Senhaja de Srair language

Besides Senhaja de Srair, the language is also known in English as Tasenhajit, Senhaja Berber, Senhajiya, Shilha/Shelha, Shelha n Senhaja and Tamazight n Senhaja. The most widespread endonym (term used by the speakers themselves) to refer to their language is Ccelḥa 'Shelha'. If necessary, one can specify, depending on the (sub-)tribe: Shelha of Ketama, Seddat, Taghzut, etc., or simply "our Shelha". Some Senhaja de Srair Berber activists prefer the name Tasenhajit or Senhaja Berber, as the term Shelha can refer to other Berber languages as well. == Language status ==

Senhaja de Srair, according to the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, is an endangered language. Recently, the association of "Amazighs of Senhaja of the Rif" has emerged in Targuist with the aim of promoting and preserving the Senhajan language and cultural heritage. It has played a role in the development of a distinct cultural and identity discourse among Senhaja de Srair speakers. Its members include Charif Adardak, Iliasse Aarab, Mounir Aghzennay, Mohamed Ben Abdellah Aghzout. In addition to various cultural initiatives, the association created Tidighin, a magazine devoted to the cultural and linguistic heritage of Senhaja Srair. ==Geographic distribution==

Senhaja de Srair is native to the Rif Mountains (northwestern Morocco), and is spoken by more than 70,000 people in Al Hoceima province, notably in the districts of Targuist, Ketama and Bni Boufrah. entirely Berber-speaking; • Ait Seddat: entirely Berber-speaking; • Ketama: bilingual both Berber and Arabic speaking; • Taghzut: entirely Berber-speaking; • Zerqet: entirely Berber-speaking; → . == Dialects ==

Senhaja de Srair exhibits significant internal dialectal variation. Its dialcets include Ait Ahmed, Ait Bshir, Ait Bunsar, Ait Khennus, Ait Mezduy, Ait Seddat, Ketama, Taghzut, and Zerqet. and is now spoken only in seven villages: Ait Ahmed, Ait Aissi, Makhzen, Asammar, Talghunt, Sahel, and Zgara. In Ketama, Senhaja Berber is also spoken in the village of Ighumad, on the northern slope of Adrar Dahduh, but this sector of Ketama has its main contacts with the Berber speakers of Ait Seddat, which favoured the preservation of the language there. Each dialect has its own shifts such as: • l > y / ǧ / r : A single *l usually undergoes changes in Senhaja, changing to y(y) in most varieties (Ketama/Seddat/Hmed/Bunsar), to ǧ(ǧ) in Taghzut, and to r(r) in Mezduy. A single *l is preserved in Zerqet. • ll > ǧǧ : Long ll is preserved in Ketama, Hmed, as well as in Taghzut. Long ll > ǧǧ in Seddat, Bunsar, and Zerqet. • g > y / w : Found in Hmed, Bunsar, and Zerqet. • t > h / Ø : Found in Ketama and Taghzut. ==Phonology==

Vowels There are three peripheral vowels (a, i, u) and a central vowel, schwa [ə], written as e. The vowel a is usually realized as [æ], i as [ɪ], u as [u], e as [ə]. • ew > u : sew > su (most Snh.) "Drink!"; ssew > ssu (most Snh.) "Irrigate!". • el > ey > i : adfel (Zerqet) > adfey > adfi (most Snh.) "snow"; azzel (Zerqet) > azzey > azzi (Hmed) "to run". Consonants Consonant assimilations Generally speaking, consonant assimilation is regressive, which means that a consonant is impacted by the sound that comes after it. The preverbal ventive clitic d is an exception to this pattern, deviating from the typical regressive behaviour. Alveolar stops and post-alveolar fricatives are the consonants most frequently impacted by assimilation. Voicing assimilation is especially common. For instance, a voiced + voiceless sequence tends to become voiceless (e.g., d + t → t^t, ɣ + t → x^t), whereas a sequence of voiceless + voiced consonants usually produces a voiced result (e.g., t + d → d^d). • d + t > tt : d + tamɣart > t^tamɣart (Hmed/Zerqet) 'It is a woman'. • ɣ + t > x^t : zri-ɣ + ten > zri-x^ten (Ketama/Zerqet) 'I saw them'. • t + d > dd : tadeggʷat 'evening' (Hmed/Zerqet), by deleting the prefix vowel a: tdeggʷat > ddeggʷat. These procedures vary among dialects, though. Compared to Ketama and Zerqet, assimilation phenomena are generally less common in Hmed, particularly within the verbal complex. Sibilants Sibilant harmony is a type of Long-distance assimilation, in which sibilants often assimilate to each other. • Assimilation to the postverbal negative marker c/ci/cay.u rrfus ci > u rrfuc^ci 'Do not knead!'. Assimilation of n The consonant n is special and can be assimilated in a variety of ways. It may assimilate to the following l, ll, r, ṛ, but does not assimilate to other consonants including m or b . This assimilation is optional and varies among speakers, as the assimilation to l/ll appears to be more widespread than to r/ṛ. • 1P verbal subject prefix n- + l, ll, r, ṛ. • The Genitive preposition n + l, ll, r, ṛ. • Annexed state: n waman (Ketama/Hmed/Zerqet) > w^waman (Hmed/Zerqet) 'of the water'. Vocalic Sandhi In Berber languages, two consecutive vowels are typically avoided. One of the following approaches is usually used to resolve such a sequence when it occurs: • one of the vowels is elided (vowel elision), e.g. a + a > a. i-nna + as > i-nna^s 'He said to him/her'; • a semivowel is inserted (Hiatustilger), e.g. '''a + a > a ya'.i-nna + as > i-nna^yas'' 'He said to him/her'; • one of the vowels becomes a semivowel, e.g. '''a + i > a y'.arba + inu > arba ynu'' 'my son'; == Writing system ==

