Nigerian Arabic

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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 tonorthern Nigeria
Afro-Asiatic
Arabic alphabet
Official status
Official language in
none
Regulated bynone
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

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b c d Jonathan Owens 2006, A Linguistic History of Arabic. Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Jonathan Owens 2000, Arabic as a Minority Language. Walter de Gruyter