Nafusi (also spelt Nefusi; in Nafusi: Ažbali / Maziɣ / Mazoɣ) is a Berber language spoken in the Nafusa Mountains (Drar n infusen), a large area in northwestern Libya. Its primary speakers are the Ibadi communities around Jadu, Nalut (Lalut) and Yafran.[citation needed]

The dialect of Yefren in the east differs somewhat from that of Nalut and Jadu in the west.[4] A number of Old Nafusi phrases appear in Ibadite manuscripts as early as the 12th century.[5]

The dialect of Jadu is described in some detail in Beguinot (1931).[6] Motylinski (1898) describes the dialect of Jadu and Nalut as spoken by a student from Yefren.[7]

Nafusi shares several innovations with the Zenati languages, but unlike these other Berber varieties it maintains prefix vowels before open syllables. For example, ufəs "hand" < *afus, rather than Zenati fus. It appears especially closely related to Sokni and Siwi to its east.[8]

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i u
Mid ɛ ə ɔ
Low a
  • Vowels may also be shortened /ĭ, ɛ̆, ă, ɔ̆, ŭ/ or lengthened as /iː, ɛː, aː, ɔː, uː/.
  • /a/ can also be heard as [æ, ɒ] and /u/ as [ʊ] in different environments.[9]

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Post-alv./
Palatal 		Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
plain phar. plain phar.
Plosive voiceless t tˤ k q ʔ
voiced b d dˤ g
Affricate voiceless ts tʃ
voiced dz dzˤ dʒ
Fricative voiceless f s sˤ ʃ χ ħ h
voiced z zˤ ʒ ʒˤ ʁ ʕ
Nasal m n
Lateral l ɫ
Trill r rˤ
Approximant w j

References

  1. ^ Provasi, Elio. 1973. Testi berberi di Žâdo (Tripolitania). Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli 23, p. 503
  2. ^ Beguinot, F. 1931. Il berbero Nefûsi di Fassâṭo. Grammatica. Testi raccolti dalla viva voce. Vocabolarietti. Roma. p. 220
  3. ^ Nafusi at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  4. ^ Beguinot 1931:VIII
  5. ^ Tadeusz Lewicki, "De quelques textes inédits en vieux berbère provenant d'une chronique ibāḍite anonyme" and André Basset, "Note additionnelle", Revue des études islamiques VIII, 1934, pp. 277, 298
  6. ^ Francesco Beguinot, Il berbero nefûsi di Fassâṭo: grammatica, testi raccolti dalla viva voce, vocabolarietti. Roma: Istituto per l'Oriente 1931
  7. ^ p. 1, A. de Calassanti-Motylinski, Le Djebel Nefousa: transcription, traduction française et notes, avec une étude grammaticale, Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1898.
  8. ^ Maarten Kossmann, 1999, Essai sur la phonologie du proto-berbère, Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, pp. 29-33
  9. ^ Di Tolla, Anna Maria; Shinnib, Mohamed (2020). Grammatica di berbero nefusi. Ulrico Hoepli Editore.

External links