Tunis Arabic
Arabic spoken in the city of Tunis belongs to Maghreb’s pre-Hilali varieties and is typically sedentary and urban. Its most distinctive features consist of the preservation of q and the interdental consonants ṯ and ḏ, plus the merger of the two emphatic consonants into one interdental phoneme ḍ and ḏ̣ > ḏ̣.
Three phonemes are used for short vowels a i u whereas long vowels feature a strong and spontaneous imāla of ā.
In terms of morphology, one of the most remarkable traits is the lack of the preverb in the imperfective, the main tense distinction between the imperfective and the perfective is thus preserved.
Tunis Arabic: Layla Hamra
Árabe de la ciudad de Túnez: Layla Hamra
(1) fəmma[1] ṭufla, fəmma ʕāyla yusknu fi ġāba, tži f-āxər l-aṭrāf mtāʕ l-ġāba. fhəmt-ni? (2) w-əṭ-ṭufla hāḏi, ʕand-hum bnayya əsəm-hum əṭ-ṭufla əsəm-ha Layla l-Ḥamrāʔ, ysəmmīw-ha Layla l-Ḥamrāʔ, ʕlā xāṭər dīma təlbəs l-aḥmar, fhəmt-ni? XXX təlbəs dīma l-aḥmar. (3) ysəmmīw-ha Layla l-Ḥamrāʔ. (4) marra mə-l-marrāt, hāḏi mšāt l-dār mammət-ha, yaʕni žaddət-ha. (5) tuskun f-wuṣṭ əl-ġāba, w-lāzəm dīma tṭull ʕlī-ha Layla l-Ḥamrāʔ. (6) marra mən-hum, yaʕni, qāt-əlha umm-ha, ʕṭāt-ha t-tārt[2], l-gāṭu[3], (7) qāt-ül-ha[4]: həzz-u l-mammət-ək, ṛā-hi mrīḏ̣a w-aḥna ma ṭallīnā-š ʕlī-ha. (8) barra hazz-əlha l-gāṭu hāḏa. (9) wuqt mšāt lə-l-ġāba, daxlət l-ġāba, lqā-ha ḏ-ḏīb, (10) qʕad yəḥki mʕā-ha ḏ-ḏīb w-isəqṣi[5] fī-ha, fhəmt-ni?: (11) qāl-lha “yāxi ənti wīn māšya waḥd-ək taww?”. (12) qāt-lu: “ṛā-ni māšya l-mammət-i, mammət-i tuskun f-wuṣṭ əl-ġāba”. (13) fhəmt-ni? (14) yaʕni ʕṭāt-u l-ʕunwān wīn tuskun mammət-ha, fhəmt-ni? (15) w-hūwa širrīr. (16) yaʕni sbuq-ha l-dār mammət-ha.(17) mšā w-lqā mammət-ha ġadīka, dxal ʕlī-ha, (18) klā-ha, fhəmt-ni? (19) yaʕni, blaʕ-ha, fhəmt-ni? (20) blaḥ-ḥa[6], w-wuqt daxlət ʕalī-h Layla Ḥamrāʔ, wuqt ʕraf-ha, qurbət bāš tži lə-d-dār... bāš tžī... lbəs labsət mammət-ha hāy, (21) lbəs labsāt-ha w-lbəs lünétt-ha[7] hakkāka w-dxal. (22) w-bqā fi buqʕət mammət-ha, hākka kī-l-mrīḏ̣, hākka. (23) wuqt daxlət Layla Ḥamrāʔ bqāt mustaġrəba. dārət lə-mammət-ha, qāt…, qāt-əlha… (24) fi-bāl-ha hīya mammət-ha, fhəmt-ni? (25) qāt-əlha: “yāxi mammet-i, yāxi… š-bī-ha wuḏnī-k kbār?”. (26) qāt-əlha: “ māw bāš nəsmaʕ-ək bə-l-bāhi! ”, fhəmt-ni? (27) mbaʕd dārət-əlha w-qāt-əlha: “ š-bī-ha ʕaynī-k kbār?”. (28) xāṭər bāš, bāš nšūf-ək mlīḥ. (29) mbaʕd qāt-əlha: “yāxi, š-bī-k, š-bī-h ṣūt-ək xšīn? ṣūt-ək qwi. (30) māw ənti, qāt-əlha, māw ənti bāš təsmaʕ-ni ənti mlīḥ! (31) mbaʕd qāt-lha, š-bī-ha, š-bī-h fumm-ək kbīr? (32) ʕməl-ha hākka w-naggəz ʕlī-ha w-qāl-lha māw bāš nākl-ək ənti! (33) ʕməl-ha hākka w-fattaḥ XXX w-blaʕ-ha, fhəmt-ni? (34) mbaʕd žā bāš yuhrub, kərš-u kbar, ma ynažžəm-š yuhrub, fhəmt-ni? (35) yži bū Layla l-Ḥamrāʔ qadd-u w-qatl-u w-ḥall-əllu kərš-u w-lqā Layla Ḥamrāʔ ḥayya w-mammət-ha ḥayya.[1] */ṯamma/> [fəmma]. [2] Del francéstarte. [3] Del francésgâteau. [4]/qālət-lu/>[qāt-lu]. [5] En árabe tunecino, este verbo significa ‘preguntar con insistencia’, mientras que en otros dialectos magrebíes tienen el sentido más neutro de ‘preguntar’. [6] */blaʕ-ha/ > [blaḥḥa]. [7]Del francéslunettes.
