ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

On the Standardisation of Tunisian

The case for a formal recognition of a Tunisian language
Jihd G. MEJRISSI
League of Tunisian Humanists

Table of Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................................1
1.Introduction.......................................................................................................................................1
2.The Tunisian Language(s).................................................................................................................2
2.1 What is Tunisian?......................................................................................................................2
2.2 What is a Language?.................................................................................................................4
3.The Case for Standardising Tunisian.................................................................................................5
3.1.1 Tunisian and Arabic..........................................................................................................5
3.1.2 Why standardise Tunisian?.............................................................................................10
3.1.3 Preserving the language of the Great Arab Nation, of Islam, and of the Quran..........12
4.Transcribing Tunisian......................................................................................................................13
4.1 Which Tunisian?.....................................................................................................................13
4.2 The STUNdard Method..........................................................................................................13
4.3 The STUNdared Arlette and Alternative Methods..................................................................21
5.Comparison and Potentials..............................................................................................................24
6.Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................29

Abstract
This essay discusses the linguistic situation of Tunisia and presents two standardisation
methods for Tunisian, namely the STUNdard and the STUNdard Arlette methods.
This document was first published in February 15th, 2014 and its current revision is that of
February 15th, 2014. This document was produced with free and open-source software. The author's
material is released under both the CC BY-SA 3.0 and the GFDL 1.3.
Keywords: Tunisian, language, standardisation, STUNdard

1. Introduction
Similarly to its North African neighbours, the linguistic situation in Tunisia owes much to
the political, social, and religious factors. Since the Phoenician settlements in North Africa,
linguistic varieties in the regions have been absorbing external influences; Tunisian is not an
exception. Official recognition of Tunisian as a language was feared as it was deemed that it would
affect the roles of Islam and its liturgical language, Classical Arabic, hereinafter referred to as

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

Arabic. As discussed in MEJRISSI (2013):

These same arguments are also echoed when discussing the status of Amazigh as a
regional, national, or an official language, in Tunisia and in other North African States.
Nevertheless, Tunisian has been undergoing standardisation attempts by Tunisian Civil
Society and other independent components, and its use in official communication
gradually continues to replace Arabic.

2. The Tunisian Language(s)

2.1 What is Tunisian?
In general, Tunisian refers to the group of linguistic varieties spoken within the state of
Tunisia. Tunisian is a part of the North African dialect continuum, of which the main characteristics
are the Amazigh Substrata, the substantial Arabic vocabulary, and the Mediterranean influences.
This document and future similar publications made and will make use of the word Tunisian to
denote the language rather than Tunisian Arabic, due to the fact that the repetition of the word
Arabic each time seems rather unnecessary and may be even misleading. This is similar to the
denomination of Maltese: One does not say Maltese Arabic, although Maltese can be fully
understood by Tunisians to the same extent that Moroccan is, but rather, simply, Maltese. There is
perhaps a similarity with the situation of Romance languages: It would seem rather
incomprehensible to state that one speaks a Spanish dialect of Latin, or speaks Italian Latin.
Languages are usually attributed to the political entity or the state where they are spoken, and so
should the Tunisian language be.
Much like in any other part in the world, an immense diversity of Tunisian linguistic
varieties exist. It is possible however to group them into the following, relatively homogeneous,
groups: one compromising North Eastern dialects, and the other compromising North Western
dialects and Southern dialects. Some of the main differences between the two groups are: The usage
of the "q" or "g" that in turn is, naturally, influenced by a variety of factors and linguistic strata, and

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

the difference in the used second-person singular pronoun, i.e. whether the same pronoun is used for
both female and male. Henceforth, for practical reasons, the first group is referred to as the Qdialects, and the second would be referred to as the G-dialects1.
The Q-dialects comprise the Grand Tunis dialects, the Sahel dialects, and the Sfax dialects.
The latter is, however, significantly different from the first two in multiple aspects, namely in the
type and length of the used vowels and the treatment of borrowed words. The G-dialects, though
sharing the usage of "g" instead of "q", are in their turn very distinguishable. Naturally, Tunisian
North Western dialects are close to Algerian North Eastern dialects, and Tunisian South Eastern
dialects are relatively close to Libyan Western dialects. Tunisian South Western dialects, while
remaining close to South Eastern ones, retain their own characteristics as well.
On the other hand, multiple local dialects within the regions of the Q-dialects use the "g"
instead, such as the old Bouhjar dialect, or the Touza dialect in the Sahel region. The opposite could
also be possible for G-dialect regions. Furthermore, words with q may exist in G-dialects regions
and the opposite is correct as well. For instance, the name of the city Gebes would not be
pronounced Qebes by a person using any of the Q-dialects. Similarly, the name of the island
Qarqna would not be pronounced Gargna in G-dialect regions. Other words such as belgde,
or belgda, which could mean "well", are not pronounced in a different way in Q-dialect regions.
This may suggest that the presence of the consonant g is prior to that of the q.
One of the most prominent projects that sought to map this diversity was L'Atlas
Linguistique de Tunisie, or The Linguistic Atlas of Tunisia, by Salah Mejri, Tayyeb Bakkouch, and
other.

This may also be relevant on the social level: Tunisia is still characterised with a high degree of regional
fractionalisation, and the usage of a particular dialect may suggest a particular social or economic background.

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

2.2 What is a Language?

The second half of the question that remains to be answered is: What is a language? To
answer this question one needs to examine the difference between a language and a dialect, and
what made some dialects become languages.
Linguistically, there is so far no universally acceptable definition or differentiation between
a language and a dialect. What makes a dialect become a language is a multitude of factors, most
importantly Politics, therefore the distinction is indeed subjective. Several dialects underwent
codification through numerous notable publications and became the de facto official standard of the
language. Arabic is not an exception, as what is nowadays called Arabic was in perhaps a dialect,
among many other, that underwent standardisation through the Quran.
Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible, however the political will decided
that they are considered as dialects of Chinese. The same case also applies for Arabic: Although
Moroccan and Omani are not mutually understandable, political interests and Pan-Arabist efforts
decided that they are dialects of Arabic. It may be incorrect to consider this as a diglossia in the
sense of several dialects that stemmed from a common Arabic language, but perhaps of close
dialects, in the anthropolinguistic sense, that used Arabic as a standard lingua franca due to its
liturgical, and again political, status.
To sum up, many linguists, particularly anthropological linguists, do not differentiate
between a dialect and a language. Perhaps one rule of thumb, humorous nevertheless, is the idiom
popularised by Max Weinreich who attributes to one of his auditors: A language is a dialect with
an army. Linguistic varieties are sometimes regarded as dialects if, among other, they do not have
a standardised form and if they are not used in publications.

