Moroccan Arabic

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Moroccan Arabic
مغريبي Maġribi 
Pronunciation: [mɑɣribi]
Spoken in: Morocco
Total speakers: 32,000,000 +
Language family: Afro-Asiatic
 Semitic
  West Semitic
   Central Semitic
    South Central Semitic
     Arabic
      Moroccan Arabic 
Writing system: Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2:
ISO 639-3: ary
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Moroccan Arabic, also known as Darija, is the dialect spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco, as opposed to the official communications of government and other public bodies which use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries, while a mixture of French and Moroccan Arabic is used in Business. It is within the Maghrebi Arabic dialect continuum.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Native speakers typically consider Moroccan Arabic a dialect because it is not a literary language and because it lacks prestige compared to Standard Arabic (Fus'ha). Its vocabulary and pronunciation is different from Standard Arabic as it has been very influenced by Berber (mainly in its pronunciation, and grammar), French and Spanish. Its grammar is also simpler than Standard Arabic.

Nowadays, Moroccan Arabic continues to evolve by integrating new French or English words, notably in technical fields, or by replacing old French and Spanish ones with Standard Arabic words within some circles.

It is worth mentioning that Darija (which means dialect) can be divided into two groups:

  • The pre-French protectorate: when Morocco was officially colonized by France in 1912, it had an accelerated French influence in aspects of everyday life. The pre-French Darija is one that is spoken by older and more conservative people. It is an Arabic dialect with Berber influences that can be found in texts and poems of Malhoun, and Andalusi music for example. Later, in the 1970's, traditionalist bands like Nass El Ghiwane and Jil Jilala followed this course, and only sang in "classical darija".
  • The post-French protectorate: after the coming of the French, any word, whether a verb or a noun, could be thrown into a sentence. This was more a habit of the young educated generations of the cities.

A similar phenomenon can be observed in Algerian Arabic and Tunisian Arabic.

[edit] Relationship with other languages

Moroccan Arabic has a distinct pronunciation and is nearly unintelligible to other Arabic speakers, but is generally mutually intelligible with other Maghrebi Arabic dialects with which it forms a dialect continuum. It is grammatically simpler, and has a less voluminous vocabulary than Classical Arabic. It has also integrated many Berber, French and Spanish words. Other Moroccans speak Berber languages such as Tashelhit and Tarifit.

There is no clear-cut division between Moroccan Arabic and Standard Arabic. Most Moroccans would more or less understand the Modern Standard Arabic. Depending on cultural background and degree of literacy, some will prefer to use Arabic words instead of their French or Spanish borrowed counterparts, while others often adopt code-switching between French and Moroccan Arabic. As everywhere in the world, how someone speaks, what words or language he uses is often an indicator of their social class.

[edit] Pronunciation

Moroccan Arabic has a distinct pronunciation nearly unintelligible to Arabic speakers from the Middle East. It is heavily influenced by Berber pronunciation, and it has even been argued that it is Arabic pronounced with a Berber accent, or with Berber phonemes. This is similar to the phenomenon in the south of France where some pronounce French with Occitan phonemes.

One of the most notable features of Moroccan Arabic is the collapse of short vowels. Short /a/ and /i/ are deleted entirely in most positions, and short /u/ is either deleted or maintained only as rounding on an adjacent labial consonant. This can result in long strings of consonants (a feature shared with Berber and certainly derived from it). These clusters are never simplified; instead, consonants occurring between other consonants tend to syllabify, according to a sonorance hierarchy.

Long /a/, /i/ and /u/ are maintained as semi-long vowels, which are substituted for both short and long vowels in borrowings from Modern Standard Arabic. Long /a/, /i/ and /u/ also have many more allophones than in most other dialects; in particular, /i/ and /u/ show up as /e/ and /o/ in the vicinity of emphatic consonants (emphatic spreading occurs much less than in dialects such as Egyptian Arabic, for example); in some dialects, such as that of Marrakech, front-rounded and other allophones also exist.

