Notes on the Arabic dialect of Casablanca (Morocco) PDF

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NOTES ON THE ARABIC DIALECT OF CASABLANCA (MOROCCO) Jordi AGUADÉ University of Cadiz 1) In spite of being the most important town in Morocco and the economic capital of the country, Casablanca’s dialect lacks a comprehensive description yet1. This may be due to the fact that at the end of the ninete...

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Notes on the Arabic dialect of Casablanca (Morocco) Jordi Aguadé

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NOTES ON THE ARABIC DIALECT OF CASABLANCA (MOROCCO) Jordi AGUADÉ University of Cadiz

1) In spite of being the most important town in Morocco and the economic capital of the country, Casablanca’s dialect lacks a comprehensive description yet1. This may be due to the fact that at the end of the nineteenth century Casablanca was just a small town, which only during the colonial period in the twentieth century began to grow and eventually developed into a big metropolis with some four millions inhabitants –inmigrants from all corners of the country2. Its dialect is, therefore, a mixture of different speeches and doesn’t belong to the traditional and prestigious ones. However, the majority of its inhabitants today, especially those under fifty, are born and grew up in Casablanca and the Arabic of this town is now the normative dialect used for instance in radio and television and therefore the most widespread in the country. That fact, to my mind, seems to convey enough justification for a dedicated scientific interest in it. 2) My paper is based on data collected among young people with the help of a questionnaire. The dialect of Casablanca belongs to the so called Hilalian type3 and, so far as we know, emerged as a mixture of the dialect of the surrounding Chaouia tribes with features of the dialects spoken by migrants from other parts of Morocco4. Some texts collected in Casablanca have been published by me: cf. Aguadé/Benyahia (1990); Aguadé (1996a); Aguadé (2002). On the dialect of Casablanca cf. Adila (1996); Moumine (1995) and the references to this dialect in Heath (2002). 2 About Casablanca cf. Adam(1968); art. (al-)Dār al-Baydā’ of A. Adam in EI (vol. 2, pp. 119120); art. (ad-)Dār al-Baydā’ of M. Šwīkī [Chouiki] in MM (vol. 12, pp. 3906-3915); Miège/Hugues(1954); Villes et tribus (1915); Lahlou (1993); Dernouny/Léonard (1987); Ossman (1994). 3 And to the “Atlantic strip” according to the more detailed classification made by Heath (2002) p. 27. 4 In a book published 1912 (when the town had no more than 24.000 inhabitants!) Kampffmeyer says that the dialects of Casablanca and of the Chaouia tribes had basically the same features: “Casablanca ist kein grosses, gegen das Land sich abschliessendes städtisches Gemeinwesen, das etwa ein eigenes Leben lebte und eigene vom Lande verschiedene Wurzeln 1

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3) Sketchily, the most important features of the Arabic spoken in Casablanca are the following: 3.1) The phoneme /q/ is often realized as /g/; gāl “to say”, gməl “louse”, bəgra “cow”. But there are numerous examples where the realization /q/ has been preserved: qlīl “scarce, slight”, qbəd1 “to take”, Áălləq “to hang”, fūq “on, over”, qŭddām “in front of”, qrīb “near, close”, bqa “to stay, to remain”5. We may also find a series of minimal pairs based on the opposition /q/ ≠ /g/: qərÁa “bottle” ≠ gərÁa “pumkin, bald”; qəssa “narrative” ≠ gəssa “haircut”; sūq “market” ≠ sūg “drive”; qərn “century” ≠ gərn “horn”; Áărq “vein” ≠ Áărg “root”, qəlləb “to search” ≠ gəlləb “to turn over”. 3.2) The phoneme /ğ/ is realized as /ž/ (and not /ğ/ as for instance in north Moroccan dialects): žār1 “neighbor”, žbəl “mountain“,žənn “jinn, genie”, žərf “bank, slope”, xrəž “to leave, to go out”6. 3.3) The occurrence of pharingealized /r/ is very common and it is a distinctive feature: žāri “liquide” ≠ žāri “my neighbour”; bra “needle” ≠ bra “he was healed”7. 3.4) Diphtongs are reduced8: xayma > xīma “tent”, bayt > bīt “room”, zayt > zīt “oil”, lawn > lūn “colour”. 3.5) As in other Moroccan dialects, Berber loanwords never take the definite article. Ex.: ātāy “tea” (= šrəbt ātāy “I drank the tea”), tāta “chameleon” (= šəfti tāta lli kāyna f- ž-žnān? “did you see the chameleon in the garden?”)9. ū

