Nefusa Text: Leḥkáyt əl=ləwḥóš ‘The story of the wild animals’

I will be translating and posting some translations of Nefusa Berber texts. Nefusa Berber is spoken in the west of Libya, in the Nefusa mountains. Nefusa Berber is significantly less ‘foreign’ to a person familiar with Berber than Aujila, El-Foqaha, Sokna and Siwa Berber. It has movement of clitics, the future and imperative are marked with a single stel, the aorist.

But, similar to most other Libyan Berber languages (Zuara Berber is the exception), Nefusa does not distinguish state.

The texts that I will be posting, will be taken from the second edition of Francesco Beguinot’s Nefusi Berber grammar, published in 1942. His highly phonetic transcriptions have been adapted to a more phonemic transcription.

tikkə́lt žəml-ə́n ləwḥóš n=əddúnyət ə́kkul, mlu-n m=bəʕə́ṭ-hum bə́ʕəṭ:

One time, The wild animals of the whole world gathered, they said to eachother:

• tikkə́lt  ‘one time’
• žəml-ə́n pf.3pl.m. ‘to gather’
• ləwḥóš ‘wild animals’
• n= ‘of’
• əddúnyət ‘world’
• ə́kkul ‘whole’
• mlu-n pf.3pl.m. ‘to say’
• m= Dative particle ‘to’, the Dative particle is i in almost all Berber languages. Unusually, it is in and sometimes n in Nefusa Berber. The n variant is homophonous to the genitive particle. The n variant has assimilated to the next labial b in this sentence.
• bəʕə́ṭ-hum bə́ʕəṭ ‘each other’, 3pl.m.; An Arabic construction: baʕaḍ-hum baʕaḍ. Note that ḍ devoices to ṭ, a common proces in Nefusa Berber.

mammó a=y-ugurú-n si-naɣ a=í-šbəḥ arrə́hṭ n=əbnádəm mámmək nit?

Who of us will go and see how to species of man is?

• mammó ‘who’
• a= future marker
• y-ugurú-n aor.ptc. ‘to go’, the participle form is only used after question words, and is no longer used as a subject relative form, as we will see in the next sentence.
• si-naɣ ‘from’ + 1pl.
• a= future marker
• í-šbəḥ aor.3sg.m. ‘to see’
• arrə́hṭ ‘species’
• n= ‘of’
• əbnádəm ‘man, human’, literally ‘son of Adam’.
• mámmək ‘how’
• nit ‘he, it’

Bnádəm uh ə́lli y-ə́ɣləb əddúnyət ə́kkul s=əlḥílət.

This man who conquered the whole world with cunning.

• Bnádəm ‘man’
• uh ‘this’
• ə́lli ‘relative pronoun’
• y-ə́ɣləb pf.3sg.m. ‘to conquer, defeat’, while this is a subject relative clause, the verb simply takes a finite form.
• əddúnyət ‘world’
• ə́kkul ‘whole’
• s= ‘with’
• əlḥílət ‘cunning’

y-iml=ásən ṣə́yd əllíl: nəč ad=ugúr-əɣ a=dawnt=šə́bḥ-əɣ.

Mister porcupine said to them: I will go and see for you.

• y-iml= pf.3sg.m. ‘to say’
• =ásən 3pl.m. Indirect Object
• ṣə́yd əllíl ‘Mister Porcupine’
• nəč ‘I’
• ad= future particle, the allomorph ad is only found in the 1sg. form of the verb, if no object suffixes follow it.
• ugúr-əɣ aor.pf.1sg. ‘to go’
• a= future particle
• dawnt= fronted 2pl.f. Indirect Object marker. The future particle moves object clitics from behind the verb to the front of the verb. It is surprising that the 2pl.f. is used. This implies that Mister Porcupine is exclusively talking to women, while earlier the form =ásən implied an all male, or mixed group.
• šə́bḥ-əɣ aor.1sg. ‘to see’

y-ugúr, y-ufú əlḥiwán rəttʕá-nət, y-ufú daləmmas=ənn-ə́snət ləfḥál i-ttbə́lbəl, y-əml=ás: šək bnádəm?

He went and he found grazing sheep, he found in the middle of them a bleating ram, he said to him: Are you a man?

• y-ugúr pf.3sg.m. ‘to go’
• y-ufú pf.3sg.m. ‘to find’
• əlḥiwán ‘sheep’
• rəttʕá-nət impf.3pl.f. ‘to graze’, a typical example of an adjoined relative clause, i.e. a relative clause with no overt marking: A finite verb is placed directly after the noun it modifies.
• y-ufú pf.3sg.m. ‘to find’
• daləmmas ‘in the middle’
• =ənn-ə́snət ‘of’ + 3pl.f. suffix
• ləfḥál ‘ram’
• i-ttbə́lbəl impf.3sg.m. ‘to bleat’, another adjoined relative clause
• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• šək ‘you (m.)’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’

y-əml=ás: la, bnádəm bába.

And he said to him: No, the man is my master.

• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• la ‘no’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’
• bába ‘master’, this word behaves like a kinship posessive, and receives kinship suffixes. To mark the 1sg., not suffix is used. Thus this should be read ‘my master’

y-əxṭə́m, i-ǧǧ=ə́t, y-ufú funás i-ttṣə́yyəḥ, y-əml=ás: šək bnádəm?

He continued, and left him, and he found a mooing bull, and he said to him: Are you a man?

• y-əxṭə́m pf.3sg.m. ‘to continue, go on’
• i-ǧǧ=ə́t pf.3sg.m. + 3sg.m. Direct Object ‘to leave’
• y-ufú pf.3sg.m. ‘to find’
• funás ‘bull’
• i-ttṣə́yyəḥ impf.3sg.m. ‘to moo’, another adjoined relative.
• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• šək ‘you (m.)’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’

y-əml=ás: la, bnádəm bába.

