In Antwerpse jongerentaal bestaan er een paar doubletten van dialect en standaardtaal: droog "droog" - droeg "niet grappig" dood "dood" - doed "saai" Je zou nooit zeggen "hij is dood" met de betekenis van saai, en "hij is doed" met de bekenis dood, dus ze zijn echt gelexicaliseerd.

I've noticed many Riffians online incorrectly using ṭ and ḍ for /θ/ and /ð/ (and also using th and dh in more general contexts). This suggests that for Riffian speakers, these spirantized consonants are perceived as phonemes in their own right, not merely as allophones of /t/ and /d/.

A Senhaja speaker having a relatively fluent conversation with a Ghomara speaker: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKWj...

The many words for "face" in Tarifit, some with a pejorative sense and some not: udem (most neutral) aɣembub, aɣenbub, aɣembuz, axencuc, aɣenzur, aqensur, axenzur, aɣenfuf, axenfuf, axenfir, aqenfuḥ, aqedmur

Tarifit equivalents: irden: wheat imendi: barley tafsut: millet azqun: cultivated oats aṛṛuz: rice ddṛa: corn

In het standaard Nederlands spreken we van de zogenaamde korte i /ɪ/, en lange ie /i/. In Antwerpen is daadwerkelijk lengte de voornaamste onderscheiding: /i/ vs /iː/. Meestal komt dit overeen met elkaar: Zit /zit/ Ziet /ziːt/ Vis /vis/ Vies /viːs/ Maar niet altijd: Niet /nit/ Iemand /imant/

Cool false cognate pair: Indonesian asri "beautiful" Tarifit aẓři "beauty"

Kent iemand hier de "straattaal" term kriva /krɪvːa/? Dit gebruikte wij in antwerpen als tussenwerpsel met de betekenis "Dit heb je zelf gezocht (karma)". Heeft iem. een idee voor de etymolgie? Het klinkt niet Arabisch of Berbers.

In Tafersit Tarifit, word-initial /t/ often spirantizes to /h/: haddart "home" < taddart This feature is widespread across even distantly related Berber varieties, occurring in Shawiya, Ghomara, Senhaja, and Chenoua.

En tamajeq les emprunt au français ont souvent un pluriel en -tan -Gaẓẓatan ( les gaz) - Velotan ( les vélos) Mais c'est aussi le cas pour emprunt pour d'autres langues comme l'anglais

Final update to this, I have found an example with "le": lugaz "stove" < le gaz

I think this proverb and its variants are present all over North Africa. In Kabyle we say: "Yefka Rebbi irden i yir-tuɣmas" (God gave wheat to [those who have] bad teeth) In this variant it's wheat instead of beans, and it's to those who have bad teeth instead of no teeth. 1/2

Awesome shared proverb between Senhaja and Tashelhit: Senhaja: U itakka Rebbi ibawen ɣa i wa a yellan cay ɣur-es itaɣṣin. "God gives beans only to the one who has no teeth" Tashelhit: Ar yakka rbbi ibawn i ɣwa lli ur iṭṭafn uxsan. "God gives beans to the one who has no teeth" 1/2

A list of some successful neologisms in Tarifit: amaziɣ (vs. inherited maziɣ) - "Berber" amezruy - "history" azul - "hello" tarifit - "Riffian language" (originally tmaziɣt was used) tiřelli - "freedom" As a 2nd-gen immigrant in Europe, I never grew up with these, I had to learn them.

CəCC(-a) nouns in dialectal Arabic are borrowed into Tarifit as CCuC, apparently based on the Arabic plural: afrux < fərx (pl. frux) aqcur < qəšr-a (pl. qšur) aqdur < qədr-a (pl. qdur) This phenomenon is quite widespread in Berber.

Tarfit baby talk word of the day: ubbaḥ - "kiss"

I'm trying to understand the semantic shift of Tarifit ksi ("to lift, to take"). It's likely cognate with other Berber ks (perfective ksi), which means "to graze, to tend." Is this shift plausible?

