Kabyle language

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Kabyle language

Kabyle is a Berber language (Kabyle: , , ) spoken by the Kabyle people

Kabyle people

The Kabyles are a Berber people whose traditional homeland is highlands of Kabylie in northeastern Algeria.Their name derives from the name of the mountainous region in the north of Algeria, which they traditionally inhabit....
. In 1995, there were 7,123,000 speakers worldwide, the majority in Algeria

Algeria

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Encyclopedia

Kabyle is a Berber language (Kabyle: , , ) spoken by the Kabyle people

Kabyle people

Algeria

Oral literature

Oral literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the writing word. It thus forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do....
of Si Mohand

Si Mohand

Si Mohand ou-Mhand n At Hmadouch was a Berber language poet from Kabylie in Algeria....
is particularly notable in this respect.

Classification

The classification of Kabyle is Afro-Asiatic, Berber

Berber languages

Northern Berber languages

The Northern Berber languages are a language continuum across the Maghreb that form a sub-family within the Berber languages. Their continuity is broken by the spread of Arabic language, and to a lesser extent by the Zenati languages subgroup, which, though unmistakably Northern Berber, shares certain innovations not found in the surrounding...
.

Geographic distribution

Kabyle is a Berber language

Berber languages

Kabylie

Kabylie or Kabylia is a region in the north of Algeria.It is part of the Tell Atlas and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea....
, it is present in seven Algeria

Algeria

Tizi Ouzou

b vn Tizi Ouzou is a city in Kabylia, Algeria, where it ranks second it population after B?ja?a. It is the capital and largest city of Tizi Ouzou Province and of Great Kabylia ....
, Béjaïa (Bgayet)

Béjaïa

B?ja?a or Bougie in Algerian Arabic) is a Mediterranean seaport on the Gulf of B?ja?a, capital of B?ja?a Province, northern Algeria. Under French colonial empires, it was formerly known under various European names, such as Budschaja in German, Bugia in Italian, and Bougie // ....
and Bouira (Tubiret)

Bouira

Bou?ra is the capital of Bou?ra Province, Algeria....
are in majority Kabyle-speaking. Kabyle is majority language in Bordj Bou Arreridj

Bordj Bou Arreridj

Bordj Bou Arr?ridj population 140,000 , is a city in Bordj Bou Arr?ridj Province, Algeria. It is situated 148 miles by road east of Algiers, near the Hodnar Massif in the southern Kabylia Mountains, at an elevation of 916 metres....
, Sétif

Sétif

S?tif is a town in northeastern Algeria. It is the Capital of S?tif Province and it has a population of 239,195 inhabitants as of the 1998 census....
and a minority language in Boumerdes

Boumerdès

Boumerd?s is the capital city of Boumerd?s Province, Algeria. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea.Boumerd?s is a seaside city located in the north of Algeria about 50km east of Algiers....
and Jijel

Jijel

Jijel is the capital of Jijel Province in northeastern Algeria. It is flanked by the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Corniche Jijelienne, and has an estimated population of 148,000 inhabitants ....
where it coexists with Algerian Arabic

Algerian Arabic

Algerian Arabic is the Varieties of Arabic or varieties of Arabic language spoken in Algeria. In Algeria, as elsewhere, spoken Arabic differs from written Arabic; Algerian Arabic has an essentially Berber phonetic , a vocabulary with many new words and some loanwords from Berber, Turkish language, Spanish language, and French language, and li...
.

Kabyle is also spoken as a mother tongue among the Kabyle diaspora in Algerian and European cities (mainly France

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
). It is estimated that half of Kabyles live outside Kabylie.

Official status

Berber languages have no official status in Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
. Kabyle faces an unfavourable environment in this nation, although there exists a public radio (Channel II, which dates back to the Algerian revolution), and some TV news reports on the unique Algerian TV channel. Since private ownership of TV channels is illegal in Algeria, Kabyles have launched a private Kabyle speaking TV channel that broadcasts from Paris, France (Berbère Télévision).

In 1994, Kabyle pupils and students boycotted Algerian schools for a year, demanding for the officialization of Berber, leading to the symbolic creation of the "Haut Commissariat à l'Amazighité" (HCA) in 1995. Berber languages were subsequently taught as a non-compulsory language in Berber speaking areas.

