South Oran Berber, or Figuig Berber, is a cluster of the
Zenati languages
The Zenati languages are a branch of the Northern Berber language family of North Africa. They were named after the medieval Zenata Berber tribal confederation. They were first proposed in the works of French linguist Edmond Destaing (1915) (1920 ...
, which belong to the
Berber branch of the
Afroasiatic family
The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...
. It is spoken in a number of oases of southwestern
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
and across the border in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
.
These areas include most of the
ksour (fortified villages) between
Mecheria and
Béni Abbès
Béni Abbès ( ar, بني عباس), also known as the ''Pearl of the Saoura'', and also as the ''White Oasis'', is a town and commune located in western Algeria in Béchar Province, far from the provincial capital Béchar, and from Algiers.
...
:
Tiout,
Ain Sfisifa,
Boussemghoun,
Moghrar,
Chellala,
Asla,
Fendi
Fendi () is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925, Fendi is known for its fur, fur accessories, and leather goods.
...
,
Mougheul,
Lahmar
Lahmar ( ar, اﻻﺣﻤﺮ) is a town and Communes of Algeria, commune, and capital of Lahmar District, in Béchar Province, western Algeria. According to the 2008 census its population is 1,969, up from 1,404 in 1998, and its population growth r ...
,
Boukais,
Sfissifa,
Ouakda,
Barrbi near
Taghit
Taghit ( ar, ﺗﺎﻏﻴﺖ) is a town and commune in Taghit District, Béchar Province, in western Algeria. The town is an oasis watered by the underground Oued Zousfana, which runs along beside the dunes of the Grand Erg Occidental. Accordi ...
,
Igli,
Mazzer in Algeria,
Iche,
Ain Chair and the seven ksour of
Figuig
Figuig or Figig ( ar, فجيج; Figuig Berber: Ifeyyey) is an oasis town in eastern Morocco near the Atlas Mountains, on the border with Algeria.
The town is built around an oasis of date palms, called ''Tazdayt'', meaning "palm tree" in the ...
(Ait Wadday, Ait Amar, Ait Lamiz, Ait Sliman, Ait Anaj, Ait Addi and Iznayen)
in Morocco.
Of these towns, the only one whose dialect has been studied in any detail is Figuig (
Kossmann 1997). A cursory study of the northern dialects, including texts and vocabulary, is Basset (1885, 1886) while a sketch grammar of its southernmost member, Igli, is provided by Kossmann (2010). El Idrissi (2017) focuses mainly on phonetic variation among the different villages.
Like many other Berber varieties, the Figuig Berber dialects use bipartite verbal negation. The preverbal negator is ''ul'' (locally ''un'', ''il''); the postverbal negator is ''ša'' (Igli, Mazzer) / ''šay'' (Figuig, Iche, Moghrar) / ''iš'' (Boussemghoun, Ain Chair), with both the latter two appearing as
allomorphs in Tiout. The numerals 1 and 2 are Berber, while higher numerals are Arabic borrowings throughout.
[Kossmann, ''op. cit.'':84]
References
{{Languages of Morocco
Berber languages
Berbers in Algeria
Berbers in Morocco
Languages of Algeria
Languages of Morocco