Verse:Mwtqwlqwj/Qwbmwdqwg
| Corsican Arabic | |
|---|---|
| əl-KoRSəKī́jə; táNGəTNə | |
| Pronunciation | [ɜ̟lqʰɔɾˁsʌˈqʰɪːjɜ̟] |
| Created by | Inthar |
| Setting | Verse:Irta |
| Native to | Corsica |
| Native speakers | 330,000 () |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Corsican Arabic is an Irish-influenced Arabic variety spoken in the Irta timeline's Corsica (natively əl-KóRSəKə [ɜ̟lˈqʰɔɾˁsʌqʰʌ]), an independent country where it's an official language alongside English. In Irta it's called Corsican (natively əl-KoRSəKī́jə [ɜ̟lqʰɔɾˁsʌˈqʰɪːjɜ̟] or ət-táNGə KoRSəKī́jə [ɜ̟t̪ˈt̪ʰæɴɢʌ qʰɔɾˁsʌˈqʰɪːjɜ̟]; taNGə is from Irish teanga). It may also be called táNGəTNə 'our language'. Its speakers are predominantly Catholic and usually also speak English and French.
Its premise is "Maltese but with Irish (and secondarily French and Sardinian) instead of Italian", and it's the only Irtan Semitic language that evolved naturally under Celtic influence (Crannish is more Azalic, and Irta Modern Hebrew was revived by Celtic speakers), and the only Irtan Semitic language written in a Latin orthography (which is different from the one used on this page)
History
Corsica was ruled by Muslim Arabs (7th c. - 10th c.), then by the Irish (10th c. - 16th c.), then the French (16th c. - 19th c. Ireland ceded it to France when it was being threatened by Remonitionists and the Hivantish), then the Azalic English (19th c. - 20th c.). Corsica gained independence from the Azalic English in 1954.
The first text in Corsican Arabic is dated to 1515.
Corsican Arabic evolved from a fictional vernacular Arabic variety which has the following features:
- qāf and Tā' are unaspirated, sometimes voiced.
- Zā' and Dād are both [zˁ~ðˁ].
- has imāla after nonemphatics
- new ā from 3ayn loss (same condition as Maltese stressed għa and agħ) causes old ā > ō after emphatics
- The combination of imāla and Irish borrowing has resulted in two archiphonemes: Ē (Classical ā), Ā (Middle Irish á) (ē and ā respectively after nonemphatics; both become ō after emphatics after ayin loss)
- Some analogical leveling happens, though, which collapses some occurrences to invariable /ē ā ō/
Phonology
Corsican Arabic has an almost complete set of emphatic (realized as pharyngealization)-nonemphatic pairs, formed from both native emphatic consonants (Classical Arabic T D S Z q became D Z S Z G) and borrowed Irish vocabulary. This article represents emphatic consonants with capitalized letters.
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Postalveolar | Dorsal | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | phar. | plain | phar. | prevelar | preuvular | ||||
| Nasal | m m | M mˁ | n n̪ | N n̪ˁ | [ŋ̟] | [ɴ] | |||
| Stop | aspirated | p pʰ | P pˁʰ | t t̪ʰ | T t̪ˁʰ | k k̟ʰ | K q̟ʰ | 2 ʔ | |
| unaspirated | b b | B bˁ | d d̪ | D d̪ˁ | g ɡ̟ | G ɢ̟ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | f φ | F φˁ | s s | S sˁ | š ʃ | x x̟ | X χ̟ | h h |
| voiced | w β | W wˁ | z z | Z zˁ~ðˁ | ž ʒ | j j | Γ ʁ̟ | ||
| Trill | r r | R rˁ | |||||||
| Lateral | l l | L l̪ˁ | |||||||
voicing distinction in stops is realized like in Irish; w = [β̞], [β] before vowels
t d T D n N L are dental
word-final nonemphatic consonants are slightly palatalized (relic of -i endings?): walid 'child' /βalid/ [βælid̪ʲ].
Clusters may not follow bwb sws in native words or with Irish words put into Arabic patterns. Irish broad and slender consonants are borrowed as emphatic and nonemphatic consonants, respectively (unless possibly after a stressed syllable, where they're subject to emphasis/nonemphasis spreading).
Emphatic aspirated stops are aspirated less strongly than non-emphatic aspirated stops; unaspirated emphatic stops are more fully voiced than unaspirated nonemphatic stops.
