Libyan Arabic (Lībi ليبي; also known as
Sulaimitian Arabic) is a collective term for the closely related
varieties of ArabicThe Arabic language is a Semitic language with many varieties that diverge widely from one another—both from country to country and within a single country. A distinction is to be made between Classical/Standard Arabic and these "colloquial" variants...
spoken in
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
. It can be divided into two major dialect areas; the eastern centred in
BenghaziBenghazi or Bengasi is the second largest city in Libya and the main city of the Cyrenaica region . It is also a district of Libya of the wider city area...
, and the western centred in
TripoliTripoli is the largest and capital city of Libya.Tripoli has a population of 1.69 million...
. The eastern variety extends beyond the borders to the east into western
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
.
Note on transcription notation
The
transcriptionTranscription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form, of a spoken-language source, as in the proceedings of a court hearing. It can also mean the conversion of a written source into another medium, as by scanning books and making digital versions...
of Libyan Arabic into
Latin AlphabetThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...
poses a few problems. First, there is not one standard transcription in use even for Standard Arabic. The use of
IPAThe International Phonetic Alphabet
["The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...]
alone is not sufficient as it obscures some points that can be better understood if several different
allophoneIn phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar speech sounds that belong to the same phoneme. A phoneme is an abstract unit of speech sound that can distinguish words: That is, changing a phoneme in a word can produce another word...
s in Libyan Arabic are transcribed using the same symbol. On the other hand, Standard Arabic transcription schemes, while providing good support for representing Arabic sounds that are not normally represented by the Latin alphabet, do not list symbols for other sounds found in Libyan Arabic. Therefore, to make this article more legible,
DIN 31635DIN 31635 is a DIN standard for the transliteration of the Arabic alphabet adopted in 1982. It is based on the rules of the DMG as modified by the International Orientalist Congress 1936 in Rome...
is used with a few additions to render
phonemeIn a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s particular to Libyan Arabic. These additions are as follow:
| IPA |
Extended DIN |
|
| g |
|
| ō |
|
| ē |
|
| ə |
|
| ż |
|
| j |
History
Two major historical events have shaped the Libyan dialect; the
HilalianThe Banu Hilal were a confederation of bedouin tribes that migrated from Upper Egypt into North Africa in the 11th century, having been sent by the Fatimids to punish the Zirids for abandoning Shiism. Other authors suggest that the tribes left the grasslands on the upper Nile because of...
-
SulaimiAn Arab tribe that had lived in Hejaz and Nejd in the rise of Islam, it settled North Africa along with Banu Hilal in the 11th century.-Origin:Banu Sulaym trace their origin to Qais 'Ailan bin Mudhar bin Nizar bin Ma'ad bin Adnan....
migration, and the migration of Arabs from Muslim Spain to North Africa following the
reconquistaThe Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims...
. Libyan Arabic has also been influenced by
ItalianItalian is a Romance language spoken by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City...
, and to a lesser extent by
TurkishTurkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
. A
BerberThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
substratumIn linguistics, a stratum or strate is a language that influences, or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum is a language which is influenced by another, while a superstratum is the language that exerts the influence...
also exists.
Domains of Use
The Libyan dialect is used predominantly in spoken communication in
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
. It is also used in Libyan folk poetry, TV dramas and comedies, songs, as well as in cartoons. Libyan Arabic is also used by non-Arab Libyans whose mother tongue is not Arabic as a
lingua francaA lingua franca is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongues.Lingua franca is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic history or...
. Libyan Arabic is not normally written, as the written
registerIn linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, an English speaker may adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal instead of an alveolar nasal In linguistics, a...
is normally Modern Standard Arabic, but Libyan Arabic is the main language for cartoonists, and the only suitable language for writing Libyan folk poetry. It is also written in internet forums, emails and in instant messaging applications.
Phonology
As is the case with all
BedouinThe Bedouin, , are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert...
dialects, the
qThe voiceless uvular plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is pronounced like [k], except that the tongue makes contact not on the soft palate but on the uvula...
sound of Standard Arabic is realized as a
gThe voiced velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is
g. Strictly, the IPA symbol is the so-called "opentail G" , though the "looptail...
, except in words recently borrowed from Standard Arabic.
The following table shows the consonants used in Libyan Arabic. Note: some sounds occur in certain
regional varietiesThe term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by scholars of language. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other...
while being completely absent in others.