And he said to him: No, the man is my master.

• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• la ‘no’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’
• bába ‘master’

y-əxṭə́m,  i-ǧǧ=ə́t, y-ufú agmár i-ṣə́hhəl, y-əml=aš_šə́k bnádəm?

He continued, and left him, and he found a whinnying horse, and he said to him: Are you a man?

• y-əxṭə́m pf.3sg.m. ‘to continue, go on’
• i-ǧǧ=ə́t pf.3sg.m. + 3sg.m. Direct Object ‘to leave’
• y-ufú pf.3sg.m. ‘to find’
• agmár ‘horse’
• i-ṣə́hhəl impf.3sg.m. ‘to whinny’, an adjoined relative clause
• y-əml=aš_ pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’, the final s has assimilated to the following š.
• šək ‘you (m.)’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’

y-əml=ás: bnádəm bába, i-ttə́nni aɣf-í.

He said to him: the man is my master, he rides on me.

• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’
• bába ‘master’
• i-ttə́nni impf.3sg.m. ‘to ride’
• aɣf-í ‘on’ + 1sg. suffix

y-əxṭə́m, i-ǧǧ=ə́t, y-ufú alɣə́m, y-əml=aš_šə́k bnádəm?

He continued, and left him, and he found a camel, and he said to him: Are you a man?

• y-əxṭə́m pf.3sg.m. ‘to continue, go on’
• i-ǧǧ=ə́t pf.3sg.m. + 3sg.m. Direct Object ‘to leave’
• y-ufú pf.3sg.m. ‘to find’
• alɣə́m ‘camel’
• y-əml=aš_ pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’, the final s has assimilated to the following š.
• šək ‘you (m.)’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’

y-əml=ás: bnádəm bába, y-əttə́nni aɣf-í d=i-xə́ggʷa aɣf-í di=lətqál=ənn-əs, də=y-ətṣáfar aɣf-í ə́šbəḥ akrum=ə́nn-u mámmək y-ə́ḍbər si-s.

And he said to him: The man is my master, he rides on me and he loads on me his cargo, and he travels on me; look how my back is wounded by him!

• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’
• bába ‘master’
• i-ttə́nni impf.3sg.m. ‘to ride’
• aɣf-í ‘on’ + 1sg. suffix
• d= ‘and, with’. In most Berber languages, this particle is exclusively used for noun phrase coordination. Here it is used for verb clause coordination. Most Berber languages do not mark verb clause coordination. Aujila and Sokna use the Arabic particle u, w for clause coordination. Foqaha and Zuara behave similar to Nefusa.
• i-xə́ggʷa impf.3sg.m. ‘to load’
• aɣf-í ‘on’ + 1sg. suffix
• di= ‘in’, in Nefusa, the imperfective usually marks the direct object with the preposition di=.
• lətqál ‘cargo’
• =ənn-əs ‘of’ + 3sg. suffix
• də=  ’and, with’
• y-ətṣáfar impf.3sg.m. ‘to travel’
• aɣf-í ‘on’ + 1sg. suffix
• ə́šbəḥ aor. (absence of suffix points to imp.2sg.) ‘to see’
• akrum ‘back’
• =ə́nn-u ‘of’ + 1sg. suffix
• mámmək ‘how?’
• y-ə́ḍbər ‘to be wounded’
• si-s ‘from’ + 3sg. suffix

y-əml=ás: yaʕažáyb, mámmək nit bnádəm uh ə́lli y-ə́ḥkəm dí-naɣ dəd=dí-wən?

He said to him: How strange, how is it (possible) that this man rules over us and over you?

• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• yaʕažáyb ‘How strange’ from Ar. yā ʕajāʔib ‘O wondrous things‘
• mámmək ‘how?’
• nit ‘he, it’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’
• uh ‘this’
• ə́lli relative pronoun
• y-ə́ḥkəm pf.3sg.m. ‘to rule’, this word surprisingly has penultimate accent. Most verbs with three root consonants have final accent in the perfective.
• dí-naɣ ‘in’ + 1pl. suffix, apparently y-ə́ḥkəm takes a prepositional object marker with di ‘in’.
• dəd= ‘with, and’, a longer form of d= seen earlier.
• dí-wən ‘in’ + 2pl.m. suffix

y-əml=ás alɣə́m ih: bárra a=t=šə́bəḥə-d, aktwí di=birg(ə)n=ə́nn-əs.

That camel said to him: Go and see him, (he is) over there in his tent.

• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• alɣə́m ‘camel’
• ih ‘that’
• bárra literally ‘outside’, but has become a suppletive imperative ‘go outside/away!’
• a= future marker
• t= fronted 3sg.m. Direct Object
• t-šə́bəḥə-d aor.2sg. ‘to look’
• aktwí presentative deictic ‘voi là’
• di= ‘in’
• birg(ə)n ‘tent’
• =ə́nn-əs ‘of’ + 3sg. suffix

Y-ugur=ás, y-əml=ás: šək bnádəm?

He went to him, and said to him: Are you a man?

• Y-ugur pf.3sg.m. ‘to go’
• =ás 3sg. Indirect Object
• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• šək ‘you (m.)’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’

Y-əml-ás: ənáʕm.

He said to him: Yes.

• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• ənáʕm ‘yes’

i-fk=ás ləḥlíb d=əžžbə́n d=aɣí, y-əsəwú d=y-əččú, y-əml=ás baʕd ə́lli y-əččú: sə=maní=s yuh ə́kkul?

He gave him milk and cheese and butter milk, he drank and ate, and he said to him after he had eaten: Where do all these (things come) from?