In Tarifit loanwords, Arabic t sometimes gets taken over as ṯ /θ/ and sometimes as t /t/: /ṯ/ ṯmenya < Ar. tmənya ssefṯ "Saturday" < Ar. əs-səbt /t/ tesɛa "nine" < Ar. təsʕa zzitun "olive" < Ar. zītūn Other than age (newer loans chiefly have /t/), it seems to be a bit random.

I just discovered the etymology of the popular Maghrebi cat name Minuš: It comes from Turkish Minnoş, from minik ("tiny, small") +‎ -oş. I had thought that uš was the Berber expressive suffix -uš. Guess it's a false cognate.

I recently read an article talk about the irregular development of Proto-Berber *st in its descendants. I found another example: Tarifit assam "lightning, thunder" Senhaja de Srair astammen "lightning"

Just curious, how accepted (or not) is the root system in Berber morphology? If it's falling out of favor, what's the alternative analysis?

Pharyngealized consonants in Moroccan-Dutch in the vicinity of back vowels Examples from Antwerp: aa daar - [dˤɑːrˤ] oo door - [dˤɔːrˤ] o top - [tˤɔpˤ] a zand - [zˤ(ː)ɑntˤ] ~ [z(ː)a̟nt]

I've been thinking about this a little more. If this phenomenon were unique to Berber, it could mirror why l- appears in Arabic borrowings, essentially to mirror the Berber prefix a-. But the French article also shows up in Arabic loans from French, so that can't be it.

Almost all the same from my variant. And then you have (from Tmz SE Morocco), ones where the article is dropped: bašklid < bicyclette brmisiu < permission žnninaṛ < genéral (milit.) ttilifu < téléphone etc. I wonder if there are any phonotactics at play, or some kind of constraint?

Tarifit borrowings from French often retain the article: lakab "basement" < la cave lakṣiḍa "accident" < l'accident lapisin "pool" < la piscine lafizit "ward round" < la visite lagar "station" < la gare laminyu "aluminium" < l'aluminium landris "address" < l'adresse lakriyi "market" < la criée

Baby-talk stability across Berber languages is fascinating. Examples: fuffu/fufu "fire" - Rif, Figuig, Shilha, Mzab, Siwa šišši/šuššu/žižži "meat" - Rif, Figuig, Shilha, CMT, Mzab, Kabyle daddaš/dadduš/ddaš "walk" - Rif, Figuig, Kabyle, CMT babbaḥ/bippiḥ/abbaḥ "good" - Rif, Figuig, Kabyle

Tarifit word of the day: nnekwet "identity document (ID card, birth certificate, etc.)" < Ar. نكوة nukwa < ? More widespread in Algeria, but also found in eastern Morocco. Possibly metathesized from كنوة kunwa "surname". Folk etymology: French né quoi? lit. "born what?".

Řɛid nwem d amimun d amesɛud!

Eid Mubarak! عيد مبارك! ⵚⴻⵃⵃⴰ ⵍⵄⵉⴷ ⵏⵡⴻⵏ! ʕuqbɑṛ gabəl! Wa kay yeesi! Far too many people right now trying to celebrate Eid under attack, or driven out of their homes... Hoping and praying for their safety.

Fantastic new resource on Amazigh (Berber) Toponymy in Latin and Greek Sources now available, compiled by Carles Múrcia Sànchez: agdal.es @izmarasan.bsky.social @phdnix.bsky.social

One Tarifit word I use constantly with no English or Dutch equivalent is amessas "insufficiently salted". Any parallels of a word with this meaning in other languages?

Wiktionary seems to insist that Moroccan Arabic full vowels are pronounced long. Is this true? In my experience, this seems very wrong, but I don't speak the language.

Palatalization in Belgian Moroccan Dutch: t + g (/ɣ/) > [t͡ʃç] Wie bent gij: [β̞i̞ː be̞nt͡ʃ‿çæː] Spreekt gij Nederlands: [spre̞ːkt͡ʃ‿çæː ne̞ːd(ɘ)r̥länts] Common in questions with gij, since verbs usually end in -t.

