The Chenoua language (self-denomination: Haqbaylit̠) is the Zenati Berber language of Jebel Chenoua in Algeria, just west of Algiers near Tipasa and Cherchell. It is very closely similar to the Berber speech of the Beni Menacer nearby, and the name is thus sometimes extended to refer the Berber speech varieties of that whole area. According to the Ethnologue (1996), it has somewhere between 15,000 and 75,000 speakers. The Zenati languages include 12 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken in Africa and western Asia; this language group is a part of the Northern Berber language family. ... Afro-Asiatic - Berber The Berber languages (or Tamazight) are a group of closely related languages mainly spoken in Morocco and Algeria. ... Jebel Chenoua (Mt. ... For other uses, see Algiers (disambiguation). ... Tipasa (Arabic Tibaza, older Tefessedt, Chenoua Bazar): A town on the coast of Algeria, capital of the wilaya of the same name, 30 m. ... The Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with native language biblical texts. ...

Sounds

Judging by Laoust (whose work on the language unfortunately predates systematic phonology), Chenoua has the following sounds, retranscribed here, using the Algerian standard Latin orthography for Berber languages, as: Phonology (Greek phone = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), or phonemics, is a subfield of grammar (see also linguistics). ...

Consonants

Comparison with other Berber languages suggests that his transcription may have failed to distinguish certain sounds, notably pharyngealized z. See also consonance in music. ... In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... Dentals are consonants articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both. ... Alveolars are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, the internal side of the upper gums (known as the alveoles of the upper teeth). ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. ... A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx. ... Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... An affricate is a consonant that begins like a stop (most often an alveovelar, such as [t] or [d]) and that doesnt have a release of its own, but opens directly into a fricative (or, in one language, into a trill). ... Pharyngealisation is a secondary feature of phonemes in a language. ... Semivowels (sometimes called semiconsonants) are vowels that function as consonants. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... (adj. ... In music, a trill is a type of ornament; see trill (music) In phonetics, a trill is a type of consonant; see trill consonant In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Trill are two symbiotic races of aliens; see Trill (Star Trek). ...

Vowels

a, i, u, e (e being schwa). Where Laoust writes o, he seems to be indicating labialization Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... See Schwa (art) for the underground artist. ... Labialisation is a secondary articulatory feature of phonemes in a language, most usually used to refer to consonants. ...

Grammar

Nouns

Masculine nouns start with a-, i-, u- (in the singular) - like all Berber languages - or more rarely with a consonant (often corresponding to a- in other languages.) Examples: ayd̠i "dog"; fus "hand"; iri "neck"; urt̠u"garden". Their plural is usually in i-...-en (eg ameţin "death" > imeţinen), but a variety of other plural forms (eg i-...-an, i-...-wen, i-...awen, i-...-en, i-...-a-), sometimes accompanied by internal ablaut, are also found: eg ijid̠er "eagle" > ijud̠ar, it̠ri "star" > it̠ran, afer "wing" > ifrawen, icer "fingernail" > icaren. In linguistics, the process of ablaut (from German ab- off + Laut sound) is a vowel change accompanying a change in grammatic function. ...

Feminine nouns start with h- (originally t-), and usually end with -t or -t̠: hagmart̠ "mare", hesa "liver". A few feminine nouns have lost the h-: malla "turtledove". A masculine noun can be made diminutive by adding the feminine affixes: afus "hand" > hafust "little hand". The plurals of feminine nouns fall into much the same types as masculine ones, but adding h- at the beginning and using -in rather than -en: hakt̠emţ "female" > hikt̠emin, harract "girl" > harracin, huqit̠ "stone" > huqay, hawlelit̠ "spider" > hiwlela. A diminutive ia a formation of a word used to convey a sense of smaller size and/or affection (see nickname). ...

Genitive constructions - English "X of Y" or "Y's X" - are formed as "X Y", in which the prefix of Y changes to u- (masc.) or n ţe- (fem.). Thus, for instance: aman n ţala "the water of the fountain", aglim uγilas "the skin of the panther". n "of" is also used with foreign words: hagmart̠ n elqayd̠ "the mare of the Caid".

Adjectives

Adjectives agree in number and gender with the noun, and are formed in the same way: eg amellal "white", azegrar "long", azaim "good". The particle d̠ is used before adjectives in certain contexts (including as a copula), in the same way as in the Kabyle language. The word copula originates from the Latin noun for a link or tie that connects two different things. ... Kabyle is a Berber language (Kabyle taqbaylit, pronounced thaqvayleeth) spoken by the Kabyle people. ...