• i-fk= pf.3sg.m. ‘to give’
• =ás 3sg. Indirect Object
• ləḥlíb ‘milk’
• d= ‘with, and’
• əžžbə́n ‘cheese’
• d= ‘with, and’
• aɣí ‘buttermilk’
• y-əsəwú pf.3sg.m. ‘to drink’
• d= ‘with, and’
• y-əččú pf.3sg.m. ‘to eat’
• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• baʕd ə́lli ‘after’
• y-əččú pf.3sg.m. ‘to eat’
• sə=maní=s a curious doubling of the preposition s= ‘from’ with the question word maní ‘where?’. In most Berber languages the question word is in absolute initial position, therefore prepositions that modify it come after it. Later in the text we will find this same construction without the initial s=.
• yuh ‘these’
• ə́kkul ‘all’

Y-əml=ás: s=tɣaṭ.

He said to him: From the goat.

• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• s= ‘from’
• tɣaṭ ‘goat’

I-kkə́r atərrás ih, y-awí=d aburšəní, y-əɣrə́s=t s-ad=as=y-ə́g məklí=nn-əs;

This man got up, and he brought a kid, and slaughtered it to make his meal;

• I-kkə́r pf.3sg.m. ‘to get up, stand up’
• atərrás ‘man’
• ih ‘that’
• y-awí=d pf.3sg.m. ‘to bring’ with the directional particle =d. While this particle is not fully productive anymore in Nefusa, it is still used to give specific differences in meaning to several verbs, for example awi ‘to carry’ awi=d ‘to bring’.
• aburšəní ‘kid’, as in the child of a goat
• y-əɣrə́s pf.3sg.m. ‘to slaughter’
• =t 3sg.m. Direct Object
• s-ad= a special extended form of the future marker ad=, there is no discernable difference in meaning.
• as= fronted 3sg. Indirect Object
• y-ə́g aor.3sg.m. ‘to make, do’
• məklí ‘meal’
• =nn-əs ‘of’ + 3sg. suffix

Si=iɣə́rrəs di-s i-šbə́h=t mámmək i-ttə́gg;

When he was slautering it, (the porcupine) saw it, how he was doing;

• Si= ‘when, while’
• iɣə́rrəs impf.3sg.m. ‘to slaughter’
• di-s ‘in’ + 3sg. suffix. Once again an imperfect that uses the preposition di to mark its object.
• i-šbə́h pf.3sg.m. ‘to see’
• =t 3sg.m. Direct Object
• mámmək ‘how?’
• i-ttə́gg impf.3sg.m. ‘to do’

Baʕd ə́lli i-tɣádda s=isán ih y-əml=ás : maní=s isán uh ?

After he had eaten (some) of that meat, he said to him: Where does this meat come from?

• baʕd ə́lli ‘after’
• i-tɣádda pf.3sg.m. ‘to have a meal’
• s= ‘from’, used as a partitive
• isán ‘meat’ a plurale tantum
• ih ‘that’
• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• maní ‘where?’
• =s ‘from’, backed because the question word is required to be first.
• isán ‘meat’
• uh ‘this’

Y-əml=ás : yin tarwá n=tɣaṭ.

And he said to him: It is the child of the goat.

• y-əml=ás pf.3sg.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• yin ‘that’ pl.m., plural because it agrees with isán
• tarwá ‘child’
• n= ‘of’
• tɣaṭ ‘goat’

Y-imlú ṣid əllíl di=lxaṭər=ənn-ə́s: mámmək tɣaṭ t-əfk=ás əlxír uh ə́kkul, d=i-wə́lla af=tarwá=nn-əs y-əɣrə́s=t?

Mister Porcupine said in his thoughts: How is it (possible) that the goat gave him all these goods and he turns to her child and slaughters it?

• Y-imlú pf.3sg.m. ‘to say’
• ṣid əllíl ‘Mister Porcupine’
• di= ‘in’
• lxaṭər ‘thought’
• =ənn-ə́s ‘of’ + 3sg. suffix
• mámmək ‘how?’
• tɣaṭ ‘goat’
• t-əfk pf.3sg.f. ‘to give’
• =ás 3sg. Indirect Object
• əlxír ‘goods’
• uh ‘this’
• ə́kkul ‘all’
• d= ‘with, and’
• i-wə́lla pf.3sg.m. ‘to turn to (litt. to turn on)’
• af= ‘on’
• tarwá ‘child’
• =nn-əs ‘of’ + 3sg. suffix
• y-əɣrə́s pf.3sg.m. ‘to slaughter’
• =t 3sg.m. Direct Object

wəl=dí=š lamán, ad=aggəd-ə́ɣ af=iɣf=ə́nn-u, mámmək s-ad=rəwl-ə́ɣ?

There is no safety in here, I will (have to be) scared of my own head, how will I flee?

• wəl= A special form of the negative marker u only found in front of this preposition.
• dí ‘in’
• =š postverbal negative element
• lamán ‘safety’
• ad= Future marker
• aggəd-ə́ɣ aor.1sg. ‘to fear’
• af= ‘on’
• iɣf ‘head’
• =ə́nn-u ‘of’ +1sg. suffix
• mámmək ‘how?’
• s-ad= extended future marker
• rəwl-ə́ɣ aor.1sg. ‘to flee’

ləfžə́r bə́kri i-rwə́l, y-usə́=d in=arrfaqt=ə́nn-əs.

He fled at early daybreak, and he went back to his companions.

• ləfžə́r ’daybreak’
• bə́kri ‘early’
• i-rwə́l pf.3sg.m. ‘to flee’
• y-usə́=d pf.3sg.m. ‘to come’
• in= dative preposition
• arrfaqt ‘companions’
• =ə́nn-əs ‘of’ + 3sg. suffix

Mlu-n=ás: xəbbər=ánaɣ, t-šəb(ə)ḥə́-d bnádəm?

They said to him: Inform us! Have you seen the man?