has a similar vowel inventory to Irish, with short /u/ (retained from Classical Arabic) realized as [y] after nonemphatic consonants and with more vowels from lost ayin
a e i o u ə ā ē ī ō ū ė əj əw aj aw ea oa ia ua
a is [æ] after nonemphatics, [ɑ] after emphatics
o is [o] after nonemphatics, [ɔ] after emphatics
i is [i] after nonemphatics, [ɪ] after emphatics
u is [ʏ] after nonemphatics, [ʊ] after emphatics
unstressed a is similar to stressed a; unstressed ə is [ʌ] after an emphatic and [ɜ̟] after a nonemphatic
Stress is no longer predictable
Minimal pairs
- n vs. N: náhər 'river'; Náhər 'snake': Náhər mamū́l Mill-ilmḗ hu náhər 'A river is a snake made of water'
Morphology
should extract consonantal roots from Irish words
Pronouns
- ínə, ínt(ə), hú(wə), hí(jə), náhn(ə), íntum, húm(ə)
Nouns
sound plurals: m. -0 > -īn, f. -ə > -ḗh/ṓh/ijḗh;
m. pl. const. -ė
f. sg. const. -ət/-t (Gī́jə 'prayer' -> Gī́jət 'prayer of', Gī́jəti 'my prayer'); f. pl. const. -ēt/-ōt
emphasis spreading to the syllables after a posttonic emphatic
- Gī́jə 'prayer', Gī́jəti 'my prayer'; Gī́jətuh 'his prayer'
- táNGə 'language', táNGəTi 'my language'; táNGəTuh 'his language'; taNGijḗh 'languages'
- wáNəXT 'blessing; to bless', wəNṓWiX 'blessings'? (wáNi 'he blessed')
todo: broken plurals
article əl- (moon) or əC- (sun); sun letters D d Z z T t L l N n S s R r š
sg and sound pl fem possessives: -i -ək -uh -hə -nə -kum -hum
sound pl masc possessives: -éjjə -ė́k -ė́h -ė́hə -ė́nə -ė́kum -ė́hum
irish -ə nouns are borrowed as feminine -ə
head-marked (house.CONST DEF-king, house-3SG.M DEF-king) or double-marked possessives (house-SG.M DAT DEF-king)
Adjectives
all adjectives have the same declension: -0 -ə -īn -āh. Inanimate plurals are treated as sg fem
Verbs
loan verbs use -əXəZ for VN from MidIr *-aghadh (~ Scottish Gaelic -achadh, Irish -ú)
retain passive binyanim as impersonal; maSdars serve the same grammatical roles as Irish verbnouns
Gzarot split based on emphatic/nonemphatic, then simplification
negative ma-š sticks to the first (focused) constituent; the unmarked construction is máDWi huš 'he did not admit' for pronoun subjects, but máDWiš šēMəS 'Séamus did not admit' for noun subjects.
Work out interactions between subject suffixes + object suffixes + subject pronoun clitics
Inherited 3-consonant binyanim
4-consonant roots
| → Person ↓ Tense |
1sg | 2sg | 3sg.m | 3sg.f | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| past; conditional | tərgámt inə, tərgám(t)nə | tərgámt int, tərgám(t)int | tárgəm hu | tárgəmət hi | tərgámnə nahn, tərgámnan | tərgámtum, tərgám(t)intum | tárgəmu hum |
| future | nətárgəminə | tətárgəmint | jətárgəm hu | tətárgəm hi | nətárgəmunan | tətárgmintum | jətárgmu hum |
| imperative | - | tárgəm! | - | - | - | tárgəmu! | - |
| passive participle | mittárgəm | ||||||
| verbal noun | tárgəməXəZ | ||||||
Irish verbs
Loan verb paradigm based on loaned Irish -aigh verbs (partly fitted to native 3-y verbs, hence the stress shifts and possibly vowel reduction and addition of the Irish d' preverb to finite forms)
usually lenited? (bc past tense)
| → Person ↓ Tense |
1sg | 2sg | 3sg.m | 3sg.f | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| past; conditional | DəDWájt inə, DəDWájtnə, DəDWájnə | DəDWájt int, DəDWájtint, DəDWájnt | DáDWi hu | DáDWiT hi | DəDWájnə nahn, DəDWájnan | DəDWájtum, DəDWájntum | DáDWu hum |
| future | nəDáDWiNə | təDáDWiNT | jəDáDWi hu | təDáDWi hi | nəDáDWuNaN | təDáDWiNTuM | jəDáDWu hum |
| imperative | - | DáDWi! | - | - | - | DáDWu! | - |
| passive participle | miDDáDWi | ||||||
| verbal noun | áDWəXəZ (used in constructions such as inə f-áDWəXəZ 'I confess') | ||||||
Newer loan verbs
Newer loan verbs use the same stress patterns and affixes as Irish loan verbs, but have a fixed stem
| → Person ↓ Tense |
1sg | 2sg | 3sg.m | 3sg.f | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| past; conditional | maksimizájt inə, maksimizájtnə, maksimizájnə | maksimizájt int, maksimizájtint, maksimizájnt | maksimízi hu | maksimízit hi | maksimizájnə nahn, maksimizájnan | maksimizájtum, maksimizájntum | maksimízu hum |
| future | nəmaksimízinə | təmaksimízint | jəmaksimízi hu | təmaksimízi hi | nəmaksimízinan | təmaksimízintum | jəmaksimízu hum |
| imperative | - | maksimízi! | - | - | - | maksimízu! | - |
| passive participle | maksimizė́ | ||||||
| verbal noun | maksimízəXəZ (used in constructions such as inə fi-maksimízəXəZ 'I maximize') | ||||||
Prepositions
frė (< Irish fré) = against
- fréjjə, frėk, frėh, frė́hə, frė́nə, frė́kum, frė́hum (that -hə for 3fs really sounds Scottish Gaelic)
ā́lə = on; aléjjə, alė́k, ...
mijéjn 'about' (~ Scottish Gaelic mu dheidhinn): mijéjni, mijéjnək, mijéjnih, mijéjnhə, mijéjnnə, mijéjnkum, mijéjnhum
fi (< CA fī) is matched to faoi sometimes; 'in' often uses a different prep
Numerals
wḗhəd, tnėn, tlḗtə, áRBa, hámsə, síttə, sába, tmḗnjə, dísa, ā́šRə
áwwəl, tḗni, tḗlit, RṓBa, hā́mis, sḗtit, sḗba, tmḗni, dḗsa, ā́šir
Syntax
Irish/Gàidhlig relex; VSO and verbnouns whose possessors are direct objects. Even more Irishy than Irta Modern Hebrew; grammar-wise it's the most Irishy Irtan Semlang, though it does not have mutations.
Question particle əl (from hal)
Texts
The Lord's Prayer
called əl-Pádir or əl-misḗrnə