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

3. The Case for Standardising Tunisian

Having clarified both terminologies, that of Tunisian and that of language, one would expect
that writing Tunisian would be a rather plain task. However many, particularly persons with PanArab or Pan-Islamic affinities, might challenge this with a variety of motivations and objections, for
instance: Why? Isn't Tunisian after all just a dialect of Arabic?, why write down a dialect when
one can learn Arabic?, Isn't it better to preserve Arabic, the language of the Great Arab Nation,
of Islam, and of the Quran?, etc. The following section would seek to comment these questions.

3.1.1

Tunisian and Arabic

Many would often tend to think that everyone in the often-referred-to-as Arab countries 2

speaks Arabic, id est Classical Arabic or perhaps a dialect of Arabic. This is further complicated
by the fact that many citizens of North African and West Asian states refer to the variety of
languages they uses as Arabic, much like what the indigenous Amazigh populations of North
Africa often refer to their linguistic varieties as Tamazight or Amazigh, and rarely use other
exonyms such as Tarifit or Tashelhit. LEDDY-CECERE (2010) notes that claiming otherwise
would be tantamount to denying an Arab identity altogether. Another reason for this may be that
the adjective Arabic is currently used in North Africa to mean eitherold, or local in contrast
to modern, or not fully adopted, a differentiation that may have been accentuated by the
European colonial efforts in the region. It might have also been initially used to mean foreign: For
instance Turkish coffee and Neo-Punic bathes are referred to respectively as Arabic coffee
and Arabic bathes. These may be re-borrowed expressions from European languages that have
2

The term Arab countries is perhaps one of the most common, yet, ambiguous terminologies in the region.
Politically it refers to countries that are members of the League of Arab States, which, in turn, is selective about
what may qualify as Arab, as not all countries where Arabic is an official language are members, for example
Chad or Israel. It may also refer to countries where a majority of citizens identify themselves as Arabs, whether
ethnically or linguistically, although this majority is assumed not accounted. The term Arabic-speaking countries,
may sometimes present ambiguities and may even be incorrect in certain contexts: No country in the world uses
Arabic, i.e. Classical Arabic or Modern Standard Arabic, as a language for its daily usage. On the other hand, if
what is meant by Arabic-speaking countries is, perhaps, countries where an alleged Arabic dialect is spoken,
then this definition leaves out multiple regions, for instance the state of Malta. There is therefore a need to refrain
from ethnic or linguistic classifications and use geographic or other, more neutral, terminologies.

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

previously identified such objects as Arab.

In other contexts, the term Arabian, orbn in Tunisian, is derogatory and carries the
meaning of nomad, primitive, or uncivilised. There are even some common sayings mocking
the behaviour of Sidi Larbi, or my Master t he Arab, as inflexible and even dull. One
Tunisian (Nesim Touzi, 2012), and possibly also Libyan (, 2005), folklore song is entitled Me
Jebouk rab Ye Meryem, litteraly meaning You Were Not Brought by Ar abs, O Maryem, and in
that context meaning You Were Not Given Birth to by Arabs, O Maryem. The interpretations of
the title and the lyrics can differ widely. Paradoxically also, Tunisians also have a common saying
praising Arabs, which is Sidi ennbi arbi, meaning our master the prophet is an Arab. This
ambivalence is only a bit of the ethnolinguistic and sociolinguistic aspects of Tunisian. The
situation has been further complicated by the political Pan-Arabist efforts that have, among other,
offered a very selective view of history to be taught in primary schools nearly excluding almost all
non-Arab and non-Punic heritage, changed the names of various Amazigh villages into a more
Arabic-sounding toponomy, and engaged in a skewed shift of the Tunisian cultural paradigms to
more, rather Arabised, ones, mainly through the deliberate absorption of cinematographic and
musical products from Egypt and other West Asian countries, rather then focusing and emphasising
on local ones.
Linguistically, Tunisian is radically different from Arabic in multiple aspects. To name a
few: the consonant-vowel-consonant structure in Arabic words does not necessarily apply in
Tunisian. In Tunisian it is perfectly conceivable for two consonants to be used consecutively in an
onset, while Arabic, and also Modern Egyptian, do not have this possibility. Words such as
Twensa, meaning Tunisians, are arabised to Tawanisa. Another difference is the shift in the
length of the vowels; such as the usage of the vowel e instead of the Arabic a or fat'ha, both
in the treatment of borrowed words and while reading a text in Arabic. For instance, a Tunisian

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

would most likely not read Dhahaba Amin ila'lmadrasati., a phrase in Arabic meaning Amin
went to school, yet Dhehebe Emin ile'lmadreseti, with the a remaining only in some proper
names and a few structures. In Tunisian, the phrase becomes Emn mche lelmadrsa, with the alef
completely disappearing in the beginning of the words, again remaining only in some proper
names3. As it can also be seen from the previous example, the Verb-Subject-Object structure found
in Arabic does not exist in Tunisian, but is instead morphed into a Subject-Verb-Object
construction. These differences and multiple other are mostly due to the Amazigh substrata, making
Tunisian perhaps the very young descendant of a several-hundred-year old pidgin language, that has
since been arabised due to the substantial usage of Arabic as the liturgical language of Islam. These
forms of Proto-Tunisian dialects may have emerged as pidgin languages between the indigenous
Amazigh populations and the new Arab colonisers and settlers; later undergoing creolisation or
koineisation, and gradually under a heavy Arabisation process, sometimes carried out by the
Amazigh themselves as means for political rule motivated by the Islam 4, and with the constant
contact with other Romance languages, it gave rise to current dialects of Tunisia. This view is also
suggested in VERSTEEGH (1984), where the author follows a language restructuring perspective
to view cases of creolisation in various North African and West Asian languages, and supports his
view with numerous examples of features that can be retraced to pre-Arabic languages present in
the area. For further related readings on the Amazigh substrata in Tunisian, MEJRISSI (2013) and
various other publications addressing the particularities of North African languages may be of
relevance. Tunisian also incorporates various Turkish influences, for instance the -ji suffix to
denote the profession, later becoming also the family name of many Tunisians. Various other
Turkish words were borrowed, such as babour, from the Turkish vapur, meaning ship. The
3
4

