Jebli (Jebelia) is a
pre-Hilalian Arabic dialect spoken in the mountains of northwestern
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 t ...
.
The historical development of this Moroccan dialect is unclear.
The word ''jebli'' means "of/from the mountain". It is mainly spoken in the western and southern
Rif
The Rif or Riff (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. This mountainous and fertile area is bordered by Cape Spartel and Tangier to the west, by Berkane and the Moulouya River to the east, by the Mediterrane ...
by tribes of ,
Berber and
Morisco
Moriscos (, ; pt, mouriscos ; Spanish for "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Roman Catholic church and the Spanish Crown commanded to convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed the open ...
descent over the past ten centuries.
*
Jbala
The Jebala ( ar, جبالة, Jbāla}) or Jebala are a tribal confederation inhabiting an area in north-west Morocco from the town of Ketema to the west. The Jbala region (from Moroccan Arabic ''jbāl'' (pl.) (جبال ‘mountains’) thus occupie ...
s: all its 44 tribes speak Jebli Arabic;
*
Ghomaras: out of nine tribes, seven are fully Jebli-speaking, the two remaining are partially Jebli-speaking, with a significant
Ghomara Berber-speaking community;
*
Sanhajas de Srayr: two Jebli-speaking tribes – Ketama and Aït Seddat – out of ten tribes, the remaining (eight) speak
Sanhaja Berber;
*
Riffians
Riffians or Rifians (; singular: , ) are a Berber ethnic group originally from the Rif region of northeastern Morocco (includes the autonomous city of Spain, Melilla). Communities of Riffian immigrants are also found in southern Spain, Netherla ...
: out of twenty tribes, six are fully or partially Arabophone; among them, five speak Mountain Arabic − Targuist, Aït Itteftf, Aït Boufrah, Mestasa and Metioua − while the last one (Settout) speak Hilalian Arabic;
*
Ghiatas,
Maghraouas and
Meknassas: the three tribes –that aren't part of any larger confederacy– are fully Jebli-speaking;
*Tribes of
Zerhoun
Zerhoun ( ar, جبل زرهون also spelled Zarhun or Zarhon) is a mountain in Morocco, north of Meknes. On the hill is the Moulay Idris Zerhoun town, named after Moulay Idris I, the founder of the Idrisid dynasty who was buried there in 791 A ...
(Zerahnas) and the neighborhood of
Sefrou
Sefrou is a city in central Morocco situated in the Fès-Meknès region. It recorded a population of 79,887 in the 2014 Moroccan census, up from 63,872 in the 2004 census.
Sefrou is known for its historical Jewish population, and its annual cherr ...
(Kechtala, Behalil and Yazgha): although not belonging to the same ethno-linguistic group than Jebalas, their pre-Hilalian dialects are sometimes classified as belonging to the same macro-family (westernmost pre-Hilalian village dialects) as Jebli.
Jebli is heavily influenced by
Berber; the grammar of Jebli is almost Berber while most of the words are Arabic. The vocabulary is highly influenced by Spanish.
Examples of Jebli
See also
*
Varieties of Arabic
The varieties (or dialects or vernacular languages) of Arabic, a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family originating in the Arabian Peninsula, are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. There are considerable variati ...
*
Pre-Hilalian Arabic dialects
*
Maghrebi Arabic
Maghrebi Arabic (, Western Arabic; as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. It includes Moroccan, Al ...
*
Jijel Arabic
References
{{Languages of Morocco
Languages of Morocco
Maghrebi Arabic