(Janua Linguarum - Series Practica, Vol. 236) Alan S. Kaye - Chadian and Sudanese Arabic in The Light of Comparative Arabic Dialectology (19

JANUA LINGUARUM
STUDIA MEMORIAE
NICOLAI VAN WIJK DEDICATA
edenda curat
C. H. VAN S C H O O N E V E L D
Indiana University
Series Practica 236

CHADIAN AND
SUDANESE ARABIC
IN THE LIGHT OF
COMPARATIVE ARABIC
DIALECTOLOGY
by
A L A N S. K A Y E , P h . D .
California State University
Fullerton, California
1976
MOUTON
THE HAGUE · PARIS
© Copyright 1976 in The Netherlands.
Mouton & Co. Β.V., Publishers, The Hague.
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ISBN 90 279 33243
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and
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PREFACE
The study of Arabic linguistics and Arabic dialectology is mainly limited

to the study of classical Arabic, old Arabic dialects, Middle Arabic
dialects, and some of the modern dialects. The aim of this work is to
present an introduction to selected synchronic and diachronic aspects
of the two most neglected areas of the modern sedentary Arabic dialects,
i.e. Sudanese colloquial Arabic and Chadian Arabic. Sobelman (1962)
presents state of the art articles on Syrian, Egyptian, Arabian, Iraqi,
North African, and Maltese dialects. In chapters 1 and 2 of this work,
we have presented state of the art papers which indicate the present
condition of our knowledge. We have also tried to present outlines of
the grammar of each dialect. The lack of scholarly attention to these
major dialects is due to the relatively remote geographical positions of
the Sudan and Chad as well as to dialectologists' preference for more
"civilized" areas in which to do research, e.g. Egypt or Lebanon. Even
Maltese, with far fewer speakers than Chadian Arabic, has received
considerable linguistic attention.
Chapter 3 takes a long detailed look at the hypothesis of the Arabic
koine (Ferguson 1959c), and chapters 4 and 5 examine each one of the
proposed features in terms of the two dialects under consideration.
We have endeavored to elucidate some of the intricate problems con-
nected with this subject, and to demonstrate the crucial importance of
Sudanese colloquial Arabic and Chadian Arabic materials for a full
understanding of the history of Arabic. We have tried not to chop the
subject up too much and not to dwell upon too many isolated details, but
rather to follow and emphasize those details which are in fact inter-
connected. Our principal goal is a more or less complete picture of the
significance of both of these macrodialects, rather than a presentation of
grammatical details. Anyone who has studied classical Arabic and one
modern dialect can see the interest and fascination for both of these
dialects — a fascination which I first developed in 1967-68 while partici-
pating in Joshua Blau's seminars in Arabic dialectology at the Univer-
vi PREFACE
sity of California, Berkeley, where he was a Visiting Professor.

We should still welcome studies on Sudanese colloquial Arabic and
Chadian Arabic, especially on the subdialects, but this would require
a team effort which is not possible in the near future because of the
civil wars ravaging both countries.
When I first looked at both dialects, I frankly did not believe much
of the data available in some parts of the literature. I therefore thought
that I should travel to both the Sudan and Chad to confirm or reject
many of the statements in these sources. This I was able to do from June
1, 1970, to September 1, 1970, through a grant of the National Science
Foundation, Program in Anthropology, GS-2946, which enabled m e t o
spend three months in Chad and the Sudan gathering information.
Grateful acknowledgement must be recorded to the National Science
Foundation for this aid. My own personal observations have largely
contradicted most of the statements in available linguistic materials.
Much of this work is taken into consideration and is observable in the
following pages of this work.
Finally, I wish to thank Professor M. B. Emeneau for his many kind
efforts on my behalf — efforts too numerous to mention here. 1
A. S. K.
Fullerton, Calif.
' The present work was written during 1968-70 and revised in early 1971. The final
version of the manuscript was finished in mid-1971. Thus the many references to work
in progress or forthcoming publications must be viewed in that framework (for instance
the Roth-Laly Lexique, vols. 2-4, were completed in 1972). Also recent events in Chad
and the Sudan have made some of my statements about those two countries out-of-date.
I have also had the opportunity to study Nigerian Arabic in Nigeria during 1973-74
under grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American
Philosophical Society. What I now know about Nigerian Arabic would have enhanced
many parts of the discussion in this book, regretfully. But that is the subject of a future
study.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ν
Table of Contents vii
Abbreviations 5
1. Sudanese Colloquial Arabic: The State of the Art 1
1.1. Dialects of Arabic in the Sudan 1
1.2. Historical background of the linguistic structure of
the Sudan 1
1.3. Diversity of dialects 2
1.4. The need for the first English-Arabic vocabulary . . . 2
1.5. Purpose of a vocabulary 2
1.6. Characteristics of SCA 2
1.7. The earliest manuscripts in SCA 3
1.8. Linguistic features of SCA manuscripts 4
1.9. Variety of material recorded in the tabaqat 4
1.10. Early structure of SCA^ 4
1.11. Poetic structure of the Sukriyya dialect 5
1.12. Importance of Amery's work 5
1.13. Amery's approach to the language 6
1.14. Transcriptional procedure 6
1.15. Shortcomings of Amery's transcription 7
1.16. Voiced pharyngeal spirant in Amery's transcription 7
1.17. Further inadequacies in Amery's transcription . . . . 7
1.18. Classical Arabic influence on Amery's transcription . 8
1.19. Classicisms in'pure'SCA vocabulary 8
1.20. 'Purity'of the Arabic of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 8
1.21. Another treatise of SCA 9
1.22. Sudanese grammar — standard work on SCA .... 10
1.23. Nalder's criticism 11
1.24. Shortcomings of Worsley's and Trimingham's
grammars 11
vili TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.25. Worsley's statement on description of Sudanese sounds 11

1.26. Influence of emphatic consonants 11
1.27. Trimingham's statement on the same problem . . . . 12
1.28. Counterpoint to Worsley's statement 12
1.29. Occurrence of hamza in SCA 12
1.30. Changes o f ' 12
1.31. Accent in SCA 13
1.32. Increasing publicity of SCA 13
1.33. Value of Hillelson's vocabulary 13
1.34. Hillelson's contribution to the transcription of SCA . 13
1.35. Hillelson's concept of a koine for SCA 13
1.36. Shortcomings of Hillelson's generalizations 14
1.37. Uniqueness of Hillelson's generalizations 15
1.38. Specialized vocabularies of SCA 15
1.39. Nicholson and his specialized vocabulary on the water
wheel 15
1.40. Bell's vocabulary and its shortcomings 16
1.41. Burton's work 16
1.42. Failures of Burton's description of Arabic sounds . . 16
1.43. Conveniences of Burton's work 17
1.44. Hillelson's Sudan Arabic Texts 17
1.45. Modifications of orthography 17
1.46. Value of Hillelson's texts 17
1.47. Hillelson's texts as a beginning towards a comparative
grammar of SCA dialects 18
1.48. Dialectal variations in SCA 18
1.49. Manuscripts of SCA dialectology 18
1.50. Importance of Czapkiewicz's articles 19
1.51. Some SCA proverbs according to Czapkiewicz . . . . 19
1.52. Other works on SCA proverbs 19
1.53. Nursery rhymes 19
1.54. Atiyah 1918 20
1.55. Polite phrases and idioms in SCA 20
1.56. Barclay 1964 20
1.57. Trimingham 1946 20
1.58. Second edition of Trimingham's grammar 20
1.59. Ferguson's criticism of Trimingham's work 21
1.60. Defects of Trimingham's work 21
1.61. Further inadequacies 21
1.62. False generalizations 21
TABLE OF CONTENTS ÌX
1.63. SCA influence in the Sudan 22

1.64. The need for future SCA studies 22
1.65. Lack of SCA syntactic analysis in previous works . . 22
1.66. Shortcomings of phonemic analysis of SCA 22
1.67. Need for an Arabic-English dictionary 23
1.68. Future areas for studies of SCA dialects 23
1.69. Amery 1905 23
1.70. Barclay 1965 29
1.71. Burton 1934 29
1.72. Czapkiewicz 1959 35
1.73. Czapkiewicz 1960 36
1.74. Davies 1925 36
1.75. Davies 1926 38
1.76. Davies 1927 38
1.77. Farmer 1939 38
1.78. Ferguson 1949 39
1.79. Field 1952 40
1.80. Hillelson 1921 40
1.81. Hillelson 1925a 41
1.82. Hillelson 1935 45
1.83. Kensdale 1955 53
1.84. MacLaughlin 1964 54
1.85. Trimingham 1946 56
1.86 Worsley 1925 73
1.87. Conclusion 81
Notes to Ch. 1 82
2. Chadian Arabic: The State of the Art 91

2.1. Central African varieties of Arabic 91
2.2. Varieties of Chadian Arabic 92
2.3. Pidgin Arabic—Immigrant Arabic—Abéché Arabic 93
2.4. Influence of Arabic on other African languages . . . . 94
2.5. Publications on Arabic dialectology 94
2.6. Fleisch's article on Chadian Arabic 94
2.7. Sources on Chadian Arabic 94
2.8. Lethem's work as the main source 95
2.9. Lethem 1920—the title page 95
2.10. The purpose of Lethem's book 95
2.11. Some highlights of Lethem's volume 96
2.12. Lethem's introductory note 96
X TABLE O F CONTENTS
2.13. The origin of the Shuwa Arabs 97

2.14. Shuwa Arabic—its characteristics 97
2.15. Consonantal segments 99
2.16. Vocalic segments 99
2.17. Personal pronouns 99
2.18. Pronominal sufixes 99
2.19. The verb'to be' 99
2.20. The verb 'to have' 100
2.21. The negation of nominal sentences 100
2.22. Interrogation 100
2.23. Perfect 100
2.24. Imperfect 100
2.25. Imperative 101
2.26. Negative imperative 101
2.27. Active participle 101
2.28. Passive participle 101
2.29. The use of the perfect and imperfect 101
2.30. The particle hana 'of' 102
2.31. Demonstrative pronouns 102
2.32. Relative pronouns 102
2.33. The definite article 103
2.34. Gender 103
2.35. The dual 103
2.36. Sound plural 104
2.37. Broken plural 104
2.38. Collective nouns 104
2.39. Cardinal numbers 104
2.40. Ordinal numbers 105
2.41. 122 verbs 105
2.42. Hamzated verbs 106
2.43. w23 verbs 106
2.44. Iw/y3 verbs 107
2.45. 12y verbs 107
2.46. Doubly weak verbs . 108
2.47. jä 'to come' and ra?a 'to regard' 108
2.48. Quadriliteral verbs 109
2.49. Form II 109
2.50. Formili 109
2.51. Form IV 110
2.52. Forms V and VI 110
TABLE OF CONTENTS XÌ
2.53.Form VII 110

2.54.Form VIII Ill
2.55.Form IX Ill
2.56.Form X Ill
2.57.Common prepositions with suffixes Ill
2.58.Materials on Abéché Arabic 112
2.59.Chadian Arabic text 113
2.60.Sources of Chadian Arabic text 113
2.61.Dictionaries for Chadian Arabic 113
2.62.An Abéché Arabic text 113
2.63.Translations of the New Testament into Chadian
Arabic 115
2.64. David Cohen's statement 115
2.65. A note on informants for Chadian Arabic 115
Notes to Ch. 2 117
3. The Arabic Koine 137

3.1. Modern Arabic dialects 137
3.2. Ferguson 1959c 137
3.3 Descent of modern Arabic dialects 137
3.4. Classical Arabic—the 'Arabiyya 138
3.5. Modern dialects as continuations of one homogeneous
koine 138
3.6. Origin of the koine — Ferguson's hypothesis 138
3.7. Ferguson's hypothesis — continuation 139
3.8. "Drift'in Arabic 140
3.9. Bloch 1971 141
3.10 Ferguson's fourteen features of the koine 141
3.11. Numeration, transcription and names of the
features 141
3.12. The purpose of the critique of Ferguson's
hypothesis 142
3.13. Feature I — Loss of the dual 142
3.14. Haim Blanc's statement 143
3.15. Diachronic aspects of feature I — Blanc 1970 143
3.16. Completion of the loss of the dual 143
3.17. Middle Arabic dialects — general 144
3.18. Blanc's conclusion 144
3.19. Feature II — taltalah 144
3.20. Dialects vs. classical language — Bloch's statement . 145
xii TABLE OF CONTENTS
3.21. Some differences between the modern Arabic

dialects and classical Arabic 145
3.22. Bloch's argument vs. Ferguson's argument 146
3.23. Common features of Akkadian and classical
Arabic 146
3.24. Ugaritic 146
3.25. Imperfect pardigm of Hebrew, Syriac, and
Ethiopie 146
3.26. Case of preformative vowel 147
3.27. Weak verb 148
3.28. Feature III — Loss of final-wan· verbs 148
3.29. Feature III as an aspect of'drift' 148
3.30. Feature IV — re-formation of geminate verbs 148
3.31. Feature IV compared to other classical Semitic
languages 149
3.32. Overall tendency within Semitic 149
3.33. Feature V — the verb suffix -/- 149
3.34. Feature V compared to other Semitic languages . . . 150
3.35. Numerals 150
3.36. Feature VI — cardinal numbers 3-10 150
3.37. 'Polarity' — common feature to the Semitic
languages 151
3.38. Bloch's statement 152
3.39. Damascus Arabic short forms of the numerals 152
3.40. Moroccan Arabic short forms of the numerals 152
3.41. The major thesis 152
3.42. The Wackernagel-Meillet principle 152
3.43. Bisyllabic forms of the numerals occurring in
isolation; Bloch's analogy 153
3.44. Feature VII — / t / in the numbers 13-19 153
3.45. The compound nature of the numerals 13-19 154
3.46. Presence of emphatic/t/ — a striking feature 154
3.47. Feature VIII — loss of the feminine
comparative 154
3.48. Feminine comparative 155
3.49. Classical Arabic feminine 'elative' 155
3.50. Feature IX — adjective plural fu al 155
3.51. Koine — explanation of feature IX 155
3.52. Feature X — nisbah suffix -iyy>*-i 156
3.53. Blau's statement concerning feature X 156
TABLE OF CONTENTS XÎÎÏ
3.54. Blau's statement concerning tendencies of Arabic

dialects 156
3.55. Blau's statement concerning the subdivision problems
of Semitic 157
3.56. Lexicographical differences between classical Arabic
and the dialects 157
3.57. Ferguson's statement concerning loss of various
particles in classical Arabic 157
3.58. Problems of the reconstruction of lexical items 158
3.59. Feature XI — the verb 4to bring' 158
3.60. On feature XI 158
3.61. Feature XII — the verb 'to see' 159
3.62. On feature XII 159
3.63. Feature XIII — the relative * ?illi 159
3.64. Blau's opinion concerning ?illi 159
3.65. Judaeo-Arabic concerning ?illi 159
3.66. Christian vs. Judaeo-Arabic 160
3.67. Relative particle λal- 160
3.68. Brief comments on the phonology of the dialects . . . . 160
3.69. Two phonological features for the koine 161
3.70. Short vowels in reconstruction 161
3.71. Feature XIV — the merger of dad and δα' 161
3.72. Merging of d and S iii Middle Arabic dialects 161
3.73. An aspect of the general Semitic 'drift' 161
3.74. Arguments in favor of general'drift' 161
3.75. Ancient dialects — Blau's argument 162
3.76. Homogeneous character of Arabic dialects 162
3.77. Fourteen features of the koine — conclusion 163
Notes to Ch. 3 164
4. Sudanese Colloquial Arabic in the Light of the Arabic

Koine 171
4.1 The fourteen koine features and SCA 171
4.2. Feature I 4 171
4.3. Feature II5 171
4.4. Age and area hypothesis 172
4.5. SCA — descendant of an old Arabic dialect 172
4.6. Feature III 7 172
4.7. Feature IV8 173
4.8. The Arabic koine 173
xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS
4.9. Feature V12 173

4.10. Feature VI14 173
4.11. The distribution of the numeral forms 174
4.12. Dialects in relation to the forms of cardinal numbers . . 174
4.13. SCA and its distribution of the cardinal numbers . . . . 174
4.14. Original state of affairs regarding cardinal numbers
in SCA 174
4.15. Feature VII19 174
4.16. Feature VII19 — striking feature of the koine 175
4.17. Feature VIII22 175
4.18. Feature IX 23 175
4.19. Feature X25 175
4.20. Blau's explanation regarding feature X 175
4.21. Feature XI26 176
4.22. Feature XII 27 176
4.23. Derivatives of the root r?y in SCA 176
4.24. Iraqi Arabic 176
4.25. Loan words from MSA in SCA 176
4.26. Feature XIII 33 177
4.27. The SCA use of the definite article 177
4.28. Relative particle in the koine 177
4.29. The Middle SCA's use of the relative particle 177
4.30. Feature XIV35 177
4.31. Gurage dialects 178
4.32. Leslau's argument regarding the morphology of
Gurage dialects 178
4.33. Argument on koine hypothesis 178
4.34. PCA 179
4.35. Arguments for and against the postulation of an Arabic
koine 179
Notes to Ch. 4 180
5. Chadian Arabic in the Light of the Arabic Koine 183

5.1. The fourteen koine features and Chadian Arabic . . . . 183
5.2. Feature I 4 183
5.3. Adjective seme 'good' 183
5.4. Feature II6 183
5.5. Chadian Arabic—an SCA offshoot 184
5.6. Feature III 9 184
5.7. Feature IV10 184
TABLE OF CONTENTS XV
5.8. Peculiarity of Chadian Arabic 184

5.9. Another proof for the common origin of Chadian
Arabic and SCA 184
5.10. Feature V u 184
5.11. Abu Absi and Sinaud on feature V 185
5.12. Feature VI16 185
5.13. African influence in Chadian Arabic 186
5.14. Speculation about the original state of affairs in Chadian
Arabic 186
5.15. Problem in determining the actual facts 186
5.16. Feature VII18 186
5.17. Forms with 7 186
5.18. Emphasis in the numerals in Nomadic Chadian
Arabic 186
5.19. Feature Vili 19 186
5.20. Feature IX20 187
5.21. Feature X22 187
5.22. Feature XI 23 187
5.23. Feature XII 24 187
5.24. Modification of the facts regarding feature XII 187
5.25. Difficulty in explaining the diachronics of the situation 188
5.26. Feature XIII 3 ' 188
5.27. The Chadian Arabic use of the definite article 188
5.28. Feature XIV32 188
5.29. Conclusion — SCA and Chadian Arabic regarding the
koine hypothesis 188
Notes to Ch. 5 190
Map of Chad and the Sudan 193
References 195
Index 205
ABBREVIATIONS
ΛΑ American Anthropologist
AL Anthropological Linguistics
BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
CJL Canadian Journal of Linguistics
CTL Current Trends in Linguistics
DRCP Dossiers de la Recherche Cooperative sur Programme
N° 45, Dossieri: Études arabes (1966-67), Population anciennes et actuelles des
confins Tchado-Soudanais (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique,
1968).
FO Folia Orientalia
HO Human Organization
IJMES International Journal of Middle East Studies
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JL Journal of Linguistics
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
JSS Journal of Semitic Studies
Lg. Language
MEJ Middle East Journal
MSA Modern Standard Arabic
MSOS Mitteilungen des Seminars ßr Orientalische Sprachen
PCA Proto-Colloquial Arabic
PS Proto-Semitic
RA Revue Africaine'
SCA Sudanese Colloquial Arabic
srn Sudan Notes and Records
THSG Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana
UCPL University of California Publications in Linguistics
ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
1
SUDANESE COLLOQUIAL ARABIC:

THE STATE O F T H E ART
1.1. Arabic is not the only language spoken in the Republic of the Sudan
today. Bender (1971: 171), for example, reports the following languages
spoken close to the Ethiopian border: Ingassana, Burun, Jumjum,
Central Koma, Mabaan, and Murle. Dozens more could easily be listed. 1
Relatively little is known about Sudanese languages, 2 and little is known
or has been written about the dialects of Arabic which are spoken in the
Sudan. Most of the material available was written by British government
officials and missionaries during the British-Egyptian condominium
rule, which was terminated by Sudanese independence on January 1,
1956. The purpose of this chapter is to present, for the first time insofar
as I am aware, all available materials on SCA and to evaluate critically
such materials for the student of Arabic linguistics, in general, and
Arabic dialectology, in particular. 3
1.2. Like most of its neighbors, the Sudan, the largest country on
the continent of Africa, was, and still is, the homeland of many
languages and dialects. The central part of the country where now-
adays Arabic is principally spoken as a mother tongue, must have
previously been multilingual as are other parts of the Sudan. But
the arrival of the Arabs to the Sudan in the fourteenth century
(Birkeland 1952: 26) from Egypt had revolutionary (not evolutionary)
effects on the linguistic structure of the country. Direct Arabic in-
fluence depended to a large extent on the movement in the Sudan of
the Arab tribes which were mostly located in the central part of the
country. In the course of time, therefore, Arabic supplanted the local
languages, as Arab conquest proceeded from the north and east. As
Gasim (1965: 4 0 ^ 1 ) notes:
This explains in part the existence of the manifold chain of languages along
the perimeter of the region. In the north, the Nubian language in its four
dialects is still spoken by the Kunüz, Sakküt, Mahass and Danägla. In the
east, Tu-Bedawi in five dialects is used by the 'Abàbda, Halanga, 'Amarrar,
Bisariyün and Hadandawa. All these Beja tribes speak a Hamitic language,
2 SUDANESE COLLOQUIAL ARABIC: THE STATE OF THE ART
while some of Banü 'Amir, also a Beja tribe, use Tigre, a Semitic language,
closely connected with the Abyssinian language. Towards the south-east the
Ingessana still use their own language, while in the South more than a
hundred distinct languages exist. This multiplicity of language can also be
seen in the West where the Nubian and Darfurian languages are in use. But
most of these regions have been influenced in some way or other by Arabic,
while Arabic itself has been exposed in varying degrees to their influence.
1.3. Gasim (1965: 41) points out that it is extremely difficult to speak
of a Sudan Colloquial Arabic (SCA) in general, simply because there
does not exist one single dialect used by all speakers to whom Arabic is
the mother tongue. Every region, almost every tribe, has its own version
of SCA, a situation similar to that in other Arabic speech communities.
I, however, follow Gasim's assertion that one can take the dialect of
Khartoum and its vicinity as a common medium intelligible to most, if
not all, who are native speakers of a Sudanese sedentary (not bedouin)
Arabic dialect.
1.4. Following reassertion of Anglo-Egyptian authority over the
Sudan by Sir H. (afterwards, Lord) Kitchener in 1898, an effective
administrative system was rapidly developed throughout the Sudan.
Since British and Egyptian administrators, as could be expected, were
brought in to occupy top-level positions throughout the country, and
since earliest plans called for maximum use of native-born Sudanese to
work under these top administrators, it was necessary that an adequate
and effective means of communication be established. It is not sur-
prising, therefore, to find that in 1905 the first English-Arabic vocabulary
was published.
1.5. This first major effort at presenting Arabic vocabulary in use in
the Sudan was the result of the pioneering work of a Britisher, H. F. S.
Amery, who held the rank of Captain in the Intelligence department of
the Egyptian Army. His stated purpose was to compile a vocabulary
(1905: 1):
. . . primarily for the use of British officers and officials serving in the Anglo-
Egyptian Sudan, but it is hoped that it may also prove of some use to visitors
to the Sudan, or to those interested in the various dialects of the Arabic
language.
1.6. Although Amery's work is apparently the first effort made to

record information about SCA as a separate dialect of Arabic, a few
documents written in SCA previous to this time are in existence which
contain elements of SCA. By elements (characteristics) of SCA I refer
generally to the following:
SUDANESE COLLOQUIAL ARABIC: THE STATE OF THE ART 3
(1) h > h, e.g. hasan > hasan 'Hassan'.

(2) interchangeability of ? and ', e.g. 'ali > ?ali 'Ali'; ?amar >
amar 'he ordered'.
(3) gemination of final consonants before possessive pronouns begin-
ning with h, e.g. kitäbaha > kitâbba 'her book', i.e. -bh- > -bb-
{-Ch- > -CC-).
(4) the use of 'anta 'he gave' for ' a t a .
(5) *z > d, e.g. *zays > dès 'army'.
(6) triliteral roots > biliteral, e.g. wad < walad 'boy', bit < bint
'girl', kibäbak < marhabä bik 'hello'.
(7) assimilation of a liquid, e.g. ?itta < ?inta 'you (mas. sg.)', gutta <
guita 'you (mas. sg.) said'.
(8) semantic change for lexemes, e.g. zayrada 'the groaning of camels' >
'thrilling shrills by women in weddings'.
(9) African substratum, e.g. -äya in γanamäya 'a goat', or -äb in
gurbäb 'dress worn by women around the waist'.
These nine characteristics are representative of many dialects of SCA,
and I have chosen them because Arabic script would denote all of them,
whereas it would not (in its unvocalized version) indicate other well-
known happenings in SCA, such as the preservation of a in imperfect
preformatives.
1.7. The earliest of these documents which I have found is Kitäb
tabaqät wad-dayfulläh fi ?awliyä? wa sälihin wa 'ulamä? wa su ara?
al-südän. Hillelson (1935: 172), the most prolific writer on SCA and a
British government official, indicates that this "book" was probably
written during the eighteenth century by Halfäyat al-Mulük. He states:
It is a kind of biographical dictionary containing notices of the men of
religion and learning who flourished in the Fung kingdom from its foundation
at the beginning of the sixteenth century to the author's own time.
Several manuscripts containing these writings have been handed
down, but there is great disagreement among manuscripts as to the
actual content of the original texts. Hillelson (1935: 173) states that he
has made use of two copies of two texts, both published in 1930, one
edited by Sulaymän Dâûd Mandil (printed at the Muqtataf Press in
Cairo). He continues:
Both editions are based on MSS in native ownership and follow their originals
closely without attempting to correct even the most obvious errors.... Sh.
Ibrâhïm Sadïq's edition contains marginal notes which are u s e f u l . . . but they
evade the more serious difficulties.
4 SUDANESE COLLOQUIAL ARABIC THE STATE OF THE ART
1.8. Even the extent to which portions of the text can be considered to
be "pure" colloquial Sudanese Arabic is debatable (see Kaye [1970]
for a new analysis of some of the issues involved concerning diglossia in
Arabic). Sir H. A. MacMichael (1922: II, 218) says of the tabaqât:
. . . the Arabic is Sudanese colloquial and presents a very interesting study.
No dictionary would alone enable one to deduce the meaning of all words
and phrases: one has to read them aloud and imagine a Sudanese speaking. 4
This seems to indicate that certain lexemes are used which do not ap-
pear in dictionaries of classical Arabic. Hillelson (1923: 192) attempts
to determine the linguistic characteristics of these manuscripts:
One of the most conspicuous features of the work is its linguistic form, which
makes it of unique interest to the student of Arabic dialects, though it renders
the task of the translator and commentator somewhat difficult. With a bold
disregard for tradition the author employed the spoken vernacular of his
country, and apart from quotations and from such classical forms as in-
evitably flow from the pen whenever the colloquial is reduced to writing, the
language represents the spoken idiom of the eastern Sudan, or rather a form
of colloquial koinè based on the elements common to the many patios and
subdialects. It thus forms a most valuable lexicographical store house,
especially as it preserves a good many words which now seem to have become
obsolete.
1.9. By 1935 when he produced his Sudan Arabic texts, Hillelson

seems to have modified his position considerably. In the introduction
to the tabaqât, he indicates that by words, phrases, and grammatical
forms utilized these papers belong more properly to the written language.
Actually, there is a great deal of variety evident in the way in which
various scribes involved in the production of the texts recorded the
material. Many quotations and sayings (proverbs) recorded in the
tabaqât are undoubtedly colloquial verse, though the main text itself
gives evidence of lacking real vernacularprose style. Lack of vowel mark-
ings (pointings) increases the problem of determining just what was being
written. Additional careful study of these manuscripts might add con-
siderably to the knowledge of the ways in which SCA developed. 5
1.10. Another pre-Amery glimpse of the structure of SCA is con-
tained in at least one of a pair of letters dating back to the time of the
Mahdi — the latter part of the nineteenth century. One of these was a
letter from Khalifa Abdullâhi to the Amir'Abd el-Ra'üf of the Dinka
tribe. It is written in "simple" or "basic" Arabic. Whether this was a
conscious effort to write in the vernacular or, as is more than likely,
simply an attempt to simplify written classical Arabic so as to make it
intelligible to an uneducated tribesman is not known. A part of this letter

follows:
?ana bas'al minnak ketïr, ?inta mä gibt al-kaläm ?allïlak w a m m ä samih
'isma' al-kaläm 9 allil al-waraqa di, 9 ahdar qawwäm ma'a 9 ahlak u wiledätak
u niswänak, mä tuq'ud Π dar gänqe, al-qu'äd battäl ketïr. 6
Hillelson (1935: 121) translates as follows:

I ask about you much, you did not say your o w n words. N o w listen well to the
speech of this letter, come quickly with your people and your children and
your women, d o not stay in the Dinka country, to stay there is bad indeed.
1.11. Another record of early SCA speech forms is found in the

historical traditions of the Sukriyya. While these were not written at an
early date, some of them apparently, retain sixteenth century spoken
forms which were carefully passed down through means of an oral tradi-
tion until recorded by Hillelson (1920). Unfortunately, texts included in
the article are recorded in Arabic script without vowel markings, and a
transliteration is not provided. Hillelson indicates that the vocabulary of
these papers is definitely colloquial, but the syntactic structure is of a
poetic nature. They would, therefore, be of extreme importance and
value for any kind of study of the poetic structure of SCA. There is one
exception to the above statement, however. There is a transliteration of
one of these papers, "The saga of Sa al-Din Wad al-Tiwaym". 7 Since
this is not poetry or verse with a set form, it probably reflects the dialect
of the nomadic Sukriyya of the eastern Sudan at the time that Hillelson
recorded the material.
1.12. It is important to keep in mind that Captain Amery and most of
those experts on SCA who followed him were army officers, not linguists
in the modern sense of the term. As indicated above, pre-twentieth
century information on SCA is almost nonexistent. There must have
been some word lists and glossaries of SCA which have since been lost
or just never rediscovered or reused because Amery states in his intro-
duction that there was "no English-Arabic Vocabulary or Dictionary
(of reasonable dimensions)" in existence which would meet the need of
incoming officials into the Sudan.
Amery's work was published only seven years after Sir Herbert
Kitchener had regained control of Khartoum, defeating the Mahdi's
successor Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi and the remnants of his forces.
Amery states that he worked under pressure to complete his Vocabulary
as rapidly as possible because of the tremendous and immediate need of
the times. It is little wonder, then, that there are many shortcomings in
6 SUDANESE COLLOQUIAL ARABIC. THE STATE OF THE ART
the work. In spite of these shortcomings, this book became the founda-
tion upon which Hillelson and others later built. Close association with
Egyptian personnel, who were also part of the occupying force in that
period, undoubtedly influenced vocabulary and pronunciation of British
officers. This is evident throughout the work.
1.13. As could be expected, there is a manifest tendency to merge
aspects of the classical language with the colloquial. This lays the
groundwork for many of Amery's problems. In fact, it would appear that
he uses this approach to the language as an excuse not to exercise even a
minimum of care in differentiating phonemes of the spoken language.
He states (1905: 2):
. . . it is not considered necessary to adopt any elaborate system of translitera-

tion, and the English version of the Arabic words is only intended as a guide to
the nearest approach to the true sound which the beginner is likely to attain....
Without indicating reasons for such a decision, Amery states that in

the transliterated forms of Arabic, the letter " t " may stand for t, 0, or t;
" d " may stand for d, z, d, or z. Obviously this causes untold confusion.
He is referring to the way in which he transliterates classical forms. Un-
fortunately, by following this procedure, he often does not give the
reader a clue as to how the given words are actually pronounced in SCA.
Amery does not recognize emphatic segments (consonants) at all.
Consequently he transliterates:
taiyib 'all right' for tayyib
saddag 'he approved' for saddag
darab 'he hit' for darab
fasi 'chapter' for fasti
Obviously by his transcription minimal pairs are often not differenti-
ated at all. He writes:
bad 'after' for ba'ad
bad 'some' for ba'ad
1.14. Other problems of a transcriptional nature are apparent in the
above-mentioned words. SCA does not permit consonant clusters within
a syllable. / is the usual anaptyctic filler in these circumstances, as seen
in II fasi || > fasti (£> >i/ -CC#).
He transliterates both thej/m and the qâf, i.e. <J> and<q>, as g. Prob-
ably part of the confusion in this case arises out of the fact that he follows
standard transcriptional procedure for many colloquial Egyptian dia-
lects, in particular the dialect of Cairo, in which the Jim is realized

phonetically as a voiced velar stop. The SCA reflex of the Jim is rather a
voiced palatal stop, IPA [j]. 8 It has become the standard practice to
transcribe this phone as g in SCA, although it is important to remember
its phonetic nature. 9 The voiceless uvular plosive q, found in classical
Arabic and other Arabic dialects (sometimes voiced, viz. IPA [G]), on
the other hand, is fronted in SCA and other modern dialects to a dorso-
velar position. The resultant stop is, of course, a sound close to that
usually associated with the symbol g in English, which is, in all prob-
ability, why Amery transcribes both as g. Thus his handling of the
problem is a phonemic rather than a morphophonemic one, as the
following examples from his vocabulary indicate:
gara 'he ran' [jarä]; classical Arabic ]arä

gara 'he read' [gara]; classical Arabic qara?a
1.15. I do not know the source for Amery's information concerning
his claim that g is not only pronounced as the English hard g in "go", but
it is also pronounced as g (IPA γ), particularly in the provinces north of
Khartoum and on the Blue Nile. This may have been true then for certain
lexemes or for certain idiolects, yet I never heard this myself and none of
the later writers mention it. It does not appear as such in the Berber and
Dongala texts collected by Hillelson. Two other phonemes which are not
differentiated in his orthography are h and h. He writes habb for both
'blow' and 'love'. The latter should be written as habb.10
1.16. His method of transcribing the voiced pharyngeal spirant, IPA
[Ç], standard Semitological leaves something to be desired. He writes
' over the letter with which it is sounded. This seems to reflect a lack of
recognition that this sound is actually a full consonantal phoneme.
Writing ' as -he does leaves the ordering of consonants and vowels
(linearity) rather ambiguous in words such as simi 'he heard' and ärt
'about'. In the first case the ' follows the final vowel, viz. simi', while in
the second it precedes the vowel, viz. 'an. A more complex illustration of
the problem of this transcriptional procedure is nam 'ostrich'. Amore
correct and unambiguous transcription would be na'âm.
1.17. There are many other inadequacies in Amery's transcription.
For fihu 'in it (mas.)' he writes fiti, leaving out both the h and vocalic
length. Similar problems of vowel coalescence occur in arlan 'naked'
for 'aryàn. He retains the classical Arabic hamza (the grapheme for the
glottal stop) in words such as ra?si, which becomes räsi in SCA (loss of
the glottal stop and compensatory vowel lengthening).
In the introduction to "Specimens of the Colloquial Language" at the

end of Amery's book, he indicates that morphemes will be separated
when written, even though morphophonemic changes take place such as
those of elision. Thus he will write wa el timsäh 'and the alligator' even
though the phrase is pronounced wattimsäh, however, elsewhere (1905:
436) he writes bil deish 'with the soldier' rather than bi el deish, which
would be the correct spelling according to his rule, or wabu for wa?abu
'and his father' (1905: 433).
1.18. His romanized transcription, in many ways, does not attempt to
deal with departures from classical Arabic influence. Thus he transcribes
tab 'absolutely', yet the word is only heard as tap. The devoicing of final
stops is well known in other modern dialects of Arabic. 11 There are many
other SCA words which require the use of the phoneme /p/ in certain
contexts. Hillelson recognized the problem but does not really deal with
it when he suggests that voiceless bilabials are at least heard in free
variation with their voiced counterparts in certain environments. He
notes (1925a: xxiii):
?abuk el humära mä gâppa. gäppa.
'Has your father not brought the she-ass? He has.'
Or he notes (1925: xxiii):

?alläh ma karappa 'ale 'arappa.
'God does not make things too hard for his Arabs.'
1.19. As is typical not only with Amery but also with many other
authors of SCA materials, there is a tendency to caique directly from
English. For example, yätu fi deil 'which of these' rather than the more
common SCA yätu fihum {-hum '3rd mas. pi. pronominal suffix').
Observable also with Amery and many others is the habit of including
classicisms in "pure" SCA vocabulary, or borrowings from other major
dialectical areas, such as Cairene. Thus galas 'he sat' (either a loanword
from classical Arabic or Cairo Arabic) is certainly less frequent than
qaad or qannab, especially among SCA speakers themselves; or sarax
'he shouted' is stylistically less frequent in SCA than körax. Unfortu-
nately, Hillelson carries these words over into his 1925 vocabulary, and it
must be kept in mind that they are not normally used in most circles of
SCA speakers who are extremely well educated" in literary Arabic and
those who have been educated formally in institutions of higher learning
in other Arab countries.
1.20. To conclude these brief remarks about Amery ( 1905), it is inter-
esting to note that in this first major work the theory was advanced that
(1905: xi-xii):
The Arabic of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan adheres more closely to the classical
language than any other dialect outside Arabia.
This purity of language is attributable partly to the high consideration in
which education was always held in the Sudan before the Mahdia, nearly every
village having its 'khalwa' or Kuranic School, and partly to the isolation of
the country. 12
In support of his hypothesis, he points out that many classical words not
known in Egypt or Syria are commonly used in the Sudan. For example,
nawàr 'flower', gau 'atmosphere', nähid'young woman', and zôl 'person'.
At the same time he claims that individuals using certain colloquial
Egyptian phrases are looked down upon for speaking like a Turk. Cf.
?
ihh. Hnta tatarku 'alayya bas. (This is a well-known and common
cultural bias in many Near-Eastern societies, the best known example
probably being Iran, i.e. somà turkyâ banlädam hastïd?, 'Are you a Turk
or a human being?') Some of those phrases are:
?
ana mus 'äriffor mä bi'rif'l don't know'
bét bita i (Cariene ?ilbët bita i) for bèli 'my house'
His comments include a warning:
There is, however, some danger that the Sudan Arabs, in ignorance of the
eloquence and purity of their language may adopt some of the colloquialisms
of Egypt
In the SCA of today, sixty six years later, both of the aforementioned
phrases are used freely, except the second phrase has the definite article,
viz. ?albètbitai.
1.21. Although Amery indicated that he planned to revise his voca-
bulary shortly after it was originally published, there was nothing
published about SCA of a monographic nature or a book-long treatise
for nearly twenty years. In 1923 a Sudanese official in the education
department, 'Abdullah 'Abd al-Rahman al-Amin, published Al-'arabiyya
fi al-Südän [Arabic in the Sudan]. I have not been able to obtain a copy
of the book, even in the Sudan, but later works on SCA quote anec-
dotes and illustrative material from it. This work should be of con-
siderable interest because it was prepared by an educated native speaker
of SCA. Hillelson (1921: 77) says of this book by Sheikh'Abdullähi
'Abd al-Rahman al-Amin (two years before it was published in
Khartoum):
The main portion of the book which hitherto remains unpublished, is a glossary
of the spoken Arabic of this country . . . relating the modern dialect and the
classical language.... The author champions the thesis that the modern
inhabitants of the Northern Sudan are of pure Arab descent, and one of the
objects of the book is to refute the contrary view which would reduce the Arab
influence to a comparatively slight infiltration acting on the original Nubian
stock. Some of the material to back up his thesis is also found in a short account
of the superstitious ideas and practices of the ancient Arabs by Hamza al-
Isbahäni, who died between A.D. 961 and 971. This text which was not acces-
sible to the Sheikh has been published by E. Mittwoch in the Mitteilungen of
the Berlin Seminary of Oriental Languages (Westasiatische Studien Berlin,
1912).
1.22. Two years later, Allan Worsley,doctorin the Church Missionary

Society hospital in Omdurman, wrote his Sudanese grammer which be-
came the acknowledged standard of SCA. Works which followed,
including the better-known Sudan colloquial Arabic by Trimingham,
quote Worsley's description of sounds used in the Sudan, and utilize
much of the grammatical analysis developed by Worsley. In a review of
Worsley's work shortly after its publication, L. F. Nalder (1925: 219-
220) states that the work will be especially beneficial for officials coming
from other Arabic-speaking countries because "their existing know-
ledge will render the grammar readily comprehensible...." Specific
Arabic grammatical terminology such as the tä7 marbûta (usually
marking feminine gender) and fa ala (first form of the verb) are used
without sufficient introduction, which, of course, will make it harder for
the novice to use and understand the work. Nalder notes that one of the
strong points of the work is that great pains were taken in careful
accentuation of every Arabic word to enable the user to avoid a frequent
source of error. Several areas, however, are not adequately covered,
among which Nalder includes insufficient indication that many nouns
(so-called "sound" masculine and feminine plurals) do form plurals fol-
lowing the same basic vocalic pattern, and that inanimate masculine
plural nouns do not take masculine plural adjectives. He also accuses
Worsley of a tendency to overemphasize his points. As an example, he
points out that Worsley indicates that certain variant forms only may be
used-forms such as burumti for burmati, samilti for samalati,yaharis for
yahrus, and takitbi for taktibi. With this I would have to agree. Another
example of such overemphasis is seen when Worsley states that (1925:9):
A peculiarity of Sudanese is that ', χ, γ, h, and h cannot be pronounced without

the help of a vowel. Thus in conjugation, when normally these consonants
should close a syllable, a phonetic "a" is inserted, so overriding the conjugation
rule; as xagal (he was ashamed), which would be conjugated in normal Arabic
ya/cÄgil (he is ashamed), in Sudanese is yaxagil.
Nalder notes that while these forms are undoubtedly current, they are
not invariable forms. In fact, the regular formations are actually more
common.
1.23. Further confirmation of Nalder's criticism can be seen in a
phrase such as bina 'mil sinu? 'what will we do?' Such phrases are used and
written too frequently to simply discard them. Trimingham gives other
examples (1946: 67, 69) in which the vowel position does not normally
change in the way that Worsley suggests that it does: bahliq Ί always
shave', and naxlas 'we finish'. Even Worsley (1925:60,67) cites examples
which violate his rule: huwa gä badi 'he came after me' ; bad bukra 'after
tomorrow'; and ?αίμαη 'better'. My own observation would be that the
forms which Worsley cites to prove his point are probably used to a
greater extent by women (see Haas 1944). In support of this, Worsley
does state in his introduction that much of his data came from women
patients in the hospital.
1.24. Worsley's book is an excellent work and, undoubtedly, was used
by Trimingham extensively as he developed his textbook approach.
While Trimingham's book is organized in a manner which would be
more usable to a learner, Worsley actually provides more detail about
some aspects of SCA grammar. Both grammars, however, suffer from
one common problem: both men made up sentences to prove gram-
matical points rather than using text material from native speakers of
the language.
1.25. Although Worsley's description of Sudanese sounds improves
greatly on Amery's inadequate approach, he produces some interesting
thoughts (1925: 4):
In Sudanese pronunciation is less energetic than in average Arabic, the arti-
culation of consonants being relatively gentle. Each consonant, however, is
distinctly pronounced, and foreigners should give to each its characteristic
value.
Obvious questions raised by this statement include: (1) What does he

mean by energetic? (2) What is average Arabic? (3) What does "gentle"
mean in terms of phonology, and what does "relatively gentle" mean?
(4) What does he mean by each consonant being distinctly pronounced?
(5) How else can foreigners (or native speakers, for that matter) correctly
pronounce sounds other than by giving each its "characteristic value"?
His attempt at describing the elusive Sudanese mid-palatal stop is less
than effective. He states that the sound is "pronounced somewhere
between those of d and g".
1.26. In a footnote Worsley touches on an aspect of description that
is not even mentioned by others, but one which needs more concrete
work based, of course, on materials gathered in the field. The problem

concerns the determination of the extent of influence of emphatic con-
sonants on surrounding consonants. Worsley states (1925: 6):
Τ is (nominally) only found in the Divine name Atîâh (God), the vowel of which
it modifies.... But actually, Τ inclines toward Τ when in the vicinity of the
modifying consonants (s, ζ, 1, t, d); e.g., talab (where 'Γ together with the second
'a' also inclines to a). Similar phenomena are common as between s and s, ζ and
z, etc.; for example, basat is pronounced basat and the first 'a' is then also
modified.
1.27. Trimingham recognizes that such changes occur. He records

mä taz'al, ?inbasit 'don't be angry, cheer up!' (1946: 132), but gives no
explanation of the change and never deals with the problem except to
make a statement indicating that if consonants are properly pro-
nounced, the vowels will take care of themselves (see Lehn 1963).
1.28. One further word must be stated concerning there. Worsley has
probably overstated the case as has been done in many grammars of
Modern Standard Arabic, e.g. Ziadeh and Winder (1957: 6). Triming-
ham gives a minimal pair, one part of which has the emphatic/;proving
it is not only used in the word for 'God', viz. qall 'to diminish', and qatt
'to raise'. 13
1.29. The hamza, or grapheme for the glottal stop, is not written in
SCA by most writers because it occurs only rarely in word-medial posi-
tion and is understood to occur before each word-initial vowel. There
are morphological considerations, however, for writing the glottal stop
in the latter environment. Again, Worsley overstates the case when he
says (1925: 5):
In Arabic generally this sound can occur anywhere in a word, but in Sudanese
only at the beginning of a word, e.g., ?akal 'he ate'.
This would simplify the description but ? does occur frequently, espe-
cially in some commonly used words. For example, Trimingham (1946:
67) notes muPassaf'l am sorry', or biftaru mit?axxirin 'they breakfast
later'. Compare even Worsley (1925: 45), ma?kül, passive participle of
?
akal 'he ate'; 'eaten'. (This root should have '; see footnote 114 of
this chapter.)
1.30. In many dialects of SCA medial ^becomes ', as su?al 'question' >
su'äl (see basal in the text of 1.10.). Worsley points out another change
which occurs in SCA relative to '. He states that when ' occurs before
t, ' > h. For example, qal'a > qalihtï ( || qal'at || ), sar'a > sarihtï ( || sar'at || ),
or qur'a > quruhtï ( || qurat || ) (-/ is the first person singular pronominal
suffix).14
SUDANESE COLLOQUIAL ARABIC. THE STATE OF THE ART 13
1.31. Worsley's rules on accent (1925: 8) are inadequate and confus-

ing. This needs more work. He does have an interesting note concerning
a heightened tone on final syllables of some words. Examples given (he
writes ~ over final vowels to indicate the tone marking) include:
bini 'my daughter'

qamrâ 'moon'
He states:
Sudanese women will invariably correct pronunciation of this point (but seldom
anything else). Therefore it must be a point of great importance to note.
1.32. In the same year in which Worsley published his grammar of

SCA, S. Hillelson published a great revision, complete for the time, of
Amery's vocabulary. 15 During that decade and on into the next, Hillel-
son appears to have been the prime mover in publishing work on SCA.
His articles on aspects of SCA appear repeatedly in SNR\ in fact, he be-
came editor of SNR which resulted in great emphasis being placed on
SCA in the periodical.
1.33. Sudan Arabic English-Arabic vocabulary by Hillelson drew
extensively on articles published in SNR as well as the work of Sheikh
'Abdullähi 'Abd al-Rahmän al-Amin, previously mentioned. A review of
Hillelson's vocabulary by R. Davies (1925: 223) concludes that this is a
valuable addition to the scholarly literature available for the study of
SCA. Of particular value is the extensive work on various dialects and
subdialects of SCA.
1.34. As Hillelson points out in his preface, this work is more than
just a revision (albeit complete) of Amery (1905); it is actually a new
work. Using orthographical practice as determined by the Sudan
government, Hillelson has increased the phonemic meaningfulness of
the lexical entries. Hillelson was, apparently, a prime mover in setting up
the transcription as adopted by the Sudan government for SCA. Many
classical — strictly classical and pseudo-classical — terms are deleted.
Examples of word usage are included in some entries and are of great
value. He also uses the accepted technique of including the vowel of the
imperfect in parentheses following the perfect of each verb (see Wehr
1961), such as darab (u) 'he beat'.
1.35. In striving to establish a de facto koine for SCA, Hillelson some-
times reaches outside of SCA (or, at least, the SCA of the common man)
into the vocabulary used only by educated or semieducated people. The
Sudan at that time had a reported illiteracy rate of ninety-five percent;
the actual rate was probably even higher. Determining the point at
which vocabulary and other elements of the language can be considered

colloquial rather than belonging to the written language of an Arab
country is always difficult, 16 but, by definition, if a given word or syntac-
tic structure is to be considered as being a part of the colloquial language,
it has to be used by the majority of native speakers in a given linguistic
area. One cannot, therefore, take a word known and used by a limited
number of educated people in a much wider area and claim that thereby
it has attained a koine status. Hillelson seems to do this from time to
time. He states (1925a: xxi):
. . . the general principle, where more than one term is given as the translation
of an English word, has been to accord first place to words of the koine·, these
are followed by dialectical forms.
But his vocabulary includes such entries as:

abandon, tarak (u), xalla (yexalli), sàb (i)
abscess, hibn, dabara
tarak 'he abandoned', for example, is undoubtedly understood and used

by many educated people of the Sudan, but I do not think that the
average uneducated resident of the Khartoum-North Khartoum-
Omdurman area knows it. sab is the more normal lexeme (sememe).
tarak, then, could not be considered as belonging to Hillelson's koine.
The same applies to hibn. While it is not completely unknown by un-
educated people, dabara is commonly used by all SCA speakers. Interest-
ingly, Amery (1905) lists dabara as being of the Kordofanian dialect.
Hillelson's concept of the koine seems to stem from a basic linguistic
philosophy stated elsewhere (1925a: xv), in which he proclaims:
. . . educated classes in all parts of the country tend to use an idiom devoid of
any distinctively local features.
He is alluding to a form of MSA (see Kay e 1970), not a koine.

1.36. There are other generalizations made by Hillelson which cannot
be supported. He, for example, states that (1925a: xxiv) "the feminine
plural termination -an is preserved in both tenses". Examples given
include:
?
eg gimäl yisrahan 'the camels are grazing'
kiläb el ferig mä bedüránno 'the dogs of the camp do not like him'
?
at têrân gin 'the bulls have come'
Hillelson seems to leave the final impression with the reader that such
morphemes are universally retained for SCA; they, of course, are not.
{gin 'feminine plural — they have come' is problematic since the ending
is -in, not -an; cf. Cairene gum.)
1.37. There are several grammatical observations made by Hillelson
which are unique, i.e. not dealt with by other authors on SCA in precisely
the same way. For example, he points out that it is highly characteristic
of SCA to geminate liquid consonants before a vowel, and, though
not stated by him, delete the glottal stop. Examples include:
?el amir 'the ruler' [or] ?el 'amir
?
el liyäm 'the days' [or] 'el ?iyâm (cf. Cairene ?il 'iyyâm)
minn en nâs 'from the people' [or] min en näs
He also gives examples of phonemes introduced into SCA not nor-

mally found in Arabic. He suggests that the appearance of ñ and c is
probably due to African influence. Examples given include:
ñarr 'mew'
ñawa 'cat'
flelim 'hunt on horseback'
kaccan 'be disgusted with'
wac 'face'17
?umm 5irr 'a species of grass'
1.38. The publication of Hillelson's vocabulary and Worsley's

grammar in 1925 generated a number of articles on specialized areas of
SCA vocabulary.18 Shaw (1929) deals, for example, with the specialized
vocabulary relating to gum in SCA. Owen (1933) concentrates on SCA
terminology relating to the seasons of the year. He includes idioms such
as:
in nazalat (daxalat) fi tis'a
hämila mäsika el nis'a
'when (oreyg, a star) goes down on the ninth day it is like a pregnant woman,
gripping the rope that aids her in childbirth (i.e., very early, about June 15th —
rains just on the point of coming)'
1.39. Nicholson (1935) provides much interesting information not

available in other sources about vocabulary used while working with a
water wheel. Unfortunately, the transliteration of Arabic script is rather
poor. He fails to indicate vocalic length, such as dolab for döläb 'water
wheel'. He also does not differentiate between emphatic and non-
emphatic consonants, such as tin rather than tin 'new silt', or 'utfa rather
than 'utfa 'frame wheel carrying water bucket chain'.
1.40. Another example of specialized vocabulary is found in Bell

(1953). Bell deals exclusively with foreign words which have been as-
similated or partially assimilated into SCA vocabulary. He excludes
from his discussion words which have been completely absorbed such
as doktör 'doctor', ?isbitalia 'hospital', ?agenda 'agenda', and qöta
'quota'. He also excludes what he terms narrowly confined or technical
words such as qöl 'goal', haf bak 'half-back' (pi. hawaf bik). Rather he
deals with words such as bardön (pl. bardönät) ' p a r d o n f o r m a l a 'mecha-
nical brake' (from Italian), and naylön 'good quality — used of a load
of grass or a beautiful girl'. Because Bell's transliteration is inadequate,
this article loses much of its potential value. It would be interesting to
know how widespread the usage of words such as the above really is. I
do not expect, of course, that these types of words are used outside of
the large urban centers such as Khartoum-Omdurman.
1.41. It is difficult to understand why the next major work dealt with
here was written at all. G. S. M. Burton, an officer (bimbashi-Major)
in the Sudan Defence Force produced his Sudan Arabic notebook in
1934. Although Worsley's and Hillelson's comparatively careful works
had been in existence since 1925, Burton writes as if they were not.
In fact, he writes as if he were the first person ever to deal with and
publish about SCA. He states in his preface that he came to the Sudan
without any previous knowledge of Arabic, and thus stemmed his
overzealous nature in this work.
1.42. His description of some Arabic sounds, for example, is
amusing but not exactly definitive. He states (1934: 4-6):
kh (x) is quite another sound from English 'k' . . . .
s, stronger and more hissing than our 's'. Rather like double 'ss' in English
' l o s s ' . . . . Can be known as sailing ship's' [referring to the shape of the Arabic
grapheme]....
t, may be known as sailing ship 't\ Same as English't' in lot, back't' in little.
Has a popping sound like the opening of a soda-water b o t t l e . . . .
h can be known in pronunciation by movement in the chest, i.e. a frightening
sound—hum....
NOTE. — It is very important for the beginner to grasp the pronunciation
rule of the following as otherwise much confusion will be caused:—
they is sometimes pronounced tey
dad is sometimes pronounced za
za is sometimes pronounced dad.
In his preface Burton states:

One of the principal objects which I have maintained throughout has been
to produce a correct transliteration and so to avoid confusion when writing in
Arabic characters.
He failed utterly. In his recommended list of two hundred words which

are to be learned, he does not recognize the voiceless pharyngeal
(pharyngal) spirant (fricative) h (tí) writing hisäb 'account, bill' rather
than hisäb. He does not recognize emphatics writing battäl for battäl
'bad', and his vowel transcription often reflects aspects of literary or
other dialectical kinds of Arabic. For example, wasal 'he arrived' should
be wisil, 'afsh 'baggage' should be 'afas (anaptyxis), and 'aysh for SCA
ès 'bread'.
On a single page, within the table of the numerals, he writes thelätha
'three' but talata a/a/'three thousand'. Sometimes he writes SCA sub-
dialectical forms: shwaiya for suwayya 'little (quantity)', or sughaiyar for
sayayyi(a)r 'little (in stature)'.
1.43. The organization of Burton (1934) was, no doubt, convenient
for newcomers to the Sudan. His table of contents gives a ready reference
to specific vocabulary items related to concrete situations which the
traveller would have been likely to come across. It is simply unfortunate
that he did not consult previous published works to enable him to
achieve the consistency which he had set as his goal. It is particularly
surprising that he acknowledges a
. . . special debt of gratitude to Professor H. A. R. Gibb, School of Oriental and

African Studies, London, who, at great inconvenience, has most kindly read
the greater part of the manuscript and proof sheets (1934: vii).
1.44. An important contribution to the literature on SCA was made

in the following year (1935). Hillelson completed his Sudan Arabic texts
with translation and glossary. This volume includes dialectical material
which should be used to develop some badly needed comparative-
dialectological studies. While it probably does not have sufficient
material to do a comprehensive study of this nature, the book does draw
some important distinctions between some of the leading Arabic
linguistic areas in the Sudan (see Emeneau 1956).
1.45. In this book, Hillelson modifies two symbols of his orthography.
He replaces kh with h (χ) and sh with s.19 Beyond that, the texts presented
seem to be the promised continuation of his 1925 work.
1.46. Earlier in this chapter (see 1.7. ff.) some historical material
included in the texts was discussed. Value of these texts for a student of
modern SCA lies in knowledge gained concerning the historical develop-
ment of SCA dialects. Hillelson notes, for instance, that the possessive
marker bita, commonly found in Egypt (especially Cairene) and widely
used in the Sudan today (other dialects have mta or taba', etc.), is
not found in the tabaqät, one of the early manuscripts.
1.47. Other parts of the book are of more immediate interest as

evidence of the differences in SCA dialects today. Hillelson cites texts
from the Gezira, Berber Province, the Baqqara, Nomad Arabs, and
from Kordofan Province. Specimens of the speech of the hasaniyya and
husaynät are also found in Extracts from al-mursid al-südäni.20 All such
texts are but a start towards a much needed comparative grammar of
SCA dialects.
The inclusion of some proverbs (sayings), riddles, folk tales, and
nursery rhymes provides material in areas that are largely neglected in
other works about SCA. It is unfortunate that in a book of texts Hillelson
includes translations from other Arabic dialects rather than limiting
himself to the actual speech of native speakers of SCA.21
1.48. SCA dialectical variations are real and often approach being
mutually unintelligible. Extent in this instance of such differences may
be demonstrated by a verse quoted by Hillelson (1935: 148-149):
Western SCA
'al mäsi Iel-yurüb sallim 'ale 1-wâlidât
qui lêha waladik bên al-haiyâ ma mât,
bilâdo salfaqat daqqat talât salqât
u marato gaqqalat u gemelo 1 berïdo mât.
Eastern SCA
yä ter ?in masèt sallim 'alè 1-ummât
qui lêhin wilëdkan fil-haiyâ ma mât,
bilâdo 'aiyasat gäbat talât salqât
u marato hallaqat u g e m e l o 1 berïdo mât.
Translation:
O traveller to the west (variant: O bird in thy flight),
Give greetings to my Mother;
Tell her, her son is among the living, not dead;
His crop has been three handfuls of grain;
His wife has caught syphilis and his favorite camel is dead.
1.49. The dearth of materials on SCA dialectology is unbelievable.

Hillelson published an article on songs of the Baggara in 1929. This is
primarily a collection of long songs which are rich in vocabulary not
found in other parts of the Sudan. Lampen (1933)deals with vocabulary
in daily use for ordinary living experiences and includes some nursery
rhymes among the Baggara tribes of Darfur. Kensdale (1955 and 1956)
deals with a collection of manuscripts "representative of the indigeneous
Arabic literature of the Western Sudan" (1956: 79). He has compiled
lists of the writings (Arabic) of Shehu Usumanu dan Fodio, the Reformer,
founder of the Fulani empire, as well as the Arabic writings of his
brother, Waziri Abdullahi dan Fodio. Most of the manuscripts belong

to the Library of the University College, Ibadan, Nigeria (18th and 19th
centuries). (Usumanu was born in 1752; Abdullahi in 1766.) Some manu-
scripts are imperfect, such as tazyin al-waraqät bi-jam badmä Γι minal-
abyät, but as the author states (1956: 79):
There are four mss, in the School for Arabic Studies, Kano, where Mr. Hiskett,
an Education Officer, is preparing an edition of this work for publication. The
Ibadan manuscript is imperfect.
1.50. Two extremely interesting articles, Czapkiewicz (1959 and

1960), contribute greatly to our knowledge of SCA. It is disappointing
that there is not a great deal more material of this nature available, not
only for this dialect which he terms "the dialect of the Middle Sudan",
but also for other SCA dialects. He rightly states (1960: 192):
Alas, the scarcity of our dialectical material allows neither for construction
of the grammatical sketch of our dialect nor to make any remark of generally
binding character.
This applies easily to many other SCA dialects.