Libyan Arabic consonant phonemes
| |
Labial Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips or with the lower lip and the upper teeth...
|
Inter-
dentalInterdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors. This differs from a dental consonant in that the tip of the tongue is placed between the upper and lower front teeth, and therefore may articulate with both the upper and lower incisors, while a...
|
DentalIn 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...
|
Post-
alveolarPostalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate .Among the fricatives and affricates, a subtype called...
or palatalPalatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...
|
VelarVelars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
|
UvularUvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and...
|
Pharyn-
gealA pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet :* Pharyngeal plosives are thought to be impossible...
|
GlottalGlottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricatives, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
|
| plain |
emphatic |
plain |
emphatic |
| Stop 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. Plosives are oral stops with a pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. The term is also used to...
|
voiceless |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| voiced |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| Fricative |
voiceless |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| voiced |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
| Nasal A nasal consonant is produced with a lowered velum 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 lips or tongue...
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
LateralLaterals 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....
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Tap |
|
|
|
| rˁ |
|
|
|
|
|
| Approximant |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
In western dialects, the interdental fricatives have merged with the corresponding dental stops . Eastern dialects generally still distinguish the two sets, but there is a tendency to replace with .
The e and o vowels exist only in long form. This can be explained by the fact that these vowels were originally
diphthongIn phonetics, a diphthong, or , is a contour vowel—that is, a unitary vowel that changes quality during its pronunciation, or "glides", with a smooth movement of the tongue from one articulation to another, as in the English words eye, boy, and cow...
s in Classical Arabic with replacing and replacing . In some eastern varieties, however, the classical has changed to and to .
Libyan Arabic has at least three
clicksClicks are speech sounds found as consonants in many languages of southern Africa, and in three languages of East Africa. Examples of these sounds familiar to English speakers are the tsk! tsk! used to express disapproval, or the tchick! used to spur on a horse.Technically, clicks are obstruents...
, which are used
interjectionAn interjection or exclamation describes a noun with a grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence and simply expresses emotion on the part of the speaker, although most interjections have clear definitions...
ally, a trait shared with the
BedouinThe Bedouin, , are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert...
dialects of central Arabia. The first is used for affirmative responses and is generally considered very casual and sometimes associated with low social status. The second is a
dental clickThe dental clicks are a family of click consonants found, as constituents of words, only in Africa and in the Damin ritual jargon of Australia....
and used for negative responses and is similar to the English 'tut'. The third is a
palatal clickThe palato-alveolar clicks are a family of click consonants found only in Africa. They are commonly called palatal clicks.The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the forward articulation of these sounds is . This must be combined with a symbol for the rear articulation to...
used exclusively by women having a meaning close to that of the English word 'alas'.
Syllable structure
Although Western Libyan Arabic allows for the following syllable structure to occur.
- syllable: C1(C2)V1(V2)(C3)(C4)
An
anaptycticIn phonology, epenthesis is the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially to the interior of a word...
is inserted between C
3 and C
4 to ease pronunciation, changing the structure above into the following.
- C1(C2)V1(V2)(C3)ə(C4).
On the other hand Eastern Libyan always has an
anaptycticIn phonology, epenthesis is the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially to the interior of a word...
between C
1 and C
2 in the following manner.
- C1ə(C2)V1(V2)(C3)(C4).
Vocabulary
Most of the vocabulary in Libyan Arabic is of Classical Arabic origin, usually with a modified interconsonantal vowel structure. Many Italian loanwords also exist, in addition to
TurkishTurkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
,
BerberThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
and
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
words.
Relation to Classical Arabic vocabulary
The bulk of vocabulary in Libyan Arabic has the same meaning as in Classical Arabic. However, many words have different but related meanings to those of
Classical ArabicClassical Arabic , also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times . It is based on the Medieval dialects of Arab tribes...
. The following table serves to illustrate this relation. The
past tenseThe past tense is a verb tense expressing action, activity, state or being in the past of the current moment , or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future ....
is used in the case of verbs as it is more distinctive and has been traditionally used in Arabic
lexiconIn linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes....
s. Canonically, these verbs are pronounced with the final 'a' (marker of the past tense in Classical Arabic). This notation is preserved the table below. However, the relation between Libyan and Classical Arabic verbs can be better understood if the final 'a' is dropped, in accordance with the
elisionElision is the omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce. Sometimes, sounds may be elided for euphonic effect....
rule of pre-pause vowels of Classical Arabic.
Comparison of Meanings Between Libyan Arabic Words and Classical Arabic Words
| Libyan Arabic Meaning |
Classical Arabic |
| Word1 |
IPA1 |
Meaning |
Word |
IPA |
Closest Meaning |
|
|
| (3rd m.) saw (perceived with the eyes) |
|
| appeared vaguely |
|
|
| (3rd m.) spoke |
|
| rumbled |
|
|
| wood |
|
| board, plank |
|
|
| difficult |
|
| rough terrain |
|
|
| (3rd m. trans.) stretched |
|
| became distant |
1. Western Libyan pronunciation is used in the above table.
Italian loanwords
Italian loanwords exist mainly, but not exclusively, as a technical jargon. For example machinary parts, workshop tools, electrical supplies, names of fish species, etc.