Nevertheless, when proper names are fully adopted into Tunisian, they lose the Alef sound completely. An
example is Amad, which becomes in Tunisian med.
The indigenous Amazigh and other populations of Tunisia made use of Arabic and Islam in politics, perhaps in the
same fashion that the Seljuqs made use of Abbasid dynasties and of Arabic titles after the fall of Baghdad in the
eleventh century.

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

use of words of Turkish origin has however been declining as they have been gradually substituted
with French or English words.
Furthermore, LEDDY-CECERE (2010) evaluates the sociolinguistic and sociohistorical
situations of Tunisia, and argues that Tunisian, through the example of the North Eastern dialect of
Sousse, have gone under a creolisation process. Various clues point out in this direction, including,
among other, the dialect's lexicosemantics and the fact that the question words are nearly all
bimorphemic. Similarly, while classifying Maltese as the most creole-like language, and to a lesser
extent Judeo-Tunisian, he views them as all stemming from a form of creole Proto-Tunisian with
various degrees of decreolisation. This decreolisation represents the process by which a creole,
through prolonged exposure to the superstrate language from which it derives, gradually sheds its
creole features in favour of those of the more prestigious superstrate language. This has possibly
been the case following the significant contact between the Amazigh substrata and the Arabic
superstratum or superstrata in Tunisia. It may be compared to an ongoing process in Tunisian,
where various French structures are being incorporated and used as native ones, though perhaps not
to the extent of decreolisation. This however remains a delicate point and is very debatable among
creolists and linguists, particularly the time span within which creolisation or decreolisation takes
place. This creolisation process is also a point rather ruthlessly refused to admit, as many, with each
their motivations, tend to minimise the differences between Tunisian and Arabic in a rather puritan
manner: While the contribution of other languages, aside from Arabic is ignored, the role of the
constant Arabisation through the mosques, that have been representing Islamisation and Arabisation
stations nearly for the last millennia of the region's history, is often overlooked. For some, who rely
almost unilaterally on Arabic and Arabocentric sources, it seems as if the populations of the region
were mute before the Arrival of the Arabs, and only began to speak, in Arabic of course, around the
eighth century. Such points do not stand when evaluating the history of Tunisia, and indeed serve

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

only for nave political purposes.

Arabic, one the other hand, has managed to keep its status so far because of Islam, and this
has been the case for centuries of Arab expansion and colonisation. A situation similar to how Latin
owed its status in the Middle Ages to Christianity, or to how French managed to grasp a strong
linguistic foothold in Sub-Saharan Africa, using the same religion as well. On the other hand, there
is equally a reason to believe that the Hilalite and the other tribes that contributed to the language
Arabisation process, did not necessarily speak the same Arabic as Muhammad, or the dialect, or
dialects, of Arabic that Uthman chose to use in transcribing the Quran. This leads us to the
following point: Claiming that Tunisian is a dialect derived from Arabic would imply for some that
Arabic in one of its Classical forms was widely spoken in Tunisia and then gave rise to a vernacular
variant that evolved into nowadays' Tunisian, which is historically inaccurate. Therefore, viewing
Tunisian as a a language that is derived from Arabic, in the sense of perhaps Old Norse and Swedish
may be incorrect. The relationship between Tunisian and Arabic is perhaps closer to the relationship
between Afrikaans and Dutch. Tunisian is as much Arabic as Yiddish is German. In MEJRISSI
(2013), the example of the English language is provided for illustration. The original text's footnotes
were embedded into the quotation:
Arabic may be to Tunisian, what French, particularly Norman, is to English, with
Amazigh being English's Anglo-Saxon: In the period following the Norman Conquest of
England, English retained most of its Germanic substrata and borrowed extensively
from the new linguistic varieties, which were those of the new conquering Elite. This
process resulted after many centuries in Middle English, in turn resulting after
multiple other centuries in Early Modern English, of which the current standardised
form that this document uses, is a descendant, after multiple other eras. Similarly, the
Arab Islamic invasion of Tunisia and the subsequent Hilalite settlements, accompanied
by the status of Arabic as the language adopted by the new rulers since it is that of the
new religion, pushed for an Arabisation of the region, resulting after around twelve
hundred years in Tunisian in its current forms. A proper metaphor to describe it could
perhaps be that of an Amazigh mindset trying to imitate Arabic in an environment filled
with Mediterranean new words for inventions and discoveries. It is however needless to
say that a Tunisian and a Saudi, for instance, would nowadays be unable to understand
each other if each speaks only their own local linguistic variety, and they would need to

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

10

resort to a third language, which would nowadays most likely be Egyptian, due
perhaps, among other, to the substantial film industry products of the country that were
heavily exported to all of North Africa and West Asia , or English, due perhaps, among
other, to the international lingua franca status that English managed to obtain.
Tunisian remains a dynamic language carrying thousands of years of Amazigh and NeoPunic substrata, encompassing vocabulary, morphology mechanisms, treatment of borrowed words,
grammar, and plenty of other features, with an extensive Arabic vocabulary, substantial Latin,
Italian, and Turkish impacts, and a growing French and nowadays English influence. Tunisian
without its significant Amazigh substrata would be incomplete, and without its Arabic, and other,
vocabulary would be plain "un-Tunisian".

3.1.2

Why standardise Tunisian?

