 | This articlepossibly containsoriginal research. Pleaseimprove it byverifying the claims made and addinginline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.(April 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Algerian Arabic | |
|---|---|
| Darja, Derja, Dziria | |
| الدارجة الجزائرية | |
| Native to | Algeria |
| Region | CentralMaghreb |
| Ethnicity | Algerian Arabs, also used as asecond language by other ethnic groups in Algeria |
| Speakers | L1: 36 million (2022)[1] L2: 5.7 million (2022)[2] Total: 42 million (2022)[3] |
| Dialects |
|
| Arabic script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | arq |
| Glottolog | alge1239 |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Algerian Arabic (Arabic:الدارجة الجزائرية,romanized: ad-dārija al-jazāʾiriyya), natively known asDziria,Darja orDerja, is avariety ofArabic spoken inAlgeria. It belongs to theMaghrebi Arabicdialect continuum and is mostly intelligible with theTunisian andMoroccan dialects.[4]Darja (الدارجة) means 'everyday/colloquial dialect'.[5]
Like other varieties of Maghrebi Arabic, Algerian Arabic has a mostlySemitic vocabulary.[6] It containsBerber,Punic, andAfrican Romance[7]influences and has someloanwords fromFrench,Andalusi Arabic,Ottoman Turkish andSpanish. Berber loanwords represent 8% to 9% of its vocabulary.[8]
Algerian Arabic is thenative dialect of 75% to 80% of Algerians and is mastered by 85% to 100% of them.[9] It is a spoken language used in daily communication and entertainment, whileModern Standard Arabic (MSA) is generally reserved for official use and education. As in the rest of theArab world, this linguistic situation has been described asdiglossia: MSA is nobody's first acquired language; it is learned through formal instruction rather thantransmission from parent to child.[10]
Besides informal communication, Algerian Arabic is rarely written. In 2008,The Little Prince was translated in Algerian Arabic. The first novel written in Algerian Arabic is published by Rabeh Sebaa in 2021 and is entitledFahla (in Latin script and Arabic characters).[11]
The classification of dialects in Algeria is made particularly difficult due to the geography of Algeria, allowing pockets of isolated speakers to form, as well as the mixing of dialects in urban centers, creating a "koine" for each city.
However, the Arabic dialects can still be divided into two genetically different groups:pre-Hilalian andHilalian dialects.
Hilalian dialects of Algeria belong to three linguistic groups:[12]
Modernkoine languages, urban and national, are based mainly on Hilalian dialects.
Pre-Hilalian Arabic dialects are generally classified into three types: Urban, "Village" Sedentary, and Jewish dialects. Several Pre-Hilalian dialects are spoken in Algeria:[12][16]
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | emphatic | plain | emphatic | |||||||
| Nasal | m | (mˤ) | n | (nˤ) | ||||||
| Occlusive | voiceless | (p) | t | tˤ | (t͡ʃ)1 | k | q | (ʔ) | ||
| voiced | b | (bˤ) | d | dˤ | d͡ʒ | ɡ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | sˤ | ʃ | χ | ħ | h | ||
| voiced | (v) | z | zˤ | ʒ | ʁ | ʕ | ||||
| Trill | r | rˤ | ||||||||
| Approximant | l | ɫ | j | w | ||||||
In comparison to other Maghrebi dialects, Algerian Arabic has retained numerous phonetic elements of Classical Arabic lost by its relatives;[17][18] In Algiers dialect, the letters/ðˤ/ظ,/ð/ذ, andث/θ/ are not used, they are in most cases pronounced as the graphemesض,د, andت respectively.[17] This conservatism concerning pronunciation is in contrast to Algerian Arabic grammar which has shifted noticeably.[18] In terms of differences from Classical Arabic, the previous/r/ and/z/ phonemes have developed contrastive glottalized forms and split into/r/ and/rˤ/; and/z/ and/zˤ/. Additionally,/q/ from Classical Arabic has split into/q/ and/ɡ/ in most dialects. The phonemes/v/ and/p/ which are not common in Arabic dialects arise almost exclusively from (predominantly French) loanwords.[17]
^1 The voiceless "Ch" (t͡ʃ) is used in some words in the Algerian dialect like "تشينا"/t͡ʃinaː/ (orange) or "تشاراك"/t͡ʃaːraːk/ (A kind of Algerian sweet) but remains rare.