Non-emphatic /t/ is pronounced with noticeable affrication, almost like /ʦ/ (still distinguished from a sequence of /t/ + /s/), and hence is easily distinguishable from emphatic /tˁ/. Unlike in most other Arabic dialects (but, again, similar to Berber), non-emphatic /r/ and emphatic /rˁ/ are two entirely separate phonemes, almost never contrasting in related forms of a word. Original /q/ splits lexically into /q/ and /g/; for some words, both alternatives exist.

[edit] Code switching

Many Moroccan Arabic speakers among the educated class, especially in the territory which was previously known as French Morocco, also practice code-switching (moving from Moroccan Arabic to French and the other way around as it can be seen in the movie Marock). In the northern parts of Morocco, some people also switch from Moroccan Arabic to Spanish. This is due to the place once being invaded by Spain and for their proximity to Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

[edit] Vocabulary

Moroccan Arabic is grammatically simpler, and has a less voluminous vocabulary than Classical Arabic. It has also integrated many Berber, French and Spanish words. Spanish words typically entered Moroccan Arabic earlier than French ones. Some words might have been brought by Moriscos who spoke Andalusi Arabic which was influenced by Spanish (Castilian), an example being the typical Andalusian dish Pastilla. Other influences have been the result of the Spanish protectorate in Spanish Morocco. French words came with the French protectorate (1912-1956).

There are noticeable lexical differences between Moroccan Arabic and most other dialects. Some words are essentially unique to Moroccan Arabic: e.g. daba "now". Many others, however, are characteristic of Maghrebi Arabic as a whole, including both innovations and unusual retentions of Classical vocabulary that has disappeared elsewhere such as hbeṭ' "go down" from Classical habaṭ. Others distinctives are shared with Algerian Arabic such as hḍeṛ "talk", from Classical hadhar "babble" and temma "there" from Classical thamma.

There are a number of Moroccan Arabic dictionaries in existence, including (in chronological order):

  • A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English, ed. Richard S. Harrell & Harvey Sobelman. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1963 (reprinted 2004.)
  • Mu`jam al-fuṣḥā fil-`āmmiyyah al-maghribiyyah معجم الفصحى في العامية المغربية, Muhammad Hulwi, Rabat: al-Madaris 1988.
  • Dictionnaire Colin d'arabe dialectal marocain (Rabat, éditions Al Manahil, ministère des Affaires Culturelles), by a Frenchman named Georges Séraphin Colin, who devoted nearly all his life to it from 1921 to 1977. The dictionary contains 60 000 entries and was published in 1993, after Colin's death.

[edit] Some words borrowed from Berber

[edit] Some words borrowed from French

[edit] Some words borrowed from Spanish

Some of these words might also have come through Andalusi Arabic brought by Moriscos when they were expelled from Spain following the Christian Reconquest.

[edit] Some examples of regional differences

  • Now: "daba" in the majority of regions, but "druuk" or "druuka" in the South,and "drwek" or "durk" in the East
  • When?: "fuqash" in most regions, but "yimta" in the Atlantic region,and "waqtash" in Rabat region
  • What?: "Ashnu","ash" in most regions, but "shenni","shennu" in the North,"shnu","sh" in Fes,and "washta","wasmu","wash" in the Far East

[edit] Some useful sentences

Note: All the sentences are written according to the transliteration of the Arabic alphabet.