1.51. In addition to texts, Czapkiewicz includes a number of SCA
proverbs. For example, ?alfätak fùtu, which he translates 'leave what-
ever you have to leave', or more accurately, 'that which has left you has
gone', meaning 'do not worry about what you are obliged to leave!'
Another proverb quoted by him appears in Hillelson (1935: 4) in a
slightly different form:
Czapkiewicz: al-kalbu yanbah wa l-g?amal mäsi
Hillelson: al-kelib yinbah wa ag-gemel mäsi
Translation: The dog barks and the camel passes on.
Kaye (field work, 1970): ?alkalib yambah wadydyamal mäsi
1.52. Several other works have appeared on SCA proverbs. Of limited
usefulness is Jackson ( 1919) since it has no transcriptions or vowel mark-
ings, and the proverbs listed are similar to literary Arabic ones. A book
by Mrs. A. P. Singer is listed by Hillelson (1935) entitled Arabic
Proverbs, and it is supposed to contain SCA materials. I could not find
any further reference to the book. Perhaps it was never published or
even completed.
1.53. Closely related to the area of proverbs in that they also reflect
the folklore and customs of a people are nursery rhymes. Some have
already been mentioned such as Hillelson (1918), the data of which was
obtained from schoolboys at Gordon College. The extremely colloquial
character of this material is demonstrated by the first lines of one of

the rhymes (1918: 28):
ba dén uxta körakett yä-1-marfa'in, yâ-1-marfa'ïn, ta'ál ukul krët
'afterward her sister called out, O hyena, O hyena, come eat Krët'
1.54. Later the same year, Atiyah, a Sudanese, published three
lullabies which are of interest as parallels to the nursery rhymes.
1.55. Connected with proverbs and nursery rhymes is the material
included in Griffiths and Tähä (1936). Scott (1937) indicates that it is
a collection of polite phrases used by the Sudanese along with the proper
replies which should be made. The book also deals with "double mean-
ing in words used by Sudanese" (idioms?) (Scott 1937:181)and the ways
in which Europeans misunderstand them. An example is given of the
European who is happy to be called bärid 'cold', (erroneously) thinking
that this means that he is calm and temperate.
1.56. A recent book, Barclay (1964), contains many descriptive terms
from Sudanese suburban life. It is an anthropological study of Buurri
al Lamaab, a suburb of Khartoum. Of particular interest from a linguistic
point of view is the comprehensive list of kinship terms contained in
Appendix Β (see footnote 122).
1.57. The last comprehensive work on SCA, and the accepted norm
today for all linguistic purposes, is Trimingham (1946). Trimingham's
work, in a sense, is the composite of much of the scholarly achievement
which preceded it. He does not deal, of course, with problems which
still need to be resolved concerning SCA grammar. He does not even
attempt this. His purpose was to create a kind of textbook and reference
grammar all in one, which would prove useful in the learning of SCA.
In this he succeeded. Recognizing that only limited work had been
accomplished on the various dialects of SCA, he chose the Omdurman
dialect as his basis, since it was the cultural and population center of the
country. Many times, needless to say, he slights or fails to acknowledge
alternate pronunciations for given lexical items of frequent occurrence,
but he does produce a fundamental grammar which enables a newcomer
to SCA or the Sudan to learn an acceptable norm of the language.
1.58. Several reviews followed the publication of the second edition
(first edition 1939), by the Church Missionary Society of Trimingham's
grammar in 1946. Tritton (1947) felt that it was particularly good in that
it was written in a way which requires no background knowledge of
classical or literary Arabic. In fact, he states (1947:224): "The book can
be recommended without reservation." (Contrast this opinion with the
criticisms of Worsley [1925].) Holt (1948) felt that the second edition
was a great improvement over the first edition in that it includes so many
useful conversations, but he felt it would still require additional explana-
tions and coaching from a qualified teacher. 22 He was also critical of
Trimingham's choice of symbols (IPA) for the transliteration in that it
was different from any used in the Sudan previous to that time, and it
could not be reproduced on a standard typewriter.
1.59. Ferguson (1949) is the most penetrating and useful review of
Trimingham's grammar. While accepting the work as being a worth-
while and more than decent contribution to the literature on SCA, he
states (1949: 42) that "from a linguistic point of view, the phonological
terminology is completely inadequate". Some of Ferguson's points
include the way in which long vowels are written, the minimal pair status
differentiating I from t, as in qall 'to diminish' and qatt 'to raise,' the
vowel phonemes, as Trimingham introduces /a/, indicating that it "will
be used for a rapid obscure vowel, which occurs in short unaccented
syllables"—then never uses the symbol again throughout the book.
Ferguson asks, "What phoneme is this?" Raised /a/ occurs once in the
entire work.
1.60. Probably the greatest defect in the work, as in most material
produced about SCA, is the use of translated material to demonstrate
grammatical points rather than developing grammatical points around
more natural material based on SCA texts. An example of the unnatural
sentences used which illustrates the point (1946: 28) is the following:
See I am standing. Now I am sitting. Are you standing or sitting?—I am
sitting, not standing.
More natural conversational material is found in part II of the book.

1.61. There are other areas which need additional clarification in the
work. Trimingham does not deal adequately with the influence of
emphatic consonants on vowels, nor does he really allow for variant
pronunciations — even within one dialect area — which are so common
in SCA. Mention was previously made concerning some of these variants
in the discussion of Worsley (1925) which went to the other extreme and
presented noncommon forms as the only forms used (see 1.22. ff.).
1.62. Trimingham (1946) tends to make general statements about
changes without defining how or the precise environment in which they
occur. For example, consider two such footnotes (1946: 63):
The i-i form has a peculiarity due to elision, e.g., rikibu becomes rikbu.
The forms ending in ύ [paradigms have u] (3rd Pers. plur. masc. past), when
suffixes are added, are frequently pronounced ö.
1.63. Although SCA would be hard to define precisely in all its

dialectological versions, it continues to dominate and spread its influence
throughout the Sudan. MacLaughlin (1964) documents and emphasizes
the ascendancy of SCA throughout the country, extending increasingly
even to non-Arab speaking communities. Although the literate com-
munity in the Sudan deprecates spoken SCA or any other dialect as a
nonlanguage, it is a vital and unifying factor in the Sudan. (See Nader
[1962] and Kaye [1970] for discussion of some of the issues involved
regarding attitudes on language.)
1.64. Before presenting a discussion of some of the major works
already mentioned, a note on the future of SCA studies is appropriate.
What areas have been neglected or need much more attention? There
has not been an adequate dialectological study made in the Sudan.
Because Omdurman is the largest population center and has the national
radio station, or because Khartoum is the political center, it is presumed
that one of these must be the dominant linguistic center of the country.
A scientific comparison of the major dialect areas and overlap of such
areas is badly needed, and should be conducted perhaps by the Sudanese
government itself. Such a study should include an evaluation of the SCA
found in the homes of literate and highly educated native speakers as
well as illiterate and noneducated peoples, as proposed and discussed in
Kaye (1970, 1971a, and 1972a). Much more textual material gathered
from all parts of the Sudan would confirm that there is really not one
dialect of SCA, but rather several major dialects with many variations for
each dialect (see 1.87.).
1.65. Particular emphasis should be placed on the study of syntactic
patterns. Adequate discussion of SCA syntax—done from any syntactic
point of view, whether it be generative/transformational, tagmemic,
generative semantic (Chafe 1970), etc. — is lacking in all works cited
in this chapter. Simple sentence patterns are probably adequately pre-
sented, (school or traditional grammar approach), but more complex
SCA sentence structure is neglected. This becomes evident in conversa-
tion with a native SCA speaker.
1.66. Even in the area of traditional autonomous phonemics much
needs elucidation. The phoneme / a / and its allophones have not been
adequately described by anyone. Worsley (1925: 6) probably gives the
most accurate and adequate phonemic description (reproduced verbatim
et literatim·, Trimingham [1946: 4]):
In some words, especially those in which 'i' occurs, this vowel seems to sound
nearer the English e in 'men' than a, so that, for example, the word for 'prophet'
is often written by English people nebi instead of nabi, and gebel for gabal
(hill). It is nevertheless a true "a" sound, even though in some cases it may be
articulated relatively higher.
1.67. Finally, an Arabic-English vocabulary or dictionary of SCA,

such as the dictionaries done at Georgetown University (Richard Slade
Harrell Arabic series) in the 60s, would be of great value. No one has ever
attempted to produce such a work.
1.68. Valuable work has been done on SCA, but there are continuing
challenges in this relatively unknown dialect area of modern Arabic.
Trained in any of the modern methods of analysis, a linguist who devoted
time and effort to the language would uncover other neglected areas
which need specific and immediate attention. Careful comparison with
colloquial Arabic dialects of other countries is also badly needed.
1.69. Amery (1905)

The title page reads: "English-Arabic vocabulary for the use of officials
in the Anglo-Egyptian Army, by Captain H. F. S. Amery, The Black
Watch — (Attached Ε. Α.), Cairo: Al-Mokattam Printing Office. 1905.
[Arabic script jjèiii AL-Muqattam]."
Amery himself (p. i) states that the volume consists of two distinct
elements:
1. The technical terms in use in the Egyptian Army and in the various Depart-
ments of the Sudan Government.
2. Some 3,500 words of the most common daily usage translated into the
Arabic equivalents employed for these in conversation among the Arabs
of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.
To avoid repetition and for convenience in finding words, these two elements
have been arranged together in alphabetical order, the technical terms being
distinguished by having a (t.) placed after them.
Amery claims that if a word is peculiar to or of more frequent use in one

part of the Sudan, this will be noted after the word. If no marking
appears following the word, the word is understood all over the Arabic-
speaking Sudan.
The purpose of the book was clearly for official purposes. Amery
states (pp. i-ii):
As the British Officers of the Egyptian Army and Officials of the Sudan
Government are required to read and write Arabic, it has not been considered
necessary to adopt any elaborate system of transliteration....
T h e vowel transcriptions are based on the "Rules of Orthography for

Native N a m e s of Places, Persons, etc. in Egypt and the Sudan", published
by the Intelligence Department, War Office, Cairo, with the addition
o f macrons distinguishing the long vowels.
S o m e of the abbreviations after a word include the following:
B. Berber
D. Dongola
G. Gezira
K. Kordofan
W.S. Western Sudan
Amery, in a sense, criticizes his o w n work (p. iii):
Owing to the novel nature of this Vocabulary and to the fact that it has been
considered desirable to get the first edition through the printers as quickly
as possible, it will necessarily [emphasis mine] have many omissions and
mistakes.
H e then states:
It is requested that any corrections and suggestions should be sent to the

Director of Intelligence, War Office, Cairo, or to the Assistant Director of
Intelligence, Khartoum, with a view to a revised edition being produced at an
early date [emphasis mine].
T h e introduction was written on January 5, 1905, in Khartoum (see

p. xii). It contains the only grammatical remarks in the entire 454-page
work. Pages i v - v are particularly interesting in that they give us a
glimpse of the linguistic style of the author.
The British Official on arrival in the Sudan, has immediately to direct his
attention to the acquisition of an extremely difficult language. His difficulties
have hitherto been enormously increased by the lack of proficient teachers
and the practical absence of any printed assistance. Each newcomer has to pick
up a large number of most necessary words as best as he can, with the result
that he is often content with learning just sufficient to enable him to make his
meaning intelligible, or to pass the various Government examinations, and
even this minimum he acquires more slowly than necessary.
At present no English-Arabic Vocabulary or Dictionary (of reasonable
dimensions) exists, which contains even a fraction of the technical terms in
daily use in the Army or in the various branches of Civil Government, nor are
many of the many vocabularies of colloquial Arabic of use in the Sudan, except
perhaps of Khartoum and a few other towns where the population has come
much into contact with Egyptians and Syrians.
The object therefore of this Vocabulary is to enable an official on entering
the Sudan to find the particular technical terms which are in use in the Egyptian
A r m y , or the Department to which he is attached; and also the Arabic for such
words as he is likely to require to carry on a simple conversation.
Of the technical terms, a very large proportion are of European origin (in the
Military terms chiefly Turkish) as:—
konträto, a contract; mikröfön, a microphone; bulük, a company.
and many are English technical terms literally and clumsily turned into Arabic,
as hizäm [hizâm] süf [süf] köleira, flannel cholera belt etc. etc.
Such as they are, however, they are the terms which a British Official joining
any particular Department would require to know, and which are intelligible to
all members of that Department.
Of the Arabic of the Sudan more requires to be said, and the object in view
will perhaps be best served by comparing it with the classical language.
Pages v-vi deal with so-called divergencies in pronunciation between

SCA and classical Arabic. Remarks such as, for example, θ is sometimes
s, sometimes t, and sometimes Θ, should bave been stated in the following
terms: θ does not exist in SCA, it becomes t, except in loanwords from
classical Arabic in which case it becomes.?. On the Jim see Kaye(1971a)
and 1.14. ff. It is obviously a mistake when Amery transcribes Sal, i.e.
<á>, as thai, confusing grapheme and phoneme with regard to English
orthography.
It is true that words derived from the roots qtl and qrr ('to kill' and
'to purr', respectively) exhibit q >k, a common sound change in many
other Arabic dialects, especially rural ones of the Syria-Palestine area.
The morphophonemics need to be explored: consider gài 'he said'but
kätil 'murderer' or bikurr 'it purrs'. The precise nature of diphthongiza-
tion and monophthongization needs to be explored: consider haidar
'lion' but beit 'house', or auläd 'boys' but söt 'voice' (Amery's transcrip-
tion).
A short section (pp. vi-vii) follows called "interchange of letters".
Well-known features of SCA (see Kaye 1971a: n. 55) are mentioned:
<J>—>d
sidar 'trees'
dès 'army'
m >b
makän > bakän 'place'
T h e following (pp. vii-viii) section is called "Verbs". It contains some

rather misleading and confusing information:
T h e Arab of the Sudan expresses himself when possible in verbs, giving also
the preference to adjectives over substantives, thus if he wished to say "at
the time of the rise of the river" he would say:—

lamma yunayyil al-bahar
lamma yakün al-bahar munayyil
fi nil al-bahar [transcriptions mine]
The remainder of the introduction is called "General". There is a

discussion of classical vs. colloquial discrepancies in vocalic patterns
("The vocalization of the harakât", p. viii); simi' 'he heard' and fihim
'he understood'. Then follow a few remarks about anaptyxis (see 1.14.);
samis for sams, and kelib (Amery) for kelb (Amery). Interesting state-
ments concerning SCA kön 'because' follow (p. ix):
The verbal noun kön is generally used for "because" or "for", where in
Egypt the word 'alasan ['asän] would be employed, e.g. [see n. 120.]
zalimni könu râgil sàhib magdara [my transcription] 'he oppressed me because
he is a man of power'
mabsüt minnak könak rägil samih Ί am pleased with you because you are a
good man'
There then is a short discussion of conditional sentences, ?izakän or just

kän, followed by a discussion of ?illä kân 'unless' and ?illâ ?in kän
'perhaps'. Then follows a brief mention of prepositions, such as the use
of min for 'an 'about', and the peculiar dialectological status o f f ö g 'on,
in' (p. x):
The use of the word fog to express " o n " or " i n " in place of 'alä or Π in
general, except in the Berber Province; thus:— hüwa fög bëtu 'he is in (on)
his house'
fog al-'angarib 'on the bed'
fög xasim al-bêt 'in the door-way'
fög xasim al-bahar 'on the river bank'
It is also used occasionally to express "in the time of," as fog al-mahdiyya, 'in
the time of the Mahdia.'
and rarely used in the Western Sudan in the place of 'ind, as fögak alma?, 'have
you any water?'
There is a brief discussion of fi batin 'in', 'inside', asfibatin al-bèt 'in (inside)
the house'. Amery then mentions that a few words are regularly used
to express meanings somewhat different from their original ones, for
example, haddas 'to answer' (also, kallam), and sallam 'to kiss'. He states
(p. xi):
These words are of course also used in their proper meaning, but some few
words are used only in an incorrect sense, e.g. [prescriptivism]
wirik, is used for "thigh"; its real meaning being " h i p " for which the word
ga'ba is used.
nasib, is used for "relatives by marriage," real meaning "relative."
A fact about SCA not mentioned by others is then presented (p. xi):
The habit of giving emphasis or intensification to words by accentuating or
dwelling upon certain parts of them, or by doubling a consonant or lengthen-
ing a vowel, is very common:
samih 'good' sammih 'very good'
'abyad 'white' 'abyàd 'very white'
?azrag 'blue' 'azzirag 'very blue'
This phenomenon I would equate with the similar development in

English "grrreat", as used by Tony the Tiger in Kellogg's Sugar Frosted
Flakes' commercials on television. T o my knowledge, this feature in
Arabic and English has never received linguistic treatment.
A brief mention of hagg ' o f ' (?al-guwäd haggu 'his horse'), familiar
from Arabian dialects, follows, with a note indicating that this is not
common. Then there is a short paragraph about the coining of new
words in SCA (dabbùs 'pin').
Amery's warning in 1.20. has a footnote (see Kaye 1970):
An excellent illustration of the reality of this danger may be obtained by

questioning a native of the Sudan who has lived for instance in Khartoum
and mixed with Government Officials. If he is asked how do you pronounce
hum (they) he will probably reply: "We, amongst ourselves, say 'hum' but
the educated people who know the Government say 'humma'." Similarly
he will tell you: "We in the desert say ?ibhám for thumb, but the educated
people ('annâs al-mutamaddinïn) say baham," etc. etc. (*, p. xxi).
Amery concludes (p. xiii): "Education, the study of the Kuran and
of the classical Arabic should do much to counteract this influence."
T h e bulk of the book (406 pp.) is a listing of words in alphabetical
order in English, Arabic script, and transliteration. Page 1 (A) is pre-
faced by a N.B. which states:
It must be remembered that the definite article though written "el" in accord-
ance with the "Rules of Orthography" is pronounced "al, el, il, ul," accord-
ing to its position in the sentence, also that before solar letters, s, s, etc. the
1 is dropped and the first letter of the following word doubled, e.g. "ash shams,"
"as sadr" etc. [Amery's transcription]
Sentences illustrating a word's usage are sometimes included. For
example, Ί came two months ago', lei shahrein git (p. 10). One of the
major faults with the vocabulary as a whole is the listing of many words
derived from the same root through the processes of basic Arabic
verbal morphology (root and vocalic pattern), such as 'to demarcate',
xattat al-hudûd, and 'demarcation', tax tit al-fmdüd (Form II, perfect
and verbal noun, respectively) (p. 101 and passim). Another major fault
is in the arena of noun morphology, such as 'my coming', geiti, and 'your
coming', geitak (p. 75 and passim).
Pages 408-431 are the appendices (Amery's title). Appendix A is a
listing of color terms including such listings as heliotrope, ahmar
manwlsh, or ultramarine blue, samäwi ghâmig. Appendix Β contains
the days of the week; Appendix C is a listing of the Gregorian months
(not generally known in 1905), the Muslim calendar, and Sudanese
(local?) months. Appendix D deals with noises made to drive or call
animals with listings for camels, dogs, oxen, sheep, etc. Appendix
E gives cardinal and ordinal numbers. Appendix F includes ranks, titles,
and offices (especially military, such as Lance Corporal, wakïl önbäshi
[p. 417]). Appendix G is entitled "Sakia and parts": the sakia (sàgïa)
is the Persian water wheel. Appendix H deals with weights, including
ones for gold, measures for grain, and Sudanese weights and measures
with equivalents in the British system of the period, with notes on local
weights of Khartoum, Berber Province, Kordofan, etc.
Pages 432—451 contain some of the most interesting things in the
work, viz. texts in SCA. We are not told exactly how the texts were
recorded, but I suspect that they were written, and thus have the in-
fluence of classical Arabic prose style. There is an English translation,
followed by Arabic script (classical Arabic, with preservation of the
interdental graphemes and gemination marker for consonants [tasdid
or sadda]), followed by the transliteration. Consider the opening sen-
tence from the first text (p. 432):
T h e teacher of a primary school is either paid at the rate of 12 dollars per

annum or teaches the children free of charge.
Arabic script:
Transliteration:
Sheikh el khalwa yia'ggaru sintu bi etnásher rial au yakün hûa zâtu yugarri
lilla sâkit.
All the texts are supposedly representative of the major dialect areas
in which SCA was spoken before 1905 — Berber, Dongola, Gezira,
etc. There is one grammatical note in a footnote (p. 433); otherwise,
nothing about grammar is mentioned.
Several poems and songs are also included among the texts. Conclud-
ing the volume is a one-page introduction (muqaddimah) in classical
Arabic and a title page in Arabic script. There are few printing errors
in the work.
1.70. Barclay (1965)

This discussion, more linguistic than Barclay (1964), deals with the
sedentary Arabs in Khartoum and vicinities, and predicts a more secu-
larized future (p. 48) for the cutlure. The article revolves around cultural
change in the Sudan in terms of (1) Islamization (the Arabs are the
largest ethnic group — about fifty percent of the total population), and
(2) Westernization. Barclay (p. 43) is right when he claims:
Technically, these Arabs are overwhelmingly Arabized Nubians, descendants
of an old Nubian population which in the past few centuries has become
assimilated to Arab culture. Arabs are represented across the entire spectrum
of ecological types in the Sudan: the largest number are village dwellers
engaged in irrigation agriculture. Others are rain cultivators. Many are semi-
sedentary, having permanent villages, but spending half or more of their time
following their herds away from the village. Close to a million Arabs may
be classed as nomads, most of them herders of cattle along the southern fringes
of Kordofan and Darfur Provinces; the Arab camel nomads live further north in
the drier areas.
A history of Arabization, rightly considered (p. 43) as being distinct

from Islamization, is then presented concerning the Egyptian colonial-
ism of the early 19th century, the Mahdist revolt of 1881, and the arrival
of the British in 1898. The diversity of the southern part of the Sudan is
sketched, and notes about the rebellion of the South mentioned. Two
linguistic conclusions become lucid: (1) one does not have to be an
Arab to be a native speaker of SCA, and (2) Arabization in the Sudan
means linguistic acculturation to Arabic as a language. The remainder
of the article, not really germane to our discussion of SCA literature,
deals with ritual and religious systems and subsystems in the country.
1.71. Burton (1934)

The title page reads: "Sudan Arabic note-book, by Bimbashi G. S. M.
Burton, M.C. (B.A. Magdalen College, Oxford), Eastern Arab Corps,
The Sudan Defence Force and Black Watch, 1934, published by Mc-
Corquodale and Co., Ltd., 15 King Street, London, E.C. 2", with a
translation into Arabic (classical and SCA) on the opposite page
(Muzakkara 'Arabiya Soudäniya). It is dedicated to "past and present
officers of all ranks, the Sudan Defence Force".
The preface was written in Gallabat in September, 1933, and some
interesting background material for the book is included (pp. v-vii).

It begins with a quatrain from Omar Khayyám.
The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
The above lines seem to provide the excuse for my boldness in producing this
book. The proverb about "Fools rushing in", etc., is too well known to
require repetition, but if my boldness seems to verge upon temerity it is
because the expert and the beginner seldom come across the same stumbling
blocks, for it generally happens that the expert has entirely lost sight of the
trials which beset him in the initial stages of his studies. This note-book is,
therefore, written for beginners in the hope that they will be able to meet more
easily the difficulties when explained by one who has only very recently over-
come them for himself; it is even hoped that they will actually form a liking
for their new task. Many will, no doubt find themselves in a position very
similar to my own, for when I was first ordered out to the Sudan I was told
that it would be useless to attempt to learn any Arabic at home on account
of the wide differences in local dialect.
Burton then discusses his first arrival at Port Sudan, his respect for his
servant (a Somali), and his linguistic regret because his Somali servant
did not have a full command of Arabic. After one month in the Sudan, he
was called upon to take sole charge of the Corps which was, as he states,
(p. vi) "somewhat of an ordeal under the circumstances".
He continues:
This note-book is the outcome of having kept a careful diary of my tribulations
and progress; it is to be hoped that its publication will assist students with
the many difficulties with which they are likely to be faced. I feel that with
the aid of these notes the reader should find it possible to obtain valuable
elementary instruction in Arabic at home, and more especially so if he is able to
enlist the aid of anyone who already knows the language and can assist him with
the pronunciation.
Burton also states that the vocabulary in the volume has been tested
"in all the districts of the Sudan", and has been found to be effective
in speaking with tribes such as the Hadendowa, Beni Amir, Nubians
(see Badr n.d.), and Hassaniya.
The foreword to the work was written by Kitchener of Khartoum
himself, in Eldoret, Kenya, February 16th, 1934, a little more than three
years before his death in Kenya. He states that SCA is "a notoriously
difficult language to learn", and that "he should like to congratulate
Captain Burton on the industry which has enabled him to complete this
book". It is interesting to note that Burton financed the publication
of the work out of his own pocket, as was common in this period for
many types of scholarly publications. I do not know whether the book
was a financial success or not.
The book consists of twenty-seven chapters. Chapter I is entitled
"Alphabet, Pronunciation, Writing Points, Numerals" (pp. 1-14). It
begins with a discussion of basic Arabic graphemics (see Mitchell
[ 1953] for the best discussion of the subject insofar as I know). Notes
on pronunciation follow (see 1.42.). Rules for the assimilation (elision—
Burton's terminology) of the definite article (el—Burton's transcription)
are given, followed by "writing points", i.e. the chair (kursi) for the
hamza (glottal stop), the vowel points (fatha, kasra, damma), the ac-
cusative with tanwïn (nünatiori), etc., followed by a listing of the cardinal
and ordinal numerals. Much confusion between classical and colloquial
(see Kaye 1970) is evident, as well as a confusion between graphemics
and phonemics.
Chapter II is called "First 200 Words" (pp. 15-27). He begins by com-
menting about the listing:
The following 200 words, if learnt before leaving the boat, will enable the begin-
ner to face his new adventure with confidence and at least with the knowledge
that he will be able to ensure personal comforts! All these words hold good
throughout the Sudan and will be understood in Cairo.
We are never told why verbs are listed in the imperative singular mascu-
line (an uncommon practice), e.g. itlub 'ask' (p. 15), unless otherwise
stated, such as 'arrived' wasal 'arrived (he)' (see 1.42.). Basic sentences
are also included, e.g., 'aäwiz häja täny 'do you want anything else?'
(p. 17). This should be corrected to:
'äwiz ('äyiz) hädya tânya

or
hädya tänya 'äwiz (äyiz).
Cf. Cairene haga tanya 'äwiz (äyiz).
There are many errors in the actual data. It is certainly ignorance on

the part of Burton which made him write föhim in Arabic script with
<h> rather than <h> (p. 19) in ana mush fähim Ί don't understand', or to
list 'very nice' (p. 25) as kwyis khälis for kuwayyis xälis. Many other
errors from this chapter could easily be listed. An errata sheet for the
volume would certainly run pages.
Chapter III is entitled "First 100 Words Written". It begins (p. 28):
Always practise by writing short notes to your Native Officers, Medical

Officer, Native Civil Authorities, Mamur, Postmaster, and Station Master.

They appreciate notice being taken and will help you in many small ways.
The vocabulary is largely polite conversational items such as effendy

'mister', jenäb 'sir', min fadlak 'please'.
Chapter IV has vocabulary items for the post office, hospital, parts of
the body, railway, cultivation, servants, household effects, animals, the
mess sergeant, and kitchen utensils (pp. 28-64).
Chapter V (pp. 65-72) is a list of "useful pairs of words" (Burton's
title) or antonyms such asyamyn 'right', shemâVleft'.
Page 71 is interesting in its own right in terms of the pedagogical
style in which it is written. It reads:
T h e "Thin Rule"
Very difficult. T h e stranger never gets this right.
1. rigaiyig "thin" and is generally used of men and things, i.e. chiefly t i m b e r —
trees, sticks, pens etc.
2. rahyf "thin" and applies to clothes and other things made out of sheets, i.e.
paper and glass.
3. rafy'e "thin" and can be used to cover rigaiyig and rahyf.
4. d'ayf "thin" (opposite of fat) and is used in describing men and animals.
Chapter VI (pp. 72-80) is entitled "Words for Distinguishing" and

contains assorted lexemes, viz. everything from safha 'page', to humma
'fever', and humär 'donkey'.
Page 80 is more good evidence for the confusion between phonemics
and graphemics in that it lists "words with dual meaning". For example,
he lists laham 'meat', and lahama 'to solder', both spelled in Arabic script
as <lhm>.
Chapter VII (pp. 81-85) deals with root words, i.e. words derived
through Arabic morphological processes (discontinuous morphemes)
from the same root, such as the words beginning on page 81, viz.farash
'he spread', mafroosh 'spread', etc. The root is frs and the two patterns
are illustrative of the first form perfect (CaCaC) third masculine singular
and passive participle (maCCüC) masculine singular, respectively. The
standard Arabist and Semitic root used for this purpose is the root 'to
write', which is also mentioned (p. 81) and the derived forms given are
as follows:
wrote (he) katab
written muktüb [maktoob would be consistent
with Burton's transcription;
cf. mafroosh listed earlier]
clerk kätib
SUDANESE COLLOQUIAL ARABIC THE STATE OF THE ART 33
book kitäb
writing kitäba
library, book-case maktaba
office maktab
correspondence mukätaba
Chapter VIII (pp. 86-100) is entitled "Arabic Expressions, Stories,

Proverbs, Limericks" and is rather of a classical nature. For example,
'he gives an example' is given as yedrib mathalan, with the -an marking
the accusative singular which does not occur in SCA (classical Arabic
maOalan). Interesting vocabulary is given for tribal facial marks which
are so characteristic of Sudanese from tribal areas.
The stories given in Arabic script only, as the first (p. 90), "Why the
capital of the Sudan is called Khartoum" are in literary Arabic, and are
thus not relevant to SCA literature. The limericks and proverbs (?αιηθάΙ)
are not really particularly SCA, but rather Arabic of a more general
scope and area (more MSA than SCA).
Chapter IX (pp. 101-103) is a listing of vocabulary items having to do
with women, such as zumäm 'nose-ring', or tallàl or khoros 'ear-ring'.
Chapter X (pp. 104-106) deals with comparatives and superlatives
(see Bravmann [1971] and Kaye [1971b]).
Chapter XI (pp. 107-115) deals with auxiliary verbs, such as 'tobe'
(akoon Ί will be' [p. 107]), and 'to have' (endy Ί have'). Basic verbal
morphology is given and a comparison with classical Arabic features is
presented (see Blachère and Gaudefroy-Demombynes [1952: 36-73]
for particularly Arabic forms, Cohen [1924] for a detailed discussion
in terms of Semitic in general, and Nöldeke [1896] for an older and more
traditional point of view).
Chapter XII (pp. 116-130) is called "A Few Useful Rules" and men-
tions some rules about the ?idäfa (status constructus), such as kubbäyat
shäy 'a cup of tea', the definite article,23 the interrogative, the negative,
and noun declension (possessive suffixes).
Chapter XIII (pp. 131-134) describes common greetings. See Fer-
guson (1967) for a theoretical discussion in terms of Syrian Arabic;
Griffiths and Tähä (1936) is quoted in that paper. Festival greetings
are also included (èd).
Chapter XIV (pp. 135-137) deals with weights and measures. Chapter
XV (pp. 138-140) is a listing of adverbs, e.g. bish shidda 'fiercely'
(p. 140). Chapter XVI (pp. 141-143) is a listing of prepositions and
conjunctions and "useful words in common use" (Burton's term).
Chapter XVII (pp. 144-148) lists colors, shapes, and artificial and
natural features (Burton's term), such as kubry 'bridge', and jabel

'mountain', respectively.
Chapter XVIII (pp. 149-151) contains vocabulary items relating to
the world and creation. Chapter XIX (pp. 152-156) deals with time
and seasons including the Gregorian months. Chapter XX (pp. 157-158)
deals with kinship terminology, but does not distinguish between
khäla 'maternal aunt' and 'amma 'paternal aunt', nor khäl 'maternal
uncle' and 'amm 'paternal uncle'. Chapter XXI (p. 159) lists native
Sudanese dress terms, such as jibba 'gibba (robe)' and jalläbiya 'galabiya
(gown)'. Chapter XXII (pp. 160-161) discusses names of countries. The
opening statement in this chapter is certainly not true today, let alone
for 1934. The chapter begins as follows:
In speaking about countries, the word itself can be used, but the more usual
form is to express the country thus, e.g. — England, the country of the English,
balad al-'indyilîz.
Egypt, the country of the Egyptians, balad al-masriyyïn.
The forms today are ?ingilterra 'England' and masir 'Egypt'. 24

Chapter XXIII (pp. 162-164) is a listing of tools and equipment,
including such items as shotäl 'curved knife of the Bega tribe' and
wäbour 'engine of any type from a primus stove to a transatlantic liner'
(p. 163). Chapter XXIV (pp. 165-166) is a listing of minerals and metals,
including terms such as ?asment 'cement'. Chapter XXV (pp. 167-235)
deals with, as might be expected, military terms in the office, for rations,
clothing, company crimes, drills — including sentences like irf'a [ ?irfa']
dibshak 'raise your butt', and nazzil dibshak 'lower your butt' (p. 197)—
musketry, ranks and special appointments, decorations like rutba el
khidma el mumtäza [rutbat] 'D.S.O. (Distinguished Service Order)'
(p. 213), tactical words, operation orders, and flying.
Chapter XXVI (pp. 236-245) deals with natural history terms, viz.
animals, birds, reptiles, fish, trees, and insects. The final chapter,
Chapter XXVII (pp. 246-251), is entitled "The Garden" and lists fruits,
spices, vegetables, flowers, and "garden words" (pp. 250-251).
As an illustration of the practical and pedagogical intention of the
author, there are four blank pages following the volume called "Notes",
for addenda and corrigenda. There is also an excellent map of Africa
(as of 1933) showing occupation of African countries by the British,
French, Portuguese, Belgian, Spanish, and Italian forces. There are also
plates: (1) a picture of the Governor-General's Palace in Khartoum, and
(2) a portrait (reproduced with the permission of the National British
Portrait Gallery) of Field-Marshall Earl Kitchener, K.G., K.P., G.C.B.,

O.M., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E. 25
1.72. Czapkiewicz (1959)

Two SCA (Middle Sudan) texts and six proverbs are included with
translations and a few grammatical notes. One of the informants was
Huseyn Mahmüd Hasan (born July 2, 1936) from Ad-Duwaym; the
other was his cousin 'Abd al-Min'am Basir Hasan (born March 12,
1936) also from Ad-Duwaym. The Jim is transcribed asg', which he says
(p. 18) is "strongly palatalized 'g' like Hungarian 'gy' in Magyar" (see
Kaye [1971a] for all the details, and Bergsträsser [ 1928:157] and Hillel-
son [1935: xiv] for brief mention of SCA and certain dialects of the
Arabian peninsula). <q> is transcribed as both g and q. The vowels
include: â, ï, ü, è, ó, a, /', u, e, and a, ì, è, w, ò, and diphthongs eay, aw,
and ew. Pharyngeals and emphatics are duly noted.
The first sentence from Text I is as follows (p. 19):
fî wähed ahina kida mëyit hälu u maratu kull marra big'-iblu banät u banät u
banät kawwamat 'indu desta bta'it banät u sähibnä fi nihäya bagá zâ'il g'iddan
u 'indu ganäbil zirrîya katïra min al-banât.
Translation (p. 21):
There was our brother, such a one, whose condition was poor and his wife
brought him every time daughters and daughters (and so) and a dozen of
daughters heaped at his (side), and our friend, in the end began to be very
angry and there were (simply) numerous atomic bombs of daughters at his
(side).
Perhaps the most interesting text is Text II, which is about native
attitudes to the phonology of SCA regarding h and γ. I reproduce it here
in its entirety in the light of Nader (1962). It reads as follows (p. 24):
ff ta'lïm al-ummïya
wähid kan bi'allem fi'n-näs al-ummiyyïn u ba'deyn begûl le'Tiô g'ib kalima
tibtadï masalan bi'l-harlf ellf aw bi'l-harïf be aw hakaza u nâs ashâb fl-yarïb
min yarbi's-sûdàn dayman yintagün Ïï-Yeyn hà. fabagâ yig'ïb kalima awwalha
ha gallò hanamäya.
Translation (p. 25):
On the education of the illiterate
One taught the illiterate people and then he told him (to one of them) "say a
word beginning with the letter "a" or the letter "b" or so", and the people
living in the West, from the West of the Sudan always pronounced Yeyn as hä.
And when he (one of those people) was to say a word beginning with "h" he
told him: hanamäya. [See 1.6. under (9)-African substratum.]
The six proverbs and the texts with the exception o f β ta'ñm al-ummïya
are also known in other Arab countries, as the author states (p. 18).
1.73. Czapkiewicz (1960)

This article contains three more texts in the same dialect as Czapkiewicz
( 1959) and two of them are from the same two informants as Czapkiewicz
(1959) and the third one from Fath Allah (born in 1930 in Ad-Duwaym).
Czapkiewicz is quite right about the third text when he states (p. 192):
"The language, which he [the informant] uses in his narrative shows strong
influences of that of educated people."
It is sad but true nevertheless when the author states (p. 192) concerning
the dialect of the Middle Sudan:
Alas, the scarcity of our dialectical material allows neither for construction
of the grammatical sketch of our dialect nor to make any remark of generally
binding character.
T h e opening sentence of each of the three texts with their translations
is as follows:
(1) surub fl-gahwa (pp. 192-193)

'äwiz akallimküm 'an ïl-gahwa fi's-südän. bägi innu n-näs fi's-südän bihibbü
surub fl-gahwa bil-he y l.
[fis-südän is a misprint for fi's-südän, i.e. the spiritus lenis, not the
spiritus asper.]
Translation (pp. 194-195)

(1) Drinking of coffee
I would like to tell you about the coffee in Sudan. 26 It happens that people in
Sudan like the drinking of coffee very much.
(2) ïd-defën
lemma yimût wähid fi's-südän tab'an ewwel häg'a än-näs ya'nî tab'an ïn-nâs
illi Yâlibithùm hinäk ïl-muslimïn bimiskü'l-insän îl-meyyit dâ biysiluhu.
Translation (p. 196)
When somebody dies in Sudan, the first thing of course is, that is of course
the people, whose majority are moslems, take this dead man and wash him.
(3) ïz-zawàg'
mawdü' ïl-hadït huwwa haflat îl-'arïs fi's-südän.27 lemma yidür fl-wähid yi'arris
tab'an yukallim abähu 'ala bint illi 'äyiz yizawwag'hä.
Translation (pp. 196-197)
The theme of the narrative is the wedding ceremony in Sudan. When somebody
intends to marry, he speaks of course to his father about the girl he wants
to marry.
1.74. Davies (1925)

In this important review of Hillelson (1925), the author begins (p. 220):
The author, in his preface, rightly claims that this is a new work rather than
a revised edition of the English-Arabic vocabulary of the late Captain Amery,
and it would be ungrateful to the latter book, which, despite many obvious
defects, has served a very useful purpose in its day [1905 ff.], to institute
comparisons between the two. An introduction, as interesting as it is scholarly,
defines the scope of the work and explains the method of its presentation.
Sudan Arabic "is not a homogeneous language . . . but rather the common
term for a number of local forms of speech which constitute a group owing
to a general similarity of type, and in consequence of geographical and politi-
cal contacts." Of these local forms of speech, the author broadly distinguishes
sub-dialects for the Northern Sudan, the Central Sudan, the Western Sudan,
and the Baggära tribes and he notes, further, that the speech of nomad Arabs
everywhere differs from that of the settled population.
Davies proceeds to elaborate some of his own thoughts on an Arabic

koine, which he maintains will be found in any Arabic-speaking region.
He is quite right also in pointing out that even S CA subdialects have a
great diversity in vocabulary items and idiomatic expressions, and that
words common to one dialect of SCA are not known or used, not even
with different meanings, in other dialects, yet there is a large number
of common words in the whole area.
Davies suggests that in addition to subdialects of SCA and a SCA
koine, there also exists a technical administrative dialect, with much
Cairene influence, used by the army.
Davies writes in a fashion typical of British scholarly humor (p. 222):
So much having been said, the author can afford to concede to the reviewer
such small modicum of unhallowed joy as the amateur can, in this instance,
derive from detecting the expert in error. Like another lexicographer, who
defined the pastern as the knee of a horse ("Ignorance, Madam, sheer ignor-
ance"), Mr. Hillelson is not completely happy in equine matters. Thus ashgar
is not roan, but chestnut; and ahau is not chestnut but brown.
Davies continues by selecting minute matters for criticism, for

which he apologizes by saying:
Readers of this review will rightly infer that if criticism is directed to nice
points of this kind [see below], it is for lack of serious blemishes in the work
(p. 222).
There is always a danger in defining the meaning of a dialectical word from
insufficient data. On a former occasion Dr. Seligman28 attempted to restrict
the meaning of the verb nashagh to "to go northwest", basing his definition
on the usage of certain sections of the Kababish tribe. Mr. Hillelson avoids this
error, but falls into the similar one of defining wôtà as "to move south to the
river (Bagg)". In fact, wôtà is the complementary word to nashagh. The
latter is correctly explained in the Vocabulary as "to disperse in grazing grounds
during the rainy season". The former means "to move back to dry weather
quarters when the rainy season is over". It is perfectly true that for the
Baggära this is a move south to the river, but the Kababish also use the word
for a movement which is neither towards the south nor to a river.
Other minor matters, in essence, are taken up by Davies. He com-

plains that there are a few omissions due to sheer oversight on the
part of Hillelson, such as when 'wood' is listed as cf. 'forest', there is
no 'forest', though its Arabic equivalent will be found under 'shrub'.
Davies ends his criticism before he actually praises the form, style,
and printing of the work as a whole by saying (p. 222):
Those thoroughly familiar with the dialect of a particular region will be in a
position to point out that here and there the author has included a rare
dialectical word while omitting a more common or more useful one. This,
indeed, could hardly have been avoided except by organized collaboration
with provincial officials. Thus westerners (and possibly others) will have
difficulty in finding the ubiquitous word bärid, as applies to lawfulness of
possession, which is hidden away under the heading of "clear" and will look
in vain for its antithesis hâmï or hârr, as also for the vulgar but very common
kîrï, applied generally to stolen camels after they have passed from a thief to
a receiver.
1.75. Davies (1926)

This short article is a follow-up to the preceding one in that Davies lists
lexemes not found in Hillelson (1925), which replaced Amery (1905)
for all purposes, in an effort to try to keep it up-to-date. Some words
listed, it must be admitted, are not common nor particularly useful. For
instance, raba 'six-year old (camel)', or sadïs 'seven-year old (camel)'
(p. 135).
1.76. Davies (1927)

This is another short article which is a follow-up to the preceding in that it
is a supplementary vocabulary listing to it. It contains one hundred items
altogether in Arabic script and transliteration, and devotes a whole page
(p. 219) to vocabulary of the Baggara (Central Sudan). The purpose of
this article was the same as the one for Davies (1926) (see 1.75.).
1.77. Farmer (1939)

This article, by the world's authority of Arab music for the period in
which he lived, concentrates on references to musical instruments and
other musical terms in Arab historical writings from the eleventh to
sixteenth centuries. Unfortunately the manuscripts are not in SCA but
rather in literary Arabic (a page of one [dated 1701, owned by the
British Museum] is reproduced between pp. 572-573). There is nothing
which bears on scholarly SCA literature, yet for this period it is interest-
ing to note Farmer's conclusion (p. 575):
It will be seen that most of the names of the instruments are Arabic, but we
must remember that Arabic was the language in which the works quoted were
written. In four instances only are non-Arabic names used for instruments....
It seems as though Arabic terms relating to music diffused in the Sudan

and other parts of North and Central Africa before SCA really emerged
in the fourteenth century. The case of the Arabic loanwords in languages
such as Wolof, Bambara, Soso, Fulbe, Hausa, etc., is discussed by
Farmer in this article as well as his Studies in oriental musical instru-
ments (1931) and an article in Musical Standard (Nov. 1924), "The Arab
Influence on Music in the Western Soudan". 29
1.78. Ferguson (1949)

Ferguson begins his review of Trimingham (1946) by telling us that it
was based on Gairdner's Egyptian colloquial Arabic 1917 (first edition).
I would have to agree with Ferguson when he states (p. 42):
It is intended to be a beginner's book, serving as a companion to Hillelson's
Sudan Arabic Texts and Sudan Arabic Vocabulary.
Ferguson continues (p. 42):

Apart from a few concessions, such as liberal use of Arabic names of persons
and places, and frequent mention of donkeys and goats and the stupidities
of local servants, the sentences reflect British culture (especially classroom
behavior patterns) far better than Sudanese culture.
Ferguson is correct in stating that /aw/ and /o:/ are two different
phonemes and that Trimingham neglects the following morphophonemic
rule, also known in other Arabic dialects:
II aw y >/aw/ but also /o:/ 3 0
I would agree that Trimingham's use of g to represent the voiced palatal
stop and q the voiced velar one is "unfortunate" (Ferguson's word),
although they do make it easier for the Semitist to identify the SCA form.
Ferguson concludes (p. 43):
As a source book for the professional linguist it is valuable; as a beginner's
book it is much better than most beginner's books in colloquial Arabic, but it
would need a thorough revision of its phonological terminology and a complete
recasting of its sentence material in order to be a really good tool for the
person who wants to learn Sudan Colloquial Arabic.
1.79. Field (1952: 184-240)

Appendix A (pp. 232-233) is useful in that it contains a listing of English-
Arabic-Nubian vocabulary recorded phonetically, with the assistance
of Keith Marker, on March 6, 1948, at Abka, ten miles south of Wadi
Haifa. The transcriptions are far from being phonetic or consistent. A
look at the Arabic numerals (p. 233) confirms this:
1 wahid
2 ethnain
3 thelatha
4 arba
5 khamseh
6 sitta
7 saba
8 thamanaya
9 tissa
10 ashera
11 hidasha
12 ethanasha
20 asherin
100 mia
Laryngeals, pharyngeals, and vocalic length are three of the most
conspicuous things not noted. Consider tal hinna 'come here' for
ta'äl hinà (p. 232), or rennem 'sheep' f o r \anam.
The remaining pages referred to here are important for they list
population statistics for sedentary places and nomadic groups, as well
as nonlinguistic, physical anthropological facts, such as facial and
nasal measurements, statistics on age, hair, teeth, etc. Field led the
University of California African Expedition to the Sudan and other
African countries in the late 40s, and some of his ideas about the expedi-
tion were published before 1952.31 Interesting ideas about the history
and prehistory of the Sudan are also included, especially with reference
to geneology. See, for example, the report of the Gumueya of Umm Disa
(pp. 218 ff.).32
1.80. Hillelson (1921)

This article is a review article of Al-Amin 1923 (unpublished but presum-
ably available in 1920 or earlier). Al-Amin was at that time an Arabic
teacher under the Sudan government (Education Department). Hillelson
and Al-Amïn treat native beliefs, customs, children's games, manners
of dress, etc., in terms of SCA glossary, and a comparison with classical
Arabic.
An example of a proverb known also in ancient times (Hamza al-

?Isbahânï) is the following in SCA:
yâ en assamis 'addetak sinn al-humâr wa'ddïni sinn alyazal
'Oh eye of the sun take the donkey tooth and give me a gazelle tooth'
Jackson (1919) has an earlier treatment of similar material. Some of the

classical Arabic material in Hillelson (1921) is vocalized (p. 80); some is
not.
1.81. Hillelson (1925a)33

The title page reads: "Sudan Arabic English-Arabic vocabulary, by S.
Hillelson, Education Department, Sudan Government, published by
the Sudan Government, London, 1925".Thepreface, which immediately
follows the title page, was dated August 1925 at Oxford. He begins by
mentioning that, although really a new work, this is a revision of Amery
(1905), which had been out of print for quite some time. Addenda and
corrigenda to Amery (1905) was utilized by Hillelson based on Amery's
own manuscripts, which were preserved after his death in the Intelligence
Department. Articles published in SNR, and an unpublished collection
of words and dialectical forms made by G. E. Iles, "late of the Political
Service", and Al-Amin (1923) were also used. Hillelson had been in
the Sudan since 1911 as a full-time resident.
There are abbreviations for the 341-page vocabulary on p. vii. Some
of them include: Bagg. Baggära, Bed. Beduin, C.S. Central Sudan,
Dong. Dongola, Rub. Rubätäb. The vowel of the imperfect is put in
parentheses after the perfect of the verb (third masculine singular), and
if a word belongs to MSA or Cairo Arabic, it is put in square brackets.
There are nineteen pages of grammatical notes before the vocabulary
actually begins. Some notes on pronunciation of SCA include:
(1) d is emphatic, which he terms "velarized", with rounding of
the lips34
(2) g is the chosen symbol for the Jim, which he says is "half-way
between g and j, almost dy"
(3) h is defined as a "strongly breathed h, articulated far back in the
throat, without uvular scrape"
(4) q is "like k pronounced farther back"
(5) r is "always sounded", which is a reference to the fact that in
many dialects of English the r is dropped
(6) he includes dh, which is 8, and th, which is θ (SCA, of course,
does not have any interdentals)
(7) ch (actually c) is defined as "stands in the same relation to the

English sound of ch as g does to j; almost like ty"
(8) gh (γ) and kh (x), which has come to be a standard Semitological
and Arabist transcription, are correctly compared with North
German 'g' in sagen and 'ch' in Sache with strong uvular scrape,
respectively
(9) ' is defined as a "hiatus before a vowel at the beginning of a word,
or between two vowels, as in Glasgow Scots wa'er (for water)"
(10) ' is defined as the "voiced equivalent of h, articulated with
strong constriction of throat muscles" 35
Hillelson's transcription of vowels is essentially based on the pho-
nemic principle. He states with respect to vowels (p, x):
As the pronunciation varies in different localities, and is fluctuating even
within the same area, a strictly phonetic notation would only be of limited value.
The vowel symbols include: à, a, è, e, i, i, ö, o, ü, u, au, ai, and oi.
Hillelson is erroneous in stating that original δ has mostly become
d\ mostly it has become d, as is the case with many other dialects of
Arabic. In SCA and other Arabic dialects, it occasionally becomes z,
but that is usually in borrowings from MSA or other languages (p. xi).
Hillelson is right in claiming that ' > ? in the SCA of the tribes of
Kordofan (sedentary). This is also known in many Beiruti Arabic
dialects, but is restricted to initial position (p. xi). This is true of Chadian
Arabic, in general, too.
Hillelson shows traces of his classical upbringing when he states
(p. xiv):
Sudan Arabic, then, like every other spoken dialect, is not a homogeneous
language, with definite rules of grammar and vocabulary [emphasis mine], but
rather the common term for a number of local forms of speech which constitute
a group owing to a general similarity of type, and in consequence of geographical
and political contacts.
(See 1.74. It is interesting to speculate why Davies [1925] leaves out

the clause which I have chosen to emphasize here.)
Concerning the subdialects of the Sudan (SCA), Hillelson states his
position (p. xv):
The subdialects of the Sudan group are not easy to classify. Though the speech
of any circumscribed area bears a definite character and has its distinct peculiar-
ities of pronunciation, vocabulary, and idiom, the geographical limits of such
features are difficult to trace, and the lines of demarcation do not coincide with
respect to the different peculiarities, by which a dialect is characterized. The

difficulty of tracing dialect frontiers is further enhanced by the many migrations
and tribal fusions, which have occurred within the area covered by the group,
and by the fact that no detailed studies of any of the local dialects are as yet
available. Nevertheless, and with due regard to these qualifications, it is possible
to distinguish the following subdialects: the speech of the Northern Sudan,
including Berber Province and the Arabic-speaking parts of Dongola; the
speech of the Central Sudan, including Omdurman, 36 the Gezira, and the
country to the east of the Blue Nile ; the idiom of the Western Sudan, embracing
the White Nile, Kordofan, and Darfur; and the dialect of the Baggära tribes.
It should further be noted that the speech of nomad Arabs everywhere dif-
fers from that of the settled population, and that the educated classes in all
parts of the country tend to use an idiom devoid of any distinctively local
features.
Concerning how the differences of local usage may hamper intelligi-

bility of SCA dialects, Hillelson related the following, terribly interest-
ing in terms of Nader (1962) (xvi, fn. 1):
A Rubatäbi was married to a woman of the Halawin who had a daughter of a

previous marriage. One day, when going to the market, he noticed that he
had forgotten his knife, so he called out to his step-daughter: Yâ Fatni gib el
khüsa fil kamböt fil margôn. The girl replied: Father, why do you speak to me
in a foreign language? In the speech of the Gezira he should have said: gib es
sikkïn fil kabdúlü fil gati, and to the Halawïn girl his northern terms for
"knife", "bottle-shaped basket", and "store-room" sounded as a foreign
language.
Elaborating on the Arabic koine (see 1.74.) he maintains (p. xvi, fn. 2):
The term "common language" may be used both in a wider and in a narrower
sense: in the first it refers to the Arabic language in general as contrasted with
any dialectical group; in the narrower sense we speak of a common language of
the Sudan as contrasted with any of the sub-dialects.
A few examples from the vocabulary itself illustrate the koine and
so-called SCA (dialect).
koine dialect
ràgil zòl 'man'
walad darjon 'child'
ard watä, wätä 'earth'
gutta nyäwa 'cat' 37
khànzïr kadrük pig
battäl tdïs 'bad'
More about Hillelson's linguistic philosophy becomes apparent when
he talks about the "unsophisticated native" (p. xviii) or when he states
(p. xviii):
The common language is restricted to a narrower sphere; and lacks both the
homely strength of the dialect and the polish of the literary idiom; it is there-
fore by a right instinct regarded as unfit for literary use; yet there is no doubt
that creative genius could mold it into a fine literary language by supplying its
deficiencies on the one hand from the dialect, and on the other from the
inexhaustible store of Classical Arabic.
Usage of words like "corruption" in the following context also helps

illustrate the point (pp. xxi-xxii):
[Sudan Arabic], although surrounded on all sides by African languages, (it)

has remained remarkably free from corruption, and this in spite of the fact
that but few of those who speak it can claim unmixed Arab descent.
H e concludes his ideas about the history and position of SCA by say-
ing the following (p. xxii):
This does not mean that it [SCA] resembles the language of the Koran more
closely than do other dialects, nor is the fact of special importance that "the
number of classical words in daily use, which in Egypt or Syria would only be
known to men of considerable learning and education, are very large" [intro-
duction to Amery ( 1905)]. It is more significant that it has consistently preserved
the phonetic and grammatical features of Arabic against the influence of foreign
languages and of phonetic decay, and that its development has not departed
from the recognized patterns of Semitic speech.
Hillelson then mentions phonetic p h e n o m e n a which are of special

interest in the study of SCA. S o m e of these include:
(1) ? > ' in a few words

(2) g > dy
(3) g > d / * [+sibilant]* 3 8
(4) g > y3'
(5) [ + pharyngeal] >[ + laryngeal] (sedentary Kordofanian tribes only)
(6) b, d, g > ρ, t, k in certain positions
(7) m > b / * [ + nasal]*
(8) [+liquid
M ] , .
A > L[ + geminated]J / V_V
[+consonantal]
(9) heavy 'imäla among nomadic SCA speakers, i.e.,
[ + vocalic] r+ jn telati, khamsi, sittï
[ + low J —
'three, five, six, respectively' (cf. Cairene taläta, xamsa, sitta).
Hillelson then offers the reader four pages of morphological and
syntactic notes concluding the introduction. H e first lists personal pro-
noun forms (p. xxiv):
ana, ani 1st common sg.

inta, itta, itt [Trimingham (1946: 27): inti] 2nd mase. sg.
intï, itti 2nd fem. sg.
hü, hûwa [Trimingham (1946: 9): hu] 3rd mase. sg.
hi, hïya [Trimingham (1946: 9): hi, hiya] 3rd fem. sg.
nihna, anihna, ihna, nina 1st common pl.
intü, ittü [Trimingham (1946: 7): intu] [Worsley (1925: 53) 2nd mase. pl.
also lists intun]
intan, ittan 2nd fem. pl.
hum, hun 3rd mase. pl.
hin 3rd fem. pl.40
Dialectical forms and usage of pronominal suffixes (especially Baggara)
are mentioned under II, and notes on the verb follow, some of the high-
lights being:
(1) transposition of the vowel in the imperfect, e.g., yekútlo 'he kills him'
(2) 1st sg. imperfect marker is n- (generally a Maghribine feature), in the SCA
dialects of Gawamaa and Bidèrïya, e.g., namsi Ί go'
(3) -äk (sg.) and -äkum, äkun, marking a new jussive41 or invitational com-
mand, e.g., gümäk 'let us arise'
(4) -t (marking 1st sg. perfect) > φ, e.g., ana gum Ί rose'
(5) 1 marking Forms V and VI (rather than t-), e.g., alkallam 'he spoke'
(cf. classical Arabic takallam [pause form])
(6) hollow verbs sometimes merge in their imperfect into other morphological
categories, e.g., yenúm 'he sleeps' and yebit (cf. classical Arabic yanàm
and yabät [pause forms], respectively).
Particularly nominal developments in SCA include the following:
(1) -an (accusative sg.) is preserved for other than adverbial usages, e.g.,
gamalan 'a camel'
(2) diminutives (?ism al-tasyir) no longer having diminutive meanings, e.g.,
wilëd 'boy', binaiya 'girl'
(3) new broken plural pattern CaCCül, e.g., bannüt 'girls', kaddus 'cats', or
CaCCäC, e.g., hammär 'donkeys'
(4) profession morpheme (CaCCäC), on the analogy of the Turkish suffix
-ji, which also denotes professions as a class, becomes CaCCâCî, e.g.,
harräbi 'spearman'.
For particular comments pertaining to the vocabulary section itself,

see 1.35.
As regards the appendices, Hillelson follows the tradition of his pre-
decessors, viz. cardinal and ordinal numerals, Islamic months, and
weights and measures, although the appendices are certainly not ela-
borate. 42
1.82. Hillelson (1935)

The fourteen-page introduction includes new thoughts on SCA, as well

as some old ones. The volume makes use, however, of Worsley (1925).
The introduction begins (p. xi):
No Arabic-speaking country has hitherto evolved a modern written language

which stands to the spoken dialects in the relation which literary Italian
occupies towards the dialects of Italy. In speaking of Egyptian, Syrian, or
Sudanese Arabic 43 we make use of convenient abstractions to denote dialect-
groups each of which possesses a recognisable individuality which clearly
marks it off from other groups; but within each group there exists numerous
varieties of local speech differing from each other very materially in pro-
nunciation, vocabulary and idiom. Where political or social conditions have
favoured the growth of mutual intercourse and the developments of cultural
centres there is a tendency for "common languages" to arise, of which is
characteristic that they select those elements from the common stock of words
and idioms which are most widely understood, and that they avoid features
felt to be merely local or characteristic of a small g r o u p . . . .
In the Sudan the "common language" 44 is less easy to define, and it is even
doubtful whether it can be said to exist in a tangible form. The dialect-mixtures
of the large centres of population, and the jargon of the government office
and the workshop, can indeed be distinguished from rustic dialect without any
difficulty, but they have no precise linguistic character and are lacking in
standards of tradition and fixed u s a g e . . . .
It would be an error, moreover, to suppose that the dialects are mere patois
adapted only to the practical needs of the household, the market-place, and
the nomad camp; the Arab of to-day has inherited from his ancestors a
delight in fasäha, i.e. the ability to use the resources of his language skilfully
and with a view to rhetorical effect, and this tendency finds expression in such
devices as paranomasia, metaphor and allusive description, and in the use of a
large vocabulary of synonyms. This pleasure in linguistic effects is given full
play in ordinary conversation, 45 but it is naturally most conspicuously dis-
played in what may be described as the oral literature of an unlettered people,
i.e. their rich store of proverbs, songs, folklore stories and historical traditions. 46
New phonological peculiarities of SCA not mentioned in Hillelson

(1925) include:
(1) Koran readers regard SCA dy as the correct pronunciation of the Jim
[Hillelson quoting Brockelmann quoting Völlers (Brockelmann 1908:122)]
(2) merger of S and d into d 47
(3) -Ct# >-Cta#, e.g. ri'kibta (rikibt) Ί rode'
(4) -C*f >-C#C, e.g., ?al-?amïr 'the prince' >?al-lamir 48
(5) VCCV > VCVCV, e.g., yahfir >yahafir (where one of the consonants
must be h, h, or x) 'he digs'
(6) irregular gemination of consonants, e.g., katábbo 'he wrote it', qalámmak
'your pen', iqqül (yaqül) 'he says', innüm (yanüm) 'he sleeps'
(7) assimilations of the following types:
nk- —>kk, e.g., akkän 'if'

ln- ->nn, e.g., ahánna 'our people'
nl- ->11, e.g., ayallo 'he looked at him'
nt- -Mt, e.g., bitt 'girl'
ld- ->dd, e.g., gidd 'leather'
bd- ->bb, e.g., abb 'slave'
dt- -Mt, e.g., raqatta Ί danced'
td- ->dd, e.g., biddüm 'it lasts'
ts- ->ss, e.g., iSSärakö 'they were partners'
Notes on pronouns and verbs not found in Hillelson (1925) include:
(1) -o# is often sounded, e.g., daraböho 'they struck him'

(2) -o# > -a# in the Baggara dialect, e.g., baäifa Ί see him'
(3) negation forms for the independent personal pronouns include:
mäni 1 st common sg.
mâk [mäki 2nd fem. sg. — 2nd common sg.
Trimingham (1946: 35)]
mähu (mü) 3rd mase. sg.
mähi (mi) (mäha) 3rd fem. sg.
mänä 1st common pl.
mâkun [mäkum, mäkan 2nd masc. 2nd common pl.
and fem. pl., respectively —
mähun [mähum, mähin '3rd masc. 3rd common pl.
and fem. pl., respectively' —
(4) interrogative pronouns minu, munu, fem., mini; pl. minun and minin
(fem.) 'who'
(5) yätu (yät) 'which', e.g., fi yätu bet 'in which house?' 49
(6) relative pronoun is al (common dialectical illi)50
(7) perfect paradigm: (maraq 'to go out' and misik 'to grasp')
Sg-
1 maraqta, misikta
2 maraqta, misikta fem. maraqti, misikti [-ti in
3 maraq, misik fem. maraqat, miskat
PI.
1 maraqnä, misiknä [-na in
2 maraqtü, misiktú fem. maraqtan, misiktan
3 maraqö, mis(j)kö [-u in fem. maraqan, miskan
(8) imperfect paradigm:
Sg.
1 'amruq
2 tamruq fem. tamruqi (tamurqi) [-i in
3 yamruq fem. tamruq