After the tragic events of the Black Spring

Black Spring (Kabylie)

The Black Spring was a series of violent disturbances and political demonstrations by Kabyle Berber people activists in the Kabylie region of Algeria in 2001, which were met by repressive police measures and became a potent symbol of Kabyle discontent with the national government....
in 2001, The Kabyle population organized itself under the label of the Arouch. One of their main goals was to officially recognize Berber. President Bouteflika said "Berber will never be an official language, and if it has to be a national language, it has to be submitted to a referendum" ; however he had to submit to the pressure of the Black spring and recognize Berber as a "national language" without a referendum.

In 2005, Bouteflika contradicted himself about the Berber issue, saying that "there is no country in the world that has two official languages" and that "this will never be the case of Algeria".

Varieties

From west to east, some linguists distinguish four zones characterized by three distinct—but mutually intelligible—pronunciations in the following regions: At the west of Tizi Ghenif, Kabylie of the Djurdjura, Soummam valley and the zone starting from Bejaïa to the east.

Phonology

The phonemes below reflect the pronunciation of Kabyle.

Vowels

Kabyle language has four vowels: (e is not considered to be a true vowel, it just makes the reading easier)

Historically, schwa (e) is thought to be the result of a pan-Berber reduction or merger of three other vowels. The phonetic realization of the vowels, especially , is influenced by the character of the surrounding consonants; emphatic consonants invite a more open realization of the vowel, e.g. = 'stone' vs. amud = 'seed'.

Consonants

**Kabyle consonant phonemes**
		Bilabial		Dental Dental consonant In linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth, such as , , , and in some languages....		Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the Dental alveolus of the superior teeth....		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Uvular
		Plain	Lab.	Plain	Emph.	Plain	Emph.	Plain	Emph.	Plain	Lab.	Plain	Lab.	Plain	Lab.
Stops Stop consonant A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. The terms plosive and stop are usually used interchangeably, but they are not perfect synonyms.... and affricates Affricate consonant Affricate consonants begin as stop consonants but release as a fricative consonant rather than directly into the following vowel....	voiceless
	voiced
Fricatives	voiceless
Fricatives	voiced
Nasals Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is produced with a lowered soft palate in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The oral cavity still acts as a resonance chamber for the sound, but the air does not escape through the mouth as it is blocked by the tongue....
Laterals Lateral consonant Laterals are "L"-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue....
Trills Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr > as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular trill....
Approximants

Assimilation

Inside the Kabyle language there are various accents which are the result of assimilations (these accents are generally divided into western and eastern Kabyle). Some of these assimilations are present among all Kabyle "dialects" and some not. These assimilations are not noted in writing, such as:

« Axxam n wergaz. » — "The house of the man." is pronounced either « Axxam n wergaz. » or « Axxam bb wergaz » or « Axxam pp wergaz » ...etc. (N+W=BB)
« D taqcict. » — "It's a girl." is pronounced « Tsaqcict ». (D+T=TS)
Here is a list of some of these assimilations: D+T=TS, T+T=TS, N+W=BB/PP, I+Y=IG, W+W=BB, Y+Y=GG.

Gemination

In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant.Consonant length is distinctive in some languages, for instance Arabic language, Estonian language, Finnish language, Russian language, Hebrew language, Hungarian language, Italian language, Japanese language, L...
affects the quality of certain consonants, turning fricatives into stop

Stop

The word stop has several possible meanings in the English language, but most commonly means to cease moving.Additionally, stop, STOP, or stops may refer to:...
s; in particular, geminated ? becomes qq and y becomes gg.

Fricatives vs Stops

Kabyle is mostly composed of fricatives phonemes which are originally stops in other Berber languages, but in writing there is no difference between fricatives and stops. Below is a list of fricatives vs stops and when they are pronounced (note that gemination

Gemination

Stop

The word stop has several possible meanings in the English language, but most commonly means to cease moving.Additionally, stop, STOP, or stops may refer to:...
s).

Cononant	B	D	G	K	T
Fricative	/ß/	/ð/	/?/	/ç/	/?/
Stop	/b/	/d/	/g/	/k/	/t/
Is a stop after	m	l,n	b,j,r,z,?	f,b,s,l,r,n,?,c,?	l,n
Is a stop in the words (and their derivatives)			ngeb, nge?, nge?wer, anga?, ngedwi, nages,ngedwal

Writing system

The most ancient Berber writings were written in the Libyco-Berber script (Tifinagh

Tifinagh

Tifinagh is an alphabetic script used by some Berber peoples, notably the Tuareg, to write their language. The Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley....
). Such writings have been found in Kabylie

Kabylie

Kabylie or Kabylia is a region in the north of Algeria.It is part of the Tell Atlas and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea....
(also known as Kabylia) and continue to be discovered by archeologists.