Numbers

As in Kabyle, only the first two numbers are Berber; for higher numbers, Arabic is used. They are iğ (f. ict) "one", sen (f. senat̠) "two". The noun being counted follows it in the genitive: senat̠ n ţuwura "two doors".

"First" and "last" are respectively amezgaru and aneggaru (regular adjectives). Other ordinals are formed with the prefix wis (f. his): wis sen "second (m.)", his t̠elat̠a "third (f.)", etc.

Pronouns

The basic personal pronouns of Chenoua are as follows. Gender is distinguished in all cases except the first person.

The basic demonstrative adjectives are -a "this" (also -ay, -ad̠; -ax for middle distance), -in "that", -enni "the aforementioned". The demonstrative pronouns include: A possessive pronoun is a word that attributes ownership to someone or something without using a noun. ... The accusative case of a noun is, generally, the case used to mark the direct object of a verb. ... The dative case is a grammatical case for nouns and/or pronouns. ... In grammar, a preposition is a word that establishes a relationship between an object (usually a noun phrase) and some other part of the sentence, often expressing a location in place or time. ... This article is about the grammatical term. ... The aorist aspect was one of the three original aspects that defined the Indo_European verbal paradigm. ... Imperative programming, as opposed to functional programming, is a sort of programming employing side-effect as central execution feature. ...

• "this": wa m. sg., hax f. sg., yid̠a m. pl., hid̠a f. pl.
• "this" (emphatic): wayek, hayek, id̠ad̠ik, hid̠ad̠ik
• "this" (in question): wenni, henni, id̠enni, hid̠enni
• "that": win, hin, yid̠in, hid̠in

The standalone possessive pronouns ("mine", "yours", etc.) are formed by suffixing the possessive pronouns to "this" (except that ha- is used instead of hax.) Similarly, the adjective "other" (invariable enniḍen) combines with "this" to make forms meaning "the other": unniḍen, henniḍen, id̠enniḍen, hid̠enniḍin. A possessive pronoun is a word that attributes ownership to someone or something without using a noun. ... Suffix has meanings in linguistics and nomenclature. ...

The main interrogative pronouns are: maţa "what?", manţ "which", manay "who?", mi lan "whose?", miked̠ "with whom?", mid̠eg "in what?", mizeg "with what?", mifeg "on what?", miγer "at/for whom?"

The relative pronoun is i "which".

Indefinite pronouns include yeğ (f. yectenţ) "one, someone", cra "something". Negative forms are made using the Arabic loanword haţa (حتى); haţa d̠ yeğ "no one", haţa d̠ elḥabb "nothing".

Verbs

The declarative mood is divided into two tenses: preterite (past) and aorist (non-past, formed by the addition of a-.) There is also an imperative mood. The irregular imperative ia "come" is used with the aorist to form imperatives of the first person: iaw annaroḥet̠ "let's go". The pronoun affixes for these are given under Pronouns. The declarative mood is also accompanied by ablaut: The declarative mood indicates that the statement is true, without any qualifications being made. ... This article is about the grammatical term. ... The aorist aspect was one of the three original aspects that defined the Indo_European verbal paradigm. ...

• Verbs whose imperative consists of two consonants or less (eg eğ "eat", eγr "read", ezr "see", enγ "kill") add -a to the stem in the 3rd person singulars and 1st person plural, and -i in all other forms: enγiγ "I killed", henγa "she killed".
• Verbs whose imperative begins with a- (eg adef "come in", ad̠er "go down", azen "send") change it to u-: thus ud̠efen "they came in", hud̠efed "you (sg.) came in. (Verbs such as af "find" belong to both this and the previous group.) awi "bring" and awd̠ "arrive" are exceptions, changing a- to i-: yiwi "he brought".
• Verbs with -a- in the middle (eg laz "be hungry", nam "have the habit of", ğal "judge") change it to -u-: elluzeγ "I was hungry".
• Verbs with a final vowel usually behave like the two-consonant ones: arji "dream" > ourjiγ "I dreamt", yurja "he dreamt"; egmi "teach" > egmiγ "I taught", igma "he taught". But there are exceptions: erni "be born" > irni "he was born".