PI.
1 namruq
2 tamruqú (tamurqü) [-u in fem. tamruqan (tamurqan)
3 yamruqö (yamurqö) [-u in fem. yamruqan (yamurqan)51
(9) use of preformative a- in the imperative, e.g., ?amsi 'come'
(10) retention of internal passive (classical Arabic CuCiCa, qutila 'he was
killed') with vocalic assimilation, e.g., kitil 'he was killed', qibid 'he was
seized', siriq 'it was stolen'52
(11) the use of qa'ad 'to sit' as an auxiliary verb marking a continuous tense,
e.g., qa'adö yäklo fil-laham 'they went on eating the meat', kunta qa id
barqus Ί went on dancing'
Notes on nouns, prepositions, and particles not found in Hillelson
(1925) include the following:
(1) kêfin for këf 'how' (in the expression kêfinnak 'how are you?') on the
analogy of the adverbial preservation of tanwin (nünation)53
(2) new broken plural formations, such as CuCuCCa, qulumma 'pens', 7usudda
'lions' (quläma and ?usüda also occur)
(3) the prepositions bi- and li- 'to and for, respectively' have varying forms
and allomorphs bë and le, respectively
(4) the particle nän54 is the question particle (prefix)
(5) dialectical forms ï and yi 'yes'55
Pages 2-5 are a collection of proverbs utilizing Jackson (1919), Singer
(1913), and Shuqayr (1894). Many of the proverbs exist in other Arabic-
speaking countries. For example, ?at-tama waddar mägama 'covetous-
ness wastes what it has gathered' is certainly the same as ?ittama y Pilli
mä gama 'greed lessens what it has gathered' in Cairene (p. 2).56 Pages
6-9 are a collection of riddles, also discussed in Al-Amin (1923) (see
also Hillelson 1921). Riddles are called higä (sg. ha(u)gwa). The ques-
tioner must always begin hagétak ma baggëtak, which Al-Amin (1923)
says is from classical Arabic bajja 'to overcome', yet Hillelson (p. 6)
doubts this etymology:
baggëtak is probably no more than a meaningless jingle with which we
may compare Egyptian birgälätak, etc.
Pages 10-19 are a collection of folk tales and nursery rhymes. The
nursery rhymes have already appeared in Hillelson (1918). The folk
tales were written down by students at Gordon College at Khartoum
years before 1935, and the fact that they were originally written down
makes them more literary than is the actuality.
Pages 20-27 concern anecdotes whose titles relate the subject matter.
The texts here are extremely good. Some of the titles are: The two neigh-
bors, the miser, an anecdote of Abu Nawwäs (SCA for Abü Nuwäs), and
how Ilyäs Pasha outwitted the Danäqla. There are a few grammatical
remarks in footnotes.
Pages 28-35 are a story of the historical traditions of the Sukriyya, a
nomadic tribe of the eastern Sudan. It is called "The saga of Sha al-Din
Wad al-Tiwaym", who was the founder of the house of Abu Sinn from
the second half of the sixteenth century (see Hillelson [1920] who also
includes the English translation of the text). He states (pp. 28 ff.) that
now the text is published in the original from the dictation of Shaykh
Muhammad Wad al-Füráwí 57 (see 1.11.).
Pages 36-37 are a text in Arabic script, with a SCA transliteration,
about the first airplane in Khartoum from the Sudan Times of 15 January
1914.58 The text is not completely in MSA either. Note a form, for
instance like <bk?n> transliterated bakän rather than MSA makän
'place', or waktèn <wqtyn> 'when', occurring several times.
Pages 38-65 are texts called "Sketches of Gezira life". The Gezira
is the fertile plain lying between the White Nile and the Blue Nile, of
which Wad Medani is the center. Hillelson says that the Gezira dialect
of SCA is practically identical with the SCA of Omdurman. He is quite
correct about this. Trimingham (1946) also believes this. The topics of
the individual texts include: domestic furniture, a wedding party, death
and mourning, a quarrel and reconciliation, a misunderstanding about
land, domestic life, repairs to a house, and rain cultivation.
The next series of texts are entitled "Stories of the Rubätäb" (pp.
66-77). Two of the texts — "The unfaithful brother" and "Domestic
strife" — were written by Shaykh Bäbikr Badri, formerly of the Sudan
Education Department. The former begins (p. 66):
yà m h a m m a d 'ali, an-näs läiminnak fisän issanaf ma'ä axük 5 9 ff rizq ad-dunyä,

dahin ana mä rdit lak an-nabisa, däir axabbirak w ansidak tefahhimni l-haqiqa
u teddärak nafsak min löm an-näs
Translation:
Muhammad 'Ali, people are finding fault with you because you caused scandal
with your brother about a matter of worldly wealth; I do not like to think
that you should be disgraced, so I want to find out from you and ask you to
tell m e the true facts, so that you may guard yourself against the fault-finding
of the people. 6 0
Pages 78-87 are texts of the Kabâbïsh and Baggära (Baqqära). The
doubly underscored clause in the opening line of text 58 (p. 78) illustrates
the SCA character (as opposed to most other modern Arabic dialects):
saläm 'alêkun, intü taiyibîn? këf hâlkun?61

Translation:
Peace be upon you, are you well? How are you?
Some of the material in the texts are reminiscent of classical Arabic

poetry (see p. 85, fn. 3, for references to Durayd b. al-Simma in a poem
quoted by Abu Tammäm [Hamäsa], The classical poem reads:
wahal ?anä ?illä min yaziyyata 'in yawat
yawaytu wa?in tarsud yaziyyatu ?arsudi
Translation (after R. A. Nicholson):
I am of Ghaziyya; if she be in error, then I will err.
And if Ghaziyya be guided aright, I go right with her.
Hillelson (1949) has additional materials on this subject, as well as some
corrections to Hillelson (1935), e.g. lafit 'one who turns away from un-
pleasant things' (1949: 272). Hillelson (1949) was written after Hillelson
retired, thus "Formerly of the Sudan Government" under his name
(1949: 271) is justified. 62
The next section of texts is called "Kordofan jottings". Sedentary
Kordofanian SCA speakers are noted for one general phonological
phenomenon — pharyngeals > laryngeals. Hillelson, who quotes Al-
Amïn ( 1923), says that this phenomenon is also known in certain dialects
of ancient Arabia, and this sound change is also the norm among
nonnomadic Chadian Arabic speakers. Kordofanian SCA has kept the
emphatic series (Gawämi'a, Bidayriya), e.g. qata? 'to cut' for qata (p.
90), whereas most dialects of Chadian Arabic have lost emphasis, as is
the case with Cypriot Maronite Arabic and Maltese.63 The texts them-
selves (pp. 88-93) deal with such topics as paranomasia, husband and
wife, and the Bidayri and his donkey. 64
Pages 94-119 are extracts from a short play by Yüzbäsh! Abd al-
Qädir Mukhtâr, Mämür of Qeteina, called Al-mursid al-südäm, first
performed about 1910. Hillelson states (p. 94):
It [the play] was privately printed at the Victoria Press in Khartoum, but
copies are difficult to obtain. The object of the play was to dispel the native
prejudice against government schools (a prejudice which has long since
disappeared) and to combat native customs which conflict with enlightened
Moslem morality, such as drinking bouts, dancing to the dallùka, duelling with
whips, and the ever-present readiness to quarrel and to redress insults with
the knife. The industrious schoolboy, wearing clean clothes and exhibiting
exemplary manners and a becoming piety, is contrasted with the uncouth herd-
boy who comes to a bad end, and thefaki or local man of religion is represented
as exerting his influence on the side of good learning and enlightenment.
The schoolboy and the fakï speak careful literary Arabic, but the speeches
of the unsophisticated members of the cast are admirable specimens of the

dialect of the locality, i.e. the speech of such tribes as the Hasaniya and the
Husaynàt. In reprinting extracts of the text emendations have been made
in the rare cases in which the author's spelling has unwittingly lapsed into
Egyptian or classicising forms, and a few unintelligible and presumably cor-
rupt words have been omitted. The transliteration and translation were pre-
pared with the assistance of a native of Qeteina who as a boy had acted in
the play.
The text is printed in Arabic characters, a SCA transliteration, and a

translation with a few grammatical comments in the footnotes (some
originally by Mukhtär, and some by Hillelson, who also translated some
of Mukhtär's comments).
Pages 120-122 contain two letters based on Shuqayr (1904). The first
is a letter from Khalifa 'Abdullàhi to 'Abd al-Ra^ùf of the Dinka (see
1.10.). The colloquial nature of this letter is further substantiated with
such words as <?r?J> (p. 122), viz. arac, the Dinka word for 'slave'.
The second letter (undated) is short, and thus I have chosen to re-
produce it here:
ϋ^.Λ -»b fy. '¿>"5* JJI cj^l LIÎP1
J,β tJyJb ölä à

υ , . ¿yjvji os ( p ,·^ ¿y. ^ ¿
l i V ' j àrfr ^ *!» <*
It is a letter also from Khalifa Abdullàhi to Mek al-Gabüri of the

Nubians. Hillelson transliterates as follows (p. 120):
az-zöl akkän säf as-suyul al fil-ähira yöm wähid mä yehallï ag-gihäd fi sân
allah w ar-rasül w al-mahdi, az-zöl akkän qannab fil-bêt sákit yemüt säkit
mitil möt al-'awïn. w ammä akkän mät fig-gihäd alläh yirda 'alêho w ar-rasül
w al-mahdï wa yilqa 1-hêr al-ketïr.
Translation:
If a man were to see the things of the world to come, not for a single day would
he desert from the holy war in the cause of Allah and the Prophet and the
Mahdi. If a man sits idly in his house he dies idly as women die. But if he die
in the holy war, Allah and the Prophet and the Mahdi are pleased with him
and he obtains great blessings.
The next section of texts is called "Verse". Hillelson, partly based on
Shuqayr (1904), states that there exist the following major types of SCA
verse. The texts (pp. 123-155) are all transliterated, except for a madih
in praise of the Mahdi, by Ahmad Sa d, reprinted from Al-Amïn( 1923).
(1) namm or namïm, songs of camel-riders

(2) γunä al-mutraq, laments for the death of chiefs and great men, so
called because a staff (mutraq) beating the ground accompanies
the song rhythmically
(3) γ unä al-dallúka, dance songs sung by women to the rhythm of the
dance drum (dallüka)', topics include praise of the brave and
hatred for the cowardly 65
(4) songs sung by the men in praise of the great men of the tribe, or
the beauty of women 66
(5) ritualistic songs of childbirth, circumcision, weddings
(6) madih, songs in praise of the Prophet and/or Mahdi, sung by
professional singers (maddâhïn) with the tambourine (tär) in
the background
(7) döbäya, traditional songs in the Eastern and Central Sudan; the
rhythms are accentual and based on the drum patterns. 67
The next section of texts (pp. 156-171) is entitled "Prophecies and

sayings of Shaykh Farah Wad Taktök", who lived in the second half
of the seventeenth century and is mentioned in the tabaqät. The reason
for his importance in SCA studies is that many of his sayings and
maxims live even today in a rich oral tradition (see Emeneau 1966a).
Most of the texts in this section are in Arabic script (partially vocalized);
others are in transliteration only. Translations are always given, with
grammatical commentaries in the footnotes. Consider a short saying
(text 108, p. 158):
?ana l-batahäni, ?al-'ärif bätin az-zamäni

?asma'ü min lisânî, wallä tarühü bil-hawäni
Translation:
I am a man of the Batähin tribe, w h o knows the hidden
secrets of time; listen t o the speech of my tongue, lest
ye become of no account.
Arabic script:
Ù* W oM „ jUkli ul
x
oV^ J>y ¿jU
The last section of texts (pp. 172-203) are extracts from the tabaqät
of Wad Dayfalläh (see 1.7. ff.). The Sadiq manuscript (Mahmüdiyya
Press in Cairo) has a title slightly different from the one given in 1.7.,
based on the Mandil manuscript (Muqtataf Press in Cairo), viz. Kitäb
al-tabaqât β xusüs al-?awliyä? wa l-sâlihîn wa l-ulama7 wa l-su arä?fil-

südän. The full name of the author is Muhammad b. Dayfalläh b.
Muhammad al-Ga'li al-Fadll (1139-1224 A.H.). The texts are all repro-
duced by Hillelson in Arabic characters with slight vocalization, with
a few transcriptions, textual emendations based on the two manuscripts
published, and a few grammatical notes. A rapid glance through the
texts will confirm, I think, the SCA character of many parts of them. For
instance, consider the use of the è-imperfect, also slightly known in
Middle Arabic texts (see Blau 1965: 53, 65 fn. 3, 86, and 121-122), in
the following poem (p. 176):
Arabic script:
0 liji; tr3JuJ I (Ji J> ÜÍ.
alLa ( / l JU.
Transliteration:
baiyin mû yabï yull al-qulüb bitarfäho
mïyâhô r-rayîb beyäkul hadäyäho
Translation:
Manifest to all, not witless, you cure sick hearts,
not a greedy parasite w h o swallows gifts.
A selected glossary (pp. 205-219) concludes the book. The words in

the glossary are indexed in Arabic script with the ordering of the Arabic
alphabet, and page references to the given item in the texts. Hillelson
explains the organization (p. 205):
The glossary records the dialectical words of the texts which are not found
in the ordinary dictionaries. Words belonging to the Arabic koinè are included
only in certain cases where it seemed desirable to record their occurrence in
the dialect. The numerals refer to the paragraphs in the text: in the case of
c o m m o n words the references are not intended to be complete.
Only triconsonantal Arabic roots are given in Arabic characters. Thus

words for which no root is known, Arabic script is missing, e.g. abrí,
abré 'a refreshing drink made of kisra dissolved in water' (p. 205).68
1.83. Kensdale (1955)

The author explains the purpose of the paper (p. 162):
In January and February of 1954 the writer travelled some 4,000 miles through
the Northern Region of Nigeria in search of Arabic manuscripts for the
library of the University College of Ibadan, and also to make a survey of the
indigenous Arabic literature of the peoples of the Western Sudan. There was
no means beforehand of determining whether any manuscripts would be

found at all, or whether, if they existed, their possessors would part with
them. The tour proved profitable in both respects, however; over 150 works
were obtained, most of which are unknown outside Nigeria and very few of
which have ever been printed. Some were generously donated, but most were
purchased at the "market price", for the scribes are still busy in the more remote
districts, although the popularity of the printed texts from Egypt is an in-
creasing threat to their livelihood. In Kano, the largest town of the Northern
Region, it was impossible to find a scribe at work and there Arabic manu-
scripts were, in consequence, rare and expensive. Some local bibliophiles,
understandably reluctant to give or sell volumes which they could not replace,
nevertheless lent them for microfilming. There was, generally, considerable
interest shown towards this work and, since returning to Ibadan, manuscripts
have been received by post from self-appointed agents, which is most en-
couraging.
Kensdale rightly refutes the theory that Arabic seems to be a dying

language in Nigeria and the Western Sudan. He states (p. 162):
it is still widely understood and original works are still being written, although
their fame is only local. (Frequently the records of the alkali's courts are still
kept in Arabic and translated later into English for administrative purposes.)
There is a list of 85 manuscripts (see 1.49. for Kensdale [ 1956]).
Kensdale does not comment on the nature of the Arabic per se, yet I
would expect there to be many colloquial features of a general SCA
nature evident in the manuscripts (see the listing in 1.6.).69
1.84. MacLaughlin (1964)

The author comments on his interest in language switching in the Sudan
(p. iii):
The phenomenon of persons changing their language, discarding the tongue
with which they have grown up, came first to my attention when I was District
Officer (Cadet), Lake Province Administration, Tanganyika, during 1952-1955.
I noticed that some men who had migrated to wage-employment districts, and
who had remained there for a while, dropped their traditional tongue com-
pletely; others did not. More, workers of any given tribe showed no consistency
in their "switching" rates — that is, under certain social and economic circum-
stances some would change languages very quickly, but under others the rate of
change was much slower, or even nil. It was apparent that the nature of the
migrant's values, on the one hand, and the social milieu in which he found him-
self, on the other, were both variables in this socialization process.
During the academic year 1959-1960, while I was a lecturer in the Depart-
ment of Economics, University of Khartoum, I was afforded the opportunity to
study this social process in the Sudan. As the Sudan government had just
published the final results of its 1955-1956 census, it proved possible to use the
data on "Tribal and Nationality Groups" and "Languages Spoken at Home"

to measure this switching phenomenon, though there had to be a great deal of
reorganizing of census data before anything like meaningful results could be
obtained. In this monograph the opportunity has also been taken, wherever
appropriate, to discuss additional uses of tribal and language data to social
scientists and policymakers.
The analysis in the monograph was impeded due to problems of
bilingualism and multilingualism. MacLaughlin states (pp. iii-iv):
One of the important problems encountered throughout the analysis was the
inability to account for the fact that many persons in the Sudan are multi-
lingual — yet we have no data on bilingualism or multilingualism. When a
person learns and adopts a second language he does not lose his original tongue,
and no doubt uses it from time to time. Thus the vast majority of persons in
wage labor, trade, commerce, domestic service, and civil service speak Arabic
and, if they are not Arabs, their own language as well. A heavy percentage of the
educated also use English with some frequency. Many non-African foreigners
are fluent in three or more languages. Census-enumerators recorded a person's
language as being what the person told him it was, and the incident of "lying"
is in some cases rather high (see section 4.2 ["Arabs and Arabic Speakers"]).
But each person had only one language recorded, not two or more. Some
language-switching, hence, as measured by these data, covers multilingualism.
Table 7 (p. 43) reports that there are 3,914,436 Arabs in the Sudan, but
5,263,563 Arabic speakers. 70 There are many reasons why a non-Arab
(i.e. Arabic native speaker) would want to adopt Arabic as his language.
As the author maintains (pp. 42-43).
Put another way, there are economic and social reasons for a person to alter
his language. The former include the sheer needs to communicate, particularly
in the work environment, where the majority of persons speak the need-to-
be-adopted language, typically Arabic. The non-Arabic speaker, in this
example, must learn Arabic to retain his job, or perhaps even to be employed
in the first place. He might also need to learn Arabic to purchase commodities
in the shops and markets, read legal notices that affect him, and so on. Social
pressures are equally strong and take many forms, such as being snubbed or
scorned for the use of poor Arabic, for inability to converse about events and
people, or to read newspapers or to communicate with neighbors. If the lan-
guage barrier is combined with other factors that denote lower status, such as
very dark complexion, heavier facial features, nonobservance of Moslem dress
or customs (or pure paganism), working at menial wage labor, and so on, then
there is a nexus of interrelated pressures to conform, and learning Arabic is
perhaps the fastest and easiest start on the road to social and economic accept-
ance.
Arabic has thus gradually become the main language of an increasing per-
centage of the Sudan's peoples. Conversion to Islam, a steady process, usually
carries with it the adoption of Arabic. More persons are being taught Arabic in
the schools. More are entering wage markets where Arabic is the main lan-
guage. More are living in societies where, to gain social and economic ac-
ceptance, Arabic must be adopted.
The longer this socializing process has been going on, especially among some
non-Arab groups in central and Western Sudan, the more pronounced the dif-
ference between the number of Arabs and the number of Arabic speakers. It
must be remembered, too, that any person obtaining a formal education of any
kind in the Sudan must use Arabic, a European, or an Asian language — the
over one-hundred African languages historically had no written form until
Europeans started documenting them.
MacLaughlin includes an excellent map showing the tribal distributions
of the Sudan (p. 10), and a map showing the linguistic distribution of
the country (p. 32). Interestingly, according to the latter map, Mac-
Laughlin deems the entire northwestern part of the country as an
"uninhabited area".
The appendix (pp. 71-72) lists tribal and nationality groups based on
the 1956 census, including the following basic categories: (1) Arab,
(2) Nubian, (3) Beja, (4) Nilotic (Dinka, etc.), (5) Nilo-Hamitic (Bari,
Latuka, Didinga, etc.), and (6) Sudanic (Zande, Bongo-Baka-Bagirma).
MacLaughlin is not a linguist. He himself states this thus the bias of
the volume (p. iv):
This research took me into academic disciplines with which I was only slightly
familiar, including anthropology, linguistics, and sociology. My training is in
economics.
One of the important conclusions (p. 69) is that a group such as the
Beja consider themselves culturally superior to the Arabs,
"and usually no outward acquisition of Arabic language or any other Arabic
cultural furniture will make him change his mind, and probably it will not for
a long time to come".
Linguistic attitudes certainly have played their part in the Sudanese

civil war still ravaging on, about which little documentation exists.
The Numeiry government which recently fell and was reinstated within
the same week (July 1971) does not wish documentation (linguistic or
otherwise) to leak out.
1.85. Trimingham (1946)

As stated in 1.57., this is the standard work on SCA today. The author
mentions in the preface to the second edition, and Ferguson (1949:42)
reiterates:
The first edition of this Grammar was based largely upon W. H. T. Gairdner's
Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. The present edition has been completely rewritten
and some four-fifths of the material is entirely new.71
As explained in 1.57. ff., Trimingham chose the urban dialect of

Omdurman, and explains why (p. v):
The urban dialect of Omdurman, freed from purely tribal and local features,
evolving rapidly, sensitive to external influences, literary and political, is be-
coming increasingly a recognized standard for Sudan Arabic and is the common
medium of communication between speakers in the towns who may have been
brought up under the influence of a local dialect. Formed as it has been through
the agglomeration of people from all over the Sudan, there is a family resem-
blance between it and most other dialects. The villagers, who constitute the
majority of the population, will naturally always use their own dialects; but
these are being modified, and to-day some approach to the 'common language'
of Omdurman is used by headmen and others in touch with the wider world.
In this Grammar therefore I have kept to the gradually standardizing dialect
of Omdurman except in the Jezira dialect material of Part II. Those who wish to
study other varieties of Northern Sudan Arabic are advised to read S. Hillelson's
Sudan Arabic Texts, which is prefaced by an excellent introduction dealing
with the grammatical forms and phonetic features peculiar to other dialects.
The same author's Sudan Arabic Vocabulary will also be indispensable to
students. 72
The book begins with a five-page "The pronunciation of the Arabic

sounds". Phonetic statements are based to a large extent on Gairdner
(1925), still a valuable work, and on Worsley (1925), discussed in detail
in 1.86. The transcriptions are almost perfectly IPA-based, with the ex-
ception of:
(1) g is used for the Jim, rather than j (front palatal voiced plosive) 7 3
(2) g is used for γ or Κ
(3) q is used for the voiced dorso-velar stop; it is, in actuality, a mor-
phophonemic symbol, as is his g.
A few prescriptive statements are evident, viz. (p. 3):
h — like the English A, but it must always be pronounced, especially when in

the final position, where the English tend to leave it out.
Footnote 1, p. 3, is quite true, but needs further investigation, and

deserves much more comment than a footnote:
The proximity of the velarized consonants s, d, t, z 74 changes the 1 to l-unless

separated by a long vowel, e.g., fadaH fadil; ratu^ artäl; taiab, tälib.
The discussion of vowels will be discussed in 1.86., since much of this

subject's discussion is taken directly from Worsley (1925: 5 ff).
Part I consists of 23 chapters (pp. 6-145). The highlights of each
chapter will now be discussed. Trimingham's transcription will be
changed slightly to confrom with established Semitological phonetics
(phonology).
Chapter I — T h e Masculine noun (indefinite), subject and predicate,

adjective (pp. 6-7)
Of particular interest in this chapter are the elision rules. One notes
sinu 'what' > snu as in dasnu 'what is this?' Trimingham notes (p. 7,fn. 1):
Elision between two words is rare in Sudan Arabic. It is c o m m o n within o n e word
where three open syllables occur together, the second of which if it is a short
unaccented i or u (rarely a) 75 is alided, e.g. sätir (clever) becomes sätra in the
feminine. But n o t e . . . da kitäb ['this is a book'], not da ktäb as in Egyptian. 7 6
The elision of ? works the same way as it does in Cairene, generally. See
Mitchell (1956: 114-146) for a superb discussion of the phenomenon in
Cairene.
Chapter II — The definite article (pp. 8-9)

Even though the chapter is called 'The definite article', it does not occur
once. It deals rather with the indefinite article. As the author notes (p. 9):
"There is no indef. art.: kitäb = book and a book."
Note that standard adjectival patterns such as CaCïC (e.g., tawïl
'tall') remain, rather than Cairene tiwïl11 or tw'il (many other dialects).
Cf. classical Arabic tawïl, pause form.
Chapter III — T h e adjective, the feminine noun (pp. 10-14)

This chapter deals with the definite article (lunar and solar consonants:
huruf qamariyya wa hurüfsamsiyya). T h e article is || 9 al-1| as o p p o s e d to
Cairene || 1-1|. Consider the following (p. 13):
äi, al kitäb al kabïr maftüh 'yes, the large book is open'
Morphophonemic rules delete the

Trimingham's rule 3 (p. 12) is well-known (see 1.37. and passim):
When a word begins with a vowel, the 1 of the definite article al is doubled,
e.g. al laswad ['the black'].
The pedagogically sound note on doubled letters (p. 13) states:

One big fault of the English in speaking and reading Arabic is not paying atten-
tion to the 'doubled' or prolonged letters. Such doubling is in English only

heard between two words. Pronounce 'you are a bad dog' and then see what 'you
are a badog' sounds like. It sounds as absurd in Arabic, and usually changes the
meaning of a word. Practise this exercise repeatedly with a Sudanese (the mean-
ing of the words need not be learnt).
Chapter IV — The feminine noun and its adjective (pp. 14-16)

The highlight of this chapter is that the normal feminine ending for
nouns and adjectives is -a, and that the adjective must agree with the
noun it modifies in gender and definiteness.
Chapter V — The adverbs of place and the prepositions (pp. 16-18)

Basic adverbs of place and basic prepositions, e.g. föq 'above', tihit
'below', are presented in sixteen illustrative sentences with no grammati-
cal commentary.
Chapter VI — Demonstrative adjectives this and that, comparative

(PP. 18-21)
(1) The demonstratives, which occur after the noun as in Cairene,
have six forms. 78
'this' 'that'
da (mase.) däk (mase.) (or däka [Worsley
1925: 19])
di (fem.) dik (fem.)
'these' 'those'
dèi dèlâk
(2) "If a demonstrative is used with a qualified substantive, it may
either come after the substantive or after the adjective." (p. 21,
fn. 1). For example, (a) al kitäb da l kabïr maftüh (b) al kitäb al
kabir da maftüh 'this big book is open'.
(3) "In the simplest method of comparing two things min or 'an is used
with a positive adjective; it is equivalent to 'rather than'." (p. 20,
point 3). For example wa I waraqa di kabïra min di 'and this sheet
of paper is bigger than this'.
Chapter VII — The dual and plurals ('sound' and 'broken')

(pp. 22-27)
It should be noted that the automatic morphophonemic rules of vowel
shortening, so famous in Cairo Arabic (see Mitchell 1956: 111-112) do
not hold for SCA. Compare:
Cairo Arabic kitabën 'two books'

SCA kitàbën 'two books' (p. 23); also bàbèn 'two doors', subbàkèn
'two windows', mandïlèn 'two hundkerchiefs', etc. 79
The masculine sound plural ending is -in; the feminine, -at. Sound
plurals are opposed to broken plurals, i.e. plural by basically vocalic
change with or without affixes. Trimingham is quite right in saying (p.
26): "The broken plural should therefore always be learnt with the
singular."
The following classes of nouns take a sound masculine or feminine
plural:
(1) active participles, e.g. räqdin, räqdät 'lying down'
(2) passive participles, e.g. makrübin, makrübät 'afflicted'
(3) profession-forms of the pattern CaCCáC, e.g. tabbâxïn, tabbäxät
'cook'
(4) relative adjectives (nisba), e.g. masriyyïn, masriyyät 'Egyptian'
(5) nouns derived from verbs whose third radical is 'weak', e.g.
salawät 'prayers' (sala 'prayer' — root slw).
Chapter VIII — Active and passive participles, disjunctive pronouns

(pp. 28-32)
Nine sentences and a basic conversation illustrate the usage of the par-
ticiples (Form I). A substitution drill demonstrates their morphology
(p. 32).
One interesting phonological problem presents itself. Trimingham
writes (twice in this lesson): "al bitt' di 'this girl' " (p. 29). First, raised
vowels are not mentioned in the introductory chapter on phonology
(vowels). The nature of this raised vowel (Trimingham's transcription)
is certainly one involving anaptyxis. 80 Cairo Arabic is famous for its
anaptyctic vowels in this position (cf. ?il-binñ di — the transcription of
Mitchell [1956]). The anaptyctic rule which prevents three or more
consonant clusters in Cairene does not hold true for SCA. Compare
Trimingham's "as sitt kabïra 'the woman is big'" (p. 27). A study of
the whole matter is badly in need. Second, perhaps this would have been
the time for the usage of Trimingham's schwa symbol (s) (see 1.59.).
Another interesting point (fn. 2, p. 31 ) concerns Trimingham's listing
the following meanings for the active participle säkit: (1) quiet,
(2) nothing, (3) plain, (4) without any purpose, and (5) for no reason. This
meaning is quite particularly Sudanese-Chadian. It is much used in
Chadian Arabic, especially by children, and it may be glossed con-
veniently as 'because... .', typical in the English of, say, seven-year-
olds in the United States — why have you come? Answer: b e c a u s e . . . .

The author is correct in saying (p. 31, fn. 1):
mara (woman-wife) and zöga (wife) are never used directly. The most direct
reference possible is u m m awlädi, the mother of my children.
This is also true in many other Arabic speech communities.
Chapter IX — Suffix pronouns of the possessive (genitive) case

(pp. 32-36)
The suffixes are:
c V_
-i (rt/)81 -y (-ya) 1st common sg.
-ak -k (-ka) 2nd masc. sg.
-ik -ki 2nd fem. sg.
-u -hu 3rd masc. sg.
-a -ha 3rd fem. sg.
-na -nas2 1st common pi.
-kum (-kun) -kum (-kun) 2nd masc. pi.
-kan -kan 2nd fem. pl.
-um (-un) -hum (-huri) 3rd masc. pl.
-in -hin 3rd fem. pl. 83
Note that anapty ctic i and u are deleted before these suffixes (unaccented),
but a is retained. 84 For example, isim 'name', uxut 'sister', but laham
'flesh'.
Another example of Trimingham's fine linguistic prose is (fn. 1,
p. 35):
When suffix pronouns are added to fem. words ending in -a, the -a is changed to
-t or -at and the suffix pronouns added, e.g. sa a (watch), sa ti (my watch),
s a a t k u m (your watch); thus also fütti (my towel), ristak (your pen), öttu
( = ödatu, his room), ödata (her room), madrasati 8 5 (my school), madrasatkum
(your school), santata (her bag, satchel, trunk).
Chapter X — Suffix pronouns of the objective (accusative) case,

comparative and superlative (pp. 36-42).
Interestingly, on page 37 mus kida 'not so?' occurs. This is typically
Cairene, but does occur often in SCA (Cairo influence). Compare with
mit kida (p. 15), mü being the negative marker in Syro-Palestinian
dialects. I have never heard mû kida from a native SCA speaker who has
not resided in the Levant or come into close contact with Arabic
speakers from that region (Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan).
The objective (accusative) possessive suffixes are the same as those

previously listed, but note forms like (p. 41) mâska 'holding — active
participle, feminine singular' and mâsika 'he is holding her' (see Kaye
[1971b] for a discussion of the so-called "elative" — comparative and
superlative).
Two phonological problems are manifest in this chapter. The first
again concerns the use of the raised vowel symbol. The forms axaffa,
aqalla (p. 39), and kullu (twice, p. 41) occur. The environment for all four
examples is the same, viz. an anaptyctic vowel to break up a consonant
cluster of three consonants (see earlier remarks). The u and " are pro-
bably due to vowel harmony in these cases.
Note also the elision of u in kwayyis (p. 41) for kuwayyis; aiwa, ana
fähmu kwayyis xälis 'yes, I understand it very well'. This must be one
of Trimingham's rarities (see p. 7, fn. 1). There is a useful drill of the
material (p. 40).
Chapter XI — An interlude, the five senses and their verbs
(pp. 42-44)
No grammatical remarks are presented in this chapter, but rather
seven sentences illustrate the five senses and the Arabic verbs used to
express them. Trimingham rightfully states (p. 42, fn. 1): "This lesson
may be omitted." It was probably included to offer the student a kind of
relaxation from new grammatical material. " occurs again in kuWgismi
'all my body' (see earlier remarks).
Chapter XII — The possessive case (genitive) by indirect method

(pp. 44-47)
This chapter discusses the particles haqq, bita, hil, hül, and al Iii 'of'.
The first two are the commonest (feminine add -at; feminine plural add
-ät; masculine plural in -in is rare). A form like haqqin may be heard, e.g.
al xaddàmïn dèi Iwqqïn minu (p. 47, fn. 2) 'to whom do these workers
belong?' A raised schwa occurs for the first and last time (also p. 47,
fn. 2): al kutub al lilin m3hammad 'these books are Mohammed's.'.
Chapter XIII — The possessive case (genitive) by 'annexation'

(pp. 48-51)
Basic statements about the status constructus ( ?idäfa) are presented (see
Reckendorf [1921: 135 ff.] for the particulars in classical Arabic only;
Mitchell [1956: 16]; and Beeston [1968:27-8]). wass 'face' is mentioned
several times.86 A raised u occurs in kull" wähid 'everyone' (p. 51) (see
earlier remarks). A drill illustrating the use of the construct state occurs
(p. 51).
Chapter XIV — To have by means of 'ind, ma'a, and le (pp. 52-55)

It should be pointed out that the word for 'today' (p. 53) viz. ?an-nahär
da is not with d and short vowel as it is in Cairo Arabic (Mitchell 1956:
262), viz. Άπ-nahárda. This word is, I suspect, a loanword into SCA from
Cairo Arabic, simply because no other dialect has this construction
(most dialects use a descendant of classical Arabic ?alyawma 'today').
One is told that there is no verb 'to have' in Arabic, and that the
'chez mof construction prevails; the particle 'ind is the commonest and
can be used for anything; ma'a is used for small articles (on a person),
and le is used for possession of big property or for time. See Mitchell
(1956: 28-29) for a discussion of parallel phenomena in Cairene, in
which the particle is 'and (as opposed to classical Arabic and SCA 'ind).
Chapter XV — The verb 'to be' in past and indefinite (pp. 56-59)
The particulars of kän, imperfect yakùn 'he was' are presented (see
Mitchell [ 1956: 36-37] for the details in Cairo Arabic, where the im-
perfect has i, viz. yikwf, see also the discussion in 4.3. ff.). Trimingham
states (p. 58) under point 5:
In Sudan Arabic, contrary to Egyptian, when the verbs kân and yakün are com-
bined with fih and 'ind they agree with the predicate in number and gender, e.g.
kânat indak sa a 'did you have a watch?'
känu 'indahum awläd 'had they children?'
känan 'indik banät kutär fil madrasa 'had you many girls in the school?'
fih 'there is/are' is also discussed, with the negative mäfih or màfis,
the latter certainly being loaned from Cairo Arabic where the negative
has discontinuous morphemic structure as French or Hausa.
The perfect (Trimingham calls it the "past") conjugation of kän is
presented (p. 59); also its imperfect (Trimingham calls it the "indefinite",
i.e. either present or future) and its imperfect negative.87
Chapter XVI — The past of the 'strong' triliteral verb (pp. 60-65)
Note kullu wähid 'everyone' without raised η (p. 61) in the light of the
preceding remarks on this subject of raised vowels and anaptyxis. Par-
ticularly noteworthy, also for other Arabic dialects, is (fn. 1, p. 63):
Foreigners are often misled by the word ma'leä since it can mean Ί am sorry'
as well as 'it doesn't matter'.
The perfect suffixes are listed for Form I verbs of the two basic
types: CaCaC and CiCiC — darab 'he hit' and rikib 'he rode' (see the
discussion in 1.85. under [7]). rikibu 'they rode' (p. 64) is certainly a
mistake for rikbu (rikbö), i.e. elision of second i (see 1.62. quoting p. 63,
fn. 2).
Point 6 (p. 65) is interesting in the light of Hillelson (1925: xxiv) (see
1.36.):
Most students will be advised not to waste their time learning the feminine
plural forms of the verb since the men usually use the masculine plural when
speaking of w o m e n . It is, however, always used by the w o m e n themselves. 8 8
Chapter XVII — Indefinite and imperative of the 'strong' triliteral

verb (pp. 64-75)
Again note kull" yôm 'every day' (p. 65) with kull" yôm 'every day' (p. 72).
This seems to suggest that there is free variation among anaptyctic
vowels in SCA (see earlier remarks). 89 Similarly kull" yôm 'every day'
(p. 67). Why Trimingham writes kull häga 'everything' (p. 67) for kull"
häga or kull" häga (Mitchell [ 1956: 120] kuM häga 'everything', 'the lot')
remains to be explained. Similarly, kullu yôm 'daily' (p. 71), but kull"
yôm (p. 75); kull wähid 'everyone' (p. 67), but kull" wähid (p. 72). qutta
Ί said' (p. 71) should certainly not be written quit", as Trimingham
does, for the -a is the same -a of its nonassimilated form, quita Ί said'. 90
The b- and non-¿-imperfect are explained (see Piamenta [1964] for a
good discussion of these features in Jerusalem Arabic). Paradigms are
then presented (see Mitchell 1956: 33-35, 80-86) (see 1.82. under [8]).
The ¿-imperfect with pronominal suffixes are listed in table form (p. 74)
(Trimingham writes bias Cairene [p. 74, line 1]).
Trimingham says about the imperfect forms (point 4, p. 72):
There are various phonetic modifications in conjugation, but the student need
not worry about them. If he knows the forms well, he will drop into the varia-
tions by listening and imitating,
(fn. 1, p. 72)
Such modifications are: (1) where etymologically a syllable is closed by h, h,
or χ, a helping vowel is inserted, e.g. yahafir for yahfir, he digs; (2) euphonical
change in 2nd fem. sing, and 2nd masc. plur. Imper. amiski for amsiki, takitbi
for taktibi, tamurqu for tamruqu. Most people w h o do not need to get very
close to the people should stick to the unmodified forms. 9 1
Notes on the positive and negative imperative are also given (see
Mitchell 1956: 34-35, 46-48). I do not know why Trimingham violates
his own word boundaries by writing mäb tasma 'don't you hear?' (p. 73)
since the b is part of the imperfect. The i of hi- elides, i.e. || mä bitasma' ||
/V_V, as it does in Cairo Arabic (see Mitchell 1956: 114).92
Chapter XVIII — The numerals, seasons, and months (pp. 74-83)
The numerals are presented by means of illustrative sentences, as well
as common fractions (pp. 74-77). Note kull" fasil 'every season' twice
(line 1, p. 77); also kull" adad'each number' (p. 77), and kull" kasir 'every
fraction' (p. 79) (see earlier remarks). A short text called "At the post
office" (p. 80) illustrates the usage of the cardinal numerals only.93 Basic
terms for time and seasons are presented (p. 82). It is important to con-
trast two terms with Cairene: (1) SCA umbärih 'yesterday' and Cairene
?imbärih (assimilation), and (2) SCA as sana di 'this year' and Cairene
?
issanädi (also just ?issana) (Cairene has mandatory vocalic lengthening
in this position).94
Chapter XIX — Ordinal numbers, colours, deformities (pp. 82-87)
Ordinal numbers are presented in a set of illustrative sentences. Color
and deformity forms, as Trimingham says (p. 84) "are perfectly con-
stant". Consider four examples:95
Masc. Fem. PI.
azraq zarqa zuruq
ahmar hamra faimur
atrás tarsa turns
a war 'awra 'uwur
Abstract noun gloss
zurqa 'blue'
humra 'red'
taras 'deaf'
'awar 'one-eyed'
Chapter XX — Compound tenses (pp. 86-89)
kän + ¿-imperfect, kart + perfect, biga (literally 'to become') 'to begin
to' + imperfect (also qa'ad and qannab, e.g. qaadyal'ab tawwäli 'he kept
on playing') are all illustrated, yet no grammatical statements are in-
cluded. Note the common SCA verb 'to do', viz. sawwa, imperfect
yasawwi. Note also qabl' kida 'before' (see earlier remarks).
Chapter XXI — Moods (pp. 90-93)
This chapter deals with the use of the non-A-imperfect (see Piamenta
1964). Trimingham states (p. 92):
There are no 'moods' in Arabic.96 The English moods it will be seen can only
be expressed by using auxiliary verbs with the Indefinite.
In essence, one uses the non-6-imperfect after "subjunctive-type-

causing" verbs, familiar enough from Romance languages, i.e. can —
could, ought to, may, perhaps, it is possible, it is necessary, it is incumbent
upon, etc. (see Mitchell 1956: 80-86). Note again the inconsistency of
anaptyctic vowel transcriptions: kullu guhdak 'your very best' (p. 91),
but hull" häl 'every state (condition)' and zayy* mà 'like' (p. 93) (see
earlier remarks).
Chapter XXII — 'Reduplicated verb' (with second and third

radicals the same) (pp. 94-97)
Anaptyxis is an important matter concerning so-called 122 verbs (gem-
inated verbs). Trimingham is confused here. For example, regarding a
form such as taqus' ma'äy 'sweep with me', he states (fn. 1, p. 95):
For taquSs; where etymologically a doubled consonant stands at the end of a
word and the next word begins with a consonant either a euphonic helping
vowel is introduced or the word is pronounced with 'lightening', e.g. 5idda
hêlak or sid helak (pull yourself together), cf. Hillelson, Sudan Arabic Texts,
p. xvi.
Phonemically the forms are CVC or CVCCa, e.g. lam ~ lamma 'he col-
lected', yet morphophonemically CVCC, e.g. || lamm ||. Trimingham
surely is correct when he states (p. 97): "The final a of 3rd Pers. masc.
sing, is purely euphonic." Both lam and lamma occur (i.e. CVC ~
CVCCa), yet/CVC/seems to be more frequent in final position. He then
lists more than thirty verbs belonging to this class all ending with
"euphonic" a. Cairene, incidentally, does not have imperfect forms with
a, but SCA does, although Trimingham is right in saying they are rare,
e.g. sahh, yasahh 'be correct' (see Mitchell 1956: 68).
Chapter XXIII — 'Weak' verbs with first radical w or hamza

(pp. 98-103)
Perfect and imperfect paradigms are presented for ?xd 'to seize' and
?
kl 'to eat'. The imperative, and active and passive participles are also
discussed. He handles waqaf he stood up', wazan 'he weighed out', and
waqa 'he fell' similarly. The note on active participle constructions is
particularly noteworthy (p. 101, fn. 1):
ana mäkil hassa' Ί have already eaten'.
It will be noticed that the Act. Part, has uniquely a past-sense Ί am eating (now)'
say, ana qä'id ?äkul.
See Mitchell (1956: 104-107) for a discussion on the last point.

Note again qabl" mä 'before' (p. 99) but qabl' wusül(p. 102) (see earlier
remarks). Note also ba'ad swayya 'after a little' (p. 99), although 'a little'
was transcribed more properly as si way ya previously (cf. Cairene suway-
ya, the u of which elides under statable conditions; Mitchell [1956:114]).
Trimingham is right about the ? in the imperfect, i.e. "it may be heard
on the lips of the educated (e.g. ya?mur, ma'mur)" (p. 103).
The only mention of first radical y verbs is the following (point 3, p.
103):
The only two verbs beginning with y that are used are yibis (to become dry),
Indef. yêbas, Imper, êbas, Act. Part, yábis; and yi'is (to despair), Indef. yê'as.
Chapter XXIV—Weak verbs with second radical w or y (pp. 102-107)

The basic morphology of the "hollow' verb is discussed, paradigms
presented, and illustrated through several short texts, one of which is
a Juha story97 (see Mitchell [1956: 67-68], but note Cairene yinäm 'he
sleeps' [as SCA yaxäf] vs. SCA yanùm [cf. Hebrew yonùm]).
Chapter XXV—'Weak verbs', third radical w or y (pp. 106-113)

Two stories about Juha (Trimingham: "giha", "Jiha") illustrate the
basic verbal morphology of these two classes. Trimingham states (p.
108):
No rule can be given as to vowel combinations; each verb must be learnt as it

occurs. There are three possibilities:
bana, banët, yabni ['build']
nisa, nisit, yansa ['forget'
qara, qarët, yaqra ['read' 98
See Mitchell (1956: 69-70).

The peculiar verb adda, imperfect yaddi 'to give' is discussed (see
Mitchell 1956: 39). This verb in SCA must be loaned from Cairene
?
adda, yiddi, since Chadian Arabic does not know this lexeme, but rather
uses ?anta 'he gave' (related to classical Arabic, Form IV, ?a'tä, which
also survives in many other dialects as well), adda in SCA takes two
objects, but note the syntactic free variants (p. 109): (1) addëtakyâhu"
and (2) addëtu lëk Ί gave it you', gä 'he came' is discussed (p. I l l )
(see Mitchell [1956: 39] for geh, i m p e r f e c t a / 'he came'). Cairene also
has a doublet form gä for geh. Cairene gum 'they came' is certainly as
problematic (anomalous) as SCA go 'they (masc.) came'; gan 'they
(fem.) came' (see 1.36. for Hillelson [1925], and also n. 88). As Cairene,
SCA has no imperative derived from this root, but rather suppletion
takes place, i.e. ta ài 'come'. More than thirty common verbs close the
chapter, belonging to one of the three subclasses of third radical wor
y verbs.
Chapter XXVI—'Increased form' fa"al, with quadriliteral verb

(pp. 112-119)
It is appropriate that the author has presented the second form of the
verb with quadriradical verbs since both have the same morphology —
CaCCaC in the perfect, e.g. kallam 'he spoke' and laxbat 'to muddle'.
The perfect paradigm (p. 116) uses the stem CaCCaC with the perfect
suffixes (seen, for instance in Form I); the imperfect uses the stem
CaCCiC, and note that the preformative vowel (everywhere) is a, not
i as Cairene (except the first singular ?a), although i does occur (most
probably under Cairene influence), as even Trimingham himself some-
times writes, i.e. yiwaffiran 'they (fem.) save', yiqaddiran 'they (fem.)
estimate' (p. 115), yisawwi 'he does' (fn. 1, p. 89) butyasawwi(paradigm
given p. 117). The active participle has the form miCaCCaC; the passive
participle the form maCaCCaC (see Mitchell 1956: 72-74).
On page 115, Trimingham presents yahmad 'Oh, Ahmad' rather than
his usual ya ahmad. (twice, for instance, on p. 113), which is the correct
and normal SCA formation, following the same rules as proposed for
Cairene (Mitchell 1956: 114-116). Cf. also ya brählm 'Oh, Abraham'
(p. 121), but>>ä brählm (p. 123).
Chapter XXVII—Verbs on the form itfa'al (pp. 118-125)

The author's grammatical statements are rather succinct here. He states
(pp. 122-123):
This common form is like the preceding fa"al form with the prefixing of it.
This t, which also appears in other forms, has a reflexive force. The significations
of itfa'al are:
(a) to do the action expressed in the fa'al form to oneself, e.g. 'allam, to teach;
it'allam, to learn (i.e. have oneself taught),
(b) and so, 'to make oneself out'; e.g. itkabbar, to make oneself great, i.e.
'to be proud'.
(c) 'to pretend to be ...', 'to ape', e.g. iddarwas [by regressive assimilation of
voicing; td > dd], 'to pretend to be a dervish' (idiomatically 'to be weak-
minded')
(d) a passive of fa"al, e.g. itlaggam, to be bridled....
The perfect and imperfect stems both have the shape CaCCaCto which
the perfect endings and imperfect affixes are added. A conversation in a
silversmiths' market illustrates the form well. Note kullu Mga 'every
thing' (p. 121) (see earlier remarks). Also wakt' mä 'when' (p. 121). A
note should be given to explain itfaddal (p. 123) 'please' and its plural
masculine itfaddlu (p. 121) in terms of the elision of a; similarly for the
reduction of the geminate yy in kuwayyis 'good' and its masculine plural
kuwaysin (both p. 121). Notice also that the i of it- may elide, although
not mentioned by the author, i.e. ana t'aggab 'I'm astonished' (p. 123)
(see Mitchell 1956: 75-76).
Chapter XXVIII—Verbs on the form ifta'al (pp. 124-129)

As with the grammatical statements in the previous chapter, those here
too are rather lucid. Trimingham states (pp. 126-127):
1. The significations of the form ifta'al are:
(a) Reflexive of the triliteral, e.g. igtama', 'to gather oneself with' and so
'to meet'.
(b) Subjective reflection, e.g. intazar, 'to look from within oneself' and so
'to expect, wait for' (from nazar, to see).
2. Past vowels are always a-a; Indef. a-i.
3. Assimilations·.
(a) When the first radical is w in this ifta'al form, w is attracted to t: e.g.
ittahad, to be united; ittafaq for iwtafaq, to agree.
(b) When the first radical is t, d, or z, the t is attracted to the radical which
is doubled: e.g. ittaham, to accuse; izzaham, to crowd; idda'a, to pretend.
Some morphophonemic statements follow including statements on

reduplicated verbs, second radical weak verbs, and third radical weak
verbs.
The text illustrating the forms is perhaps the most charming one in the
book, entitled "The children of the rich man". The anaptyctic vowels
(see earlier remarks) are particularly confused and confusing. Note
kulf walad 'every boy', and kulf wähid 'each one' (both on p. 125, the
latter occurring twice), as well as ayyi ( || ayy || ) 'some' (pp. 125 and 127).
About twenty common verbs in this form (p. 129) conclude the
chapter (see Mitchell 1956: 72-73).
Chapter XXIX—The passive (pp. 128-133)

Common remnants of the internal passive (Form I) with their cor-
responding actives are the following. Note that the perfect forms are all
CiCiC (imperfect stem CCaC with preformative vowel /').
Passive Active Gloss

tilif talaf to be destroyed
sikin sakan to be inhabited
\ilib \alab to be conquered
qiris qaras to be stung (by snake)
lidiy lada\ to be stung (by bee)
kitil katal to be killed
qirif qaraf to be disgusted
siriq saraq to be stolen
hiriq haraq to be burnt
As Trimingham states (p. 130): "The student must not try to make
Passives on this form but learn the verbs separately."
Trimingham mentions other facts about passives (pp. 130-131):
(a) The Past Participle100 is the one passive form which admits of free use as
conveying a passive sense, thus:
kän madrüb be rusäsa fi idu, he was struck by a bullet in his hand,
kull al yakaddib yakün mal'ün yöm al qiyäma, everyone who tells lies will
be cursed on the Day of Judgement.
(b) The 3rd Pres. Plur. Active is very frequently used where we should in
English employ a Passive....
(c) A very common form of the Passive of the primitive verb is that increased
by -in or -it, 101 e.g. infa'al, ifta'al. These two forms are interchangeable,
inhabas or ithabas (to be imprisoned), itmasak orimmasak(to be arrested).
In its vowelling this form is precisely similar to that of itfa'al of the preceding
chapter....
(d) The 'increased' forms in -t-, itfa'al, itfä'al, ifta'al, have a reflexive sense
(cf. se verbs in French) which often conveys a Passive m e a n i n g . . . .
Finally (p. 132), Trimingham states a fact common to basically all kinds
of Arabic.
The Passive is never used where the true agent is expressed. F o r ' t h e peasant was
killed by this dog' simply say, al kalib da katal al muzäri'.
The text illustrating the grammatical forms is again a charming one

about an ascetic and a man he finds beaten in the road.
Interesting anaptyctic transcriptions occur such as kul(l) näs 'all
the inhabitants' (p. 131), but note also again kull" wähid 'each one'
(p. 131).
Chapter XXX—Verbs on the form fa al and itfaal (pp. 132-135)

Two texts illustrate Forms III and VI, its passive. 102 Trimingham states
(p. 135):
1. The significations of the form fà'al are:

(a) to perform on a person, directly and with intent, the action suggested
by the triliteral verb, or by an adjective or by a noun, e.g.... gäwab, to
perform on a person, directly and with intent, the action in gawäb 'an
answer', viz. 'to answer him';
(b) and so by an easy transition 'to have intent to do an action on a person' =
'to try to do it', kätal, to try to do on a person the action of katal
'kill', viz. 'to fight him'
2. The significations of the form itfä'al are:
(a) reflexive of fä'al, e.g. iddära, he hid himself; and so
(b) in the third plural the reciprocal idea latent in the fä'al form is fully
brought out, e.g. issäbaqu, they raced together; itsäkalu, they quarrelled
together.
(c) The combination of the conative sense of fä'al with the reflexive pro-
duces the signification of feigning:
e.g. ityäba, he feigned ignorance; itnäsa, he pretended to forget; itmärad,
he pretended to be ill.
Chapter XXXI—Verbs of the form istaf'al (pp. 136-139)

A short conversation between a peasant and a medical doctor illustrates
this "not particularly common form" in SCA (p. 138). The author states
(p. 138):
Its [istaf'al] significations are:

(a) to consider a thing or person thus or thus, e.g. istayrab, 'to regard as
strange', therefore 'to be astonished at';
(b) to ask for the doing of such an action, e.g. ista'zan, to ask for permission.
In this case it may be reflexive·, thus ista'gaita may mean Ί asked myself
to hurry', i.e. Ί hurried'; or transitive, e.g. Ί asked so-and-so to hurry';
ista'gaita 'ali Ί hurried 'Ali up'.
Certain morphophonemic facts about this form for weak verbs are also
presented (p. 138).
Trimingham notes a peculiarity of SCA by saying (p. 138, point 4,
and fn. 1):
Sudan Arabic has a peculiar form faw'al (fö'al) derived from nouns, which is
expressive and vivid but will rarely be used in speaking to foreigners. The only
common word is körak, he shouted....
The only other words likely to be heard are tôrat, fatten for slaughter,
söbar, heap up (grain), söfan, be mouldy (bread), rogai, make a man of. Note
also tërab, to sow.
Chapter XXXII — The relative pronoun (pp. 140-143)

A story about mermaids illustrates the relative pronoun, ai.103 It is used
for all genders and numbers and is subject to the definite article assimila-
tion rules. For instance:

al bidrus bit'allant 'he who studies learns'
al immär as sirib 'the donkey which drank'
an niswán al γαηηαη 'the women who sang'
The al is never used with an indefinite antecedent. SCA and Chadian
Arabic are two important Arabic dialects which do not have the particle
?
illi (see Mitchell 1956: 57-58). This will be discussed in great detail in
following chapters, especially chapter 3.
Chapter XXXIII — The conditional sentence (pp. 142-145)

The subject of this chapter is probably the most inadequately treated of
all the chapters, which is possibly the reason for which it occurs last in
the work. This is really understandable because the subject is the most
difficult in all Arabic colloquiale not to mention, of course, classical
Arabic. Mitchell (1956: 86-87) has a rather good treatment for Cairo
Arabic. The subject is treated along with hypothetical sentences in
Wright (1955: 344-349); see also Reckendorf (1921: 483-516). Some
sentences presented would require a tremendous amount of analysis in
SCA. Consider:
kart kän kunta malik kunta akün mabsüt
'if I had been a king I should have been happy'
Footnotes 3 and 4 (p. 145) also exemplify that SCA works quite differently
from other colloquiale regarding conditional sentences:
(3) It will be noted that in Sudan Arabic the conditional particle may be
followed by the Indefinite.
(4) law in Sudan Colloquial does not refer only to an impossibility as in other
dialects. One can say, law ga arüh, if he comes I will go.
Part II of the work contains two sections: (1) conversations and voca-
bularies, and (2) stories and dialogues. It begins with four conversations
all dealing with natural situations, e.g. a conversation between a house-
wife and a cook. Raised (anaptyctic) vowels occur in confused abun-
dance, as we have noted in Part I of the volume. Transcriptions such as
inshdtta "God willing" (twice on p. 153 alone) probably indicate that
the texts were written before the author decided to use the IPA symbol
for s as he does throughout the work, viz. [J], The texts (pp. 148-157)
are much more illustrative of SCA than the ad hoc ones in the gram-
matical sections (see 1.78.).
Pages 156-161 are a collection of common vocabulary items having

to do with the bazaar (süq), clothing, the kitchen, the bathroom, and
sewing. There are no grammatical explanations in the footnotes up to
this point.
Pages 162-165 deal with political situations; text 1 is called "Verbal
process", text 2 "Courteous talk with a shaikh", and text 3 "Tax-
collection".
Pages 166-170 contain a story called "The fox and the hyena", known
also from other Arabic dialects. Then follows "A miracle of Shaikh
Khöjali", reproduced with slight changes from the tabaqät of Wad
Daif Allah (see 1.7. ff. and 1.82.).
Text 3 in this section is a translation of Luke XV. 11-32, which is not
classicized at all, as opposed to the translation of the Bible into Chadian
Arabic (see chapter 2 for the details).
Two conversations conclude the book. The first (pp. 170-173) is about
the meeting of a Jezira peasant and his relative in Wad Medani. The
second (pp. 174-176) is called "The last Wednesday of the month".
1.86. Worsley (1925)

The title page reads: "Sudanese Grammar by Allan Worsley, M.B.,
Ch.B. Medical Officer, C.M.S. Hospital, Omdurman, London Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, printed in Great Britain, 1925".
We learn from the page facing it that Worsley had planned two other
works. It stated: "In preparation — Exercises on this Grammar with
Vocabularies — also — A Sudanese Arabic Reader". Neither of these
has appeared. 104
From the preface we learn:
This little work is a first attempt to record and classify the rules of spoken
Sudanese Arabic. In my hospital work among Sudanese women I have had
unrivalled opportunities of studying Sudanese in its purest form.
Worsley's prescriptivism is evident as he continues:

The speech of the "raw" and illiterate woman is devoid of the Egyptian
adulterations, or classical technical words, so often heard in "office Arabic."
In addition to its purity it is full of rich idiom and folklore, which will gradually
die out under the advance of education.
It is for those whose work lies amongst the illiterate masses, especially
amongst women, that this book is primarily intended.
It was originally compiled to provide a teaching system for missionaries
engaged in Medical work; for the reason stated it can find little place for those
engaged in educational work. Later it was felt that by adopting the translitera-
tion of the Sudan Government, and publishing the work in book-form, an

opportunity would be offered to others as well as missionaries to share its
benefits.
Illustrating what was printed on the page opposite the title page, the
author continues (see n. 104):
Such a work would have been more complete with Exercises and Vocabularies,
but pressure of other work has rendered this not possible. I hope, however, to
publish Exercises and Vocabularies separately in the near future, with a reader
of short stories, etc.
The preface was written at Solihull, Warwickshire, in May 1925. He

thanks W. H. T. Gairdner for arranging most of the book including the
grammatical rules (see Gairdner 1917), as well as his first Arabic teacher,
Sadiq Effendi Shawki, and his informant who rechecked all of the
material, Sitt Esther Bassini, and L. F. Nalder (see Nalder 1925) "for
some suggestions and criticisms before going to press".
There is an excellent map of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan prefacing
the work. It goes from Kenya and the Belgian Congo in the south to
Egypt in the north and Arabia to the east, and French Equatorial Africa
(Chad) to the west. The area for the Sudan in 1925 is stated as 1,008,100
square miles, with a population of 5,606,848.
The introductory chapter on phonetics is based on Gairdner (1925)
(quoted in fn. 1, p. 1) which had been published not earlier than five
months previous to the writing of the preface of Worsley (1925). It
deals basically with SCA peculiarities, for the author states (p. 1):
For the general phonetic principles of all Arabic are the same; and especially
is this the case as between the Arabic spoken in the Sudan and the Arabic
(whether literary or colloquial) that is spoken in Egypt, which was the basis
chosen for the work referred to [Gairdner 1925]. The peculiarities of Sudanese
Arabic are matters of detail.
A comparative chart of Arabic phonemes is given (pp. 2-3); the first

column gives the letter of the Arabic alphabet, the second the trans-
literation of the book (following the Sudan government), and the third
the IPA symbols as used by Gairdner (1925). Page 3 is a chart of SCA
phonemes (consonants and vowels) which are classified according to
their articulatory statuses. The emphatics t, d, s, z, and / are called
"alveolar with back of tongue raised".
The longish discussion (pp. 4-5) of the jim in SCA and the qäf is
interesting (see Kaye [1971a; n. 55] for ramifications and details).
It should be noted that Worsley uses the < ( h a m z a ) , Arabic script',
as his symbol f o r w h i c h is itself (i.e. the< ? » derived from the grapheme

marking Arabic 'ayn; it is, in actuality, a small 'ayn. ' will be substituted
in all cases. 1 0 5
T h e discussion of vowels (see 1.85. for Trimingham [1946] and its
reference to this section of Worsley [ 1925]) is worth considering verbatim
et literatim (pp. 5 - 7 ) :
Though only one sign for fatha (the "a"-vowel) is used in this book, the student
must not expect to hear the same vowel in all cases. At least four " a " vowels
may be distinguished, [it is because the differences are grammatically irrelevant
that it has been thought best not to attempt to give separate symbols for these
phonetically different vowels — fn. 1, p. 5] 106 the distinctions being caused by
the proximity of the consonants s z t d and 1, and to a lesser degree by kh
gh ' and r [occasionally w — fn. 2, p. 5], The raising of the back of the tongue
required by all these consonants (except r) occasions a slight sympathetic
"back-tongue raising" in articulating neighbouring "a"-sounds, the result
being a perceptible modification of the sound of that vowel. The International
Phonetic Association takes the low-front " a " as the normal symbol for Arabic
fatha, because it is associated with about two-thirds of the Arabic con-
sonants. . . .
If we call this "the unmodified a," and distinguish it as a 1 , t h e n we m a y
distinguish the modified 'a'-sounds as follows:
a 2 (always long) and practically identical with the a in "father" (I.P.A. "a").
Ex. — häfiz.
a 3 (always short), very near the obscure a sound in the English word " b u d "
(I.P.A. λ). E x . — b a k h t .
a 4 (with back of the tongue slightly raised), as in the English word " w a n "
(I.P.A. D ). Ex.—basal (short); tähir (long).
Though the same sign " a " is used for all these variations in this book, those who
desire to pronounce Arabic acceptably, or even intelligently, must be prepared
to listen for and imitate, the finer modifications as heard in a native's pronuncia-
tion.
The rules for the modifications of the four a types follow, as well as a
short discussion of accent, which he states "means (normally) the raising
of the musical pitch of one vowel in a word, as compared with its neigh-
bours". It is marked as ', placed before the syllable w h o s e vowel is
accented.
Worsley then discusses anaptyxis — h e calls it "insertion of a phonetic
vowel" (p. 9). It was probably not read carefully by Trimingham (see the
numerous c o m m e n t s in 1.85. on anaptyctic vowels). T h e rules are similar
to those of Cairene (see Mitchell 1956: 113-116). Worsley states (p. 9):
(1) Three consonants can never stand together. When there is a danger of this
occurring, a euphonic " a " is always inserted; as al-haqq(a) 'alëk (the truth is
against you = you are wrong), darab'tann(a) hun (you (f. pi.) struck them
(m. pi.)).
Sometimes the euphonic vowel is pronounced long; as mad'd(ä)hu (he

stretched it).
All these are of course written without the brackets: maddâhu, haqqa, etc.
etc.
(2) Owing to the dislike of the Sudanese to ending a sentence or clause with
two closed consonants, a euphonic vowel is inserted. Ex. —kalb (dog) becomes
kalib; 'asr becomes 'asur. Or the vowel may be suffixed: darabt (I struck) becom-
ing darabta; madd (he stretched) becoming madda.
Worsley briefly compares Cairo Arabic and SCA by saying (p. 10):
Those wishing to compare Egyptian and Sudanese Arabic should note that,
in Sudanese, elision between two different words does not take place as in
the Egyptian da ktàb (that is a book).
Another interesting difference is that, whereas in Egyptian it is impossible
to have two long vowels in one word, the unaccented one being deprived of its
length (e.g. mawädf "subjects," becomes mawadi'), in Sudanese both long
vowels remain, as mawâdï'.
Again, in Egyptian all loss of accent occasions loss of length, but not so in
Sudanese: banä (he built) becomes in Egyptian bana, but in Sudanese it remains
banä.107 Again, in Egyptian two consonants cannot succeed a long syllable,
and when this is in danger of happening by elision the long vowel is shortened;
e.g., in Egypt, shâtimîn (mase, plur.) "abusing" becomes shatmin, but as
already mentioned, the Sudanese equivalent retains à; shatmin. And lastly,
Egyptian Arabic has an even more marked penchant for accenting the penul-
timate than Sudanese. Compare:—
Egypt. Sudan,
mad'rasa (school) 'madrasa
darab'taha (you (masc. s.) struck her) da'rabtaha
Pages 11-15 discuss masculine and feminine nouns. The section on
masculine nouns deals with the dual, sound, and broken plurals (the
latter only in passing), and the pedagogical nature of the presentation
is seen by (p. 12):
The plural of these words must be learnt. It is here that sound-memory