The answer to this question may seem very obvious to some; for the rest, few points would

be examined. Opponents are invited to answer the question why not standarise Tunisian?.
Aside from the fact that the mere academic benefits are attractive, the widely-adopted
transcription of Tunisian offers a very interesting access to one of the main aspects of the Tunisian
culture. Few examples of publications in Tunisian might include many of Bechir Khrayef's works, a
book by Tawfiq Ben Brik entitled Kalb ben kalb, or Dog son of a dog, in reference to a
common Tunisian insult, and a reported translation of Saint-Exupry's the Little Prince into
Tunisian by Hdi Balegh (MEJRI, 2000), who also authored a collection of publications on
Tunisian Sayings. Other publications include the Farzazzou and the Dhedd Essolta newspapers,
and various columns on other journals where authors wrote in a form of language in between
Tunisian and Arabic. The first electronic magazine in Tunisian is perhaps the Tachlik magazine.
Other various material is widely present on various online sources, even essays about Sartre's works
in Tunisian, however in no particular standardised form; and to access it, knowledge of both
Tunisian, Arabic, and French is usually needed. All of the past attempts to write Tunisian were not

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

11

within any standardisation schemes, they were mostly following the Arabic grammar rules, or a
simplified version of it. Tunisian has been even written since before the country's independence
from France, and the Tunisian leader Habib Bourguiba used Tunisian in his speeches, as perhaps
part of his vision of forging a Tunisian identity. An example using Tunisian can be found in the
illustration below: A picture of a pre-independence poster advertising a theatre play entitled
women are not in danger, in Tunisian enns mouch fi khtar, written in Arabic script. Aside from
the title, everything else is in Arabic. The used numbers seen on the upper right corner of the
illustration follow the Indian numerals convention; such numerals are not in use any more in
Tunisia, as their usage was very connected to the Turkish influence.
Illustration 1: An Example of Texts in Tunisian

Source: Author's archive

The transcription and recognition of Tunisian is a recognition of all the heritage and the
languages and that contributed to its shaping. It is also a reconciliation of the linguistic
contradictions in the country where one speaks a language but needs to resort to either of two
different ones, i.e. Arabic or French for official uses, as not all of the Tunisian population fully
masters these two languages. It serves little purpose to use two foreign languages and to look down

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

12

on one's own linguistic variety. This itself is a rather unnatural state: It does not make sense to speak
a language, write a different one, and call them both the same. Worse, it is rather inconceivable to
speak a language and not be able to properly write it.
On the other, rather political, hand, acknowledging Tunisian as a language would strengthen
the sense of a Tunisian national identity. The political adoption of the standardisation of Tunisian
would set a precedent in North Africa, as no other North-African-related language is standardised,
aside of course from Tunisian's cousin, the Maltese language. Standardisation would definitely
contribute to the preservation of the Tunisian common memory and to more intense academic
interaction within Tunisia's similar linguistic environment, particularly the whole of North Africa
and Malta.

3.1.3

Preserving the language of the Great Arab Nation, of Islam,

and of the Quran
The standardisation of Tunisian should not be seen as an opposition to Arabic. It is after all

the Tunisians' right to be able to speak and read their language and pass down their heritage. Such
nave refusal, mostly by Pan-Arabists and puritans, is unfounded and it is only their choice and
responsibility if they wish to oppose Tunisian to Arabic. The standardisation of Tunisian may not go
along with the political objectives of a particular faction, but it serves very well the interest of all
Tunisians, as explained above. Furthermore, the call to the "return to use Arabic" is rather absurd, as
never in their history did Tunisians speak the same language as the Quran. It may have been used as
an elite language or for official use, but such was the use of Latin when Old French was being
spoken in France. Most importantly, no authority has the right to deny the usage of one language,
while claiming that another is better, regardless of what any book or doctrine may suggest.
The standard Tunisian language would most definitely acknowledge the immense
contribution of Arabic, however the nature of languages is evolution, in various ways, and a

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

13

standardised Tunisian is but a step further. In that sense, Arabic would still be Tunisia's first foreign
language, at least for the near future, as it has been since the Arab colonisation and the subsequent
Hilalite invasions.

4. Transcribing Tunisian
4.1 Which Tunisian?
One further challenge that opponents often set is which Tunisian to transcribe?. While this
however admits implicitly the possibility of standardising Tunisian, it ignores one of the most
historically important milestones in the history of languages: As it has been the case for various
other linguistic varieties, it would indeed be the political will, accompanied by the media efforts,
that would choose one particular variant of Tunisian as the standard form. One example is when the
Independent Higher Authority for Elections in Tunisia chose a slogan in North-Eastern Tunisian
reading wqayyet bech tqayyed, transcribed officially in Arabic letters with and
roughly meaning time to register. This seemed distasteful to Tunisia's then-candidate and later its
post-October-2011 interim president, Monsef Marzouqi, who later wrote and published an article
contesting the measure and calling Creole languages a cancer, and demanding the criminalisation
of the usage of Tunisian in media and the exclusive usage of Arabic (, 2011).
In this paper, and in the following publication by the author, and hopefully by the League of
Tunisian Humanists and other parties, the used dialect aspires to be as neutral as possible and as
comprehensible as possible. It could nevertheless be heavily influenced by the characteristics of the
Q-dialects group, and naturally by the time frame of the transcription.

4.2 The STUNdard Method

The STUNdard method takes its name from a portmanteau of the words Standard and
Tunisian. It provides the transcription in a modified Latin alphabet. The method is largely based on

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

14

the Maltese, Amazigh Latin, and French alphabets. Its main aim is to combine fidelity in speech
transcription and processing, and to provide an accessible method to read Tunisian. The method
uses basic Latin alphabet and adds two characters: The letter , present in the Amazigh Latin
alphabet among other, is used transcribe a voiced pharyngeal fricative / approximate, of which the
IPA symbol is // or //. The letter , present in the Maltese Alphabet among other, is used to
transcribe a voiceless pharyngeal fricative, of which the IPA symbol is the same, i.e. //. The
Unicode position for the lower case is U+025B, and the Unicode position for the upper case
is U+0190. The Unicode position for the lower case is U+0127 , and the Unicode position
for the upper case is U+0126. When using the STUNdard method, all the Tunisian words are
written exactly as they are pronounced.
The tables below provide further details about the alphabet. Some of their contents has been
also published on the STUNdard weblog, available through the link: www.stundard.wordpress.com.
The weblog also features various resources that may be of use.
Table 1: The STUNdard Method
Upper Lower
Case Case
Letter Letter

