Jebli Arabic

Jebli
Jebelia
Native toMorocco
EthnicityJbalas, Ghomaras, Sanhajas de Srayr
Language codes
ISO 639-3(included in Moroccan Arabic [ary])
Glottologjebl1238
Ethnolinguistic map of northern Morocco: purple represents Jebli-speaking areas, blue represents other pre-Hilalian Arabic-speaking areas (old Urban, Zerhoun and Sefrou area)

Jebli (Jebelia) is a pre-Hilalian Arabic dialect spoken in the mountains of northwestern Morocco.[1][2]

The historical development of this Moroccan dialect is unclear.

The word jebli means "of/from the mountain". It is mainly spoken in the western and southern Rif by tribes of Sherifian, Berber and Morisco descent over the past ten centuries.

  • Jbalas: all its 44 tribes speak Jebli Arabic;
  • Ghomaras: out of nine tribes, seven are fully Jebli-speaking, the two remaining are partially Jebli-speaking, with a significant Ghomara Berber-speaking community;
  • Sanhajas de Srayr: two Jebli-speaking tribes – Ketama and Aït Seddat – out of ten tribes, the remaining (eight) speak Sanhaja Berber;
  • Riffians: out of twenty tribes, six are fully or partially Arabophone; among them, five speak Mountain Arabic − Targuist, Aït Itteftf, Aït Boufrah, Mestasa and Metioua − while the last one (Settout) speak Hilalian Arabic;
  • Ghiatas, Maghraouas and Meknassas: the three tribes –that aren't part of any larger confederacy– are fully Jebli-speaking;
  • Tribes of Zerhoun (Zerahnas) and the neighborhood of Sefrou (Kechtala, Behalil and Yazgha): although not belonging to the same ethno-linguistic group than Jebalas, their pre-Hilalian dialects are sometimes classified as belonging to the same macro-family (westernmost pre-Hilalian village dialects) as Jebli.

Jebli is influenced by Berber; most of the words are Arabic but the vocabulary is highly influenced by Spanish.

Examples of Jebli

Jebli English translation Source language/etymology
trawzez blue jeans trousers (English)
assallas darkness asellas "darkness" (Berber)
karretēra car road carretera "paved road/highway" (Spanish)
ntina you (Classical Arabic)
âyyəl, ṭfel boy عائلة "family" (Classical Arabic); cf. Egyptian Arabic: ˤayyel "child" Or i3eyallen iyyalen in (Berber)
sṭiṭu little (Berber)
ħami warm حام "feverish" (Classical Arabic); cf. Iraqi Arabic: ħɑ̄mi "warm"
qayla sun قائلة "resting" (spec. at noon time); due to the time of rest when the sun was at its highest point at noon (Classical Arabic)
jjro dog jaru "puppy" (Classical Arabic)
yəmma mom (Berber)

See also

References

  1. ^ Fernández, Montserrat Benítez; Guerrero, Jairo (2022-11-01). "The Jebli speech between the media and the city: exploring linguistic stereotypes on a rural accent in Northern Morocco". International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2022 (278): 181–202. doi:10.1515/ijsl-2022-0015. hdl:10261/288467. ISSN 1613-3668.
  2. ^ Laaboudi, Daouia (2021-08-01). "Discourse Marking Variation in Moroccan Arabic: Requests as a Case Study". International Journal of Arabic Linguistics. 7 (2): 109–122. ISSN 2421-9835.
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