• Mlu-n=ás pf.3pl.m. + 3sg. Indirect Object ’to say’
• xəbbər aor. (imperative 2sg.) ‘to inform’
• =ánaɣ 1pl. Indirect Object
• t-šəb(ə)ḥə́-d pf.2sg. ‘to see’
• bnádəm ‘man, human’

Y-əml=ásən: u=šə́kwənt=təxəbbər-ə́ɣ=ši an di=t-əḥəfra-m oqdú di=drar uh yəzə́grət yərxá.

He said to them: I will not in form you until you have dug a very deep hole for me in this mountain.

• Y-əml=ásən pf.3sg.m. + 3pl.m. Indirect Object ‘to say’
• u= Negative marker
• šə́kwənt= fronted 2pl.f. Direct Object marker
• təxəbbər-ə́ɣ impf.1sg. ‘to inform’, negation + impf. appears to express Future tense here.
• =ši post-verbal negative marker
• an ‘until’
• di= fronted 1sg. Indirect Object, an causes fronting of verbal clitics.
• t-əḥəfra-m pf.2pl.m. ‘to dig’
• oqdú ‘hole’
• di= ‘in’
• drar ‘mountain’
• uh ‘this’
• yəzə́grət ‘deep’
• yərxá ‘very’

ṭəbbṣ-ə́n ḥə́ffṛ-ən əkkul=ə́n-sən, gu-n=ás oqdú əll_i-ɣə́ss;

All of them started to dig, they made for him the hole that he wanted.

• ṭəbbṣ-ə́n pf.3pl.m. ‘to start to’
• ḥə́ffṛ-ən  impf.3pl.m. ‘to dig’
• əkkul ‘all’
• =ə́n-sən ‘of’ + 3pl.m. suffix
• gu-n pf.3pl.m. ‘to do, to make’
• =ás 3sg. Indirect Object
• oqdú ‘hole’
• əll_ Relative pronoun with elided final i because it precedes an i.
• i-ɣə́ss pf.3sg.m. ‘to want’

Y-əkmú di-s, baʕd ə́lli y-əkmú i-ml=ásən: bnádəm əlḥákəm n=ayə́lli di=ddúnyət ə́kkul, u=tt=i-ɣə́lləb ḥáža s=əlḥilt=ə́nn-əs, wə́lli ʕain-ah a=y-ə́rwəl a=i-nəžžá əlʕamr=ə́nn-əs.

He went in it, after he had entered he said to them: Man is the master of everything in the whole world. Nothing will best him with its wit, he who wants to flee, he must save himself.

• Y-əkmú pf.3sg.m. ‘to enter’
• di-s ‘in’ + 3sg. suffix
• baʕd ə́lli ‘after’
• y-əkmú pf.3sg.m. ‘to enter’
• i-ml pf.3sg.m. ‘to say’
• =ásən 3pl.m. Indirect Object
• bnádəm ‘man, human’
• əlḥákəm ‘master, ruler’
• n= ‘of’
• ayə́lli ‘everything, everybody’
• di= ‘in’
• ddúnyət ‘world’
• ə́kkul ‘whole’
• u= Negative marker
• tt= Fronted 3sg.m. Direct Object. The negation causes fronting, the fronted 3sg.m. Direct Object is indistinguishable from the 3sg.f. Direct Object.
• i-ɣə́lləb impf.3sg.m. ‘to beat, best’, negated imperfectives can take a future meaning.
• ḥáža ‘thing’
• s= ‘with’
• əlḥilt ‘wit’
• =ə́nn-əs ‘of’ + 3sg. suffix
• wə́lli Relative pronoun with incorporated m.sg. pronoun ‘he who’
• ʕain-ah ‘to desire’, Literally ‘his intention’ an Arabic construction with an Arabic 3sg.m. suffix, combines with the aorist of the verb to function as an auxiliary.
• a= Future marker
• y-ə́rwəl aor.3sg.m.
• a= Future marker
• i-nəžžá aor.3sg.m. ‘to save’
• əlʕamr ‘life’
• =ə́nn-əs ‘of’ + 3sg. suffix

rəwwl-ə́n kull ḥadd d(i)=amkán, əlbə́ʕəṭ nəzl-ə́n idurár d=əlbə́ʕəṭ ḥafṛ-ə́n yəqqadíyən di=tamúrt, ftərqú-n kull ḥadd af=iɣf=ə́nn-əs.

Each one of them was fleeing to a place, some inhabited the mountains, others dug holes in the ground, each one separated itself on his own.

• rəwwl-ə́n impf.3pl.m. ‘to flee’
• kull ḥadd ‘each one’
• d(i)= ‘in’, with ellided i due to the next word that starts with a vowel
• amkán ‘place’
• əlbə́ʕəṭ  ‘other’
• nəzl-ə́n pf.3pl.m. ‘to inhabit’
• idurár ‘mountain’
• d= ‘and, with’
• əlbə́ʕəṭ ‘other’
• ḥafṛ-ə́n pf.3pl.m. ‘to dig’
• yəqqadíyən ‘holes’
• di= ‘in’
• tamúrt ‘ground’
• ftərqú-n pf.3pl.m. ‘to separate’
• kull ḥadd ‘each one’
• af= ‘on’
• iɣf ‘head’
• =ə́nn-əs ‘of’ + 3sg. suffix

-M. van Putten

El-Fogaha text IV

Yənn-ás yáy-s: s-man affə́ɣəɣ.
Her son (who was about to be born) said to her (his mother): Where shall I come out?

• Yənn-ás pf. 3sg.m. ‘to say’ + 3sg.IO
• yáy-s ‘son’ + 3sg. kinship possessive suffix.
• s- ‘from’
• man ‘where’
• affə́ɣəɣ ‘to come out’ fut.1sg.

Tənn-ás əmmí-s: ə́ffəɣ s-ɣur əlfarəž-ə́nnu.
His mother said to him: Come out of my vulva.

