| Nemadi | |
|---|---|
| Ikoku | |
| Native to | Mali,Mauritania |
| Region | Timbuktu into Mauritania |
Native speakers | (200 cited 1967)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
Nemadi is a language spoken by a small hunting tribe of easternMauritania known as the Nemadi people. It is, according to some sources, a dialect ofHassaniyya, according to others, a mixture ofZenaga,Azer and Hassaniyya.[2][3] The name "Nemadi" itself appears to come from Soninke, where it means "master of dogs".
According toRobert Arnaud (1906), "aroundTichit the Nemadi employ a dialect called Azeïr which is close to Soninke." Chudeau (1913), perhaps following him, adds that "We have little information on their language, whichM. Delafosse classifies provisionally with Soninké." However, Brosset (1932) says that they speak Hassaniyya, and that "their special vocabulary does not consist of vocables different from Hassaniyya, but of technical terms which need has forced them to create, which are forged fromArabic,Zenaga, and maybeAzer."
Chinguetti'sKitab El Wasit says that "The Nmadi speak the dialect common to all theMoors (i.e. Hassaniyya). However, they do not pronounce the finalm of the affixed second person plural pronoun, so they say:as-Salam alayku ("peace be upon you") foralaikum, andkayfa haluku ("how are you?") forhalukum."[citation needed]
Laforgue claims that they speak "Zenati", i.e.Berber, a claim seen by Hermans as "very improbable".[citation needed]
According to Gerteiny (1967), they speak "their own dialect, probably a mixture of Azêr [Soninke], Zenaga, and Hassaniyya, calledIkôku by the Moors. They express themselves in brief idiomatic phrases, and the language has neither singular nor plural."[citation needed]
TheEthnologue's former description of their language appears to be based solely on this source.[4] Later editions say that "The Nemadi (Ikoku) are an ethnic group of 200 (1967) that speak Hassaniyya, but they have special morphemes for dogs, hunting, and houses".[1]
Hermans' opinion is that "the language spoken by the Nemadi in general (there may remain some Azer-speaking Nemadi) is Hassaniyya. But one must recognize certain peculiarities", including the lack of plural, certainargot-like expressions (cf. Fondacci), and the technical terms (cf. Brosset, Fondacci, Gabus.)[citation needed]
The Nemadi feature in a side story inBruce Chatwin's semi-fictional bookThe Songlines aboutAboriginal Australians.
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