The participle is formed by adding -n to the 3rd person m. sg., sometimes with ablaut of final vowels: inziz "he sang" > inzizen; ayenziz "he will sing" > ayenzizen, yut̠a "he hit" > yut̠in. In linguistics, the process of ablaut (from German ab- off + Laut sound) is a vowel change accompanying a change in grammatic function. ...

The verb is negated by adding u... c around it: u ţinziz ec "don't sing", u huwired̠ ec "you didn't walk". "Not yet" is u rt̠uci εad̠ or ur uci, where rt̠uci and uci are verbs conjugated in the appropriate person: u rt̠uciγ εad̠ u d yuḍeγ ec "I haven't arrived yet", u hert̠ucid̠ εad̠ ... "you haven't yet..."

Derived verb forms include:

• a causative in s-: azeg "boil" > sizeg "make something boil".
• a "reciprocal" middle voice in m-: zer "see" > mzer "be seen"
• a passive voice in ţwa-: abba "carry" > ţwabba "be carried".
• Various habitual forms.

Continuous forms can be formed with aql- "see X" in the present tense, ţuγa "was" in the past tense: aqlay ţeţeγ "I am eating", ţuγay ţeţeγ"I was eating". Voice, in grammar, is the relationship between the action or state expressed by a verb, and its arguments (subject, object, etc. ... In grammar, voice is the relationship between the action or state expressed by a verb, and its arguments (subject, object, etc. ...

Prepositions

Prepositions precede their objects: i medden "to the people", si Bazar "from Tipaza". Some of the main ones are: i "to" (dative), n "of", d̠eg/d̠i/eg/i "in(to)", seg/zeg-/si "from", s "using" (instrumental), f/fell- "on", γer/γ "towards", akid̠/d̠, "with", jar "among", zat̠ "in front of", awr "behind", i sawen/susawen "under", addu "over". In grammar, a preposition is a word that establishes a relationship between an object (usually a noun phrase) and some other part of the sentence, often expressing a location in place or time. ... The dative case is a grammatical case for nouns and/or pronouns. ... An instrumental is, in contrast to a song, a musical composition or piece without lyrics or any other sort of vocal music; all of the music is produced by musical instruments. ...

Conjunctions

Conjunctions precede the verb: ami yiwoḍ "when he arrived", qabel ma ţaγen "see if it's raining". Some important ones include: melmi "when?", ami, γassa(l), assγa, γir "when", ma, kagella, lukan, willa "if", (an)neγ "or".

Sample text

Qaren midden: Unni ayḥağen d̠ug ass, adeffeγen arraw ennes d̠iferd̠asen. They say: he that tells stories in the daytime, his children will turn bald.

Ţḥağen γir d̠eg iḍ They only tell stories at night.

Uccen aked̠ waḥzaw/The jackal and the child

Iğ wuccen iroḥ iggur lami g ufa iğ waḥzaw iţellem i hezra. Innas uccen i warrac enni: "Maţa hellid̠ hegared̠." Arrac enni innas: "Ţellemeγ d̠i hezra." Innas uccen: "Ad̠el ay hirkasin." Arrac enni iţxiyeḍ as iḍaren nes. Lami iqaḍa innas: "Roḥ, aεd̠el iḍaren ennek̠ γer fwit̠."

Iroḥ uccen yaεd̠el iman es γer fwit̠ lami eqqoren iḍaren u iğim ec ayuwr.

Ikk ed sin iğ wumcic; innas uccen: "Sellek ay u c eţţγec." Iks as umcic hazra seg ḍarennes. Iroḥ uccen iwalla γer waḥzaw ič as elkul iγeṭṭen.

A jackal went and met a child plaiting a rope. The jackal asked the child: "What are you doing?" This child replied: "I'm plaiting a rope." The jackal said: "Make me some shoes." This child tied up his feet. When he was done he told him: "Go show your feet in the sun."

The jackal went and showed his own feet in the sun, and his feet dried and he couldn't walk.

A cat arrived and the jackal told it: "Help me, I won't eat you." The cat took the rope off his feet. The jackal went back to the child, and ate all his goats.

Bibliography

E. Laoust, Etude sur le dialecte berbère du Chenoua, Algiers 1912. For other uses, see Algiers (disambiguation). ... 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ...

External links

• Ethnologue report for Chenoua (http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=CHB)
• Chenoua dictionary (http://www.geocities.com/lameens/langs/index.html)