• Tənn-ás pf. 3sg.f. ‘to say’ + 3sg.IO
• əmmí-s ‘mother’ + 3sg. kinship possessive suffix.
• ə́ffəɣ ‘to come out’ imp. sg.
•  əlfarəž-ə́nnu ‘vulva’ + 1sg. possessive suffix. < Ar. farž ‘opening, vulva’

Yənn-ás: dág-əs išəršén.
He said to her: In that there’s urine!

• dág-əs ‘in’ + 3sg. prepositional suffix.
• išəršén ‘urine’

Yənn-ás marrát tayə́ḍ: s-man affə́ɣəɣ.
He said to her another time: Where shall I come out?

• marrát ‘time’
• tayə́ḍ ‘other’ f.sg.

Tənn-ás: ə́ffəɣ s-ɣur əlgafá-nnu.
She said to him: Come out fo my backside

• s-ɣur ‘from’
• əlgafá-nnu ‘backside’ + 1sg. possessive suffix < Ar. qafāʔ ‘neck, back of the neck’, here the meaning of ‘back of the neck’ has expanded to ‘back’, which is used in a similar euphemistic sense as English ’backside’

Yənn-ás: dág-əs íẓẓan.
He said to her: In that there’s faeces!

•  íẓẓan ‘faeces’

Tənn-ás: ə́ffəɣ.
She said to him: come out!

Yənn-ás: s-man affə́ɣəɣ.
He said to her: Where shall I come out?

Tənn-ás: ə́ffəɣ s-ɣur tməzzuɣín-nu.
She said to him: Come out of my ears!

• tməzzuɣín-nu ‘ears’ + 1sg. possessive suffix.

Yənn-ás: dág-snət əlwə́səx.
He said to her: In those there’s filth!

• dág-snət ‘in’ + 3pl.f. prepositional suffix
• əlwə́səx ‘filth’ < Ar. wasax ‘filth’

Tənn-ás: ə́ffəɣ s-ɣur ṭṭawə́n-nu.
She said to him: come out of my eyes!

• ṭṭawə́n-nu ‘eyes’ + 1sg. possessive suffix.

Yənn-ás: dag-ə́snət ə́ddmuʕ.
He said to her: In those there’s tears!

• ə́ddmuʕ ‘tears’ < Ar. dumūʕ ‘tears’

Tənn-ás: ə́ffəɣ s-ɣur amí-nnu.
She said to him: Come out of my mouth!

• amí-nnu ‘mouth’ + 1sg. possessive suffix

Yənn-ás: amí-nnəm dág-əs skúttu.
He said to her: In your mouth there is spit!

• amí-nnəm ‘mouth’ + 2sg.f. psosessive suffix
• skúttu ‘spit’

Yənn-ás: s-ɣur man affə́ɣəɣ.
He said to her: Where shall I come out?

• Notice the free variation here betwee s-man ‘from where?’ and s-ɣur man ‘from where?’, a similar free variation between s- ‘from’ and s-ɣar ‘from’ is observed in Aujili. s-ɣur is a compound preposition that consists of s- ‘from’ and ɣur ‘towards, at’, the dative preposition i has almost completely supplanted ɣur as the locative preposition in Fogahi.

Tənn-ás: əffə́ɣ s-ɣur ṣəṛṛət-ə́nnu.
She said to him: Come out of my navel!

•  ṣəṛṛət-ə́nnu ‘navel’ + 1sg. possessive suffix < Ar. surra ‘navel’,  spread of emphasis from ṛ to initial emphatic ṣ.

Yuḥádda ṣəṛṛət-ə́nnas əd yəffə́ɣ.
He pushed against her navel and he came out.

• Yuḥádda ‘to push’ pf.3sg.m.  < Ar. ḥadā ‘to urge, spur on, egg on’, stem II derivation.
• ṣəṛṛət-ə́nnas ‘navel’ + 3sg. possessive suffix
• əd ‘and’, in most Berber languages this particle is only used to coordinate noun phrases, here it is used to coordinate two verb phrases.

Tuwáy-t d yuɣár díd-sen abí-s i-səqqá-nsən.
And she took him and his father went with them to their house.

• Tuwáy-t ‘to take’ pf.3sg.f. + 3sg.m.DO
• yuɣár ‘to go, leave’ pf.3sg.m., this verb means ‘to get lost’ in Aujila, and does not seem to be attested in any other Berber language.
• díd-sen ‘with’ + 3pl.m. prepositional suffix
• abí-s ‘father’ + 3sg. posessive suffix
• i- ‘to’
• səqqá-nsən ‘house’ + 3pl.m. possessive suffix

Ɣur-sen ə́snət n tməẓẓáyin.
They had two daughters.

• Ɣur-sen ‘towards, at’ used as a possessive construction + 3pl.m. prepositional suffix
• ə́snət ‘two’ f.
• tməẓẓáyin ‘daughters’

Máni uṣə́lən ənnán-as: ə́ɣrəs aɣíd.
When they had arrived, they said to him (the baby): “slaughter a kid (goat)!”

• Máni ‘when’
• uṣə́lən ‘to arrive’ pf.3pl.m.
• ənnán-as ‘to say’ pf.3pl.m. + 3sg.IO
• ə́ɣrəs ‘to slaughter’ imp.sg.
• aɣíd ‘kid (goat)’

D itáni əṭṭə́sən, yəɣrə́s tməẓẓáyin.
And they (went to) sleep, and he slauhghtered the girls

• itáni ‘they’
• əṭṭə́sən ‘to sleep’ pf.3pl.m.
• yəɣrə́s ‘to slaughter’ pf.3sg.m.

Təkkə́r əmmí-s d abí-s əkkə́rən sɣúyən.
His mother and his father got up, and they started to cry.

