Agadir Arabic

The Arabic variety currently spoken in Agadir is a Hilalian or Bedouin variety therefore originating in the second Arabization wave which took place in the Maghreb from the twelfth century onwards.

Several events occurred in the second half of the twentieth century, namely the earthquake which razed the city in 1960, the growing significance of its fishing port and the development of tourism, have attracted people from various regions in Morocco, particularly rural zones. This demographic phenomenon made an imprint on the Arabic variety spoken in Agadir featuring “urbanized” varieties, that is, varieties subject to a levelling process also occurring in other Moroccan cities.

Agadir from the Kasba - By Salvador Aznar

Audio 1

Audio 1

Agadir Arabic: In the free time

Árabe de Agadir. En el tiempo libre

Transcription

(1) sāknīn mʕa băʕḍna f-әḍ-ḍār, sāknīn āna w ḅḅ^wi w ṃṃi w žәdda w ʕәndna l-bgăṛ f-әḍ-ḍār, ʕәndna l-bgăr w l-mšāš, w l-klāb, w bīxēṛ al-ḥamduliḷḷāh, bīxēr (2) w ʕәndi bәzzāf әl-ʔaṣdiqāʔ, măṛṛa măṛṛa ka-bbšīw[1] l-qәhwa ka-ngәlsu ka-ngәlsu ka-nšәrbu l-qәhwa. (3) āna dīma ʕzīz ʕlĭyya n-nәṣṣ nәṣṣ kbīra n-nәṣṣ nәṣṣ kbīra ka-nžīb l-žūrnāl dyāli ka-ndīr dūk les mots flechés w ka-yžīw l-ʔaṣdiqāʔ[2] (4) ka-nhăḍru l-māwāḍiʕ dyāl “la gabration”[3] par exemple… “La gabration” hĭyya ṭ-ṭārīqa bāš ka-tšūf l-bnāt tšūfu l-bnāt ḥәtta ka-ygūlu l-kәlma b-әl-kәlma dyāl dyāl…ka-ngūlu ka-ngūlu ka-tfĭyyәḍ fĭyyәḍ әl-bnāt. (5) Gabrer draguer en français ka-ngūlu draguer [4]. ka-ngābru ši šwĭyya ma ka-nddīwha-š ma ka-nṭṛŭq-š ha ka-nšūfha ḥna ġīr ka-nšūfu. w-băʕḍ әl-măṛṛāt ka-nlәʕbu l-karṭa. (6) nәmšīw l-qәhwa ka-nlәʕbu l-karṭa ka-nḍәḥku ka-ndūzu qĭyyāt w kŭll wāḥәd k-yәbšīw bḥālu. w măṛṛa măṛṛa ka-nәmšīw n-әl-bḥăr. f-әl-bḥăr kŭll ši k-yddi fūtṭu l-fūṭa dyālu әs-sāk dyālu… (7) ka-nәmšīw, ka-nṭrūnšu[5] l-fwāṭi dyālna ʕla ṛ-ṛәmla… ka-nlәʕbu l-kūra, ka-nḍәḥku ši šwĭyya, ka-nddīw mʕāna l-gāmīla dyālna, l-xŭḍṛa, ka-nddīw l-lḥăm, māṭīša ka-nddīw l-bṭāṭa (8) w ka-ndīru gāmīla tәmma fūg әl-bḥăr ka-nṭĭyybūha b-әl-xŭbz dyālna, w ka-ndŭwwzu n-nhāṛ bīxēṛ. hād š-ši lli ka-ndīru.

[1] ka-nәmšīw. [2] Préstamo del árabe clásico. La transcripción ha respetado la transcripción del árabe clásico. [3] Creación léxica del cómico Fellah (en Djurdjurasic Bled) sobre el término draguer ‘ligar’ (francés). [4] Préstamo del francés. [5] Préstamo del francés trancher ‘trinchar, cortar, zanjar’.