hätte. Die Stadt steht im fortwährendem Austausch mit dem Hinterlande (…). Daher auch der Charakter der Sprache der Stadt, die im Wesentlichen die Züge des bäuerisch-beduinischen Idioms der Šāuia zeigt” (Kampffmeyer (1912), p. 6 of the foreword). 5 On the realizations of Classical Arabic /q/ in Moroccan dialects cf. now Heath (2002), pp. 141-147. 6 On the realizations of Classical Arabic /g1/ in Moroccan dialects cf. Heath (2002), pp. 136138. 7 Pharingealized /r/ is very common in all Hilalian dialects: cf. Heath, op. cit., pp. 149-154; Cantineau (1960), p. 50; Aguadé/Elyaacoubi (1995), p. 30 (no. 2.2.5); Caubet (1993), vol. 1, p. 10. 8 Classical Arabic diphtongs are monophtongized in the dialects of the Atlantic strip: cf. Heath, op. cit., p. 198. See also Cantineau, op. cit., p. 104; Marçais (1977), pp. 16-17. 9 Cf. Harrell (1962), pp. 189-190. AIDA 5 PROCEEDINGS – CÁDIZ 2003

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3.6) The indefinite articles are ši and wāhəd. Ex.: ši mr1a “a woman”, ši hāža “something”, ši šəhrāyn “about two months”, kān wāhd əl-mātš dyāl l-kūra “there was a soccer match”10. 3.7) In the inflection of the regular triliteral verbs, there is no /ə/ ≠ /ŭ/ opposition between the perfective and imperfective patterns (as it is the case in some north Moroccan dialects)11. Ex.: verb həzz “to take, to pick up”, imperf. yhəzz, imperat. m. həzz, f. həzzi, pl. həzzu; verb rəšš “to sprinkle”, imperf. rəšš, imperat. rəšš, rəšši, rəššu; verb lbəs “to wear”, imperf. yĭlbəs, imperat. lbəs, ləbsi, ləbsu. However, almost all speakers sometimes realize a vowel /ŭ/ in the imperfect and imperative; but this occurs always in contact with velar and uvular consonants (/k/, /g/, /ġ/, /x/, /q/) so that we can explain such opposition as a labialisation of /ə/ in contact with these phonemes12. Ex,: skŭt “shut up!”, xrŭž “go out!”, kŭbb “pour!”, dxŭl “come in!”. Moreover, this is not done systematically and it is common that the same speaker uses indistinctly skŭt/skət, sŭkti/səkti, dxŭl/dxəl, kŭbb/kəbb, etc. 3.8) The regular triliteral Verb has the following inflection in the perfective:

1c. 2c. 3m. 3f.

Sg. šrəbt šrəbti šrəb šərbāt

1c. 2c. 3c.

Pl. šrəbna šrəbtu šərbu

Characteristic features of this dialect are: in the singular the endings -ti for the 2c, -āt for the 3f. and in the plural -tu for the 2c. 3.9) The regular triliteral Verb has the following inflection in the imperfective:

1c. 2m. 2f.

Sg. nəšrəb təšrəb tšərbi

1c. 2c. 3c.