A study of Northwestern Algerian Arabic (specifically aroundOran) showed that laterals/l/ or/ɫ/ or the nasal consonant/n/ would be dissimilated into either/n/ in the case of/l/ or/ɫ/; or/l/ or/ɫ/ in the case of/n/ when closely preceding a corresponding lateral or nasal consonant.[19] Thus/zəlzla/ (earthquake) has become/zənzla/, conversely/lʁənmi/ "mutton" becomes/lʁəlmi/.[19]
The same study also noted numerous examples of assimilation in Northwestern Algerian Arabic, due to the large consonant clusters created from all of the historical vowel deletion: examples include/dəd͡ʒaːd͡ʒ/ "chicken", becoming/d͡ʒaːd͡ʒ/ and/mliːħ/ "good", becoming/mniːħ/.[19] An example of assimilation that occurs after the short vowel deletion is the historical /dərˤwŭk/ "now" becoming/drˤuːk/ and then being assimilated to/duːk/,[19] illustrating the order in which the rules of Algerian Arabic may operate.
| Short | Long | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | Front | Back | |
| Close | ə | u | iː | uː | |
| Mid | |||||
| Open | aː | ||||
The phonemic vowel inventory of Algerian Arabic consists of three long vowels:/iː/,/uː/, and/aː/ contrasted with two short vowels:/u/ and /ə/.[17][19] Algerian Arabic Vowels retains a great deal of features in relation to Classical Arabic Arabic phonology, namely the continued existence of 3 long vowels:/iː/,/uː/, and/aː/,[18] Algerian Arabic also retains the short close back vowel/u/ in speech, however the short equivalents of/iː/ and/aː/ have fused in modern Algerian Arabic, creating a single phoneme /ə/.[19] Also notable among the differences between Classical Arabic and Algerian Arabic is the deletion of short vowels entirely from open syllables[18] and thus word final positions,[17] which creates a stark distinction between written Classical Arabic, and casually written Algerian Arabic. One point of interest in Algerian Arabic that sets it apart from other conservative Arabic dialects is its preservation of phonemes in (specifically French) loanwords that would otherwise not be found in the language:/ɔ̃/,/y/, and/ɛ/ are all preserved in French loanwords such as/syʁ/ (French: 'sûre', English: 'sure') or /kɔnɛksiɔ̃/ (connection).[17]
| English | Algerian Arabic |
|---|---|
| drink | šrab |
| sky | sma |
| water | ma |
| woman / women | mra / nsa |
| fire | nar |
| big | kbir |
| man / men | rajel / rjal |
| day | nhar / yum |
| moon | qmer |
| night | lil |
| bread | khubz / kesra |
| small | ṣγir |
| Turtle | Fekrun |
| sand | rmel |
| winter / rain | šta / mṭar / nu |
| ball | balun |
| towel | serbita |
| toilet / bathroom | bit-el-ma / bit-er-raḥa / Twalat |
| English | Algerian Arabic | Notes of usage |
|---|---|---|
| but | beṣṣaḥ , emeṣṣaḥ | |
| if | ila, ida, lakan, kun, Fihalat | used for impossible conditions and comes just before the verb |
| if | lukan, kun | for possible conditions, Also used is "ida" and "kan" |
| so that, that | baš, bah | |
| that | belli | |
| as if | ki šγul, tquši, tqul, tgul | |
| because | xaṭar, xaṭrakeš, εlaxaṭer, εlajal | |
| when | ila / wakta / winta / Ki (used for some cases like : when you come I'll tell you) | |
| before | qbel ma / gbel ma | used before verbs |
| without | bla ma / blach | used before verbs |
| whether | kaš ma | used before verbs |
| under | taḥt | |
| over, on top of | fuq or fug | |
| after | mur / mura / Baεd / wra | |
| before | qbel / gbel | used only for time |
| next to, beside | quddam or guddam | is also used "ḥda" |
| at | εend / εla | |
| with | mεa | |
| among, between | bin, binat (plural) | |
| same as, as much as | εla ḥsab, qed, ged, kima | amount |
| oh, oh so much | ya, ah |
Some of them can be attached to the noun, just like in otherArabic dialects. The word forin, "fi", can be attached to a definite noun. For example, the word for a house has a definite form "ed-dar" but with "fi", it becomes "fed-dar".
