Zenaga language

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Zenaga
ⵜⵓⵥⵥⵓⵏⴳⵉⵢⵢⴰ (Tuẓẓungiyya)
Native toMauritania, Senegal
RegionMederdra
Native speakers
3,500 (2018–2021)[1]
Tifinagh
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-2zen
ISO 639-3zen
Glottologzena1248
ELPZenaga

Zenaga (autonym: Tuẓẓungiyya or āwӓy ən uẓ̄nӓgӓn) is a

Berber language on the verge of extinction currently spoken in Mauritania and northern Senegal by a few hundred people. Zenaga Berber is spoken as a mother tongue from the town of Mederdra in southwestern Mauritania to the Atlantic coast and in northern Senegal. The language is recognized by the Mauritanian government.[2]

It shares its basic linguistic structure with other Berber idioms in

glottal stops
.

The name Zenaga comes from that of a much larger ancient Berber tribe, the Iznagen (Iẓnagen), who are known in Arabic as the Sanhaja. Adrian Room's African Placenames[3] gives Zenaga derivations for some place-names in Mauritania.

Demographics

Zenaga is a language descended from the

bear arms
and variously became either specialists in Islamic religious scholarship or servants to more powerful tribes. It was among the former, more prestigious group that Zenaga survived longest.

In 1940 (Dubié 1940), Zenaga was spoken by about 13,000 people belonging to four nomadic tribes distributed in an area roughly bounded by Saint-Louis, Podor, Boutilimit and Nouakchott (but including none of these cities):[4]

  • Tashumsha ('the five'): 4,653 speakers out of 12,000 members
  • D-abu-djhes ('i-D-ab-lahs-en'): 5,000 out of 5,000
  • Gumdjedjen ('i-Kumleil-en'), subtribe of the Ida u el Hadj: 700 (out of Ida u el Hadj population of 4,600)
  • Tendgha: 2,889 out of 8,500

These tribes, according to Dubié, traditionally specialised in Islamic religious scholarship and led a

Beni Hassan[6]), nor a warrior".[7]

Half a century later, the number of speakers is reportedly around 2,000. While Zenaga appears to be nearing extinction, Hassaniya Arabic contains a substantial number of Zenaga loanwords (more than 10% of the vocabulary).[8]

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
High
i u
Mid ə
Low
a
Phoneme Allophones[9]
/i/ [i], [ɨ]
/u/ [u], [ʊ], [o], [ɔ]
/a/ [ä], [æ], [ɛ], [œ], [ø], [ɔ], [ɑ]

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Post-alv./
Palatal
Post-
palatal
Velar Pharyngeal Glottal
plain phar. plain phar.
Plosive voiceless
t
()
k ʔ
voiced b
d
ɟ̠
Fricative voiceless f θ θˤ s () ʃ x (ħ) h
voiced (v) ð ðˤ z ʒ ɣ (ʕ)
Nasal m
n
Trill
r
Lateral
l
Approximant w j
Geminated consonants
Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Post-
palatal
Velar
plain phar.
Plosive voiceless
tʲː
c̠ː
voiced
dˤː dʲː
ɟ̠ː
Fricative voiceless ʃː
voiced zˤː ʒː
Nasal
nʲː
Lateral
Trill
  • [v] can be heard as an allophone of /f/.
  • Sounds [tˤ] and [sˤ] occur marginally.
  • Pharyngeal sounds /ħ, ʕ/ are heard from Arabic loanwords.[10][11]

Dialects

There are significant dialectal differences within Zenaga, notably between the Id-ab-lahsen and Tendgha dialects.

References

  1. ^ Zenaga at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Arab League 2016 summit puts spotlight on isolated Mauritania". english.alarabiya.net. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  3. ^ Room, Adrian, African Placenames, McFarland & Co. Jefferson, North Carolina. 1994.
  4. ^ (Zenaga names from Nicolas (1953:102.)
  5. ^ Paul Dubié (1940). L'îlot berbérophone de Mauritanie. IFAN; 2. p. 319-320.
  6. ^ Paul Dubié (1940). L'îlot berbérophone de Mauritanie. IFAN; 2. p. 320.
  7. ^ Paul Dubié (1940). L'îlot berbérophone de Mauritanie. IFAN; 2. p. 320.
  8. (in French)
  9. ^ Cohen, David; Taine-Cheikh, Catherine (2000). "À propos du zénaga. Vocalisme et morphologie verbale on berbère". Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris (in French). 95: 269–322.
  10. ^ Taine-Cheikh, Catherine (2003). "La corrélation de gémination consonantique en zénaga (berbère de Mauritanie)". Comptes rendus du Groupe Linguistique d'Études Chamito-Sémitiques (GLECS) (in French). 34. GLECS: 5–66.
  11. ^ Taine-Cheikh, Catherine (2008). Dictionnaire zénaga-français: Le berbère de Mauritanie présenté par racines dans une perspective comparative. Köln: Köppe.

Further reading