Pl. nšərbu tšərbu nšərbu

On the indefinite articles in Moroccan Arabic cf. Caubet (1993), vol. 1, pp. 185-186. See for instance Vicente (2000), p. 67. 12 On labialization in Moroccan Arabic cf. Harrell (1962), pp. 9-10; Aguadé/Elyaacoubi (1995), pp. 33-34 (no. 2.2.13); Heath (2002), pp. 192-197. 10

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yĭšrəb təšrəb

3.10) The imperative shows gender differentiation in the singular: m. šrəb, f. šərbi “drink!”; m. dxŭl, f. dŭxli “come in!”. 3.11) Geminate triliteral verbs insert in the perfective an -ī- before the 1st and 2nd person suffixes13. The verb sədd “to close” has the following inflection:

1c. 2c. 3m. 3f.

Sg. səddīt səddīti sədd səddāt

1c. 2c. 3c.

Pl. səddīna səddītu səddu

3.12) The most common present marker is kā- but tā- also occurs and there are speakers who, sometimes, use indistinctly both in the same phrase14. Ex.: kā-yšrəb “he is drinking”, kā-tākŭl “she is eating”, tā-nšūfu “we are looking”. 3.13) The future marker is ġādi (sometimes ġā-)and it is invariable15. Ex.: ġādi yĭmši “he will go”; ġādi yži “he will come”, ġādi dži “she will come”, ġādi nəmšīw “we will go”. 3.14) The verb for “to eat” is kla, yākŭl (perfective: singular 1c. klīt, plural 3c. klāw). But some speakers prefer kāl, yākŭl (perfective: singular 1c. kəlt, plural 3c. kālu). The imperative is in both cases kūl, kūli, kūlu. The verb kla, yākŭl has the following inflection: Perfective 1c. 2c. 3m. 3f.

Sg. klīt klīti kla klāt

1c. 2c. 3c.

Pl. klīna klītu klāw

This infix was absent in Classical Arabic and is a dialectal innovation: cf. Blau (1988), pp. 225226; Grand’Henry (1972), pp. 48-49. 14 On present markers in Moroccan dialects cf. Aguadé (1996b). 15 Other dialects have māši or bġa/bba: see Heath (2002), p. 215; Aguadé/Elyaacoubi (1995), p. 86 (no. 3.14.2.1). 13

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Imperfective 1c. 2m. 2f. 3m. 3f.

Sg. nākŭl tākŭl tākli yākŭl tākŭl

1c. 2c. 3c.

Pl. nāklu tāklu yāklu

3.15) The active participle of the verb kla, yākŭl is wākəl (f. wākla, pl. wāklīn). 3.16) The verb ža “to come” has an imperative āži, āžīw. The inflection of the perfective and the imperfective is: Perfective 1c. 2c. 3m. 3f.

Sg. žīt žīti ža žāt

1c. 2m. 2f. 3m. 3f.

Sg. nži dži dži yži dži

1c. 2c. 3c.

Pl. žīna žītu žāw

Imperfective 1c. 2c. 3c.

Pl. nžīw džīw yžīw

3.17) The active participle of ža is žāy (f. žāyya, pl. žāyyīn) 3.18) The passive voice is expressed by the prefix tt(ə)-/t-: ttəhrăq “to be burned”, ttəxlăÁt “I was scared”, kā-yĭthărrək “he moves”, īla Átītīh l-ma ġādi yĭtfərgăÁ “if you give him water, he will explode”. 3.19) The independent subject pronouns are:

1c. 2m. 2f.

Sg. āna, ānāya nta, ntĭyya nti

1c. 2c. 3c.

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hŭwwa hĭyya

3.20) With a word ending in vowel (like xu “brother”) the suffixed pronouns are: Sg. Pl. 1c. xūya 1c. xūna 2m. xūk 2c. xūkŭm 2f. xūk 3c. xūhŭm 3m. xūh 3f. xūha 3.21) With a word ending in consonant (like the preposition c1ănd “under, with, beside”) the suffixed pronouns are:

1c. 2m. 2f. 3m. 3f.

Sg. Áăndi Áăndək Áăndək Áăndu Áăndha

1c. 2c. 3c.

