Judeo-Tunisian Arabic, also known asJudeo-Tunisian, is avariety ofTunisian Arabic mainly spoken byJews living or formerly living inTunisia.[6] Speakers are older adults, and the younger generation has only a passive knowledge of the language.[1]
Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is one of theJudeo-Arabic languages, a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in the Arab world.[6]
A Jewish community existed in what is today Tunisia even prior toRoman rule inAfrica.[8] After theArabic conquest ofNorth Africa, this community began to use Arabic for their daily communication.[3] They had adopted thepre-Hilalian dialect of Tunisian Arabic as their own dialect.[3] As Jewish communities tend to be close-knit and isolated from the other ethnic and religious communities of their countries,[6] their dialect spread to their coreligionists all over the country[2][9] and had not been in contact with the languages of the communities that invaded Tunisia in the middle age.[3][10] The primary language contact with regard to Judeo-Tunisian Arabic came from the languages of Jewish communities that fled to Tunisia as a result of persecution likeJudeo-Spanish.[8] This explains why Judeo-Tunisian Arabic lacks influence from the dialects of theBanu Hilal andBanu Sulaym, and has developed several phonological and lexical particularities that distinguish it from Tunisian Arabic.[10][11][12] This also explains why Judeo-Tunisian words are generally less removed from their etymological origin than Tunisian words.[13]
The most famous author in Judeo-Arabic isNissim B. Ya‘aqov b. Nissim ibn Shahin of Kairouan (990–1062)[1]. An influential rabbinical personality of his time, Nissim of Kairouan wrote a collection of folks stories intended for moral encouragement, at the request of his father-in-law on the loss of his son. Nissim wrote "An Elegant Compilation concerning Relief after Adversity" (Al-Faraj ba‘d al-shidda)[14] first in an elevated Judeo-Arabic style following Sa‘adia Gaon's coding and spelling conventions and later translated the work into Hebrew.[15]
The first Judeo-Arabic printing house opens in Tunis in 1860. A year after, the 1856Fundamental Pact is translated and printed in Judeo-Arabic (in 1861[16] before its translation into Hebrew in 1862).
In 1901, Judeo-Tunisian became one of the main spoken Arabic dialects of Tunisia, with thousands of speakers.[8] Linguists noted the unique character of this dialect, and subjected it to study.[8] Among the people studying Judeo-Tunisian Arabic, Daniel Hagege[17] listed a significant amount of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic newspapers from the early 1900s in his essayThe Circulation of Tunisian Judeo-Arabic Books.[18] in 1903, David Aydan prints in Judeo-Arabic"Vidu-i bel arbi", a translation of the ritual text recited by the community on Yom Kippur's eve. The text is printed inDjerba, a significant point to mention as many works published by the Tunisian Jewish community in Hebrew are printed inLivorno, Italy.[19] Educated leaders within the Tunisian Jewish community like ceramic merchantJacob Chemla translated several works into Judeo-Tunisian, includingThe Count of Monte Cristo.
The first page of the Count of Monte Cristo in Judeo-Tunisian Arabic
However, its emergence has significantly declined since 1948 due to thecreation of Israel.[8] In fact, the Jewish community of Tunisia has either chosen to leave or was forced to leave Tunisia and immigrate toFrance orIsrael.[3][7] Nowadays, the language is largely extinct throughout most of Tunisia, even if it is still used by the small Jewish communities in Tunis, Gabes and Djerba,[2][3][4] and most of the Jewish communities that have left Tunisia have chosen to change their language of communication to the main language of their current country.[3]
Language vitality: Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is believed to be vulnerable with only 500 speakers inTunisia[20] and with about 45,000 speakers inIsrael[21]
Language variations: In Tunisia, geography plays a huge role in how Judeo-Tunisian Arabic varies between speakers.[22] In fact, Tunisian Judeo-Arabic can vary depending on the region in which it is spoken.[22] Accordingly, the main dialects of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic are:[22]
The dialect of the North of Tunisia (Mainly spoken in Tunis)
The dialect of the South of Tunisia (Mainly Spoken in Gabes)
The dialect of the islands off the coast of the country (Mainly spoken in Djerba)
In addition, Judeo-Tunisian can vary within the same region based on the town in which it is spoken.[22]
Phonology: There are three main differences betweenTunisian Arabic phonology and Judeo-Tunisian Arabic phonology:
Substitution of phonemes: Unlike most dialects ofTunisian Arabic, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic has merged Tunisian Arabic's glottal [ʔ] and [h] into [∅],[3][8] Interdental [ð] and [θ] have respectively been merged with [d] and [t],[3][8]Ḍah andḌād have been merged as [dˤ] and not as [ðˤ],[3][8]Prehilalian /aw/ and /ay/diphthongs have been kept[3][8] (except inGabes[26]), and [χ] and [ʁ] have been respectively substituted by [x] and [ɣ].[3][8] This is mainly explained by the difference between the language contact submitted by Jewish communities in Tunisia and the one submitted by other Tunisian people.[8]
Sibilant conversion:
[ʃ] and [ʒ] are realized as [sˤ] and [zˤ] if there is anemphatic consonant or [q] later in the word (however inGabes this change takes effect if [ʃ] and [ʒ] are either before or after anemphatic consonant or [q]).[4] For example, راجل rājil (meaning man) is pronounced in Gabes dialect of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic as /rˤa:zˤel/ and حجرة ḥajra (meaning stone) is pronounced in all Judeo-Tunisian dialects as /ħazˤrˤa/.[4]
[ʃ] and [ʒ] are realized as [s] and [z] if there is an [r] later in the word (Not applicable to the dialect ofGabes).[4] For example, جربة jirba (meaningDjerba) is pronounced in all Judeo-Tunisian dialects except the one of Gabes as /zerba/.[4]
[sˤ] is realized as [ʃ] if there is not another emphatic consonant or a [q] within the word (only applicable to Gabes dialect) or if this [sˤ] is directly followed by a [d].[26] For example, صدر ṣdir (meaningchest) is pronounced as /ʃder/[26] and صف ṣaff (meaningqueue) is pronounced in Gabes dialect of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic as /ʃaff/.
[s] and [z] are respectively realized as [ʃ] and [ʒ] if there is no emphatic consonant, no [q] and no [r] later in the word (In Gabes, this change takes effect if there is no [q] and no emphatic consonant within the word). For example, زبدة zibda (meaningbutter) is pronounced as /ʒebda/.[4]
Emphasis of [s] and [z]: Further than the possible conversion of [s] and [z] by [sˤ] and [zˤ] due to the phenomenon of theassimilation of adjacent consonants (also existing inTunisian Arabic),[23] [s] and [z] are also realized as [sˤ] and [zˤ] if there is anemphatic consonant or [q] later in the word (however inGabes this change takes effect if [ʃ] and [ʒ] are either before or after anemphatic consonant or [q]).[4] For example, سوق sūq (meaningmarket) is pronounced in Judeo-Tunisian Arabic as /sˤu:q/.[4]
[q] and [g] phonemes: Unlike the Northwestern, Southeastern and Southwestern dialects of Tunisian Arabic, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic does not systematically substitute Classical Arabic [q] by [g].[27] Also, the [g] phoneme existing in Tunis, Sahil and Sfax dialects of Tunisian Arabic is rarely maintained[28] and is mostly substituted by a [q] in Judeo-Tunisian.[3] For example, بقرة (cow) is pronounced as /bagra/ in Tunis, Sahil and Sfax dialects of Tunisian Arabic and as /baqra/ in Judeo-Tunisian.[3]
Judeo-Tunisian Arabic sometimes uses some particular morphological structures such as typical clitics like qa- that is used to denote the progressivity of a given action.[3][29] For example,qayākil means he is eating.
The informal lack ofsubject-verb agreement found inTunisian and inModern Standard Arabic does not exist in Judeo-Tunisian Arabic. For example, we say ed-dyārtebnēu الديارتبناوا and not ed-dyārtebnēt الديارتبنات (The houses were built).[30]
Vocabulary: There are some differences between the vocabulary ofTunisian Arabic and the one of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic. Effectively:
UnlikeTunisian Arabic, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic has a Hebrewadstratum.[2][6][31] In fact, Cohen said that almost 5 percent of the Judeo-Tunisian words are from Hebrew origin.[27] Furthermore, Judeo-Tunisian has acquired several specific words that do not exist in Tunisian likeLadino from language contact withJudaeo-Romance languages.[27][32]
Unlike most of theTunisian Arabic dialect and as it isPre-Hilalian, Judeo-Tunisian kept Pre-Hilalian vocabulary usage patterns.[33] For example, rā را is used instead of šūf شوف (commonly used inTunisian) to mean "to see".[33]
Unlike the Tunis dialect ofTunisian Arabic,[11] Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is also known for the profusion of diminutives.[11] For example:
qṭayṭasقطيطس (little or friendly cat) forqaṭṭūsقطّوس (cat).[11]
klayibكليب (little or friendly dog) forkalbكلب (dog).[11]
^abcde(in French) Cohen, D. (1970). Les deux parlers arabes de Tunis. Notes de phonologie comparee. In hisEtudes de linguistique semitique et arabe, 150(7).
