Nigerian Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken in the farthest northeastern part of Nigeria in Borno State especially in Maidaguri where it is spoken by 10% of the population.[1] It is characterized by the loss of the pharyngeals [ħ] and [ʕ], the interdental fricatives [ð], [θ] and [ðˁ], and diphthongs.[2][3] But it also has [lˁ], [rˁ] and [mˁ] as extra phonemic emphatics. Some examples of minimal pairs for such emphatics are gallab "he galloped", galˁlˁab "he got angry"; karra "he tore" karˁrˁa "he dragged"; amm "uncle", amˁmˁ "mother".[2] In addition, Nigerian Arabic has the feature of inserting an /a/ after gutturals (ʔ,h,x,q).[2] Another notable feature is the change of Standard Arabic Form V from tafaʻʻal(a) to alfaʻʻal; for example, the word "taʻallam(a)" becomes alʻallam.[4] The first person singular of verbs is different from its formation in other Arabic dialects in that it does not have a final t. Thus, the first person singular of the verb katab is katáb, with stress on the second syllable of the word, whereas the third-person singular is kátab, with stress on the first syllable.[2]
Nigerian Arabic | |
---|---|
Native to | northern Nigeria |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Arabic alphabet | |
Official status | |
Official language in | none |
Regulated by | none |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ? |
The following is a sample vocabulary:
word | meaning | notes |
---|---|---|
anīna | we | |
'alme | water | frozen definite aticle 'al |
īd | hand | |
īd | festival | |
jidãda, jidãd | chicken, (collective)chicken | |
šumāl | north |
References
- ^ Owens, Jonathan (2007). "Close Encounters of a Different Kind: Two types of insertion in Nigerian Arabic code switching". In Miller, Catherine G. (ed.). Arabic in the city: issues in dialect contact and language variation. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-77311-3.
- ^ a b c d Jonathan Owens 2006, A Linguistic History of Arabic. Oxford University Press
- ^ Andrew, Fox; Kaye, Alan S. (1988). "Nigerian Arabic-English Dictionary, Book Review". Language. 64 (4). Language, Vol. 64, No. 4: 836. doi:10.2307/414603.
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ignored (help) - ^ Jonathan Owens 2000, Arabic as a Minority Language. Walter de Gruyter