Pl. Áăndna Áăndkŭm Áăndhŭm

3.22) The reflexive is expressed by rās “head”. Ex.: āna b-rāsi “I myself”, šəftu āna b-rāsi “I saw it myself”. 3.23) As in other Hilalian dialects the relative pronoun is lli. Ex.: l-bənt lli šəft “the girl I saw”; n-nās lli žāw “the people who came”; hād š-ši lli kā-ygūlu “that is what they say”; l-mədrāsa lli kənt kā-nəqra fīha “the school in which I studied”16. 3.24) Adjectives of color and defect following the pattern {12ə3} have a plural with -īn17: Sg. khăl byəd zrăq

“black” > “white” > “blue” >

Pl. kăhlīn bīdīn zărqīn

Jewish dialects have ddi/di: cf. Heath (2002), pp. 494-495. Other dialects have plurals following the pattern {1uŭə23} (kuuhəl, zuurəq etc.): cf. Heath (2002), pp. 308-309. 16

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xădrīn səfrīn

3.25) The genitive marker is dyāl and has sometimes a plural dyāwl. Ex.: d-dār dyāli “my house”, d-dyūr dyāwli “my houses”, l-wlād dyāwlu “his children”. But some speakers use ntāÁ, tāÁ instead of dyāl. 3.26) Adverbs: dāba “now”, lhīh “there”, hākdāk/hākkāk/hākka “like that, in that manner”, wŭqtāš “when”, īmta “when”, nīšān “straight”, gūd “straight”, l-bārəh “yesterday”, ġədda “tomorrow”, fīn “where”. 3.27) The adverb “still” is expressed by ma zāl or bāqi (“remaining”, part. act. of the verb bqa). 3.28) Possible conditional clauses are introduced by īla. Ex.: īla Átītīh l-ma “if you give him water”, īla mšīti f-z-zənqa “if you go by the street”, īla kānu msūrĭyyīn18 “if they are insured”, īla tmārkāw bīt19 “if they score a goal”, īla kān Áăndi l-flūs nəšri tūmūbīl “If I have money, I will buy a car”20. 3.29) Impossible conditional clauses are introduced by kūn. Ex.: kūn kān Áăndi l-flūs kūn šrīt tūmūbīl “if I had had money, I would have bought a car”, kūn kān Áăndi l-flūs nəšri tūmūbīl “if I had money, I would buy a car”. 3.30) In the lexical domain we may quote the following terms: nīf “nose”, qnĭyya “rabbit”, tūbba “rat”, bu-fărtūtu “butterfly”, tāta / būya “chameleon”, bəbbūš “snail”, žrāna “frog”, xīzzu “carrots”, kŭrsi “chair”, šta “winter”, Áăndāk “watch out!”, dda (yĭddi) “to take away”, qəlləb “to search for”, āra (f. āri) “give!”. BIBLIOGRAPHY ADAM, A. (1968) Casablanca. Essai sur la transformation de la société marocaine au contact de l’occident. Paris. ADILA, A. (1996) “La négation en arabe marocain”. In: La négation en berbère et en árabe maghrébin. Sous la direction de Salem Chaker et Dominique Caubet. Paris / Montréal, pp. 99-116. AGUADE, J. (1996a) “Dialekt und Strassenverkehrsordnung: Zur marokkanischen Führerscheinprüfung”. In: Romania Arabica. Festschrift für Reinhold Kontzi zum 70. Geburtstag. Herausgegeben von Jens Lüdtke. Tübingen , pp. 73-81.

French assuré “insured”. French marquer un but “to score a goal (football)” 20 On possible and impossible conditional clauses in Moroccan Arabic cf. Harrell (1962), pp. 168-172; Aguadé/Elyaacoubi (1995), pp. 149-150 (no. 6.9.8). 18