English Rabat-Casablanca Arabic Northern (Jebli, Tetouani) Arabic Eastern (Oujda) Arabic
How are you? La bas? La bas? / Bikhayr? La bas? / Rak ġaya?
Can you help me? Yemken lek tʿaweni? Tekdar dʿaweni? Yemken lek tʿaweni?
Do you speak English? Waš katehdar lingliziya? Waš kadehdar bel ingliziya? Waš tehdar lingliziya?
Excuse me Smaḥ liya Smaḥ li Smaḥ liya
Good luck ḥaḍ saʿid ḥaḍ saʿid ḥaḍ saʿid
Good morning ṣbaḥ el-khir ṣbaḥ el-khir ṣbaḥ el-khir
Good night Teṣbaḥ ʿla khir ṣbaḥ ʿla khir Teṣbaḥ ʿla khir
Goodbye Beslama Beslama Beslama
Happy new year Sana saʿida Sana saʿida Sana saʿida
Hello As-salam ʿleykum / Ahlan Salam / Ahlan As-salam ʿlikum
How are you doing? La bas ʿlik? La bas ʿlik? La bas ʿlik?
How are you? Ki dayer ? (masculine) / Ki dayra ? (feminine) Kif el-ḥala? Ki rak?
Is everything okay? Kulši mezyan ? Kulši mezyan ? / Kulšî huwa hadak ? Kulši mliḥ? / Kulšî zin?
Nice to meet you Metšarfin Metšarfin Metšarfin
No thanks La šukran La šukran La šukran
Please Allāh ikhallik / ʿafak Laykhallik / Layʿizek / Khaylah / Khaylak Allāh ikhallik / yʿizek
Take care Thalla f raṣek Thallah / Thalla Thalla f raṣek
Thank you very much Šukran bezaf Šukran bezaf Šukran bezaf
What do you do? Faš khaddam? Škad ʿaddel? / šenni khəddam? (masculine) / šenni khəddama? (feminine) / škadekhdem? Faš tekhdem? (masculine) / Faš tkhedmi ? (feminine)
What's your name? Ašnu smiytek? / šu smiytek Šenni ismek? Wašta smiytek?
Where are you from? Mnin nta? (masculine) / Mnin nti? (feminine) Mnayen ntina? / Mayen ntina? Min ntaya? / Min ntiya?
Where are you going? Fin ġadi temši? Naymaši? (masculine) / Naymaša? (feminine) Ferak temši? / Ferak rayaḥ
You are welcome La šukr ʿlâ wajib / Bla jmil La šukr ʿlâ wajib La šukr ʿlâ wajib

[edit] Grammar

The grammar of Moroccan Arabic is not always simpler than Classical Arabic grammar, but fortunately, as the language is never written, nobody is concerned about spelling.

The grammar, like the pronunciation, is heavily influenced by Berber.

The regular Moroccan verb conjugates with a series of prefixes and suffixes. The stem of the conjugated verb may change a bit depending on the conjugation. Example:

(Note that in the following, e represents a schwa-like sound that often disappears entirely when not directly before final consonant. Some authors prefer a transcription without these vowels, e.g. ka-tktbu.)

The stem of the Moroccan verb for "to write" is "kteb".

The present tense of this verb:

I'm writing: ka-nekteb

You're (masculine) writing: ka-tekteb

You're (feminine) writing: ka-tketbi

He's/it's writing: ka-yekteb

She's/it's writing: ka-tekteb

We're writing: ka-nketbu

You're (pl) writing: ka-tketbu

They're writing: ka-yketbu

Note that the stem "kteb" turns into "ketb" before a vowel suffix. Between the prefix "kan, kat, kay" and the stem "kteb", an "e" vowel appears, but not between the prefix and the transformed stem "ketb"

In the north, you're writing is always ka-dekteb, regardless of whom you are speaking to. This is also the case of "de" in "dekteb", as northerners prefer to use "de" and southerners prefer using "te". Instead of the prefix "ka", some speakers prefer the use of "ta" (e.g.: ta-nekteb: I'm writing). The co-existence of these two prefixes has historical reasons. In general "ka" is more used in the north and "ta" in the south.In some regions like the east(Oujda)the majority of speakers don't use any preverb(nekteb,tekteb,ykteb..etc)

The past tense of this verb:

I wrote: ktebt

You wrote: ktebti

He/it wrote: kteb (kteb can also be an order to write, e.g.: kteb er-rissala: Write the letter)

She/it wrote: ketbet

We wrote: ktebna

You (pl) wrote: ktebtu

They wrote: ketbu

To form the future tense, just remove the prefix "ka-/Ta-" and replace it with the prefix "gha", "ghad" or "ghadi" instead (e.g.: ġa-nekteb: I will write. ġad-ketbu (north) or ġadi-tketbu: You (pl) will write).