Italian Loanwords
| Libyan Arabic |
ItalianItalian is a Romance language spoken by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City...
|
| Word |
IPA |
Meaning |
Word |
Meaning |
|
|
| slope |
salita |
up slope |
|
|
| metallic gate |
cancello |
gate |
|
|
| corner |
angolo |
corner |
|
|
| truck |
ottanta |
eighty (a model of a truck of Italian make) |
|
|
| a head butt |
testa |
head |
Turkish loanwords
TurkishTurkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
words were borrowed during the
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
era of Libya. Words of Turkish origin are not as common as Italian ones.
Turkish Loanwords
| Libyan Arabic |
Turkish Turkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
|
| Word |
IPA |
Meaning |
Word |
Meaning |
|
|
| spoon |
kaşık |
spoon |
|
|
| bottle |
şişe |
bottle |
|
|
| paper |
kağıt |
paper |
|
|
| plenty of |
çok |
plenty of |
Berber loanwords
Before the mass
ArabizationArabization describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or incorporates Arab culture...
of what corresponds to modern-day Libya,
BerberThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
was the native language for most people. This led to the borrowing of a number of Berber words in Libyan Arabic. Many
BerberThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
-speaking people continue to live in Libya today but it is not clear to what extent Berber language continues to influence Libyan Arabic.
Grammar
Libyan Arabic shares the feature of the
first personGrammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
singularIn linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
initial n- with the rest of the Maghrebi Arabic
dialect continuumA dialect continuum is a range of dialects spoken across a large geographical area, differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in mutual intelligibility as the distances become greater. Dialects separated by great geographical distances may not be...
to which it belongs. Similar to other Arabic dialects, Libyan does not mark
grammatical caseIn 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 possessor. Usually a language is said to "have cases" only if nouns change their form to reflect their case. Others indicate cases in...
s by
declensionIn linguistics, declension is the occurrence of inflection in nouns, pronouns and adjectives, indicating such features as number , case , gender, and possession. Declension occurs in a great many of the world's languages, and features very prominently in many European languages, but is much less...
. However, it has a rich
verbkalleah hit meIn syntax, a verb is a word that usually denotes an action , an occurrence , or a state of being . Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its tense, aspect, mood and voice...
al
conjugationIn 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 person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
structure.
Nouns
Nouns in Libyan Arabic are marked for two
gendersIn 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) and three
numbersIn linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
(singular, dual, and plural). Paucal number also exists for some nouns. The
DiminutiveIn language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form, is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
is also still widely used
productivelyIn linguistics, productivity is the degree to which native speakers use a particular grammatical process, especially in word formation. Since use to produce novel structures is the clearest proof of usage of a grammatical process, the evidence most often appealed to as establishing productivity is...
(especially by women) to add an endearing or an empathetic connotation to the original noun. As in Classical Arabic, rules for the dimunitive formation are based on vowel
apophonyIn linguistics, apophony is the alternation of sounds within a word that indicates grammatical information .-Description:Apophony is exemplified in English...
.
IndefiniteIndefinite may refer to:*In mathematics:**When talking about positive or negative indefinite forms in multilinear algebra, see definite bilinear form....
ness is not marked. Definite nouns are marked using the same Classical Arabic definite article
al is the definite article in the Arabic language; a particle whose function is to render the noun on which it is prefixed definite. For example, the word “kitāb” can be made definite by prefixing it with Al-, resulting in “Al-kitāb”...
, but with somewhat different rules of pronuciation:
- For nouns beginning with Qamari letters, the definite article is pronounced either --for words with an initial single consonant onset
Onset may refer to:*Onset , the beginning of a musical note or sound*Interonset interval, a term in music*Syllable onset, a term in phonetics and phonology*Onset, Massachusetts, village in the United States...
--or , for words with a double consonant onset. Except for the letter j , Qamari letters in Libyan Arabic are the same as in Classical Arabic, even for those letters that have become different phonemes such as q changing to g. The letter j , which corresponds to the Classical Arabic phoneme has changed from being a Qamari letter to a Shamsi letter.
- For nouns beginning with Shamsi letters, which in Libyan Arabic include the The letter j
Ĵ or ĵ is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing a voiced postalveolar fricative , and is equivalent to the voiced postalveolar fricative, , or the voiced retroflex fricative, ....
