Algerian Arabic

Algerian Arabic is the native dialect of 75% to 80% of Algerians and is mastered by 85% to 100% of them.^[7] It is a spoken language used in daily communication and entertainment, while Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is generally reserved for official use and education. As in the rest of the Arab world, this linguistic situation has been described as diglossia: MSA is nobody's first acquired language; it is learned through formal instruction rather than transmission from parent to child.^[8]

Besides informal communication, Algerian Arabic is rarely written. In 2008, The Little Prince was translated in Algerian Arabic. The first novel written in Algerian Arabic is published by Rabeh Sebaa in 2021 and is entitled Fahla (in Latin script and Arabic characters).^[9]

The Algerian language includes several distinct dialects belonging to two genetically different groups: pre-Hilalian and Hilalian dialects.

Hilalian dialects

Hilalian dialects of Algeria belong to three linguistic groups:^[10]

• Eastern Hilal dialects: spoken in the Hautes Plaines around Sétif, M'Sila and Djelfa;^[11]
• Central Hilal dialects: of central and southern Algeria, south of Algiers and Oran;^[12]
• Mâqil dialects: spoken in the western part of Oranais (noted for the third singular masculine accusative pronoun h, for example, /ʃʊfteh/ (I saw him), which would be /ʃʊftʊ/ in other dialects).^[13]

Modern koine languages, urban and national, are based mainly on Hilalian dialects.

Pre-Hilalian dialects

Pre-Hilalian Arabic dialects are generally classified into three types: Urban, "Village" Sedentary, and Jewish dialects. Several Pre-Hilalian dialects are spoken in Algeria:^[10][14]

• Urban dialects can be found in all of Algeria's big cities. Urban dialects were formerly also spoken in other cities, such as Azemmour and Mascara, Algeria, where they are no longer used.
• The Jijel Arabic (or Jijeli Dialect) is spoken in the triangular area north of Constantine, including Collo and Jijel (it is noteworthy for its pronunciation of [q] as [k] and [t] as [ts] and characterized, such as other Eastern pre-Hilalian dialects, by the preservation of the three short vowels).
• The traras-Msirda dialect is spoken in the area north of Tlemcen, including the eastern Traras, Rachgoun and Honaine (it is noted for its pronunciation of [q] as [k]) ;
• Judeo-Algerian Arabic is no longer spoken after Jews left Algeria in 1962, following its independence.

Consonants

In comparison to other Maghrebi dialects, Algerian Arabic has retained numerous phonetic elements of Classical Arabic lost by its relatives;^[15][16] In Algiers dialect, the letters /ðˤ/ ظ, /ð/ ذ, and ث /θ/ are not used, they are in most cases pronounced as the graphemes ض, د, and ت respectively.^[15] This conservatism concerning pronunciation is in contrast to Algerian Arabic grammar which has shifted noticeably.^[16] In terms of differences from Classical Arabic, the previous /r/ and /z/ phonemes have developed contrastive glottalized forms and split into /r/ and /rˤ/; and /z/ and /zˤ/. Additionally, /q/ from Classical Arabic has split into /q/ and /ɡ/ in most dialects. The phonemes /v/ and /p/ which are not common in Arabic dialects arise almost exclusively from (predominantly French) loanwords.^[15]

^1 The voiceless "Ch" (t͡ʃ) is used in some words in the Algerian dialect like "تشينا" /t͡ʃinaː/ (orange) or "تشاراك" /t͡ʃaːraːk/ (A kind of Algerian sweet) but remains rare.

