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Alia Viscardi

Toni Cook

Ling 161: Contact Languages and the Slave Trade

3 May 2020

Sabir: Mediterranean Lingua Franca a Romance Pidgin

Sabir also known as the Mediterranean Lingua Franca was a Pidgin that used along the

Mediterranean coasts between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries for trading purposes

primarily. Its name comes from the Arab word “lisan-al-farangi” which was used to denote

languages used by speakers of multiple languages, although some speculate that the term comes

from the Spanish or Catalan verb “Saber” translated into English as “to know”. The term “lingua

franca” on the other hand could be said to also have origin in the Middle East: according to most

Islamic scholars western Europeans, all Europeans spoke the same language which they called

Franca. Deriving from the fact that before the 10th century there had not been strong relations

between the Islamic world and the European world. Contact between these regions emerged only

during the 11th century when a surge in the economy and demography of Europe led to many

pilgrims, soldiers, and merchants to venture into eastern regions of the Mediterranean. At this

point, most merchants relied on dictionaries and interpreters for their voyages inhibiting the need

for a common language. On the hand, middle eastern merchants started to use Italian as a

primary language of contact and this tendency also spread to other activities. Sabir prospered

during these centuries although knowledge on its use was considerably limited therefore one can

only estimate how commonly it was used. The decline of the usage of this language could be

attributed to the French conquest of Algeria. Following this event relations between the Middle
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East and North Africa, and the whole of Europe changed drastically no longer requiring a

common denominator language.

It is considered to have an Italian superstrate and Arab substrate. According to certain

scholars, it is merely a simplified L2 version of Italian. This could be explained by the fact that at

the time of the development of this language the Martine Republics of Italy (Venice, Genoa,

Amalfi, and Pisa) most importantly Venice dominated trade within the Mediterranean Sea.

Rather than having an Italian superstrate, it should be considered as having a Venetian

superstrate, since at the time there was not a standard Italian language. Although it’s difficult to

produce a specific superstrate or substrate for that matter because at the time languages spoken

within the Mediterranean weren’t languages as languages are perceived in modern times, but

merely dialects (especially in Italy and Spain) strongly influenced by Latin. Catalan, Franco

Provencal, Greek, Arab, Venetian, Genovese, southern Italian dialects and possibly other

languages have all contributed to its development. The lexicon of Sabir was derived anywhere

from 40 to 90% from Italian dialects according to some sources. The large gap is since at times it

is difficult to determine the exact origin of words since some words in Italian and Spanish are

merely identical. Although it is important to consider that Sabir differed depending on where it

was being used, on the Spanish coast the language was considerably closer to Spanish reflecting

how Sabir cannot be considered to have a standard that all of its speakers could base their

acquisition on. In fact, as it well be later shown it is difficult to determine what standard Sabir

was.
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The most distinct aspect of the syntax of Sabir is the simplification of verb conjugation

which leads to two forms: the infinitive which can only end in -ar or -ir and the past participle

(always ending in ato/a and ito/a). There is technically a future tense that is also used in cases

where the subjunctive or conditional would be used in Romance languages. It was formed by

using “bisogno”( from Italian “to need”) with an infinitive verb following it. Italian and Spanish,

on the other hand, are well known for their complicated verb conjugation and abundance of

irregular verbs. Nouns all have a masculine and feminine gender determined by weather the

vowel ending was an o (masculine) or a (feminine), but there aren’t morphemes to form plural

nouns. Pluralization was generally shown through other means. Articles have both an indefinite

and definite form which is also influenced by gender except with “ l’ ” which is used with words

beginning with vowels. There are also two forms of articulated prepositions (al/alla, del/della). In

regards of the phonological inventory of Sabir not much is known, although it could be assumed

that it would have a similar inventory to Spanish and Italian without phonemes that could be

considered difficult for foreigners as happens generally with pidgins although many features that

might be difficult for Arab speakers seem to have been maintained such as the use of all its

vowels and the voiced palatal nasal. It also had a considerable influence from Italian and Spanish

in its derivational morphology.

There are a few peculiarities that are found in the Mediterranean Lingua Franca. First

being that despite the statement that Arab is the substrate of Sabir, there doesn’t seem to be

anything to prove this statement other than the fact that it was commonly used among Arab

traders. An argument could be made that despite being a pidgin in all terms, Sabir does not have

a substrate but is merely an L2 version of Italian. Support for this theory could be considered the
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grammatical similarities between the two languages. Another thing to consider is that the

language radically changed from birth to death, a statement that could also be applied to the

languages it derived its morphology from. It is difficult for a language without a standard way of

writing to withstand drastic changes throughout time. From the fall of the Roman Empire, it

barely took any time for Latin to change so drastically. Over time Sabir was probably going

through a process of simplification although there aren’t enough documents available to track

this finding.