(memorising by hearing) will be found to be of such great assistance.
The section of feminine nouns deals with the id? marbûta (-at or -t),
called tè marbûta (by Ornala), words masculine in form but feminine in
use, parts of the body occurring in pairs, 108 place names, and words of
common gender, i.e. both masculine and feminine, such as watä
'ground, floor'.109 Notes on the dual, plural (sound and broken), and
collectives follow with a discussion of the nomen unitatis, i.e. sidara 'a
tree' (not -a = feminine marker), plural sidar.
Section 3 is a discussion of broken plurals (p. 16), with examples but
with no rules. Indeed Worsley states (p. 16): "There are no rules . . . "
(see Murtonen [1964] for a discussion of the origin and development of

the system).
Section 4 (pp. 17-18) discusses the definite article, written al-, subject
to the assimilation rules already mentioned several times. Section 5
discusses the demonstrative pronouns (p. 19). Note an apparent viola-
tion of Worsley's own anaptyctic rule; as-sitt di 'this lady' (three con-
sonants occurring in a row), followed many times by Trimingham (1946).
Section 6 (pp. 20-24) discusses the genitive. It contains three sub-
chapters.
(1) Genitive formed by auxiliary words, viz. Iii, hül, bita, and taba.
Three examples in this section violate the anaptyctic rule: al-
gäriya lilt muhammad 'Mohammed's slave girl (servant)', al-
gâriya Mit muhammad, and al-gäriya bitäht muhammad.110
(2) Genitive expressed by construct state (what Worsley calls "the
simple genitive, by annexation"), e.g. bèt muhammad 'Moham-
med's house'. 1 "
(3) Association of adjectives with the simple genitive, i.e. kitäb
al-fuikïm an-näfi' which might mean either 'the useful doctor's
book' or 'the doctor's useful book'. The ambiguity may be re-
soved quite easily by using class (1), i.e. al-kitäb an-näfi' taba
al-hakim 'the doctor's useful book'.
Particular genitive constructions such as abü naddara 'the man who

wears glasses', abü diqin 'the bearded one', 112 and qalilal-adab 'boorish'
(literally 'little of manners/culture') are mentioned briefly.
Section 7 (pp. 25-30) is called "The adjective". There are four
headings.
(1) A listing of types of adjectives, with singulars and plurals, with
how the elative is formed from each type. Some of the gram-
matical remarks are quite cumbersome, for instance, regarding
the elative (comparative and superlative); Worsley states (p. 25):
Comparative and superlative are formed by prefixing an a, removing first
vowel, and changing second vowel to a. Thus:— samih — asmah . . . .
It would have been much simpler to státe that the elative pattern is
aCCaC.
(2) Adjectives in attribution; Worsley states (p. 27):
An adjective agrees with the noun which it qualifies in gender, number,
case and definity or indefinity....
78 SUDANESE COLLOQUIAL ARABIC THE STATE. OF THE ART
Since SCA does not have categories or subcategories of case, I must

assume that case refers here to classical Arabic or MSA, Examples of
agreement (concord) are given. Concerning the dual and concord
(masculine plural), Worsely maintains quite incorrectly (p. 28):
But the dual number js not very commonly used; one would more fre-
quently say etnïn [sic.] rugäl [as opposed to ráglén]." 3
(3) Adjectives in nominal sentences (Worsley calls it "predication");

concord is explained.
(4) The section concludes itself with grammatical statements about
the comparative and superlative with illustrative sentences.
Section 8 (pp. 31-52) is called "The verb". It begins by saying that

there are three forms to the finite verb: (1) the complete (perfect), (2)
the incomplete (imperfect), and (3) the imperative. For complete and
incomplete, respectively, Worsley substitutes the terms past and
present-future with a note explaining the convenience and distortion
(misrepresentation) of the terms.
The subjunctive use of the imperfect with the particle an is certainly
not SCA (p. 32), but rather MSA or classical Arabic, e.g. quita lëhu an
yatbukh Ί told him to cook'.
The major part of the section has three subsections.
I. The fundamental verb
(1) simple triliteral verb
(2) 122 verbs
(3) w/ylh verbs
(4) 1 w!y3 verbs
(5) 12 w/y verbs
(6) ?23 verbs
(7) 1234 verbs
(8) irregular verbs
As opposed to Trimingham and Hillelson both, Worsley maintains that

the second a in sarab, for instance, may elide, i.e. sarbat 'she drank'
(p. 34 and paradigm, p. 33). This is erroneous.
Worsley also mentions (p. 34) the fact that -ü marking the third
masculine plural may sometimes be heard as -ó, especially before
pronominal suffixes both in the perfect and the imperfect, e.g. katalônî
'they killed me'.
Worsley states (p. 36) that the i of the ¿-imperfect (actually bi-)
elides after vowels, e.g. inta btamruq 'you are going out', but I cannot
explain the apparent anomaly of intü bitamruqù 'you mase. pl. are
going out', unless Worsley recorded intù# bitamruqù, in which case the
environment would not be post-vocalic.
The specialized SCA jussive (-äka, -äki, -äkun, -äkan) is mentioned
(pp. 36-37). The forms of the active participle are then discussed (note
the elision of i before suffixes, e.g. räqctin 'lying' [masc. pi.]) as well as
some uses thereof. The use of qaidas an auxiliary (p. 38) is mentioned. 114
Worsley then turns to a discussion of the passive participle. 115 As
seen elsewhere, some of his remarks are rather cumbersome. For
example, he states (p. 38);
It is formed by prefixing ma, and removing the first vowel, changing the
second vowel to ü (lengthened).
It would have been much more effective to state that the passive par-
ticiple has the form maCCüC.
A few remarks follow (pp. 38-39) concerning the passive voice and the
remnants of the internal passive (by vocalic change). Worsley states
quite correctly (as does Trimingham 1946):
[The passive] must never be used when the agent is mentioned; e.g. "he was
struck by Zaid" becomes zêd darabu (Zaid struck him).
The particulars of class (2) are discussed with full paradigms. Note
the apparent nondistinction for a form like mädda; it can either be
active participle masc. sg. or active participle fem. sg. — in the first
case, the -a is anaptyctic, in the second, it is a feminine marker (pp.
39-40).
Class (3) verbs are then discussed (pp. 41-42). There are three things
worth noting. (1) ya- > yò or ó; (2) the verb wiqif 'to stand' has an ir-
regular imperfect, yaqif.; and (3) ya- in a form such as yaqd 'he falls' has
"most probably I.P.A. a" (fn. 3, p. 41) for a.
Class (4) verbs are then discussed (pp. 42-43). Paradigms are given.
Note that 1 w3 roots have passive participles in y.
Class (5) verbs are then discussed (pp. 43-44). Full paradigms are
given. It is interesting to note some doublet formations (p. 44):
Before leaving this class, it should be noted that the masâ type is often con-
jugated in its Future tense as amis, tamis, . . . , etc. (instead of amsì, tamsï,
etc.). Similarly, one frequently hears the masc. sing. Imper. used as amis. This
use is commoner with the Arab tribes than with the people of Omdurman,
Khartoum, etc.
Page 45 discusses class (6) verbs. Note the root s'l 'to ask' (see 1.30.).
Page 45 also discusses class (7) verbs. A few examples are given.
A discussion of class (8) verbs occurs (pp. 45-46) directly following
class (7). Worsley states that there is only one irregular verb of any
importance, viz. gä 'to come'. The paradigms are listed.
II. The derived forms
Basic meanings and functions of the derived forms are presented, al-
though briefly. Worsley maintains that SCA only uses nine of the clas-
sical Arabic ten forms of the verb. He says that Form IX is lacking in
SCA, but lists Form IV as occurring, although it exists in loanforms
from classical Arabic or MSA.116 Classical Arabic has fifteen forms of
the verb (see Wright 1955), although only the first ten are common,
especially in postclassical literature.
Paradigms (pp. 48-50) of the derived forms are then presented for the
seven basic types of verbs (see preceding under I.).
III. Compound tenses and moods
(a) kän biduqq 'he was beating', 'he used to beat'
(b) yakün maraq 'he will have gone out'
(c) kän maraq 'he had gone out'
As opposed to Trimingham (1946), Worsley states about moods
(p. 51):
The "Moods" are expressed in Arabic by various auxiliary verbs combined
with the Present-Future [non-b-imperfect]." 7
1. "Can." . . . qidir, mumkin
2. "Want to," "wish to." . . . dáir, 118 band, badür
3. "Must." . . . läzim (undeclinable)
4. "Must have." . . . läzim +Perfect
Section 9 (pp. 53-59) is called "Pronouns". The independent personal

pronouns are listed, as well as the pronominal suffixes attached to nouns
and verbs with illustrations from various nominal and verbal classes
(see the discussion in the appropriate parts of 1.85.). One thing is not
clear at all: how is it that an original anaptyctic vowel (daqqa 'he struck')
acquires length and stress before suffixes, viz. daqqäni 'he struck me'?
(See Kaye [1972b: 7.0 ff.] for the pertinent details.)
Section 10 (pp. 60-66) is called "Prepositions, with some adverbs".
Twenty five common prepositions are listed." 9
Section 11 (pp. 67-69) is called "Conjunctions, with other adverbs".
Twenty-five common expressions are listed and illustrative sentences
given.120
Section 12 (pp. 70-71) deals with the numerals. This is perhaps the
weakest section of the g r a m m a r ; there are n o grammatical explanations
except that between 'two' and 'ten' inclusive the noun is in the plural;
over that always singular (p. 71.) There are many errors in the citation
of the numbers also. T h e most serious one which will have bearing in
terms of the Arabic koine (see chapter 3) is that the numbers from 11
to 19 d o not have emphatics, which, of course, they should.
Section 13 (pp. 72-73) is called " T h e relative". T h e treatment is just
as inadequate as was that of Trimingham (1946). Perhaps this will be-
come clear if one considers the following statement concerning al-
'the relative p r o n o u n ' . H e states (p. 72): "Nothing could be more
logical or simple than this construction."
T h e final section (less than half a page on p. 74) is on the condi-
tional. It is extremely weak — much weaker than the final chapter in
Trimingham (1946) (see comments thereof in 1.85.).
T h e work ends with an excellent index with references to pages and
paragraphs (pp. 75-80). 1 2 1
1.87. In conclusion, I must say that what is needed most concerning
SCA studies is a linguistic survey of the type already in existence in
Ethiopia, viz. the linguistic survey of the Sudan, with well-trained
linguists collecting data from all over the country. This makes good
sense, especially in the light of Kuipers (1968: 84-86). 1 2 2
NOTES TO CHAPTER 1
1
See Delafosse (1934) for a brief history of the Sudan and some of the "tribal"
languages.
2
I use the term Sudanese (in Sudanese Colloquial Arabic-SCA, for instance) and not
the term Sudanic nor the term Sudan in its adjectival sense because the latter two terms
have an established African rather than a Hamito-Semitic (Afroasiatic) context. For the
African contexts, see, for instance, Tucker (1940) and Westermann (1911). Thus I speak
about SCA rather than Sudan Arabic or Sudanic Arabic, and Sudanese languages rather
than Sudan languages or Sudanic languages, the latter being a genetic term, not a
geographical one. The reason for my choice in the terminology here is to minimize
confusion of geographical vs. genetic terms.
3
I intend this chapter to be a comprehensive state of the art paper similar to those
presented in Sobelman (1962). Six major dialect areas are covered in that volume. The first
four — Ferguson's Syrian, Harrell's Egyptian, Goodison's Arabian Peninsula, and Blanc's
Iraqi — appeared previously in MEJ between 1955 and 1959. The last two articles—T. B.
Irving's North African and P. P. Saydon's Maltese Arabic (see Kaye [1970: n. 18; 1971a:
n. 41 ] on the inadequacy of this term and its misrepresentation) —were written especially
for this volume. As Charles A. Ferguson wrote in the introduction to the volume (p. vi)
when he was still Director of the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C., in
April 1962: "The present collection of articles covers most of the Arabic-speaking world
but several areas are not treated, in particular the Arabic of the Sudan, Eastern and
Western, and the Arabic of Central Asia." Of course there are other Arabic-speaking
areas not covered in the volume nor elsewhere either, i.e. non-Arabic-speaking linguistic
areas (see Kaye [ 1972b: 1.1.] for particulars). Let us hope that this chapter fills the much
needed gap in the literature.
In the forty-two page article on the 'Arabiyya ("The Arabic language") in the new
edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam (I, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1960) written by several
outstanding Arabists, a whole paragraph is devoted (p. 575) to the Arabic dialects of the
Sudan and the area around Lake Chad. The following sources are mentioned for SCA:
Worsley (1925) and Hillelson (1925 and 1935). Four sources are also listed for Chadian
Arabic, which will be discussed in the following chapter.
Cantineau (1955: 157-158) discusses the Sudan and Central Africa under VI. He states
(p. 157): "Il faut distinguer deux groupes dialectaux principaux, d'ailleurs apparentés: les
parlers du Soudan égyptien et les parlers de la région du lac Tchad." He quotes Worsley
(1925), Amery (1905), and Hillelson (1925 and 1935). Then he states (p. 158): "Il est
évident qu'on n'est encore qu'au début de la recherche dialectologique."
Blanc (i.p.) is a discussion of the state of the art for Arabic linguistic studies of Mauri-
tania, Nigeria, Chad, the Sudan, and Zanzibar. I do not follow Blanc's terminology (fn. 1,
p. 381 ): " . . . the term 'Sudanic' will be used to refer to a type of Arabic spoken both in the
Sudan and beyond its political borders . . . " (see n. 2.)
Concerning his "Sudanic" Blanc states (3.1, p. 383):
The dialect types that stretch from the West bank of Lake Chad to the Red Sea coast
of the Sudan may provisionally be classified together as 'Sudanic'.... They do not
constitute a compact Arabic-speaking area, but rather a chain of Arabic islands in a
sea of African languages. The picture that emerges from the literature (practically
none of which speaks in precise geographic and dialectological terms) is that of the
three main subdivisions: the so-called 'Shuwa' Arabic in Bornu, perhaps also in
Kanem and Bagirmi; the Waday-Darfour dialects; and the Northern Sudan dialects.
Some of the dialects show marked African influences..., and the group as a whole
seems to have some affinities with some Upper Egyptian and Libyan Desert varieties,
but until more is known of the latter, 'Sudanic' may be considered as forming a
separate dialect area. It does not, moreover, fit too neatly into either the East-West
or the nomadic-sedentary dichotomy, though on the whole it is more Eastern than
Western and more nomadic than sedentary. T h e 1st person preformative of the
imperfect is a- for the singular, n- for the plural, except in some ill-defined areas of
the Waday-Darfour region, where the 'Western' n- (sing.) and η . . . u (pi.) are used;
a 'sedentary' b- prefix is used with the imperfect 'optionally' throughout, though
under what conditions and with what function is unclear; the regular reflex of q is g,
but the interdentals have been replaced by stops and the diphthongs by long vowels;
open syllables are preserved in a high degree (kaläm 'speech', kiläb 'dogs', kurä' 'leg,
foot', katabat 'she wrote') and final clusters are separated (kalib 'dog', laham 'meat',
gabul 'before'); there is a maximum preservation of the masculine/feminine distinc-
tion in verbs and pronouns; final -a (alternating with zero under unclear conditions)
occurs in morphemes from which they are absent in other dialects: guita"gult 'I,you
(masc. sg.) said', abüka ~ abük 'your (masc. sg.) father', dagga ~ dagg 'he hit' (cf.
daggäni 'he hit me'); a remnant of the nunation in -an occurs, in part of the region,
as an optional appendage of the indeterminate nouns under certain conditions
(kalban kabir), 'a big dog') [sic.]; the article and sole relative pronoun is al-; possess-
ive markers are hana, hül, 111; the demonstratives are without hä-, e.g. da, di, dola,
déla; for 'work', Western xdm seems more common than Eastern syl; for 'fish', there
is Western hüt and Eastern samak. Other characteristic lexical items include jawäd
'horse', hilla 'village', samih 'nice', ka'b and fäsil 'bad', gasi 'hard', dar, yadür
'to want', marag, yamrug 'to go out', battän 'again', bilhël (bilhën) 'very', etc.
Blanc continues his thoughts on SCA (3.3, p. 384):

On the Sudan proper, we are somewhat better off [i.e., than for Chadian Arabic],
though here again nothing has been done in recent years. There are four basic works
that complement each other rather neatly: a concise reference grammar (Worsley
1925), a medium size (xxvii + 341 pp.) but adequate English-Arabic dictionary
(Hillelson 1925) [it completely supersedes the older dictionary by Amery (1905) —
fn. 8, p. 384], a collection of varied texts in transcription (except for a few, which
are in Arabic characters) with translation and notes (Hillelson 1935), and a very
usable textbook with exercises and a number o f fine texts (Trimingham [sic.] 1939,
2nd ed. 1946, reprinted 1953). [Other textbooks (Burton 1934; Jubba Publications
1949) are hardly worth looking at, and the same may be said for Bell's jottings on
'slang' (1953); the earlier publications by Hillelson (1920, 1929) were incorporated
into his 1935 volume — fn. 9, p. 384.] Except for Worsley, whose work is explicitly
based on a specific dialect (Omdurman, largely women), these present a dialecto-
logically composite picture, and it is often difficult to tell what part of the Sudan a
given form represents; only some of the texts.in Hillelson and Trimingham [sic.] are
explicitly localized, and in Hillelson's dictionary, only some of the entries or remarks
refer to the Baggara of the Darfour area.
F o r occasional references to SCA and Chadian Arabic materials, see the excellent 451-
item bibliography in Fischer (1959: 7 - 2 8 ) .
What is desperately needed in addition to Blanc (i.p.) is an article of the type of
Ullendorff (1955), Hodge (i.p.), Polotsky (1964), and Leslau (1958). Hopefully, this
chapter will meet some urgent and crucial needs.
This chapter is organized into two basic parts; 1.69. is the line of demarcation. I am not
following the practice of the papers in Sobelman (1962); I intend the sections before 1.69.
to be introductory to the whole field of SCA studies whereas the sections after 1.68. deal
with grammatical relevancies and approaches of the various, usually prolific, writers on
SCA.
4
MacMichael (1922: II, 218). This work is an extensive survey of Arab history in the
Sudan. The second volume of the work deals exclusively with the native manuscripts of
the area — mainly the Sudan. Most of these, unfortunately, conform to literary Arabic
practice, but evidence of the spoken language (SCA) at different periods in Sudanese
history is found throughout. He often only describes documents rather than quoting from
them (see 1.49. and 1.83.), which limits the usefulness of the volume for our purposes.
Arabic characters also impede its utilization for us.
As related supplementary information, see Bivar and Hiskett (1962), and Institute of
Arabic Studies, University of Ghana, (1965).
Of great importance for Sudanese vernacular literature is Clutton ( 1949), a state of the
art paper. He states (p. 260):
The number of languages encountered is bewildering. In the small area of the Nuba
Mountains there are ten language groups; fourteen distinct languages are en-
countered along a stretch of road two hundred miles from Wau to the West. The
dialects are even more numerous, Dinka alone having four principal dialects differing
not merely in vocabulary but also in construction. Before there can be any produc-
tion of literature in these languages there are many questions of orthography and
spelling which have to be settled and this involves careful and arduous research.
He concludes the article with some remarks on Arabic (p. 264):
Bound up with the whole intricacy of language differences in the southern Sudan is
the necessity for an adequate lingua franca for the purposes of administration, com-
merce and higher education. Past history has made a very debased form of Arabic,
poor in vocabulary, a medium for the first two and English for the third. The concept
of closer relationship between north and south in a united Sudan makes it most
important that at least the better educated should in a very short time become
proficient in Arabic. In July a working party is assembling at the Southern Pub-
lications Bureau in Juba to study and initiate the production of Arabic textbooks
for the South. This will lay the foundation for the extension of Arabic teaching into
schools of all grades, a formidable task in the provision both of teachers and of text-
books. The reward however will be great in providing a means of communication for
everyday affairs which should ensure greater sympathy of understanding and ability
to cooperate between the peoples of the northern and southern Sudan.
On the overwhelming Arabic influence of some of these languages, see Monteil (1963).
5
Our knowledge of Middle Arabic (both Judaeo-Arabic and Christian Arabic) is
based solely on the study of manuscripts (see Blau [1965: 51-68], in particular, and Blau
[I, 1966: 21-36]). For some general remarks concerning Middle Arabic dialectology, see
Kaye (1971a: n. 39, postscript, addenda to n. 39, and passim).
6
Hillelson (1935:120). Note again the SCA roots s'lior s'l 'to ask'. The use of classical
Arabic ?ahdar 'come here !' is rather strange in this text.
7
Hillelson (1935: 28-35).
8
It is evident that Amery recognizes that such confusion exists by a footnote (p. v):
Many who have spent years in the Sudan maintain that the <j> is always pronounced
as "g", many again that it is always pronounced a "j," [sic.] and only a practised ear
can catch its true sound described above, which is the sound given to it in many parts
of Africa and Arabia. As an example of the difficulty of appreciating the actual pro-
nunciation of this letter, it may be stated that as a result of careful tests at which
natives of the Sudan were made to repeat words containing the letter<J> before large
audiences, the votes were invariably nearly equally divided as to whether these words
were being pronounced with a "g" or "j". In the Vocabulary it has been represented
as "g," in accordance with the "Rules of Orthography".
9
See Kaye (1971a: under 9.0) where the symbol dy is used; see also n. 55.
10
There is no opposition phonemically between final single and geminated con-
sonants in any dialect of Arabic, insofar as I am aware. This is an important point not
recognized in much of the literature (see Kaye [1971a: n. 16] for a discussion of the issues
involved).
" For example, Medinese devoices all final stops (see Kaye 1971a: n. 59, and 9.0
under [ 13J).
12
See Ferguson (1959aandb),and Kaye(1970)forreactionstothistypeofstatement.
13
See Kaye (1971a: n. 58 and in addenda under n. 58) quoting Mitchell (1969) and
other literature.
14
On # h/ -t, see Kaye (1971a: n. 58) for some remarks in Cairo Arabic, and Kaye
(1971a: 9.0 under [12]) for a discussion of Jugari Arabic waqt > waht 'time' and PCA
*fswq 'over' fuh-/_ki. -ΐ is /i/ #.
15
Also published in 1925 was S. Hillelson, Hints for the Guidance of the Sudan Govern-
ment in the Study of the Arabic Language (Khartoum). I have seen many references to this
work, but have been unable to get my hands on it.
16
See Kaye (1970) for some of the highlights.
17
This should be transcribed /was/, always written as wiss in Worsley (1925), as in
Cairo Arabic. On the value of just this one interesting lexeme, see Kaye (1971a: n. 16 and
n. 17 and passim) « PCA *wázh), and Kaye-(1972b·. under 6.2).
18
See Davies (1926 and 1927), as well as Shaw (1929), Owen (1933), and Nicholson
(1935).
19
Broadbent (1936) highly commends the present work, but he protests Hillelson's
change in symbols. He states that the new symbols are too cumbersome and cannot be
reproduced on a typewriter.
20
See the discussion in 1.82. of this play, performed about 1910 (Hillelson 1935:94ff.).
21
Hillelson (1935: 22) states in a footnote that "An anecdote of abü nawwäs" is
translated from the Egyptian version in Gairdner (1917).
22
Holt worked in the Ministry of Education and later (1952) published another
work. The book is listed in Abd el Rahman el Nasri, A Bibliography of the Anglo-Egyptian
Sudan 1938-1958, but I have not been able to obtain a copy of this work.
23
Burton states (p. 122) that the definite article " s u f f e r s " [emphasis mine] elision
and "duplicates the initial letter of the following word only in pronunciation".
24
y occurs one of the few times in the book in en nyl 'the Nile' (p. 161). It must be a
misprint for Burton's;'. Cf. also fyl 'elephant' (p. 166), and dyn 'debts' (p. 171), actually
'debt' (singular, not plural).
25
I have used a copy of this work belonging to the Hoover Institution on War,
Revolution, and Peace, which belonged to C. Woodhouse Tayiba, dated 23/8/36, Sudan,
with a few handwritten notes under "Notes" at the back of the book.
26
This is typical of this kind of "Polish" English, evident in his translations elsewhere.
I have not altered the translations nor other quotations from his English.
27
Cf. my earlier remark concerning the spiritus lenis in the text of 1.73. under
surub V-gahwa.
28
I have not come across this name in connection with the literature available on
SCA.
29
"Soudan" is the French-based spelling for Sudan [Sudan), of course, yet many non-
French use it consistently, even as late as Birkeland (1952).
In this connection see Hause (1948:1) who states: "West Africa, and here I shall use the
term to include the Western Sudan as well as the coastal area, has long been exposed to
foreign cultures, first to the Islamic and later to the European." This work basically
follows the classification of Westermann (1911), revised slightly in Westermann (1927).
30
It should be mentioned here that the following are fairly common in Arabic
linguistic studies for the representation of long vowels: V, V, V:, and W (see Kaye 1972b:
n.l).
31
See Field (1949).
32
See also Greenberg (1949).
33
There are two mentions of Hillelson (1925) in references. I have not been able to
obtain a copy of the latter listed. Therefore Hillelson (1925) refers only to the former.
34
On the inadequacies of the terms "velarization" and "pharyngealization" to refer
to the Arabic emphatics, see references in n. 13.
35
See references in n. 13.
36
The following are the statistics for 1921 and 1955/56 of the population by ethnic
group of Omdurman (figures taken from Town Planners Supplement, I, Table 9.15,
reproduced in SNR [1965] 46.39):
Categories 1921 1955/6 census
Arab 34.0% 48.9%
Nuba •9% 3.5%
Beja 1-3% 4.0%
Nibiyin 32.7% 13.7%
Central Southerners 2.9% 2-0%
Eastern Southerners •0% 1-1%
Western Southerners •3% •8%
Westerners 2.4% 5.5%
Miscellaneous (unclassified) 22.8% 16.2%
Foreigners 2-3% 5.2%
38
On the mirror-image convention used in generative phonology indicated with an
asterisk, see Kaye (1971a: n. 45).
39
I would expect universal phonological processes to have produced this sound
change primarily in intervocalic position. Cf. classical Hebrew/g/ -> [γ]; see Kaye (1971a:
n. 27) for some details. This I would regard as one clear aspect of Semitic "drift"; see
Kaye (1972b: n. 7), quoting Sapir (1921: 147-170) and Hockett (1948: 508).
40
Bloch (1971: 59, fn. 2) would deem many of these as possible doublets.
41
For a good parallel, see the situation in Israeli Hebrew with se- and s- discussed at
great length in Bar-Adon (1966).
42
There is, according to Hillelson (1935: ix) a second edition of this work (London,
1930), but I have not been able to see it to ascertain whether it is different from the 1925
version. I suspect it was basically merely reprinted due to a demand.
43
I do not know why Hillelson abandons his own earlier term, viz. Sudan Arabic, in
favor of the more appropriate term Sudanese Arabic (see n. 2, and Kaye 1971a: addenda
to n. 55).
44
I also do not know why Hillelson has deviated from his own earlier terminology
and does not call it the koine.
45
Lampen (1933: 114) calls the Baggara " a people with active intelligence and a rich
language". He continues: " . . . they have developed the art of conversation to a high
level. Speakers . . . are obviously proud of their command over the language."
The best anthropological study of the Baggara Arabs is Cunnison (1966).
46
See Emeneau (1966a) for a discussion of a good parallel case, viz. the Todas of the
Nilgiri plateau in South India (Dravidian speakers). Emeneau's field work was done, as
he states, at intervals from 1935 to 1938; see also Emeneau (1965a).
47
This will be discussed in detail in chapter 3; see Ferguson (1959c: 630).
48
Under the influence of Worsley (1925), I presume, many of Hillelson's former
transcriptions with e are now transcribed, more correctly, with a, this being one good
example.
I have occasionally deviated from an author's transcription and revised it in the light
of more accuracy, especially in the writing of glottal stops, primarily in initial position,
as is seen here with the definite article.
49
Cf. Chadian Arabic yätu 'which'. Cf. also Hadramawti Arabic lyät kitäb 'quellivre'
(Landberg 1901: 235). See most recently Bravmann (1971).
50
See Ferguson (1959c: 630). Cf. the Aramaic demonstrative and relative element
parallel (Rosenthal 1961: 21, 38). 'Uli occurs in the texts of 1.73.
51
These forms are listed (p. xx) as tamruqan (tamurqan) with t- for y-, which must be
erroneous, although Hebrew uses t- in parallel formations, e.g. tixtoma 'they (fem. pl.)
will write'. Cf. his listing also with y-, viz. yitla'an, yaksifan (yakisfan).
52
Cf. the Aramaic internal passive, CCiC. The normal passive in SCA is, of course,
Form VII, viz. λindarab 'he was hit' as in other dialects.
53
-in 'genitive' for -an 'accusative' is the problem, however. See Blanc's remark in
n. 2 on the preservation of -an.
54
He says (p. xxiii) it is "not attested in any other dialect". I have no contradictory
evidence.
55
Cf. Moroccan Arabic and general Berber (Kabyle) ?iyye 'yes'.
56
Mitchell (1956: 120-121) translates "the best-laid schemes of mice and men".
57
wad is the SCA form for walad (classical Arabic, pause form) 'child, boy, son'. For
a parallel development, cf. Harari küd and Amharic hod (&> A) 'liver, belly' (Arabic kabid
and Hebrew koveS), i.e. triconsonantals becoming biconsonantal.
58
That is to say MSA as read by an educated SCA speaker. See Kaye (1970) f o r a
discussion of some of the problems involved.
59
See Blanc's remark on this form in n. 2.1 have changed Hillelson's A to χ for obvious
reasons.
60
The reason I have chosen this text is that the opening two words are early attesta-
tion of the elision of a in SCA (similarly in Cairene, although not recognized). The SCA
form for 'Mohammed' is malmmmad, written not only as m"tuimmad (Trimingham 1946:
20), but also as mahammad (Trimingham 1946: 99). On this elision, see Kaye (1972b:
n. 16 and n. 18).
61
?intù tayy(i)bìn also occurs in Chadian Arabic and is a sine qua non for both of these
macro-dialects. The other two phrases can be found in almost any modern Arabic dialect
with appropriate morphophonemic correspondences. SCA and Chadian Arabic are only
two of the dialects that use the cited expression.
62
I do not know when Hillelson died, or even if he has died. He might still be alive
today, although, to be sure, he would be quite an old man by now.
63
On the loss of emphasis in Maltese, see Kaye (1971a: n. 41), and some of the liter-
ature mentioned therein. Maltese, Cypriot Maronite Arabic and Chadian Arabic are only
three of the "Arabic dialects" which have lost emphasis totally, although there are
remnant ramifications in them. See Cowan (1970) on Maltese, and Kaye (1971c) on
Cypriot Maronite Arabic spoken in Kormakiti only (1,200 speakers), for conflicting
arguments as to the existence of emphatics.
64
Note that Hillelson states (p. 88): "The weakening of the termination of the
feminine noun to i (häifi for häifa, etc.) should also be noted, though this peculiarity is
by no means confined to this particular dialect."
65
Lampen (1933: 115) relates that he saw three men pay huge bribes to women who
were attempting to ruin his stature by singing against him in this manner.
66
This is known as gerdäq among the Baggara Arabs (see Lampen 1933).
67
The term döbäya is from the Persian do bet 'quatrain', with the interpretation of -t as
?
the tä marbùta, i.e. > 0 / Φ.
68
kisra is 'native bread made of millet'. It is known as ?ès in Chadian Arabic « 'ays
'life') since it is eaten three times daily (cf. Cairene 'es 'bread').
69
I have not seen any of the original manuscripts.
70
That is to say, SCA speakers.
71
I have not seen the first edition (1939).
72
The preface to the second edition was written in Omdurman, August 1945. The
book was proofread by a native SCA speaker, Muhammad Effendi Musa'id.
73
See Kaye (1971a: n. 55).
74
Trimingham actually uses the IPA convention of the wavy bar indicating pharyn-
gealized and velarized segments, viz. é , , * . Read for ζ in this footnote, since it is
obviously a printing error.
75
See n. 60.
76
See Mitchell (1956: 113-114) for an excellent discussion of parallel phenomena in
Cairene.
77
Mitchell (1956: 261 and passim) is erroneous in listing this as tawïl.
78
This is more proof that SCA was originally an Egyptian dialect. See Kaye (1971a:
under 5.0), quoting Birkeland (1952).
79
Note also SCA ôttèn 'two rooms' and garlttên 'two newspapers'. Cf. Cairene
Gotten, etc. Doublet forms òdatèn, garidatên, etc., also occur.
80
See the discussion in Kaye (1972b: 7.0 ff.).
81
-ni occurs after verbs and with the negative only.
82
Certain allomorphs, as will be noted, are identical.
83
See Nida (1946: 16) for a discussion of these suffixes based on Trimingham (1946).
There is a famous problem (problem #34) which Nida wrote based on this set of allo-
morphs (1946: 41).
84
Seen. 60.
85
Cf. Cairene madrásti.
86
See n. 17.
87
Note allarbaha 'Wednesday' (p. 57). See n. 35.
88
This is more evidence in favor of a dichotomy of men's and women's speech in SCA
(see Haas 1944).
89
Read (p. 65) muhädasat 'conversation o f ' for the author's muhädasä, which must be
a misprint.
90
Note hidüm 'clothes' (p. 69), but also its apparent free variant (as in Cairene)
hudüm, two lines preceding on the same page. This is but an instance of one of Triming-
ham's favorite practices, i.e. listing free alternants in the same text, which, needless to say,
would be confusing to the student.
Read mä taftah (p. 69) 'don't open!' for mä tahtah. Also read fis südän for fis sudan 'in
the Sudan', occurring twice (p. 67).
Note also that the u of suwayya 'a little' elides across word boundaries; see Trimingham
(1946: 7, fn. 1). The cited forms are istanna swayya (which is correct) 'wait a bit!' (p. 67).
91
The new cohortative (jussive) imperative, based on the imperfect, is probably
derived by loss of h and compensatory lengthening with the loss of the initial syllable
(haplology) from a variant >arahka, ?arahki, ?arahkum > -äka, -äki, -äkum, respectively.
Thus amurqäki 'let us go out', amurqäki (to a woman), and amurqâkum (to several).
92
The full ¿-imperfect paradigm is as follows:
1st common sg. bamruq < *bPamruq
2nd masc. sg. bitamruq
2nd fem. sg. bitamruqi
3rd masc. sg. bimruq < *biyimruq (. *biyamruq

3rd fem. sg. bitamruq
1st common pi. binamruq
2nd masc. pi. bitamruqu
2nd fem. pl. bitamruqan
3rd masc. pi. bimruqu
3rd fem. pl. bimruqan
93
Read tamänya for tanänya 'eight' (p. 80). This is obviously a misprint.
94
Note also al lela di 'today' for the day begins at sunset (similarly in Chadian Arabic)
(cf. Cairene λillilädi 'tonight'< lèla 'night').
95
See Mitchell (1956: 89-91).
96
This holds true depending on a certain set of linguistic assumptions which need not
be discussed here.
97
Juha is a common Middle Eastern hero.
98
Historically, this is a third radical 7 verb. Cf. classical Arabic qara?a, imperfect
?
yaqra u.
Cf. classical Arabic Ά'yyä; see Kaye (1971a: n. 31), and most recently, Bravmann
(1971).
100
He means passive participle obviously. This term follows Worsley (1925: 27), pre-
sumably.
101
Doubtless he means in- or it-.
102
I find fn. 4 (p. 133) highly dubious: "makk (plur. mukük) is an indigenous word
for king. It has no connexion with the Arab, malik".
103
al- of course is the definite article, and indicates that the adjective-inversion
transformation in English working on relative clauses (sentences) has some universal
implications as seen in SCA. Note that ?al-bèt ai-kabir can mean either ( 1 ) 'the big house'
or (2) 'the house which is big.' In other words, they not only have the same deep structure
as in English, but also the same surface structure.
104
I do not know all the reasons/details here.
105
As is well-known, the source of IPA [Ç], used exclusively in Kaye (1970) and Kaye
(1971a), is the Greek spiritus asper, which has developed from Semitic 'ayη (originally
marking an eye), and ? has developed from the Greek spiritus lenis, its having developed
from Semitic ?aleph (originally * , an oxhead).
106
By "the differences are grammatically irrelevant", he means they belong to the
same morphophoneme.
107
Morphophonemically it is || banà || ; phonemically it is, as Cairene, /bana/.
108
These are traditionally feminine in Semitic. Exceptions in SCA are: ka'ab 'ankle',
dura 'arm', gudum 'cheek', ku 'elbow', qadam 'foot', and Awíí/'shoulder'.
109
Worsley actually transcribes wata, the * being his transcription for ?alifmaq-
sûra as well as a tone marking — a rather ambiguous transcription; see 1.31.
110
All of these are stylistic variants with the same meaning. Worsley actually
writes al-gäriya bitaht muhammad, yet the form must be bitäht, even by his own state-
ments (p. 10). The form muhammad for malmmmad must be classical Arabic influence.
111
The possessive suffixes are discussed at this point, and quite rightly so; some of
the remarks are erroneous. For instance (fn. 2, p. 22 and fn. 1, p. 23) concerning the
iw in qahiwti 'my coffee' (and other forms as well): "Note iw is sounded as the German
Ü."
112
This was my semiofficial name in Chad and in the Sudan, not surprisingly. In
Chadian Arabic it comes out as [?ap dlgln].
113
Note Worsley's transcription of raglèn (p. 28) 'two men' following the automatic
morphophonemic rules of Cairo Arabic rather than those of SCA, in which the form
should be râglén.
114
huwa mä qaid ya'kul laham 'he never eats meat' (p. 38) illustrates ' < See 1.6.
under (2).
115
He calls it passive participle this time. See n. 100.
116
See Kaye (1972a: n. 23) for the details.
117
Sometimes the ¿»-imperfect occurs here, e.g. ana baqdar bamsi ~ ana baqdaramsi
Ί can go out' (p. 51).
118
däyir would be a better transcription.
119
It is annoyingly inconsistent for Worsley to write ma a 'with' (p. 63), || ma a ||,
yet write 'ala 'on' (p. 63), || 'alä ||.
120
There are traces of Cairene influence or Cairene bias on Worsley's part. One good
example is that 'and' is written wa, but 'but' (both p. 67) is wilâkin, the wi- being the
Cairene equivalent of SCA wa. The form should be waläkin.
Interesting to note also is kef how', but kèfin 'how — women only' (p. 67) confirming
other's contentions (see Haas 1944).
Also I must confess that it is difficult to know whether the SCA doublets 'alasän and
asän 'in order to' (p. 67) are Cairene loanwords or normal SCA developments. 'Not' is
listed as mû, which is not Cairene (p. 68) with its doublet mus, but apparently its
Cairene doublet mis does not occur in SCA. This is strange.
121
With any kind of state of the art paper, one must realize that an attempt was
made to find all materials to which I have found references anywhere in the literature. As
Emeneau (1962: 1) says concerning his analytical bibliography: "It can only be selective,
since not everything that has been published is available to me."
122
On Kuipers see Kaye (1971c) and Kaye (1972b: n. 15).
As indicative of the kind of research called for, see Barclay (1964), which is a cultural
anthropological (ethnographic) study of a village located on the banks of the Blue Nile
about five miles from the central market of Khartoum. There are about 2,000 SCA
speakers in this village. Barclay (1964) refers the reader to Trimingham (1946) for
details of SCA pronunciation; in fact, Appendix A, Appendix B, and the glossary are
largely based on it.
2
C H A D I A N ARABIC:
THE STATE OF THE A R T
2.1. A s we learn from Carbou (1912: 1):
Les Arabes ont exercé une influence considérable dans l'Afrique centrale par la
diffusion de leur religion, de leurs moeurs et de leur langue.
This chapter will present for the first time, I believe, a critical review of
the last-mentioned item of Carbou. Carbou sums up concerning Central
African Arabic (1912: 1, fn. 1):
La domaine de la langue arabe s'étend surtout à l'est du lac Tchad; mais elle
est également employée au Bornou, et ce que rapporte Elisée Reclus, d'après
Rohlfs, ne correspond plus à la réalité. "En comparaison du kanouri, dit-il,
l'arabe est une langue morte, respectée, mais hors d'usage. De même que le
peuple qui le parle, il a perdu de son influence dans la partie du monde
soudanien dont le lac Tzâdé occupe la dépression centrale. A la cour de Kouka,
l'arabe n'est plus le langage officiel et même ceux qui le savent affectent de se
le faire traduire par un interprète." (Tome XII, p. 706.) Il est certain que,
depuis lors, l'arrivée, dans le pays, de Rabah et de ses Arabes Dialiin et Taaïché
a beaucoup contribué à élargir le champ de la langue arabe, laquelle continuera
vraisemblablement à gagner du terrain. D'une façon générale, d'ailleurs, l'arabe
est très répandu en Afrique, surtout dans la partie septentrionale. Pour donner
une idée de l'extension de cet idiome, nous ne saurions mieux faire que de citer
les lignes suivantes de Robert Cust. Alors que les autres langues sont souvent
localisées, "l'arabe étend son influence bien au-delà des limites de populations
stables des divers royaumes. C'est le véhicule de la pensée à travers la plus
grande partie de l'Afrique, qu'il soit parlé par les Bédouins nomades qui sur-
prennent les voyageurs par leur apparition inattendue, ou par les conquérants
envahisseurs comme le sultan de Zanzibar, par des trafiquants entreprenants
comme les marchands d'esclaves qui son généralement des Arabes avilis, ou
bien par les races dominatrices du centre de l'Afrique; enfin c'est l'instrument
de la propagation du mahométisme et de toute civilisation quelconque en
dehors de celle qui résulte de contact des Européens". Robert Cust, Les langues
d'Afrique, p. 44.
Central African varieties of Arabie have been noted as being of great

value to know for commercial reasons as far back as Burckhardt(1819).
It is also a major subject in Barth ( 1 8 5 9 - 6 1 and 1862-66). It is recognized
92 CHADIAN ARABIC: THE STATE OF THE ART
as such by Henri Labouret, w h o wrote the introduction to Trenga

(1947). 1 It is, therefore, a great pity that so little scholarly linguistic
interest has been paid to the subject.
Blanc (i.p.) sums up the state of the art (under 3.2, pp. 383-384):
The dialects of Bornu and Waday came to light at the same time and in the
same manner as those of Mauritania, 2 but they have called forth much less
research. For Bornu, we have a 'practical' grammar without linguistic pre-
tensions (Lethem 1925) [sic.] 3 which is, nevertheless, a careful piece of work
with much useful material and a good glossary. The texts published by Patterson
(1930) are in unvocalized Arabic script and an intentionally classicizing spelling,
hence of very limited value. 4 For Waday, the situation is comparable, though
the available material is even less linguistically sophisticated than Lethem's;
Carbou (1913), is so 'practical' as to require the greatest caution in its use,
and the same may be said of Derendinger (1912,1923); in effect, Lethem's work
is just about the only reliable material for the Chad region as a whole [ emphasis
mine]. 5 In particular, Carbou and Derendinger do not seem (unlike Lethem)
to distinguish clearly between native Arabic and the pidginized varieties that
are used as a trade language. 6 Worbe (1962), is a small, mimeographed text-
book that seems to add nothing new. 7 Information of Darfour, insofar as avail-
able, is to be found in works on the Sudan . . . , though an anthropological
work (Cunnison 1966) contains a brief but rather good text, and several points
of linguistic interest dispersed throughout its pages. Recently, a team of
scholars headed by J. Tubiana and including D. Cohen, Mrs. M.-J. Tubiana,
A. Roth and J.-F. Fourcade, all of Paris, have been preparing a dictionary of
the Waday-Darfour dialect, a study of the dialect of Abeshr 8 (Waday), and
the publication of Arabic documents relative to the history of the area. 9
2.2. A s was the case with the Sudan, Chad 1 0 is the homeland of many
peoples and languages, the best known of which are the Sara w h o are in
political power now, the Bigirmi (Baghirmi), the Maba and the Tubu
(Toubou). 1 1 A s with writers on S C A , most of the authors of Chadian
Arabic material were government officials, military men, or mission-
aries/medical doctors, such as Henri Carbou, w h o held the title of
Administrateur-Adjoint des Colonies. T h e Sudan, however, is well
k n o w n and well researched in comparison with its neighbor, Chad. Both
countries are predominantly Muslim, black, and have civil wars with
which to contend. 1 2
Arabic is spreading in both countries, both as a native language in
its SCA and Chadian Arabic varieties, and as a language of culture.
Blanc (i.p.) again sums up the state of the art concerning Arabic as a
language of culture (under 7, p. 386):
Another and quite different aspect of the use of Arabic for intercommunication
among Africans is its use in correspondence, official documents and literature,
CHADIAN ARABIC: THE STATE OF THE ART 93
which seems to have been fairly widespread before the cultivation of European
or African languages. Literary Arabic in one form or another is also occa-
sionally used as an oral contact language between educated Muslims. 13 Investi-
gations of the literary activity in Arabic has, in recent years, received increasing
attention, and is, at present, at the gathering and collating stage. 14 Arabic is
at present the official language of Mauritania (side-by-side with French) and
the Sudan; it was also declared an official language, along with Tigrinya, of
Eritrea, in 1952.15 Elements of literary Arabic are taught in innumerable Q u r ' á n
schools in all the Muslim regions, and it has also been introduced into the
public school system of Senegal, Mali, Guinea (in addition to Mauritania and
Sudan [sic.]) and there is at least one school for Arabic Studies, that of Kano
in Northern Nigeria. 16
2.3. Before presenting a picture of Chadian Arabic grammar, a few

words must be devoted to what we may label "immigrant" and Pidgin
Arabic of Central Africa. Blanc (i.p.) capsulizes the state of our know-
ledge for both (under 5 and 6, pp. 385-386):
5. IMMIGRANTS
Smaller communities of Arabic speakers, apparently immigrants from other
parts of Africa, frffm the Near East or from Arabia, have been reported in
several countries, notably Nigeria, Chad and Ethiopia-Eritrea. Nothing much
seems to be known about the forms of Arabic spoken by them, or the extent
to which they are instrumental in spreading the use of Arabic; at this writing,
the whole problem insofar as it concerns Ethiopia is being investigated by Mrs.
M. Schneider from her base in Addis Ababa. 1 7
6. P I D G I N A R A B I C
A question that has not yet been investigated is the existence of a simplified
form of Arabic, presumably Sudanic, 18 as a trade language or lingua franca.
Explicit indications in the literature are meager; Lethem (1925: xii) [sic.] 19 says
only this: 'There is a barrack and market jargon spoken by people of all sorts
of races, especially in Fort Lamy, 20 Dikwa, and Maiduguri', and a score of
years earlier, Gaudefroy-Demombynes, in introducing the texts collected by
Decorse, notes that they are in a language 'telle que la parlent les nègres, en
adoptant le morphologie arabe a leur syntaxe et a leur phonétique maternelle',
and supposes that this must be different from 'un dialecte bédouin vivant encore
employé par des tribus du Soudan.' 21 In Carbou and Derendinger, native Arabie
and the non-native, Arabic-based, trade language, are hard to tell apart, though
there are occasional hints, such as this one of the reduction of all verbal inflec-
tion to a single invariant form: 'elles sont encore très couramment employées
par la généralité des Arabes, mais dès que l'on aborde les populations métissées
ou noires, ces formes tendent à se simplifier singulièrement'. This is followed
by a sample sentence in 'arabe pur' and its counterpart in 'langue vulgaire'
(Derendinger 1923: 24-25; 1912: 356). Muraz, on the other hand, sticks to the
'patois', of which he collected extensive samples in the Sara-speaking region
of the Middle Shari, and which strongly resembles the idiom of Decorse's texts
and Derendingens 'langue vulgaire'. Muraz tries his hand at a characterization
of this 'arabe très simplifié' (pp. 8-9), which he calls tourkou, a term he explains
as meaning 'soldier's language' (p. 8). Though he does not quite say so explicitly,
it is fairly clear that this is a non-native trade language used by speakers of
Sara in contacts with Frenchmen and, no doubt, other outsiders as well. 22
I agree wholeheartedly with Blanc's claims and assertions. By Chadian

Arabic I do not referto Central-African (or Chadian) Pidgin Arabic, nor
do I refer to Central-African (or Chadian) immigrant Arabic, but rather
to the colloquial Chadian Arabic (hereafter just Chadian Arabic) of
monolinguals basically, who can neither read nor write any kind of
Arabic. I take as my basis the Chadian Arabic of the largest city (town-
village, Chadian Arabic hille) of native speakers, viz. Abéché. 23 Thus by
Chadian Arabic I mean, to a great extent, Abéché Arabic. 24
2.4. The tremendous Arabic influence on African languages is well
known for languages like Swahili, Hausa, Tigré, and Harari, not to
mention relatively obscure ones such as Songhay, and Fulani. The reader
is referred to Blanc (i.p.: 386, under 8) for ample references.
2.5. Cantineau (1955: 158) in his state of the art paper for Arabic
dialectology refers the reader to the following publications ("dans la
région du lac Tchad, où des parlers arabes sont attestés au Wadaï, au
Bornou, et sur le Chari"): Kampffmeyer (1899), Gaudefroy-Demomby-
nes (1905), Decorse 25 and Gaudefroy-Demombynes (1905), Derendin-
ger (1912), Carbou (1913), Lethem (1920), Derendinger (1923),26
Howard (1923), Patterson (1930),27 and Muraz (1932).28 Cantineau con-
cludes by saying (1955: 158):
Malgré cette relative abundance de travaux préliminaires les deux régions lin-
guistiques du Soudan égyptien et du lac Tchad offrent au dialectologie un vaste
terrain d'enquête presque vierge, où en particulier la géographie linguistique
permettrait de clarifier bien des choses.
2.6. The article by H. Fleisch (p. 575) in the new edition of the
Encyclopaedia of Islam devotes a few lines to Chadian Arabic (Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1960), mentioning Lethem (1920), Carbou (1913),29 Howard
(1923),30 and Patterson (1930). It is hoped that this chapter also fills a
much needed gap in the literature.
2.7. I assume such that the following sources have not been seen by
Blanc (i.p.): Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966, 1968a,b, and c),31 the Trinita-
rian Bible Society's translations of the New Testament into Chadian
Arabic (highly stylized and thus not suitable as a corpus for Chadian
Arabic per se), Faure (1969),32 Fourcade (1968), Roth (1968a and b),
Roth-Laly (1969),33 and Worbe (1964).34 Stress in this chapter will largely
be placed on these works, since they are relatively recent and more
reliable than much of the older literature.
2.8. Following Blanc's suggestion (i.p.) that Lethem (1920) is about
the only reliable source for Chadian Arabic as a whole, the purpose of
this chapter is to present a concise outline of the grammar of Chadian
Arabic following the organization of Lethem's work itself, bringing it
up to date, factually and otherwise, in the light of my own field work
and later sources. Examples will be kept to a minimum. The great
advantage of presenting this material will be seen in chapter 5. 35
2.9. The title page of Lethem (1920) reads as follows:
"Colloquial Arabic, Shuwa dialect of Bornu, Nigeria and of the region of Lake
Chad. Grammar and vocabulary, with some proverbs and songs — by G. J.
Lethem, M.A., LL.B. Assistant District Officer, Political Department, Nigeria.
Published for the government of Nigeria by the Crown Agents for the Colonies,
4, Millbank, London, S.W. — 1920."36
2.10. Lethem relates the purposes of the volume in the preface of the
work (pp. ii-iv):
This book is published primarily for the use of those who wish to learn to
speak the dialect of Arabic spoken in Bornu in Nigeria, and in the other coun-
tries of the Sudan near Lake Chad, such as Kanem, Bagirmi, and Wadai. At the
same time it is hoped that it is not without some wider value as throwing light
on a very little known corner of the Arabic-speaking world [emphasis mine].
It is compiled from materials collected at first hand in Bornu at various
times in 1917, 1918, and 1919. In addition, for Part I, very extensive use has
been made of a partially completed grammar of the dialect by Mr. G. J. F.
Tomlinson,37 First Class District Officer, Nigeria, who most generously resigned
all his material for incorporation in this book. Part I follows more or less
the lines of a regular Arabic grammar,38 simplified as much as possible: in
particular in Chapters II and III an attempt has been made to give the learner
enough elementary points to enable him to begin conversation from the outset.
Part II contains a selection of very short sayings, proverbs, riddles, and songs
which are mostly rhymed and easy to remember: they are introduced to give
life to the dull job of language learning and to aid the getting up of a vocabulary,
but they may also be worth, for their own sake, the attention of those who take
an interest in the life of the people of this part of Africa.
Part III contains practically all the vocabulary matter collected, both from
actual converse with natives and from the reading of numerous manuscripts.
An Arabic-English vocabulary would have been a better form for the explana-
tion of words but would have demanded far more time than the chances of
Nigerian service allow. On the other hand the English-Arabic form provided
a ready-made framework, has facilitated the introduction of many useful lists
of words for common objects, such as trees, grasses, animals, etc., and should
help the beginner quickly to find words for what he wants to say.
Expense has prohibited the use of the Arabic characters except in Chapter I,
but a system of transliteration has been adopted which is intended not only to
show the colloquial pronunciation but also to indicate the correct Arabic
spelling, in the Arabic character, of any word given where known. For this
purpose, every word has been checked by reference to Arabic dictionaries, and
words for which no Arabic root or origin has yet been found are indicated in
the vocabulary by an asterisk. The vagaries of local pronunciation and spelling
have made this an excessively laborious task, but it is hoped that it has been
worth while as it facilitates comparison with classical Arabic. It has at least
proved that the number of words taken from Sudanese languages is surprisingly
small. 39
It is therefore hoped that, numerous as the faults of this book may be, no
little material has been provided for any who wish to do further and better
work on the dialect. It only remains to acknowledge the obligations of the
author again to Mr. Tomlinson 40 for his material already mentioned; to Mr.
H. R. Palmer, 41 Resident of Bornu, to whose interest in Arabic is due the fact
that it is now a language which Nigerian officials are encouraged to study; and
to the Nigerian Government at whose direction and expense this book is
printed. 42
2.11. A n excellent table of contents begins the volume (pp. v-viii).