• Təkkə́r ‘to get up’ pf.3sg.f.
• əkkə́rən ‘to get up’ pf.3pl.m., used as an inchoative auxiliary.
• sɣúyən ‘to cry’ pf.3pl.m.

Yənn-ásən: tənnam-íd: ə́ɣrəs aɣíd.
He said to them: you had told me: “Slaughter a kid (goat)”

• Yənn-ásən ‘to say’ pf.3sg.m. + 3pl.m.IO
• tənnam-íd ‘to say’ pf.2pl.m. + 1sg.IO

Nə́kki ɣúr-i əkkúl aɣíd, ɣrəsə́x-tnət.
Every kid (goat) that I have, I slaughtered them.

• Nə́kki ‘I’
• ɣúr-i ‘to, towards’ + 1sg. prepositional suffix
• əkkúl ‘every’ < Ar. al-kull ‘each, every’, with irregular assimilation of l to k.
• ɣrəsə́x-tnət ‘to slaughter’ pf.1sg. + 3pl.f.DO

əggán ksúm d uɣə́rən.
They left the meat (of the girls) and the went (away).

• əggán ‘to leave behind, let go’ pf.3pl.m.
• ksúm ‘meat’
• uɣə́rən ‘to go, leave’ pf.3pl.m.

Wayə́nd məktár d uɣə́rən itáni ddíd-əs.
They took a donkey and they left with with him (the baby).

• Wayə́nd ‘to take’ pf.3pl.m. with the directional suffix -d which is no longer productive in Fogahi.
• məktár ‘donkey’
• ddíd-əs ‘with’ + 3sg. prepositional suffix

Wə́nən itáni əddíd-əs xaf məktár.
They mounted the donkey with him.

• Wə́nən ‘to mount’ pf.3pl.m.
• xaf ‘on’

Yənḍə́r abí-s d əmmí-s s-ɣur məktár d yuɣə́r.
(The baby) threw his mother and his father off the donkey and left.

• Yənḍə́r ‘to throw’ pf.3sg.m.

Tə́mmat əmmí-s tṣə́yyəḥ d tənná gábəl atəmmút: bu-ṣə́ṛṛa ma dar bíya, bu-ṣə́ṛṛa yənɣ-íd təməẓẓay-ə́nnu.
His mother started to cry and before she died she said: Bu-Serra how many things have you done to me, Bu Serra has killed my daughters.

• Tə́mmat ’she started to’ a Libyan Arabic auxiliary verb that is followed by an imperfective. (p.c. Benkato)
• tṣə́yyəḥ ‘to cry’ impf.3sg.f. < Ar. ṣāḥa ‘to cry’
• gábəl ‘before’, a temporal adverb that is followed by a future.
• atəmmút ‘to die’ fut.3sg.f.
• bu-ṣə́ṛṛa a name, the bu is a common Berber nominalizing suffix which means something like ‘the man with, or characterized by’ therefore bu-ṣə́rra  means: ‘navelman’.
• ma dar bíya code-switch to Arabic: ‘what has he done to me?’
• yənɣ-íd ‘to kill’ pf.3sg.m. + 1sg.IO
• təməẓẓay-ə́nnu ‘daughters’ + 1sg. possessive suffix.

Bəʕədén təmmút d yəmmút abí-s
Then she did and his father died (too).

• Bəʕədén ‘then’ < Ar. baʕda an ‘then, afterwards’
• təmmút ‘to die’ pf.3sg.f.
• yəmmút ‘to die’ pf.3sg.m.

Aujila Songs IV

Jā rijù lû rāit Bālǧu / Gān laḥbûb imriĵét

Phonetic: ya irìw lú rayt Balžu / Gan ləḥbùb əmriyìt

‘O child, if you could only see Balzhu / There the dates are so beautiful’

• ya irìw Arabic vocative particle + Aujila word for child, or son.
• lú rayt a codeswitch to Arabic, this construction is a very common poetic expression ‘if you could only see’
• Balžu a date palm plantation near Aujila.
• gan  locative adverb ‘there’
• ləḥbùb ‘dates’, plural of əlḥəbb, an unusual loan from Arabic. This is the usual term for ‘edible date’ in Aujila, but the original Arabic word rather means ‘seed’ or ‘grain’.
• əmriyìt pl. of the stative verb mri ‘to be beautiful’

Aujila Songs III

ġillîḫ kìra šaīnāt / ‘ali simeḥ diwîs uāmmi.

Phonetic: ġəllìx kìra šaynat / ʕəli səməḥ d iwì-s n ammi

I don’t want the ugly ones, (but I want) My handsome cousin Ali, who is the son of my uncle.

• ġəllìx pf. 1sg. ‘to want’
• kìra apparantly the negative particle. Surprisingly not -kra as in Text 1, nor ká as in Paradisi.
• šaynat < ELA šeynāt ‘ugly ones’ (p.c. Benkato)
• ʕəli Personal Name
• səməḥ < ELA simiḥ ‘handsome’ (p.c. Benkato)
• d predicate marker
• iwi-s ‘son’ with the 3sg. kinship suffix.
• n genitive particle, written as u in Zanon’s original text, the handwritten u was probably mistaken for n when set into type. Cursively written u and n can be quite close.
• ammi ‘uncle’ < Ar. ʕamm-ī ‘my uncle’

The construction iwì-s n ammi ‘son of my uncle’ is reminiscent of Song II which had the construction wullì-s n ʕə̀mma ‘the daughter of my aunt’.

Early source of Aujila Berber words

Recently, I found a reference to a short letter by Moritz von Beurmann in which he describes 10 Aujili words. The interpretation of the data is difficult; Both the account of some of the words is surprising, and the transcription leaves much to be desired. Since this letter was published in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gezellschaft in 1862, it means we can freely access it. Below follows a list of the ten words recorded by von Beurmann, with an analysis, and comparison to the forms that we find in Paradisi.