Spanish translation

(1) Vivimos juntos en casa, vivimos yo, mi padre, mi madre, la abuela y tenemos vacas en casa, tenemos vacas, gatos y perros y… bien, gracias a Dios, bien… (2) Y… tengo muchos amigos, a veces vamos al café y nos sentamos, nos sentamos, bebemos el café. (3) A mí me gusta siempre el cortado doble, el cortado doble, traigo mi periódico, hago el crucigrama y… vienen los amigos, (4) hablamos de los temas de “la gabration” por ejemplo… “La gabration” es la manera para mirar a las chicas, miráis a las chicas hasta que dicen la palabra, con la palabra de, de… decimos, decimos clavar la mirada, clavar la mirada en las chicas. (5) “Gabrer”, draguer en francés, decimos draguer. Nos fijamos en las chicas, [pero] no nos la llevamos, no la abordamos[1]… la miro, nosotros sólo la miramos. Algunas veces jugamos a las cartas. (6) Vamos al café, jugamos a las cartas, nos reímos, pasamos un tiempito y cada uno se va por su cuenta. Y, a veces, vamos a la playa. En la playa cada uno lleva su toalla: su toalla, su bolso… (7) Vamos, colocamos nuestras toallas en la arena… jugamos al futbol, nos reímos un poco, traemos con nosotros nuestra olla, la verdura, traemos la carne, tomate… traemos la patata… (8) y preparamos la olla allí en la playa, la cocinamos, con nuestro pan y pasamos el día bien. Esto es lo que hacemos. [1] En DAF, el verbo ṭrәq/ yṭrәq significa literalmente: ‘parar junto a alguien; pasar a ver a alguien; venir al encuentro de alguien; hacer una visita corta a casa de alguien; pasar por casa de alguien…’. En el contexto del café, se ha decidido utilizar la acepción ‘abordar’, ya que se considera que esta encierra el contenido de acercarse a alguien para verlo rápidamente, por lo que se correspondería con el sentido que desea expresar el informante.

Metadata file

Author: Montserrat Benítez Fernández (recording, transcription and translation).

Title: Agadir Arabic: In the free time.

Type of account: Monologue.

Length: 1’36”.

Topic: The informant explains what he does in his free time.

Languages: Moroccan Arabic (southern variety).

Date: 01/02/2013.

Place: Agadir.

Devices: Analog recorder.

Transcription type: Broad phonetic transcription.

Translation language: Spanish

Comments: The sound quality is quite poor due to the type of material that was used in the recording.

Informants

Number: 1.

Name: Ahmad.

Sex: Man.

Age: 34 years old.

Education level: University studies.

Occupation: Teacher.

Origin: Šəlḥ of Ait Melloul (outskirts of Agadir).

Interesting data from the sociolinguistic point of view: The informant has an excellent knowledge of Classical Arabic and French, in addition to being bilingual in both tāšəlḥīt and Moroccan Arabic.

Linguistic features of Agadir Arabic

Phonology and Phonetics*

The phonology of Agadir Arabic is, in general, quite similar to other Moroccan Bedouin varieties and, like most of them, lacks interdental phonemes.

As regards its consonant system, the realization of /q/ is often voiced /g/, though instances of the unvoiced realization /q/ have also been found, though no doubling occurs.

The vowel system features the opposition of two short vowels /ə/-/u/, with a small number of allophones of /ə/: [ă], [ĭ]; and the existence of three long vowels /ā/-/ī/-/ū/.

The lack of diphthongs /vw/ or /vy/ is also typical of this variety where /ū/ and /ī/ appear instead.

Verb morphology

Verb morphology features the confusion of gender in the second person singular (masc. and fem.) of the perfective: gəlti ‘you (fem. and masc.) said’, fhəmti ‘you (fem. and masc.) understood’; and the ending –āt in the third person singular feminine: təḥtāt ‘she fell’, wəldāt ‘she gave birth’.

In the imperfective and in the imperative there is a distinction of gender by suffixing the morpheme -i in the second person singular feminine: ka-təʕrəf ‘you (masc.) know’, ka-tšūf ‘you (masc.) see’; tšərbi ‘you (fem.) will drink’, ka-tdīri ‘you (fem.) do’; xdəm / xədmi ‘work! (masc. / fem.)’.

Defective verbs are more frequently conjugated by reconstructing the paradigm in the third consonant: ka-nəmšīw ‘we go’, ka-yətsənnāw ‘they wait’, although more Bedouin-like variants with monophthongation have also been noted: ka-nəlguhŭm ‘we find them’, ġādi nəddu ‘we will bring’.