, the definite article is pronounced with the first consonant geminatedIn 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, Estonian, Finnish, Russian, Classical Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Latin, and Luganda....
.
Dual
While marking verbs for the dual number has been lost completely in Libyan Arabic -and all Arabic dialects for that matter, nouns have a specialized dual number form. However, in Eastern Libyan it tends to be more widespread.
Demonstratives
Various sets of demonstratives exist in Libyan Arabic. Following is a list of some of these. Please note that the grouping in columns does not necessarily reflect grouping in reality:
| Category |
Demonstr. |
IPA |
Demonstr. |
IPA |
Demonstr. |
IPA |
Demonstr. |
IPA |
Demonstr. |
IPA |
| this (Masc. sg.) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| this (fem. sg.) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| that (masc. sg.) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| that (fem. sg.) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Verbs
Similar to Classical Arabic stem formation is an important morphological aspect of Libyan Arabic. However, stems III and X are unproductive, whereas stems IV and IX do not exist. The following table shows Classical Arabic stems and their Libyan Arabic counterparts.
| Verbal Stem Formation in Libyan Arabic1 |
|
Classical Arabic |
Libyan Arabic |
Status |
| Past (3rd sg. masc.) |
Past (3rd sg. masc.) |
| I |
|
|
Productive |
| II |
|
|
Productive |
| III |
|
|
Unproductive |
| IV |
|
Does not Exist |
| V |
|
|
Productive |
| VI |
|
|
Fairly productive.
(usually in verbs that allow for reciprocityA reciprocal is a linguistic structure that marks a particular kind of relationship between two noun phrases. In a reciprocal construction, each of the participants occupies both the role of agent and patient with respect to each other...
of action) |
| VII |
|
|
Productive |
| VIII |
|
|
sonorant In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract. Essentially this means a sound that's "squeezed out" or "spat out" is not a sonorant. For example, vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or...
s e.g. l,n,m,r. If stem VII were used with the sonorants mentioned above, the n in the stem would assimilate into the sonorant. |
| IX |
|
Does not Exist |
| X |
|
|
Unproductive (Rare) |
Tripoli dialect is used in the table above
Conjugation
Similar to Classical Arabic and other Arabic dialects, Libyan Arabic distinguishes between two main categories of roots; strong roots (those that do not have vowels or
hamzaHamza is a letter in the Arabic alphabet, representing the glottal stop . Hamza is not one of the 28 "full" letters, and owes its existence to historical orthographical inconsistencies in early Islamic times...
) and weak roots.
Conjugation of strong roots
Strong roots follow more predictable rules of conjugation and they can be classified into three categories for Stem I in Western Libyan Arabic:
- i-verbs (e.g k-t-b to write) follow an interconsonantal vowel structure that is predominated by an i (normally pronounced [ə])
- a-verbs (e.g r-k-b to mount, to ascend) follow an interconsonantal vowel structure that is predominated by an a
- u-verbs (e.g r-g-ṣ to dance) follow an interconsonantal vowel structure that is predominated by an u
Please note that this classification is not always strictly followed. For example the 3rd f. past of the root r-g-d, which is a u-verb, is usually pronounced instead of .
Note also that a-verbs and u-verbs follow the same rules in the past conjugation.
Libyan Arabic TriliteralThe roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals"...
i-Verb1,2 Morphology for the Root k-t-b (to write) Stem I
Tripoli Dialect
| Person Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
|
Past The past tense is a verb tense expressing action, activity, state or being in the past of the current moment , or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future ....
|
Present The present tense is the tense that may be used to express:* action at the present* a state of being;* an occurrence in the near future; or* an action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present....
|
Imperative The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that expresses direct commands or requests. It is also used to signal a prohibition, permission or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
|
| Singular |
| 3rd (m.) |
|
|
Not Applicable |
| 3rd (f.) |
|
|
Not Applicable |
| 2nd (m.) |
|
|
|
| 2nd (f.) |
|
|
|
| 1st |
|
|
Not Applicable |
| Plural |
| 3rd (m and f) |
|
|
Not Applicable |
| 2nd (m and f) |
|
|
|
| 1st (m and f) |
|
|
Not Applicable |
1. The i in an i-verb is usually pronounced .
2. In roots with initial uvular, pharyngealThe word pharyngeal, meaning to do with the pharynx or throat, may refer to:* Pharynx, for pharyngeal anatomy* Pharyngeal muscles**Superior pharyngeal constrictor muscle** Middle pharyngeal constrictor muscle** Inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle...
and glottalGlottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricatives, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
phonemes (namely , but not ), i in the present and imperative is pronounced . For example, the root (to overcome) is conjugated as , , etc.