Before moving o n to Chadian Arabic grammar per se, I wish to consider
s o m e important aspects of Lethem's introductory note (pp. ix-xiv),
written in Bornu on the 25th of February, 1919 (p. xiv). It still contains
s o m e of the most valuable remarks anywhere in the literature. 43
2.12. T h e dialect dealt with in Lethem's book "may b e most simply
described as that variety of Sudanese Arabic which is spoken in the
region of Lake Chad". Its study has received "singularly little atten-
tion", although the public should have been aware of it by reading Barth
(1859-1861 and 1862-1866). Lethem continues:
This is to be regretted, for not only is Arabic the lingua franca from Bornu
[Nigeria] eastwards, but any knowledge of Arabic could not fail to be useful,
to political and educational officers at least, in most parts of Nigeria. 44
Lethem then turns his attention to a discussion of the Shuwa Arabs

and Shuwa Arabic:
Shuwa is a term applied by the other natives of Bornu to the Arab tribes which
have settled in that country during the last three hundred years, and especially
to thirty tribes arriving in about 1808 at the summons of the Sheikh Mohamet 4 5
al Amin al Kànemi, great-grandfather of the present "shehu," to assist him in
repelling the Fulani invaders and restoring the Sultanate of Bornu. In its
original sense the word probably simply meant "pastoral" ; it is a term not used
by the Arabs of themselves but serves as a convenient designation for these
tribes and for their dialect of Arabic.
There are in Bornu several communities of earlier Arab origin46 now merged
with the Beriberi or Kanuri as the negroid inhabitants of Bornu are generally
styled, but the Shuwas alone have preserved the language, character, and
physical traits of the Arab,47 and they have done that in quite a remarkable
degree. Further, in the nineteenth century they became in several respects the
dominant race, and furnished the Sheikh al Känemi and his successors with
nearly all their leading councillors.
2.13. Concerning their origin Lethem states:
Broadly speaking they fall into two principal groups, according to origin. Of
these the greater in numbers, though not in wealth or prestige, appear to have
migrated viâ Kordofan, and the southern part of Wadai. The genealogies of
the tribes in this group in Bornu are almost identical with those given for a
large number of the Kordofan tribes in "The Tribes of Central and Northern
Kordofan," by Mr. H. A. Macmichael.4* The names of the principal tribes
composing this group in Bornu are: The Wulad Himêt, Salamât, Khuzäm,
Joheinah, Beni Seit, Me?in, Jawâma. In Wadai they are classified by M. Henri
Carbou in his "La Région du Tchad et du Ouadai" [Carbou 1912] as Joheinah,
indicating a common descent from a patriarch Abdullahi al Joheini, and this
patriarch also figures largely in the Bornu and Kordofan genealogies.
The other group is smaller, but embraces the tribes of much of the greater
wealth in stock and of much the greater prestige. They do not appear to have
touched Kordofan but to have followed a much more northerly route, and were
certainly in the northern part of Wadai about A.D. 1400, and from thence
spread into Kanem.49 They are known in Bornu as the Kwalme, and in Wadai,
according to M. Carbou, as the "hassanaoua." 50
The name Kwalme is taken from their common ancestor [sic.] Ghalim, who
flourished in Wadai about A.D. 1400, and the individual tribes are called after
various grandsons of his viz., Wulad Sarär, Wulad Muhärib, Wulad Ghänim,
Wulad Sälim, Wulad Abu Isi, Wulad Abu Khodër, Wulad Amiri, Beni Wayil
and Dagana (i.e., from Ali Abu Dign, Ali with the beard). "Hassanaoua"
indicates their traditional descent either from an ancestor of Ghalim's called
Hassan, who flourished about A.D. 1200, or from al Imam Hassan, the son of
Ali and Fatima, and grandson of the Prophet. For the Kwalme claim to be
Sherifs, and, true or not, their claim is supported by a mass of genealogical
tradition, both oral and written, and their belief in its truth is in itself an
important fact from the political point of view, and explains the racial prestige
which they claim and are generally accorded. A tribe which does not fall into
these two categories is the Tunjur. There is some doubt if they are Arabs at
all, though Arabic speaking.51 Their traditions and songs point to an origin in
Tunis, and they appear in Sudan history at a very early date as the founders of
an empire in the region of Dâr Fôr (Darfur).
2.14. Lethem continues with a discussion of Shuwa Arabic:
Shuwa is a colloquial dialect and should not be considered from any other
point of view, for in correspondence an Arabic more or less regular52 is almost
always used.53 On the other hand, owing to the isolation of the Chad countries
and the exclusive life led by some of the pastoral tribes, Shuwa in a number of
respects adheres more closely to the classical language than do the dialects of
some more civilised countries, e.g., Syria and E g y p t . . . ,54 This is a feature
which characterises in a greater or less degree all the Arabic dialects of the
Sudan, of which Shuwa is the westernmost.
Irregular and corrupt forms, pronunciations, and meanings, inevitable in the
speech of a semi-literate people, are of course very common. 55 Further, while
on the one hand there are in daily use in Shuwa words which would only be
known to lettered persons, say, in Egypt or Syria, on the other a number of
words have come in from Sudanese 56 and negro tongues, a number which, how-
ever, is much more limited than would be expected. 57
These will be found to be mostly nouns, while it is the verb which is, per-
haps more than in any language, the basis of Arabic, 58 and it is by means of
the verb that the Shuwa wherever possible expresses himself. 59 In the use of
the verb by the Shuwa, Barth remarked in 1851 on the purity of the terminal
vowels in the inflections; 60 while the use of the forms for the feminine plurals
in the verb, which are quite ignored both in speech and in writing in most
Arabic speaking countries, is characteristic of the speech of the Shuwa.
Another trait natural to the dialect of people of simple life and manners is
the simplicity of phrase and expression. 61 Where in more developed countries
novel and foreign terms are in use, in Shuwa a phrase or expression composed
of common words will suffice — a fact which once grasped will greatly help
the student. Grammatical construction, too, is greatly simplified. 6 2 ... . 63
Generally speaking, members of the Kwalme tribes living in the country,
not in towns, 64 speak with much the best accent, idiom, and vocabulary. The
speech of the large Salamat and kindred tribes which are more strongly repre-
sented in towns is much less pure.
The conquest of Bornu by Rabeh, coming from the Egyptian Sudan in 1892,
while it introduced a large number of Egyptian words and phrases and extended
the general use of Arabic, has probably on the whole vulgarised the standard
of Shuwa. 65 Words and phrases from this origin are generally known as
"turuk," 6 6 this being the term applied in Bornu to Rabeh's non-Arab Sudanese
troops, 67 but indicating further east in the Sudan the "Turkicisms" of Egyptian
Arabic. 68
Another influence and one likely to have an increasingly rapid effect on
Bornu Arabic is that due to the growing facilities of communication with the
Eastern Sudan. 69 Jellaba merchants from Kordofan and natives of Darfur and
Wadai are already common in Bornu towns and are likely to become numerous.
The Wassili Arabs from Tripoli found in Dikwa, Maiduguri, Mongonu, and
Geidam speak, of course, the Tripolitan dialect. Differences of pronunciation
mark it out very distinctly from Bornu and Sudanese Arabic, but little practice
renders the speakers of either reciprocally intelligible. 70
Lastly, there is a barrack and market jargon spoken by people of all sorts of
races, especially in Fort-Lamy, Dikwa, and Maiduguri. 71
These differences in local dialects are interesting, but to label certain words
and idioms as "not Shuwa" would smack of pedantry. The man who wants "to
speak" must take things as he finds t h e m . . . , 72
2.15. Consonantal segments

lab.- laryn-
bilab. dent. dent. alv. pal. velar uvular geal
(P)
t k ?
b d g h
/ m
j
χ
m η
I
r
w
2.16. Vocalic segments
u
ô
2.17. Personal pronouns

singular plural
?
ana tartina15
?
inta, ?itta (masc.)73 ?intu,lè ?ittu
?
inta, ?itti (fern.) ?intan (bedouin)
AM, huwa (masc.) human, huma
hi, hiya (fem.)74 hinna (bedouin)77
2.18. Pronominal suffixes

singular plural
1 -i, -y {-ni /after verbs) -na
2 -ak, -k (masc.) -ko, -ku, -kum
2 -ik, -ki (fem.) -kart (bedouin)
3 -a, -hu, -u (masc.) -hum, -um, -hin, -in
3 -ha, -a, -hi (fem.) -hin, -hinna (bedouin)
2.19. The verb 'to be'

There is no verb 'to be' in the present tense. The copula is not expressed
as a rule, e.g. hu kabir 'he (is) great'. The verb bagi 'to become' is almost
used with the value of the copula, e.g. hu bagi kabir 'he is (has become)
great'. The positive meaning of 'is' in the sense of 'exist' is expressed

by the preposition fi, e.g. sultan fi 'there is a sultan'.
2.20. The verb 'to have'

The commonest way of expressing 'have' is by le and ?ind, the difference
being comparable to that between French à and chez. ?indis declined as
follows:
singular plural
?
1 indi ?indina
?
2 Hndak (masc.) indako, ?indukum
?
2 indiki (fem.) ?indakan (bedouin)
?
3 inda (masc.) ?induhum, Lindum
?
3 'inda (fem.) indihin (bedouin)78
2.21. The negation of nominal sentences is expressed by mä: 79
hu ma kabir 'he is not great'
ma fi 'there isn't'
ma ?indi kitäb Ί don't have a book'
2.22. Interrogation is indicated by (1) intonation, and (2) walla'the
question marker (yes-no questions only)' at the end of the sentence. 80
hu kabir walla 'is he great?'
sultan fi walla 'is there a sultan?'
?
al-juwâd zên walla 'is it a good horse?'
2.23. Perfect ('to write')

singular plural
1 katabta katabna
2 katabta (masc.) katabtusl
2 katabti (fem.) katabtan (bedouin)
3 katab%1 (masc.) katabo, katabu
3 katabat (fem.) kataban (bedouin) 83
2.24. Imperfect
1 naktib naktubus4
2 taktib (masc.) taktubu85
2 taktibi (fem.) taktiban (bedouin)
3 baktib (masc.)86 baktubu
3 taktib (fem.) yaktiban (bedouin)87
2.25. Imperative
T h e imperative, as is the case for other Semitic languages, is derived
f r o m the imperfect (stem vowel). T h e forms are:
singular plural
?
2 ?aktib aktibu
? 1
2 ?aktibi{fem.) aktiban (bedouin),88
2.26. Negative imperative

T h e negative imperative, as in other Semitic languages, uses the imper-
fect, not the imperative (affirmative). Thus mäm taktib ' d o n ' t write'. T h e
¿-imperfect forms are never used here.
2.27. Active participle

T h e form is CáCiC, e.g. kätib 'scribe'. For uses of the active participle,
see Lethem (1920: 34) and A b u Absi and Sinaud (1968b: 163-166). 90
2.28. Passive participle

T h e form is maCCüC, e.g. maktüb 'letter'. For uses of the passive parti-
ciple, see Lethem (1920: 34) and A b u Absi and Sinaud (1968b: 167-
171). 91
2.29. T h e use of the perfect and imperfect

Lethem states the situation in concise terms (1920: 34-35):
1. The use of the tenses is quite easy. It has only to be remembered that the
Perfect Tense is used only of an action spoken of as quite completed; and that
consequently the Arabic Imperfect Tense (denoting incompleted action) has a
rather wide range of equivalents in English. Thus it can express not only English
present and future but also incompleted action in the past, as well as other
English grammatical forms such as the subjunctive, etc.
2. There is further simplification that in compound sentences, i.e., containing

several verbs of which some are dependent on another, the dependent verbs are
put in the appropriate tense just as if they were principal verbs in a simple
sentence and without being affected by the tense of the governing verb.
Some of the examples listed include:
barid baktib Ί wish to write' 92
gäl katab 'he said he wrote'
gal yaktib 'he said he will write'
gäl yarid yaktib 'he said that he would like to write'
It will be noticed in the last two examples that the imperfect tense93 can quite
well be used after and when dependent on a verb in the perfect tense, i.e., it
can express incompleted action whether past, present or future.
2.30. The particle hana 'of'

The use of this possessive particle «hanatun 'thing', pi. hanawätun) is
particularly Chadian Arabic. It is declined as follows:
singular plural
1 hanäy hanäna
2 hanäk (mase.) hanäkum
2 hanäki (fem.) hanäkan (bedouin)
3 hanähu, hanäw (masc.) hanähum, hanähuman
3 hanähi (fem.) hanähin (bedouin) 94
Lethem (1920: 42) notes that alternate forms hine and hinè are sometimes
used. These would be limala forms, but I have not heard them in
Chadian Arabic. Perhaps they are common in Nigerian Arabic.
2.31. Demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns are the following: 95
singular plural
this dà96 dôl
di (fem.) dël
that däk döläk, dölak
dik (fem.) dëlâk, dèlak97
2.32. Relative pronoun

The one relative pronoun is 'the definite article', which does not
inflect for number and gender. 98 Consider the following examples:
?alwlèd99 alsàfar dà ?axùym 'the boy who left is my brother'

säfar ma?a arrajul101 aljä fi bètna 'he traveled with the man who came to
our house'
?
arrajul aFsifta 'the man whom I saw'
Note that the / of the article never assimilates to the following consonant
(Abu Absi and Sinaud 1968b: 84), as is seen in the third example above.
This is a significant difference from SCA.
2.33. The definite article

The most common form of the definite article is ?al-. It assimilates to the
following consonants (so-called " m o o n " letters): t, d, s, s,j, z, r, n, and
occasionally m. Following a vowel, the article may become / (Abu Absi
and Sinaud 1968b: 2). Thus sinu aPudur or sinu Pudur 'what is the
occasion?' 1 0 2 The glottal stop of ?al- elides in noninitial position. 103
(Sometimes it does not assimilate to J.)
2.34. Gender
Chadian Arabic has masculine and feminine genders (no neuter). Thus
wléd seme 'a nice boy' and bneyya semha 'a nice girl'. As Abu Absi and
Sinaud (1968b: 9) mention:
The masculine-feminine distinction applies to adjectives only when they

modify animate nouns. Inanimate nouns generally take the masculine form of
the adjective.
The feminine ending for singular is either -a or -e, sometimes occur-

ring in free variation, sometimes not. 104
kabïr, fem. kabïra 'big'

kwayyis, fem. k wayse 'good' 1 0 5
If the masculine stem ends in a vowel (e.g. seme), the feminine is marked
by -ha.106
2.35. The dual

The dual suffixes are -én (mase.) and -tèn (sometimes after deletion of
final -a or -e) (fem.). Thus:
tér 'bird', tèrën107 'two birds'
bet 'house', bètèn 'two houses'
marra 'once', marratën 'twice'
bneyya 'girl', bneytèn 'two girls' 108
Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968b: 19) are partially right in saying:
The dual form in Chad Arabic is optional. Notice from the above example109
that one can use either the dual form or the plural form followed by the number
'two'....
The exception is for things which naturally occur in pairs such as parts of
the body, e.g. ?ïdèn '(two) hands'. This is a significant difference from
SCA, i.e. the 'two'-part occurs before the plural noun.
2.36. Sound plural

The sound plural ending for masculine nouns is -/«; for feminine nouns
-ät (after the deletion of -e or -a).
For instance:
kätib 'scribe', pl. kätibin110
sayyäl 'carrier', pl. sayyälln
najjàr 'carpenter', pl. najjàrïn
kalba 'bitch', pl. kalbât
xâdime 'female servant', pl. xädimät
2.37. Broken plural

On the intricate particulars of broken plural patterns, see Lethem (1920:
69-72); 111 see also Faure (1969: part 3, 26-29).
2.38. Collective nouns

There is a small number of collective nouns which express the idea of
species (genus). Some common ones are:
bagar 'cattle'
xanam 'sheep; goats'
sadar 'trees, timber'
The singular of these collective nouns is formed with -ay."2
2.39. Cardinal numbers

1 wähid, fem. wähde113
2 t inert11*
3 taläta115
4 ?arba
5 xamsa
6 sitte116
7 sab7a
8 tamänya, tamäne
9 tis?a
10 Vasara
11 wihdäsar117
12 ?atnäsar[ 18
13 talattäsar
?
14 arbatäsar
15 xamistâsar
16 sit täsar
17 sabatäsar
18 tamantàsar
19 tisatâsar
For the cardinal numbers above nineteen, see Abu Absi and Sinaud
(1968a: 24 and 1966: 67), and Lethem (1920: 94-95).
2.40. Ordinal numbers

1 ?awwal
2 täni
3 tälit
4 räbi
5 xämis
6 sädis
7 säbi
8 tämin
9 täsi
10 ?äsir
Ordinal numbers above 'tenth' are not used (Abu Absi and Sinaud 1966:
68). The cardinal numbers with ?al- are used instead (Lethem 1920:97).
2.41. 122 verbs (madda 'to extend')

Perfect
singular plural
1 maddètm maddèna
2 maddèt, maddèti (fem.) maddétu120
3 madda,121 maddat (fem.) maddo
Imperfect
1 nimidda122 nimiddum
2 timidda, timiddi (fem.) timiddu
3 yimidda, timidda (fem.) yimiddu
Imperative
midda
middi
middu
2.42. Hamzated verbs124 (>akal to eat', sa?al 'to ask') 125

Perfect
singular plural
1 'akalta ?akalna
?
2 ?akalta, ?akalti (fern.) akaltu
?
3 ?akal,m >akalat (fem.) akalo
Imperfect
1 näkul121 näkulu
2 täkul, täkuli (fem.) täkulu
3 yâkul, täkul (fem.) yäkulu
Imperative
?
äkul
?
äkuli
?
äkulu
Perfect
singular plural
1 saudita sardina
2 sa ?alta, sa ?alti (fem. ) sa ?altu
3 sa?al-,m saâlat (fem.) salalo
Imperfect
1 nas?al nas?alu
2 tassai, tassali (fem.) tas?alu
3 yas?al, tassai (fem.) yas?alu
Imperative
? ?
as al
7 7
as ali
? ?
as alu
2.43. tv23 verbs (wisil 'to arrive')129

Perfect
1 wisilta wisilna
2 wisilta, wisilti (fem.) wisiltu
3 wisil, wisilat (fem.) wisilo
Imperfect
1 nawsal130 nawsalu
2 tawsal, tawsali (fem.) tawsalu
3 yawsal, tawsal (fem.) yawsalum
Imperative
?
awsal
?
awsali
?
awsalu
CHADIAN ARABIC: THE STATE OF THE ART
2.44. iw/yl verbs (gài 'to say', sâr 'to walk')

Perfect
singular plural
1 guita132 gulna
2 guita, gulti (fem.) gultu
3 gäl,m gälat gàio
Imperfect
1 nugülm nugülu135
2 tugül, tugüli (fem.) tugülu
3 bugül,136 tugül™ bugülu
Imperative
gülm
güli
gülu
Perfect
1 sirta139 sima
2 sirta, sirti (fem.) sirtu
3 sär,140 särat sârolAl
Imperfect
1 nisir142 nisiru
2 tisir, tisiri (fem.) tisiru
3 bisir, tisir (fem.) bisiru
Imperative
sir
siri
siru
2.45. 12j> verbs (masa 'to go', and ligiya 'to find')143
Perfect
singular plural
1 masêta masèna
2 masëta, masèti (fem.) masètu
3 masa, masat (fem.) maso
Imperfect
1 namsi namsu
2 tamii, tamii (fem.)144 tamsu •
3 bamsi, tamii (fem.) bamsu
Imperative
?amsi145
?
amsi
?
amsu
1 ligita ligina
2 ligita, ligiti (fem.) ligitu
3 ligiya,146 ligiyat (fem.) ligiyo
Imperfect
1 nalga nalgu
2 taiga, talgi (fem.) talgu
3 balga, taiga (fem.) balgo
Imperative
?
alga
?
algi
?
algu
2.46. Doubly weak verbs

These are extremely uncommon in Chadian Arabic; see Lethem (1920:
124-125) for ?aba 'to refuse', ra?a 'to see', 147 and tawa 'to roll up'.
2.47. jä 'to come' and ra?a 'to regard' 148

singular plural
Perfect
1 jîta jina
2 ]ita,ßti (fem.) Jitu
3 jä,jät (fem.) Jo
Imperfect
1 naji naju
2 taji, taji (fem.) 149 taju
3 baji, taji (fem.) baju
Imperative
ta?äliS0
tarali
ta?älu
Perfect
1 ra ?èta ra?éna
2 ra?èta, ra?èti (fem.) ra?êtu
3 ra?a, ra?at (fem.) ra?o
Imperfect
1 nirà ?i nìrà ?u
2 tiraci, tirä7i (fem.) 151 tirä
3 birä?i, tirä?i (fem.) birâ?u
CHADIAN ARABIC: THE STATE OF THE ART
2.48. Quadriliteral verbs (saglab 'to turn over')

Perfect
1 saglabta saglabna
2 saglabta, saglabti (fem.) saglabtu
3 saglab,151 saglabat (fem.) saglabu
Imperfect
singular plural
1 nisaglib nisaglibu
2 tisaglib, tisaglibi (fern.) tisaglibu
3 bisaglib, tisaglib (fem.) bisaglibu153
Imperative
saglib
saglibi
saglibu
2.49. Form II (kassar 'to break') 154

Perfect
1 kassarta kassarna
2 kassarta, kassarti (fem.) kassartu
3 kassar, kassarat (fem.) kassaro
Imperfect
1 nikassir nikassiru
2 tikassir, tikassiri (fem.) tikassiru
3 bikassir, tikassir (fem.) bikassiru
Imperative
kassir
kassiri
kassiru
2.50. Form III (xälaf 'to be opposed to')

Perfect
1 xälafta xälafna
2 xälafta, xälafti (fem.) xälaftu
3 xälaf, xälafat (fem.) xälafo
Imperfect
singular plural
1 nixälif nixälifu
2 tixälif, tixälifi (fem.) tixälifu
3 bixälif, tixälif (fem.) bixälifu
Imperative
xâlif
xälifi
xälifu
2.51. Form IV (?α/ιta 'to give')155

Perfect
1 ?antèta λantena
2 ?antëta, ?antèti (fem.) ?
antëtu
? ? ?
3 anta, antat (fem.) anto
Imperfect
1 nanti nantu
2 tanti, tanti (fem.) tantu
3 bant i, tanti (fem.) bantu
Imperative
?
anti
?
anti156
?
antu
2.52. Forms V and VI

These forms are not common in Chadian Arabic. The perfect is ?alkallam
(V) 'he spoke', 157 imperfect bilkallam\,5i perfect ?albädal (VI) 'he
exchanged with someone', 159 imperfect bilbädal.m In Abéché Arabic,
in particular, Form II is used also for Form V(Faure 1969: part 3,17).161
The /- may assimilate (as the /- of the definite article) before apicals
(see 2.33.). The full paradigms utilize the "regular" perfect and imperfect
affixes. The /- for t- (marking these forms) is particularly SCA and
Chadian Arabic.
2.53. Form VII162 (?ankasar 'it was broken')

Perfect
singular plural
1 ?ankasarta ?ankasarna
2 ?ankasarta, ?ankasarti (fem.) ?ankasartu
3 7ankasar, ?ankasarat (fem.) ?
ankasarom
Imperfect
1 ninkasar ninkasaru
2 tinkasar, tinkasari (fem.) tinkasaru
3 binkasar, tinkasar (fem.) binkasaru
2.54. Form VIII pistara 'to buy')

This form (with t infix) exists in only a few remnants in Chadian Arabic,
such as ?istara, imperfect yastari 'to buy'. These remnants may be called
"frozen forms". They differ from the remnants of Form IV in that they
are far less common.
2.55. Form IX
This form, reserved in classical Arabic for colors and defects, e.g.
?
ihmarra 'he blushed', ?i'rdjja 'he limped', does not occur in Chadian
Arabic. It is replaced by Form II.
2.56. Form X
?
This form is alsonotproductiveandexistsonlyinremnants,e.g. ista?mal
'to use'.
2.57. Common prepositions with suffixes 164

fi' in'
singular plural
1 fi fina
2 fik,fiki (fem.) fikum
3 fi fihum
3 fihi,fiha165 (fem.) fihinna
min 'from'
1 minni minnina
2 minnak minnukum166
2 minnik, minniki (fem.) minnukum
3 minhu minnum
3 minhi, minha (fem.) minhinna
le 'to'
1 ley Ièna
2 lëk lèkum
2 lëki (fem.) lèkum
3 lèhu, lu lèhum, lèm, lum
3 lèhi (fem.) lèhinna, lèm
ma?a 'with'
1 ma?i, ma ?äy(a) macana
2 ma?ak ma?äkum
2 ma?äki (fem.) ma ?äkum
3 ma?ahu ma?ähum
3 ma?ahi (fem.) ma ?ähum
fög 'up'
1 fôgi fógna
2 fögak fôgkum
2 fôgki (fem.) fôgkum
3 foga föghum
3 föga (fem.) fôghum]61
tihit 'under'
1 tihti tihitnam
2 tihtak tihitkum
2 tihtik (fem.) tihitkum
3 tihta tihithum
3 tihta (fem.) tihithum
?
usut 'in the middle'
1 ?usti ?
usutnal69
2 ?ustak ?
tisu tkum
2 ?usutki (fem.) ?usutkum
? ?
3 ?usta usuthum, usutum
3 ?usta (fem.) ?
usuthum, ?
usutum
jamb 'beside'
1 jambi jambina
2 jambak jambakum
2 jambik (fem.) jambakum
3 jamba jambakum, jambum
3 jamba (fem.) jambahum, jambum
2.58. I have not included a discussion of syntax or morphosyntax
based on Lethem (1920) because it is not germane insofar as Chapter 3 is
concerned. This chapter is intended merely as (1) an outline of the basic
phonological and morphological structure of Chadian Arabic, 170 and (2)
a survey of all existing linguistic materials on the language.
The syntax of Abéché Arabic is discussed by Roth (1968b: 22-23),
who also talks about "nomadic" Chadian Arabic in terms of concord:
nomadic sedentary171
?al?ard kabïre ?
alard kabïr
172
'the land is big'
Other examples from Abéché Arabic include:
fâtime kabïr 'Fatima is big'
?
alxidme gàsi 'work is hard'
The following also have a discussion of syntax: Faure (1969: part 3,

47); Derendinger (1923: 26-27); Worbe (1962: passim); Abu Absi and
Sinaud (1966: passim and 1968b: passim).
2.59. Chadian Arabic text

Based on my own field observations, the following text with transla-
tion is «transcribed from one given in Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968b:
212). The story is about Juha (see Chapter 1, n. 97).
Juha ?inda humär. wa yöm min aPayyäm Jara Jä sa'ala juha, mä tagdar tantïni
humàrak? 'indi xidme siyye nisawwi. juha gallu, wallàhi mä nagdar nantik,
fisän järi al 'äxar jä sàia gabil fajur wa lissa mä gabbala, wallähi kän gä'id
nantik. siyyake rrajul da simiya lhumär awa wa gäl le juha, mä guita humärak
mä fi, wa dä sinu? juha gäl, ?inta rafìgi wa tissadiga lhumär wa mä tisaddigni
?ana. tugül kaläm alwarrèta da kidib? 'inta jär hawän.
Translation:
Juha has a donkey. And one day his neighbor came and asked him, "Juha, can't
you give me your donkey? I have some work to do." Juha told him, "By God, I
can't give (it) to you because another friend of mine came and took it before
dawn and hasn't returned it yet. By God if it were here, I would give (it) to
you." After a while, and before this man left, the donkey brayed and the secret
was revealed. This man heard the donkey bray and said to Juha, "Didn't you say
your donkey was not here, and what's this?" Juha said, "You are my friend
and you believe the donkey and you don't believe me myself ! Do you (mean to)
say that what I told you was a lie? You are a bad neighbor."
2.60. Chadian Arabic texts are available in the following sources: Abu
Absi and Sinaud ( 1966: passim ; 1968a: passim·, 1968b: passim; and 1968c:
passim), Carbou (1913: 147-160) in transliteration and Arabic script,
Decorse and Gaudefroy-Demombynes (1905: passim), Faure (1969: part
1), Howard (1923: passim), Lethem (1920: 187-234), Patterson (1930:
passim), Roth (1968b: 24-25), and Worbe (1962: 89-94).
2.61. Dictionaries for Chadian Arabic dialects include: 173 Carbou
(1913: 163-247), Decorse and Gaudefroy-Demombynes (1905: 37-54),
Derendinger (1923: 33-178), Faure (1969: part 2 —662 roots), Lethem
(1920: 235-487), Muraz (1932), Roth-Laly (1969),174 Trenga (1947:
219-296), 1 7 5 and Worbe (1964).
All of these, with the exception of Roth-Laly (1969), are from English
or French into Arabic. Hopefully when Roth-Laly (1969) is completed,
it will prove to be useful for SCA and Chadian Arabic studies.
2.62. As an illustration of literacy in Chad for Arabic, I reproduce
a text in Abéché Arabic (Roth 1968b: 25) with the French translation.
The author of the text is Mahamat Dakom, who is still a student studying
French and Arabic (literary) at the only "high school" in Abéché. The
text, as can readily be seen, has emphatics, due to the author's know-
ledge of literary Arabic and other factors as well (see Kaye 1970). I
sought a written version of the text in Fort-Lamy, and found an Arabic
teacher, Abbakar Abdullahi, who authenticated its Chadian nature, and
wrote the following in Arabic characters so he could read it for me.
Transcription:
'almara râjilha mât wa faza'at lilhatab. masat hatab katir rabatata bi habila
wa xilbit mä tigilla. saxirha fi batunna kallam lèha: 'arnmi, naji negilla lèki.
Calmara laffatat xarib wa sabäh assân tisîf annâdum albihaddis lèha. mâsâfat
sê, ma sâfat §ê. bittân haddas marra wâhid, gài lêha: ya 'ammi, 'ana gâ'id
fï batunki dâxil wa nedawwir namrug assân na'âwunki. namrug minnên?176
Translation:
Son mari était mort et elle cherchait du bois. Elle partit casser beaucoup de bois
et elle l'attachait avec (sa) corde et elle était trop faible pour le ramasser. Son
petit enfant dans son ventre lui parla: "Mère, je viens, je vais ramasser pour
toi". La femme se tourna vers l'Ouest, vers l'Est, pour voir celui qui lui
parlait. Elle ne vit rien, absolument rien. Alors, il parla un fois: il dit " ô mère,
je suis dans ton ventre, à l'intérieur, je veux sortir pour t'aider. Par où est-ce que
je sors?"
Arabie script: 177
178
cjî J Ob
179
J> ¿JU J
. \j C ^ j '8' J J ι ^ 180^
'· y ^ '83 u ^ 182
^ Ψ . JM ν* <j\
185
lyj ^
L· . ç i l i cjU L .
c3U ν i y 0 hj . ùL;·
t Ä à J ti · ti 4 <J\ L , y
ífijι í uUl ¿y
186
.C¿ * &
2.63. A few words should be devoted to the Trinitarian Bible Society's

translations of the New Testament into Chadian Arabic. 187 The language
is highly stylized and classicized, and not suitable for making gram-
matical statements about Chadian Arabic as a spoken language.
The 1964 translation of the Book of John begins:
A l k i l m ê kan ff alâwwal, wa alkilmê Hu ?ind Allah, wa alkilmê Hu Allah. Hu
ff alâwwal ?ind Allah. Kullu chey ansawa béhu wa chey min al ansawa ma
a n s a w a belahu. Fîhu alhaiya wa alhaiya hf nûr annâs. Wa annûr yedaî f î
a d d a l â m wa addalâm m a ghalibah.
The 1967 version reads:

F î alâwwal alKilmê ff, wa alKilmê Hu f î jamb Allah, wa alkilmê Hu Allah.
Hu f î alâwwal ff jamb Allah. Kullu chey ansawwa béhu, wa chey min al
a n s a w w a ma ansawwa bala hu. Fîhu alhaiya, wa alhaiya hf nûr annâs. W a
annûr y e d a î f î addalâm, wa addalâm ma nasar fôgah.
Authorized version:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G o d , and the Word
was G o d . T h e same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by
him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life;
and t h e life was the light of men. A n d the light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness comprehended it not.
Al-?infil hasba lûqâ... 1965 is in Arabic characters only with partial

vocalization, and is an attempt to render Chadian Arabic into Arabic
characters, as is the text by Abdullahi in 2.62.
2.64. In conclusion, I can only agree with David Cohen, who wrote in
the preface to Roth-Laly (1969), that Arabic dialects spoken in Africa
will provide much useful information to the study of Arabic dialectology.
As already stated in 1.87. for the Sudan, a Linguistic Survey of Chad would
be the ideal thing for a comprehensive look at all Chadian languages.188
2.65. A word should be noted on my informants in both the Sudan
and Chad. In the Sudan while walking around the streets of Khartoum-
Omdurman, I came in contact with many SCA speakers. Particular help
was afforded me by Mohammed Hâfiz, a student at the University of
Khartoum. I did not concentrate on the elicitation of SCA data because
there are great amounts already in comparison to Chadian Arabic, and
also because I spent most of my time in Chad.
Field-linguistic problems in Chad are similar to those encountered
by Samarin while working on Sango in the Central African Republic (see
Samarin 1967). Most often when I asked for an informant's biographical
facts, he would respond that his name was Mahamat, and that he did not
know how old he was (many of them, presumably, just did not know).
Samarin (1967) reports that he used sixty-seven informants on Sango.
Although I used about twenty-five altogether, our problems were about
the same. I, like Samarin, learned to speak the language rather well.
I base my information on Chadian Arabic on the speech of mono-
linguals in particular (of Abéché). I must single out for attention Dangai
(also known as Fattüma) of Abéché, an unmarried girl of about twenty,
who spent hours going over materials with me. She was bom in Abéché,
has never been out of the town, and knows no other language but
Chadian Arabic. I must also thank Edward L. Lowe, the only Peace-
Corps volunteer in Abéché (teaching English) 1968-70, for tremendous
efforts on my behalf. I have corresponded often with Mr. Lowe since
summer 1970; he has kindly rechecked a lot of my data. He spent
1970-71 in Léré (Sara-speaking, for the most part), and is presently
(1971-72) at Doba, still with the Peace Corps.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2
I must disagree with Labouret (p. v) who also states that Arabic is "le parler adminis-
tratif . . . du Ouadaï." This was only true many decades ago.
2
Blanc refers here to fn. 2 (p. 382) which states that materials on spoken Mauritanian
Arabic and western Saharan Arabic have been around since the middle of the last
century, all of which were republished, collated, and analyzed in Kampffmeyer(1899).
That article made use of Barth (1859-61 and 1862-66), Koelle (1854), and Nachtigall
(1881). Blanc states concerning these four sources: "These are poorly transcribed and
often highly dubious specimens from two points in the Western Sahara, as well as from
Shuwa and Waday Arabic."
3
This, of course, should read Lethem (1920).
4
At this point Blanc remarks in fn. 4: "I have not seen the Shuwa texts published
by Howard (1923)." I, too, have not seen those texts (see chapter 1, n. 121).
5
I agree wholeheartedly with Blanc's assessment of the field.
6
Here Blanc mentions (fn. 5) that Decorse and Gaudefroy-Demombynes (1905)
and Muraz (1932) deal exclusively with this "pidginized" Arabic.
7
Blanc remarks (fn. 6) that he bases this judgement on the review by David Cohen
in Cahiers de l'Orient Contemporain (May-August 1964).
8
Abeshr is known today by its more modern name, viz. Abéché, also spelled
Abbéché. Its etymology seems to be ultimately from Arabic ?abü basir 'the father of
Bashir'. In Chadian Arabic it has several forms: âbessa, tabesse, 'ábese. It used to be
located twenty miles north of its present location, but due to a lack of water, it moved
southwards to its present position; see Ferrandi (1912) for a history of the town. It is
speculated today by many Chadians that the water supply will exhaust itself in another
ten years, thus causing the end of the capital of Waday. One of the Chadians holding this
opinion is the present Sultan of Waday, whom I interviewed twice at his residence in
Abéché, July 1970. He refused to be taped or have his photograph taken. He is still
respected in the community, especially by the older generations, yet politically, he is
more or less impotent. His only language is Chadian Arabic, although he does have
some knowledge of classical Arabic, having been on the hajj in the late 40s (by plane).
9
Blanc states (fn. 7) that the source of this information is N. Levtzion, Research
Bulletin So. I (Center of Arabic Documentation, Institute of African Studies, University
of Ibadan, January 1967), 48.
10
I use the conventional English spelling Chad for Le Tchad, or officially, La
République du Tchad. Compare in English "The Lebanon" being a direct translation
from the French, more commonly known in English nowadays as Lebanon, without
the definite article.
A few words are apropos about Chad in general, since it is one of the least-studied
countries in the modern world. I feel that the following information will be useful for
any field linguist planning a trip to Chad (see Samarin 1967). The information for what
follows is taken partly from an official Chadian governmental publication in English,
called Republic of Chad 1967, which was sent to me compliments of the Chadian
Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Geography
Chad has an area of 495,968 square miles extending over 1,056 miles between the
eighth and twenty-fourth degrees north latitude and over 620 miles between the four-
teenth and twenty-fourth degrees east longitude. The entire area is almost totally flat,
and begins in the south where the equatorial forest ends, to become part of the Sahara in
the north (Borkou, Ennedi, Tibesti). The country's size and its distance from the sea (930
miles from Douala, 1,553 miles from Port-Harcourt, and 1,865 miles from Pointe-Noire)
make Chad one of the most land-locked countries in the world. Transportation is hence
one of its major problems.
Several companies have been hoping to find oil in the country, especially around Lake
Chad, yet getting it out of the country would still be a task.
The Chad basin is deficient in waterways, too. The only river system consists of the
Chari and the Logone; other water courses such as the Batha and the Bah el Ghazal are
not permanent. Lake Chad, long a landmark of Central Africa, is shallow (average depth
13 feet) and varies in size from 3,860 square miles to 9,650 square miles, depending on
the fluctuation of the Chari River. Lake Chad is an important source for fish, and some
areas surrounding the northeastern part make rich fertile land. The Peace Corps
volunteers working around the area maintain that the lake is becoming polluted.
Population
In 1965 the population was estimated at 3,500,000, including 5,000 Europeans, mostly
French, a density of about seven inhabitants per square mile. It is, however, unevenly
distributed with forty-four inhabitants to the square mile in the cotton-growing area of
the south. The population rate of increase is 2 per cent per annum.
Religion and ethnic groups
About 45 per cent of the population is Muslim; 50 per cent Animist, and 5 per cent
Christian (100,000 Catholics and 50,000 Protestants). Islam is, however, the fastest
growing religion among the Animists, many of them converting daily. The reason for this
is mainly economic, since the Muslims are the people who "have things".
The ethnic variety is accompanied by economic specialization. For example, among
the Muslims, the Bororo are herders, the Hausa, traders and barbers, and the Wadayans,
farmers, while among the Animists, the Sara — the largest group in the country and
those in power politically (François Tombalbaye, the President of the Republic, b o m
in 1918 at Bessada is a Sara) — are farmers, and the Kotoko are fishermen.
The urban population accounts for only a little over 5 per cent of the total population,
with only four towns numbering more than 5,000 inhabitants: Fort-Lamy (150,000), Fort-
Archambault (30,000), Moundou (25,000), and Abéché (15,000).
History
Chad has always been a crossroads of routes between the Sahara and "tropical"
Africa. In the northern part of Chad, the beds of paleolithic and neolithic objects still
bear witness to the period when hunters and gatherers lived along the banks of the
Saharan rivers now dried up. In the lower valleys of the Chari River, the first traces
of the Sao civilization have been found. It is thought that the Saos survived until the
end of the 16th century.
From the 9th century onwards, Chad has been the homeland of many empires, the most
important being the Kingdom of Kanem, the Empire of Bomou, the Sultanate of Bagirmi,
and the Empire of Waday.
In 1913 the incorporation of Borkou made Chad the largest and most populated
of the territories comprising French Equatorial Africa. On August 16, 1940, upon the
initiative of its Governor, Félix Eboué, Chad was the first territory of Black Africa to
join the cause of "Free France". After the war, Chad became an Overseas Territory of the
French Republic under the French constitution of 1946. In 1958 Chad became amember
of the French Community, and on August 11, 1960, proclaimed its independence. It was
admitted to membership in the United Nations on September 20, 1960.
Miscellaneous
The official language of the country is French, although only a small fraction of the
total population can claim fluency in the language. The climate during the six month dry
season is hot, with temperatures of 130°F. not being unusual. The Chadian national flag
consists of three vertical stripes of blue, gold, and red. The motto of the country is: Unité-
Travail-Progrès.
Chad is not a country that one reads about all the time. In fact during the last two years I
have only seen two major articles about the country. I reproduce them here since both
contain valuable "anthropological" — field-linguistic — information. It would be
almost virtually impossible to do any kind of field work in Chad without knowing some-
thing about the country's history and current problems. Thus, the relevancy of including
both of these newspaper articles lies in the theory behind field linguistics. The first is by
Jim Hoagland of the Washington Post, who wrote an article called "Chad Unlikely
Resort, Except for Hunting", which appeared in The Sunday Denver Post, Roundup, May
2, 1971, p. 33. I reproduce exactly so as to distort nothing:
FORT LAMY, Chad — The sun bakes the dusty streets to 115 degrees at midday, a soft
drink flown in from Paris costs $1, a plate of lettuce goes for $1.50 and a three-year-
old armed rebellion continues to simmer out in the desert that covers most of this
unlikely country.
Sound like just the place for your next vacation? Then you're Matar Ghassim's
kind of tourist.
"You have to love sun and great empty spaces to make a successful visit to Chad",
concedes Ghassim, who holds the job of director of tourism in one of the world's
most improbable tourist resorts, this destitute former French colony located at the
center of Africa and on the edge of the Sahara.
LIKE MANY countries in Africa, Chad has dreams of tapping a new source of
badly needed foreign exchange by luring tourists, as Kenya and Uganda have done.
Chad, with its considerable liabilities and natural wonders, is in fact an excellent
case in point of both the lack of realism and adventurous spirit that run through
the efforts of the touristically underdeveloped world to muscle in on the market.
For the individualist who feels a fascination for the original Beau Geste country
of desert dotted by green bits of oasis, Foreign Legion forts and rugged mountains,
northern Chad is the place to go.
This country is also blessed with some of the last great herds of elephants, and
some of the best, if most difficult, big game hunting in Africa.
THE CHAD government is perhaps the most lenient in Africa in setting high-kill
limits for hunters, except for disappearing animals like leopards and the great kudu.
But you can shoot just about all the elephants you can carry away because of the
current surplus.
Most of the 3,700 hardy souls who did come to Chad last year as tourists came
either to shoot at or to photograph the game, Ghassim said.
Predicting that Chad would greatly augment the number of tourists it draws,
Ghassim asserted that Chad "is one of the richest countries in the world in Fauna."
It's also one of the poorest in just about everything else. Air Chad's five-airplane
fleet is headed by a rickety DC-4 flagship. There's almost no paved roadway in the
country, and no railroad at all.
T H E FRENCH (there are still 10,000 here) did almost nothing to develop this
country during their colonial days. Everyday items still have to be flown in from
France, greatly increasing their cost and further inhibiting tourism.
This has a drastic inflationary effect on the few locally produced items that
foreigners might need or use. Chad's plentiful and good beef costs as much in
restaurants as if it had been imported.
Recently, according to Ghassim, an American tourist visiting here was staggered
when he was charged $4 for an omelette.
"Is this omelette so expensive because eggs are rare in your country?", the
tourist asked a Chadian waiter. "No, Monsieur, eggs are not rare here. It's American
tourists who are rare here."
ALMOST as annoying for prospective tourism is the armed insurgency carried out
against the government of President François Tombalbaye by bands of northern
and eastern tribesmen.
Rebels invaded Chad's greatest tourist attraction, Zokouma National Park, last
year and are still operating in the area. But the government hopes to get the park's
attractive lodge back in operation.
At Mongo, a small village that used to be the departure point for safaris, brick
huts once used by tourists have been taken over by the French Air Force, which bases
helicopters here.
THAT GOOD Chadian beef comes from the four million head of cattle nomadic
herdsmen drive across the parched plains. There are more cattle in this country —
three times the size of California — than people (3 1/2 million).
The government and French military advisers have begun to assert the much
publicized civil war is not about politics but about cattle.
"More than one million head of cattle have been stolen and driven across the
borders" of the Sudan and the Central African Republic, in the past three years,
Jacques Morbaye, a key official in Chad's ministry of the interior, said recently
[sic.]. 'Ces't un grand Western', commented a senior French officer. Before
independence in 1960, the French Army "was the sheriff. When the sheriff left, the
cattle rustlers started shooting up the villages. Now that the sheriff is back, they
don't do it any more. Simple."
For the second newspaper article, see n. 12.
11
See Benton (1912), Burckhardt (1819), Carbou (1912) especially valuable for Tubu,
Cooley (1841), Delafosse (1898) for Sara, Lukas (1933, and 1936), and Trenga (1947)for
Maba.
12
See n. 10. The second article, which appeared in the Boulder Daily Camera, Focus
(September 13, 1970), 10, is by Stanley Meisler, of the L. A. Times and Washington Post
News Service, who wrote it in Fort-Lamy. The title of the article is "Chad War is a Puny
One". I do not think that the Chadian Civil War is so puny as Meisler makes it out to be.
Neither would many Chadians.
I reproduce here the article in its entirety so that nothing is distorted. As with the
article mentioned in n. 10, this one has many observations valuable for the field linguist
planning a trip to Chad. Needless to say, information contained in both the newspaper
articles is rather difficult to come by. Thus I have chosen to include this information here.
The article reads as follows:
The war in Chad is a puny one. The French have only 3,000 soldiers here and the
rebel total is probably about the same. The country is so poor that a recent U.N.
report ranked it 85th on a list of 90 developing countries.
Yet the war can't be ignored. In a dramatic way it lays bare two great failures.
First, in a half century of colonial rule, the French failed to bring any real govern-
ment to most of the tribes of this vast, land-locked country. Second, in a decade of
independent rule, Chad's African leaders failed in a similar way.
THESE FAILURES brought on a rebellion by people resentful of a remote govern-
ment that taxed them too much and gave them too little. In early 1969, President
François Tombalbaye desperately called on the French for help. Since then, the
French and Tombalbaye have been better at subduing the rebellion than at imposing
an administration.
A recent incident almost 500 miles east of the capital of Ft. Lamy illustrates
the problems of Chad and of the war. It was, for this war, an unusually large battle.
One night, a band of 150 rebels, most armed with spears but perhaps a score with
rifles, attacked a militia post. The band killed nine militiamen and two government-
appointed village chiefs.
After the rebels withdrew, the survivors sent for help. It was the rainy season
[xarif in Chadian Arabic] and there are no paved roads in Chad. Since no car or
truck could pass, horsemen had to slush through the mud with the message. It
took all night to reach the town of Abeche, 60 miles north.
ALTHOUGH the army unit in Abeche is Chadian, the officers who count are
French. They received word of the rebel attack the next morning. But, as usual,
they did not act immediately. They simply do not trust intelligence reports from
Chadians. They sent out a French pilot in a light plane to look around.
The pilot returned with a report that he had spotted a group of men who could
have been part of the band of rebels. The French radioed for commandos and heli-
copters. By that night, 40 commandos had flown in from Ft. Lamy and six helicopters
had arrived from their base at Mongo in south central Chad. On the following
morning, copter-borne French commandos began looking for the rebels.
The French were nearly ready to give up when a group of the rebels, near a
creek about 20 miles southeast of the militia post, foolishly opened fire on a heli-
copter.
AT THE END of the battle, there were a few wounded French commandos and 23
dead rebels. The French took no prisoners. It was, like most battles in this little war,
a military victory for the French.
But the political result was not as clear. Had the band of rebels already done its
job by discouraging villagers from accepting arms and appointments from the
government?
The politics behind the rebel drive to keep the government out of the bush are
rooted in the past.
When the French conquered Chad early in this century, the territory was divided
into a vast area known as the land of the Moslems and a small nub in the southwest
known as the land of the slaves. In this nub below the Chari River lived the Sara
people, who made up a fifth of the population and served as the slaves of their
Moslem overlords.
THE PROUD Moslems resisted French administration and education. But the Saras,
with a feeble culture, embraced whatever the French offered them. They had the
fruits of what little education there was in colonial Chad.
When the French left in 1960, the Moslems found that almost all the civil service
and top political jobs including the presidency, were in the hands of the educated
Saras. In independent Chad, the Moslems would be ruled by their former slaves.
To make matters worse, the new administrators proved inefficient and corrupt.
There was much abuse in taxation. People found themselves taxed two and three
times a year. For this, they got little in exchange.
As the resentment over Sara domination and tax abuses increased, riots and rebel-
lion came. This weakened the administration even more. Sara government officials,
afraid they would be assassinated, retreated to the major centers. The government
no longer existed in most of the bush.
AGAINST this background, the rebellion took several forms. First, the Toubou
[Tubu] tribe in the north, always independent, rebelled against the government's
attempt to take powers away from its traditional rulers.
Second, the Moslem tribes of the center and the east produced rebels against
tax abuse and Sara domination.
Finally, bandits and cattle rustlers moved into the vacuum left by the flight of
government officials.
Dr. Abba Siddick, an exiled political opponent of Tombalbaye, tried to weld
all these rebellious forces into a single revolutionary opposition called Frolinat
(Front for the National Liberation of Chad).
But he faced the same problem as the Sara Administrators. It is just as hard to
administer a rebellion in Chad as a government. Most outsiders believe he has lost
control over only a small proportion of the rebel bands.
With all their disorganization, the rebels seem to have three goals: to overthrow
the Tombalbaye government, to create general disorder and to prevent the govern-
ment from administering the country.
ACCORDING to the French, the rebels have lost more than 2,000 men in the
fighting, while the French have counted only 14 dead and the Chadian army only 50.
The rebels have little hope now of overthrowing Tombalbaye.
At the same time, the rebels have prevented the government from putting much
of an administration in the bush, though the situation is far better than it was.
The French troops and the Chadian government may be winning most of the
battles. But they have failed so far in establishing a real administration in the
countryside.
13
Blanc states (fn. 13): "My colleague N. Levtzion tells me that he sometimes
found, during his travels in West Africa, literary Arabic to be the simplest contact lan-
guage between himself and the local Muslims."
14
Here Blanc refers the reader to Al-Sinqiti (1911) for early aspects of Mauri-
tanian Arabic, Bivar and Hiskett (1962), Hunwick (1964), Monteil (1964) [sic.] which
should be Monteil (1963), Studies ... 1965, and Levtzion (1967), especially the latter
for the references listed "in the extensive bibliography".
15
See Ullendorff (1962), misspelled and misquoted as "Ullendorf 1965" (fn. 15),
and misspelled in the bibliography (p. 389) as "Ullendorf 1962".
16
In fn. 16, Blanc refers the reader to "Monteil (1964: 222-3)", a reference not
contained in the bibliography. Perhaps he meant Monteil (1963), yet the page references
would be a problem. Hopefully, this and other errors will be corrected in the published
form of Blanc (i.p.).
See Ferrandi (1930).
17
Here Blanc says (fn. 11): "This is reported in the Register of Current Research
on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, July, 1967. I am indebted to Mrs. O. Kapeliukfor
pointing it out to me, and for Mrs. Schneider for supplying some additional information
in a letter to me."
18
See chapter 1, n. 2 and n. 3 for the term "Sudanic" and its ramifications.
19
Seen. 3.
20
The official name of the capital of Chad is Fort-Lamy (founded about 1900;
present population 150,000).
21
Decorse and Gaudefroy-Demombynes (1905: 20-21).
22
Blanc remarks (fn. 12): "A number of details on this sort of Arabic were kindly
given to me orally by A. Loya, former Israeli chargé d'affaires at Fort Lamy [sic.], and
by some Chadian visitors to whom he introduced me in Jerusalem."
23
As is obvious and similar to the case with SCA, there are many dialects of Chadian
Arabic, and many remarks about SCA subdialects (chapter 1 passim) also apply to
Chadian Arabic ones.
Fort-Lamy Arabic is not a good representative dialect for Chadian Arabic as a whole
because (1) Fort-Lamy is the capital, and as a result, many Chadians there know some
French since it is the official language of the country; (2) there are few monolingual
Chadian Arabic speakers there; and (3) Chadian Arabic broadcasts over Radio Chad
(from Fort-Lamy) are in intentionally classicized and stylized varieties of the language,
making a normal informant speech pattern difficult to obtain. Furthermore, all Chadian
Arabic broadcasts are read; none are off-the-cuff "normal" speech. Radio Chad Arabic
is, in many ways, quite similar to the Chadian Arabic of the Trinitarian Bible Society's
translations of the New Testament (see 2.63.). As an anthropologist friend of mine re-
marked to me occasionally in Fort-Lamy (he was doing field work with the Bagirmi):
"Fort-Lamy is hardly the real Chad." This is true, in many ways.
The term "Chadian Arabic" as I use it here contains, so to speak, the word "sedentary",
unless otherwise stated explicitly. Bedouin (nomadic) dialects are quite different,
especially in terms of phonology, since they preserve emphatics and pharyngeals
(A and '). See Roth (1968b: 12) for a discussion of parler nomade and parler d'Abbéché.
Bedouin Chadian Arabic dialects also preserve q (the voiceless uvular plosive), some-
times G (the voiced uvular plosive), and γ (γ also remains in most SCA dialects), which
becomes χ in the sedentary dialects. On Chadian Arabic phonology in general, see
Worbe(1959).
It is important to keep in mind the general Arabic dialectological dichotomy of
nomadic vs. sedentary, which is more basic than the Eastern vs. Western one. It is not
held that the nomadic varieties of Chadian Arabic are in any way descended from the
bedouin Arabic vernaculars of the Arabian peninsula. The subgrouping of the modern
Arabic bedouin dialects remains to be worked out. The reason for the scholarly neglect
of this entire area is that there are literally thousands of separate and distinct dialects,
the great majority of which have never been described at all. The crucial point, however,
which has been known for quite some time, is that Bedouins talk differently from their
sedentary counterparts. That is to say, Bedouin dialects of Arabic are opposed to the
sedentary ones of the same area. We do not know the exact details regarding Arabia in
the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras.
On the term Chadian Arabic as opposed to Chad Arabic, see Kaye (1971a: addenda
to n. 55). For mention of Abéché Arabic, literacy problems, and bilingualism and MSA,
see Kaye (1972a: n. 40).
24
I spent six weeks in Abéché and journeyed east about 150 kilometers with the
Chadian Army to Adré, the last stop before El-Geneina and the Sudanese border, spend-
ing three days there. Abéché Arabic and Adré Arabic are basically the same. I also
spent about three weeks in the general vicinity of Fort-Lamy. It is on firsthand know-
ledge that I make my remarks.
25
This appears mistakingly as Decorre.
26
This is entitled by Cantineau as Dialecte arabe centre-africain, des rives du Tchad au
Wadaï (notice grammaticale, vocabulaire français-arabe et arabe-français), which is not
the title of the work, but does appear as a subtitle on the first page of the work.
27
The citation of Patterson (1930) has Shiwa Arabic in the title for the correct
Shuwa Arabic. I do not know whether this spelling was intentional or a misprint on
Cantineau's part.
28
I follow Cantineau's ordering in listing the works.
29
Fleisch refers to it as Carbou (1911), which is erroneous.
30
Fleisch refers to it as Howard (1921), which is also a mistake.
31
I met André Sinaud in Fort-Lamy, who was working at the time (summer 1970)
for the USIA. I have also occasionally corresponded with Samir Abu Absi, now at the
University of Toledo, Dept. of English. He once remarked in a letter (May 1968) that
he did not fully "trust" Sinaud's knowledge of Chadian Arabic. Presumably he meant
that his knowledge of Chadian Arabic was deficient in one point or another. As far as I
know, Sinaud is a native speaker of Chadian Arabic from the north of Chad. Sinaud also
speaks French and English, but does not know other Arabic dialects or any kind of liter-
ary Arabic, and can not write a word of Arabic in Arabic characters.
I wish to thank Professor Carleton T. Hodge, Dept. of Linguistics, Indiana University,

Bloomington, for sending me copies of Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966, 1968a, b, and c),
Blanc (i.p.), and other bibliographical references.
32
I met with Père Faure several times in Abéché.
33
I met several inhabitants of Abéché who remembered Mrs. Roth-Laly (Miss
Roth, then), for she spent six months in Abéché (Sept. 1966 to March 1967); see
Roth (1968b: 7) for the details of her field work. I have never met her personally,
although we have corresponded infrequently.
One of the persons remembering her well was Mr. Chachati, the richest man in
Abéché (and perhaps in all of Chad), who was born in Aleppo. He still speaks with
his native accent (Aleppo Arabic), although he uses Chadian Arabic morphology and
syntax to a great extent, having married a native Chadian. He knows no other language,
and we spent many hours together comparing general Syro-Lebanese Arabic and the
local Chadian dialects, the latter of which he had only contempt, although he under-
stood them perfectly well. For this attitude see Nader (1962) and Ferguson (1959b).
Mr. Chachati introduced me to the oldest inhabitant of Abéché, a man about eighty
called Papa Zian, an Armenian born in Turkey, who also spoke French, English (he
claims to have gone to an American school in Turkey), Chadian Arabic, SCA, modern
literary Arabic, Turkish, Italian, Spanish, and Armenian. He has lived more than
forty years in Abéché, and before that, twenty years in Khartoum. His Chadian Arabic
was fluent, and he had adapted to the phonology of the language, i.e. no emphatics and
pharyngeals.
I mention Chachati and Zian here to show the different ways in which two nonnative
speakers of Chadian Arabic have assimilated the language. There were other native
speakers of Syro-Palestinian Arabic dialects who spoke Chadian Arabic with emphatics
and pharyngeals in Abéché. All of them were rather rich merchants or green grocers/
bar owners. Among themselves, however, they spoke colloquial Syro-Palestinian Arabic.
Their children were bilingual in colloquial Syro-Palestinian Arabic and Chadian Arabic,
but seemed to prefer Chadian Arabic for all occasions.
34
I have never met or corresponded with Père Worbe. I searched for him in Fort-
Lamy, but apparently he was not there.
35
I regard Lethem (1920) as a first-class and pioneering effort. Unfortunately, it has
never been reprinted nor revised. Let us hope that this chapter brings many parts of it
up-to-date.
36
(London: Harrison and Sons, Ltd., Printers in Ordinary to His Majesty, St.
Martin's Lane, W.C. 2.)
The book is difficult to come by. I obtained a xerox copy from the University of
Chicago's Oriental Institute Library.
37
I have not come across any reference to a publication by Tomlinson in the
literature.
38
By "regular" Arabic grammar, I presume Lethem means the likes of Wright
(1955).
39
"Surprisingly small", of course, depends on how small "small" is. On the term
"Sudanese" see chapter 1, n. 2.
40
Seen. 37.
41
H. R. Palmer wrote the preface (pp. 1-12) of Patterson (1930). It is here that we
learn that "from probably A.D. 800 onwards, Arabs in small parties began to penetrate
to the basin of Lake Chad, and as time went on they settled in the Chad region in
numbers" (p. 1). I do not know the source of Palmer's statement. The date 800 A.D.
seems much too early for any major Arab migration to the area around Lake Chad.
Palmer continues (p. 1): "With them, and in still larger numbers after them, came
groups of the great Saharan Berber confederations who, as early as the days when the
Mamluks ruled in Egypt, forged for themselves Arab pedigrees, so that in some cases the
Berber tribes are indistinguishable from the Arab tribes."
Ibn Khaldün does report the existence of Tuaregs about 800 A.D. in Fezzan, Kanem,
Waday, and Dar Fur (Patterson 1930: 11).
Palmer concludes about Patterson's texts (pp. 11-12):
Under these circumstances, there would appear to be little doubt that the Ilam
[Tuareg of Kel Tegelmust (Mulatehmin)] of these Abu Zeid legends are the Blemyes
of the Roman authors, the fierce nomads who about A.D. 450 raided the Kharga
Oasis west of the Nile, to which the Patriarch Nestorius had been exiled. The
incident of his capture by the Blemyes is thus described by Evagrius:
The Mazakoi, in this passage, are, it would seem, the "imoshagA" or noble caste
of the Ilam (Tuareg), the captors presumably being "imrad" or "servile clans".
I have not come across the name H. R. Palmer in the literature available on Chadian
Arabic studies. He is not to be confused with H. E. Palmer, a contemporary (perhaps a
relative); see Bloomfield (1933: 537-538) for some of H. E. Palmer's writings. At first, I
thought that they might be one and the same person.
H. R. Palmer, C.M.G., C.B.E., was the Lieutenant-Governor of the Northern Pro-
vinces of Nigeria. J. R. Patterson was District Officer, Bornu Province, Nigeria —infor-
mation from the title page of Patterson (1930).
42
The preface is dated "London, 1920".
43
This is surprising since it was written fifty three years ago. Many of Lethem's state-
ments are still valid today.
44
Similarly for many parts of Central Africa, i.e. Chad, the Central African
Republic, Niger, Cameroon, etc.
45
Notice the devoicing of final voiced stops (a characteristic of Chadian Arabic as a
whole), even present in the English spelling for "Mohammed".
46
How early we are not told.
47
The last point is debatable.
48
See for more information MacMichael (1922).
49
I would also agree with the dating here, although a little later might be more
accurate. This would support Birkeland's (1952: 26) contention of Arab immigration into
the Sudan in the fourteenth century.
50
See Carbou (1912: 34-45), but the term there is "Hassaouna".
51
This distinction is an important one to keep in mind (see 1.70.).
52
Presumably he means "written Arabic". See Kaye (1970: 386) for the term
"graphemic Arabic".
53
This is not unusual.
54
This, in part, is the subject matter of chapter 5.
55
The prescriptivism of this statement is obvious (see Kaye 1970).
56
See chapter 1, n. 2.
57
This, of course, depends on many criteria.
58
This is subject to many linguistic assumptions, naturally, and is merely im-
pressionistic.
59
This is reminiscent of Amery (1905: vii-viii); see the discussion in 1.69.
60
This is discussed fully in n. 82.
61
See n. 58.
62
This is true of all colloquiale as opposed to ill-defined systems of Arabic (see Kaye
1970: 383-386).
63
At this point (p. xii) Lethem compares three common expressions: 'come here !',
'what do you say?', and 'how are you?' in the following colloquiale: Egyptian (Cairene —
see Bloch 1971: 56, fn. 2), Syrian, North African (Maghribine), Yemenite, Hijazi (Saudi
Arabia), SCA, and Chadian Arabic. There are many mistakes, e.g. Egyptian 'come here!'
should be ta ài hina rather than ta'ali hana\ hene, or 'what do you say?' is bitPiil è(h) for
taqul ey (Lethem's transcription).
64
The reference is to the purity of bedouin as opposed to sedentary dialects; see
Blau (1963) and Cadora (1970).
65
See n. 55.
66
Thus " t o u r k o u " of Muraz (1932). See 1.20.
67
See Decorse and Gaudefroy-Demombynes (1905).
68
Interesting to note is that the term Urdu (one of the official and national lan-
guages of Pakistan, the other two being Bengali and English) is from the Turkish ordu
'army camp'; see Alderson and Iz (1959: 259).
69
Time has proved Lethem absolutely correct on this point.
70
Again this depends on the meaning of "little".
71
For our purposes, this barrack and market jargon is not interesting. I can confirm
Lethem's observations for Fort-Lamy for 1970.
72
There is still a lot of truth in this kind of "linguistic philosophy".
73
Faure (1969: part 3,1) reports ?inte, ?itte, which are common free variants also
for >inta, 'itta. Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968a: 21) report ?inte as well as ?inta.
74
Worbe (1962: 11) lists hiye, which is also heard, but not commonly.
75
Worbe (1962: 11) lists nehna for ?anina, as does Faure (1969: part 3,1), as variant
forms. This is the Chadian Arabic of the bedouin. Derendinger (1923: 9), strangely
enough, has anïna. Compare Akkadian nlnu (nénu) < PS *natmu. See Von Soden ( 1952:
41, fn. 12). This is clearly an aspect of "drift" in Semitic. See Kaye (1971c) for other
aspects of " d r i f t " in Semitic.
76
Worbe (1962: 11) lists λantom, ?entu, and Mtu. The first is clearly MSA. Deren-
dinger (1923: 9) lists market jargon (Fort-Lamy) viz. 7uttu, ?uttukum, as well as ?intu,
nttu. Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968a: 21) list ~>intum.
On the nasal assimilation in the personal pronouns, compare similar happenings in
Akkadian (Von Soden 1952: 41). This too is an aspect of "drift".
77
Carbou (1913: 9) is confusing with listings such as ?enti and ?inti 'toi (feminin)',
or nihna, ?anihna, and ?anahna for 'nous'.
78
Carbou (1913: 10) reports for the same forms:
singular plural
1 'indi 'indna
2 'indek ?indhu
2 'indèk (fem.) 'indhu
3 'inda, ?indahu 'indhum
3 'indha (fem.) 'indhum
Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968a: 60) report ?indik for Hndiki. That is not common, but
does occur. Similarly Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968b: 19).
79
This vowel may shorten, viz. ma, depending on the rapidity of speech, emphasis,
and juncture.
80
Many recent works, such as Worbe (1962), are patterned after the organizational
format of Lethem (1920). Cf. Worbe (1962: 13ff.).
81
Erroneously listed (1920: 32) as katabû (by misprint), and correctly listed else-
where (e.g. 1920:31).
82
Listed as katabfa) by Roth (1968b: 15). Other forms listed are: kasar(a)
'casser', katal(a) 'tuer', ka/anfa) 'envelopper d'un linceul', maragfaj 'sortir', gala?(aj
'arracher', and gatada) 'couper'. The final -a is rare, and seems to be purely euphonic
(and originally anaptyctic) rather than a remnant of the classical Arabic -a, viz. kataba
'he wrote'. In other words, the -a, optional in strong verbs, has the same function and
origin as the -a in madda 'he extended' in Chadian Arabic and SCA. SCA, of course,
does not have the final -a for strong verbs (Form I, say). Chadian Arabic is the only
Arabic dialect (ancient, modern, or otherwise) which has this -a for Form I verbs for the
third person masculine singular perfect, although it is optimally optional.
It is important to note also that no CiCiC (stative) verbs of Form I (Roth 1968b: 15),
e.g. kibir 'to become big', have optional final -a.
Roth (1968b: 17-19) thinks this -a is perhaps the pronominal suffix for the third
masculine or feminine singular, -u and -ha, respectively, in SCA. She states:
(1) L'existence de ce suffixe -a que j'ai ajouté entre parenthèses à l'accompli
d'un certain nombre de verbes cités plus haut, pose un des problèmes les plus ardus
à résoudre dans la description du parler d'Abbéché. L'examen d'un grand nombre de
formes relevées ne m'a pas permis pour l'instant d'apporter une réponse satisfaisante,
tant les observations sont contradictoires entre elles. Quelle est la nature et quelle
est la fonction de cette particule a? Pour l'instant je n'ai pu faire que des hypothèses
qui restent à vérifier. Il faut séparer les cas où il apparaît à l'inaccompli.
(2) Nature de -a à l'accompli
L'hypothèse la plus vraisemblable à première vue est que ce -a représente le suffixe
pronominal de la 3ème personne du singulier que nous avons déjà cité dans les
remarques concernant le système pronominal.
(3) Fonction du -a à l'accompli
Avant de rechercher quelle fonction cette particule a est susceptible d'avoir
lorsqu'elle s'adjoint à un verbe, j'ai dressé une petite liste des verbes que j'ai
rencontrés suivis par un a et une liste du verbes qui n'en sont jamais munis. En
comparant les verbes de ces deux groupes, il apparaît que ce sont les verbes dits
d'état et les verbes intransitifs qui ne le connaissent pas, c'est-à-dire la presque
totalité des verbes en / et quelques verbes en a.
Ex.: hirig "brûler" (verbe intransitif)
?
itis "avoir soir'
wisil "arriver"
warad "aller chercher de l'eau"
mais:
zagal(a) "jeter"
limisfa) "toucher"
ganasfajfî "chasser"
hawwat(a) fi "pêcher"
riji ou rijiya "attendre quelqu'un"
ligi ou ligiya "trouver"
?
λanta, ana >antèta "donner, j'ai donné"
sàf(a), ïanasifta "voir, j'ai vu"
gâlfa), 'ana guita "dire, j'ai dit"
rama, >ana ramèta "faire tomber, j'ai fait tomber"
?
dagga, ana daggèta "frapper, j'ai frappé"
Les conditions de l'emploi de cette particule sont plus difficiles à déterminer. Il semble
qu'on l'utilise chaque fois que le complément du verbe est exprimé.
Ex.: hu masa hawwat "il est parti chasser"
hu katal "il a tué (c'est un tueur)"
mais:
hu katala nafsa "il s'est tué"
hu ganasa fi-l-fil "il a chassé l'éléphant"
da xubza: sïla nussa "voici un pain ! prends-en la moitié"
Le parler d'Abbéché connaît une particule d'usage facultatif le qui précède le
complément d'objet direct et qui est fort employée. Or l'usage de la particule -a