Example in
Tunisian

Example
in
English

Notes

Aryena

America

Benzart

Bee

Contratou

Cat

Douz

Dear

Elkf

Dead

Sound usually aspirated in the beginning of a word

in Drahem

N/A

Voiced pharyngeal fricative / approximate

Feryene

Free

Gafsa

Give

Hergla

Have

ouma

N/A

Sidi Bouzid

Meet

Voiceless Pharyngeal fricative

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

15

Table 1: The STUNdard Method

Upper Lower
Case Case
Letter Letter

Example in
Tunisian

Example
in
English

Notes

Jandouba

Genre

Kbir

King

Lamta

Love

Moknin

Moon

Nebel

Near

Omm Larayess Odd

Portabel

Please

Qarqna

N/A

Voiceless uvular stop

Rdayyef

N/A

An alveolar trill

Sousa

Sleep

Tounis / Tatawin Take

Errvolusion

N/A

Villa

Violin

Twensa

Well

Ettaxi

Taxi

Yesmin

Yell

Zaghwn

Zero

Close front rounded vowel

Additionlly, other sound can be transcribed with a double-consonant combination through

adding an h to one of the other consonants such as:
Table 2: STUNdard Two-Letter Combinations
Upper case Lower Case
Combination Combination

Example
in
Tunisian

Example
in
English

Ch

ch

Chbika

Shore

Dh

dh

Dh'habb

The

Notes

Arabic D'dhad, i.e. ( d), does not exist

in Tunisian, and is indistinguishable from
( ). Furthermore, ( ) and ( )
have practically merged in Tunisian.

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

16

Table 2: STUNdard Two-Letter Combinations

Upper case Lower Case
Combination Combination

Example
in
Tunisian

Example
in
English

Notes

Gh

gh

Ghomrasen N/A

Voiced velar fricative

Kh

kg

Khnis

N/A

Voiceless velar fricative

Ou

ou

Touzer

Good

Th

th

Theni

Three

In loanwords, other double-letter sounds may be also used as present in their original
language, or may also be changed into their Tunisian equivalents. For example the usage of ph
could follow the French pronunciation, i.e. pronounced f, or could also be substituted with an f.
The sound ph itself is from the Greek letter and has been borrowed by French and other
languages. Other loanwords that have not been completely adopted, could be either written in the
way they are written in the original language, or also be standardised. For example, the French word
administration could remain as such, or be transcribed administrasion depending on the writer's
own choice, and also on the general and the particular context. An example of a word that has been
adopted and would be standardised is the French tlphone portable, becoming telifoun
portabel. Additionnally, the letter may be used to indicate a short e, for example in an.
Other variations of letters such as , , , or may be used to indicate a long vowel. For
instance korraset Slim, means the copy book of Slim, and korrast Slim means the copy books
of Slim. Similarly tabbe would mean ordering someone to follow, while tabb would mean
a person who follows.
The punctuation could follow the English mode: for example, unlike French, there seems to
be no need to leave a space between the last word of a sentence and a subsequent exclamation or an
interrogation mark. In addition, the usage of the apostrophe, ', is similar to the usage of the dash,

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

17

-, in the Maltese language, but with slightly more functions. Among its uses is the separation of
letters, in case a confusion due to two-letter combinations might occur; for example in t'hanna
meaning be sure and theni meaning second. The apostrophe is also used between two
consecutive two-letter consonants; for example: kh'dhit. It may also be used to indicate stress on
the alef sound: Although it is mostly aspirated or silent, particularly in the beginning of the words,
the apostrophe can be used sometimes in words of Arabic origin to indicate a needed pronunciation,
particularly in the case of a diaeresis. For instance, the Arabic word , transcribed as al'ardh
and meaning the land among other, would be lardh in Tunisian, without any alef sounds at
all. If however the context requires a more Arabised pronunciation, it could be then transcribed as
el'ardh. Furthermore, the apostrophe could also be used to indicate an acronym or an initialism,
for instance: el'PC, or es'STEG.
The conjunction w, meaning and, is written separately. Although in Classical Arabic and
Hebrew it is written attached to the subsequent word. Various influences have contributed to a
common practice of separating the conjunction from the word. The separated orthography is used
for simplification reasons. The w remains the only conjunction present in Tunisian, as the Arabic
fa ( )and thomma ( )do not exist.
The definite articles are written attached to the word to avoid confusion in the case of the
first letter of the word being a solar letter. For example the word chams, meaning sun, would
become ech'chams. The word gamra, meaning moon, would become elgamra. If it were the
opposite, i.e. ech chams and el gamra, it might become confusing and may be impractical.
While Maltese solved this by adding a dash between the article and the word, e.g. xemx
becoming ix-xemx and qamar becoming il-qamar, the STUNdard methods simplifies this by
omitting the symbols or the spaces between the article and the word following. Writing the articles
separately remains a valid, albeit problematic, possibility nevertheless. Examples are found in the

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

18

following table.
Table 3: Transcription of Definite Articles
Solar
letter
example

Dar

Eddar

Feddar

W feddar

W feddar
mteou

Fi dar

Fi darou

W fi
darou

Translati
on in
English

House

The
house

In the
house

And in
And in
the house
the house
(of) his

In a
house

In his
house

And in
his house

Lunar
Letter
example

Bit

Elbit

Felbit

W felbit

W felbit
mteou

Fi bit

Fi bitou

W fi
bitou

Translati
on in
English

Room

The room

In the
room

And in
And in
the room In a room
the room
(of) his

In his
room

And in
his room

It may be possible to justify the need for the character , as many could see its
transcription possible through the usage of other vowels, such as , , , , depending on
the following vowel. This however may be misleading in the cases where the is preceded by a
vowel, or when it is followed by another consonant in the same onset. It is also the case when the
is the last sound in a word and is not followed by any other character, and likewise when the
consonant is doubled. Details could be further evaluated in the following table through the usage of
various Tunisian examples. The column Other Transcription(s) uses the following consonant to
the , and in case of its absence the preceding one, as an indicator for the character to be used.
Table 4: Issues of Transcription Related to the Voiced Pharyngeal Fricative / Approximate Sound
STUNdard
Other
Transcription Transcription(s)