For the subjunctive and infinitive, just remove the "ka-" (e.g.: bġit nekteb: I want to write, bġit tekteb: I want you to write).

[edit] Negation

For negative expressions, the prefix "ma" and suffix "ši" or "š" are added to the verb.

Examples:

  • ma-ġa-ne-kteb-ši (I will not write).
  • ma-de-kteb-ši (do not write).

Negative pronouns such as "walu", "ḥta ḥaja" (both meaning "nothing") and "ḥta waḥed" (nobody) could be added to the sentence without "šhi" as a suffix.

Examples:

  • ma-ġan-kteb walu (I will not write anything)
  • ma-de-kteb ḥta ḥaja (do not write anything)
  • ḥta waḥed ma-ġa-ye-kteb (nobody will write)
  • Wellah ma-ne-kteb or ma-ġan-kteb (I swear to God I will not write)

Note: Wellah ma-ne-kteb could be a response to a command to write (kteb), while wellah ma-ġan-kteb could be an answer to a question like "are you going to write?" (waš ġa-dekteb?).

[edit] Negative interrogation

In Moroccan Arabic, the word order doesn't change for negative questions in the northern parts of Morocco, but in the western areas and other regions, the word order is preferably changed. The pronoun "waš" could be added in the beginning of the sentence, although it rarely changes the meaning of it. The prefix "ma" can rarely be removed when asking a question in a fast way.

Examples:

  • ma-ġa-de-kteb-ši? (Aren't you going to write?)
  • ma-ġadi-ši-de-kteb?
  • waš ma-baġi-ši de-kteb? (You don't want to write?) (North)
  • waš ma-bġit(i)-ši de-kteb? (Western and other regions)

A "ka" can be added in the beginning of the sentence when asking a question in an angry or surprised way. In this case, "waš" can't be added.

Examples:

  • Ka ma-ġa-de-kteb-ši?!
  • Ka ma-ġadi-ši-de-kteb?!

[edit] Evolution

In general, Moroccan Arabic is one of the most innovative (in the technical sense of "least conservative") of all Arabic dialects. Nowadays Moroccan Arabic continues to integrate new French words, mainly technological and modern words. However, in recent years constant exposure to revived classical forms on television and in print media and a certain desire among many Moroccans for a revitalization of their Arab and Islamic identities has inspired many Moroccans to integrate words from Standard Arabic, replacing their French or Spanish counterparts or even speaking in Modern Standard Arabic while keeping the Moroccan accent to sound less pedantic. This phenomenon mostly occurs among literate people.

Though rarely written, Moroccan Arabic is currently undergoing an unexpected and pragmatic revival. It is now the preferred language in Moroccan chat rooms or for sending SMS, using Arabic Chat Alphabet composed of Latin letters supplemented with the numbers 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 for coding specific Arabic sounds as is the case with other Arabic speakers.

The language continues to evolve quickly as can be noted when consulting the Colin dictionary. Many words and idiomatic expressions recorded between 1921 and 1977 are now obsolete.

[edit] Diglossia and social prestige

While being a natural localization of Classical Arabic for geographic and historical reasons, as French has evolved from Vulgar Latin, Moroccan Arabic is considered as a language of low prestige and suffers from the fact that Classical Arabic is the language of the Qur'an which serves as a reference. While being the mother tongue of nearly twenty million people in Morocco it is rarely written, this situation probably explains in part the high illiteracy rates in Morocco.

This situation is not specific to Morocco, but occurs in all Arabic speaking countries. The French Arabist William Marçais coined in 1930 the term diglossie (diglossia) to describe this situation, where two (often) closely-related languages co-exist, one of high prestige, which is generally used by the government and in formal texts, and one of low prestige, which is usually the spoken vernacular tongue.

