧǧ Ɣɣ Ḥḥ Ṣṣ Ṭṭ Ẓẓ. [edit] Grammar[edit] Nouns and adjectives[edit] GenderAs an Afro-Asiatic language, Kabyle has only two genders, Masculine and Feminine. Like most Berber languages, masculine nouns and adjectives generally start with a vowel (a-, i-, u-), while the feminine nouns generally start with t- and end with a -t (there are some exceptions, however). Note that most feminine nouns are in fact feminized versions of masculine nouns. Examples:
[edit] PluralizationSingular nouns generally start with an a-, and do no have a suffix. Plural nouns generally start with an i- and often have a suffix such as -en. There are three types of plural : external, Internal, mix:
[edit] Free and annexed stateAs in all Berber languages, Kabyle has two types of states or cases of the noun, organized ergatively: one is unmarked, while the other serves as the subject of a transitive verb and the object of a preposition, among other contexts. The former is often called free state, the latter construct state. The construct state of the noun derives from the free state through one of the following rules: The first involves a vowel alternation, whereby the vowel a become u :
The second involves the loss of the initial vowel in the case of some feminine nouns (e is not considered to be a true vowel, it just makes the reading easier):
The third involves the addition of a semi-vowel (w or y) word-initially:
Finally, some nouns do not change for free state:
Depending on the role of the noun in the sentence, it takes either its free or annexed state:
After a preposition (at the exception of "ar" and "s"), all nouns take their annexed state:
[edit] VerbsThere are three tenses : the Preterite (past), intensive Aorist (present perfect, present continuous, past continuous) and the future (Ad+Aoriste). Unlike other Berber languages, the aorist alone is rarely used in Kabyle (In the other languages it is used to express the present).
[edit] ConjugationConjugation in Kabyle is done by adding suffixes (prefixes, postfixes or both). These suffixes are static and identical for all tenses (only the theme changes):
[edit] Verb framingKabyle is a satellite-framed based language, Kabyle verbs use two particles to show the path of motion:
Examples:
[edit] NegationKabyle 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 arguments. 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. [edit] Verb derivationVerb derivation is done by adding suffixes. There are three types of derivation forms : Causative, reflexive and Passive.
Interestingly, two prefixes can cancel each other:
[edit] Agent nounEvery 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).
[edit] Action nounEvery verb has a corresponding action noun, which in English it could be translated into verb+ing:
There are 6 regular stems of forming action nouns, and the 7th is for quality verbs : (C for consonant, V for vowel)
[edit] 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 (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. [edit] Pronoun[edit] Personal pronouns
Example : « Ula d nekk. » — "Me too." [edit] Possessive pronouns
Example : « Axxam-nneɣ. » — "Our house." (House-our) [edit] Pronouns of the verb
Example : « Yuɣ-it. » — "He bought it." (He.bought-it)
[edit] DemonstrativesThere are three demonstratives, near-deictic ('this, these'), far-deictic ('that, those') and absence:
[edit] NumerotationOnly 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". "First" and "last" are respectively amezwaru and aneggaru (regular adjectives). Other ordinals are formed with the prefix wis (f. tis): wis sin "second (m.)", tis tlata "third (f.)", etc. [edit] PrepositionsPrepositions precede their objects: « i medden » "to the people", « si temdint » "from the town". All words preceded by a preposition (at the exception of « s » and « ar », "towards", "until" ) take their annexed state. Some prepositions have two forms : one is used with pronominal suffixes and the other form is used in all other contexts. Also some of these prepositions have a corresponding relative pronoun (or interrogative), example:
[edit] ConjunctionsConjunctions precede the verb: mi yiwweḍ "when he arrived", muqel ma yusa-d "see if he came". [edit] VocabularyKabyle has absorbed quite some Arabic and French vocabulary. According to Salem Chaker, about a third of Kabyle vocabulary is of Arabic 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 :
Many loanwords from Arabic have often a different meaning in Kabyle:
All verbs of Arabic origin follow a Berber conjugation and verbal derivation:
[edit] Sample textIn. MOULIERAS (Auguste), les fourberies de si Djeh'a.
Note: the predicative particule d was translated as "it.is", the particule of direction d was translated as "here". [edit] Sources used for this article
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] References[edit] External links Kabyle language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[edit] Websites in Kabyle[edit] Online dictionaries
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