Algerian Arabic uses two genders for words: masculine and feminine. Masculine nouns and adjectives generally end with a consonant while the feminine nouns generally end with ana.
Examples:
Hilalian dialects, on which the modern koine is based, often use regular plural while the wider use of the broken plural is characteristic to pre-Hilalian dialects.
The regular masculine plural is formed with the suffix-in, which derives from the Classical Arabic genitive and accusative ending-īna rather than the nominative-ūna:
For feminine nouns, the regular plural is obtained by suffixing-at:
The broken plural can be found for some plurals in Hilalian dialects, but it is mainly used, for the same words, in pre-Hilalian dialects:
The articleel is indeclinable and expresses a definite state of a noun of any gender and number. It is also prefixed to each of that noun's modifying adjectives.
It follows thesun and moon letters rules of Classical Arabic: if the word starts with one of these consonants, el is assimilated and replaced by the first consonant:
t,d,r,z,s,š,ṣ,ḍ,ṭ,l,n.
Examples:
Important Notes:
Examples:
Examples:
Verbs areconjugated by adding affixes (prefixes, postfixes, both or none) that change according to the tense.
In all Algerian Arabic dialects, there is no gender differentiation of the second and third person in the plural forms, nor is there gender differentiation of the second person in the singular form in pre-Hilalian dialects. Hilalian dialects preserve the gender differentiation of the singular second person.
| Person | Past | Present | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| 1st | - t | - na | n - | n(e) - u |
| 2nd (m) | - t | - tu | t - | t - u |
| 2nd (f) | - ti | - tu | t - i | t - u |
| 3rd (m) | - | - u | i/y(e) - | i/y(e) - u |
| 3rd (f) | - t | - u | t(e) - | i/y(e) - u |
| Person | Past | Present | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| 1st (m) | ktebt | ktebna | nekteb | nekketbu |
| 2nd (m) | ktebt | ktebtu | tekteb | tekketbu |
| 2nd (f) | ktebti | ktebtu | tekketbi | tekketbu |
| 3rd (m) | kteb | ketbu | yekteb | yekketbu |
| 3rd (f) | ketbet | ketbu | tekteb | yekketbu |
| Person | Past | Present | Future | Present continuous | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| 1st (m) | ktebt | ktebna | nekteb | nekketbu | Rayeḥnekteb | Rayḥinnekketbu | Raninekteb | Rananekketbu |
| 1st (f) | ktebt | ktebna | nekteb | nekketbu | Rayḥanekteb | Rayḥinnekketbu | Raninekteb | Rananekketbu |
| 2nd (m) | ketbt | ktebtu | tekteb | tekketbu | Rayeḥtekteb | Rayḥintekketbu | Raktekteb | Rakumtekketbu |
| 2nd (f) | ktebti | ktebtu | tekketbi | tekketbu | Rayḥatekketbi | Rayḥintekketbu | Rakitekketbi | Rakumtekketbu |
| 3rd (m) | kteb | ketbu | yekteb | yekketbu | Rayeḥyekteb | Rayḥinyekketbu | Rahyekteb | Rahumyekketbu |
| 3rd (f) | ketbet | ketbu | tekteb | yekketbu | Rayḥatekteb | Rayḥinyekketbu | Rahatekteb | Rahumyekketbu |
Speakers generally do not use the future tense above. Used instead is thepresent tense orpresent continuous.