For afrux, I've also read an argument that it's from Hebrew אֶפְרוֹחַ ('efróakh, "chick").

Tarifit words for "child" have interesting etymologies: aḥenjir < Ar. خنزير (xanzīr, "pig") aḥermuc < Ar. حرام (ḥarām, "forbidden, haram") aḥḥram < Ar. حرام (ḥarām, "forbidden, haram") afrux < Ar. فرخ (farx, "young of an animal") aniybu < inherited arba < inherited Plural only: řbeẓẓ < ?

An interesting case of lexical shift in Tarifit: ataaras "person, individual", from Moroccan Arabic تراس (tǝrrās) "artilleryman, thresher"

The many different words for "school" in Tarifit: School (general): tamziyda < Ar. مسجد (masjid), an early borrowing ssekwila < Moroccan Ar. سكويلة (səkwīla) < Sp. escuela lmedrasa < Ar. مدرسة (madrasa) likul < Fr. l’école Quranic school: tamziyda řemsid < Moroccan Ar. مسيد (msīd)

Pronoun doubling in Moroccan-Dutch: Hij moet stil zijn hij ("He has to be quiet (he)") Gij gaat da doen gij ("You will do it (you)") Usually has a negative / aggressive connotation

I transliterated part of this (problematic) Tarifit Bible manuscript from 1887, one of the earliest written sources in Tarifit: ṯawwarṯ n ṯnayn wami itawawru yasuɛ di rbayt ḥam ḏi ṯammurṯ n ṯuḏact ḏi wussan n hirudus azjiḏ, hayqa' sirmajus usind zi carq ɣar urucalim. (continues)

A map of Tifinagh alphabets by Jean Loïc Le Quellec : Green : Archaic alphabets Blue : Classical alphabets Red : Transitional alphabets The transitional alphabets are more recent than the others, and it's these alphabets that gave the Tuareg Tifinagh script .

I can't believe my timeline

Is there a way in IPA to denote pharyngealization of an entire word? [lˤmˤɐ̆dˤɾˤɑˤsˤɑˤ] for lmedṛasa looks quite silly

Fun Tarifit toponyms/demonyms: Antwerp: Anbias (< Anbirs), from French Anvers Germany: Aliman, from French Allemagne, with the initial a reinterpreted as the voyelle consonante a-. An older toponym that once also included the Netherlands the French (collective): afransis BUT Frenchman: afransawi

Ligt het aan mij of heeft het Nederlands een uitzonderlijk grote contrast tussen de gesproken taal en geschreven taal? Soms lees ik iets en ben ik zo van, wie zegt dit nu in het echt.

Ramadan in Tarifit: ramadan = arrendan the fast = aẓummi iftar = řefḍua suhoor = ṣṣḥua fajr prayer = řefjaa dhuhr prayer = ddhua asr prayer = řɛaṣaa maghrib prayer = řemɣaab isha prayer = řeɛca

Ik denk dat ik op een punt van mijn leven ben dat het te laat is om de/het en de geslachten van woorden "correct" te gebruiken...

Similarly, ijur vs. uyur ("to go"). I wonder how old these vowel dialectal variations in Tarifit are. In this case at least, they appear to be quite old: compare igur in Ouargli and ugur in Nefusi.

Just heard igu ad iṭṭeṣ ("he refuses to sleep"). What's with the vowels here? Most often you will hear "yugi ad iṭṭeṣ".

In a similar fashion, though to a lesser extent, I have also heard constructions with mag niet ("not allowed to"), e.g. mag niet a t-tegged ("you're not allowed to do that"), and kan ("may"), e.g. kan a d-tas ("she may come").

The Dutch verb moeten ("to have to") is often borrowed into diaspora Tarifit as an uninflected imperative particle, e.g., moet a t-ttegged ("you must do it"); moet a nraḥ ("we must go").