Libyan Arabic TriliteralThe roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals"...
a-Verb1 Morphology for the Root (to mount, to ascend) Stem I
Tripoli Dialect
| Person Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
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Past The past tense is a verb tense expressing action, activity, state or being in the past of the current moment , or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future ....
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Present The present tense is the tense that may be used to express:* action at the present* a state of being;* an occurrence in the near future; or* an action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present....
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Imperative The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that expresses direct commands or requests. It is also used to signal a prohibition, permission or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
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1.Realized variously as a and ɑ depending on the consonat structure of the word.
Libyan Arabic TriliteralThe roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals"...
u-Verb1 Morphology for the Root (to dance) Stem I
Tripoli Dialect
| Person Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
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Past The past tense is a verb tense expressing action, activity, state or being in the past of the current moment , or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future ....
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Present The present tense is the tense that may be used to express:* action at the present* a state of being;* an occurrence in the near future; or* an action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present....
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Imperative The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that expresses direct commands or requests. It is also used to signal a prohibition, permission or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
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1. In roots with initial uvular, pharyngealThe word pharyngeal, meaning to do with the pharynx or throat, may refer to:* Pharynx, for pharyngeal anatomy* Pharyngeal muscles**Superior pharyngeal constrictor muscle** Middle pharyngeal constrictor muscle** Inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle...
and glottalGlottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricatives, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
phonemes (namely , but not ) , u in the present and imperative is realised by . For example, the root (to scoop up) is conjugated as , , etc.\\
It also should be noted that conjugation in the Eastern Libyan Arabic is more fine grained, yielding a richer structure.
Future tense
Future in Libyan Arabic is formed by prefixing an initial - usually contracted to - to the present tense conjugation. Thus, 'tiktəb' (she writes) becomes 'btiktəb' (she will write). This should not be confused with the indicative marker common in some Eastern Arabic varieties.
Intelligibility with other varieties of Arabic
Libyan Arabic is highly intelligible to Tunisians and to a good extent to eastern Algerians. However for most eastern Arabic speakers, including Egyptians, it can be difficult to understand and requires some adaptation.
Libyans usually have to substitute some Libyan Arabic words to make themselves understood to other Arabic speakers, especially
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
erners. Substitute words are usually borrowed from Modern Standard or
Egyptian ArabicEgyptian Arabic is a variety of the Arabic language of the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. It originated in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt around the capital Cairo...
. The following table shows some of the commonly replaced words.
| Libyan Arabic |
IPA |
Meaning |
| halba |
| Plenty |
| dār |
| (he) did |
| dwe |
| (he) spoke |
| gaʿmiz |
| (he) sat |
| ngaz |
| (he) jumped |
| ḫnab |
| (he) stole |
Generally, all Italian and to some extent Turkish loanwords are substituted.
It should be noted, however, that if a word is replaced it does not mean that it is exclusively Libyan. This situation sometimes arises because the speaker, mistakenly, guesses that the word does not exist in the hearer's dialect. For example the word
zarda (feast, picnic) has close variants in other Maghrebi dialects but is usually substituted in Maghrebi contexts because most speakers do not know that such variants exist.
Pidgin Libyan Arabic
PidginA pidgin language is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common, in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different to the language of the country in which they reside...
Libyan exists in Libya as a contact language used by non-Arabs, mostly Saharan and sub-Saharan Africans living in
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
. Similar to all pidgins, it has a simplified structure and limited expressive power.
See also
- List of Libyan Arabic words and their Classical Arabic counterparts
- Varieties of Arabic
The Arabic language is a Semitic language with many varieties that diverge widely from one another—both from country to country and within a single country. A distinction is to be made between Classical/Standard Arabic and these "colloquial" variants...
- Maghrebi Arabic
- Tunisian Arabic
Tunisian Arabic is a Maghrebi dialect of the Arabic language, spoken by some 11 million people. It is usually known by its own speakers as Darija, to distinguish it from Standard Arabic, or as Tunsi, which means Tunisian. It is spoken all over Tunisia, and merges, as part of a dialect continuum,...
- Algerian Arabic
Algerian Arabic is the variety or varieties of Arabic spoken in Algeria. In Algeria, as elsewhere, spoken Arabic differs from written Arabic; Algerian Arabic has a Berber component, a vocabulary with many new words and loanwords from Berber, Turkish, Spanish, and French, and like all Arabic...
- Moroccan Arabic
Moroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco, as opposed to the official communications of government and other public bodies which use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries, while a mixture of French and Moroccan...