[edit] Artistic expression

There exists some poetry written in Moroccan Arabic like the Malhun. In the troubled and autocratic Morocco of the ’70s with no freedom of speech, The legendary Nass El Ghiwane band wrote beautiful and allusive lyrics in Moroccan Arabic which were very appealing to the youth even in other Maghreb countries.

Another interesting movement is the development of an original rap music scene which explores new and innovative usages of the language. Generally, Moroccan Arabic remains the preferred language of Moroccan singers.

[edit] Newspapers

There are now at least three Moroccan Arabic speaking newspapers, their aim is to bring information to people with a low level of education. Telquel Magazine, has now a Moroccan Arabic edition Nichane. There is also a free weekly magazine that is totally written in "standard" Moroccan dialect: Khbar Bladna, i.e. 'News of our country'.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Lonely Planet Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook ISBN 0-86442-586-4
  • Ernest T. Abdel Massih, Introduction to Moroccan Arabic, Univ of Michigan, Washington, 1982.
  • Jordi Aguadé, "Notes on the Arabic Dialect of Casablanca", AIDA 5th Conference Proceedings, Universidad de Cadiz, 2003, 301-308.
  • Louis Brunot, Introduction à l'arabe marocain, Maisonneuve, Paris, 1950.
  • Dominique Caubet, L'arabe marocain, Paris-Louvain, Peeters, 1993.
  • Olivier Durand, L'arabo del Marocco. Elementi di dialetto standard e mediano, Università degli Studi La Sapienza, Rome, 2004.
  • Richard S. Harrel, A short reference grammar of Moroccan Arabic, Georgetown University Press, Washington, 1962.
  • Richard S. Harrel, A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic, Georgetown University Press, Washington, 1966.
  • Angela Daiana Langone, "Khbar Bladna. Une expérience journalistique en arabe dialectal marocain", in Estudios de Dialectologia Norteafricana y Andalusi n.7, 2003, 143-151.
  • Angela Daiana Langone, "Jeux linguistiques et nouveau style dans la masrahiyya en-Neqsha, Le déclic, écrite en dialecte marocain par Tayyeb Saddiqi", in Actes d'AIDA 6, Tunis, 2006, 243-261.
  • Abderrahim Youssi, "La triglossie dans la typologie linguistique", in La Linguistique n. 19, 1983, 71-83.
  • Abderrahim Youssi, Grammaire et lexique de l'arabe marocain moderne, Wallada, Casablanca, 1994.

[edit] External links

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Varieties of Arabic
Pre-Muslim conquests Ancient North Arabian† (Safaitic†, Lihyanitic†, Thamudic†, Hasaitic†) · Classical Arabic
Modern Standard Variety Literary Arabic
Maghrebi Arabic Moroccan Arabic · Algerian Arabic · Tunisian Arabic · Andalusian Arabic† · Libyan Arabic · Jebli Arabic · Jijel Arabic · Saharan Arabic · Hassānīya · Maltese language · Siculo-Arabic†
Levantine Arabic Lebanese Arabic · Syrian Arabic · North Syrian Arabic · Palestinian Arabic · Cypriot Maronite Arabic
Arabian Arabic Gulf Arabic · Bahrani Arabic · Najdi Arabic · Hejazi Arabic · Shargi Arabic · Yemeni Arabic (Hadhrami Arabic)
Iraqi Arabic Baghdad Arabic
Egyptian Arabic Cairene Arabic · Sa'idi Arabic
Sudanese Arabic Sudanese Arabic · Nigerian Arabic . Chadian Arabic
Peripheries Khuzestani Arabic · Shirvani Arabic† · Central Asian Arabic
Judeo-Arabic Judeo-Moroccan · Judeo-Yemenite · Baghdad Arabic (Jewish)
Creoles Nubi language · Babalia Creole Arabic · Juba Arabic
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