paraît obligatoire lorsque le complément est introduit par ce le.
Ex.: hu ligiya le bir. "il a trouvé un puits"
'ana hat téta le-l-xubza fi-t-tarbêze: "j'ai posé le pain sur la table"
λal-mara sàfata (ou sàfa) le-l-faki: "la femme a vu le faki"
L'hypothèse de -a: pronom suffixe utilisé comme pronom de rappel permettrait
d'expliquer des exemples relevés par Worbe dont j'ai pu vérifier moi-même cer-
tains. Ils concernent les verbes qui peuvent s'utiliser dans un sens transitif comme
les verbes marag: "sortir ou faire sortir"; dalla', "descendre ou faire descendre".
Ex.: hu marag min bêta: "il sortit de sa maison"
Le verbe marag est utilisé ici avec le sens intransitif.
hu maraga humära min bêta: "il fit sortir son âne de sa maison"
dallèt: "je suis descendu"
dallèta: "j'ai fait descendre"
Cet exemple est semblable au précédent: dalla est un verbe défecteux à la deuxième
forme. Or, dans le parler d'Abbéché, la deuxième forme a le sens factitif ou fré-
quentatif, mais elle a aussi le sens réfléchi, car elle a remplacé la Vème forme qui a
disparu.
Ex.: barrad: "laver quelque chose ou quelqu'un"
"se laver"
L'hypothèse par A. Worbe, selon laquelle la particule a serait le pronom suffixe de
la 3ème personne du singulier des deux genres utilisée comme pronom de rappel
avec les verbes transitifs directs et indirects doit encore subir de nombreuses
vérifications. Des comparaisons avec les systèmes des parlers nomades où le genre
et le nombre sont respectés pourront aussi éclairer la discussion. A l'inaccompli,
la particule a pose un problème troublant en supplément. En effect, selon certains
informateurs, elle serait la marque du futur. Les exemples qui m'ont été donnés
les suivants:
hu barbut al habil: "il lie la corde"
hu barbuta fa)l habil: "il liera la corde"
J'ai également entendu hu barbuta l-habil, sans que je puisse savoir avec précision
si le changement dans la distribution syllabique était une variante facultative ou s'il
entraînait une modification du sens. Ce point que je me borne à citer ici exigera
encore de nombreuses et minutieuses vérifications; il sera peut-être bon de
l'étudier en rapport avec l'examen de la place de l'accent.
The -a, which is optional in all imperfect (inaccompli) forms which do not already
end in a vowel, i.e. all plural forms and the second person feminine singular, is certainly
not a remnant of classical Arabic -a marking the subjunctive (all colloquiale have lost
this feature, if they ever had it). Hyper-correction, a branch of pseudo-correction (see
Blau 1970), may also be a factor here. See also Kaye (1970: 386, n.14), which also cites
Blau's latest book.
83
Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968b: 92) list the perfect conjugation for Ci'Ci'C verbs
(sirib 'he drank'):
singular plural
1 siribt siribna
2 siribta siribtu
2 siribti (fem.) siribtu
3 sirib Siri bo
3 Siribat (fem.) Siribo
Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966: 38) differ in two respects: (1) the first person singular
ending is -t or -ta, and (2) the third person plural ending is -u. They also state (1966:65):
"Two of the above suffixes may have variations which you should be able to recognize,
even if you don't use them. The first person singular suffix can be /-t/ or /-ta/, and the
third person masculine singular suffix can be /0/ "zero" or /-a/."
These variant forms are not listed in Derendinger (1923:18-20), called the "prétérit".
Similarly Carbou (1913: 73-76) called it the "prétérit ou passé". Similarly Worbe
(1962:13-14).
84
The imperfect stem has i, yet note the vowel harmony with final -«, marking
plurality. For the argument, Roth (1968b: 16-17) states: "La conjugaison de l'inaccompli
du verbe katab(a) met en évidence la force de l'harmonie vocalique. Ex.: ?ana naktib,
>anina naktubu sous l'influence du u suffixe du pluriel, le i de l'inaccompli devient u.
Note that some Chadian Arabie dialects have preformative ? for η; the former is
characteristic of most sedentary Arabic dialects outside of North Africa, which is famous
for its n.
85
The u of the stem is by vowel harmony. See preceding note. Similarly in baktubu
'they write/will write'.
86
Lethem (1920: 33) remarks that the b "may be used with all cases". Roth
(1968b: 19-20) discusses the functions of the b (see Piamenta 1964):
Dans le parler d'Abbéché, la particule b à l'inaccompli remplit trois fonctions:
(1) Elle est la marque da la 3ème personne par opposition à n, indice de la 1ère
pers. et à t indice de la 2 ème pers.
Ex.:(hu) barrisi "il va"
(hi) tamii "elle va"
(huma) bamsu "ils ou elles vont"
( Canina) namsu "nous allons"
La forme de la 3ème pers. du féminin avec b se recontre également, mais plus
rarement; elle caractériserait le parler des femmes et des jeunes enfants. La forme
féminine avec la particule b affecte surtout les verbes à racines dites anormales:
Ex.: hi tugül ou hi bitugül "elle dit"
hi taji ou hi bitaji "elle vient"
hi bitaldi (?) "elle accouche"
(2) La particule b utilisée à toutes les personnes de l'inaccompli, surtout aux
formes interrogatives et négatives et parfois à la forme affirmative, est une sorte
de particule d'insistance:
Ex.: ?al abu bastai li bineyta, bugiti: "ar-räjil
bitidäwri walla mä bitidäwri! -hi kän tugül:
?ana bnidäwra aw ?ana ma mnidäwra... "
"le père demande à sa fille: il dit: "cet homme, tu le veux ou tu ne le veux
pas?" la fille, si elle dit: "je le veux ou je ne le veux p a s . . . " "
(3) Le particule b est utilisée comme élément modal à la 3ème pers. uniquement (cet
usage est à rapprocher du précédent); b souligne la réalité d'un fait et s'oppose
à y qui est la particule du jussif ou du "subjonctif". Mais, si mes informateurs étaient
sensibles à la distinction théorique, l'interprétation de la "règle" est très souple et je
n'ai trouvé que quelques cas où l'on recontre toujours b ou toujours
Ex.: gàid, auxiliaire, participe actif du verb ga'ad, sert à former le duratif qui
est toujours suivi du verbe à l'inaccompli introduit par la particule b.
hu gàid bàkul: "il est en train de manger"
Il en est de même pour l'auxiliaire gamma: se mettre à (vient probablement du verbe
gâm: "se lever").
Ex.: hu gamma babki: "il se mit à pleurer"
L'auxiliaire xalli (impératif du verbe xalla: "laisser") est toujours suivi de l'inac-
compli introduit par le préfixe y.
Ex.: xalliyimùt: "qu'il il meure!"
Mais entre ces cas précis, il y a une foule d'exemples où l'on emploie aussi bien
la forme avec b que la forme avec y
Ex.: hi tihizza le-l-boxosa namma ad-dihin bamrug ou yamrug:

"elle secoue l'outre jusqu'à ce que la graisse sorte".
Pour certains informateurs le b serait la marque de "l'indicatif présent" alors que
le y serait la marque du "futur". Mais cette distinction n'est guère observée dans
les faits.
On note cependant à Abbéché, un usage classicisant de la forme avec y. Les
informateurs que avaient quelques teinture d'arabe littéraire remplaçaient volontiers
la forme avec b par une forme avec y.
Faure (1969: part 3: 6-7) says:
La forme ba s'emploie pour le présent d'un verbe ou là où en français un verbe
à l'infinitif suit un verbe au présent.
Ex.: bedôr bamSi: il veut partir
La forme ya est plutôt employée dans sens futur ou dans une preposition subor-
donnée.
Ex.: yüm al-?arba?a siyâd jumâl yaju fôgak Mercredi, les chameliers viendront
chez toi. narassil wilêdi-l-kabir yajîb Iék gursak J'enverrai mon grand
fils t'apporter ton argent.
Une variante: Dans certaines tribus arabes, on emplois ba à la première personne
du singulier: baktib, j'écris.
As is the case in other Arabic dialects (e.g. Damascus Arabic), the b before the
first person marked with n- may assimilate and become m; thus minaktib and minaktubu.
87
Roth (1968b: 16) reports a final optional -a for naktib, baktib, naktib. Seethe
discussion in n. 82.
Lethem (1920: 32-33) has the stem vowel in a, which I have not heard, although it
might be the norm in Nigerian Arabic dialects. Worbe (1962: 19) has the stem vowel in
o and u, which is more common in Fort-Lamy than elsewhere in Chad.
Carbou (1913: 77) has the first person singular preformative in ' a n d the stem vowel
in e, i.e. his "aoriste ou futur". He further notes concerning the b (1913: 78):
"Ce préfixe devrait être réservé à la première personne du singulier. Mais il n'est
pas rare de l'entendre employer pour toutes les autres personnes."
Derendinger (1923: 20) talking about the "aoriste ou futur" has the first singular pre-
formative with i.e. akteb (his transcription) and n. The b alternate forms, he notes,
occur with the third person singular and plural forms only.
Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966: 40) record the imperfect paradigm for 'to drink'
sirib:
singular plural
1 naSrab naSarbu
2 tasrab tasarbu
2 tasrabi (fem.) tasarbu
3 yasrab yasarbu
3 tasrab (fem.) yasarbu
Similarly in Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968b: 96-97), except tasrabi is written tasarbi —
both forms occurring via metathesis.
88
The first a vowel is characteristically Chadian Arabic and SCA, as opposed to
classical Arabic and other dialects.
89
Seen. 79.
90
See also Worbe (1962: 41), Carbou (1913: 84-85), and Derendinger (1923: 23).
91
See also Worbe (1962: 41), Carbou (1913: 85), and Derendinger (1923: 23). Both
active and passive participles are treated in Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966: 140-144).
92
I have changed all forms to conform to Abéché Arabic.
93
Aspect and tense for Arabic and Semitic in general are still controversial. See
Kaye (1972a: n. 22) which argues for aspect rather than tense for the "classical" Semitic
languages.
9Ï
See Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968a: 36; 1968b: 89-91) and Faure (1969: part 3, 4).
95
See Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968a: 32).
96
Final long vowels may shorten. See n. 79.
97
See Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968b: 72-75), Worbe's "adjectifs démonstratifs"
(1962:26), and Faure (1969: part 3,34).
98
99
Written as wled 'boy' consistently in Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968a), which is a
free variant of wlêd. Historically, as in SCA, it is a diminutive of walad ( || CVCayC ||),
written as wilèd by Faure (1969). It is consistently written wlêd in Abu Absi and Sinaud
(1968b). Faure (1969: part 3, 35) occasionally wrote Hied.
100
See Faure (1969: part 3, 35-36).
101
Almost all sources agree on the more common pronunciation räjil 'man' (cf.
Cairene ràgil and classical Arabic rajul), but both forms occur. This is more proof that i
and u (diffuse) are one and the same morphophoneme as opposed to a (compact). This
assumption works well for the underlying phonological structure of many Semitic
Ethiopian languages, in particular Ga'sz, demonstrated (but never published) by
Gene M. Schramm, now at the University of Michigan. Thus, Geez has two morpho-
phonemic vowels, || a || and || ä || (i.e. non- || a || ).
102
Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966, 1968a, b, and c) write snu 'what'. I have only
heard sinu (as SCA) as Lethem (1920). See preceding note on i and u vs. a.
103
A case of hyper-correction (pseudo-correction) is worth noting (Blau 1970).
'alme 'water' (cf. classical Arabic λal-mâ?) is frozen with the definite article 'al-; even
'al-'alme 'the water' occurs, i.e. 'the the water'. In other words, the ?alin 'alme has
lost its function as marking definiteness (actually the generic), much the same way as
Mississippi River actually means 'big river river'.
104
As Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968b: 10) remark: "There is no simple rule for
predicting the feminine form of the adjective from its masculine form." In Damascus
Arabic, both suffixes occur, the -a allomorph occurring only after emphatics and
pharyngeals. Imäla is also a factor to be considered in the Chadian Arabic data, to
be sure.
105
Note the automatic morphophonemic change of the stem before -e. Cf. Cairene
kuwáyyis (masculine) but kuwayyisa (feminine) 'good'.
106
Actually the form /seme/ is || semeh || (cf. classical Arabic samih/un) and SCA
samih). A more abstract morphophonemic representation is || samih || . Consider the fol-
lowing rules:
(1) II samih || > samih (h > hj _#)
(2) samih -—>sami (h > φ/ #)
(3) sami >same (compensatory vocalic change after h > φ/ #)
(4) same >seme (vowel harmony)
The feminine ending is thus diachronically -a, with deletion of e/C C + . Thus morpho-
phonemic Il h II or II h || is preserved in the feminine semha.
107
Note that both Chadian Arabic and SCA keep the vocalic length of the singular
as opposed to, say, Cairene, which loses it, i.e. ter but dual tir in. See Kaye (1970: 385).
108
Note yy >y/-suffix. See n. 105.
109
bètèn or buyùt (biyùt) tinèn 'two houses'.
110
Notice that the characteristic vowel of the active participle remains long, and
the characteristic i between C2 and C 3 of the root is not elided, as is the case in SCA
(as opposed, however, to Cairene katbin).
111
I agree with Roth (1968b: 21) who states: "La grande majorité des pluriels
nominaux dans le parler d'Abbéché sont des pluriels internes [i.e. broken plurals]."
112
See 1.6. under (9) for -aya, reported by Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966:20 and passim)
as -ày in Chadian Arabic. Thus their sadräy (1968c: 7) is m o r e correctly sadaräy 'a
tree'. T h e -ây also occurs (1968c: 47) in bardäy 'cold', yet I am unable to explain the suffix
on this adjective. I only heard bàrid (active participle, F o r m I) for 'cold' in Abéché,
Fort-Lamy, and Adré. Note also Abu Absi and Sinaud's xanamay (1968a: 8) 'an ewe'.
Cf. Roth (1968b: 21). This ending is not reported by Lethem (1920); rather the forms
containing this m o r p h e m e are identical to the classical Arabic forms with nomen
unitatis, viz. -a, such as bagara 'a cow', listed as an alternant in Faure (1969: part 3,
29). I have not heard t h e nomen unitatis forms in Chadian Arabic. See Wright (1955:
147-148) for the treatment of collectives and t h e nomen unitatis.
113
Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966: 65) note quite correctly: " T h e numbers 'one' and
'two' distinguish between the feminine even though the distinction is not always used."
They note wahde for our wähde, which may be heard in rapid speech. See n. 79.
114
Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966: 65) note a feminine tittên, yet I have not heard it.
F a u r e (1969: part 3, 33) also reports tittên, with ?etnén as a free variant. ?etnên does
occur. H e correctly states also: " . . . le genre étant indifférent."
115
Few short forms for t h e numerals exist. Lethem (1920: 93) lists short forms but
says of them: "Little used". See Bloch (1971: 53-55) in particular for details in other
Arabic dialects (not Chadian Arabic or SCA), especially Cypriot Maronite Arabic,
which has only one series of cardinal numbers from three to ten. See also Kaye (1971c).
It is important to note that Chadian A r a b i c and Cypriot Maronite Arabic retain only
polysyllabic forms.
Some of t h e numerals may end in -e, e.g. xamse 'five', but all sources agree on
sitte (no option) 'six' — not sitta, except Lethem (1920: 93), who lists sitta as a free
variant of sitte. T h e endings are those of t h e feminine singular noun or adjective (including
participles), i.e. -a or -e.
F o r "polarity" see Speiser (1938) a n d Hetzron (1967), with some interesting parallels
for Cushitic languages, in particular southern Agaw.
117
There are two ways to form numerals from eleven to twenty. A common way,
especially prevalent in market Arabic observable at the sük (Chadian Arabic for
'market') in Fort-Lamy and in the pidginized and immigrant varieties of Central African
Arabic, is to follow the lexeme for ' t e n ' with the lexemes for 'one', 'two', 'three', etc.
This type must be due t o African influence.
Lethem (1920: 94) says of the forms in 2.39 that " . . . they are little used save in
recently imported words, e.g., names of some magazine rifles". This might still be
t r u e for Nigerian A r a b i c dialects, but it is not true for any dialect of Chadian Arabic.
118
Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966: 66) list the numerals f r o m eleven to twenty as
follows:
11 wihda'sar
12 ?atna?5ar
13 talatta'sar
14 'arbata'sar
15 xamsata'sar
16 sittata'sar
17 sab'ata'sar
18 tamanta'sar
19 tis'ata'Sar
They revise them, however (1968a,b, and c) as those given in 2.39. I have not heard
their 1966 forms, i.e. with the glottal stop, in any dialect of Chadian Arabic.
119
maddèta does occur (cf. katabta in 2.23.). I list here the statistically-favored
forms, as well as in o t h e r paradigms of t h e " w e a k " verb. See n. 82 for -a.
120
I shall not mention the bedouin (nomadic) forms, since even the bedouins are
now tending to neutralize gender with "weak" verbs and use the corresponding
masculine forms (morphological neutralization).
121
Lethem (1920: 113) does not mention final -a in this form. Cf. SCA mad and
madda in the discussion of doubled verbs in 1.85.
122
Final -a is characteristic of the imperfect and is not optional, as in the case of
the imperfect of strong verbs. It occurs with 122 verb forms not already ending in a
vowel, which marks either number or gender.
123
The preformative vowel should be a ( || a || ), yet a by vowel harmony of
i in the stem. See 2.24.
Lethem (1920: 113) does not note this, but rather has a, whether or not the stem
vowel is u (or i). Stem vowels in a do not exist. Even for SCA, there is only one verb
which is an a stem — in the imperfect. See the discussion in 1.85. If the stem vowel
is h, the preformative vowel also has u throughout.
124
Hamza, the Arabic word for glottal stop, actually means 'compression', i.e.
compression of the vocal folds. Thus a hamzated verb is one in which ? is one of the
radicals of the root.
125
12? verbs merge with I2y verbs, e.g. bd~> 'to begin' >bdy.
126
?akala does occur. See n. 82, and Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968b: 147).
127
II na + ?akul || > na + akul (deletion of glottal stop) >näku! (vowel con-
traction), and similarly throughout the paradigm.
128
salala also occurs. See n. 126.
129
y23 verbs do not exist in Chadian Arabic except for yibis 'to be dry', imperfect
yaybas. See Lethem (1920: 121-122), who remarks: "This type of verb is quite un-
common."
130
nasil, tasil, etc., also occur as alternate forms (cf. classical Arabic ?asil, tasil,
vasil [jussive], etc.).
131
Lethem's paradigm (1920: 118) has ; as the stem vowel. I have not heard it in
Chadian Arabic, although it may be common in Nigerian Arabic dialects.
132
The u between the first and third radicals demonstrates that the second radical
is w, as is well-known in comparative Semitic grammar.
133
gàia also occurs. See n. 82.
134
The ü between the first and third radicals also points to w as the second radical
of the root. See n. 132.
135
Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966: 46) have the preformative vowel in a throughout the
paradigm. Similarly Lethem (1920: 118). Worbe (1962: 63) has e alternating w i t h « .
Derendinger (1923: 21) has only e. Carbou (1913: 93) has a alternating with e. Abu Absi
and Sinaud (1968b: 120-121) revise their 1966 work and write a alternating with φ, viz.
ngúla Ί tell'. Roth (1968b: 19) and Faure (1969: part 3, 11) agree with my forms. The
preformative vowel u is by vowel harmony. Similarly, if the root is lyi, the imperfect
stem is in ι and the preformative is in i (by vowel harmony). See the paradigm in 2.44.
136
S e e n . 86.
137
bitugül is perhaps the more common form. See Roth (1968b: 19).
138
The vowel may shorten, i.e. gul (Lethem 1920: 118), in accordance with classical
Arabic, as opposed to sedentary colloquiale and other Semitic languages such as Hebrew.
Before suffixes beginning with a consonant, gul is more frequent than gúl, i.e. either
gui lu or gula lu 'tell him'.
139
As the u in guita told us that the second radical of the root is w, so too the ι
in sirta tells us that the second radical is y.
140
sàra also occurs. See n. 133.
141
säf, imperfect yisif ( || yasif || ) 'to see' belongs to this class. In all other colloquial
forms of Arabic, it belongs to the 1 w 3 class of verbs, nam, imperfect yunúm 'to sleep' —
as SCA, but opposed to other colloquiale and classical Arabic nam, imperfect yanäm,
belongs to the 1 w>3 class — as gài, imperfect yugùl 'to say', not xäf, yaxäf 'to fear'. See
the discussion of Trimingham (1946: 102-107) in 1.85. See also Kaye (1972a: n. 31).
142
The ì in nislr also confirms the second radical y nature of this type of verb.
The preformative a > i by vowel harmony with the stem vowel. See n. 135. Again,
Lethem (1920: 123) has a ( || a || ) as the preformative vowel throughout the paradigm.
Worbe (1962: 65) and Faure (1969: part 3, 12) agree with my forms.
143
There are no 12h> verbs in Chadian Arabic. See chapters 3 and 5 for this particular
feature of the koine.
144
The forms here are the same due to morphological neutralization.
145
?amis is also common (as in SCA), which reserves the form âmsi for the feminine,
i.e. -/' marking the feminine. This may be called morphological disneutralization.
Similarly tamis for tamii in the imperfect (second feminine singular).
146
liga also occurs; ligi also occurs according to Roth (1968b: 17). Similarly ligat
for ligiyat, and ligo for ligiyo.
147
See 2.47. ra'a is listed by Lethem (1920: 124-125) as 'to see'. Also Carbou ra,
imperfect yara (1913: 117). I have not heard it with this meaning. It means rather 'to
regard'. The root 'to see' is syf. For the details see chapters 3 and 5. See also Kaye
(1972a: n. 31) and Kaye (1971c). CT. Maltese rai'tu Ί saw him'.
148
Rather than regard these as doubly weak verbs, I follow Faure (1969: part 3, 14)
and consider them "special conjugations".
149
See n. 144.
150
The verb is suppletive in its imperative, as in SCA and other dialects.
151
See n. 144.
152
saglaba also occurs. See n. 82.
153
Form II follows the same paradigm.
154
Transitive and intransitive (Abu Absi and Sinaud 1968b: 144), as opposed to other
Arabic dialects and classical Arabic.
155
Form IV is not productive. These are only remnants. For the importance of
~>anta 'to give', see Kaye (1972a: n. 36).
156
See n. 144. Similarly tanti in the imperfect.
157
takallam may also be heard. This is the classical Arabic fifth form, perfect, pause
form (takallama).
158
yatakallam is also heard (classical Arabic fifth form, imperfect, pause form of
yatakallamu). See the discussion of Form V in 1.85.
159
tabädal also occurs (classical Arabic sixth form, perfect, pause form of tabädala).
160
yatabädal also occurs (classical Arabic sixth form, imperfect, pause form of
yatabädalu).
161
See n. 154. This also applies to the Chadian Arabic spoken in Fort-Lamy, but
to a lesser extent.
162
This form is the most "common" passive.
163
The a after as opposed to classical Arabic i, is most probably the result of
vowel harmony, i.e. *?inkasar > ?ankasar.
164
I d o not list the bedouin forms for any of the prepositions discussed in 2.57.
165
Classical Arabic fthi 'in him' < *fihu (by vowel harmony). Chadian Arabic
fthi 'in her' is also by vowel harmony < fîha, which is its free alternant.
166
The first u is by vowel harmony.
167
ßgum, i.e. h >φ, also occurs.
168
The second i remains /_CC.
169
The second a remains /_CC. See preceding note for i. Both second vowels
were originally anaptyctic to break up the final consonant cluster, and are vowel har-
monic.
170
I have also neglected basic materials, such as a discussion of particles, i.e.
adverbs and conjunctions (Lethem 1920:139-163); diminutives and idioms (Lethem 1920:
165-177); morphological sections such as verbal nouns (Lethem 1920: 108), and the
construct state (called "construct phrase" in Abu Absi and Sinaud 1968b: 36-39), etc.
Comparison with corresponding and, of course, similar features of SCA (chapter 1)
is intended.
171
By "nomadic" she refers to the Chadian Arabic spoken by people from the "bush"
(Chadian Arabic kadäde); by "sedentary" she refers to Abéché Arabic spoken by
inhabitants of that city (town). See also n. 23.
For the phonological repercussions of such a distinction, see Roth (1968b: 12-14) in
which phonological correspondences are set up (mainly emphatics and pharyngeals),
and Worbe (1959). Note that c is loaned into Chadian Arabic from Maba, Kanuri,
etc. Words such as cinna 'enduire de plâtre' and cegu 'craie' are clearly of Kanuri
origin. Similarly common phrases and greetings, e.g. läle 'greetings, hello' is from
Kanuri. At first, I thought that this must be some kind of Chadian Arabic contraction
of salam alék (i.e. assâlam alêk) 'peace be upon you', the standard Muslim greeting in all
Arabic-speaking countries, Iran, Pakistan, and other Islamic countries. I learned this
from Lethem (1920: 421). Greetings such as lalëk, lalèki (feminine), lalékum (plural)
are "hybrid" or "blend" forms of läle and the preposition 'on' palék, lalèki, ~>alèkum,
masculine, feminine, and plural, respectively), or the preposition le 'to, for' plus
haplology.
On bilingualism-multilingualism in Abéché for three generations, see Roth (1968b:
26-27), and Appendix III (1968b: 32-33) for the questionnaire used for her information.
Even Sara soldiers in the Chadian Army spoke Chadian Arabic among themselves in
Abéché.
For the background and history of Roth's informants, see Appendix 2 (1968b:
30-31) and (1968b: 10-11). Ahmed Sambo is Maba; Zemzem Abbaker, Kouka; Mahamat
Dakom, bedouin; and Djibrin Bordjo, Salamat.
172
It can be seen that nomadic speakers have emphatics and classical-Arabic
type concord, i.e. ~>ard Card) is feminine (as in most other dialects and other Semitic
languages, e.g. Hebrew), thus the feminine ending in -e (kabire 'big').
I do not refer to glossaries or word lists, but rather long lexicographical enter-
prises.
174
Roth-Laly (1969) is a lexicon of Chadian-Sudanese colloquial Arabic gathered
primarily from Carbou (1913), Trenga (1947), Hillelson (1925 and 1935), and Lethem
(1920). It contains no new data, but is rather a restatement of the aforementioned
works, but only from Arabic into either French or English, depending on the language
in which the source was originally written. I have only seen volume I, yet I under-
stand that volume II is now available. I do not know how many volumes are planned
altogether. On the nature of the lexicon as a whole, see Roth (1968a).
A comparative table of different transcriptional systems is given (1969: 14). Volume
I contains listings for: a, i, u, e, o, b, (p), /, t,J, and c. A map of the area is given (1969:
7). It is a valuable work in that it is the only dictionary for Chadian Arabic and SCA from
Arabic into English. Unfortunately, however, it does not contain any new data.
175
French-Maba-Chadian Arabic dictionary in transcription and Arabic script.
176
I have changed the translation slightly.
177
I reproduce the diacritics where Abdullahi has given them.
This word never appeared in the text. He put it in because he thought it made
better sense.
179
He changed masat to sälat because he thought it made better sense.
180
He supplied wa 'and'.
181
He changed bi habila to bilhabil.
182
He left out the < h > in writing. Note that the ending is either -ha or -a.
183
He inserted ?al- 'the relative pronoun'.
184
I do not know why he wrote < ? >.
185
He did not write < h >.
186
He wrote the text quickly and read it off several times, very proud of the fact
that he could do this with no problem.
For interesting philological aspects of SCA and Chadian Arabic manuscripts — in
literary Arabic mainly — see Fourcade (1968). There are two photostats of two dif-
ferent texts reproduced (1968: 49). Other manuscripts of this kind exhibiting dialectical
peculiarities are available at the Chadian National Museum in Fort-Lamy (Colonel
Chapelle, Administrator).
187
By writing to the Trinitarian Bible Society in 1969, I found out that Mr. C. R.
Marsh translated Alinfil hasab lûqa (Luke) 1964, Alinßl hasab yolmnna (John) 1964,
MPinfil hasba lüqä ... 1965, and Kitâb al'âhad aljadìd 1967.
By correspondence with Mr. Marsh, I learned he spent many years in Central Africa,
mainly in Chad.
188
I use the term Chadian and not Chadic because Chadic has an established
usage as a subbranch of Afroasiatic, of which Hausa is the most important representative.
I have abandoned my earlier (Kaye 1971a) usage of the term Chad for what I now call
Chadian.
The question of Hausa being a Chadic language has recently been refuted by F. W.
Parsons of the University of London (unpublished manuscript, "Prolegomena on the
status of Hausa", presented at the Colloquium on Hamito-Semitic comparative
linguistics held by the historical linguistics section of the Linguistics Association of
Great Britain, 18-20 March 1970, at SOAS, University of London). At any rate, almost
all scholars recognize a Chadic branch of Afroasiatic with Hausa being its best-studied
representative.
3
THE ARABIC KOINE
3.1. It has long been known, but only recently appreciated, 1 that the
modern Arabic dialects have a number of common features — gram-
matical and lexicographical, for the most part — which unite them
as a whole as opposed to classical Arabic. Some of these features are
obvious to anyone who has studied classical Arabic and a number of
colloquiale, e.g. the lack of case and mood endings, or the loss of the
dual in the adjective and verb in colloquial Arabic dialects, whereas
classical Arabic preserves these features. This chapter concerns itself
with the hypothesis of the Arabic koine. Blanc (1970:42, fn. 1) comments
on Ferguson (1959c):
Ferguson analysed fourteen features shared by many dialects as compared with
Classical Arabic, mainly in order to propound the thesis that 'most modern
dialects, especially those outside Arabia' and excluding 'generally' the Bedouin
dialects, are continuations of 'a relatively homogeneous koiné' (617-618)
3.2. To best consider the koine and all its ramifications, it is perhaps
most illustrative to consider the text of Ferguson (1959c) in its own
right. Ferguson's ideas for the koine were initiated when he was working
on a review, which has appeared in 1954, of Birkeland (1952). Ferguson
reacted to the generally held views of Arabic historical linguists that the
modern Arabic dialects are linear descendants of classical Arabic, or,
as Ferguson states (1959c: 616) "a variety very similar to this". 2
Ferguson mentions that this is the view of Brockelmann (1916), Berg-
strässer (1928), O'Leary (1923), and Kramers (1949).3
3.3. Ferguson introduces the hypothesis by saying (1959c: 616):
. . . this assumption holds that apart from borrowings and innovations the
linguistic substance of the modern dialects is a direct continuation of an
earlier stage of Arabic substantially identical with the Classical Arabic of
the grammarians, with only a few isolated instances in which one or more
of the modern dialects seem to preserve archaisms antedating the codification
of the Classical language. Until clear contradictory evidence is produced, this
assumption will have to stand as the most reasonable working hypothesis.
138 THE ARABIC KOINE
The purpose of the present study is to offer one important refinement to this
hypothesis, namely that most modern Arabic dialects descend from the
earlier language through a form of Arabic, called here the koine, which
was not identical with any of the earlier dialects and which differed in many
significant respects from Classical Arabic but was used side by side with the
Classical language during early centuries of the Muslim era.
3.4. After discussing pre-Islamic Arabic dialectical differences,
Ferguson mentions that it is widely accepted 4 that classical Arabic
(Arabiyya) was based on a
standard poetic language not necessarily identical with any one dialect, but
in oral use by poets and orators of many dialects and known to us fairly
directly from the remnants of pre-Islamic poetry and from the Qur'an.
Slowly the 'Arabiyya became accepted throughout the Muslim world
and became the subject of the Arab grammarians, many of w h o m were
Iranian, e.g. Sïbawayhi, and Ibn Sina. It b e c a m e codified similarly to
the canonization of the classical Hebrew of the Old Testament, and
remains essentially the same in its graphemic more than its grammatical
version, but is rather known as M S A today (see Kaye 1970).
3.5. Ferguson introduces his thesis and offers an analogy with
ancient Greek (1959c: 617):
It is a priori quite likely that some dialect differences in Arabic today continue
the early dialect differences mentioned above, but on the whole there is little
evidence of such continuation on any large scale. It is the thesis of this article
(1) that a relatively homogeneous koine, not based on the dialect of asingle
center, developed as a conversational form of Arabic and was spread over most
of the Islamic world in the first centuries of the Muslim era, (2) that this koine
existed side by side with the 'Arabiyyah although it was rarely used for written
purposes, and (3) that most modern dialects, especially those outside Arabia,
are continuations of this koine, so that their differences are chiefly borrowings
or innovations which took place subsequent to the spread of the koine. The
situation is thus partly analogous to the frequently cited case of Greek, 5 in
which the modern dialects are not descendants of the early dialects but derive
from the koine, and the present dialect differences are generally innovations
which took place subsequent to the spread of the koine. The major differences
between the two cases are the persistence of Classical Arabic virtually un-
changed through the entire time span of this series of developments, and the
fact that the Greek koine was based to a large extent on the spoken Greek of
a single center.
3.6. Before considering the fourteen features shared by the dialects,

attributable t o the koine, but not present in classical Arabic, Ferguson
c o m m e n t s o n the circumstances of the origin of the koine, and on the
nature of "drift" in Arabic.
THE ARABIC KOINE 139
Concerning the former he states (1959c: 617-618):
It seems highly probable that the beginnings of the koine already existed before
the great expansion of Arabic with the spread of Islam, but it also seems pro-
bable that the full development of the koine coincided with this expansion,
which brought about mingling of the original dialects, caused large numbers
of speakers of other languages to adopt Arabic, and required intercommunica-
tion throughout the whole world of Islam. Also, it seems highly probable that
the koine developed chiefly in the cities and in the armies and that its spread
coincided roughly with the spread of urban Arabo-Islamic culture. In some
cases small pockets of spoken Arabic doubtless remained relatively un-
affected by the koine, and in certain instances even fairly large-sized migrations
(e.g. Bani Hilal in North Africa) established in certain areas varieties of
Arabic quite distinct from the main mass of koine-based Arabic dialects.
Generally, modern bedouin dialects are not descended directly from the koine,
and some sedentary dialects have been 'beduinized' by the incorporation of
certain elements. But all these constitute only a small fraction of the total Arabic
speech community: it is the dialects of the overwhelming majority — chiefly
the sedentary populations outside the Peninsula — which are under discussion
in this study.
It must be noted that no attempt is made here to date the formation of the
koine with any precision or to locate its boundaries at any period; the validity
of the study does not depend on any historical verification of the TIME OR
PLACE at which the koine existed, much though historical documentation of
the FACT of the koine's existence is welcome as a confirmation of the thesis.
3.7. The substance of the hypothesis is simple. Ferguson goes on

(1959c: 618-619):
The modern dialects agree with one another 6 as against Classical Arabic in a
striking number of features. If these features can plausibly be interpreted
as a natural development or 'drift' which continues early trends (e.g. loss of
glottal stop, reduction of inflectional categories, increase of symmetry in the
grammar) the agreement among the dialects as against Classical Arabic proves
nothing, because it is perfectly possible that parallel changes of this sort could
have taken place independently in the various dialects. But if some of these
features are complicated, systemically isolated items difficult to account
for by drift, and if there is a sizable number of such features, then the agreement
among the dialects as against Classical shows that these dialects come from
a common, non-Classical source. Once again it must be noted that no assump-
tion is made here that all the features developed or became widespread at the
same TIME (several may have appeared very early, before the full develop-
ment of the koine), but the FACT of their existence is sufficient for the argu-
ment. It may even be true that a few of the features of the koine continued an
original state while the corresponding forms of the Classical were the in-
novations. 7
Fourteen features in which modern dialects agree as against the 'Arabiyyah
will be described here. Each 'feature' is in fact a constellation of minimum
linguistic elements which, taken together, seem likely to have functioned

as a unit in the historical development of Arabic. Most of the features are
morphological, but three lexical features and one phonological feature are
included. The features selected for description are those which seem most
convincing to me. Many other features could be adduced as possible supporting
evidence which are not as fully satisfying for the basic argument as the ones
chosen. On the other hand, once the thesis is accepted, we may proceed with
somewhat more confidence to a reconstruction of the koine, making judicious
use of features of agreement which were not the basis of the original argument. 8
Subsequent studies will do this, offering a fairly full outline of the sounds9
and forms of the koine so far as they can be inferred from the modern dialects
or other evidence.
The assumption is made here that the koine came into existence through a
complex process of mutual borrowing and leveling among various dialects and
not as a result of diffusion from a single source. The reason for making this
assumption is that the history of the Arabic-speaking world shows no evidence
of long-continued linguistic predominance of a single center of prestige and
communication. Great respect has always been accorded to beduin Arabic as
opposed to the language of the settled populations; since the 2nd century
of the Muslim era some lip-service has been paid to the superiority of the
Meccan or the Qurayshi dialect; and a great deal of discussion has always
taken place about which spoken variety is the 'best' kind of Arabic, i.e. nearest
to the Classical. But there is no evidence of conscious or unconscious normative
influence on the whole spoken language from a single center over a long period
of time. In this respect the modern Arab world remains unchanged. No variety
of spoken Arabic is accepted as the norm or standard for the whole speech
community, although of course important centers of prestige and com-
munication may exert a considerable linguistic influence over a certain region
(e.g. Cairo Arabic in Egypt).
3.8. Concerning "drift" in Arabic Ferguson writes (1959c: 619-620):
Before listing the features themselves it may be useful to give some indications
of the nature of drift of Arabic. It is assumed here that a language or group
of related languages (i.e. continuations of a single language) often shows
a 'drift' or general direction of development consisting of a number of specific
trends more or less integrated into a total pattern. Arabic is a good example
of this: certain trends continue or recur throughout the history of the Arabic
language. Several of these trends are found also in other Semitic languages
and may be regarded as a part of the drift of the Semitic family as a whole;
others are more particularly Arabic.
The phonological drift of Arabic includes the following trends: loss of
glottal stop, loss of final -h, increase in number and symmetry of'emphatic'
consonants, ay > ê and aw > ö, loss of unstressed short i and u (or phonemes
derived from them) in open syllables, shortening of unstressed long vowels, and
vowel assimilation (e.g. CaCiC > CiCiC). Some of these phonological trends
have had morphological consequences; thus, loss of glottal stop leads to merger
of final-hamzah and final-weak verbs. Some of the more specialized phono-
logical developments of particular dialects have had even more far-reaching

morphological consequences; thus, merger o f / a / and Iii in Maghribi leads to
disappearance of the active/passive distinction in participles of derivative
verbs.
An important trend on the border of phonology and morphology has been
the development of a difference between pause forms and context forms of
words and then the generally but not always shorter than the corresponding
context forms, which in earlier Arabic often had final inflectional material
lacking in the pause forms.
Morphological trends include development of suffix alternants conditioned
by the consonantal or vocalic nature of the preceding phoneme, reduction in
the number of inflectional categories, and re-forming of nontriconsonantal
roots into the triconsonantal norm.
All these trends appeared very early in the history of Arabic and are still in
force today;" they have worked at varying speeds and with great variation
in detail at different times and places. But they tend to continue or to recur, and
they are generally irreversible. Accordingly, features of dialect agreement
as against Classical which seem to fit in with or exemplify these trends will not
be used here as direct evidence for the existence of the koine.
3.9. We shall consider in the following pages the fourteen features

proposed by Ferguson. Counter-explanations for the features will also
be stated. The standard reaction nowadays to the theory is summed up
by Bloch (1971: 54-55):
In his important article "The Arabic Koine", Ch. Ferguson (F.) mentions the
use of the SFs and the LFs 12 as one of the fourteen linguistic features in which
the modern sedentary dialects agree with one another as against Classical
Arabic. According to F., these features cannot be plausibly interpreted as
having emerged in each of these dialects separately, i.e. as a result of natural
development or "drift," because they "are complicated systematically 13
isolated items difficult to account for by drift". Consequently, F. concludes, the
agreement of the dialects with one another in these features shows that these
dialects stem from a common, non-Classical source which he terms a "koine". 14
This theory raises many problems which cannot be discussed here. We should,
however, point out, as Blau and Cohen have already done, that most of the
fourteen features — such as the restriction of the dual, the loss of the verbs
III -y, Nisbah suffix -iyy > i, to mention only a few —can, in fact, be plausibly
explained as a result of natural development taking place along parallel lines,
and do not, therefore, necessarily point to a common origin of the dialects....
3.10. Before discussing the fourteen features, it is important to keep

in mind that I reproduce Ferguson's points verbatim et literatim for one
basic reason: the arguments have often been misquoted or misrepre-
sented, sometimes even by major authorities, e.g. Blau (1965: 14-15). 1 3
Explanatory comments are to be found in the notes.
3.11. I retain Ferguson's numeration and original naming of the
features for easy reference. T h e names of the features are in capital

letters. T h e transcription has been changed to conform with IPA
symbolization rather than the standard Semitological (and Arabist)
practice, e.g. h {h) for Ferguson's H, y for g, etc.
3.12. T h e ultimate goal of this chapter is (1) to examine critically
the hypothesis of Ferguson ( 1959c), and (2) to see h o w S C A and Chadian
Arabic fit into the picture of the proposed koine. Neither SCA nor
Chadian Arabic have previously been taken into consideration in this
connection. T h e value of this work will be seen in chapters 4 and 5.
3.13. Feature I — LOSS O F T H E D U A L (1959c: 620-621):
Gradual loss of dual forms is a familiar story in the history of Indo-European

and Semitic languages, while good examples of the formation of a new dual are
hard to find in the history of these languages. Also, the reduction of inflec-
tional categories is part of the drift of Arabic. 16 Accordingly, the absence
of dual forms in the dialects in contrast with their presence in the 'Arabiyya
is not in itself an argument for our thesis. One might expect that all dialects
would show fewer dual forms than Classical, with regional variation in the
degree of retention and in the exact details. This is the case, however, only in
the dual of nouns, which is regular and may be formed from almost any singular
noun in Classical Arabic but shows considerable variation in the dialects.
Thus, Moroccan has special dual forms only for nouns of measure and a few
others — and even these are probably Classicisms — while Syrian has a regular
and highly productive dual of nouns.
But there are two striking elements in the details of the loss of the dual
in the dialects. One is that the dual forms of adjectives, pronouns, and verbs
have disappeared everywhere without a trace. 17 If this were a natural develop-
ment or a part of the drift of the language one would expect the same kind
of differences as those found in the dual of nouns, with dialects varying in
the amount of retention and with some dialects preserving some instances and
other dialects preserving others. Such an argument from silence, however, is
not completely convincing. The other element is the nature of the concord
with the dual. In Classical Arabic a verb, pronoun, or adjective which refers
to a preceding dual noun is also dual. On the other hand, in Classical Arabic as
well as in the dialects, a verb, pronoun, or adjective which refers to a preced-
ing plural noun is either plural or feminine singular, the plural generally being
used if the noun refers to human beings, the feminine singular if it refers to
animals or objects. Accordingly, with the gradual disappearance of the dual
forms one would expect that the same kind of concord would be found with dual
nouns as with plural nouns. But this is not the case; the dual noun wherever
it occurs in the dialects requires plural, not feminine singular agreement,
whether it refers to persons or things. Thus Classical baytäni kabïrani 'two
large houses' and buyütun kabïratun (f. sg.) 'large houses' contrasts with
Syrian 18 bëtèn kbär (pl.) 'two large houses' and byüt kbire (f. sg.) 'large
houses'.
These two details in the development of the dual category in the dialects
seem a good piece of evidence for a common non-Classical origin: complete loss
of the dual in the adjective, the pronoun, and the verb; obligatory PLURAL
concord with dual nouns.
3.14. Haim Blanc (1970: 49) has recently written concerning Fergu-
son and the dual:
We owe to Ferguson (620-621) the observation that, though dual concord as
such no longer exists, dual nouns nevertheless differ from plural nouns with
respect to concord. In his succinct and necessarily simplified statement, he
pointed out that dual nouns take plural concord (bitèn kubär 'two big
houses'), 19 whereas plural nouns take feminine singular concord (biyüt kibïra
'big houses'). Ferguson thought this applied to a large, though limited, group
of dialects (all sedentary dialects outside Arabia); but Cohen (1962: 133,
fn. 1) points out that the phenomenon is not restricted to these dialects. In
what follows, I will try to show that, although plural concord (PC) is indeed
the norm for dual nouns, it is also the norm for plural nouns in some dialects,
and is a frequent alternative to feminine singular concord (FSC) in other
dialects: what we really have is not bitèn kubär vs. biyüt kibira, but bitèn
kubär (and rarer variants, q.v. below) vs. biyüt kubâr ~ biyüt kibira. Further-
more, it can be shown that in at least several of the dialects where the alternation
PC ~ FSC does ocfcur, PC applies to other 'enumerative' expressions that go
together with the dual, while FSC applies to 'non-numerative' plurals, which
include the pseudo-dual: bêt wigaräj kubär 'a big house and garage', but
idên tawïla 'long hands, arms'. 20 In the following discussion, NOUN is to be
understood as excluding nouns of personal reference, and C O N C O R D refers,
unless otherwise specified, to the concord of adjectives, verbs, and pronouns,
whether attributive or predicative.
3.15. Concerning the diachronic aspects of the feature, Blanc has

written (1970: 53-54):
The historical question raised by Ferguson . . . involves some matters of fact
and one matter of judgment. The matters of fact can now be summed up as
follows: the loss of the dual as a syntactic category is pan-dialectal, 21 and so is
its retention as a numeral surrogate; the split into a true dual and a pseudo-
dual is very nearly pan-dialectal, as are the attendant formal differences
between the two; features relating to concord are widespread, but pose some
problems that remain to be investigated. None of these facts point to a dif-
ferentiation between sedentary and nomadic dialects as a whole. The matter of
judgment, then, is how to account for the great similarities observed over
such a vast area. Could they have developed independently in so many
dialects? Could they, at least in some cases, be due to borrowing? Are they
descended from a common proto-dialectal Arabic antedating the present
dialect split? On the basis of the evidence adduced above, no indisputable
conclusion can be drawn.
3.16. The dual could have developed as it did by means of "drift",
and the parallel with Hebrew has been noted by Blau (1961: 130 ff.).
Utilizing the works of Blau (see under references), Blanc says that the
loss of dual concord and the loss of the dual ending in pronouns, adjec-
tives, and verbs was well on its way to completion, if not already com-
pleted, by the ninth century.
3.17. Blanc sums up concerning Middle Arabic dialects in general
(based on Blau 1965; 1966-1967; 1970: 55):
The medieval information, then, tells us that the loss of dual concord and
the split into true dual and pseudo-dual are not particularly recent phenomena;
but, strictly speaking, they tell us little else on the question of common descent
vs. convergent development. On PC for dual nouns, however, they do not
indicate quite clearly, as has been pointed out repeatedly by Blau . . . that its
preference over FSC is not an old common feature of the sedentary dialects.
Of borrowing, which I mentioned as a theoretically possible explanation of
cross-dialectal similarities, I see neither evidence nor likelihood.
3.18. Blanc concludes (1970: 55):

The grammatical status and function of the dual marker -ayn are characteristic
of vernacular Arabic as a whole and different from their counterparts in
Classical Arabic. In particular, -ayn is, with a few marginal exceptions,
suffixed only to nouns, and has split into two semantically, morphologically,
and sometimes phonetically different suffixes. There is an invariant morpheme
shaped -ayn, -äyn, -èn, or -in for the true dual, i.e. essentially an equivalent
of the numeral 'two'; and a variable morpheme with a pre-suffixal loss of the
n, for the pseudo-dual, which in some dialects also has a phonetic shape dif-
fering from the true dual. The true dual behaves, notably in matters of concord,
like other enumerative expressions (though this has been shown only for some
dialects) while the pseudo-dual is equivalent to, and behaves like, an une-
numerated plural noun. Some of these features are probably old and common
to several ancient dialects;22 others, notably those relating to concord, seem
to have become fixed more recently. Within this general framework, there is
a good deal of regional variation, but the investigation reveals no overall
sedentary vs. nomadic split.23
3.19. Feature II — TALTALAH (1959c: 621-622):

A number of inflectional affixes which contain /a/ in Classical Arabic have in
the modern dialects the reflexes o f / i / (including zero) instead of those o f / a/
whenever the dialect in question has retained the a-i contrast. The use o f / i /
for /a/ in some of these affixes (the prefixes of the imperfect) was noted as
dialectal even by the grammarians, who gave to this phenomenon, regarded
as a defect, the name taltalah,24 If the modern dialects to a considerable extent
continued the earlier dialects one would expect either that some dialects should
have reflexes of /a/ and others those of / i f , or that there should be variation in
this respect in single dialects.25 Instead, all dialects outside Arabia seem to
have the reflexes of /i/ instead of those of /a/ in the following affixes:26
subject prefixes of the imperfect:27

ta- in taftahu 'you open', tiftah
ya- in yaftahu 'he opens', yiftah
ta- in taftahu 'she opens', tiftah
na- in naftahu 'we open', niftah
intransitivising prefix ta-:
yata'allamu 'he learns', yit'allam
context form of the feminine suffix -at:
yurfatuka 'your room', yurfithum
connective prefix wa- 'and':
walbintu 'and the girl', wilbint
alternant -al- of the definite article prefix after min 'from': 28
mina lbayti 'from the house', mnilbèt
prefixed ? a- of the 'plurals of paucity':
'alsunun 'tongues', 'ilsun
'aryifatun 'loves', 'iryfe
preformative ?a- of the second-person pronouns:
'anta 'you (m. sg.)', ?inte
It could be suggested that this /i/ for /a/ is either a general phonetic change
or a morphologically conditioned change of some kind affecting all affixes. In
either case the dialect agreement would not then be an argument for the
assumption of a koine. But initial Ca- remains in the vast majority of instances
apart from vowel assimilations of the type CaCi > CiCi (examples: kataba
'he wrote', katab; katabtu Ί wrote', katabt; fahima 'he understood', fihim;
fahimutu29 Ί understood', fihimt). Also, there are some affixes with /a/ in
Classical which have the expected /a1 reflexes in the dialect. For example,
the first-person subject prefix of the imperfect ?a- has generally remained,
except where it has been replaced by the analogical n- of Maghribi.30 Also,
the ma- and mi prefixes of Classical place, time, and instrument nouns have
survived in the dialects, and in fact even with an increase in the proportion of
ma- to mi-. Also, the prefix li- ~ la- 'to, for' of Classical la- or even là-31 al-
lomorphs in various dialects.
3.20. Bloch has dealt with this feature in great detail. He states (1967:
22) that insofar as the relationship between the modern Arabic dialects
and classical Arabic is concerned, an agreement now exists that the
dialects are not to be considered descendants of classical Arabic but
rather its contemporaries throughout history. He goes on:
This implies that not only Classical Arabic which is acknowledged to be
highly conservative, but also the dialects can reflect the older stage of develop-
ment of a given linguistic feature. The dialects, therefore, must be con-
sidered just as important for linguistic reconstruction as is the Classical
language.
3.21. Bloch devotes some time to a discussion that "the modern
Arabic dialects"32 have / as the preformative vowel of the imperfect
as opposed to a in classical Arabic, and cites modern Syrian (Damascus)
Arabic isktob, tsktob, yaktob Ί write', 'you write', 'he writes', respec-
tively. 33
3.22. Bloch (1967: 22-23) does not present a convincing argument 34
for maintaining that Ferguson's "argumentation is not conclusive
because the idea of the existence of an Arabic koine was shown to be
unprovable". 3 5 Bloch concludes that the older stage of the dialects is
not reflected by classical Arabic with its α-imperfect, but rather by
other dialects having both a and i as preformative vowels, in accordance
with Barth's Law. Classical Arabic has only one clear instance of an i-
imperfect (preformative), viz. ~>ixàlu Ί think' (Bloch 1967:27 and fn. 18).
3.23. If one looks at the other classical Semitic languages, one
immediately is seized with the fact that Akkadian and classical Arabic
are the only two languages with a at all in the imperfect preformatives.
Akkadian (East Semitic) has a preterite conjugation (corresponding to
the West and South Semitic imperfect) which is as follows:
singular plural 36
?
1 aqbur37 niqbur
2 taqbur taqburä
2 taqburï(fem.) taqburä38
3 iqbur iqburü
3 taqbur iqburä
The Akkadian present has a throughout except the third masculine
singular, the third masculine and feminine plural, and the first person
plural. 39
3.24. Ugaritic with the exception of i, u, and a after the glottal stop,
i.e. three separate graphemes, would seem to be inconclusive here, since
vowels are not written. First person singular forms, however, have
confirmed that Ugaritic has both a and i in preformatives, i.e. similar
to the conclusion reached by Bloch (1967) for old Arabic dialects,
viz. Barth's Law. 40
3.25. Consider the imperfect paradigm for Hebrew, Syriac, and
Ethiopie with regards to the vowel of the preformative markers, of the
root qbr.
Hebrew
1 7zqbor niqbor
2 tiqbor tiqbsrü
2 tiqbsri(fem.) tiqbornä
3 yìqbor yiqbsrü
3 tiqbor {km.) tiqbornä41
Syriac
1 ?eqbor neqbor
2 teqbor teqbsrün
2 teqbsrïn (fem.) teqbsrân
3 neqbor neqbsrün42
3 teqbor (fem.) neqbsrän
Ethiopie (Gs'az) 43
1 ?3qbsr nsqbsr
2 teqbzr taqbsrü
2 t3qb3rï(fem.) taqbarä
3 ysqbsr ysqberü
3 t3qbar(fem.) ysqbzrä ;44
The Gs'az indicative, with gemination of the second radical inter-
vocalically only, corresponds to the Akkadian present (gemination of
the second radical throughout the paradigm, also / V_V). The paradigm
above is that of the subjunctive (transitive). Even the indicative para-
digm has a throughout as the preformative vowel.
3.26. Thus it can easily be seen that Hebrew has only i (except
e in the first person singular due to its proximity to ? ), Syriac only e
pointing to *i, and Ethiopie s (also pointing to *i). Proto-Semitic is, of
course, reconstructed with a as the preformative vowel, as classical
Arabic. Therefore the a > i for the preformative vowel in Arabic
dialects, except Chadian Arabic and SCA, is certainly an aspect of
"drift", i.e. parallel development. The other aspects of taltalah can also
be explained in this manner, but I have chosen the preformative case
because it is the most important. 45
It is important to keep in mind that PS is reconstructed with a as the
imperfect preformative vowel, although Hebrew, Syriac, Ethiopie, etc.,
all point to *i (even Akkadian i has one allomorph). All standard works
on comparative Semitic grammar reconstruct PS*α here relying rather
heavily on classical Arabic data. It seems to me that *i might be a better
reconstruction. In other words, PS should stop being viewed as clas-
sical Arabic. Levin (1971: 3) talks about the bad consequences of this
trend:
Whenever they [i.e., specialists in comparative Semitic linguistics] set up a
proto-Semitic source for given forms in Hebrew, Aramaic, and the other
Semitic languages, they make it nearly or quite identical with the Arabic form.
I agree with Levin when he states (1971: 4): "Eventually a new era in
Semitic grammar must b e g i n . . . . "
3.27. T h e next t w o features are central to the development of the

weak verb. They concern 12w and 122 roots respectively.
3.28. Feature III—LOSS O F F I N A L - W Ä W VERBS (1959c:

622-623):
Classical Arabic has five kinds of primary verbs with a 'weak' final root-
consonant (e.g. ramä, yazâ, sa'à, baqiya, saruwa). Of these the first two are
by far the most common, followed in frequency by the fourth; the third is
relatively rare and the fifth so rare as to be negligible. That the fifth type (saru-
wa) should vanish is not surprising, but that the second type (yazâ) should
disappear in the dialects is a significant feature of dialect agreement as against
classical. The only apparent vestiges are either obvious Classicisms such as
the politeness formula ?arjük 'please' [ = Ί beg you'] or marginal phenomena
such as the Tunisian baby word ihbu 'he goes on all fours'. Otherwise, the
verbs of the second type have merged completely with those of the first type
(ramä). Examples:
rama 'he threw', rama
ramaytu Ί threw', ramêt
yarmi 'he throws', yirmi 46
yazâ 'he raided', yaza
yazawtu Ί raided', yazêt (expected *yazôt)
yayzû 'he raids', yiyzi (expected *yiyzu)47
3.29. This seems like a striking feature on first glance, yet when one
looks at the other classical Semitic languages, one immediately sees
that 12w roots merge with I2y roots, especially within Northwest
Semitic. Hebrew yidlê looks just like yibkè (bky); in other words given
just H e b r e w yidlê, it is impossible to tell whether the root is dly or dlw
(i.e. neutralization). Similar is Syriac nedlë (perfect dslä). On the other
hand, the classical Arabic (and PS type, dalä, yadlü, imperfect) remains
in Ethiopie dalawa, ysdlü, Akkadian idlu, and Ugaritic ?atwt. Thus it can
clearly be appreciated that the loss of 12w roots in Arabic dialects is an
aspect of "drift", because exactly the same things have happened in
Hebrew and Syriac. This feature is perhaps Ferguson's weakest argu-
ment for the c o m m o n ancestral koine of the dialects.
3.30. Feature I V — R E - F O R M A T I O N O F G E M I N A T E V E R B S
(1959c: 623):
In all varieties of Arabic the verbs of which the second and third root-conson-
ants are identical ('geminate roots') have certain forms which differ from
those of verbs with 'sound' roots. Classical Arabic showed some fluctuation in
the imperfect (and imperative) of these geminate verbs, and it is of some general
interest to note which of the alternative forms survived in the dialects, but this
does not really advance the argument here. Also, in the dialects the active
participle in verbs of this type is CäCiC, contrasting with the CâCC of the
Classical language, but this can be regarded as a natural development since

(a) all other primary verbs have CâCiC in Classical and (b) the syllable type
CVC is extremely rare in Classical Arabic, occurring chiefly in these very
participles.
One difference, however, between Classical Arabic and the dialects in the
inflection of these verbs is highly significant: in Classical the normal first and
second person forms of the perfect are exactly analogous to those of sound
verbs (e.g. halaltu Ί united': katabtu Ί wrote'; masistu Ί touched': 'amiltu
Ί worked'); in the dialects the corresponding forms are similar to final-weak
forms (e.g. hallet Ί untied', massët Ί touched'; cf. katabt, ramêt) and are in
fact identical with the first- and second-person perfect forms of final-weak
verbs of Form II, i.e., with doubled second root-consonant: hallet Ί untied':
xallèt Ί let' (cf. the third-person forms hallâ y/h 11, xalla \ / x 1 y/w). This forma-
tion is mentioned by the grammarians as one of various dialect formations but
is regarded as nonstandard in Classical Arabic. It is the only formation in the
modern non-Arabian dialects, which seem to have no vestiges of the standard
Classical forms.
3.31. This is a striking feature because the other Semitic languages do

not merge 122 roots and 12y roots in this manner. Akkadian treats these
so-called verba mediae geminatae as regular strong verbs. In Hebrew the
perfect of the simple stem iqal) is integrated with the regular strong
verb pattern, e.g. säbab, but stative verbs have biradical formations.48
The imperfect and the imperative, which are mutually derivable one
from the other, are also biradical (yäsob, sob). The imperfect, how-
ever, does offer interesting parallels with the development of the modern
Arabic dialects, i.e. the merger with \2w/y roots, viz. tesubbènà like
tiglëna. The Hophal also shows the curious merger with w23 roots, e.g.
yösab like yôsab. In Syriac biradical forms are widely attested. The im-
perfect shows merger with «23 roots — gemination of the first radical.
The masculine singular active participle merges with lw3 roots. 49 In
Ethiopie 122 roots merge with regular ones.
3.32. Thus it can be seen that the overall tendency within Semitic is
to merge 122 roots with some other class of verbs, i.e. what is usually
called the "squeezing" (Systemzwang) of original biradical roots into the
predominant triconsonantal system (Leslau 1961: 3). The particular
happenings in Arabic dialects are, however, a good proof for the postula-
tion of a koine.
3.33. Feature V—THE VERB SUFFIX -1- 'TO, FOR'