Meaning in English

Tlat

Tlat

I / You (singular) climbed

Tla

Tla

He climbed

Talet

Talet

She climbed

Tlana

Tlana

We climbed

Tlatou

Tlatou

You (plural) climbed

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

19

Table 4: Issues of Transcription Related to the Voiced Pharyngeal Fricative / Approximate Sound
STUNdard
Other
Transcription Transcription(s)

Meaning in English

Talou

Talou

They climbed

Talt

Talt

Plural noun of one climbing time, could also mean trips,

the latter meaning might have occurred through semantic
change following the usage of up and down as directions.

Talla

Talla

An imperative form of guess or lift

Tollia

Tollia

Riddle

Tebtou

Tebtou

You (plural) are tired

Baed

Baed

An imperative form of move. The word could also mean

after.

As exhibited by the table, although the transcription of the is feasible through the usage
of rule of the following vowel, it may be confusing and impractical 5. This hopefully explains its
addition. Furthermore, the usage of this character is preferred due to its possible visual
identification with the Arabic letter that is used to transcribe the same sound, as well as the
number 3, de facto used to transcribe the same sound on various online and other sources using
the Latin script. The letter is preferred over the Maltese alternative g, for simplicity and
efficiency purposes. Furthermore, the is a consonant and not a vowel, and its transcription
through the characters commonly viewed as vowels may be further confusing on other levels.
The paragraph below is an example of texts using the STUNdard method:
Barcha ynajjmou yasalou lech hedha elkoll? Maw nektbou yema belfransawi yema
belarbi wana martein. Elmochkla atta ken tetallem Elarbi wela Elfransawi,
mouch bech tnajjem tefhem Ettounsi w mouch bech tnajjem taki bettounsi. Nebbou
wela nakrhou ana Twensa qbal w bad koll chay, w kif nouslou nektbou loughetna
bettounsi w naqrawha kif kif bettounsi anna aja en commun tlemmna ennss elkoll.
Hedheya elli nebbou namlouh w nwasslouh, w yatik essaa kif sbart w qrit
elparagraf elkoll bettounsi. Ken famma ayy aja ennajmou nawnou beha contactina.
Marbe bik.
As a summary for this section, a comparison with the Amazigh Latin, Arabic, Maltese, and
5

It remains however an option in case of needed English-letter-only transcription. Through using the abovementioned rule and then the removal of the circumflex diacritic.

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

20

Tifinagh alphabets is suggested.

Table 5: Amazigh Latin, Arabic, Maltese, Tifinagh, and Tunisian Alphabets
Tunisian Amazigh Latin Maltese Tifinagh

Arabic

Used mainly in loanwords,

otherwise replaced by k

//

Ch

Dh

Gh

Kh

O
Ou

O
U

Th

Used mainly in loanwords

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

21

Table 5: Amazigh Latin, Arabic, Maltese, Tifinagh, and Tunisian Alphabets

Tunisian Amazigh Latin Maltese Tifinagh
V
W

Arabic

Used mainly in loanwords

4.3 The STUNdared Arlette and Alternative Methods

For various reasons, many may prefer using Arabic and similar letters to transcribe Tunisian.
Following this rationale, the STUNdard Arlette method is another similar proposal using an Arabicbased alphabet, with Arlette being a portmanteau of Arabic and letters. The alphabet
comprises all the 28 letters and adds the Persian three-dotted , of which the Unicode position is
U+067E, as well as the Kurdish three-top-dotted , and its three-bottom-dotted variant , of
which the respective Unicode positions are U+06A8 and U+06A5.
The method proposes to disregard the differences between ,, and and between
and , as their sounds have practically merged in Tunisian. Words borrowed from Arabic that
still retain their characteristics would equally either be written as they are originally found or
transcribed with their Tunisian counterparts. It also suggests to disregard any historical
inconsistencies related to the transcription of the Arabic glottal stop hamza, i.e. and simply
use the alef, i.e. , when required. Other points may be the conservation of the shadda to
signal a doubled consonant, and the possible replacement of the silent final in the ending by an
, except perhaps for existing Arabic words that have a common transcription. Furthermore, the
conjunction could be written separately from the word, and the silent present in Arabic at the
end of the verbs conjugated with plural pronouns could be dropped.

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

22

Table 6: The STUNdard Arlette Method

Notes

Example
in Arabic

Example in
Tunisian

STUNdard
Equivalent

STUNdard
Arlette
Letter

Th

Kh

Dh

Ch

Ss

Dh

T / Tt

Dh

Gh

Does not exist in Arabic

In Tunisian, it is pronounced dh,

unlike the Arabic d'dh.
Could also be transcribed as

Does not exist in Arabic

Does not exist in Arabic

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

23

Table 6: The STUNdard Arlette Method

STUNdard
Arlette
Letter

STUNdard
Equivalent

Example in
Tunisian

Example
in Arabic

Notes

The paragraph below is an example of texts using the STUNdard Arlette method:
.

.

.
. . .
Various problems arise when using this script though. First of all, as the alphabet above is an
Abjad, there are no vowels, hence the problem of diacritics that is also found in Arabic. A person
with no prior knowledge of how a Tunisian word should be pronounced would not know how to
properly read it. Furthermore, even when using the same diacritics found in Arabic, there is no way
to transcribe the differences of a and e for example, unless perhaps through a system using
another consonant as a vowel, similar to the the Kurdish Sorani alphabet. This is further
complicated by the constant recourse to script-switching, particularly when writing any text with
borrowed terms from other languages that cannot be fully transcribed with Arabic letters; and as
French words, or words of French origin, make up an important mass in the Tunisian lexicon, the
matter is further complicated. One possibility is to use the closest vowel in transcription, for
example transcribe errvolusion as
", or an, the Gebes first-person singular
pronoun, as ". This however is not recommended as it is not a truthful transcription of how the
sounds is, and will most certainly cause confusion on the proper manner of pronunciation. The
previous example of is sufficient to see this puzzle: Without proper knowledge of the context,
it would not be possible to know how to pronounce it: ni, eni, an, or ani; those four

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

24

options being actual varieties of the first-person singular pronoun in Tunisia. Arabic, as is, simply
lacks the proper vowels for Tunisian. And this method still needs to be either further developed, or
abandoned altogether, if perspectives are not very promising.