Also, as is used in all of the otherArabic dialects, there is another way of showing active tense. The form changes the root verb into anadjective. For example, "kteb" he wrote becomes "kateb".
Like all North African Arabic varieties (includingEgyptian Arabic) along with someLevantine Arabic varieties, verbal expressions are negated by enclosing the verb with all its affixes, along with any adjacent pronoun-suffixed preposition, within thecircumfixma ...-š (/ʃ/):
| Person | Past | Present | Future | Present continuous | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| 1st (m) | ma ktebt-š | ma ktebna-š | manekteb-š | manekketbu-š | ma Rayeḥ-šnekteb | ma Rayḥin-šnekketbu | ma Rani-šnekteb | ma Rana-šnekketbu |
| 2nd (f) | ma ktebt-š | ma ktebna-š | manekteb-š | manekketbu-š | ma Rayḥa-šnekteb | ma Rayḥin-šnekketbu | ma Rani-šnekteb | ma Rana-šnekketbu |
| 2nd (m) | ma ketbt-š | ma ktebtu-š | matekteb-š | matekketbu-š | ma Rayeḥ-štekteb | ma Rayḥin-štekketbu | ma Rak-štekteb | ma Rakum-štekketbu |
| 2nd (f) | ma ktebti-š | ma ktebtu-š | matekketbi-š | matekketbu-š | ma Rayḥa-štekketbi | ma Rayḥin-štekketbu | ma Raki-štekketbi | ma Rakum-štekketbu |
| 3rd (m) | ma kteb-š | ma ketbu-š | mayekteb-š | mayekketbu-š | ma Rayeḥ-šyekteb | ma Rayḥin-šyekketbu | ma Rah-šyekteb | ma Rahum-šyekketbu |
| 3rd (f) | ma ketbet-š | ma ketbu-š | matekteb-š | mayekketbu-š | ma Rayḥa-štekteb | ma Rayḥin-šyekketbu | ma Raha-štekteb | ma Rahum-šyekketbu |
Other negative words (walu, etc.) are used in combination with ma to express more complex types of negation.ʃ is not used when other negative words are used
or when two verbs are consecutively in the negative
Verb derivation is done by adding affixes or by doubling consonants, there are two types of derivation forms:causative,passive.
Things could be in three placeshnaya (right here),hna (here) orel-hih (there).
Most Algerian Arabic dialects have eight personal pronouns since they no longer have gender differentiation of the second and third person in the plural forms. However, pre-Hilalian dialects retain seven personal pronouns since gender differentiation of the second person in the singular form is absent as well.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ana | ḥna |
| 2nd (m) | n'ta | n'tuma |
| 2nd (f) | n'ti | n'tuma |
| 3rd (m) | huwwa | huma |
| 3rd (f) | hiyya | huma |
Example: « ḥatta ana/ana tani. » — "Me too."
| Person | Algerian Arabic |
|---|---|
| I am | rani |
| You are (m) | rak |
| You are (f) | raki |
| He is | rah or Rahu |
| She is | Rahi or Raha |
| We are | rana |
| You or Y'all are | raku or rakum (m)and (f) |
| They are | rahum (m)and (f) |
Example: « Rani hna. » — "I'm here." and « Waš rak. » "How are you." to both males and females.
Dar means house.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | i (Dari) | na (Darna) |
| 2nd | (e)k (Dar(e)k) | kum (Darkum) |
| 3rd (m) | u (Daru) | (h)um (Dar(h)um) |
| 3rd (f) | ha (Darha) | (hum) (Dar(h)um) |
Example :« dar-na. » — "Our house" (House-our) Possessives are frequently combined withtaε "of, property" :dar taε-na — "Our house.",dar taε-kum ...etc.