The most commonly used preverb to form the present is ka-: ka-tgūli ‘you (fem.) say’, ka-nšərbu ‘we drink’, which is often abbreviated before the third person masculine singular: k-ydūz ‘he passes’. This preverb alternates with ta-: ta-təhḍər ‘you (masc.) speak’.

The future is formed with ġādi (or ġād, ġa) before a verb in the imperfective: ġa ndūz ‘I will pass’, ġādi ndīr ‘I will do’.

Noun morphology

The genitive is constructed by means of an analytical structure, using the particle dyāl: l-kullĭyya dyal ž-žāmʕa ‘the University faculty’, qrāʕi dyāl l-ma ‘bottles of water’. This particle does occasionally have a gender and number derivation: ši ḥāža dyāltu ‘a thing of his’, aṣdīqa dyāwli ‘my friends’.

Conditional sentences are formed using the particles īla or īda, which alternate for no apparent reason: ka-nəžmuʕ n-nās īla kānu rəbʕa wəlla xəmsa ‘I gather the people if there are four or five of them’; īda ʕəžbātni ġādi nṭāṣəl bīha ‘if I like her, I will call her’.

* Data used for this brief summary were compiled from: Benítez Fernández, Montserrat 2014. “À propos du dialecte arabe d’Agadir (sud du Maroc)”, O. Durand, A. Langone & G. Mion (eds.), Alf lahǧa wa lahǧa: Proceedings of the 9th AIDA Conference. Viena, LIT Verlag, 57-65.

Author: Montserrat Benítez Fernández

The history of Agadir

Agadir (in Arabic أكادير [āgādīr]) is the capital of the region Sous-Massa and the administrative center of the Préfecture Agadir Ida-Outanane. Located on Morocco’s Atlantic shore, 508km south of Casablanca and 235km southwest of Marrakech, it has a population of 421,844 inhabitants (2014 census). Its name, of Amazigh origin, means “communal fortified barn”.

Data on this region prior to the Portuguese presence on the Moroccan Atlantic coastline is scarce. The city currently known as Agadir was founded by the Portuguese around the year 1502. It was then called Villa del Cabo de Aguer or Santa Cruz del Cabo de Aguer. It seemingly first consisted of a simple wooden fort built by Diego López de Sequera as the headquarters for fisheries. Its strategic location as a port both for supplies and repairs and for trade meant that it soon became a larger fortified site. It was built at the foot of a hill in the area now known as Founty.

In 1536, Santa Cruz del Cabo de Aguer (according to Diego de Torres) was conquered by the Saadi dynasty and Portuguese trade decreased.

After the few decades of Portuguese dominion, the citadel of Agadir was built in 1572 on a hill, which is known as Agadir n ighir. The population was therefore divided into Agadir n ighir and Founty.

As the commercial port grew, Agadir became a privileged trading spot where sugar, leather, copper, etc. was exported. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the French were preferential partners, later joined by the English and the Dutch.

From 1760 onwards, Agadir’s trading predominance declined following the decision of Sultan Sidi Mohammad ben Abdallah who, with the purpose of punishing the rebellious area of Sus, chose to favour the port of Essaouira (former Mogador). The bay of Agadir remained closed to trade up until 1881 and was practically deserted throughout the nineteenth century.

The city regained relevance out of European colonial interests. Thus, despite its scarce population, in 1911 Germany deployed the Panther gunboat and the cruiser Berlin to protect its colonial interests there. This act stirred a major international crisis which was eventually resolved after lengthy diplomatic negotiations in November 1911. The crisis ended with the signing of a Franco-German treaty and the subsequent departure of the German ships from the Bay of Agadir.

French troops disembarked in Agadir in 1913. From that moment on several development phases took place at the port. The small fishing hamlet that Agadir had been up until the nineteenth century began to expand mainly at the foot of the hill. Urban development went on for the first half of the twentieth century.

From 1950 onwards, with the inauguration of the new trading port, Agadir’s economic activity has revolved mainly around the fishing and canning industry.

On 29 February 1960 Agadir suffered an earthquake of 5.7 on the Richter scale which destroyed the city.

After 1960 the city began to be rebuilt. Its urban development has been closely linked to its economic growth. The fishing and canning industry have been complemented by agriculture, mining and, above all, tourism. These economic enterprises, mainly tourism, have contributed to the region’s economic and urban growth.