5. Comparison and Potentials

It may be arguable that, since Tunisian shares plenty of its vocabulary, or to be exact of the
origin of the words in its vocabulary, with Arabic, then the Arabic script seems more suitable for
transcription. While this may seem a defensible position, it could however be refuted on multiple
levels.
First of all, a script and a language, although very interrelated, are not the same. Multiple
languages, of different linguistic families, could be written in the same script. For example,
Vietnamese and Spanish, although very distant, both use the Latin Script. Similarly also, Persian
and Arabic use a relatively similar script, although being from different linguistic families.
Additionally, the choice of the Alphabet is very much dependent on political reasons, and a
language can also change the script it is written with, if political will, among other, is present.
Vietnamese switched to Latin script from the Confucian script after French colonisation, and
similarly the Persian language adopted an Arabic-derived alphabet after the political influence of
the Arab-Islamic expansions and colonisations. Another notable example is that of the Turkish
language, that has switched from an Arabic-derived script to a Latin-derived script.
Furthermore, languages could also be written with multiple scripts at the same time. Kurdish
for example, is written in both the Latin-based Hawar alphabet, and also the Arabic-based Sorani
alphabet; it was also written using a Cyrillic-based alphabet. However, this process is usually
limited in time, until a de facto, or a de jure, adoption of a common script. It is also worth
mentioning that in other cases, languages could be written with different systems using the same

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

25

script. An example is the Norwegian language, which could be written in both the Nynorsk and the
Bokml standards, both using Latin-based scripts.
The following table aims to provide a comparison of the trade-offs between the two methods
from the perspective of persons who have access to one script but not the other, i.e. knowledge of
the Latin alphabet but not the Arabic one, and inversely.

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

26

Table 7: Comparison of the Alphabets

Feature
Vowels

Additional
consonants

Details

STUNdard

STUNdard Arlette

Unlike Arabic,
Possible
Tunisian has various,
long and short,
vowels, namely a, ,
e, , i, , o, ou, ...

Not possible, unless using a

"Kurdish-like" or "Uyghur-like"
true alphabet. This could
however complicate
transcription even further and
may render readability
confusing for the uninitiated.
Using an enhanced Arabic
diacritics, i.e. Tashkil, system is
also another alternative but a
much more complicated one.
Even when transcribing Arabic,
the usage of these diacritics is
very often skipped and remains
perhaps the exclusivity of the
Quranic or other related texts.

Some sounds lack in

either of the
alphabets or are not
intuitively
recognisable

Possible with the

addition of two
characters: and ,
aside from the
intuitively-recognisable
two-letter combinations

Possible with the addition of

three characters: ,, and
, as well as their conditional
initial, medial, and final forms

Possible

Possible, though noticeably

more complicated, particularly
due to the cursive writing and
the conditional forms, among
other

Comprehension Readability

Accessibility

Prerequisites in order Anyone who has access Anyone who has access to the
to be able to properly to the Latin alphabet
Arabic alphabet, and to prior
read.
knowledge of Tunisian

Consonantconsonantvowel
occurrence

Unlike Arabic,
Possible
Tunisian can have
multiple consonants
in one onset, which
could be complicated
to read for those who
are rather familiar
with Arabic.

Possible, with the usage of the

Arabic sukun, , diacritic

Particularly when
writing a text with a
borrowed word, an
initialism, or other

Script-switching occurs
persistently

Scriptswitching

Possible

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

27

Table 7: Comparison of the Alphabets

Feature
Limitations

Details

STUNdard

STUNdard Arlette

Transcription of some
sounds, could be solved
by adding more
characters or
combinations

Fidelity, i.e. does not transcribe

Tunisian as it is; access to
Tunisian would be conditioned
to prior knowledge of both
Arabic and Tunisian in order to
properly identify the words.

To reiterate: There is no problem for the two systems to co-exist for the same language,
similarly to the examples of the Norwegian Bokml and the Norwegian Nynorsk, and the Kurdish
Hawar and the Kurdish Sorani alphabets, among many other. STUNdard could be used to transcribe
material in a Latin-based alphabet and some of its various uses may, for example, be the easy
possibility of learning Tunisian by the children of Tunisian immigrants in countries using a Latin
script. Its usage will certainly provide publications in Tunisian with a wider accession and impact.
Similarly, The STUNdard Arlette could equally have its niche of users, preferring an Arabic-based
script; the differences remain technical. Providing material in both Latin-derived, Arabic-derived,
and perhaps also Tifinagh alphabets is a rather interesting, though complicated, prospect. The latter
option, i.e. the North-Africa-native Tifinagh, seems currently a rather far-fetched possibility for
various reasons, it is however interestingly the script that solves most of the limitations and where
no additional letters would have to be added, unlike the Latin-derived and the Arabic-derived
proposals.
The usage of the Latin-based Alphabet may be justified by various reasons, most
prominently its accessibility, as it has been almost established as a universally-recognisable script.
This would tremendously facilitate the access to Tunisian, especially within the current contexts of
globalisation and Mediterranean integration, and would equally allow Tunisian to easily adopt
newly-borrowed words that use the same script, as well as other words that have been already