Dissimilation

A study of Northwestern Algerian Arabic (specifically around Oran) showed that laterals /l/ or /ɫ/ or the nasal consonant /n/ would be dissimilated into either /n/ in the case of /l/ or /ɫ/; or /l/ or /ɫ/ in the case of /n/ when closely preceding a corresponding lateral or nasal consonant.^[17] Thus /zəlzla/ (earthquake) has become /zənzla/, conversely /lʁənmi/ "mutton" becomes /lʁəlmi/.^[17]

Assimilation

The same study also noted numerous examples of assimilation in Northwestern Algerian Arabic, due to the large consonant clusters created from all of the historical vowel deletion: examples include /dəd͡ʒaːd͡ʒ/ "chicken", becoming /d͡ʒaːd͡ʒ/ and /mliːħ/ "good", becoming /mniːħ/.^[17] An example of assimilation that occurs after the short vowel deletion is the historical /dərˤwŭk/ "now" becoming /drˤuːk/ and then being assimilated to /duːk/,^[17] illustrating the order in which the rules of Algerian Arabic may operate.

Vowels

The phonemic vowel inventory of Algerian Arabic consists of three long vowels: /iː/, /uː/, and /aː/ contrasted with two short vowels: /u/ and /ə/.^[15][17] Algerian Arabic Vowels retains a great deal of features in relation to Classical Arabic Arabic phonology, namely the continued existence of 3 long vowels: /iː/, /uː/, and /aː/,^[16] Algerian Arabic also retains the short close back vowel /u/ in speech, however the short equivalents of /iː/ and /aː/ have fused in modern Algerian Arabic, creating a single phoneme /ə/.^[17] Also notable among the differences between Classical Arabic and Algerian Arabic is the deletion of short vowels entirely from open syllables^[16] and thus word final positions,^[15] which creates a stark distinction between written Classical Arabic, and casually written Algerian Arabic. One point of interest in Algerian Arabic that sets it apart from other conservative Arabic dialects is its preservation of phonemes in (specifically French) loanwords that would otherwise not be found in the language: /ɔ̃/, /y/, and /ɛ/ are all preserved in French loanwords such as /syʁ/ (French: 'sûre', English: 'sure') or /kɔnɛksiɔ̃/ (connection).^[15]

Nouns and adjectives

Conjunctions and prepositions

Some of them can be attached to the noun, just like in other Arabic dialects. The word for in, "fi", can be attached to a definite noun. For example, the word for a house has a definite form "ed-dar" but with "fi", it becomes "fed-dar".

Gender

Algerian Arabic uses two genders for words: masculine and feminine. Masculine nouns and adjectives generally end with a consonant while the feminine nouns generally end with an a.

Examples:

• [rɑfiːq ħmɑr] "Rafik is a donkey (male)", [zɑjnɑb ħmɑrɑ] "Zeyneb is a donkey (female)".

Pluralisation

Hilalian dialects, on which the modern koine is based, often use regular plural while the wider use of the broken plural is characteristic to pre-Hilalian dialects.

The regular masculine plural is formed with the suffix -in, which derives from the Classical Arabic genitive and accusative ending -īna rather than the nominative -ūna:

mumen (believer) → mumnin

For feminine nouns, the regular plural is obtained by suffixing -at:

Classical Arabic: bint (girl) → banat

Algerian Arabic: bent → bnat

The broken plural can be found for some plurals in Hilalian dialects, but it is mainly used, for the same words, in pre-Hilalian dialects:

Broken plural: ṭabla → ṭwabəl.

Article

The article el is indeclinable and expresses a definite state of a noun of any gender and number. It is also prefixed to each of that noun's modifying adjectives.

It follows the sun and moon letters rules of Classical Arabic: if the word starts with one of these consonants, el is assimilated and replaced by the first consonant:

t, d, r, z, s, š, ṣ, ḍ, ṭ, l, n.

Examples:

rajel → er-rajel "man" (assimilation)

qeṭṭ → el-qeṭṭ "cat" (no assimilation)

Important Notes:

• When it is after lunar letters consonant we add the article le-.

Examples:

qmer → le-qmer "moon"

ḥjer → le-ḥjer "stone"

• We always use the article el with the words that begin with vowels.

Examples:

alf → el-alf "thousand"

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated by adding affixes (prefixes, postfixes, both or none) that change according to the tense.