During the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, religious literature in Kabylia was written in the Arabic language

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
, which was sometimes annotated with footnote

Footnote

A footnote is a note of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document. The note comments on and/or may citation a reference for part of the main body of text....
s in Kabyle using the Arabic script, however, entire texts were not written in Kabyle.

During the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
era, the first French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
-Kabyle dictionary

Dictionary

A dictionary is a book of Alphabetical order listed words in a specific language, with definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of alphabetically listed words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon....
was compiled by a French

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
ethnologist in the 18th century. It was written in the Latin script with an orthography

Orthography

The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Orthography is derived from Greek language ????? orth?s and ???fe?? gr?phein ....
based on that of French

French orthography

French language orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phoneme and historical principles....
. Other dictionaries were edited when the French colonized North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
, mainly by priests, the pères blancs

White Fathers

The missionary society known as "White Fathers" , after their Costume, is a Roman Catholic Society of Apostolic Life founded in 1868 by the first Archbishop of Algiers, later Cardinal Lavigerie, as the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa of Algeria, and is also now known as the Society of the Missionaries of Africa....
, who also compiled dictionaries in Algerian Arabic

Algerian Arabic

Algerian Arabic is the Varieties of Arabic or varieties of Arabic language spoken in Algeria. In Algeria, as elsewhere, spoken Arabic differs from written Arabic; Algerian Arabic has an essentially Berber phonetic , a vocabulary with many new words and some loanwords from Berber, Turkish language, Spanish language, and French language, and li...
. They also collected many stories from the local population.

By the beginning of the 20th century, contributions of educated Kabyles in their own language, and written in the Latin script, began appearing?"tamacahutt n wuccen" by Brahim Zellal being an example of this trend.

After the independence of Algeria

History of Algeria

The fertile coastal plain of North Africa, especially west of Tunisia, is often called the Maghreb . North Africa served as a transit region for people moving towards Europe or the Middle East....
, some Kabyle activists tried to revive the Libyco-Berber script, which is still in use by the Tuareg

Tuareg

The Tuareg are a nomadic pastoralist people. They are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa. They call themselves variously Kel Tamasheq or Kel Tamajaq , Imuhagh, Imazaghan or Imashaghen , or Kel Tagelmust, i.e., "People of the Veil"....
. Attempts were made to modernize the writing system by modifying the shape of the letters and by adding vowels, but its use remains limited to logo

Logo

A logo is a graphical element that, together with its logotype form a trademark or commercial brand. Typically, a logo's design is for immediate recognition....
s. Kabyle literature continued to be written in the Latin script. This new version of Tifinagh has been called Neo-Tifinagh and has been adopted as the official script of Berber languages in Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million and an area just under 447,000 km2....
.

Mouloud Mammeri

Mouloud Mammeri

Mouloud Mammeri is a Kabyle Berber writer, anthropologist and linguist...
codified a new orthography for the writing of the Kabyle language which avoided the use of the archaic French orthography. His script has been adopted by all Berber linguists, the INALCO and the Algerian HCA. It uses diacritics and two letters from the extended Latin alphabet: C

C or c is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing a voiceless postalveolar affricate , and is equivalent to the voiceless postalveolar affricate, , or the voiceless retroflex affricate, ...
c ?

or is a letter derived from the Latin alphabet. Both glyphs of the majuscule and Lower case forms of this letter are based on the rotated form of a minuscule e; a similar letter with identical minuscule is used in the Pan-Nigerian Alphabet, but has the capital form majuscule , based on a horizontally flipped majuscule E....
? ?

G is the seventh letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English language is spelled gee....
g ?

Grammar

Nouns and adjectives

Gender

As an Afro-Asiatic language

Afro-Asiatic languages

The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a language family with about 375 living languages and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and Southwest Asia ....
, Kabyle has only two genders

Grammatical gender

In linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once....
, Masculine and Feminine. Like most Berber languages

Berber languages

The Berber languages are a group of closely related languages spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, as well as by Berber people communities in parts of Niger and Mali....
, masculine nouns and adjectives generally start with a vowel (a-, i-, u-), while the feminine nouns generally start with t- and end with a -t (there are some exceptions, however). Note that most feminine nouns are in fact feminized versions of masculine nouns.

Examples:

Aqcic "a boy", taqcict "a girl".
Am?ar "an old man", tam?art "an old woman".
Argaz "a man", Tameut "a woman".
Izi "a fly", Tizit "mosquito".