• tignani ‘head’, by far the most interesting lexical item, as it is completely unknown in other sources. The usual word for ‘head’ according to Paradisi, and even Müller is tgîli. The Aujila word attested in Paradisi is unusual, as it does not have any connection with other Berber languages. Berber languages usually have a form iɣf. The word tignani like tgîli has no cognates in other Berber languages.
• schahr, suf ‘hair’, as the editor points out, these words must be Arabic loanwords šaʕr ‘hair’ and ṣūf ‘wool’. Both words have original Berber words in Paradisi (aževû, tāft), and one wonders if Beurmann didn’t accidentally enquire about these words to an Arab speaking person, rather than an Aujili speaker.
• fuss, fussum ‘hand’, this word is attested in Paradisi as afùs ‘hand’. It seems that von Beurmann interpreted the initial a as a separate word, and has not included it in his transcription. One wonders where the fussum form comes from. Most likely, it is the plural físsen.
• imin ‘water’, a famous Aujili word also attested in Paradisi: imîn. Aujili appears to be the only Berber language that doesn’t have aman for ‘water’.
• itfukt ‘sun’, a surprising word, not because it looks un-Berber, but because it looks un-Aujili. Forms similar to this noun are found in Many Berber languages, for example Tuareg təfukk (< *təfukt), and Zng. toʔf̣(f̣)ukt. But, unlike most other Berber languages, in Paradisi’s account of the language, we find tāfût, with the consonant k missing. It is difficult to interpret these two contradictory accounts. Perhaps von Beurmann recorded the form before the k was lost, something not completely unlikely, as the word was recorded almost a hundred years prior to Paradisi’s publication.
• funas ‘cattle’, this is clearly the same as Paradisi’s afunâs ‘ox’, once again the initial a was removed.
• logum ‘mountain’, the editor notes that von Beurmann originally wrote a small Arabic letter Ghayn on top of the g to indicate that this word should be read as loɣum. Which, certainly is not likely to mean mountain. As you can see in von Beurmann’s overview, the usual word for ‘Mountain’ in Berber is adrar. This word rather looks like Paradisi’s alóġom ‘camel’. This teaches us something interesting about the way von Beurmann collected his data. He clearly did not have a language in common with his informant, so instead, he drew pictures of the thing he was inquiring about. So he drew the picture of a mountain, seen from the side, his informant then recognized this shape as the hump of a camel, and promptly gave him the word alóġom.
• tina ‘date’, this word for Data is unattested in Aujila, but widely known in Berber, but this form is very surprising. From Ghadamès taβēnawt ‘date tree’ and Tuareg tehăyne ‘date’ we know that this word contains a *β as its first root consonant. This root consonant is always reflected in Aujila as v, but in this word, it is absent.
• lachbub ‘dried dates’, this word is also attested in Paradisi lḥabb pl. laḥbûb, it is in fact a loanword from Arabic ḥabb pl. ḥubūb ‘grains; seed’, which underwent a rather radical change in meaning.

A new source for Sokni!

Sarnelli’s sole informant, Shaykh Hassuna, claimed that only 4 or 5 Soknis could speak the language as of 1915; as a result, it has generally been assumed that Sokni Berber is extinct.  However, this appears not to be entirely true.  A person from Yefren named Sɛid n Yunes has posted on Tawalt – in 2010, apparently – a 200-word+ vocabulary in two posts (1, 2) gathered from “an old man of Sokna who still retains a few Berber words”: thank you Said! The authenticity of this vocabulary seems to be confirmed by the fact that it uses words recorded by Richardson but not attested in published sources: thus “judge” is given as bab n tyərṭiwin (master of papers), to be compared to Richardson’s ‘yarṭa “paper”, and tagəlla is “food”, as in Richardson.  The overall agreement with Sarnelli is also good, although quite a few words are previously unrecorded.  On the other hand, the circumstances of collection make it likely that any errors will be in the direction of Yefren Berber or pan-Berber forms; that might explain the case of “ant” below.  Since basically nothing is known about Yefren Berber, this remains an unknown quantity.  The description suggests that the speaker’s knowledge of the language was not great, and some of the verbal forms confirm this, suggesting that he had forgotten a good deal of morphology. The transliteration scheme used is pretty good, though unfortunately it appears to neglect gemination.

Without further ado, here is the first half of the first vocabulary, translated (with no attempt made to reinsert schwas or missing gemination):

