Judeo-Tunisian Arabic | |
---|---|
Native to |
Beit Shemesh,
Jerusalem District,
Israel
[1] Houmt Souk, Djerba, Tunisia [2] Tunis, Tunisia [3] Gabes, Tunisia [4] |
Native speakers | 11,000 (2011–2018) [5] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Arabic script
[1] Hebrew alphabet [1] [6] | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
ajt (retired); subsumed in aeb (Tunisian Arabic) |
Glottolog |
jude1263 |
ELP | Judeo-Tunisian Arabic |
Judeo-Tunisian Arabic, also known as Judeo-Tunisian, is a variety of Tunisian Arabic mainly spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Tunisia. [6] Speakers are older adults, and the younger generation has only a passive knowledge of the language. [1]
The vast majority of Tunisian Jews have relocated to Israel and have shifted to Hebrew as their home language. [3] [7] Those in France typically use French as their primary language, while the few still left in Tunisia tend to use either French or Tunisian Arabic in their everyday lives. [3] [7]
Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is one of the Judeo-Arabic languages, a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in the Arab world. [6]
A Jewish community existed in what is today Tunisia even prior to Roman rule in Africa. [8] After the Arabic conquest of North Africa, this community began to use Arabic for their daily communication. [3] They had adopted the pre-Hilalian dialect of Tunisian Arabic as their own dialect. [3] As Jewish communities tend to be close-knit and isolated from the other ethnic and religious communities of their countries, [6] their dialect spread to their coreligionists all over the country [2] [9] and had not been in contact with the languages of the communities that invaded Tunisia in the middle age. [3] [10] The primary language contact with regard to Judeo-Tunisian Arabic came from the languages of Jewish communities that fled to Tunisia as a result of persecution like Judeo-Spanish. [8] This explains why Judeo-Tunisian Arabic lacks influence from the dialects of the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, and has developed several phonological and lexical particularities that distinguish it from Tunisian Arabic. [10] [11] [12] This also explains why Judeo-Tunisian words are generally less removed from their etymological origin than Tunisian words. [13]
The most famous author in Judeo-Arabic is Nissim B. Ya‘aqov b. Nissim ibn Shahin of Kairouan (990-1062) [1]. An influential rabbinical personality of his time, Nissim of Kairouan wrote a collection of folks stories intended for moral encouragement, at the request of his father-in-law on the loss of his son. Nissim wrote "An Elegant Compilation concerning Relief after Adversity" (Al-Faraj ba‘d al-shidda) [14] first in an elevated Judeo-Arabic style following Sa‘adia Gaon's coding and spelling conventions and later translated the work into Hebrew. [15]
The first Judeo-Arabic printing house opens in Tunis in 1860. A year after, the 1856 Fundamental Pact is translated and printed in Judeo-Arabic (in 1861 [16] before its translation into Hebrew in 1862).
In 1901, Judeo-Tunisian became one of the main spoken Arabic dialects of Tunisia, with thousands of speakers. [8] Linguists noted the unique character of this dialect, and subjected it to study. [8] Among the people studying Judeo-Tunisian Arabic, Daniel Hagege [17] listed a significant amount of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic newspapers from the early 1900s in his essay The Circulation of Tunisian Judeo-Arabic Books. [18] in 1903, David Aydan prints in Judeo-Arabic "Vidu-i bel arbi", a translation of the ritual text recited by the community on Yom Kippur's eve. The text is printed in Djerba, a significant point to mention as many works published by the Tunisian Jewish community in Hebrew are printed in Livorno, Italy. [19] Educated leaders within the Tunisian Jewish community like ceramic merchant Jacob Chemla translated several works into Judeo-Tunisian, including The Count of Monte Cristo.