Pluralization

Singular nouns generally start with an a-, and do no have a suffix. Plural nouns generally start with an i- and often have a suffix such as -en. There are three types of plural : external, Internal

Broken plural

In linguistics, broken plurals are a grammatical phenomenon typical in many Semitic languages of the Middle East and East Africa in which a singular noun is "broken" to form a plural by having its root consonants embedded in a different "frame", rather than by merely adding a Prefix or Affix to the original singular noun....
, mix:

External or "regular": consists in changing the initial vowel of the noun, and adding a suffix
Suffix

In grammar, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the grammatical conjugation of verbs....
-n,

amar "an old man" ? im?aren "old men". afus ? ifasen "hands" argaz ? irgazen "men" ul ? ulawen "hearts"

Internal: involves only a change in the vowels within the word:
adrar ? idurar "mountain" amicic "a cat" ? imcac "cats"

Mix: combines a change of vowels (within the word) with the suffix -n:
igenni "sky" ? igenwan "skies". izi ? izan "fly" aar ? iuran "root"

Free and annexed state
As in all Berber languages, Kabyle has two types of states or cases
Grammatical case

In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun indicates its grammatical function in a greater phrase or clause; such as the role of subject , of direct object, or of possession ....
of the noun
Noun

In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open class lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition....
, organized ergatively
Ergative case

The ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.In such languages, the ergative case is typically Markedness , while the absolutive case is unmarked....
: one is unmarked, while the other serves as the subject of a transitive verb and the object of a preposition, among other contexts. The former is often called free state, the latter construct state. The construct state of the noun derives from the free state through one of the following rules:

The first involves a vowel alternation, whereby the vowel a become u : amazi? ? umazi? "Berber" ameqqran ? umeqqran "big" adrar ? udrar "mountain" The second involves the loss of the initial vowel in the case of some feminine nouns (e is not considered to be a true vowel, it just makes the reading easier): tam?art ? tem?art "women" tamdint ? temdint "town" tamurt ? tmurt "country" The third involves the addition of a semi-vowel (w or y) word-initially: asif ? wasif "river" au ? wau "wind" iles ? yiles "tongue" uccen ? wuccen "jackal" Finally, some nouns do not change for free state: taddart ? taddart "village" tuccent ? tuccent "female jackal"

Depending on the role of the noun in the sentence, it takes either its free or annexed state:

Free: Yewwet aqcic. "He has beaten a boy". (Verb-Object)
Annexed: Yewwet weqcic. "The boy has beaten". (Verb-Subject)

After a preposition (at the exception of "ar" and "s"), all nouns take their annexed state:

Free state: Aman (water), Kas n waman (a glass of water).

Verbs
There are three tenses : the Preterite
Preterite

The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place in the past. It is similar to the aorist in languages such as Greek language....
(past), intensive Aorist (present perfect, present continuous, past continuous) and the future (Ad+Aoriste). Unlike other Berber languages, the aorist
Aorist

Aorist is an grammatical aspect or, used more specifically, a verb grammatical tense in some Indo-European languages such as Greek language. The term is also used for unrelated concepts in some other languages, such as Turkish language....
alone is rarely used in Kabyle (In the other languages it is used to express the present).

"Weak verbs" have a preterite form that is the same as their aoriste. Examples of weak verbs that follow are conjugated at the first person of the singular:

Verb Preterite ad + aorist Intensive aorist
If (to outdo) ife? ad ife? ttife?
Muqel (to observe) muqle? ad muqle? ttmuqle?
Krez (to plough) kerze? ad kerze? kerrze?

"Strong verbs" or "irregular verbs":

Verb Preterite ad + aorist Intensive aorist
Aru (to write) uri? ad aru? ttaru?

Conjugation
Conjugation
Grammatical conjugation

In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb, noun or adjective from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by grammatical person, grammatical number, grammatical gender, grammatical tense, Grammatical aspect, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, or other grammatical category....
in Kabyle is done by adding suffixes (prefixes, postfixes or both). These suffixes are static and identical for all tenses (only the theme changes):

Person Singular Plural
1st — (e)? n(e) —
2nd (m) t(e) — (e)m
2nd (f) t(e) — (e)mt
3rd (m) i/y(e) — — (e)n
3rd (f) t(e) — — (e)nt

Example: verb afeg (to fly) with its four themes : ufeg (preterite), ufig (negative preterite), afeg (aorist), ttafeg (intensive aorist).