^(in French) Caubet, D. (2000). Questionnaire de dialectologie du Maghreb (d'après les travaux de W. Marçais, M. Cohen, GS Colin, J. Cantineau, D. Cohen, Ph. Marçais, S. Lévy, etc.).Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, EDNA, (5), 73-90.
^Aslanov, C. (2016). Remnants of Maghrebi Judeo-Arabic among French-born Jews of North-African Descent.Journal of Jewish Languages, 4(1), 69-84.
^Fontaine, Jean (1999).Histoire de la littérature tunisienne du XIII siècle à l'indépendance. Chap XXième siècle, textes en judéo-arabe et hébreu. Tunis, Tunisia: Cérès Editions. p. 229.ISBN9973-19-404-7.
^Tobi, Joseph (2014).Judeo-Arabic Literature In Tunisia, 1850-1950. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. pp. 241–320.ISBN978-0-8143-2871-2.
^Fontaine, Jean (1999).Histoire de la littérature tunisienne du XIIIième siècle à l'indépendance. Chap XXième siècle, textes en judéo-arabe et en hébreu. Tunis, Tunisia: Cérès Editions. p. 230.ISBN9973-19-404-7.
^Arevalo, Tania Marica Garcia (2014). "The General Linguistic Features of Modern Judeo-Arabic Dialects in the Maghreb".Zutot.11:54–56.doi:10.1163/18750214-12341266.
^abcdCohen, D. (1981). Remarques historiques et sociolinguistiques sur les parlers arabes des juifs maghrébins.International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1981(30), 91-106.
^Cohen, D. (1973). Variantes, variétés dialectales et contacts linguistiques en domaine arabe. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, 68(1), 233.
^Cuvalay, M. (1991). The expression of durativity in Arabic.The Arabist, Budapest studies in Arabic, 3-4, 146.
^(in French) Taieb, J., & Sayah, M. (2003).Remarques sur le parler judéo-arabe de Tunis.Diasporas Histoire et Sociétés, n° 2, Langues dépaysées. Presses Universitaires de Mirail, pp. 58.
^Chetrit, J. (2014). Judeo-Arabic Dialects in North Africa as Communal Languages: Lects, Polylects, and Sociolects.Journal of Jewish Languages, 2(2), 202-232.
Garcia Arévalo, T. M. (2014). The General Linguistic Features of Modern Judeo-Arabic Dialects in the Maghreb.Zutot, 11(1), 49–56.doi:10.1163/18750214-12341266.
Bar-Asher, M., &. Fraade, S. D. (2010).Studies in the history and culture of North African Jewry.In Proceedings of the symposium at Yale. New Haven: Program in Judaic Studies, Yale.
Sumikazu, Y., & Yoda, S. (2006). " Sifflant" and" chuintant" in the Arabic dialect of the Jews of Gabes (south Tunisia).Zeitschrift für arabische Linguistik, (46), 7-25.
Tobi, Y., & Tobi, T. (2014).Judeo-Arabic Literature in Tunisia, 1850-1950. Detroit, MI: Wayne State UP.ISBN978-0-8143-2871-2.
Hammett, S. (2014). Irregular verbs in Maltese and their counterparts in the Tunisian and Moroccan dialects.Romano-Arabica, 14, 193–210.
(in French) Saada, L. (1969).Le parler arabe des Juifs de Sousse (Doctoral dissertation, PhD thesis, University of Paris).
(in French) Cohen, D. (1975).Le parler arabe des Juifs de Tunis: Étude linguistique. La Haye: Mouton.
(in French) Cohen, D. (1970). Les deux parlers arabes de Tunis.Études de linguistique sémitique et arabe, 150–171.