1. ħtb – hold
2. ygam – he pulls (an odd form, but identifiable with Sarnelli: imperative âgem, pf. yugûm, impf. itâgem)
3. yhwa – he went down (contrast Sarnelli: yeggéz; possibly a difference in meaning?)
4. tiṭawin – eyes (Sarnelli: tiṭṭawîn)
5. susm - be quiet (Sarnelli: sûsem)
6. ibrgn – tent
7. zlmuma – lizard
8. bubriṣ – gecko (an Arabic loan, replacing Sarnelli: timěždémt)
9. taqṭuft – ant (Sarnelli: tagědfít)
10. aman n tzdayt – lagbi (palm liquor) (Sarnelli: amân n tezdiṭ)
11. timrada – outside, wilderness
12. itftf – he searches
13. tarunit – a big bag for holding straw
14. su – he drinks (sic; presumably “drink!” Sarnelli: sū)
15. idnks – he bowed his head
16. tẓalit – prayer (Sarnelli: tzallît)
17. taɣrit – stick, staff (Sarnelli: taɣarít)
18. tš – eat (Sarnelli: éčč)
19. šnšna – dhikr in the week of a child’s birth, or song (surprisingly similar to Kabyle ššna!)
20. aman – water (Sarnelli: amân)
21. tanut – well; twanit – wells (sic! an Arabic broken plural applied to a Berber noun.  Sarnelli: tanût, pl. tnutîn)
22. izgarn – dates (Sarnelli: izgârěn)
23. acmrux – date stem
24. ymad – he went (again suggests problems recollecting verb morphology. Sarnelli: imperative mád, pf. immádda, aor. adimmád)
25. yumd – he went (ditto)
26. ymd tamurt – he went to the country (ditto)
27. tamurt – earth (Sarnelli: tamúrt “country”)
28. tiršin – charcoal (Sarnelli: tiržîn)
29. timsi – fire (Sarnelli: tímsi)
30. tarẓẓt – rabbit (Sarnelli: tyarzîzt)
31. amaẓnkuṭ – gazelle (Sarnelli: azěnkö*ṭ)
32. trgu – monster (Sarnelli: törgû “ogre”)
33. wišn – jackal (Sarnelli: uššén)
34. yfis – hyena (contrast Sarnelli: witěláxt)
35. yṭs – asleep, he sleeps
36. itl – he cries (Sarnelli: itéll)
37. babniku – his nose (A bizarre form; contrast Sarnelli tunzä*rt)
38. tamẓuɣt – ear (Sarnelli: tamezzúxt)
39. iɣras – he slaughters
40. uzal – knife (Sarnelli: uzál)
41. amuẓin – boy child (Sarnelli: mûẓiīn)
42. imẓiṭ – boy child
43. tmẓiṭ – girl child (Sarnelli: tmö*ẓěṭ)
44. idwar – the thick thread in a loom (aẓṭa)
45. gdgud – bag for holding fresh dates
46. adyaz – song (Sarnelli: adiâz)
47. tidšt – pot
48. tamnfalt – bag
49. tamgdna – small bag
50. aklu – bag for figs
51. smit – rope (Sarnelli: tasěmmît)
52. ja – waterbag
53. yẓma – he sews; iẓm? ẓmyayṭ (Even more indication of the breakdown of verbal morphology. Sarnelli: imperative éẓmi, pf. iẓmî, impf. izzémmi)
54. takl:ut – date-almond paste
55. ingirix – I don’t have
56. kr zig zig – get up quickly (Sarnelli: ékker zik zik)

Unusual Aujila Prepositions

Like Arabic, Berber prepositions can be modified with pronominal suffixes. When these pronominal suffixes are used, the preposition often undergoes a change of shape. For example the Central Atlas Berber γər ‘to, towards’ can be suffixed with prominal suffixes to form γur-i ‘towards me’, γur-es ‘towards him/her’ etc.

This system is very similar to that of Arabic, which essentially does the same thing, although, obviously with different pronominal suffixes. The preposition li ‘to, towards’ forms lī ‘towards me’, lahu ‘towards him’, lahā ‘towards her’ etc.

While similar, the Berber prepositional endings are very different from those of Arabic in shape, and also in terms of agreement. Unlike Arabic, Berber does not distinguish between the masculine and feminine in the 3rd person singular.

The Berber system and Arabic system in comparison look as follows:

	Berber	Arabic
1sg.	-i	-ī
2sg.m.	-ək	-ka
2sg.f.	-əm	-ki
3sg.m	-əs	-hu
3sg.f.	-əs	-hā
1pl.	-nəx	-nā
2pl.m.	-wən	-kum
2pl.f.	-əkmăt	-kunna
3pl.m.	-săn	-hum
3pl.f.	-əsnăt	-hunna

Due to common ancestry, these two systems do show some similarities, but they are clearly distinct. Like other Berber languages, Aujila also uses prepositional suffixes. They look somewhat different from the general Berber forms, but are clearly related. For example, look at the preposition ġàr ‘to, towards’: 1sg. ġàr-i 2sg.m ġàr-ək 2sg.f. ġàr-əm 3sg. ġàr-əs 1pl. ġár-nax 2pl.m. ġár-kim 2pl.f. ġár-əkmət 3pl.m. ġár-sin 3pl.f. ġár-əsnət ‘to, towards’

But there are two Aujila Berber prepositions that, do not follow the general Berber pattern: dit ‘in front of’ and dəffər ‘behind’. Both prepositions are of Berber origin and are well-attested in the Berber languages. Yet, these prepositions are attested with endings of Arabic origin (forms that are of Arabic origin are in bold, ambiguous forms are underlined):

1sg. dìt-ī 2sg.m. dìt-ək 2sg.f. dìt-əm 3sg.m. dít-ah, dít-a 3sg.f. dìt-ha 1pl. dít-na 2pl.m. dít-kim, dìt-kum 2pl.f. dìt-kmət, dìt-kən 3pl.m. dít-sin, dìt-hum 3pl.f. dìt-snət, dìt-hən

1sg. də́ffər-i 2sg. dəffər-ə́k 3sg.m. dəffər-áh, də́ffər-ah, də́ffər-a, dəffər-ə́s 3sg.f. də́ffər-ha 1pl. də́ffər-na, dəffər-nàx 2pl.m. də́ffər-kum, dəffər-kìm 2pl.f. də́ffər-kmət 3pl.m. də́ffər-hum 3pl.f. də́ffər-hən ‘behind, after’

As you can see some forms are still attested with Berber endings, but the vast majority of the forms has an Arabic form. The development of these forms is difficult to understand, as we do not understand what the basis of this loan was.

All Berber-origin prepositions have Berber endings in Aujila, except for these two prepositions. And even the one Arabic-origin preposition that is attested min ‘from’ in the composed preposition agùr min  ‘near, on the side of’ has Berber endings: 1sg. agùr mìnn-i 2sg.m. agùr mìnn-ək 3sg. agùr minn-əs.

Without more data, and preferably historical data, it may never become clear why the Aujila speakers chose to start treating two Berber prepositions as Arabic, while every other preposition (even Arabic ones!) are treated as Berber.

-M. van Putten