(1959c: 623-624):
In Classical Arabic there is a relational prefix li- 'to, for' (with pronoun end-
ings li 'to me', lak 'to you' (m sg)', lahu 50 'to him', etc.) as well as an in-
dependent preposition ?ilâ 'to, toward' (with pronoun endings 'ilayya 'to
me', 'ilayka 'to you', etc.). In the modern dialects these two items have been
combined and re-formed in a variety of ways. One feature on which the modern
dialects agree, however, is that the reflex of li- with pronoun ending is added
directly to verbs as a suffix -1-. There are differences of detail; for example,
Syrian dialects show shortening of any long vowel in the final syllable of the
verb to which the -1- is attached and have special 'heavier' alternants of the
suffix such as -ill-, -all- after certain verb forms; Iraqi has shortening in the
case of only one verb gäl 'say'; Egyptian may add to the same verb at the
same time both -1- with pronoun ending and another pronoun ending as a
direct object. 51 But all agree in having the -1- suffix as an integral part of the
verb phonologically and morphologically. 52 There seems to be no trace of this
in Classical Arabic, where the l i — la- plus pronoun ending is an independent
word, in no way attached to the verb and often separated from it by several
intervening words. 53
3.34. If we look for parallel developments in the other classical Semi-

tic languages, we observe that /-type particles are unknown in Akkadian,
and corresponding to classical Arabic li- is Ugaritic /, 5 4 Hebrew h - ,
Syriac h-, and Ethiopie la. The only language having a corresponding
morpheme to classical Arabic 7ilá is Hebrew ( ? ε/). 5 5 Thus we conclude
that this feature is a good one, because "drift" is an improbable explana-
tion. The merging of -/- across word boundaries is also good, but has
occurred independently elsewhere. 56
3.35. The next two features deal with perhaps the trickiest part of
classical Arabic grammar, i.e. the numerals. All the dialects agree in the
simplification of the system, but this is largely due to the loss of inflec-
tional categories, viz. case, and is thus an aspect of "drift". 57 W e shall
also consider Feature VI as a general aspect of "drift" (Bloch 1971.55). 58
3.36. Feature V I — C A R D I N A L N U M B E R S 3 - 1 0 (1959c:

624-625):
In Classical Arabic the numbers 3-10 occur in two forms — a form with the
feminine ending -ah ~ -at- which is used with MASCULINE nouns, and an
apparently masculine form without the feminine ending which is used with
feminine nouns.
Examples:
baytun (m) 'house' kam baytan 'how many houses?'
xamsatu buyùtin 'five houses' xamsatun 'five'
yurfatun (f) 'room' kam yurfatan 'how many rooms?'
xamsu yurafin 'five rooms' xamsun 'five'
It is hardly surprising that this 'strange' feature of the Semitic number
system should tend to disappear, since it has no support elsewhere in the
grammatical structure — it is much more surprising that it exists in the first
place; 59 but the exact nature of the disappearance is of interest. In the modern
dialects the long form (the form with the feminine ending) is used when there
is no following noun at all, 60 and the shorter, apparently masculine form is

used before any noun, regardless of the gender. Examples:
bêt (m) 'house' kam bët 'how many houses?'
xams byüt 'five houses' xamse 'five'
Yurfe (f) 'room' kam yurfe 'how many rooms?'
xams yuraf 'five rooms' xamse 'five'
Since this is only one of the possible ways of eliminating the gender polarity
of 3 - 1 0 , the fact that all dialects agree on this point is significant in itself. Even
more significant, however, is the nature of the one vestige of the use of the
long form with following nouns which has survived in the modern dialects,
with regional variation in the extent of the retention. In the modern dialects
there is a handful of high-frequency masculine nouns with plurals beginning
with a glottal stop (Arabic hamzah) which replace the hamzah with a t- when
one of the numbers 3 - 1 0 precedes. This t-, while unmistakably pronounced
as part of the noun plural, is clearly a vestige of the feminine ending of the
preceding number. There is some variation from dialect to dialect in the
number of instances of this construction. Two nouns, yöm 'day' (xams tiyyäm
'five days') and ?alf 'thousand' (xams taläf '5000') are apparently found in
this construction in all dialects which preserve the feature at all (many Magh-
ribi dialects have lost even this vestige), while the number of other nouns rarely
exceeds fifteen in any given dialect. Example:
yawmun 'day', yöm
'ayyämun 'days', 'iyyäm 6 1
xamsatu ?ayyâmin 'five days', xams tiyyäm 62
It is interesting to note that all the instances of this t- involve reflexes of
plural patterns referred to in Classical Arabic as 'plurals of paucity' (jumü
al-qillah). The Classical patterns are ' a C C i C a h , ?aCCäC. 6 3 T h e grammarians
assert that when a given noun has several plurals in use of which one has one
of these patterns, this plural is preferred when a small number of items (3-10)
is referred to. Such an assertion has a ring of artificiality about it, and in fact it
does not seem to be supported by extant texts; yet if the thesis of this study
is correct, the statement was not just a meaningless creation of the gram-
marians but probably reflected a special construction of the spoken language
ancestral to the construction described above. In any case, the notion of
'paucity' is misleading, since the association was probably with the actual
cardinal numbers 3-10, and the so-called 'plurals of paucity' may just as well
occur with, say, 103-110 or 503-510.
3.37. The classical Arabic system of "polarity" in the cardinal

numbers from three to ten is shared by other Semitic languages and
seems to be PS (Hetzron 1967). Omani Arabic apparently keeps the
system, at least according to work done in the last century.64 Kuwaiti
Arabic also apparently has preserved the "polarity" situation (John-
stone 1967: 88), but it also has the standard colloquial system, which is
ousting the classical Arabic-type situation. All the modern dialects, how-
ever, agree on one point, viz. the short forms of the numerals are never
used in isolation, i.e. _ # .
3.38. Bloch recently investigated the matter. According to him (1971:
55) the interesting question concerning the short and long forms and the
Arabic koine is to be formulated as follows:
How can it be explained that all modern Arabic dialects that have given up
the old numeral distribution —i.e. the great majority—agree with one another
in using the SFs as DFs and LFs and IFs?65 The answer, I believe, has to be
sought in the fact that (a) the LFs are never monosyllabic, while (b) the
majority of the short forms a r e . . . .
3.39. Bloch documents the situation for the Eastern dialects, for
which he claims that the ratio between monosyllabic and polysyllabic
SFs is 7 to 1. Consider the Damascus Arabic short forms of the numerals
from three to ten:
3 tht 7 sab'
4 ?arba 8 tmsn
5 xams 9 tes
6 S3t 10 'asr66
3.40. The corresponding forms in Moroccan Arabic (urban) are as
follows (representative of the Western dialects):
3 telt 7 sbe, seb'
4 rbé, reb' 8 temn
5 χ ems 9 tse, íes
6 set 10 'esr61
3.41. Bloch (1971: 57-58) expresses the major thesis:
It has been observed, mainly by Meillet and Wackernagel, that many languages
show a tendency to avoid monosyllables in isolation, and prefer to attach them
to surrounding forms. The consequence is that if a language possesses two
synonymous forms of which one is monosyllabic, this form would most pro-
bably be used in close contact with surrounding forms, and the polysyllabic
form as its independent counterpart. This is precisely what happened with
the numerals from three to ten in Arabic. After the old system of distribution
collapsed, the LFs and the SFs became free for distribution according to the
principle just mentioned, i.e. the LFs were used as independent forms, and
the SFs as their dependent counterparts.
3.42. The Wackernagel-Meillet principle, if we can call it that, 68 is
also applicable to personal pronouns, corresponding perfect suffixes,
imperfect preformatives (Feature II), and pronominal suffixes, dis-
cussed by Bloch (1971: 58-59). Only considerations as they relate to
the cardinal numbers from three to ten interest us here.
3.43. Bloch (1971: 71) gives analogies to our Arabic case here using
Berlinese (Berlin German), in which one notes that bisyllabic forms
with the numerals occur in isolation, e.g. dreie for drei 'three', and viere
for vier 'four', etc. 69 Bloch also suggests that these types of phenomena
are "tendencies", not laws. He concludes (1971: 71):
Future research might reveal that this tendency is operative in numerous and
completely unrelated languages. Indeed Meillet suggested . . . that it can be
found "dans presque toutes les langues". It should, however, be emphasized
that, widespread as this tendency may be, it does not follow that it is a universal
phenomenon. It may prove that it depends upon the morphological type of
the language in question, and is therefore not found except in certain languages.
3.44. Feature VII—/t/ IN THE NUMBERS 13-19 (1959c:

625-626):
In Classical Arabic the cardinal numbers 11-19 consist of two parts, a form
of the number '10' and a digit part corresponding to 1-9. The noun which
follows is in the accusative singular, and the 'ten' part of the number always
agrees in gender with the following noun (i.e., the long form of '10', with the
feminine ending, goes with feminine nouns), as do the digit parts Ί ' and
'2'; the digit parts '3'-'9', like the independent numbers '3'-'10', disagree
in gender (i.e. the long form with the feminine ending goes with masculine
nouns). The numbers Ί 1*—'19' themselves remain invariable in case inflection
(always accusative without indefinite -n).
xamsata 'asara baytan 'fifteen houses'
xamsa 'asrata yurfatan 'fifteen rooms'
In the dialects, forms originally associated with a following masculine noun
have been generalized, becoming (if they did not have that status in Classical
Arabic) compound words of a kind rare in Arabic, usually with double stress,
completely invariable internally, and showing no trace of gender (disagree-
ment externally. All this could be attributed to drift, 70 even though other ways
of simplifying the system could be imagined. The unexpected feature here is
the presence of 'emphasis' (velarization, tafxïm) in the numbers '13'-'19'; in
some dialects it has spread to '12' or even to '12' and '11'. The focal point of
the emphasis is the -t-, which is apparently the continuation of the -t- of the
feminine ending in the digit half of the Classical number. These numbers differ
in certain formal details from dialect to dialect: some dialects have lost the
Π of the '10', others not; some dialects have the final -r of the '10' only when
followed by a noun, others have it always; and so on. But all agree in having
an emphatic /t/ in these numbers,71 a phenomenon for which no convincing
explanation has ever been found. 72 It is sometimes asserted that the emphasis
in some way reflects the loss of the /'/ of the '10', 73 and there may very well
be some connection between the /'/ and the emphasis; but there are two stum-
bling blocks: /'/ does not cause emphasis elsewhere in the language, and the
emphatic /t/ appears even in dialects which have lost the /'/.
xamsta's 'fifteen'
xamsta'sar bêt 'fifteen houses'
xamsta'sar yurfe 'fifteen rooms'
3.45. T h e c o m p o u n d nature of the numerals 13-19 is already present

in Middle Arabic. In Ancient South Palestinian Arabic (Christian
Arabic), the digit terminates in -t and the 'ten' has the curious form
< ? 'sr>, i.e. 7asar (Blau II, 1967: 371), thus proving that the two numerals
were pronounced as a compound. This spelling d o e s not occur in Judaeo-
Arabic. Since Middle Arabic in general uses many types of pseudo-
correct spelling conventions (Blau 1970), the initial < ?>in < ~> sr>is difficult
to explain, but perhaps it indicates the emphatic nature of the / - t / .
Spellings with <t> do not occur, but this fact in itself d o e s not prove
anything. 7 4
3.46. Thus it can be seen that this feature is certainly not a recent
innovation. Until more facts are in and analyses proposed, this will
remain as a striking feature attributable only to the Arabic koine.
3.47. Feature V I I I — L O S S O F T H E FEMININE

C O M P A R A T I V E (1959c: 626-627):
The Classical Arabic comparative ' a C C a C u (e.g. 'akbaru 'larger, largest') has
a special feminine form associated with it, CuCCä (kubrä). The modern
dialects have a comparative form derivable from a presumed koine form
* ' a C C a C just as might be expected (e.g. Syrian ?akbar, Moroccan kbsr with
regular loss of initial hamzah). No modern dialect, however, seems to show
any trace of the feminine except for set phrases clearly borrowed from the
Classical.
Since the feminine of the comparative was already of limited use in Classical
Arabic and was a special formation, its loss might seem to be a natural instance
of drift. But the feminine of ordinal numbers was similarly limited in use in
Classical Arabic and is preserved in the dialects, and the feminine of 'color'
words of pattern ?aCCaC, which was also a special formation, is also pre-
served. The following ten examples illustrate these points: 75
classical colloquial (Damascus)
'akbaru baytin ?akbar bêt
'the largest house'
'albaytu Pakbaru lbèt P a k b a r
?
akbaru yurfatin 'akbar yurfe
'the largest room'
'alyurfatu lkubrâ lyurfe Pakbar
xämisu baytin xämis bêt
'the fifth house'
'albaytu lxämisu lbêt lxämis
xämisu yurfatin xämis yurfe
'the fifth room'
'alyurfatu lxämisatu lyurfe lxämse
?albaytu Pahmaru lbèt P a h m a r
'the red house'
'alyurfatu lhamrâû lyurfe lhamra
3.48. There does not seem to be a trace of the feminine comparative

in Middle Arabic dialects, but Blau (1965: 17, fn. 2) refers to it as the
superlative feminine, not the comparative feminine (see Kaye [1971b]
for a general discussion of the "elative").
3.49. It seems rather conclusive, therefore, that the classical Arabic
feminine "elative" formation (CuCCa) as exemplified by kubräm3Al.,
does not occur in Arabic dialects from Middle Arabic ones down to
the present. Ferguson's argument, on this point, seems entirely con-
vincing, and thus perhaps even the koine, not having this feature, rep-
resents the original state of affairs for Proto-Arabie (certainly it does
for PCA) and that the classical Arabic form is secondary, possibly even
being a codification of the grammarians, i.e. kubrä Imuduni 'the greatest
of the cities' is possibly the result of the codification processes (analogy?)
of the Arab grammarians. 7 6 Morphological doublets in terms of Bloch
(1971) are present in classical Arabic hayrä and hayrä?u 'perplexed,
amazed'. 7 7
3.50. Feature IX—ADJECTIVE P L U R A L F U ' Ä L (1959c: 627):

In Classical Arabic, adjectives of the pattern CaCiC (fail) normally have a
plural CiCäC (fi'âl). In adjectives of this kind the modern dialects generally
have a singular CCIC, sometimes CaCiC, and a plural CCâC. 7 8 But there is
one unexpected complication. Generally it is impossible to tell, apart from
the evidence of Classical, whether the lost vowel of a modern dialect form
in which a short vowel has been dropped was o r i g i n a l l y / i / , / u / , o r / a / , but some-
times there are clues in the modern form itself. If the dialect in question has a
contrast r-r, then /r/ often appears near a lost /i/, and /r/ near a lost / u / or
/ a / . Again, in some dialects, notably Egyptian, phrase-initial CVCVC retains
the short vowel. And in some dialects, such as Moroccan, the loss of / u / often
leaves labialized consonants. 7 9 It is noteworthy, then, that all dialects which
can show one or two of these clues, given evidence for a lost / u / in these
adjective plurals, with modern plural forms such as kbär, kubär, îcbàr. 80 Ac-
cordingly, we are probably justified in positing a plural *CuCaC in the koine, a
striking feature of difference from Classical Arabic, which shows no trace of a
fu'äl plural.
3.51. This is indeed a striking feature difficult to account for unless

one assumes an Arabic koine. We do not know if Middle Arabic dialects
go the way of the modern dialects because the short vowels — in this
case u — are not written neither in Christian Arabic (Ancient South
Palestinian Arabic, for instance) nor in Judaeo-Arabic. One can argue
that the u in this pattern arose under environments of labials and empha-
tics, i.e. [ +flat] according to Jakobson (1957), or firstly labials then
spreading to emphatics, then spreading elsewhere due to analogy, e.g.
Cairene gudäd 'new (pi.)', but this does not seem probable. In short the
koine is a better and simpler explanation. 8 1
3.52. Feature X — N I S B A H S U F F I X - i y y > *-! (1959c: 627-628):

In Classical Arabic pause forms there is contrast between final -iyy and final
-i, e.g. arabiyy 'Arabic', sabiyy 'boy': ?alqâdï 'the judge', bayti 'my house',
'uktubi 'write (f sg);' A very common instance of the final -iyy is the suffix
added to a noun to form a relative adjective (Arabic nishbah). The dialects
vary in their treatment of final vowel and semi-vowel contrasts, but all agree
with having the nisbah suffix identical with the reflex of final -i. 82 This is
especially surprising for two reasons. First, the functional load of this contrast
is fairly heavy. There are several suffixes and several regular stem forms
ending in -ï as opposed to the nisbah -iyy, and minimal or near-minimal pairs
are fairly numerous (e.g. mäliyy 'financial': mäli 'my property'). Second, there
is strong support for the contrast from the feminine forms of the adjectives:
the feminine of a nisbah in Classical Arabic ends in -iyyah, while that of an
adjective with stem-final -ï ends in -iyah, a contrast continued in the modern
dialects and reinforced by shift of stress.
Several examples will clarify this:
7
a00ânï 'the second (m)\ ttäni
?a00äniyah 'the second (f)', ttánye
^Γarabiyy 'the Arabic (m)', l'árabi
?
al'arabiyy ah 'the Arabic (f)', l'arabiyye
bàli 'my mind', bàli
taktubï '[that] you (f sg) write', tikitbi
3.53. This feature is not so convincing, it must be admitted, because

Arabic dialects have gone the way of Hebrew and Aramaic as against
classical Arabic. Blau (I, 1966: 2 3 0 - 2 3 1 ) states concerning the nisbah
in Christian Arabic:
Owing to the emission of the case endings . . . , the nisba ending -iyun = iyyun,
etc. developed into -iyy, and this again, on the strength of the shortening of
final double consonants . . . into -iy, which passed . . . into -ï (pronounced -i,
because final long vowels were s h o r t e n e d . . . ; this feature can also be explained
as -ïy > [through dissimilation] i > . . . i)
3.54. Blau (1965: 13) convincingly states that often Middle Arabic
dialects as well as modern Arabic dialects repeat tendencies seen in
older Semitic languages (e.g. Hebrew, Aramaic, Akkadian) being
"transformed many hundreds of years before". H e goes on:
The fact that the Middle Arabic dialects were affected by the same changes
as other Semitic languages in prehistoric periods clearly indicates the exist-
ence of a general tendency that transformed different languages indepen-
dently.
3.55. Concerning Indo-European and general parallels, Blau main-

tains (1965: 13, fn. 1):
The problem of parallel development for comparative Indo-European grammar
was treated by A. Meillet in his famous paper 'Note sur une difficulté générale
de la grammaire comparée', included in his Linguistique historique et linguistique
générale, i, Collection linguistique publiée par la Société de Linguistique de
Paris, viii, Nouveau tirage, Paris, 1958, pp. 36-43. Meillet emphasizes that
one must not lose sight of this fundamental difficulty, which pertains to the
very essence of comparative linguistics....
Blau also chooses to explain many subdivision problems of Semitic

as being due to common tendencies rather than linguistic diffusion. He
does not believe, furthermore, in general substratum theories, maintain-
ing that "realistic substratum research boils down to the effects of bi-
lingualism and parallel development".
3.56. The next three features (Features XI, XII, and XIII) are lexico-
graphical and extremely convincing. Recognizing lexicographical dif-
ferences between classical Arabic and the dialects is difficult, since, as
the popular belief goes, Arabic has an astronomically large vocabulary
from which to choose. One striking feature of difference between clas-
sical Arabic and the dialects is the replacement of high-frequency and
common words, such as the following: 83
ma 'what'
laysa 'it is n o t '
qad, sawfa, sa- 'tense markers'
ka- 'like'
?
aydan 'also'
?
an, ?anna, ?inna ' t h a t '
li?anna 'because'
qattu 'never'
3.57. To be sure, the loss of various particles has to do with the dis-
appearance of the classical Arabic mood distinctions (i.e. -a 'sub-
junctive', -φ 'jussive', and -u 'indicative'), the functions of which are
reapplied to other syntactic categories, e.g. the b- and non-ft-imperfect.
But, as Ferguson correctly maintains, words like mä and ?aydan have
various equivalents in the dialects and there has never been a satis-
factory explanation for this phenomenon. Ferguson emphasizes (1959c:
628-629):
If there were also instances of retention of the Classical forms in certain dialects
this would constitute evidence against the thesis, but in fact the disappearance
is universal, and the varied replacements must be accepted as instances in

which the koine was not fully homogeneous.
3.58. This fact that the koine was not fully homogeneous is quite
an important one to realize. Thus when one sets out to reconstruct
various lexical items shared by many colloquiale but not c o m m o n to
classical Arabic, one runs into trouble pretty quickly. As Ferguson
states (1959c: 629, fn. 23):
Certain preliminary reconstructions can of course be made for the various

items but they do not lead very far. For example, it seems likely (a) that mä
'what' was very early replaced by *?áysi ~ * 7 ays (< ? ayyu say'in), which led
to the modern dialect forms such as Syr. ?ês and Moroccan as, and (b) that side
by side with this *?aysi ~ ?ays in certain areas an extended form *?aysinhü
(< ?ayyu Say'in huwa) was used, which resulted in forms like Iraqi Sinu and
Syrian su. But this still leaves unanswered such questions as the reason for
the loss of mâ, the origin of Egyptian ?èh, and many points of detail. Re-
constructions of other items present similar problems.
3.59. Feature X I — T H E VERB 'TO BRING' (1959c: 629):

Classical Arabic had two verbs 'to come', ?atâ and jä?a; both of these could
be used with bi- 'with' in a sense equivalent to English 'bring'. The verb ?atâ
has disappeared from non-Arabian dialects, a reflex ofjà?a being in the dialects
the usual word for 'come'. The exact formation of this word 'to come' varies
from one dialect to another, since with the loss of final hamzah this verb has
too little substance to fit any normal pattern of Arabic verbs.
The modern reflex of j a ' a is not used with bi- to mean 'bring'. The regular
verb for 'bring' in the dialects is a new verb jäb (imperfect yjib), which clearly
has arisen from a fusion, at some early date, of j ä ' a and bi-. This verb behaves
like a middle-weak verb ( \ / j y b) with full regularity of form and no evidence
of any morphemic boundary remaining between the original jä?a part and
the original bi- part. In the Classical language there is no trace of the fused
verb. That such a fusion could take place at some point in the development
of Arabic is perfectly conceivable, but this is the only clear-cut case of such
fusion in the language, and the exact pattern common to the dialects is striking:
loss of ?ata, retention (and varied re-formation) of jä'a, no use of the reflexes
of j ä ' a and bi- to mean 'bring'; fused verb jab 'bring'. To explain the per-
sistence of this pattern throughout the Arab world one would have to assume
that this unparalleled fusion was made at many times and places and always
outlived the other forms. The common origin of the dialects is a much simpler
explanation. 84
3.60. This feature is striking and old. It occurs in Middle Arabic, both
Judaeo-Arabic and Christian Arabic. In fact, Christian Arabic has
jäb bi- 'to bring' (Blau I, 1966: 162), certainly due to pseudo-correction.
Blau (1965: 14, fn. 2) regards jäb as having spread to intercommunica-
tion, yet the koine remains a far better and simpler explanation.
3.61. Feature XII — T H E VERB 'TO SEE' (1959c: 629):

By far the commonest verb 'to see' in Classical Arabic is ra 7 â (imperfect yarâ);
this is the ordinary word in all written and oral use of the Classical language
today. On the other hand, as the ordinary word 'to see' the dialects have
säf (imperfect y s ü f ) . 8 5 The verb ra'ä appears in the dialects only in derivative
forms (e.g. Moroccan warra 'show') or in marginal words such as the Maghribi
rani Ί am', rak 'you are', etc. [ = 'see me!', 'see you!', etc.]. 8 6 The verb §äf
occurs in Classical Arabic, but not with the meaning 'see'. It might be argued
that with the loss of final hamzah the verb ra would lack substance to fit
the Arabic verb system, but this seems not to have prevented jä?a from
continuing in the dialects, and parallel formations to those of jä?a could have
been expected.
3.62. Blau (1965: 14, fn. 2) thinks that säf spread to intercommunica-
tion, and says that the dispersion of this item can be seen in the dialect
of Marazig in which säf occurs only in men's speech, not in the vernacu-
lar of women (Haas 1944).87 As is the case with other features, so too
säf already occurs in Middle Arabic dialects. Vestiges of ra?à occur in
Christian Arabic, where it is spelled either as <ry> or <r?> (classical
Arabic <r?y». 8 8
3.63. Feature XIII — T H E RELATIVE *?illi (1959c: 630):

The relative 'pronoun' of Classical Arabic, ?allaái, with its feminine, dual,
and plural forms, has disappeared in the modern dialects. The forms of
?alla<5i in Classical Arabic are isolated, having no support elsewhere in the
grammatical structure, and there was already great dialectal variation in
Arabia in the forms of the relative. Accordingly, it is not surprising that the
Classical form should have vanished, but it is significant that throughout the
non-Arabian dialects the only forms found are those which may be derived
from a presumed *?illi, invariable for gender and number, occasionally re-
duced to 1- or expanded to halli or yalli.
3.64. Blau (1965: 14, fn. 2) thinks that ?illi is " p e r h a p s " (his wording)
due to intercommunication, but seems to prefer its derivation from clas-
sical Arabic ?α11αδ~ι by an exceptional consonant shift of δ > φ. Further
illustrating this sound shift, he mentions that (Feghali 1919: 54) the
imperative of ?xS (?axaSa) is xay in Kfar abida, xü in Tlemcen and Tunis,
to which class also belongs the " a n o m a l o u s " (his wording) sound shift
of hai < classical Arabic häSä I- 'this'. He states: "Both are subject to
anomalous sound shifts owing to their extraordinary frequency."
3.65. The situation in Judaeo-Arabic is interesting in its own right.
Judaeo-Arabic writers refrained from forms unknown in classical
Arabic, but common in spoken vernaculars — even their own. This
feeling on the part of these writers is the reason for the almost non-
occurrence of ?illi in Judaeo-Arabic; it does occur, however. 89 The
author rather used the classical Arabic 'allaSl, but rather like his own
dialect's ?illi, since 'illi and 'allaSi in the texts occur irrespective of
number and gender. 90 The rare occurrence of the ό-imperfect is most
probably due to the (similar) author's feeling that it was not a classical
Arabic feature.
3.66. Christian Arabic uses more pseudo-correct spellings than does
Judaeo-Arabic. Quite often the texts use derived forms of 'allaSi where,
according to classical usage, other derived forms of 'allaSi are called
for. 91 'illi occurs only once in Christian Arabic. 'al-, the definite article,
is not fully developed (Blau II, 1967: 556-557) but is quite frequent. 92
It is important to keep in mind that 'al- like 'illi is invariable, as is the
case with modern Arabic dialects.
3.67. 'alin the sense of the relative particle is also known (albeit
infrequently) in classical Arabic:
sawt ulhimâri lyujaddau 'die Stimme des Esels, dem Nase oder Ohr
abgeschnitten wird'
ra?aytu lyadribuka 'ich habe den gesehen, der dich schlägt '93
According to Barth (1913: 160-161) Mosul Arabic has both 'al- and
'Uli as the relative particle, 'al- is also the only relative pronoun in
Chadian Arabic ( 'illi does not exist), and on the basis of the age and area
hypothesis, we must also postulate the koine's use of the definite article
as a relative pronoun as well as 'illi. The important point here is that
no dialect continues 'allaSi, and a sound shift of δ > φ is rather dif-
ficult to accept as is intercommunication (see 3.64.).
When Ferguson states that 'illi is occasionally reduced to /-, it is not
'illi that is being reduced, but rather the remnants of 'al- 'the definite
article' being used as 'the relative particle'. Ferguson is correct, how-
ever, in positing expanded forms halli or yalli from 'illi, although a
diachronic explanation of all the details is still lacking.94
3.68. The last feature which Ferguson attributes to the koine is a
phonological one. Before mentioning the feature explicitly, Ferguson
offers some brief comments about the phonology of the dialects con-
tinuing to a remarkable extent the phonology of earlier Arabic (the
'Arabiyya). Several consonants have shifted due to symmetry, i.e. <j>
and <q>, and a few new consonant phonemes have emerged either due
to symmetry or to the heavy influx of loan words (e.g. Turkish), e.g.
c. As I tried to show (Kaye 1971a), the koine had ζ as the realization of
the sound represented by the letter Jim (<j>), because the more than
dozen dialects used in that paper attest clearly to a proto-type *z rather
than anything else.95
3.69. Ferguson (1959c: 630) states that only one phonological

feature points to the koine in a clear fashion, but I would have to add
another (Kaye 1971a).
3.70. The long vowels (à, i, and «) have been stable in the dialects,
but the short vowels havegonemanyadifferent way. Thus reconstruction
of lexical items with short vowels causes many problems, and some items
in Kaye (1971a), for instance, involving short vowels merely have V and
the reconstruction is due to the contradictory evidence. Diphthongs (aw
and ay) have largely been monophthongized (ay > ë, and aw > ö), which
may further shorten and merge with other short vowels under automatic
morphophonemic rules (say Cairene). Ferguson's feature (see 3.71.)
is however, difficult to refute.
3.71. Feature XIV — T H E MERGER OF däd and <?ä?
(1959c: 630):
The sound system of the 'Arabiyyah as described by the early grammarians
included two 'emphatic' interdental phonemes, those represented by the
letters ¿a? and däd. The former was presumably velarized, voiced, interdental
(spirant), of the kind heard in dialects such as Iraqi today. The other apparently
had all the distinctive features of the àâ? and in addition was lateral or
lateralized and probably a stop or affricate. Whatever the phonetic details,
the two were separate phonemes. Minimal pairs have been listed by Cantineau
and others, and there are consistent correspondences with other Semitic
languages. In no non-Arabian dialect today are there phonemically indepen-
dent reflexes of these two phonemes. In dialects which preserve the inter-
dental spirants (/Θ S/), the reflex/5/ of the interdental emphatics is phonetically
the sound described above for ¿ä?. In dialects which have lost the interdentals
(θ S > t d), the reflex / d / of the interdental emphatic is a velarized voiced stop,
now the voiced counterpart of the reflex / t / of Classical ta?. This clearly sug-
gests that ¿a? and dâd had merged in the koine and that the interdentals were
lost subsequently in various dialects.96
3.72. Middle Arabic dialects have already merged dand δ.97 Spellings
with<d> for <5> (classical) occur frequently in every kind of Judaeo-
Arabic text, and the first instance of its occurrence is in an early Muslim
Middle Arabic text dated 720 A.D., <whfd> for <whfá>(Blau 1965:126).98
3.73. It is true that both these phonemes, d < PS *θ, and S < PS
*S are problematic everywhere in Semitic, both having merged in
Hebrew and Akkadian both to s, and in Syriac to t and ', so the tendency
to get rid of these sounds seems to be an aspect of the general Semitic
"drift", yet it also seems that the postulation of this peculiarity in Arabic
dialects to a koine is a far simpler explanation.
3.74. Blau (1965) and Cohen (1962) are the two major works written
to refute Ferguson's koine hypothesis. Blau (1965) argues that one
should not underestimate the general "drift" or the convergent lines

of development, independent of mutual influence or common origin.
Granted, Blau is correct, as Ferguson also mentions, in viewing such
features as the loss of the glottal stop and the reduction of inflectional
categories, e.g. loss of case and mood endings—the shift from synthetic
to more analytic types of structure, etc. Yet Blau would also add the
loss of the dual, the disappearance of I2w roots, the merger of d and
<5, and the nisba suffix. Cohen (1962) argues along similar lines and
reaches rather similar conclusions as those expressed by Blau, yet his
argument of the loss of 12Hrootsasbeingdueto morphological neutral-
ization is not fully convincing, because the same thing has happened
elsewhere in Semitic."
3.75. Blau (1965) also argues that the ancient dialects were rather
closely involved due to mutual contact among their speakers. For
Middle Arabic times he states (1965: 13):
The interrelation of the various Arabic idioms was presumably rather involved,
not only contact being established between the various Middle Arabic dialects
and the different Bedouin speech to Middle Arabic and vice versa.
Blau offers an analogy based on Haim Blanc's personal unpublished
observations that in modern times the Muslim Baghdadi dialect came
into being by "bedouinization", but Jewish Baghdadi and Christian
Baghdadi Arabic continue ancient sedentary features of an older Iraqi
prototype language. Blau continues by stating that the Egyptian Jewish
Arabic dialect of the twelfth century was a dialect of general Maghri-
bine Arabic (North African). Therefore, so the argument goes, many of
the koine features may have originated in one dialect or dialect area and
spread by intercommunication to many others. 100 Yet Blau never really
says why this dialect could not have been the Arabic koine, i.e. a later
form of the 'Arabiyya having existed alongside it from prehistoric times
(Islamic), or more probably, a dialect occurring among many tribes
before the actual advent of the 'Arabiyya.
3.76. Blau (1965: 14-15) emphatically maintains:

Thus, owing to the common basic stratum of the Old Arabic dialects, the
general 'drift', and mutual contact, it is no wonder that, despite strong centri-
fugal forces, the dialects are not too greatly differentiated and now evince a
somewhat homogeneous character. Due to their common features, we may
even speak, mutatis mutandis, of an Arabic koine, but we must bear in mind
that this term applies only to the result of their linguistic development, but
not to the development itself. Despite the common basic stratum of Old Arabic
there existed in the beginning no Arabic koine from which, it is alleged, the
modern dialects descended. It emerged only as the consequence of a long and
intricate process, involving the above-mentioned unifying factors. 101 This
is the only way to account for the prima facie astonishing fact that Arabic
dialects, though lacking a single centre of linguistic prestige, nevertheless have
a distinctly homogeneous character. 102 Any explanation which derives these
dialects from one more or less homogeneous language, viz. the so-called koine,
does not take into account the basic factor in Arabic linguistic development:
the complete lack of any outstanding linguistic centre. 103 Our interpretation
of the facts, viz. that the koine emerged as the result of long development, 104
also tallies with modern linguistic conception as reflected in the wave-theory.
Wave-theory, as distinct from the family-tree theory, does not divide the
dividing process that affects a homogeneous language as the only impelling
power from which new idioms originate. According to this theory, resemblances
between two languages may exist not only because of their common origin,
but also because of linguistic changes, which spread like waves over a speech-
area. Similarly, we do not think that their common origin alone accounts for
the common features in the various dialects. Some of these features developed
as a result of the spread of the linguistic changes, i.e. by contact between the
dialects, while others are due to parallel developments, the general 'drift'. Ac-
cordingly, the koine, in our opinion, is not the forerunner of the linguistic
process, with the various dialects splitting off from a more or less uniform
speech (viz. the koine), but itself emerged only as the consequence of linguistic
d e v e l o p m e n t . . . . 105
3.77. Ferguson's fourteen linguistic features of the Arabic koine

and the various arguments in favor of them have been examined. All
scholars would agree that classical Arabic is not the c o m m o n starting
point of the modern Arabic sedentary and bedouin dialects, much the
same way that Indo-Europeanists clearly recognize that the Rigvedic
dialect of Sanskrit is not the direct ancestor of classical Sanskrit. There
are many analogies of formation between classical Arabic and classical
Sanskrit (Emeneau 1966b). Both are literary languages "written ac-
cording to the b o o k " (Emeneau 1966b: 123). Also, in a way, the question
of the existence of an Arabic koine has many parallels with the question
of the existence of a Proto-Italo-Celtic (see Watkins 1966). In the next
t w o brief chapters we shall examine modifications of the koine hypo-
thesis and the agreement or lack thereof of SCA and Chadian Arabic
dialects in terms of the fourteen features of the koine. It seems to me that
certain features of the koine are so remarkable that they almost force
o n e to accept the entire hypothesis without reservation (Kaye 1971a:
fn. 3). A s I have stated (Kaye 1971a), the Arabic koine is to be equated
practically with Proto-Spoken Arabic or PCA.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 3
1
The first major linguistic article bringing these facts together from both synchronic
and diachronic points of view is Ferguson (1959c). Ferguson himself agrees (p. 616,
fn. 3): "This essay is, however, the first attempt known to me to establish the thesis
by a full linguistic argument."
2
Classical Arabic, as MSA, is, in my opinion, ill-defined (see Kaye 1970 and 1972a).
3
See Ferguson (1959c: 616, fn. 2) for the specific page references to which he refers.
4
Here he refers to Rabin (1955), Blachère (1952), and the article on Arabic
('Arabiyya) in the Encyclopaedia of Islam (standard views). He also quite correctly states
(1959c: 617, fn. 4):
Unfortunately, the term 'koine' (or 'poetic koine') has also been used to refer to
the pre-Islamic standard [Birkeland 1952] which was the basis of the'Arabiyyah.
Rabin [1955] has pointed out the inappropriateness of this term for a language
apparently used little if at all for ordinary conversation. If the term 'koine' becomes
generally accepted in this meaning, the Arabic koine which is the subject of the
present article will have to be called Koine II or something of the sort to differentiate
them. Cf. Ene. of Islam21.574, where both uses of koine occur in the same paragraph.
The term 'koiné', insofar as Arabic studies are concerned today, refers, by and large,
to Birkeland's (1952) usage of the term, not to Ferguson's (1959) coinage. It is used in
this chapter in Ferguson's sense of the term as well as in my own (Kaye 1971a); see 3.77.
Ferguson (1959c) has been rejected by almost all scholars, even though relatively
few have chosen to write about their objections. Oral reactions from many linguists,
including non-Arabists, have largely centered on extremely negative views to the article
and basic thesis as a whole. However, even people such as Blau (1965) reject the
hypothesis yet refer to Ferguson (1959c) more than once as "important and stimulating".
5
Ferguson (1959c: 617, fn. 6) refers to Meillet (1913: 259-264). Cohen (1962: 119,
fn. 1) also refers to Meillet (1913) in discussing the analogy with the Greek koine.
6
It is important to keep in mind "sedentary" dialects and not "bedouin" dialects.
Chapters 4 and 5, hopefully, will demonstrate that SCA and Chadian Arabic also
descended from the koine, although both share features with one another and classical
Arabic as opposed to all other sedentary dialects, e.g. the imperfect preformative
vowel in a (it must be kept in mind that I refer to dialects outside of Arabia; Johnstone
[ 1967: 43 and passim] records yaktib, etc.).
7
This is an extremely rich thought and worthy of monographic exploration.
8
Kaye (1971a) works under the assumption that the Arabic koine equals PCA
or Proto-Spoken Arabic (see 3.77.), and attempts to prove that classical Arabic J was
ζ in the koine. Both SCA and Chadian Arabic were taken into consideration in that
reconstruction. See, in particular, Kaye (1971a: fn. 3 and 8.1).
9
Kaye (1971a) is such a study.
10
At this point Ferguson refers the reader to Birkeland (1952 and 1940) and
Ferguson (1954: 560, 563).
11
This is as true in 1971 as it was in 1959 when the article appeared.
12
This is Bloch's abbreviation for "short form" and "long form" for the cardinal
numerals (see chapter 2, n. 115).
164
13
Ferguson w r o t e "systemically" and not "systematically". See 3.7. for the whole
statement. Bloch's statement should, of course, b e revised since the t e r m s convey
different meanings.
14
Bloch (1967: 22) calls it " t h e k o i n e " rather t h a n " a k o i n e " . I d o not know why
Bloch changes the article f r o m indefinite t o definite, except perhaps t h a t " a k o i n e " casts
f u r t h e r d o u b t o n t h e theory t h a n " t h e k o i n e " .
15
See K a y e (1971a: fn. 3 and 1.1) for s o m e details.
16
This is, of course, t r u e for many other languages, and is p e r h a p s a linguistic
universal regarding " d r i f t " . F o r example, languages with case endings (overt) tend
t o lose t h e m . Instances of this a r e too well k n o w n t o mention here.
17
A t this point Ferguson mentions (fn. 8) t h a t it is m o r e t h a n p r o b a b l e t h a t the
dual for verbs and p r o n o u n s as well as dual agreement in t h e adjective a r e f o r m e d by
analogy in P r o t o - A r a b i c ( " U r - a r a b i s c h " ) f r o m t h e dual of t h e n o u n , which was a
PS f e a t u r e (cf. A k k a d i a n ) . " B u t " , he goes on, " t h e s e additional duals were apparently
well established, although with regional variations in detail, in the dialects of A r a b i a
at t h e time of M u h a m m a d , a n d were lost again in the d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e m o d e r n
dialects."
It would b e noteworthy to p r o v e Ferguson's p o i n t to t h e satisfaction of all scholars,
i.e. t h e dual markings in the verb, adjective, and p r o n o u n in classical A r a b i c would
be " i n n o v a t i n g " , and thus t h e koine would represent t h e continuation of t h e PS
state of affairs, not classical Arabic. It seems t o m e that analogy works well as
t h e explanation here, although, t o b e sure, historical linguists trained through
generative-transformational eyes prefer other solutions and would reject " a n a l o g y "
as a solution or analysis for anything.
18
Syrian refers t o " n o r m a l i z e d " Syrian (usually Jerusalem) A r a b i c ( = G a r b e l l ' s
1958 Eastern M e d i t e r r a n e a n A r a b i c dialect). See F e r g u s o n (1959c: 621, fn. 9).
19
Blanc (1970) deals almost exclusively with C a i r o A r a b i c data, t o which the cited
f o r m s in 3.14. refer.
20
This should read rather " ' i d è n tiwila", although tawlla d o e s o c c u r .
21
F o r a similar conclusion, see C o h e n (1962: 113-114).
22
I interpret these features as belonging to t h e koine.
23
It is i m p o r t a n t t o keep in mind t h a t Blanc was o n e of t h e three linguists t h a n k e d
by Ferguson f o r " h e l p f u l suggestions" of his 1959 article. See F e r g u s o n (1959c: 616, f n . 1).
24
A t this point Ferguson q u o t e s Rabin (1951: 6 0 - 6 3 ) .
25
F e r g u s o n was u n a w a r e of t h e C h a d i a n A r a b i c facts which will b e discussed in
c h a p t e r 5.
26
C h a d i a n A r a b i c is an exception. So, for t h a t matter, is SCA. T h e latter case is
surprising in t h e light of F e r g u s o n (1949).
27
H e r e F e r g u s o n refers t h e r e a d e r t o Garbell (1958: 312), which claims A r a m a i c
influence, making reference t o Feghali (1919: 102, fn. 2), "unless t h e non-assimilated
f o r m already existed in o n e of t h e old A r a b i a n dialects".
28
H e r e F e r g u s o n refers t h e r e a d e r to Rabin (1951: 71-73) and Garbell (1958: 334).
It should b e noticed that references t o Garbell (1958) by F e r g u s o n were a d d e d
a f t e r F e r g u s o n (1959c) was in press.
29
T h i s should read " f a h i m t u " .
30
F e r g u s o n r e m a r k s quite correctly at this point (fn. 12):
In some parts of the Syrian dialect a r e a (e.g. D a m a s c u s , most of t h e L e b a n o n ) the
' a - prefix has followed t h e analogy of t h e o t h e r prefixes of t h e imperfect; but this
is clearly a subsequent d e v e l o p m e n t , since t h e ?a- r e m a i n s in Iraq, Egypt, and
m u c h of t h e Syrian area, having even spread t o F o r m II and III verbs w h e r e the
prefix was ?u- in C l a s s i c a l . . . .
31
Cf. Chadian A r a b i c I le II.
32
Bloch, too, was unaware of Chadian Arabic and SCA data.
33
Schwa represents */, since there is a general rule of *i and *« > a under certain
conditions.
34
Bloch states (fn. 2) that he plans to discuss the koine in JAOS, but to my
knowledge, this article has never appeared.
35
Bloch (fn. 3) refers to Cohen (1962) and Blau (1965), but neither source mentions
the "unprovable" aspect of Bloch's statement. He states again later in the article
(1967: 28) that the koine is "unprovable".
36
I omit any reference to the dual since it is not relevant here.
37
qbr 'to bury' is a good example of a strong root (no or little morphophonemic
alternation) and is quite often used in comparative Semitic grammar.
38
Morphological neutralization, as we have seen elsewhere, is common to all
Semitic languages.
39
We shall not deal here with the intricate problem of East Semitic (Akkadian)
tense/aspect and its relations in form and meaning to West and South Semitic.
40
This has been renamed the Barth-Ginsberg Law, since H. L. Ginsberg proved
its existence in ORIENT ALI A 8 (1939). Barth's Law was formulated originally in 1894
(ZDMG 4:84-86). It states that the prefix of<yqtl> for Form I (qal) active (not passive)
is i when the thematic vowel was a\ otherwise it is a. There are cases in Ugaritic and
Hebrew which point to u preformatives, but u in preformatives (PS) marked the passive
(cf. classical Arabic yuktabu 'it will be written'). The problem needs thorough investiga-
tion, however.
41
See n. 38.
42
The n- marks the third person in Syriac, not y- (except the third person feminine
singular, which is identical in form all over Semitic to the second person masculine
singular, imperfect). Biblical Aramaic / - for n- is peculiar, but it is, nevertheless, a
trademark of this language.
43
Also commonly known as Geez (classical Ethiopie).
44
*i and *u (not *a) ) 3 in Ga'az. Thus the preformative vowel, when we judge on the
basis of comparative-historical (genetic) methodology, is */'.
45
Hebrew H>9 'and' also clearly points to *wi (as do many colloquial Arabic dialects),
not classical Arabic wa. Similarly, ta- > ; in the hiepaei (Syriac ?e0p3'el).
46
a > i in the preformative is Feature II.
47
See preceding note.
48
This is one of the proofs used to demonstrate the biradical origin of the root
system in Semitic.
49
Jewish Aramaic and Mandaic do not work this way. The feminine and plural
participles also do not work this way in Syriac.
50
This should rather be "lahü".
51
Syriac has similar developments, e.g. nattel 'to give'.
52
At this point Ferguson remarks (fn. 13):
The suffixal nature of the -1- is shown incontrovertibly by the position of word
stress, the lengthening of a short vowel before -1-, and the existence of allomorphs of
-1- conditioned by the preceding morpheme. Cf. dárabu 'they hit', darabükum
'they hit you (pi)', darabülak 'they hit for you'.
With this reasoning we would have to agree.
53
The construction is already found in Middle Arabic. Ferguson refers the author
(fn. 14) at this point to Graf (1905: 11).
54
We do not know the vocalization.
55
The poetic form is ?e/ê, || ?ilay ||, which corresponds to classical Arabic/?ilâ/ =
II '«ay II.
56
See n. 51.
57
Classical Hebrew does not have categories of case, but only remnants of case
endings, and has gone in the same general direction as a modern Arabic dialect insofar
as simplification of the system is concerned.
58
Bloch's wording is "it reflects a general linguistic tendency known to exist in many
languages".
59
See Speiser (1938) and Hetzron (1967).
60
The long form is used before a noun under two special conditions: (a) in ordering
or listing items, where the following noun may be collective, singular, or plural
depending on circumstance (e.g. xamse ?ahwe 'five coffees' in ordering at a
restaurant, cf. xams 'ahâwi 'five cafes'); and (b) with ethnic collectives having no
proper plural (e.g. xamse badu 'five beduins').
The facts of xamse ?ahwe and xams ?ahàwi are not well known in the literature, and
are certainly absent from the standard textbooks.
61
I doubt that an informant of Cairene, say, would give tiyyäm in isolation as the
gloss for 'days'. He would rather give ?iyyàm (or 7ayyàm in a classicizing style). Similarly
for tishur 'months' (i.e. without /-). See Kaye (1972b: 6.0, under |4J).
62
See preceding note.
63
At this point Ferguson remarks (fn. 17) that the pattern G'CCuh, commonly
discussed under jumu al-qilla (plurals of paucity), does not fit well into the discussion.
64
See Reinhardt (1894:82). Regretably, there is nothing substantial which is more
recent.
65
SF = short form; LF = long form; D F = dependent form; I F = independent form.
66
I have changed a number of points in Bloch's transcriptions of these numerals.
67
See preceding note.
68
Wackernagel (1953:184).
69
Similarly the distribution of ik ~ ike Ί ' .
70
Many scholars still prefer this explanation for this feature.
71
Chadian Arabic is a major exception. This will be discussed in chapter 5.
72
S e e n . 11.
73
When all the facts are in and a complete analysis proposed, the ' will almost
certainly be a factor for the t.
74
See Brockelmann (1908:267) for information in modern Arabic dialects. Note,
for instance, the nonemphatic t in Tlemsen ?arba'ata asara > rba'täs 'fierzehn'.
A spelling with <t> occurs once, however, in Judaeo-Arabic, which obviously reflects
the spoken Arabic of the times (Blau 1965:102), viz.<0mnt'sr> 'eighteen'. Blau comments
(fn. 3): "This form exhibits t > t, presumably in partial assimilation to '." Garbell
(1958:318) suggests the same thing: "As for the 'emphatic' dentals in general, their chief
feature became during that state—possibly strengthened by the influence of T u r k i s h . . . . "
75
I have changed Ferguson's format of data presentation for matters of ease of
perception.
76
This does not seem to be the case of CaCCd forms (not superlatives), e.g.
hiênâ 'female', ΙμώΙά 'pregnant', etc.
77
hayrä?u is of the same pattern as tuimrä'red', i.e. the feminine color term form.
78
For the singular some dialects keep the -a- throughout; some lose it completely. In
areas where there is partial retention the -a- appears in adjectives of which Q or Q
is a guttural (x y h ' ') or Classicisms of various periods. The loss of -a- is probably
to be accounted for by vowel assimilation and loss of unstressed /i/ in open syllables
(cacic > * a a c > c a c ) . . . .
It should be noted that Cairene has O C / C as the normal reflex of this pattern, the
/ eliding under very statable (automatic morphophonemic) conditions. Jerusalem
Arabic (Garbell 1958:321) has both a and φ as the reflex, e.g. shih 'whole' but sahih
'true'.
79
This is well known in Ethiopian (Semitic) languages. Ferguson says (fn. 20) that
the analysis of the labialization is uncertain, some scholars recognizing the labialized
consonants as separate segments, others using a rounded schwa vowel apparent only
allophonically. However, as Ferguson also notes, whichever analysis one prefers, the
labialization is distinctive.
80
Ferguson remarks (fn. 21):
In this particular example, used here to keep the illustrative material as limited as
possible, these apparent reflexes o f / u / could have developed simply because of the
presence of the labial / b / , but other adjectives of the same pattern without labial
consonants also show these reflexes (e.g. qusär, 'uräd, gudäd). A striking piece
of evidence for this *fu'âl plural is supplied by Haim Blanc: dialects with second
and third degree 'imâlah (e.g. Aleppo, Mosul, Jewish Baghdad) regularly have è
or ï in words derived from CiCäC but have ä in these adjective plurals. Examples:
klêb, klib 'dogs'; lsên, lsïn 'tongue'; jmël, jmil 'camel' but smän, köär, mläh.
81
Simplicity is still an important criterion for the preference of one linguistic
analysis over another.
82
At this point Ferguson mentions (fn. 22):
The pause forms of Classical Arabic show a three-way final contrast in each of
the high vowel/semivowel ranges viz. -Cuww: -Cü: -Cw and -Ciyy: -Ci: -Cy. In
many modern dialects still another possibility is added, the reflexes of the Classical
-Cüh and -Cih. In the u/w range the dialects vary greatly, some even having a full
four-way contrast, such as those variants of Syrian Arabic which differentiate the
final sequences of 'aduww 'enemy', hiliw 'sweet', kätabu 'they wrote', katabüh
'they wrote it'. But this is rare; usually only a two- or at most three-way contrast
obtains, with one reflex for both -Cu and -Cw and, in dialects which have lost final
-h, one for both -Cuww and -Cüh. Dialects show similar variation in the degree of
retention of final contrasts in the i/y range, but even where a final -iyy: -i contrast
has been preserved, the nisbah ending has always merged with the reflex of -i, some-
times pulling along with it a few other nouns in -iyy.
It should be mentioned that classical Arabic neutralizes -üw- and -uww-, e.g.,
quwima (Form III, passive) and quwwima (Form II, passive), and -iy- and -iyy-. Both
types of transcriptions merge and are common.
These items are mentioned by Ferguson (1959c:628).
84
S e e n . 81.
85
Chadian Arabic is a major exception. This will be discussed in chapter 5.
86
The Chadian Arabic situation will be discussed in chapter 5.
87
Since this is a bedouin dialect, men's and women's speech (Haas 1944) are
vastly more different from a sedentary colloquial. Thus Blau is probably correct by
saying that women, due to their social status, are less accessible to linguistic
change.
The Marazig dialect's use of säf in the aforementioned manner (3.62.) also proves
nothing, since the koine is postulated as the ancestral language of the sedentary dialects,
not the bedouin ones.
88
See Blau (I, 1966:98 and the fns.) for a detailed discussion.
89
The authors probably forgot themselves for the moment.
90
The authors knew that ?illi does not occur in classical Arabic and was strictly
a colloquial feature.
91
The spelling <?1<5> for normal <?láy> occurs once, and is regarded as a scribal
error.
92
See Fischer (1959:48, fn. 1) for further literature adduced. >eddi is difficult
to account for Tlemcen and Djidjelli Arabic. See also Barth (1913:159-160).
93
Both these examples are from Barth (1913:160). I have transliterated the Arabic
characters.
94
See Brockelmann (1913:563-564).
95
I follow Bloomfield (1933) and talk about proto-type sounds rather thanproto-
sounds per se. Strong attention to this principle was insisted upon by the late C. Douglas
Chrétien in all his classes.
96
Ferguson remarks quite correctly (fn. 28) that dialects which have lost the inter-
dentals may have instances of ζ in borrowings from classical Arabic or in reborrowings
of Arabic items from Turkish, but not as the regular reflex of earlier S. Cf. Garbell
(1958:317-318).
97
<5 is also transcribed z, a standard Arabist and Semitological transcription. See,
for instance, Moscati (1964:28).
98
Thus Garbell's dating (1958:308) is much too early. On the merger of d and S, see
already Brockelmann ( 1908:131 ).
99
See Cohen (1962:134) for the details, and 3.29.
100
Blau (1965:14) quotes Fischer's (1959:141) well-known instance of the spread of
hék over vast geographical areas.
101
Blau (1965:15, fn. 1) remarks that this linguistic development resembles closely
the situation in Canaanite (Northwest Semitic) and perhaps the Aramaic linguistic type,
i.e. Canaanite dialects grew closer together with intercommunication, which is also
the basic thesis of Friedrich (1951).
102
The argument of a linguistic center, which was the case with the emergence of
the Greek koine in one linguistic center, although stressed by Blau (see Kaye 1971a: fn. 3)
is not convincing at all, especially since Ferguson himself (1959c:617) says that the
koine was not based on the dialect of a single center but rather arose (probably) in army
camps and the cities which sprang up around them, due primarily to their existence in
the first place. It is surprising that Blau should have missed this point. See also Cohen
(1962:123) and Kaye (1971a:l.l).
Hopefully, chapters 4 and 5 will demonstrate that some of the features of the koine
have to be modified slightly — a few even drastically — t o take SCA and Chadian Arabic
into consideration. Since it is recognized that the koine was never a homogeneous (a
proto-type language rather than a proto-language — see n. 95) language, and not based
on the dialect of a single center, certain differences are to be expected, e.g. the koine's
having both i and a imperfects for the preformative vowel.
103
See preceding note.
104
I do not doubt the long development — nor would others — but this hardly
offers counter-evidence to the koine hypothesis.
105
It is difficult to know why Blau seems to accept the existence of the koine,
although not any type of koine as being the common ancestral proto-type language
from which the modern spoken sedentary dialects have descended. He states his
position (1965:15-6, fn. 3):
The various items, carefully collected by Ferguson to attest to the existence of the
koine, from which it is alleged, the modern sedentary dialects have developed, do not,
in our opinion prove that such a common language really existed [emphasis mine].
The koine stands, as we have tried to demonstrate, at the end of the linguistic
process and not at its beginning. We have already hinted . . . that some of these
items may easily be explained by the general 'drift' and mutual i n f l u e n c e . . . , while
others are not in fact common to all the sedentary dialects. It lies, however, beyond
the scope of this treatise to analyse in detail the items a d d u c e d . . . . Therefore,

items such as those adduced by Ferguson must be interpreted as being due to
convergent lines of development and/or to inter-relation.
It must be pointed out that the Arabic koine as a proto-type language has just as
much validity — reality, to use Blau's terms — as PS, Proto-Indo-European, or any
other proto-type language. The koine does stand at the end of certain linguistic processes
but also at the beginning of some others (see above). Therefore, we must disagree with
Blau's basic thesis, viz. the fourteen linguistic features are all due to "convergent lines
of development and/or to inter-relation".
4
SUDANESE COLLOQUIAL ARABIC IN THE LIGHT

OF THE ARABIC KOINE
4.1. Before discussing what the chapter title indicates, it must not be
forgotten that diachronic grammars of SCA are completely lacking.
Therefore, we must examine the fourteen koine features in terms of what
is known about SCA.1 For purposes of this chapter, I take SCA to mean
a national common SCA — what the Germans would call a Verkehr-
sprache.1 References to features of the koine themselves will be listed
according to the numeration in chapter 3, thus also keeping Ferguson's
original numbering. Reference to the SCA data will be given either to the
discussion in chapter 1 or to other sources. It should be remembered
that all sources known to me, at least, regarding SCA have been
discussed in chapter l. 3
4.2. Feature I 4
SCA follows the feature exactly. There are no traces of the dual marked
overtly in the adjective, pronoun, and verb. There is obligatory plural
concord with dual nouns. Trimingham (1946:27) lists:
râglën suttár ~ ràglên sätrin 'two intelligent men'
sittên suttär ~ sittén sâtràt 'two intelligent women'
One can see that there is free variation in the dialect between the use of
the broken plural (suttär) and the sound masculine or feminine plural
(optional). The use of the broken plural is far more common.
4.3. Feature II5

From the discussion in 1.82. and passim, it is known that SCA has a as
the imperfect preformative vowel. I use the case of the preformative
vowel as representing taltala as a whole (see 3.26.). The entire feature
does not work very well in SCA:
(1) The reflex of ta- is ||t-1|, Mt-/.
(2) -aty ||-t||,/-t/ ~ / - i t /
(3) wa > /wa/
172 SCA IN THE LIGHT OF THE ARABIC KOINE
(4) a l - y / W - / ~ /al-/
(5) ?anta, etc. > ?inta, etc.
Thus some features of toltala follow the koine pattern; others do not. It
is most difficult to offer a conclusion as to the diachronic facts. It seems
reasonable to conclude, however, that SCA descended from an Egyptian
Arabic dialect which had a as the preformative vowel in the imperfect,
alas the definite article, and wa 'and', all three of which features
classical Arabic has but the koine does not. Cairo Arabic, for instance,
has i as the preformative vowel (except the first person singular, which
is influenced by i in the definite article, and wi 'and', and shows no
traces of the SCA situation.
4.4. As is the main consideration of the age and area hypothesis, the
fringes of a given linguistic area would preserve the proto-type features
much better than a central area. The Sudan is located pretty far to the
south on the fringe of the Arabic-speaking world, so perhaps we should
modify the koine feature to include these aforementioned SCA devia-
tions. Thus regarding toltala as a proposed feature, it should be modified
to include the SCA facts, and perhaps the koine, admittedly not homo-
geneous, comes closer to a classical Arabic-type-dialect than Ferguson
would have us believe.
4.5. It is difficult also to explain how SCA developed from an
Egyptian Arabic dialect (Birkeland 1952:26),6 when presumably the
indications from Cairo Arabic, for instance, make us conclude that they
do not agree with each other on several points, such as taltala. This can
be handled by revising some of the features and by admitting that the
linguistic development was not perfectly direct, which would tie in
hand in hand with Ferguson's nonhomogeneity of the koine (see 4.4. and
3.22.). Thus if Bloch (1967) is correct, SCA would be descendant of an
old Arabic dialect (part of the proto-type koine) which had both a and i
imperfect preformatives, although the distribution according to Barth's
Law would no longer have been operative by thetimeof SCA'sbeginning
in the fourteenth century, and the / preformative marker merged with α
due to some unknown reason, possibly being the result of the influence
of classical Arabic, which has only one clear-cut example of an i im-
perfect preformative.
4.6. Feature III 7

SCA has no synchronic class of 12w verb roots, not even remnants.
Trimingham (1946:108-112) deals with so-called final wäw verbs, but
also included is gara 'he read', which is originally a 12? verb.
SCA IN THE LIGHT OF THE ARABIC KOINE 173
We have already concluded (see 3.29.) that this is perhaps Ferguson's

weakest point. SCA does have synchronisms such as borrowings from
classical Arabic or MSA, yet authentic dialectal phenomena such as
ihbu (see 3.28.) are unknown.
4.7. Feature IV8