Person Preterite Negative Preterite Ad+Aorist Intensive Aorist Imperative Intensive Imperative
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st ufge? nufeg ur ufige? ur nufig ad afge? ad nafeg ttafge? nettafeg
2nd (m) tufge? tufgem ur tufige? ur tufigem ad tafge? ad tefgem tettafge? tettafgem afeg afget ttafeg ttafget
2nd (f) tufge? tufgemt ur tufige? ur tufigemt ad tafge? ad tefgemt tettafge? tettafgemt afeg afgemt ttafeg ttafgemt
3rd (m) yufeg ufgen ur yufig ur ufigen ad yafeg ad afgen yettafeg ttafgen
3rd (f) tufeg ufgent ur tufig ur ufigent ad tafeg ad afgent tettafeg ttafgent

Preterite Participle Aorist Participle Intensive Aorist Participle
Positive Negative Positive Negative
yufgen ur nufig ara yafgen yettafeg ur nettafeg

Verb framing
Kabyle is a satellite-framed
Verb framing

In linguistics, verb-framing and satellite-framing are typological descriptions of how verb phrases in different languages describe the manner of motion and the path of motion....
based language, Kabyle verbs use two particles to show the path of motion: d orients toward the speaker, and could be translated as "here".
n orients toward the interlocutor or toward a certain place, and could be translated as "there".

Examples: « iru-d » (he came), « iru-n » (he went).
« awi-d aman» (bring the water), « awi-n aman » (carry away the water).

Negation
Kabyle usually expresses negation in two parts, with the particle
Grammatical particle

A particle, in grammar, is a function word that is not assignable to any of the traditional grammatical word classes . The term is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of elements and lacks a precise universal definition....
ur attached to the verb, and one or more negative words that modify the verb or one of its argument
Argument

* In logic, an Argument is a set of one or more meaningful declarative sentences known as the premises along with another meaningful declarative sentence known as the conclusion....
s. For example, simple verbal negation is expressed by « ur » before the verb and the particle « ara » after the verb: « Urare? » ("I played") ? « Ur urare? ara » ("I didn't play")
Other negative words (acemma...etc.) are used in combination with ur to express more complex types of negation.

Verb derivation
Verb derivation is done by adding suffixes. There are three types of derivation forms : Causative
Causative

A causative form, in linguistics, is an expression of an agent causing or forcing a patient to perform an action .All languages have ways to express causation, but they differ in the means....
, reflexive
Reflexive verb

In grammar, a reflexive verb is a verb whose semantic Theta role are the same. For example, the English language verb to perjure is reflexive, since one can only perjure oneself....
and Passive.

Causative: obtained by prefixing the verb with s- / sse- / ssu- :
ffe? "to go out" ? ssuffe? "to make to go out" kcem "to enter" ? ssekcem "to make to enter, to introduce" irid "to be washed" ? ssired "to wash".
Reflexive: obtained by prefixing the verb with m- / my(e)- / myu-:
er "to see" ? mer "to see each other" ef "to hold" ? myuaf "to hold each other".
Passive: is obtained by prefixing the verb with ttu- / ttwa- / tt- / mm(e)- / n- / nn-:
krez "to plough" ? ttwakrez "to be ploughed" ecc "to eat" ? mmecc "to be eaten".
Complex forms: obtained by combining two or more of the previous prefixes:
en? "to kill" ? mmen? "to kill each other" ? smen? "to make to kill each other" Interestingly, two prefixes can cancel each other: enz "to be sold" ? zzenz "to sell" ? ttuzenz "to be sold" (ttuzenz = enz !!).

Agent noun
Every verb has a corresponding agent noun
Agent noun

In linguistics, an agent noun is a word that is derived from another word denoting an action , and that identifies an entity that does that action....
. In English it could be translated into verb+er. It is obtained by prefixing the verb with « am- » or with « an- » if the first letter is b / f / m / w (there are exceptions however).

Examples:
ef "to hold" ? anaaf "holder" inig "to travel" ? iminig "traveller" eks "to graze" ? ameksa "shepherd"

Action noun
Every verb has a corresponding action noun, which in English it could be translated into verb+ing:

ffer "to hide" ? tuffra "hiding" (stem VI), « Tuffra n tidett ur telhi » — "Hiding the truth is bad".