Phonology and Phonetics
As for the realization of *q, Tunis Arabic exhibits principally a voiceless uvular stop q.
The two phonemes ṯ and ḏ are pronounced as interdentals, and the two ancient emphatics *ḍ and *ḏ̣ merged in a fricative interdental emphatic phoneme ḏ̣.
Like almost all the Tunisian dialects, Tunis Arabic too exhibits a voiced palatal fricative ž.
Sometimes, a passage ṯ > f in the presence of m takes place, as in ṯamma> famma ‘there is’.
As for vowels, it is worth observing that ā, in unmarked contexts, is phonetically realized with a strong imāla that gives allophones like [e] or [ε]. In marked contexts, i.e. near gutturals, ā is realized without imāla.
Brief vocalism has been described by a three-phoneme system which, according to Cohen (1970), must be the result of a process of development from an opposition ə # u (<* a * i * u).
Ancient diphthongs *ay and *aw are monophthongized respectively in ī and ū.
Verb Morphology
As for the verb, in the conjugation of perfective the suffix of the 3rd pers.sg. is -ət. But, in the weak verbs, for instance mšā ‘to go’, the suffix is –āt: mšāt ‘she went’. As well, the endings of plural are -āw and -īw, like in mšāw ‘they went’ and ysəmmīw ‘they call’.
In a verb like qāl ‘to say, to tell’, when 3rd pers.sg. is followed by the preposition l ‘to’ + an pronoun, the verb exhibits an elision of the l of verbal root, as in qālət-lu > qāt-lu ‘she told him’.
Tunisian is one of the neo-Arabic varieties that makes a time distinction betwwen perfective and imperfective, and it is opposed to those who introduced a modal distinction betwwen imperfective preverb ≠ imperfective without preverb [→ subjunctive]. That is why the perfective ktəbt ‘I wrote’ is opposed to nəktəb ‘I write’ which, in this case, can also have a value of subjunctive (→ bāš nəktəb ‘so that I write’).
For the future, the particle bāš (< māš < māši) has a general value, as well as the particle taww (< tawwa ‘now’, see ar.cl. taww-an ‘immediately’) indicates a near future and intentional: bāš nži ‘I will come’, taww nži ‘I am going to come’.
Noun Morphology
Characteristically, Tunis Arabic exhibits a 2nd pers.sg. pronoun ənti for both masculine and feminine. No gender distinction is found in the plural.
The genitive preposition is mtāʕ ‘belonging to’ (< *matāʕ ‘property’).
Lexicon
Typically Tunisian lexical elements are famma ‘there is/are’ (< *ṯamma ‘there’); tawwa and taw ‘now’; buqʕa pl. bqayəʕ ‘place’; hākka ~ hakkāka ‘so’; barša ‘much, a lot; long time’; yāxi as an exclamatory and emphatic particle; nažžəm ‘to be able’.
It is worth noting that the word barra, which also appears in the text, is treated like an imperative verb ‘go out!’ and can also occurs in its plural variant barrāw.
Author: Giuliano Mion
Tunis (in Arabic تونس [tūnis]) is the capital of Tunisia and a major trading, administrative, cultural and industrial city on the Mediterranean coast. Built on the ruins of Carthage, it boasts significant historical sites which include the Great Mosque al-Zaytūna (founded in 732) and the National Bardo Museum.
The city enjoyed a golden age under the Hafsí dynasty (1229-1574), a period when souks, mosques and Koranic schools were created. Trade with Europe also flourished in this period.
In 1574, Tunis became part of the Ottoman Empire and its population increased as a result of waves of migration from Spain and Livorno (Italy) due to religious persecution.
On 12 May 1881 the French Protectorate started in Tunisia and after the Treaty of Barado, the Resident General (al-muqīm al-ʕāmm) took on most of the Bey’s responsibilities. Two years later, on 8 June 1883, the Bey and the French Government signed the Conventions of La Marsa whereby France assumed full control over the Protectorate.
The Young Tunisians Movement, created in 1907, became the Constitutional Liberal Party in 1921, which in turn gave rise to Habib Bourguiba’s party, Néo-Dustūr in 1934.
Habib Bourguiba was the main hero of the Tunisian independence achieved in 1956. One year later he became the President of the Republic and remained so until he was deposed in 1987. He was replaced by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who remained in power until 2011. This proved to be a crucial year in Tunisia’s recent history as numerous popular protests sparked the so-called Jasmine Revolution which led to drastic changes in the government and the overthrow of Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia. The Tunisian revolution had a domino effect on other Arab countries and triggered the Arab Spring.
Tunis’ historical centre is occupied by the médina, around which the modern city was built. Several exogenous communities inhabited Tunis, some of the most significant being Jews from Livorno, Sicilians, Maltese and obviously during the colonial period, the French.
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