Senhaja de Srair speakers are not used to writing in their language. Unlike some other Berber languages, Tifinagh script is never used in Tasenhajit. If the language is written, especially in the case on Computer-mediated communication, Latin script is the most considered one, numbers are sometimes (but not consistently) used to represent some sounds. The Berber Latin script: ==Grammar==

Nouns Senhaja Berber distinguishes two genders: masculine and feminine. As in most Berber languages, masculine nouns and adjectives generally start with a vowel (a-, i-, u-), while feminine nouns generally start with t- and end with a -t. e.g. :: ''arba 'boy' vs. tarbat 'girl'.aɣyul 'donkey' vs. taɣyult 'jennet'.'' Senhaja Berber countable nouns distinguish a singular from a plural. Masculine plurals generally take the prefix i-, feminines ti-, and take the suffix -en in the masculine and -in in the feminine, e.g. :: ''argaz 'man' vs. irgazen 'men'.tacqiqt 'sister' vs. ticqiqin 'sisters'.'' As in all Berber languages, the state distinction (or annexed state) is typically indicated only in the singular, and only for nouns whose stems begin with a. Most plural nouns and nouns whose stems begin with i or u~w do not show a distinction between states. In feminine singular nouns, the state distinction can be marked whether the noun begins with ta or ti, as the initial vowels may be dropped. :: adrar → udrar "mountain" :: aman → waman "water" :: tamɣart → temɣart "woman" :: tisirt → tsirt "mill" Verbs Verbs are conjugated for three tenses: The Aorist (a(d) + verb / (ma)c-a(d) + verb), it expresses a non-realized event (irrealis, future, uncertainty, possibility, probability, wish, conditional, prospective, subjunctive, etc.). The Perfective can express a dynamic event in the past, or a stative (including resultative) event. The Imperfective is used for the progressive, simultaneous, habitual, general, iterative, durative, etc. The verb in Berber always agrees with the subject in gender and number, and is conjugated for person by adding affixes. e.g. : « i-kcem » – 'He entered.' : « t-kerz-ed » – 'You plowed.' Verbs are always marked for subject and may also inflect for person of direct and indirect object. e.g : « i-ẓṛa^t » – 'He saw it.' : « i-nna^(ya)s i ḥmed » – 'He told Ahmed.' : « i-kka^(ya)s aɣrum i ḥmed » – 'He gave the bread to Ahmed.' Verb derivation is performed by adding affixes. There are two types of derivation forms: causative and passive. • Causative: obtained by prefixing the verb with s- / ss-: :: ɣeṛ 'to study' → sɣeṛ 'to make study' :: bedd 'to stop / stand' → sbedd 'to make stop / stand' :: ani 'to ride' → ssani 'to make ride'. • Passive: is obtained by prefixing the verb with tt- / ttuya- / ttya- / ttwa- / t- / n- / nn- / m- / mm- : :: ẓẓu 'to plant' → tteẓẓu 'to be planted' :: akʷer 'to steal' → ttuyakʷer, ttyaker, ttwakʷer 'to be stolen' :: gzem 'to cut / hurt' → nnegzem 'to be cut / hurt' :: ečč 'to eat' → mmečč 'to be eaten'. Senhaja Berber usually expresses negation in two parts.The first (preverbal) negator can be u, ur, or ud. The second (postverbal) negator can be c, ci, or cay: the three are usually in free variation, the postverbal negator can be absent in certain contexts. • u ẓṛiɣ c 'I did not see'. • u kerzaɣ c 'I did not plow'. • ud ufiɣ c 'I did not find'. Berber verbal nouns are usually derived by adding often the nominal prefix a- or t- to the verb stem, just that the feminin verbal nouns are more concrete in their meaning. • wareg 'to dream' → awareg 'dreaming' → tawargit 'a dream'. • mger 'to harvest' → amger 'harvesting' → tamgra 'harvest' Pronouns Independent personal pronouns in Senhaja express person (first, second, and third), number (singular and plural), and gender (masculine and feminine). Possessive pronouns are usually bound to the noun. Examples: • « gma-s » – 'His brother'; • « Axam-inu » – 'My house'. There are three demonstratives: proximal, medial, and distal. Most dialects distinguish between masculine singular, feminine singular, and common plural forms. One may find many ways of expressing demonstratives, especially in pronominal form: -yya, -dda (proximal), and -nna, -yyen, -ddin (distal). eg. • argaz-yya 'this man' ; • argaz-nna, argaz-yyen 'that man' ; == Arabic influence ==

Based on the Leipzig–Jakarta list, 17% of the vocabulary in Senhaja de Srair is borrowed from Arabic. ==References==