Zenati languages
The Zenati languages are a branch of the Northern Berber language family of North Africa. They were named after the medieval Zenata Berber tribal confederation. They were first proposed in the works of French linguist Edmond Destaing . Zenata dialects are distributed across the central Berber world, 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 Tmazight of the Rif in northern Morocco and Tashawit Berber in northeastern Algeria, each of which have over 3 million speakers.
Languages
Kossmann (2013)
According to Kossmann, Zenati is a rather arbitrary grouping, in which he includes the following varieties:- Riffian ; Includes Arzew dialect, in Arzew in western Algeria
- Eastern Morocco Zenati
- Iznasen
- Eastern Middle Atlas: Ait Seghrouchen and a group of dialects including Ait Warain
- Western Algerian, west of Algiers :
- *Beni Snous dialect, in western Algeria near the border
- *Jebel Bissa
- *Shenwa, between Tipasa and Ténès in north-central Algeria west of Algiers
- *Beni Messaoud
- *Beni Menacer
- *Metmata
- *etc.
- Shawiya, around Batna and Khenchela, south of Constantine in northeastern Algeria
- Mzab–Wargla :
- * South Oran and Figuig, in the ksours along the Algerian–Moroccan border and in Figuig in southeastern Morocco
- * Gourara Berber
- * Tidikelt and Tuat
- * Mozabite aka Mzab, Tumzabt
- * Wargla, northern Algerian Sahara, near Ouargla
- * Oued Righ Berber in Oued Righ, around Touggourt and Temacine, Algeria
- Southeastern Tunisian-Libyan: Djerbi, Douiret, Matmata Berber, Sened and Zuwara Berber
Features
- 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 vowel. For example, afus "hand" is replaced with fus.
- 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.
- Verbs consisting of two consonants with no vowel other than schwa fall into two classes elsewhere in Berber: 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 gər "throw", pf. -gər, corresponds to Ouargli gər, pf. -gru.
- Proto-Berber *-əβ has become -i in Zenati. For example, *arəβ "write" becomes ari.
- Proto-Berber palatalised k´ and g´, corresponding to k and g in non-Zenati varieties, become š and ž in Zenati For example, k´ăm "you " becomes šəm.
- A proximal demonstrative suffix "this" -u, rather than -a
- A final -u in the perfect of two-consonant verbs, rather than -a