The Zenati languages are a branch of the Northern Berber language family of North Africa. They were named after the medieval Zenata Berbers tribal confederation. They were first proposed in the works of French linguist Edmond Destaing (1915)[Edmond Destaing, " Essai de classification des dialectes berbères du Maroc ", Etudes et Documents Berbères 19-20, 2001-2002 (1915)] (1920–23).[Edmond Destaing, "Note sur la conjugaison des verbes de forme C1eC2", Mémoires de la Société Linguistique de Paris, 22 (1920/3), pp. 139-148] Zenata dialects are distributed across the central Berber world (Maghreb), from northeastern Morocco to just west of Algiers, and the northern Sahara, from southwestern Algeria around Béchar to Zuwara in Libya. The most widely spoken Zenati languages are Riffian language of the Rif in northern Morocco and Shawiya language Berber in northeastern Algeria, each of which have over 3 million speakers.
Languages
Kossmann (2013)
According to
Maarten Kossmann (2013: 21–24),
[Maarten Kossmann (2013) The Arabic Influence on Northern Berber] Zenati is a rather arbitrary grouping, in which he includes the following varieties:
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Tarifit (Riffian Berber, or Rif-Berber, local name: Tmaziɣt, north of Morocco); Includes Arzew Berber dialect, in Arzew in western Algeria
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Eastern Morocco Zenati (north east of Morocco)
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Iznasen
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Eastern Middle Atlas: Ait Seghrouchen and a group of dialects including Ait Warain (Ayt Warayn) (north-central Morocco)
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Western Algerian, west of Algiers (a diffuse group):
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Beni Snous (Tlemcen) dialect, in western Algeria near the border
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Jebel Bissa (intelligible with Shenwa)
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Shenwa language (Chenoua), between Tipasa and Ténès in north-central Algeria west of Algiers
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Beni Messaoud (Shenwa?)
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Beni Menacer
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Metmata (of Algeria; distinct from Matmata Berber of Tunisia)
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etc. (see article)
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Shawiya language (Chaouia), around Batna City and Khenchela, south of Constantine in northeastern Algeria
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Mzab–Wargla (Northern Saharan oases):
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South Oran and Figuig, in the ksar along the Algerian–Moroccan border and in Figuig in southeastern Morocco
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Gurara language (Taznatit) (Gourara, southwestern Algeria, around Timimoun)
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Tidikelt and Tuat language (Touat, Algeria)
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Mozabite aka Mzab, Tumzabt (northern Algerian Sahara, near Ghardaia)
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Wargla language (Ouargli aka Tagergrent, Teggargarent), northern Algerian Sahara, near Ouargla
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Tugurt language (incl. Touggourt; Ethnologue name "Temacine Tamazight") in Oued Righ, around Touggourt and Temacine, Algeria
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Southeastern Tunisian–Libyan: Djerbi language (island of Djerba), Douiret language (Douiret in southern Tunisia), Matmata Berber (Matmata), Sened language and Zuwara Berber (Zuwara in northwestern Libya)
Features
According to Kossmann (1999:31-32, 86, 172),
[Maarten Kossmann, Essai sur la phonologie du proto-berbère, Rüdiger Köppe:Köln] common innovations defining the Zenati languages include:
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The vowel a- in nominal prefixes is dropped in a number of words when it precedes CV, where C is a single consonant and V is a full (non-schwa) vowel. For example, afus "hand" is replaced with fus. (A similar development is found in some Eastern Berber languages, but not Nafusi.)
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Verbs whose original aorist forms end in -u while their perfect forms end in -a end up with -a in the aorist as well, leaving the aorist / perfect distinction unmarked for these verbs. For example, * ktu "forget", Siwi ttu, becomes Ouargli tta. (This also affects Nafusi language.)
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Verbs consisting (in the aorist) of two consonants with no vowel other than schwa fall into two classes elsewhere in Berber:
[Maarten Kossmann, " Note sur la conjugaison des verbes CC à voyelle alternante en berbère", Etudes et Documents Berbères 12, 1994, pp. 17-33][André Basset, La langue berbère. Morphologie. Le verbe.-Étude de thèmes. Paris 1929, pp. 9, 58] one where a variable final vowel appears in the perfect form, and one which continues to lack a final vowel in the perfect. In Zenati, the latter class has been entirely merged into the former in the perfect, with the single exception of the negative perfect of * əɣ s "want". For example, Kabyle language (non-Zenati) gər "throw", pf. -gər (int. -ggar), corresponds to Ouargli (Zenati) gər, pf. -gru. (This change also affects Nafusi language; Basset (1929:9) gives examples where it appears not to occur in Chenoua.)
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Proto-Berber * -əβ has become -i in Zenati.
[See also Maarten Kossmann, " Les verbes à i finale en zénète ", Etudes et Documents Berbères 13, 1995, pp. 99-104.] For example, * arəβ "write" becomes ari. (This change also occurs in varieties including the Central Atlas Tamazight dialect of the Zayanes, Nafusi, and Siwi language.)
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Proto-Berber palatalised k´ and g´, corresponding to k and g in non-Zenati varieties, become š and ž in Zenati (although a fair number of irregular correspondences for this are found.) For example, k´ăm "you (f. sg.)" becomes šəm. (This change also occurs in Nafusi and Siwi.)
In addition to the correspondence of k and g to š and ž, Chaker (1972),[Salem Chaker, 1972, " La langue berbère au Sahara", Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée 11:11, pp. 163-167] while expressing uncertainty about the linguistic coherence of Zenati, notes as shared Zenati traits:
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A proximal demonstrative suffix "this" -u, rather than -a
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A final -u in the perfect of two-consonant verbs, rather than -a (e.g. yə-nsu "he slept" rather than yə-nsa elsewhere)
These characteristics identify a more restricted subset of Berber than those previously mentioned, mainly northern Saharan varieties; they exclude, for example, Chaoui
[# Penchoen, Th.G., 1973, Etude syntaxique d'un parler berbère (Ait Frah de l'Aurès), Napoli, Istituto Universitario Orientale (= Studi magrebini V). p. 14] and all but the easternmost
Riffian language dialects.
[Mena Lafkioui. 2007. Atlas linguistique des variétés berbères du Rif. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 207, 178.]