Singular:
taε-i = my or mine
taε-ek = your or yours (m, f)
taε-u = his
taε-ha = hers
Plural:
taε-na = our or ours
taε-kum = your or yours (m, f)
taε-hum = their or theirs (m, f)
"Our house" can beDarna orDar taε-na, which is more like saying 'house of ours'.Taε can be used in other ways just like in English in Spanish. You can sayDar taε khuya, which means 'house of my brother' or directlyDar khuya 'my brother's house'.
| Interrogatives | Algerian Arabic |
|---|---|
| What ? | waš ? |
| When ? | waqtaš ? / wektaš ? / wektah ? / wekket ? |
| Why? | 3lah ? / 3laš ? / llah ? |
| Which ? | waš-men ? / aš-men ? / ama ? |
| Where ? | win ? |
| Who ? | škun ? / menhu ? |
| How ? | kifaš ? / kifah ? / ki ? |
| How many ? | šḥal ? / qeddaš ? / gueddaš ? / gueddah ? |
| Whose ? | taε-men ? |
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ni | na |
| 2nd (m) | (e)k | kum |
| 3rd (m) | u (after a consonant) / h (after a vowel) / hu (before an indirect object pronoun) | hum |
| 3rd (f) | ha | hum |
Examples:
Unlike Classical Arabic, Algerian Arabic has no dual and uses the plural instead. The demonstrative (Hadi) is also used for "it is".
| Interrogatives | Algerian Arabic | Emphasized |
|---|---|---|
| This | had (m), hadi (f) | hada, hadaya (m), hadiyya (f) |
| That | dak (m), dik (f) | hadak (m), hadik (f) |
| These | hadu | haduma |
| Those | duk | haduk |
Auguste Moulieras'sLes fourberies de si Djeh'a. The text below was translated fromKabyle language.[20]
| Buzelluf | Sheep Head |
|---|---|
| Waħed en-nhar, jħa med-lu baba-h frank, baş yeşri buzelluf. Şra-h, w kla gagħ leħm-u. Bqa ğir legħdem, jab-u l baba-h. Ki şaf-u qal-lu: "waş hada?" Qal-lu: "buzelluf". -A şmata, win rahi wedn-u?
-Win rahum għini-h?
-Win rah lsan-u?
- U el-jelda tagħ ras-u, win rahi?
| One day, Jha's father gave him one cent so he buys a sheep head. He bought it and ate all of its meat. Only an empty carcass was left. He brought it to his father. Then, when he saw it, he said: "what is that?" Jehha said: "a sheep head". -You vile, where are its ears?
-Where are its eyes?
-Where is its tongue?
-And the skin of its head, where is it?
|
Algerian Arabic contains numerous French loanwords.
| Algerian Arabic | French loanword | English meaning | Algerian Arabic | French loanword | English meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| feršiṭa | fourchette | fork | por | port | port |
| friza | fraises | strawberries | otel | hôtel | hotel |
| nurmalmu | normalement | normally | frijider | frigidaire | refrigerator |
| karṭa | carte | card | bumba | bombe | bomb |
| buja (v) | bouger (v) | move (v) | atay | thé | tea |
| farina | farine | flour | duntist | dentiste | dentist |
| tilifun | téléphone | phone | šufur | chauffeur | driver (chauffeur) |
| valiza | valise | suitcase | paṣpur | passport | passport |
| trunspur | transport | transportation | tunubil | automobile | car |
| kazirna | caserne | barracks | couzina | cuisine | kitchen |
| fermli | infirmier | (male) nurse | blaṣa/plaṣa | place | place/seat |
| pyasa/byasa | pièce | piece | šarji (v) | charger (v) | load/charge (v) |
| karti | quartier | district | jerda | jardin | garden |
| girra | guerre | war | riska (v) | risquer (v) | risk (v) |
| (g)kravaṭa | cravate | tie | zigu | égout | sewer |
| mikru | micro-ordinateur | computer | kadre | cadre | frame |
| riẓu | réseau | network | ridu | rideau | curtain |
| ṭabla | table | table | biyyi | billet | ticket |
| vista | veste | jacket | bulisiyya | police | police |
| kaskiṭa | casquette | cap | balona | ballon | ball |
| makiyaj | maquillage | makeup | āntik | antique | Good |
(v)=verb
Arabic language | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overviews | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Scripts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Letters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Varieties |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Academic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Linguistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Calligraphy ·Script | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
.svg)