There are 6 regular stems of forming action nouns, and the 7th is for quality verbs : (C for consonant, V for vowel)

Stem Verb Action noun
I cvcv acvcv
II c(c)vc(c) ac(c)vc(c)v
III c(c)ecc ac(c)ecci
IV (c)cac(c) a(c)cac(c)i
V c1c2ec3 accac
VI ccec tuccca
VII ic1c2vc3 tec1c2ec3

Examples:
?e "to bite" ? a?a zdi "to be united" ? azday ini "to say" ? timenna

Predicative particle "d"
The predicative particle "d" is an indispensable tool in speaking Kabyle, "d" is equivalent to both "it is + adjective" and "to be + adjective", but cannot be replaced by the verb "ili" (to be). It is always followed by a noun (free state).

Examples:
D taqcict, "it's a girl".
D nekk, "it's me".
Nekk d argaz, "I'm a man".
Idir d anelmad, "Idir is a student".
Idir yella d anelmad, "Idir was a student".

The predicative particle "d" should not be confused with the particle of coordination "d"; indeed, the former is followed by a noun at its annexed state while the first is always followed by a noun at its free state.

Pronoun

Personal pronouns

Person Singular Plural
1st (m) nekk / nekkini nekni
1st (f) nekk / nekkini nekkenti
2nd (m) kecc / keccini kunwi / kenwi
2nd (f) kemm / kemmini kunnemti / kennemti
3rd (m) netta / nettan / nettani nutni / nitni
3rd (f) nettat nutenti / nitenti

Example : « Ula d nekk. » — "Me too."

Possessive pronouns

Person Singular Plural
1st (m) (i)w / inu nne?
1st (f) (i)w / inu nnte?
2nd (m) (i)k / inek nwen
2nd (f) (i)m / inem nkent
3rd (m) (i)s / ines nsen
3rd (f) (i)s / ines nsent

Example : « Axxam-nne?. » — "Our house." (House-our)

Pronouns of the verb

Direct object

Person Singular Plural
1st (m) (i)yi ? / (y)a? / na? / (y)ana?
1st (f) (i)yi ? / (y)a? / tna? / (y)ante?
2nd (m) (i)k (i)ken
2nd (f) (i)kem (i)kent
3rd (m) (i)t (i)ten
3rd (f) (i)tt (i)tent

Example : « Yu?-it. » — "He bought it." (He.bought-it)

Indirect object

Person Singular Plural
Long form Short form Long form Short form
1st (m) (i)yi yi ? / (y)a? ?
1st (f) (i)yi yi ? / (y)a? ?
2nd (m) (y)ak k (y)awen wen
2nd (f) (y)am m (y)akent kent
3rd (m) (y)as s (y)asen sen
3rd (f) (y)as s (y)asent sent

Example : « Yenna-yas. » — "He said to him." (He.said-to.him)
Complex example (Mixing indirect and direct object) : « Yefka-yas-t. » — "He gave it to him." (He.gave-to.him-it)

Demonstratives
There are three demonstratives, near-deictic
Deixis

In pragmatics and linguistics, deixis is collectively the orientational features of human languages to have reference to points in time, space, and the speaking event between interlocutors....
('this, these'), far-deictic ('that, those') and absence:

Suffix: Used with a noun, example : « Axxam-agi» — "This house." (House-this).

Near-deictic Far-deictic Absence
Singular Plural Singular Plural
(y)a / (y)agi (y)agini (y)ihin / (y)ihinna (y)inna nni

Isolated : Used when we omit the subject we are speaking about : «Wagi yelha» — "This is nice." (This-is.nice)

Near-deictic Far-deictic Absence
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
masculine wa/ wagi/ wagini wi/ wigi/ wigini wihin / wihinna wihid / wihidak
widak-inna / wigad-inna
widak-ihin / wigad-ihin win / winna wid / wid-nni
widak / widak-nni
wigad-nni
feminine ta / tagi / tagini ti / tigi / tigini tihin / tihinna tihid / tihidak
tidak-inna / tigad-inna
tidak-ihin / tigad-ihin tin / tinna tid / tid-nni
tidak / tidak-nni
tigad-nni

Numerotation
Only the first two numbers are Berber; for higher numbers, Arabic is used. They are yiwen (f. yiwet) "one", sin (f. snat) "two". The noun being counted follows it in the genitive: sin n yirgazen "two men".

"First" and "last" are respectively amezwaru and aneggaru (regular adjectives). Other ordinals are formed with the prefix wis (f. tis): wis sin "second (m.)", tis tlata "third (f.)", etc.

Prepositions
Prepositions precede their objects: « i medden » "to the people", « si temdint » "from the town". All words preceded by a preposition (at the exception of « s » and « ar », "towards", "until" ) take their annexed state.