In all Algerian Arabic dialects, there is no gender differentiation of the second and third person in the plural forms, nor is there gender differentiation of the second person in the singular form in pre-Hilalian dialects. Hilalian dialects preserve the gender differentiation of the singular second person.

• Example with the verb kteb "To write":

Future tense

Speakers generally do not use the future tense above. Used instead is the present tense or present continuous.

Also, as is used in all of the other Arabic dialects, there is another way of showing active tense. The form changes the root verb into an adjective. For example, "kteb" he wrote becomes "kateb".

Negation

Like all North African Arabic varieties (including Egyptian Arabic) along with some Levantine Arabic varieties, verbal expressions are negated by enclosing the verb with all its affixes, along with any adjacent pronoun-suffixed preposition, within the circumfix ma ...-š (/ʃ/):

• « lεebt » ("I played") → « ma lεebt-š /ʃ/  » ("I didn't play")
• « ma tṭabbaεni-š » ("Don't push me")
• « ma yṭawlu-l-ek-š hadu le-qraεi » ("Those bottles won't last you long")
• « ma sibt-š plaṣa » ("I couldn't get a seat / parking place")

Other negative words (walu, etc.) are used in combination with ma to express more complex types of negation.ʃ is not used when other negative words are used

• ma qult walu ("I didn't say anything")
• ma šuft tta waḥed ("I didn't see anyone")

or when two verbs are consecutively in the negative

• ma šuft ma smeεt ("I neither saw nor did I hear").

Verb derivation

Verb derivation is done by adding affixes or by doubling consonants, there are two types of derivation forms: causative, passive.

• Causative: is obtained by doubling consonants :

xrej "to go out" → xerrej "to make to go out"

dxel "to enter" → dexxel "to make to enter, to introduce".

• Passive:It is obtained by prefixing the verb with t- / tt- / tn- / n- :

qtel "to kill" → tneqtel "to be killed"

šreb "to drink" → tnešreb "to be drunk".

The adverbs of location

Things could be in three places hnaya (right here), hna (here) or el-hih (there).

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Most Algerian Arabic dialects have eight personal pronouns since they no longer have gender differentiation of the second and third person in the plural forms. However, pre-Hilalian dialects retain seven personal pronouns since gender differentiation of the second person in the singular form is absent as well.

Example: « ḥatta ana/ana tani. » — "Me too."

Example: « Rani hna. » — "I'm here." and « Waš rak. » "How are you." to both males and females.

Possessive pronouns

Dar means house.

Example :« dar-na. » — "Our house" (House-our) Possessives are frequently combined with taε "of, property" : dar taε-na — "Our house.", dar taε-kum ...etc.

Singular:

taε-i = my or mine

taε-ek = your or yours (m, f)

taε-u = his

taε-ha = hers

Plural:

taε-na = our or ours

taε-kum = your or yours (m, f)

taε-hum = their or theirs (m, f)

"Our house" can be Darna or Dar taε-na, which is more like saying 'house of ours'. Taε can be used in other ways just like in English in Spanish. You can say Dar taε khuya, which means 'house of my brother' or 'my brother's house'.

Interrogative pronouns

Verbal pronouns

Examples:

« šuft-ni. » — "You saw me." (You.saw-me)

« qetl-u. » — "He killed him." (He.killed-him)

« kla-h. » — "He ate it." (He.ate-it)

Demonstratives

Unlike Classical Arabic, Algerian Arabic has no dual and uses the plural instead. The demonstrative (Hadi) is also used for "it is".

Auguste Moulieras's Les fourberies de si Djeh'a. The text below was translated from Kabyle language.^[18]

Algerian Arabic contains numerous French loanwords.

(v)=verb

• Varieties of Arabic
• Maghrebi Arabic
• Moroccan Arabic
• Tunisian Arabic
• Hassaniya Arabic
• Libyan Arabic
• Languages of Algeria
• Belkassem Ben Sedira