However, its emergence has significantly declined since 1948 due to the creation of Israel. [8] In fact, the Jewish community of Tunisia has either chosen to leave or was forced to leave Tunisia and immigrate to France or Israel. [3] [7] Nowadays, the language is largely extinct throughout most of Tunisia, even if it is still used by the small Jewish communities in Tunis, Gabes and Djerba, [2] [3] [4] and most of the Jewish communities that have left Tunisia have chosen to change their language of communication to the main language of their current country. [3]
Language vitality: Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is believed to be vulnerable with only 500 speakers in Tunisia [20] and with about 45,000 speakers in Israel [21]
Language variations: In Tunisia, geography plays a huge role in how Judeo-Tunisian Arabic varies between speakers. [22] In fact, Tunisian Judeo-Arabic can vary depending on the region in which it is spoken. [22] Accordingly, the main dialects of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic are: [22]
In addition, Judeo-Tunisian can vary within the same region based on the town in which it is spoken. [22]
Like all other Judeo-Arabic languages, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic does not seem to be very different from the Arabic dialect from which it derives, Tunisian Arabic. [3] [6] [23] [24] [25]
Judeo-Tunisian Arabic | |
---|---|
Native to |
Beit Shemesh,
Jerusalem District,
Israel
[1] Houmt Souk, Djerba, Tunisia [2] Tunis, Tunisia [3] Gabes, Tunisia [4] |
Native speakers | 11,000 (2011–2018) [5] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Arabic script
[1] Hebrew alphabet [1] [6] | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
ajt (retired); subsumed in aeb (Tunisian Arabic) |
Glottolog |
jude1263 |
ELP | Judeo-Tunisian Arabic |
Judeo-Tunisian Arabic, also known as Judeo-Tunisian, is a variety of Tunisian Arabic mainly spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Tunisia. [6] Speakers are older adults, and the younger generation has only a passive knowledge of the language. [1]
The vast majority of Tunisian Jews have relocated to Israel and have shifted to Hebrew as their home language. [3] [7] Those in France typically use French as their primary language, while the few still left in Tunisia tend to use either French or Tunisian Arabic in their everyday lives. [3] [7]
Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is one of the Judeo-Arabic languages, a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in the Arab world. [6]
A Jewish community existed in what is today Tunisia even prior to Roman rule in Africa. [8] After the Arabic conquest of North Africa, this community began to use Arabic for their daily communication. [3] They had adopted the pre-Hilalian dialect of Tunisian Arabic as their own dialect. [3] As Jewish communities tend to be close-knit and isolated from the other ethnic and religious communities of their countries, [6] their dialect spread to their coreligionists all over the country [2] [9] and had not been in contact with the languages of the communities that invaded Tunisia in the middle age. [3] [10] The primary language contact with regard to Judeo-Tunisian Arabic came from the languages of Jewish communities that fled to Tunisia as a result of persecution like Judeo-Spanish. [8] This explains why Judeo-Tunisian Arabic lacks influence from the dialects of the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, and has developed several phonological and lexical particularities that distinguish it from Tunisian Arabic. [10] [11] [12] This also explains why Judeo-Tunisian words are generally less removed from their etymological origin than Tunisian words. [13]
The most famous author in Judeo-Arabic is Nissim B. Ya‘aqov b. Nissim ibn Shahin of Kairouan (990-1062) [1]. An influential rabbinical personality of his time, Nissim of Kairouan wrote a collection of folks stories intended for moral encouragement, at the request of his father-in-law on the loss of his son. Nissim wrote "An Elegant Compilation concerning Relief after Adversity" (Al-Faraj ba‘d al-shidda) [14] first in an elevated Judeo-Arabic style following Sa‘adia Gaon's coding and spelling conventions and later translated the work into Hebrew. [15]
The first Judeo-Arabic printing house opens in Tunis in 1860. A year after, the 1856 Fundamental Pact is translated and printed in Judeo-Arabic (in 1861 [16] before its translation into Hebrew in 1862).
In 1901, Judeo-Tunisian became one of the main spoken Arabic dialects of Tunisia, with thousands of speakers. [8] Linguists noted the unique character of this dialect, and subjected it to study. [8] Among the people studying Judeo-Tunisian Arabic, Daniel Hagege [17] listed a significant amount of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic newspapers from the early 1900s in his essay The Circulation of Tunisian Judeo-Arabic Books. [18] in 1903, David Aydan prints in Judeo-Arabic "Vidu-i bel arbi", a translation of the ritual text recited by the community on Yom Kippur's eve. The text is printed in Djerba, a significant point to mention as many works published by the Tunisian Jewish community in Hebrew are printed in Livorno, Italy. [19] Educated leaders within the Tunisian Jewish community like ceramic merchant Jacob Chemla translated several works into Judeo-Tunisian, including The Count of Monte Cristo.
However, its emergence has significantly declined since 1948 due to the creation of Israel. [8] In fact, the Jewish community of Tunisia has either chosen to leave or was forced to leave Tunisia and immigrate to France or Israel. [3] [7] Nowadays, the language is largely extinct throughout most of Tunisia, even if it is still used by the small Jewish communities in Tunis, Gabes and Djerba, [2] [3] [4] and most of the Jewish communities that have left Tunisia have chosen to change their language of communication to the main language of their current country. [3]
Language vitality: Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is believed to be vulnerable with only 500 speakers in Tunisia [20] and with about 45,000 speakers in Israel [21]
Language variations: In Tunisia, geography plays a huge role in how Judeo-Tunisian Arabic varies between speakers. [22] In fact, Tunisian Judeo-Arabic can vary depending on the region in which it is spoken. [22] Accordingly, the main dialects of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic are: [22]
In addition, Judeo-Tunisian can vary within the same region based on the town in which it is spoken. [22]
Like all other Judeo-Arabic languages, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic does not seem to be very different from the Arabic dialect from which it derives, Tunisian Arabic. [3] [6] [23] [24] [25]