Some prepositions have two forms : one is used with pronominal suffixes and the other form is used in all other contexts.

Also some of these prepositions have a corresponding relative pronoun
Relative pronoun

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause within a larger Sentence . It is called a relative pronoun because it relates to the word that it modifies....
(or interrogative), example:

« i » "for/to" ? « iwumi » "to whom" « Tefka aksum i wemcic » "she gave meat to the cat" ? « Amcic iwumi tefka aksum » "The cat to whom she gave meat"

Kabyle prepositions
Preposition With suffixes translation equivalent Corresponding Relative pronoun
Relative pronoun

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause within a larger Sentence . It is called a relative pronoun because it relates to the word that it modifies....
translation equivalent
d yid- / did- 'and, with, in the company of' (w)ukud / wi d 'with whom'
i — 'for, to' (dative
Dative case

The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "John gave a book to Mary"....
) iwumi / iwimi / imi / umi / mi 'to whom' (dative
Dative case

The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "John gave a book to Mary"....
) / 'whose'
?er / ar — 'to' (direction) i?er / ?er way / (s)ani?er / (s)awier / ?er 'to' (direction)
s — 'to' (direction) sani 'to' (direction)
?ur — 'among' (w)u?ur / ?ur 'among'
?ef / af / f fell- 'on; because of; about' i?ef / ?ef way / ?ef wadeg / ?ef 'on what'
deg / g / di — 'in' ideg / deg way / deg waydeg / anda / deg 'where'
seg / si / g — 'from' iseg / seg way / ansi 'from where'
s iss- / yiss- / yis- 'with, by means of, using' (instrumental
Instrumental case

The instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action....
) s ways / s wacu / s / iss / is 'with what' (instrumental
Instrumental case

The instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action....
)
ger gar- 'between' — —
n — 'of' — —
nnig / sennig — 'on top of' — —
ddaw / seddaw — 'beneath, under' — —
ar — 'until' — —
deffir — 'behind' — —
zdat / zzat — 'in front of' — —
am — 'like, as' — —

Conjunctions
Conjunction
Grammatical conjunction

In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, phrases or clauses together. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" should be defined for each language....
s precede the verb: mi yiwwe "when he arrived", muqel ma yusa-d "see if he came".

Vocabulary
Kabyle has absorbed quite some Arabic and French vocabulary. According to Salem Chaker, about a third of Kabyle vocabulary is of Arabic origin; the amount of French loanwords has not been studied yet. These loanwords are sometimes Berberized and sometimes kept in their original form. The Berberized words follow the regular grammar of Kabyle (free and annexed state).

Examples of berberized Arabic or french words :

Kitab => Taktabt (Book, Ar.)
Machine => Tamacint (Machine, Fr.)

Many loanwords from Arabic have often a different meaning in Kabyle:

El Mal (Money, Ar.) => Lmal (Domestic animals, Kab.)

All verbs of Arabic origin follow a Berber conjugation and verbal derivation:

fhem (to understand) => ssefhem (to explain).

Sample text
In. MOULIERAS (Auguste), les fourberies de si Djeh'a.
Aqerruy n tixsi Ewe Head
Yiwen wass, Ge??a yefka-yas baba-s frank, akken ad d-ya? aqerruy n tixsi. Yu?-it-id, yecca akk aksum-is. Yeqqim-d uceqlal d ilem, yewwi-yas-t-id i baba-s. Ihi, mi t-iwala yenna-yas: "acu-t wa?" yenna-yas: "d aqerruy n tixsi".

-A ccmata, anida llan ime??u?en-is?
-Tella d ta?e??ugt.
-Anida llan wallen-is?
-Tella d tader?alt.
-Anida yella yiles-is?
-Tella d tagugamt.
-I weglim n uqerruy-is, anida yella?
-Tella d tafer?ast.
One day, Jehha's father gave him one cent, so that he buys a ewe head. He bought it, and ate all of its meat. Only an empty carcass was left, he brought it to his father. Then, when he saw it he said: "what is that?" Jehha said: "a ewe head".

-You vile (boy), where are its ears (the ewe)?
-It was deaf.
-Where are its eyes?
-It was blind.
-Where is its tongue?
-It was dumb.
-And the skin of its head, where is it?
-It was bald.