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AGUADÉ, J. (1996b) “Notas acerca de los preverbios del imperfectivo en árabe dialectal magrebí”. In: Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí. Editados por J. Aguadé, F. Corriente, M. J. Cervera e I. Ferrando. Vol. 1 (1996). Universidad de Zaragoza. Área de Estudios Árabes. Zaragoza, pp. 197-213. AGUADÉ, J. (2002) “Ein marokkanischer Text zum «schlafenden Kind»”. In: “Sprich doch mit deinem Knechten aramäisch, wir verstehen es!”. 60 Beiträge zur Semitistik. Festschrift für Otto Jastrow zum 60. Geburtstag. Herausgegeben von Werner Arnold und Hartmut Bobzin. Wiesbaden, pp. 1519. AGUADÉ, J. & BENYAHIA, L. (1990) “El šāweš Bū-ÁAzza visita al siquiatra. Un diálogo en árabe dialectal de Casablanca”. In: Anaquel de Estudios Árabes, vol. 1 (1990), pp. 103-128. AGUADÉ, J. & ELYAACOUBI, M. (1995) El dialecto árabe de Skūra (Marruecos). Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Madrid. BLAU, J. (1988) “On some Proto-Neo-Arabic and early Neo-Arabic features differing from classical Arabic”. In: Blau, J.; Studies in middle Arabic and its Judeo-Arabic variety. Jerusalem, pp. 368-380 [first published in: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam vol. 3 (1982), pp. 223233]. CANTINEAU, J. (1960) Cours de phonétique arabe. Suivi de notions générales de phonétique et phonologie. Librairie C. Klincksieck. Paris. CAUBET, D. (1993) L’arabe marocain. Tome 1: phonologie et morphosyntaxe. Tome 2: syntaxe et catégories grammaticales, textes. Études chamito-sémitiques. Langues et littératures orales. Éditions Peeters. Paris / Louvain. DERNOUNY, M. & LÉONARD, G. (1987) Casablanca. La parole et la trace. Afrique Orient. EI = ENCYCLOPEDIE DE L’ISLAM. Nouvelle édition. Leiden/Paris 1975 ss. GRAND’HENRY, J. (1972) Le parler arabe de Cherchell (Algérie). Publications de lx2Institut Orientaliste de Louvain, 5. Université Catholique de Louvain. Institut Orientaliste. Louvain-la-Neuve. HARRELL, R. S. (1962) A short reference grammar of Moroccan Arabic. (The Richard Slade Harrell Arabic series. Georgetown University School of Languages and Linguistics). Washington, The Georgetown University Press. HEATH, J. (2002) Jewish and Muslim dialects of Moroccan Arabic. Routledge Curzon, London. KAMPFFMEYER, G. (1912) Marokkanisch-arabische Gespräche im Dialekt von Casablanca. Mit Vergleichung des Dialekts von Tanger. Berlin. LAHLOU, A. (1993) Casablanca à l’heure de l’opération Torch et de la Conférence d’Anfa. Casablanca 1993. MARÇAIS, Ph. (1977) Esquisse grammaticale de l’arabe maghrébin. (Langues dx2Amérique et dx2Orient). Paris, Adrien Maisonneuve. MIÈGE, J. L. & HUGUES, E. (1954) Les européens à Casablanca au XIXe siècle (1856-1906). Institut des Hautes Études Marocaines. Notes et documents, 14. Librairie Larose, Paris. MM = MAÁLAMAT AL-MAGRIB. Vols. 1-14. Salé 1989-2001. MOUMINE, E. (1995) “Variation in Casablanca Moroccan Arabic”. In: Dialectologie et sciences humaines au Maroc. Royaume du Maroc. Université Mohammed V. Publications de la Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines-Rabat. Série: Colloques et Séminaires, no. 38. Rabat, pp. 99-125. OSSMAN, S. (1994) Picturing Casablanca. Portraits of power in a Modern city. University of California Press, Berkeley/Los Angeles/ London. VICENTE, A. (2000) El dialecto árabe de Anjra (norte de Marruecos). Estudio lingu3ístico y textos. Universidad de Zaragoza. Área de Estudios Árabes e Islámicos, 6. Zaragoza. VILLES ET TRIBUS (1915) Villes et tribus du Maroc. Casablanca et sa région. 2 vols. Mission scientifique au Maroc, Paris (Reprint: Éditions Frontispice. Casablanca, 2002).

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