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

28

borrowed by languages using the same script. Its adoption is also relatively easy considering the
presence of the Maltese experience: Maltese is a very close, and fairly intelligible language with
Tunisian, that already uses a Latin-based alphabet for its transcription. It is indeed an experimental
proof of such proved successful adoption. A Latin-based alphabet would, among other, provide for
the missing consonants and vowels in Arabic, solve script-switching problems present when an
Arabic-based script is used, and would still provide a high level of fidelity of transcription that the
diacritic-less, as nearly-always written, Arabic-based script lacks. In practice however, its usage
would be unfortunately very limited, due to various religious and cultural impediments, unless
proper political will is available.
To summarise, the example of a Tunisian translation of the Wikipedia article related to the
Solar System is provided. The source of the text in English can be found in Solar System (2014).
Table 8: Comparison Through the Example of an Article Related to the Solar System
English Text
The Solar System is the Sun
and the objects that orbit the
Sun. These are a planetary
system of eight planets and
various secondary bodies,
dwarf planets and small Solar
System objects that orbit the
Sun directly, as well as
satellites (moons) that orbit
many planets and smaller
objects. The Solar System
formed 4.6 billion years ago
from the gravitational collapse
of a giant molecular cloud. The
vast majority of the system's
mass is in the Sun, with most of
the remaining mass contained
in Jupiter. The four smaller
inner planets, Mercury, Venus,
Earth and Mars, also called the
terrestrial planets, are primarily

Tunisian Translations
Essystm Solr houwa
Ech'chams w lobjet elli eddour
la Ech'chams. Lobjet
hedhouma houma systm
planetr fih thmanya planett w
ajsm secondr mekhtalfin,
plantet dwarf w objet sghar
mta Systm Solr ydourou
direct la Ech'chams, w zede
satelitt (gamrt) ydourou la
barcha planett w objet asghar.
Essystm Solr tforma 4.6
melyar am lteli mettia
gravitationl mta saba
moleculr emleqa. Elmajorit
elkbira mta elmass mta
essystm hiya Ech'chams. W
lakthariya mta elmass lokhra
mawjouda fi Joupitr. Larba
planett essghar eddakhlenin,
Mercur, Venus, Lardh w Mars,

.




)(
.
4.6

.
.

.

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

29

Table 8: Comparison Through the Example of an Article Related to the Solar System
English Text
composed of rock and metal.

The four outer planets, called

the gas giants, are substantially
more massive than the
terrestrials. The two largest,
Jupiter and Saturn, are
composed mainly of hydrogen
and helium; the two outermost
planets, Uranus and Neptune,
are composed largely of
substances with relatively high
melting points (compared with
hydrogen and helium), called
ices, such as water, ammonia
and methane, and are often
referred to separately as "ice
giants". All planets have almost
circular orbits that lie within a
nearly flat disc called the
ecliptic plane.

Tunisian Translations
elli yetsammew zede planett
terrestril, metkawwnin
lakthariya men jar w metal.

Larba planett elbarranin, elli

yetsammew zede gas giants,
" " akber barcha melplanett
. terrestril. Ezzouz lekbr
belkoll, Joupitr w Saturn,
metkawwnin principalement
men hidrojn w helyom; ezzouz
planett elbarranin boukoll,
Uranus w Neptun, metkawwnin
lakthariya men substanct
and'hom melting points
) relativement alin (kif
yetcomparw ma elhidrogn w
(
elhelyom), yetsammew thlouja,
kima elm, ammonia w methan,
." " w zeda sat yetsammew
waad'hom bice giants.
-
Elplanett elkoll and'hom orbit
- presque-circulr mawjoud fi
." " wost disk quasi-msatta
yetsamma ecliptic plane.

Material for both methods, as well as modified keyboard applications and tutorials for the
three main operating systems DAVIS (n.d.), i.e. Windows, Linux, and Mac, have been compiled and
made available at the STUNdard weblog.

6. Conclusion
This essay sought to argue for an imminent standardisation of the Tunisian Language. To
further add to the discussion, it proposes two possible transcription methods. In the upcoming
future, if the proper resource needs would be adressed, a dictionary in Tunisian and various other
tools to promote the official use of the native language, could hopefully be made publicly available
by the League of Tunisian Humanists, or other organisations. These establishments, through a

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

30

Tunisian Academy project, would provide the needed institutional support for a naturally
forthcoming standardisation of Tunisian.
Emphasis on publications, dictionaries, and other literature in Tunisian is a priority for
multiple reasons, many of them already cited. The political efforts of emptying a Tunisian identity
and filling it with another foreign one are vile and must come to an end. The attainment of the
honourable status of a language would bring an end to the identity crisis in the country and would
indeed clearly reflect the plural components of this identity through its tongue, which has been
carrying Tunisian heritage, history, and identity for as long as Tunisia has been a land. Tunisian is
very interrelated with Arabic, but it is not the same, and it is perhaps time to examine closely all the
aspects of the Tunisian culture with the proper tools: the most important of all, a common
standardised Tunisian language. Indeed, any efforts in such direction would be met with much
conservative opposition, accusing such approaches of being nationalist or other, yet who is it blame
here: Those who claim their right to write their language and transfer their heritage to future
generations, or those who look down upon their language and identity and seek to absurdly deify
any other one? There is perhaps an aspiration that, with the hopefully increasing freedom of
information, awareness would be raised and Tunisians would hopefully work on what may seem
more efficient in that direction while considering the proper objectives and contexts.
This may indeed seem as a defiance of the status quo, where Tunisian remains unwritten and
official use is the exclusivity of Arabic and French; it is instead suggested to view the
standardisation of Tunisian as a natural step in the course of the linguistic reality of Tunisia and the
region.

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: An Example of Texts in Tunisian.................................................................................11

ON THE STANDARDISATION OF TUNISIAN

31

Index of Tables
Table 1: The STUNdard Method........................................................................................................14
Table 2: STUNdard Two-Letter Combinations..................................................................................15
Table 3: Transcription of Definite Articles.........................................................................................18
Table 4: Issues of Transcription Related to the Voiced Pharyngeal Fricative / Approximate Sound. 18
Table 5: Amazigh Latin, Arabic, Maltese, Tifinagh, and Tunisian Alphabets....................................20
Table 6: The STUNdard Arlette Method............................................................................................22
Table 7: Comparison of the Alphabets...............................................................................................26
Table 8: Comparison Through the Example of an Article Related to the Solar System....................28

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LEDDY-CECERE (2010): LEDDY-CECERE, Thomas A., Contact, Restructuring, and
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