IPA transcription : æq?rruj ?n ?i?si Word by word translation : head of ewe
jiw?n wæss, d??hhæ j?fkæ-jæs ßæßæ-s frank, ækk?n æ d-jæ? æq?rruj ?n ?i?si. Yu?-i?-id, y?t?t?æ æk? æçsum-is. Y?qqim-d u??qlæl ð il?m, j?wwi-jæs-?-id i ßæßæ-s. Ihi, mi ?-iwælæ j?nnæ-jæs: "æ?u-? wæ?" j?nnæ-jæs: "ð æq?rruj ?n ?i?si".

-æ ??mætæ, ænidæ llæn im?z?z?u?n-is?
-??llæ ts a??z?z?ugt.
-ænidæ llæn wælln-is?
-??llæ ts æð?r?æl?.
-ænidæ j?llæ jils-is?
-??llæ ts æ?u?æm?.
-i w??lim ?n uq?rruj-is, ænidæ j?llæ?
-??llæ ts æf?rð?ast.
One day, Jehha he.gave-to.him father-his cent, so.that he.buys head of ewe. He.bought-it-here, he.ate all meat-its. Stayed-here carcass it.is empty, he.brought-to.him-it-here to father-his. Then, when it-he.saw he.said-to.him: "what-it that?" he.said-to.him: "head of ewe".

-Oh vile, where are ears-its?
-She.was it.is deaf.
-Where are eyes-its?
-She.was it.is blind.
-Where is tongue-its?
-She.was it.is dumb.
-And skin of head-its, where it.is?
-She.was bald.
Note: the predicative particule d was translated as "it.is", the particule of direction d was translated as "here".

Sources used for this article

Kamal Nait-Zerrad. Grammaire moderne du kabyle, tajerrumt tatrart n teqbaylit. Editions KARTHALA, 2001. ISBN 978-2-84586-172-5
Dallet, Jean-Marie. 1982. Dictionnaire kabyle–français, parler des At Mangellet, Algérie. Études etholinguistiques Maghreb–Sahara 1, ser. eds. Salem Chaker, and Marceau Gast. Paris: Société d’études linguistiques et anthropologiques de France.

Bibliography

Achab, R. : 1996 - La néologie lexicale berbère (1945-1995), Paris/Louvain, Editions Peeters, 1996.
Achab, R. : 1998 - Langue berbère. Introduction à la notation usuelle en caractères latins, Paris, Editions Hoggar.
F. Amazit-Hamidchi & M. Lounaci : Kabyle de poche, Assimil
Assimil

File:Assimil.gifAssimil is a France company, founded by Alphonse Ch?rel in 1929. It creates and publishes foreign language courses, which began with their first book Anglais Sans Peine ....
, France, ISBN 2-7005-0324-4

Salem Chaker. 1983. Un parler berbere d'Algerie (Kabyle): syntax. Provence: Université de Provence.
Dallet, Jean-Marie. 1982. Dictionnaire kabyle–français, parler des At Mangellet, Algérie. Études etholinguistiques Maghreb–Sahara 1, ser. eds. Salem Chaker, and Marceau Gast. Paris: Société d’études linguistiques et anthropologiques de France.
Hamid Hamouma. n.d. Manuel de grammaire berbère (kabyle). Paris: Edition Association de Culture Berbère.
Mammeri, M. : 1976 - Tajerrumt n tmazi?t (tantala taqbaylit), Maspero, Paris.
Naït-Zerrad, K. : 1994 - Manuel de conjugaison kabyle (le verbe en berbère), L’Harmattan, Paris.
Naït-Zerrad, K. : 1995 - Grammaire du berbère contemporain, I - Morphologie, ENAG, Alger.
Kamal Nait-Zerrad. Grammaire moderne du kabyle, tajerrumt tatrart n teqbaylit. Editions KARTHALA, 2001. ISBN 978-2-84586-172-5
Tizi-Wwuccen. Méthode audio-visuelle de langue berbère (kabyle), Aix-en-Provence, Edisud, 1986.

Kabyle language

Classification

Geographic distribution

Official status

Varieties

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Assimilation

Fricatives vs Stops

Writing system

Grammar

Nouns and adjectives

Gender

Pluralization

Free and annexed state

Verbs

Conjugation

Verb framing

Negation

Verb derivation

Agent noun

Action noun

Predicative particle "d"

Pronoun

Personal pronouns

Possessive pronouns

Pronouns of the verb

Demonstratives

Numerotation

Prepositions

Conjunctions

Vocabulary

Sample text

Sources used for this article

Bibliography

External links

Websites in Kabyle

Online dictionaries