The Zenati languages are a branch of the
Northern Berber language family of
North Africa. They were named after the medieval
ZenataBerber tribal confederation. They were first proposed in the works of French linguist
Edmond Destaing (1915)[1] (1920–23).[2] Zenata dialects are distributed across the central Berber world (
Maghreb), from northeastern
Morocco to just west of
Algiers, and the northern
Sahara, from southwestern
Algeria around
Bechar to
Zuwara in
Libya. The most widely spoken Zenati languages are
Tmazight of the Rif in northern Morocco and
Tashawit Berber in northeastern Algeria, each of which have over 3 million speakers.
Languages
Kossmann (2013)
According to
Kossmann (2013: 21–24),[3] Zenati is a rather arbitrary grouping, in which he includes the following varieties:
Riffian (Riffian Berber, or Rif-Berber, local name: Tmaziɣt, north of
Morocco); Includes
Arzew dialect, in
Arzew in western Algeria
According to Kossmann (1999:31-32, 86, 172),[4] common innovations defining the Zenati languages include:
The vowel a- in nominal prefixes is dropped in a number of words when it precedes CV, where C is a single consonant and V is a full (non-
schwa) vowel. For example, afus "hand" is replaced with fus. (A similar development is found in some
Eastern Berber languages, but not Nafusi.)
Verbs whose original aorist forms end in -u while their perfect forms end in -a end up with -a in the aorist as well, leaving the aorist / perfect distinction unmarked for these verbs. For example, *ktu "forget", Siwi ttu, becomes Ouargli tta. (This also affects
Nafusi.)
Verbs consisting (in the aorist) of two consonants with no vowel other than schwa fall into two classes elsewhere in Berber:[5][6] one where a variable final vowel appears in the perfect form, and one which continues to lack a final vowel in the perfect. In Zenati, the latter class has been entirely merged into the former in the perfect, with the single exception of the negative perfect of *əɣ s "want". For example,
Kabyle (non-Zenati) gər "throw", pf. -gər (int. -ggar), corresponds to Ouargli (Zenati) gər, pf. -gru. (This change too also affects
Nafusi; Basset (1929:9) gives examples where it appears not to occur in Chenoua.)
Proto-Berber *-əβ has become -i in Zenati.[7] For example, *arəβ "write" becomes ari. (This change also occurs in varieties including the
Central Atlas Tamazight dialect of the
Izayan, Nafusi, and
Siwi.)
Proto-Berber palatalised k´ and g´, corresponding to k and g in non-Zenati varieties, become š and ž in Zenati (although a fair number of irregular correspondences for this are found.) For example, k´ăm "you (f. sg.)" becomes šəm. (This change also occurs in Nafusi and Siwi.)
In addition to the correspondence of k and g to š and ž, Chaker (1972),[8] while expressing uncertainty about the linguistic coherence of Zenati, notes as shared Zenati traits:
A proximal demonstrative suffix "this" -u, rather than -a
A final -u in the perfect of two-consonant verbs, rather than -a (e.g. yə-nsu "he slept" rather than yə-nsa elsewhere)
These characteristics identify a more restricted subset of Berber than those previously mentioned, mainly northern Saharan varieties; they exclude, for example, Chaoui[9] and all but the easternmost
Riff dialects.[10]