SCA merges 122 roots with I2y ones, observable in the perfect with 12γ
root endings, for instance; see Trimingham (1946:96). SCA, however, is
peculiar in terms of other sedentary dialects9 because of the anaptyctic
vowel a in the third person masculine singular of the perfect, e.g. lamma
(see the discussion in 1.85.). The koine must have had a form like lam10
for the realization of |[ lamm ||, and consequently we must conclude that
the development of the final a for 122 verbs is an SCA innovation, which
must have happened rather early for it also occurs in Chadian Arabic,
although it is more widespread.11
4.8. The particular merger of 122 roots with I2y ones is rather old,
for as Ferguson says (see 3.30.) this development is mentioned by Arab
grammarians. Thus we know for sure that there were old Arabic dialects
which had this feature. It seems more than reasonable to conclude,
therefore, that one of these old Arabic dialects served as the basic
common proto-type language which we can call the Arabic koine.
4.9. Feature V12

This feature is present in SCA, although Trimingham (1946) writes le
'to, for' as a separate independent word, probably influenced by his
knowledge of classical Arabic (see 3.33. for Ferguson's exact statement
regarding the facts in classical Arabic). Consider Trimingham (1946:
153):13
?addèfàn banàt balad, mä tansa Imarra di tadyib lèhin al möya lbärda gubbâl
assây.
Translation:
The guests are Sudanese, so don't forget this time cold water before the tea.
xattêt lëki taläta hitat fi ssây.
Translation:
I've put three pieces in your tea.
4.10. Feature VI14

None of the independent forms of the cardinal numerals from three to
ten are monosyllabic. The SCA forms are:
three taläta seven sab'a
?
four arbda eight tamänya
five xamsa nine tisa
six sit ta ten asara
4.11. There are no short forms of the numeral in Ferguson's (1959)
or Bloch's (1971) sense. The distribution is as follows: (1) if the noun
counted begins with a consonant, the forms listed in 4.10. are used; (2)
if the noun counted begins with a vowel, the following forms are used
(-/):
talätat sab'at
?
arba'at tamänyat
xamsat tis'at
sittat asarat
The -t is of course the historical feminine ending. 15
4.12. Thus it can be seen that Ferguson is erroneous in stating "that
all dialects agree in this point" (see his exact statement in 3.36.).
Kampffmeyer (1899) notes only one form, similar to the forms in 4.10.,
for the cardinal numbers from three to ten; none of them are mono-
syllabic. Stumme (1896) also reports only historical long forms for the
Arabic dialect of Tunis. Cypriot Maronite Arabic has only one form
of the cardinal numbers. 16 They are as follows (Tsiapera 1969:56):17
three tláxe seven sábd
?
four drbd eight xmenye
five xámsi nine tisa
six sitte ten 'ásra
4.13. SCA is unique among all Arabic dialects in its peculiarity of
the redistribution of the cardinal numbers from three to ten and it is
difficult not to suspect some kind of African influence, whether originally
substratum or superstratum.
4.14. It is difficult to speculate about the original state of affairs in
SCA. There is no evidence of a koine-like situation, yet I would expect
that when more information is known about the history of SCA it will
turn out that it had the koine feature. 18
4.15. Feature VII 19

The numbers 13-19 in SCA are the following (Trimingham 1946: 79):
talätäsar
?
arba'tasar
xamastäsar20
sittäsar
saba'tasar
tamäntäsar
tis'tasar
The numeral 'eleven' had not yet reached the emphatic state, viz. hidäsar,
but it is on the way, i.e. [hldoisar]. 'Twelve' (see Ferguson's remark in
3.44) has already made it, i.e. ?itnasar or more colloquially and rapidly
rendered näsar.21 Even this spreading of emphasis in 'eleven' and
'twelve' must be quite old since the spelling<hd'sr> does occur in Middle
Arabic (Blau 1965: 126, fn. 2), albeit only once (Early Muslim Middle
Arabic).
4.16. Thus we conclude that SCA follows the feature exactly, and
as we have already maintained in 3.46., it is a striking feature of the
koine.
4.17. Feature VIII 22

The ?akbar-type formations are evident (Trimingham 1946: 42), and
SCA follows this feature exactly, i.e. there is no trace of a CtiCCá (fem-
inine elative) form.
4.18. Feature IX 23
SCA has a füäl plural, most often for adjectives in fail. There are some
exceptions. Consider the following which are listed in the illustrative
sentences of Trimingham (1946: 23):
kubär 'big'
gudäm 'old'
dyudäd 'new'
tuwäl 'long'
swiär 'small'
gusär 'short'
lutâf 'charming' 24
4.19. Feature X 25
SCA follows this feature exactly. As is evident from the texts in Part II
of Trimingham (1946), final -/ is identical in forms such as tâni 'second',
kitábi 'my book', and 'arabi 'Arab'.
4.20. As stated in 3.53., this feature is not convincing. I am inclined
to agree with Blau (see 3.53.) in explaining the diachronics of the situ-
ation in modern Arabic dialects, including SCA, much in the same way
as he has explained the facts for Christian Arabic.
4.21 Feature XI 26
SCA follows this feature exactly, dyäb, imperfect yadyib, occurs
numerous times in Trimingham (1946), and is listed in Amery(1905:48)
and Hillelson (1925: 40).
4.22. Feature XII 27

Sedentary SCA such as that spoken in Khartoum-Omdurman has säf,
imperfect yasüf, as the verb 'to see'. This is confirmed by Trimingham
(1946), in which it is the only verb 'to see'. Amery (1905:317) lists it also
with rä 'to see'. Hillelson (1925: 256) lists raa 'to see', which he says is
peculiar in the western parts of the Sudan. 28 He also states that läf-
yasüf has merged with the 1^3 roots among the Baggara Arabs, thus the
imperfect is yasif.29
4.23. SCA does commonly use—although Trimingham (1946:11, fn.
1) does say "it is somewhat vulgar" - derivatives of the root r?y, as
do other dialects, e.g. Moroccan rani (see Ferguson's remarks in 3.61.).
Consider the following:
tarähu Ibäb 'here is the door'
taräha ssidydyäda 'here is the (prayer) carpet'
4.24. The use of tara ( || tara || ) is well known in Iraqi Arabic. It is
best glossed as 'you see, mind you'. Consider the following example: 30
?
iòa ma tista jil tara ma räh nxallis issuyul
Translation:
If you don't hurry up, mind you, we will not finish the job.
Altoma contrasts the particulars of Iraqi Arabic with those in classical
Arabic. He states:
[Classical A r a b i c ] /tura/ or its variant / t a r a / differs in two respects: (i) it is
restricted in interrogative sentences whereas in [Iraqi Arabic] it occurs mainly
in non-interrogative sentences, and (ii) it may precede a pronominal suffix:
/ ' a t u r ä k / 'do y o u think', but such construction is lacking in [Iraqi Arabic]. 3 1
4.25. SCA uses, as does other dialects, various lexemes also derivable
from r>y, but these are to be regarded as loanwords from MSA. For
instance, ra?y 'opinion', räya 'banner, flag', muràri 'hypocrite', etc. This
point should of course have been covered by Ferguson (1959c) in dis-
cussing this feature. 32
4.26. Feature XIII 33

The relative pronoun in SCA is not ?illi, but rather is identical with the
definite article ?al- and is used for all numbers and genders; thus, Fergu-
son's point should be revised (see his exact statement in 3.63.). There are
no traces of ?allaSï, etc.
For the details, see our discussion in 1.85., chapter 1, n. 50, where
?illi does occur in the texts of 1.73. (Middle Sudanese SCA), andn. 103.
4.27. The SCA use of the definite article as the relative particle is
characteristic indeed of SCA and Chadian Arabic, but it must be remem-
bered that its use is quite old, since, as we have mentioned in 3.66. and
3.67., it does occur rather frequently in Middle Arabic, and there are
even a few instances of it in classical Arabic.
4.28. As seen with some other features, the precise diachronic facts
are difficult to ascertain regarding this feature. It seems that the koine
had two relative particles, one, in the shape of * ?illi, was lost or dis-
continued, thus causing a heavy reliance on the definite article ? al-,
which continued the classical usage of this morpheme in many dialects
such as SCA and Chadian Arabic. Thus we can conclude that SCA
originally discontinued the use of Hlli, except on the fringes perhaps such
as Middle Sudanese SCA, and kept only 'al-. At the opposite fringe of
the Arabic-speaking world, we have already seen that Mosul Arabic
keeps both (see 3.66. quoting Barth [1913]). SCA, however, developed
independently some uses of ?al-, e.g. its cohortative sense, viz. ?al-yadxul
'let him enter' (Trimingham 1946: 143).34
4.29. It is also possible to regard the instance of the Middle Sudanese
SCA use of ΆΐΙΐ as having spread to intercommunication, or perhaps
there is some free variation in its use vs. ?alin this function, not noted
in the published texts, however. It is more probable to say that Proto-
SCA had both ?illi and ?al-, and ΆΐΙί was already dying out. It is impor-
tant to keep in mind too that SCA does not have ?alla8i, etc., but
developed the classical, Middle Arabic, and the koine use of ?alas its
exclusive relative particle.
4.30. Feature XIV 35

This feature was mentioned briefly in 1.82. (see chapter 1, n. 47). Since
SCA was originally a dialect of an Egyptian Arabic dialect, we would
not expect any interdentals since Cairene does not have them, and we
do not find any either. Both δ and d have merged into d. This develop-
ment is not to be confused with the reports in some of the literature that
the reflex of S is also d\ it is a reflex and a separate development in SCA,

but one which need not concern us here insofar as this feature is con-
cerned. Thus w e can conclude that SCA follows this feature exactly.
4.31. A g o o d parallel to the nature of SCA or Chadian Arabic in the
light of the Arabic koine is the situation among Gurage dialects. 3 6 There
are twelve major Gurage dialects: Chaha, Gyeto, Eza, Ennemor,
Endegeñ, Muher, Masqan, G o g o t , . S o d d o , Selti, Wolane, and Zway.
The problem of their descent from a c o m m o n Proto-Gurage has
recently been taken up by Leslau (1969). Leslau approaches the problem
in the following terms (1969: 153):
. . . I sought to determine whether or not there are features specific to Gurage

that would warrant isolating Gurage as an independent group and thus speaking
about a Proto-Gurage. In this endeavor I was interested in isolating features
that are not found in the South Ethiopian languages other than Gurage, that is,
Amharic, Harari, Argobba and Gafat. 37 In a few instances I have included in the
list of specifically Gurage features a feature that is found in one or another
South Ethiopian language, but definitely not in Amharic. I considered as
specifically Gurage a feature that occurs either in the three groups or in any of
the three groups. 38
4.32. The bulk of the argument rests on morphological and lexical

features. 3 9 But Leslau notes that the study is not complete because "my
investigation of the morphology of the various Gurage dialects is still
inadequate". H e goes on to say (1969: 153):
It should also be stressed that not all the features mentioned in this study may
prove to have the same linguistic importance, as for instance, a secondary
feature such as the suffix of the 1st person, plural -nä of the i m p e r f e c t . . . ,
possibly formed by analogy with the suffix of the perfect. However, until further
investigation is done on the subject I thought it advisable to include all per-
tinent data in the list of specific Gurage features.
4.33. Thus to take the analogy to its logical conclusions, the features
of the Arabic koine are tentative until much more information on
Arabic sedentary dialects is available. I have added information to the
koine hypothesis based on SCA and Chadian Arabic, and we have seen
how the theory has to be modified in several ways. We can accept the
hypothesis with the reservations discussed much in the same way that
Leslau (1969: 171) accepts a Proto-Gurage:
The features in the morphology found either exclusively in Gurage or, only
sporadically, in one or another South Ethiopian language (but never in
Amharic), and the great number of roots common to Gurage and not occur-
ring elsewhere, justify the conclusion that there is a Proto-Gurage.
4.34. To extend the analogy even further, what Leslau means by a

Proto-Gurage is actually what we mean by the Arabic koine, i.e. PCA,
keeping in mind that this term refers to the sedentary Arabic dialects
only.40
4.35. As mentioned previously, most scholars do not accept the
postulation of an Arabic koine in terms of the fourteen features ad-
duced by Ferguson (1959c). Similarly, most scholars do not accept the
thesis of Leslau (1969). As far as I know, there is still nothing published
to refute Leslau's arguments, and I base my observation on personal
contacts with specialists in Ethiopian Semitic.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4
It must be remembered that diachronic studies of modern Arabic dialects are

rather scarce, the best known examples being Birkeland (1952), Garbell (1958), and
Ferguson (1959c). All of these works ignore SCA and Chadian Arabic data.
There are so few diachronic approaches in Arabic dialectology because for centuries
now, the study of Semitic languages was applied to "prestigious" classical Semitic
(dead) languages. Long before Semitists did, Indo-Europeanists realized the importance
of the investigation of the modern spoken languages as evidence for certain of their
» hypotheses. Specialists in Ethiopian Semitic (Leslau, Polotsky, Ullendorff, and
Hetzron, for instance) were the first Semitologists to disregard the Semitic linguistic
tradition, and their work served as the impetus in the modern era for genetic studies of
the currently spoken Semitic languages. Needless to say, Arabic has more native
speakers than all the other Semitic languages combined.
Blau (1969: 44) has recently stressed some of these points and says:
Nonetheless, the investigation of the Arabic dialects is of great significance for the
study of the Old Semitic languages. The Semitists who enquire into dead Semitic
languages not seldom expose themselves to the risk of excessive simplification and
standardization of the facts, and so divorce themselves from reality. That being
the case, Arabic dialects, being the most important living Semitic idiom, may
serve as a valuable corrective, restoring the study of the Semitic languages to
actualities.
These points should have been much in the foreground, since it has long been recog-
nized that Arabic, although appearing hundreds of years after Akkadian, Aramaic,
and Hebrew, nevertheless in many respects has a more archaic (PS) structure than
these so-called old Semitic languages, i.e. preservation of the PS consonantal and
vocalic inventories almost perfectly, and the preservation of the PS system of case and
mood inflection, as opposed to classical Hebrew and Syriac. Middle Arabic and modern
Arabic dialects exhibit many similar tendencies with older Semitic languages, such as
Hebrew and Aramaic. Why this important fact did not receive the attention it deserved
until recently needs further investigation. Even an outstanding Semitist, Theodor
Nöldeke, is reported to have become interested in Arabic dialects in his mid-nineties.
2
Akkadian is an analogous case here, being the language of a great power (thus
also called Assyro-Babylonian) much as SCA is the native language of most Sudanese
government officials. Phoenician and Aramaic are also parallel cases, even though
it is not clear how a language like Phoenician came to be used for royal inscriptions as
far north as Cilicia (Karatepe), or how a language like Aramaic became the lingua
franca of the Achaemenian Empire.
3
This chapter and chapter 5 should not be read before having assimilated, in a rough
manner at least, the features of the koine as presented in chapter 3. It is also strongly
advised that chapter 1 be reread to get an idea of some of the dialectical peculiarities of
SCA and to see what linguistic work has been done on the dialect.
4
See 3.13.-3.18.
5
See 3.19.-3.26.
6
See 1.2. and passim.
7
See 3.28. and 3.29.
8
See 3.30.-3.32.
9
On this point it goes hand in hand with Chadian Arabic, which will be discussed
in chapter 5.
10
lam would also be the reflex of classical Arabic lamma with (1) loss of final vowels
as kataba > katab 'he wrote', and (2) neutralization of geminated consonants in final
position.
" See the discussion in chapter 2, n. 82.
12
See 3.33. and 3.34.
13
The le particle is understood. I have changed Trimingham's transcription to fit
with our general scheme of things.
14
See 3.36.-3.43.
15
Trimingham (1946: 80) calls it "a euphonical t".
16
The numbers after 'ten' use the (Cypriot) Greek counterparts.
17
The only other source of information on Cypriot Maronite Arabic transcribes six
of the ten cardinal numbers (there are only ten cardinal numbers, anyhow) differently
from Tsiapera (1969). See Kaye (1971c) for all the details.
18
Noteworthy about SCA are forms such as sab'at ayyàm 'seven days', which is a
better transcription for SCA (not other dialects) than sab'a tayyäm. See chapter 3, n. 61
and n. 62, and Trimingham (1946: 77) for more details.
19
See 3.44.-3.46.
20
xamastâsar is a better transcription in accordance with the facts. This now
conforms to the data in 3.44.
21
This form is unreported anywhere in the literature, and is based on my own per-
sonal observations.
22
See 3.47.-3.49.
23
See 3.50.-3.51.
24
Many other examples could have been listed.
25
See 3.52.-3.55.
26
See 3.59. and 3.60.
27
See 3.61. and 3.62.
28
I did not hear rä in El-Geneina.
29
This confirms that the feature must be quite old even in Chadian Arabic, be-
cause it only points to a y as the second radical of the root (cf. the imperfect stem
vowel in i only). This will be discussed in chapter 5.
30
This is taken from Altoma (1969: 99).
31
The Chadian Arabic parallels will be discussed in chapter 5. See preceding note.
32
See Kaye (1972a) for more details on some of these points, as well as for reference
to Maltese and Cypriot Maronite Arabic, which preserve, hard as it is to believe, the
use of r>y as the normal root 'to see'. Cf. Maltese rai'tu Ί saw him'. It is not within the
realm of our discussion here to comment on these facts, since both dialects descend from
a common Syrian Arabic dialect, which itself has descended from the Arabic koine.
Needless to say, the problem is interesting and difficult to solve.
33
See 3.63.-3.67.
34
It also has an optative sense. See Trimingham (1946: 143).
35
See 3.71.-3.73.
36
Scholars continually debate the position of Gurage in Ethiopian Semitic as a whole
as well as its internal subgroupings, but it is largely accepted that the Gurage dialects
belong to a general South Ethiopian type.
37
Argobba and Gafat are now virtually dead languages. Leslau worked with the last
four native speakers of Gafat, the results of which are published in Leslau (1956).
38
Three distinct groups have been postulated: East Gurage including Selti, Wolane,
and Zway; West Gurage including Chaha, Gyeto, Eza, Ennemor, and Endegeñ; and
North Gurage with Soddo as the only representative (also known as Aymellel or Kas-
tane). Robert Hetzron has two articles and a monograph in press, which will present
alternative classifications. His monograph was written in 1967, revised in 1969, and is,
unfortunately, still awaiting publication in the JSS monographic series. See Kaye
(1971a: fn. 2, and addenda to n. 2) for further details.
39
It is important to remember that Ferguson's lexical (lexicographical) features,
i.e. säf, jäb, Hlli, were strong arguments in favor of the postulation of the Arabic koine.
40
Thus we may want to call, on the basis of our proposed analogy, Proto-Gurage
'the Gurage koine'. It should be noted that PCA does not include Arabian dialects.
5
CHADIAN ARABIC IN THE LIGHT OF THE

ARABIC KOINE
5.1. It now becomes our task to do for Chadian Arabic what we did in
chapter 4 for SCA. Chadian Arabic, for the purposes of this chapter,
will refer to any Arabic dialect spoken in Chad and Central Africa as a
whole. As was the case for chapter 4, references to the features of the
Arabic koine themselves will be listed according to the numeration of
the feature in chapter 3.1 References to the Chadian Arabic data will
largely be based on information given in chapter 2.2 As the reader has
probably noted from materials presented so far, it seems reasonable to
conclude that on the basis of the many things shared by SCA and
Chadian Arabic, Chadian Arabic was originally a dialect of SCA.3
5.2. Feature I 4
The dual has been discussed in 2.35. The ramifications in terms of the
koine follow the situation in SCA almost exactly. There are no traces
of the dual in the adjective, pronoun, and verb. There is obligatory
plural concord with dual nouns, for instance, bètèn kubär 'two big
houses' (Abu Absi and Sinaud 1968b: 23). However, in Chadian Arabic
one can use either the dual form or the plural form followed by the num-
ber 'two'. One also has the option of using the sound plural or the broken
plural, providing both exist and are in free variation, as is the case with
many adjectives.5
5.3. Certain adjectives like seme 'good, nice' remain in the singular for
dual and even plural subjects, e.g. bètèn seme 'two nice houses', or buyüt
seme 'nice houses', which indicates that seme is rapidly becoming an ad-
verb and is thus noninflected. I have noted it rarely, however, although
it is fairly consistent with some speakers.
5.4. Feature II6

The Chadian Arabic imperfect (2.24.) preformative marker is clearly
II a I , usually /a/, but sometimes /u/ or /i/ depending on vowel har-
mony.7 As I have already discussed in 4.3. and 3.26., I use the case of the
184 CHADIAN ARABIC IN THE LIGHT OF THE ARABIC KOINE
imperfect preformative vowel to represent toltala as a whole. The other

basic parts of this feature as a whole follow SCA developments, as men-
tioned in 4.3., except that the reflex of ία- can also be (in addition to (1) in
4.3.) II1- Κ, as mentioned in 2.52. This development is also known in
some SCA dialects.8
5.5. Thus we can conclude that most toltala features agree with the
corresponding features in classical Arabic as opposed to the koine.
Because Chadian Arabic agrees with SCA concerning these features
(see 4.3.), it seems to have originally been a SCA offshoot. The u~i
vowel harmonic variants are clearly a secondary development in
Chadian Arabic. The conclusions expressed in 4.4. and 4.5. also apply to
early stages of Chadian Arabic.
5.6. Feature III 9

Chadian Arabic (like SCA — see 4.6.) does not have any traces of 12w
roots. Even Lethem (1920: 120) notes this fact:
Verbs with w as last radical do not need to be considered as they are conjugated
just like masa, i.e., as verbs with y as last r a d i c a l . . . .
Since almost all speakers of Chadian Arabic do not know any classical
Arabic or MSA, there are no synchronisms such as ?ar]ük Ί beg of you'
preserving 12w roots; this is an important distinction between Chadian
Arabic and SCA. Authentic dialectical forms such as ihbu are unknown
also in Chadian Arabic (see 4.6.).
5.7. Feature IV10

The paradigm for 122 verbs in Chadian Arabic was presented in 2.41.
122 roots merge with I2y ones; the perfect endings are identical with the
masa type (2.45.), not the ligiya type.
5.8. Chadian Arabic, like SCA, is peculiar in the development of a
final anaptyctic vowel (a) in the third person masculine singular of the
perfect, evident also in the imperfect (see 2.41. and the notes pertaining
to that section for a discussion).
5.9. Thus we can conclude that for this feature, SCA and Chadian
Arabic overwhelmingly agree as opposed to all other Arabic seden-
tary and bedouin dialects — more proof for their common origin (see
4.8.).
5.10. Feature V"

This feature is present in Chadian Arabic, although writing le 'to, for'
CHADIAN ARABIC IN THE LIGHT OF THE ARABIC KOINE 185
as a separate independent word follows the practice of SCA (see 4.9.)·

Consider some sentences chosen from Abu Absi and Sinaud at random:
müsa rassala lêk jawäb walla? (1968b: 68)
Did Moses send you a letter?
là, lissa ma rassala ley
No, he has not sent me (a letter) yet.
bälik rassala lèhi
Maybe he wrote to her.
'aftah albàb le ddïfân (1968b: 102)
Open the door for the guests.
taktib le müsa walla? (1968b: 105)
Do you write to Moses?
lä, mä naktib le müsa
No, I do not write to Moses.
mala mä taktib lèhu.
Why don't you write him?
fi sän hü mä yaktib ley
Because he does not write me.
Jamil gala ley hü mä näm 'amis (1968b: 116)
Jamil told me he did not sleep yesterday.
'ana guita lêk mä tamrug min albét (1968b: 117)
I told you not to go out of the house.
gül le 'abük 'ana Jäy fï bêt (1968b: 120)
Tell your father I am coming to the house.
nugüla lu 'inta Jäy mata?
What time shall I tell him you are coming?
güla lu 'ana Jäy alyöm 'asiyye
Tell him I am coming today in the evening.
seme, nugûla lu kän wisilta bët
Good, I will tell him when I get home.
5.11. Interestingly enough, Abu Absi and Sinaud (1966) confirm the
koine feature (see 3.33.) because le is not written as a separate lexical
item. Consider the following sentences: 12
kän wisilta fi 'amrik 'aktubley (1966: 145)13

Write me when you get to America.
naktublèk, wa 'inta kamän 'aktublèy. 14
naktublëk nuss bikaläm 'arab wa nuss bi kaläm 'ingliz
I will write you half in Arabic and half in English.
kwayyis, wa 'ana 'aktublëk bikaläm 'arab swiyya
Good, and I will write you a little Arabic.15
5.12. Feature VI16
The Chadian Arabic cardinal numbers from three to ten have been
presented in 2.39. None of them are monosyllabic. Chadian Arabic has
gone its own way in the development of this feature. There are no short
forms for these numerals, as was seen for SCA in 4.11 ; however, in con-
trast to SCA, there is not a single form with -t. The numerals are frozen
and used for either gender. In this instance, it agrees with Cypriot
Maronite Arabic (see chapter 2, n. 115).
5.13. Again it must be said that Ferguson's point must be changed
to fit the Chadian Arabic data (see 4.12.). As I suspect is the case
with SCA (see 4.13.), I think that African influence must be the reason
for the development in Chadian Arabic. 17
5.14. It was difficult to speculate about the original state of affairs
in SCA (4.14.) because there was no evidence of a koine-like situa-
tion, and Chadian Arabic agrees with SCA in this respect. However,
I would not expect a proto-type Chadian Arabic to have the koine
feature, for the proto-type SCA dialect on which Chadian Arabic was
based probably lost the feature before one can essentially talk about
Chadian Arabic per se.
5.15. It is entirely possible that Proto-Chadian Arabic had the
feature, but then we have to assume that the SCA dialect from which
Chadian Arabic grew also had the feature. It is also possible that Proto-
SCA did not have the feature because the Egyptian Arabic dialect on
which SCA was based already had lost it. There is simply no way to de-
termine the actual facts for each of the three dialects until more informa-
tion is discovered and becomes available.
5.16. Feature VII18

The numbers for thirteen through nineteen are presented in 2.39. It is
obviously recognized that Chadian Arabic differs from the koine and all
other Arabic dialects in this respect. Since the language does not have
emphatics, we do not expect them in the numbers 13-19. Interestingly
enough, there is no. trace of emphasis in the numerals.
5.17. The forms listed in n. 118 (chapter 2) with glottal stops, as I
mention there, are nonexistent in any dialect of Chadian Arabic, as far as
I know.
5.18. We must conclude, therefore, that insofar as this feature is
concerned, Chadian Arabic had it when and if it had emphatics. Noma-
dic Chadian Arabic, which of course still preserves the emphatics, has
these numerals with emphasis, and they closely resemble SCA forms
(see 4.15.).
5.19. Feature VIII19

Chadian Arabic agrees exactly with SCA and all other sedentary dia-
CHADIAN ARABIC IN THE UGHT OF THE ARABIC KOINE 187
lects, i.e. it has only ?akbar-type formations (see Faure 1969: part 3,
23). There is no trace of the feminine elative formation (kubrä).
5.20. Feature IX 20
Chadian Arabic, as was the case with SCA, has a fu'ài plural, basically
of fail adjectives (see 4.18.). Consider (Faure 1969: part 3, 27):
kubàr 'large'
tuwâl 'long'
wusä 'wide'
kutàr 'many'
Consider also the following singulars and plurals:
kalib, pi. kuläb 'dog'
rajul, pi. rujäl 'man'
habil, pi. hubäl 'rope'
Jamal, pi.jumâl 'camel'21
5.21. Feature X 22
As is evident from Appendix Β (texts) in Abu Absi and Sinaud (1968b),
Chadian Arabic agrees with SCA and other Arabic dialects and Semitic
languages in this feature (see 4.19. and 4.20.).
5.22. Feature XI 23
Chadian Arabic agrees with SCA (see 4.21.) and follows the feature
exactly, jäb, imp. yyïb, is listed by all sources, which is confirmed by
Roth-Laly (1969: 104).
5.23. Feature XII 24

The Chadian Arabic verb säf, imp. yis'if, is conjugated exactly like
sär 'to walk' given in 2.44. (1>>3 root). The stem vowel in ï is thus different
from all other Arabic dialects except the SCA among the Baggara
Arabs. 25 I have only heard syf as the root 'to see'.26 The root r?y is
listed by Lethem (1920: 426) as one of the verbs 'to see', and this may
have been true for the Chadian Arabic of half a century ago.27 Deren-
dinger (1923: 109) lists both säfa, imperfect stem vowel in u, and rà as
'to see', ra'a (r?y) does exist in Chadian Arabic and means 'to re-
gard'. See 2.47. for its conjugation and chapter 2, n. 147, for further
details.
5.24. Thus Chadian Arabic not only uses derivatives of the root
r?y, e.g. tera (||tirä||) common in the expression ?è tera, [ tari]
'watch out, be careful', 28 as other dialects do, but also uses the root r>y
per se but with a shift in meaning from its original 'to see'.29 Thus the
facts of this feature should be modified to include these data.
5.25. The diachronics of the situation are again difficult to explain in
total. It seems reasonable to conclude, however, that the koine had
both säf and ra?a, with almost all dialects choosing the former as the
normal root 'to see'. It is also possible, and in accordance with the age
and area hypothesis, that Chadian Arabic preserves the original koine-
type affairs, i.e. säf meant 'to see', and ra?a meant 'to regard'. The Mal-
tese and Cypriot Maronite Arabic facts are impossible to solve at the
present moment. 30
5.26. Feature XIII 31

As seen with other features, Chadian Arabic goes hand in hand with
SCA as opposed to the koine feature. The relative pronoun in Chadian
Arabic is ?al- 'the definite article'. The morphophonemics of the two
different functions are signalled differently, as discussed in 2.32., i.e.
the assimilation of /-. The important point here is that there is no ΆΙΙι,
and thus the point should be revised. There are no traces of ?α11αδϊ, which
is the situation that one would expect. See 4.26.-4.29. for more details.
5.27. It seems perfectly understandable to conclude that Chadian
Arabic continues the SCA and classical Arabic usage of the definite
article used as a relative particle. There are no traces of ?illi in Chadian
Arabic.
5.28. Feature XIV32

This feature is obscured by the fact that Chadian Arabic has no em-
phatics and no interdentals, d and S merge with d (nomadic Chadian
Arabic d), and thus the facts fit the koine feature.
5.29. It must be pointed out, in conclusion, that many of these
features are subject to a better understanding as soon as our knowledge
about all the Arabic dialects spoken in Chad and Central Africa as a
whole is considerably advanced. There can be no doubt that SCA and
Chadian Arabic form one major macrodialectical subgrouping since
they share so many features not present in any other sedentary Arabic
dialects. Emeneau (1965b) has stressed the importance of diffusion
rather than genetic inheritance for the relatively unknown Dravidian
family. Yet for the case of SCA and Chadian Arabic dialects, we must
wait and see if diffusion and "drift" will provide better answers and
explanations than the koine theory. Many—perhaps all—these features
are subject to better understanding and changes when our information
about all Chadian and SCA dialects is well studied, yet for the time
being, we must conclude that both these dialects originally formed one
somewhat homogeneous macrodialect descended from a more or less
homogeneous Egyptian Arabic dialect, which must have descended
from the Arabic koine.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5
1
2
As stated in 4.1. for SCA, we should remark that chapter 2 deals with all materials
known to me, at least, about Chadian Arabic.
3
This is one reason for discussing both SCA and Chadian Arabic together in this
work. Another is that they are the most largely neglected areas of major Arabic seden-
tary dialectology.
Chapter 2, in addition to being a state of the art paper, presents an outline of the
structure of Chadian Arabic, which is not available elsewhere anywhere in the literature.
4
For the sake of convenience, reference to the discussion of the particular koine
feature will be its listing in the notes to chapter 4, rather than stating the reference to
chapter 3 again (see chapter 4, n. 4).
5
See 2.35. and the notes pertaining to that section and 4.2.
6
See chapter 4, n. 5. Important to remember is chapter 3, n. 6 as well.
7
See 2.44. and the notes pertaining to that section.
8
Only SCA and Chadian Arabic, as far as I know, have this development, which I
regard as another proof that both must have developed from the same proto-type dialect.
9
10
11
12
I do not know why the authors changed their opinions regarding this point from
1966 to 1968, although Abu Absi's knowledge of classical Arabic probably was the
factor (//- is always written together with the following word). André Sinaud does not
know any classical Arabic; in fact, he does not even know the Arabic alphabet. See
4.9. for my similar reasoning with regard to Trimingham (1946).
13 ?
aktib is certainly more frequent than ?aktub.
14 ?
aktublèy [sic.] for ?aktibley. See preceding note and sentence 1 in 5.11.
15
I think the 1966 transcription is a better one.
16
17
Modern (Çypriot) Greek has obviously been the factor in Cypriot Maronite
Arabic.
The facts in Ugaritic point to "drift". The Ugaritic numbers from three to ten may be
used in either gender, i.e. even before masculine nouns the numerical form does not
necessarily have the -t suffix. See Loewenstamm (1969) for the details and further litera-
ture adduced.
The numbers from eleven to nineteen are particularly Ugaritic; the number ten in the
compound series is written three different ways: (1) < s r > , (2) < s r t > , and (3) <'srh>.
As Loewenstamm says (1969: 176):
Discussion of the three forms 'sr, 'srt, 'Srh is, to our regret, seriously handicapped by
a blank in our knowledge. We are not in a position to point to even one clear
example of these numbers in connection with feminine nouns: they all occur in
connection with nouns which are either clearly masculine or at least of doubtful
gender.
18
19
20
21
Many other examples could be given demonstrating the productive nature of the
fu ài plural pattern.
22
23
24
25
See 4.22. and chapter 4, n. 29.
26
I have not heard swf, although it may exist with some speakers under the in-
fluence, most probably, of SCA or another dialect of Arabic (hardly MSA).
27
Perhaps it was and is still common in Nigerian Arabic. Lethem (1920: 426 and
passim) lists it as ra?a.
28
See 4.24. for similar happenings in Iraqi Arabic.
29
See also Kaye (1972a: n. 31 and passim).
30
31
32
AFRICA
.TUNISIA
MOROCCI
ALGERIA EGYPT
LIBYA
SP.
SAHARA^
MAURITANIA
NIGER
SENEGAL CHAD
GAMBIA SUDAN FR. S O M A L I LA
UPPER'
VOLTA
PORT. G U I N E A \ GUINEA
GUINEA-BISSAURS/ \ NIGERIA ETHIOPIA
SIERRA - A r y \ 'IVORY > J \ 'CENTRAL Λ ,
COAST / G H A N A 1
LEONE < AFRICAN REPUBLIC
DAHOMEY
LIBERIA CAMEROON
TOGO
RIOMUNI O G A N D A KENYA
CONGO RWANDA
'GABON (BRAZZAVILLE)
ZAIRE BURUNDI
CABINDA
TANZANIA
ANGOLA
MALAWI
ZAMBIA
SOUTH RHODESIA,
MADAGASCAR
WEST
AFRICA J B O T S W A N A · MOZAMBIQUE
SWAZILAND
LESOTHO
SOUTH
AFRICA
CHAD AND THE SUDAN

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1921 Arabische Syntax (Heidelberg: Carl Winter's Universitäts Buchhandlung).
Reinhardt, C.
1894 Ein arabischer Dialekt gesprochen in 'Oman und Zanzibar (=Lehrbücher des
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Rosenthal, Franz
1961 A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic (Porta linguarum orientalium) (Wiesbaden: Otto
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Roth, Ariette
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1968b "Dialectologie", DRCP: 7-34.
Roth-Laly, Ariette
1969 Lexique des parlers arabes Tchado-Soudanais I (Paris: Centre national de la
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Sadiq, Sh. Ibrahim
1930 Kitäb tabaqät wad-dayfulläh fi 'awliyä? wa sâlihïn wa ulama? wa su'ara?
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Samarin, W. J.
1967 Field Linguistics (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston).
Sapir, Edward
1921 Language (Harvest Books).
Scott, G. C.
1937 "Review of Griffiths and Tähä", SNR 20:180-181.
Shaw, W. B. K.
1929 "Sudan Arabic: Terms Relating to Gum", SNR 12:109-110.
REFERENCES 203
Shuqayr, Na'üm Bey

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1913 Arabie Proverbs (never seen).
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1938 "The Pitfalls of Polarity", Lg. 14:187-202.
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1946 Sudan Colloquial Arabic, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press).
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204 REFERENCES
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1957 An Introduction to Modern Arabic (Princeton University Press).
INDEX
'Abäbda, I Amharic, 178

Abbakar AbduUahi, 114,115 'Àmir, 1
'Abdal-Min'am BaSir Hasan, 35 Amîr'Abd el-Ra7ûf, 4,51
'Abdulläh'Abd al-Rahmân al-Amin, 9, analytic type of structure, 162
13,40,41,48,50,51 ' anaptyctic filler, 6
AbduUahi al Joheini, 97 anaptyctic rule, 77
•Abdullàhi, Khalifa, 4,5,51 anaptyctic vowels, 6,60-61,64,69,72,76,
Abéché, 117 79-80,184
Abéché Arabie, 92,110,112,113 anaptyctic vowel transcription, 66-70
Abka, 40 anaptyxis, 26,60,63,66,76
AbuAbsi, 92,101-105,113,183,185,187 Ancient South Palestinian Arabic, 154,
Abu Nawwäs, 49 155
Abü Tammàm, 50 Arab tribes, 1,79
accent, 13,76 Arabic dialectology, 1,115
accentuation, 10 Arabic-English dictionary, 23
active participle, 60,62,66-68,79,101, Arabic graphemics, 31
148,149 Arabization, 29
accusative, 31,45,62 Aramaic, 156,180
accusative singular, 33,45,153 Argobba, 178
Ad-Duwaym. 35,36 assimilation, 3,31,46,65,69,77,188
adjectival patterns, 58 assimilation, regressive of voicing, 68
adjective, 25,58-59,77-78,156,171,183, autonomous phonemics, 22
187 auxiliary verbs, 33,48,66,80
adjective, demonstrative, 59
adjective, feminine, 156 Bäbikr Badri, Shaykh, 49
adjective, plural, 155 Bambara language, 39
adjective, positive, 59 Barclay, 20,29
adjective, relative, 69,156 Barth, H., 91,96,98
adverbs, 33,80,183 Barth, J., 160,177
adverbs of place, 59 Barth'sLaw, 146,172
African substratum, 335 Banu'Àmir, 1
Ahmad Sa'd, 51 basic prepositions, 59
a-imperfect, 146 Baggara tribes, 18,37-38,41,43,45-46,
Akkadian, 146,148-150,156,161,180 49,176,187
Akkadian present, 147 bedouin, 2,41
Al-'arabiyya fi al-Sùdàn, 9 Bedouin dialects, 137,139-140,162-163
allomorph, 48,147 bedouinization, 162
allophones, 22 Beeston, 62
alveolar, 74,99 Bega tribe, 34
'Amar'ar, 1 Beja, 1,56
Amery, H.F.S., 2,5-9,11,13,23-29,36, Beiruti Arabic dialect, 45
38,41,44,176 Bell, 16
206 INDEX
Beni Amir, 30 Classical Sanskrit, 163

Beni Seit, 97 Cohen, D . , 33,92,115,141,143,161-162
Beriberi, 97 comparative, feminine, 154-155
Berber province, 18,26,28,43 comparative linguistics, 156
Berber texts, 8 comparatives, 33,59,62,77-78,154
Bergsträsser, 35,137 common singular, 45,47
Berlinese dialect, 153 common plural, 45,47
Bigirmi (Bagirmi, Baghirmi), 92,93 compound, 154
b-imperfect, 53,64-65,79,157,160 compound sentences, 101
bilabials, 8,99 compound tenses, 6 4 - 6 5 , 8 0
bilingualism, 55,157 compensatory vowel lengthening, 8
biliteral, 2 concord, 143-144
biradical roots, 149 conditional, 81
Birkeland, 1,137,172 conditional particle, 72
BiSariyùn, 1 conditional sentence, 26,72
Blachère, 33 conjugation, 10,11
Black W a t c h , 29 conjunctions, 33,80
Blanc, 92,95,137,143-144,162 consonantal segments, 99
Blau, 53,144,154-163,175 consonant clusters, 6,62
Bloch, 141,145-146,152-153,156,172 consonants, 7,8,10,12,27-28,46,160
Blue Nile, 8 consonants, articulation, 11
Bomu, 92-93,96-98 consonants, final, 2
borrowings, 8,42,137-138,140,144 consonants, labialized, 155
Brockelmann, 46,137 consonant shift, 159-160
broken plural, 45,48,59,60,76,77,141, continuous tense, 48
142,171,183 Cunnison, 92
Burckhardt, 91 Cust, Robert, 91
Burton, G . S . M . , 16,17,29-34 Cypriot Maronite Arabic, 50,172,181,
Burun, 1 186-187
Buurri al Lamaab, 20 Czapkiewicz, 19,35-36
Cairene, 8,37,48,58-60,62-66,69,76, Damascus Arabic, 152

156,161,177 Danàgla, 1,48
Cairo, 3,6,23-24,31 Dangai, 115
Cairo Arabic, 8,41,59-60,62-66,72,76, Darfur, 18,29,43,92,97-98
140,171-172 Davies, R „ 13,36,38,42
Cantineau, 92,161 Decorse, 92,113
Carbou, 91-92,97,113 definite article, 9,31,33,58,77,102,160,
Central K o m a , 1 171,177,188
Chadian Arabic, 42,50,60,67,72,91-96, definite article, assimilation rules, 72
101-103,108,110-116,142,147,160,163, diminutives, 45
173,177-178,183-189 demonstratives, 59
Chad, geography, 118,119 dental, 99
Chad, history, 118,119 Derendinger, 92,112-113,187
Chad, miscellaneous, 119,122 devoicing, 8
Chad, population, 118,119 diglossia, 3
Chad, religion, 118 Dikwa, 9 8 - 9 9
Chafe, 22 Dinka tribe, 4,51
Chaha dialect, 178 diphthongization, 25
Christian Arabic, 154,156-158,160,176 diphthongs, 35,161
Christian Baghdadi Arabic, 162 discontinuous morphemes, 32,177
Classical Arabic, 3,6,8,20,25,27-29,33, discontinuous morphemic structure, 63
40,44-45,48,58,62,78,80,96,111, dissimilation, 156
137-142,144-160,163,171-172,176-183 distinctive features, 161
INDEX 207
Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, 39,57 Gallabat, 29

Egyptian Jewish Arabic dialect, 162 Geidam, 98
elative, 62,77,155 gemination, 2,15
elative, feminine, 115,187 gemination marker, 28
elision, 8,21,31,58,62,64,69,76,79 gemination of consonants, irregular, 46
Emeneau, 18,52,163,189 geminated verbs, 66
emphatic consonants, 7,12,16,21,35,50, gender, 102,150,153
74,80,156,187 generative semantic, 22
emphatic interdental phonemes, 161, generative-transformational, 22
188 genitive, 61-62,77
emphasis, 153 Gezira, 18,24,28,43,49
Encyclopaedia of Islam, 92 Ghalim, 97
Endegeñ dialect, 178 Gibb, H. A. R. Professor, 17
English-Arabic vocabulary, 2,5,13, glottal stop, 8,12,15,31,146,151,162
23-24,36 Gogot dialect, 178
English-Arabic-Nubian vocabulary, 40 grapheme, 8,12,17,25,74,146
Ennemor dialect, 178 grapheme, interdental, 28
euphonic 'a', 76 graphemics, 31-32
euphonical change, 64 Gregorian months, 28,34
euphonic helping vowel, 66,76 Griffiths and Taha, 20,33
EZa dialect, 178 Gumueya, 40
Gurage dialects, 178,179,181,182
family-tree theory, 163 Gyeto dialect, 178
Farah Wad Taktök, Shaykh, 52
Farmer, 38-39 Haas, 158
Fath Allah, 36 Hadandawa, 1,30
Faure, 92,104,110,112-113,187 Häfiz, Mohammed, 115
Feghali, 159 Halanga, 1
feminine dual, 158 Halfäyat al-Mulük, 3
feminine gender, 10,14,58,61 Hamitic, 1
feminine ending, 14,59,150-151,153,172 hamza, 8,12,31,66,74
feminine marker, 77 Hamza al-'Isbahâni, 10,40
feminine plural, 10,14,45,47,60,158 Harari, 92,178
feminine singular, 45,47,62 hassanaoua, 97
Ferguson, 21,33,39,57,137-144,146,148, Hassaniya, 30,51
155,157,160-163,171-172,174-175,177, Hausa, 39,92
179,183,186 heightened tone, 13
Field, 40 Hetzron, 152,182
final stops, 8 Hillelson, 3-5,8-9,13-26,35-38,40-43,
final waw verbs, 148 45-46,48-51,53,57,64,66,68,79,176
Fleisch, 92 Hiskett, 18
Fort-Lamy, 99 Holt, 20
Fourcade, J. F., 92,94 House of Abu Sinn, 49
fricative, 17 Howard, 92,113
free variation, 8 Husaynät, 51
Fulani empire, 18,96 Huseyn Mahmüd Hasan, 35
F u n | kingdom, 3 hypothetical sentences, 72
future tense, 79
Fulbe, 39 Ibadan, 18,19,53
Ibn Sinä, 138
Gafat, 178 Ibrahim Sadiq, 3
Gairdner, 39,57,74 i-imperfect, 146
Gasim, 1,2 lies, G. E., 41
Gaudefroy-Demombynes, 33,93-94,113 Ilyàs Pasha, 48
208 INDEX
immigrant Arabic of Central Africa, Keith Marker, 40

92-93 Kensdale, 18,53,54
imperative, 48,64,66,68,78,79,101,108, Khartoum, 2,5,8,9,14,16,20,22,24,
110 27-30,33-34,48-49,51,79,115,176
imperative, negative, 64,101 khalwa, 9
imperative, positive, 64 Khayyám, Omar, 30
imperfect, 13,41,45,65-67,78,101,108, Khuzäm, 97
111,149 kinship terms, 20,34
imperfect conjugation, 63 Kitchener, Sir H., 25,30,35
imperfect, irregular, 79 koine, 4,13,14,37,43,53,80,137,140,141,
imperfect, negative, 64 145,146,149,152,154-157,160-162,165,
imperfect paradigm, 48,66,146 169,174,175,177,179,183,186,187,189
imperfect performatives, 3,153,171-172, Koran, 27,44,46
183 Kordofanian dialect, 14,42,45,50
imperfect stem, 69 Kordofan province, 18,28,29,43,97,98
increased form, 68 Kramers, 137
indefinite, 63-64,66,72 Kuipers, 81
indefinite article, 58 Kunüz, 1
indefinite vowels, 69 Kuranic school, 9
independent preposition, 149 Kuwaiti Arabic, 152
indicative, 157 Kwálme, 97,98
Indo-European, 156
Indo-Europeanists, 163 labials, 156
inflectional affixes, 144 labio-dental, 99
Ingassana, 1 Labouret, Henri, 91
interdental spirant, 161 Lampen, 18
interdental emphatics, 161,177 laryngeals, 40,45,50,99
internal passive, 48,69 lateral, 161
interrogation, 100 length, 76,80
interrogative sentences, 176 Leslau, 149,178-179
intonation, 100 Lethem, 92,93,95-97,101,102,104,108,
Islamic world, 138-139 113,184,187
Islamization, 29 Levin, 147,148
lexemes, 3,8,14,32,38,67,176
Jackson, 20,36,48 lexicographical, 4
Jakobson, 156 linearity, 8
Jawäma, 97 lingua franca, 93,96
Jellaba, 98 liquid, 3,15,45
Jerusalem Arabic, 64 loanword, 8,39,160,176
Jewish Baghdadi, 162 Lowe, Edward L., 115
Jezira dialect, 57
Jezira peasant, 72 Mabaan, 1
Joheinah, 97 MacLaughlin, 22,55,56
Johnstone, 152 MacMichael, Η. Α.,
Judaeo-Arabic, 154,156,157,159-161 Maghribi, 145
Jumjum, 1 Maghribine Arabic, 162
jussive, 157 Mahamat Dakom, 113
Mahass, 1
Kababish tribe, 37,38,49 Mahdi, 4,5,9,26
Kampffmeyer, 92,172 Mahdist revolt, 29
Kanem, 93,97 Maltese, 181,187
Kano, 18,54 Mandil manuscript, 52
Kanuri, 97 Marazig, 158
INDEX 209
Masqan dialect, 178 negative, 33,63

masculine plural, 10,21,45,47,60 negative marker, 62
masculine plural adjectives, 10 Nicholson, 16
Maiduguri, 98,99 Nilo-Hamitic, 56
Maba, 92 Nilotic, 56
masculine plural inanimate, 10 nisbah, 156,162
masculine singular, 32,41,45,47,66 Nomadic Arabs, 18,37
McCorquodale, 29 Nomadic Chadian Arabic, 187
Meccan or Qurayshi dialect, 140 nominal sentences, 78
Meillet, 152,153,156 non-b-imperfect, 64,66,80,157
Me'in, ,97 non-interrogative sentences, 176
Mek al-Gabün, 51 noun declension, 33
Middle Arabic, 154-158,161,162,175,177 noun collective, 104
mid-palatal stop, 11 noun feminine, 58,59,76,153
minimal pairs, 7,12,21,156,161 noun masculine, 58,76,151,153
Mitchell, 31,58,60,62-64,66,69,72,76 noun morphology, 28
Mittwoch, E., 10 nouns, 48,59,60,172
modified 'a', 75 nouns, animate, 102
Mongonu, 98 nouns, inanimate, 102
monophthongization, 25,161 Nöldeke, 33
moods, 66,80,157 Nubian, 1,10,29,56
Mohamet al Amin al Kanemi, Sheikh, numbers, independent, 153
96,97 numerals, 80,150,152-154,172,186,187,
morpheme, invariant, 144 190
morpheme, variable, 144 numerals, bisyllabic forms, 153
morphological categories, 45 numerals, cardinal, 31,45,64,104,105,
morphological process, 32 150,152,153,172,174,186
morphology, verbal, 27,33 numerals, ordinal, 31,45,65,105
morphology, noun, 28 numerals, ordinal, 31,45,65,105
morphologically conditioned change, numerals, short forms, 152
145
Moroccan Arabic, 152,154,155 Omdurman, 14,16,22,43,49,57,72,79,
morphophonemic, 6,25,57,58,71,188 115,176
morphophonemic change, 8 office Arabic, 73
morphophonemic rule, 39,59,161 Omani Arabic, 152
morphophonemic symbol, 57 O'Leary, 137
Mosul Arabic, 160,177
Muhammad Wad al-Füráwi, Shaykh, palatal, front, voiced plosive, 57
49 palatal stop, 6,39,99
Muher dialect, 178 Palmer, H. R., 96
Mukhtâr, 51 particles, 48,101,150,157
Muraz, 92,113 particle, relative, 160,177,188
Murle, 1 passive participle, 12,32,60,66,68,79,101
Murtonen, 77 passive voice, 69,70,79
musical pitch, 76 past, 63,64,78
multilingualism, 55 past participle, 70
Muslim Baghdadi dialect, 162 past vowels, 69
Muslim calendar, 28 patois, 4,46,92
Patterson, 92,94,113
Nader, 35,43 perfect, 13,32,41,45,65,68,78,101,108,
Nalder, L. F., 10,11,74 111,148,149,172,184
nasal, 45 perfect conjugation, 63
negation, 100 perfect paradigm, 47,66,68
210 INDEX
perfect stem, 69 quadriliteral verb, 68

perfect suffix, 64,153 quadriradical verb, 68
pharyngealer 3,40,45,50 question marker, 101
pharyngeal spirant, voiced, 8 question particle, 48
pharyngeal spirant, voiceless, 17 Qur'àn, 138
Phoenician, 180
phone, 6 radical, first, 69
phonemes, 5,8,15,21,22,25,39,74,161 radical w, 66
phonemic principle, 42 radical w or y second weak verbs, 67,69
phonetic'a', 10,40 radical w or y third weak verbs, 67-69
phonteic change, 145 radical y verbs, first, 67
phonetic principles, 74 raised vowels, 60,62,64
phonology, 11,35,160 Rabeh, 98
Pidgin Arabic of Central Africa, 92,93 Reckendorf, 62,72
Piamenta, 64 reflexive, 69,71
plural, 10,14,151,175,187 relational prefix, 149
plural of paucity, 151,152 Rigvedic dialect of Sanskrit, 163
polarity, 152 root-consonant, 148
possessive marker, 18 roots, 25,27,32,149,187
possessive suffix, 33,62 roots, biliteral, 2
predicate, 58,63 roots, geminate, 148
predication, 78 roots, sound, 148
prefix, subject of the imperfect, 145 roots, triconsonantal, 53
prefix, definite article, 145 roots, triliteral, 2
prefix, connective, 145 Roth, Α., 92,94,112,113
prefix, intransitivizing, 145 Roth-Laly, 113,115,187
pre-Islamic, 138
preformative vowel, 48,68,146,147 Sadiq Effendi Shawki, 74
prepositions, 26,33,48,59,80 Sadiq manuscript, 52
prescriptivism, 26 Sakküt, 1
present-future, 78,80 Salamät, 97,98
profession morpheme, 45,60 Samarin, 115
pronouns, 46,80,171 Sango, 115
pronouns, demonstrative, 77,102 Sara, 92,93
pronouns, disjunctive, 60 Schneider, M., 92
pronouns, personal, 45,47,80,99,153 Scott, 20
pronouns, personal, independent, 47 Seligman, Dr., 37
pronouns, interrogative, 47 semantic change, 3
pronouns, possessive, 2 sememe, 14
pronouns, relative, 47,71,80,102,158, Semitic, 1,33,45,101,148,149,152,156,
160,177,188 161,162,180,187
pronouns, suffix, 61,62 Semitological phonetics, 58
pronominal suffix, 8,13,45,80,99,153, Semitological standard, 8
176 Semitic speech, 45
Proto-Arabie, 155 semi-vowel, 160
Proto-dialectal Arabic, 144 Shehu Usumanu dan Fodio, 18
Proto-Chadian Arabic, 186 Shuqair, 48,51
Proto-Gurage, 178,179 Shuwa dialect, 93,96-98
Proto-Italo-Celtic, 163 Sibawayhi, 138
PS, 147 sibilant, 45
Proto-SCA, 186 simple genitive, by annexation, 77
Proto-Spoken Arabic, 163 Sinaud, 92,101-103,105,112,113,183,
pseudo-dual, 144 185-187
INDEX 211
Singer, A. P., 20,48 Tripolitan dialect, 98

Sitt Esther Bassini, 74 Tritton, 20
Setti dialect, 178 true dual, 144
Soddo dialect, 178 Tsiapera, 174
Solihull, 74 Tu-Bedawi, 1
Songhay, 92 Tubiana, M. J., 92
Soso language, 39 Tubu, 92
sound change, 25 turuk, 98
sound plural, 10,59,60,76,103,171,183
sound shift, 160 Ugaritic, 146,148
Stumme, 172 unmodified 'a', 75
stress shift, 156 uvular plosive, voiceless, 6,99
subject, 58
subjective reflection, 69 velar stop, 6,39,99
subjunctive, 157 velarization, 153
substratum theories, 157,174 velarized voiced interdental spirant, 161
substantives, 25,59 velarized voiced stop, 161
Sudan Arabic vocabulary, 39,57 velarized consonants, 41,58
Sudan Arabic English-Arabic vocabulary, verb, 10,13,25,31,45,46,60,62,63,66,
41 69-71,78-80,98,108,157,171,176,184
Sudan colloquial Arabic, 10 verbal morphology, 27,33
Sudan Arabic notebook, 16,29 verbal noun, 26,28
Sudan Arabic texts, 4,17,39,57,66 verbs, doubly weak, 108
Sudanese Arabic reader, 72 verbs, final waw, 172
Sudanese grammar, 10,72 verb, finite, 78
suffix feminine, 145 verb, fundamental, 78
Sulaymän Dä'üd Mandil, 3 verb, geminated, 66,148
superlative, 33,62,77,78,155 verb, hamzated, 108
superstratum, 174 verb, hollow, 45,67
Swahili, 92 verb, irregular, 79
synthetic type of structure, 162 verb, primary, 148
Syrian Arabic, 33,146,148-150,154,161, verb, quadriliteral, 68,109
165 verb, reduplicated, 66,69
Syro-Palestinian dialect, 62 verb, simple triliteral, 78
Sukriyya, 5,49 verb, strong triliteral, 64
verb, weak, 66,71,157
tabaqät, 34,52,72 vernacular, 4,144,159
tagmemic, 22 vocalic assimilation, 48
taltal ah, 144,145 vocalic change, 60,79
Tunjur, 97 vocalic length, 8,16,40
Tigré, 1,92 vocalic lengthening, mandatory, 65
Tomlinson, G. J. F., 93,96 vocalic segments, 99
tone marking, 13 vocalization, 26
traditional autonomous phonemics, 22 vocalic pattern, 26,27
traditional grammar approach, 22 Völlers, 46
Trenga, 91,113 vowel coalescence, 8
triliteral roots, 2,69 vowel harmony, 62,183
triliteral, strong verb, 64 vowel, helping, 64
triliteral verb, 70 vowel marking, 4,5
triliteral verb, simple, 78 vowel lengthening, 8,27
Trimingham, 10-12,20-22,39,45,47^19, vowels, 8,10,12-13,15,17,21,22,35,41,
57,58,60-64,66-71,74,76,77,79-81, 42,45,58,74
171,172,174,176,177 vowel shortening, 59,149,156
212 INDEX
vowels, indefinite, 69 Watkins, 163

vowels, long, 21,24,58,76,160 Wave theory, 163
vowels, final, 13,156 Waziri Abdullahi dan Fodio, 18
vowels, short, 62,155,156,161 Wehr, 13
vowels, past, 69 White Nile, 49
vowel stem, 101 Winder, 12
vowels, terminal, 98 Wolane dialect, 178
vowel transcription, 17,23 Wolof, 39
vowel, transposition of, 45 Worbe, 92,112,113
Worsley, Allan, 10,11-13,15,16,20,22,
Wackernagel, 152 46,57,58,72-74,76,77,80
Wackernagel-Meillet principle, 153 Wright, 72,80
Wadi Haifa, 40 Wulad Himèt, 97
Waday, 92,93,97,98
Wad Medani, 49,72 Ziadeh, 12
Wassili Arabs, 98 Zway dialect, 178

(Janua Linguarum - Series Practica, Vol. 236) Alan S. Kaye - Chadian and Sudanese Arabic in The Light of Comparative Arabic Dialectology (19

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(Janua Linguarum - Series Practica, Vol. 236) Alan S. Kaye - Chadian and Sudanese Arabic in The Light of Comparative Arabic Dialectology (19

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JANUA LINGUARUM

Series Practica 236

ISBN 90 279 33243

Photoset by Interprint (Malta) Ltd.

The study of Arabic linguistics and Arabic dialectology is mainly limited

sity of California, Berkeley, where he was a Visiting Professor.

1.25. Worsley's statement on description of Sudanese sounds 11

1.63. SCA influence in the Sudan 22

2. Chadian Arabic: The State of the Art 91

2.13. The origin of the Shuwa Arabs 97

2.53.Form VII 110

3. The Arabic Koine 137

3.21. Some differences between the modern Arabic

3.54. Blau's statement concerning tendencies of Arabic

4. Sudanese Colloquial Arabic in the Light of the Arabic

4.9. Feature V12 173

5. Chadian Arabic in the Light of the Arabic Koine 183

5.8. Peculiarity of Chadian Arabic 184

SUDANESE COLLOQUIAL ARABIC:

1.6. Although Amery's work is apparently the first effort made to

(1) h > h, e.g. hasan > hasan 'Hassan'.

1.9. By 1935 when he produced his Sudan Arabic texts, Hillelson

intelligible to an uneducated tribesman is not known. A part of this letter

Hillelson (1935: 121) translates as follows:

1.11. Another record of early SCA speech forms is found in the

. . . it is not considered necessary to adopt any elaborate system of translitera-

Without indicating reasons for such a decision, Amery states that in

lects, in particular the dialect of Cairo, in which the Jim is realized

gara 'he ran' [jarä]; classical Arabic ]arä

In the introduction to "Specimens of the Colloquial Language" at the

Or he notes (1925: xxiii):

1.22. Two years later, Allan Worsley,doctorin the Church Missionary

A peculiarity of Sudanese is that ', χ, γ, h, and h cannot be pronounced without

Obvious questions raised by this statement include: (1) What does he

work based, of course, on materials gathered in the field. The problem

1.27. Trimingham recognizes that such changes occur. He records

1.31. Worsley's rules on accent (1925: 8) are inadequate and confus-

bini 'my daughter'

1.32. In the same year in which Worsley published his grammar of

which vocabulary and other elements of the language can be considered

But his vocabulary includes such entries as:

tarak 'he abandoned', for example, is undoubtedly understood and used

He is alluding to a form of MSA (see Kay e 1970), not a koine.

He also gives examples of phonemes introduced into SCA not nor-

1.38. The publication of Hillelson's vocabulary and Worsley's

1.39. Nicholson (1935) provides much interesting information not

1.40. Another example of specialized vocabulary is found in Bell

In his preface Burton states:

He failed utterly. In his recommended list of two hundred words which

. . . special debt of gratitude to Professor H. A. R. Gibb, School of Oriental and

1.44. An important contribution to the literature on SCA was made

1.47. Other parts of the book are of more immediate interest as

1.49. The dearth of materials on SCA dialectology is unbelievable.

brother, Waziri Abdullahi dan Fodio. Most of the manuscripts belong

1.50. Two extremely interesting articles, Czapkiewicz (1959 and

This applies easily to many other SCA dialects.

character of this material is demonstrated by the first lines of one of

More natural conversational material is found in part II of the book.

1.63. Although SCA would be hard to define precisely in all its

1.67. Finally, an Arabic-English vocabulary or dictionary of SCA,

1.69. Amery (1905)

Amery claims that if a word is peculiar to or of more frequent use in one

T h e vowel transcriptions are based on the "Rules of Orthography for