The primary source that has been used to study Sabir has been the Dictionnaire de la

Langue Franque; It was made around the 17th century and was written in French as an assistance

for the acquisition of Sabir. This has been one of the primary documents used by scholars to

study this long-lost language. Here is a text from ou Petit Mauresque, suivi de quelques

dialogues familiers- (Marseilles, 1830). The following is a transcription of an event.

ti fatto colazione? Have you had breakfast?

non, Signor. No, sir.
ti venir giusto, la mangiaria star pronta. You came just in time. The food is ready.
mi venuto aposto per far mangiaria con ti. I came on purpose to have breakfast with
bonu. que ti querir mangiar? you.
quello que ti querir. Good, what would you like to eat?
ti querir caffè? Whatever you want.
portar caffè. Do you want coffee?
fazir scaldar agua; mi querir cunciar tè. Bring coffee.
non cunciar per mi, il caffè basta. Heat some water. I want to make tea.
mi tenir tè mucho bonu; mi querir ti gustar per Don't make it for me. Coffee is enough.
ellu. I have very good tea. I want you to taste it.
muchu grazia. Thank you very much.
ti metir un poco piu sucro. Put a little more sugar.
mi tenir bastanza. I have enough.
As a native speaker of Italian with some knowledge of Spanish, I could understand all the words

in this text. Many words are the same as Italian or Spanish such as “Colazione”, “Giusto”,

“Venuto”… If I didn’t have knowledge of Sabir I would think that this text came from a
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transcription of a northern or central Italian dialect. One interesting fact demonstrated by this text

is the fact that the subject of the sentence isn’t deleted since there isn’t a conjugated verb that

indicates the subject of the verb “ti venir giusto” would be “sei venuto giusto in tempo” in

Italian. Although this is not as odd as the infinitive auxiliary star being used as a copular verb.

For the rest, the syntax is essentially the same as Italian.

This is another sample from the same text, which is a ballad about a merchant ready to give his

wealth away for the love of a Venetian girl

D'Armenia vegnira e stara mercanta, There was once a merchant who came from Armenia.
de gioia tegnira in quantità tanta e de He had such a great quantity of jewelry and porcelain
China porcelana:chi voler comprar? from China. Who wants to buy?The beautiful Venetian
Bela puta veneziana piaxer tanto, girl pleases me so much that, by Diana,if she loves me,
che, per diana, se ela mi amar tuto I will give her whatever she wants.
quanto mi donar.
This text contains some features that differ slightly more from Italian and contains some features

that differ from the description given about Sabir. The verbs in this text especially bend the rules

considering that the infinitive morpheme -er is present in “piaxer” and the verbs “venira, stara,

and tengira” which are probably conjugated to demonstrate the present tense which should not

exist. This can only demonstrate that verb conjugation changed in time.

The following text is slightly peculiar because it shows a case of bilingualism by part of

both speakers that seem to understand what each is saying exactly, while not being able to

reproduce speech in the others.

SERVITORE: Ho veduto una signora ascender le SERVANT: I saw a lady climbing the
scale. steps.
ALI: Star musica? ALI: Is she a singer?
SERVITORE: Così credo. SERVANT: I believe so.
ALI: Come star? ALI: What is she like?
SERVITORE: Non vi è male. SERVANT: Not bad.
ALI: Star sola? ALI: Is she alone?
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SERVITORE: Parmi aver veduto, che ci sia con lei
un certo Nibio.
ALI: Sì sì, Nibio star bravo.
SERVITORE: Eccola che viene.
CARLUCCIO: Signore, se voi volete..
ALI: Star giovine. Star bellina.
CARLUCCIO: Volete ascoltarmi, signore..
ALI: Andar diavolo.
This text shows a servant speaking in Sabir to their master who is responding in Italian. The man
SERVANT: I think I saw with her a
certain Nibio.
ALI: Yes, yes. Nibio is capable.
SERVANT: Here she comes.
CARLUCCIO: Sir, if you want..
ALI: She is young, she is beautiful.
CARLUCCIO: Do you wish to hear me,
sir?
ALI: Go to the devil.

speaking Italian is trying to organize a concert in Turkey with singers from Italy. Funnily

enough, the source of this text is from an Italian play.

These texts cannot show the extent to which Sabir differs depending on regions since the

dictionary has samples only from one period and primarily shows texts that are related to French

or Italian merchants or contact. This contact language also has a distinct status since its one of

the few contact languages with a Romance superstrate that was used in the Mediterranean. This

could have theoretically happened in past periods such as the Roman Empire, but all conquered

areas eventually ended up speaking versions of Latin.

Bibliography

Sottile Roberto and Scaglione Francesco Aspetti socio-linguistici della lingua franca del

Mediterraneo The Representation of the Mediterranean World, Edited by Vitti Antonio and

Tambutti Anthony, Published by BORDIGHERA PRESS John D. Calandra Italian American

Institute, 2018, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th Floor New York, NY 10036
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Minervini Laura La lingua franca mediterranea. Plurilinguismo, mistilinguismo, pidginizzazione

sulle coste del Mediterraneo tra tardo medioevo romanzo, Medioevo Romanzo, 1996, Rome,

Italy

Minervini Laura Lingua Franca (Italian Pidgin) Wieser Encyclopedia, edited by Ammon Ulrich

and Haarmann Harald ,vol. 2, Published by Klagenfurt/Celovec : Wieser, cop., 2008

Operstein Natalie The syntactic structures of Lingua Franca in the Dictionnaire de la langue

franque, Italian Journal of Linguistics, vol 29, Issue 2, 2017

Dictionnaire de la Langue Franque, Ed 1830, Hanchette Livre-bnf, 2014