View source for Social:Judeo-Berber language

{{Short description|Group of Berber-language varieties}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Judeo-Berber
| altname = Judeo-Shilha
| region = [[Place:Israel|Israel]]
| speakers = none<ref name=Chetrit2016/><br>L2 speakers: {{sigfig|2,900|1}}
| date = 2018
| ref = e25
| familycolor = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2 = Berber
| fam3 = Northern Berber
| fam4 = Atlas
| fam5 = Shilha
| script = [[Social:Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew alphabet]]<br>(generally not written)
| iso3 = jbe
| glotto = spurious
| glotto2 = jude1262
| glottorefname2 = Judeo-Berber
| map = Judeo Berber map.svg
| mapcaption = Map of Judeo Berber speaking communities in the first half of the 20th century
}}

'''Judeo-Berber''' or '''Judeo-Amazigh''' ({{lang-ber|ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵏ ⵡⵓⴷⴰⵢⵏ}} ''tamazight n wudayen'', {{Lang-he|{{Script/Hebrew|ברברית יהודית}}}} berberit yehudit) is any of several hybrid Berber varieties traditionally spoken as a second language in Berber Jewish communities of central and southern Morocco, and perhaps earlier in Algeria. Judeo-Berber is (or was) a contact language; the first language of speakers was Judeo-Arabic.<ref name=Chetrit2016>Chetrit (2016) "Jewish Berber", in Kahn & Rubin (eds.) ''Handbook of Jewish Languages'', Brill</ref> (There were also Jews who spoke Berber as their first language, but not a distinct Jewish variety.)<ref name=Chetrit2016/> Speakers immigrated to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s. While mutually comprehensible with the Tamazight spoken by most inhabitants of the area (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:14), these varieties are distinguished by the use of Hebrew loanwords and the pronunciation of ''š'' as ''s'' (as in many Jewish Moroccan Arabic dialects).

== Speaker population ==
According to a 1936 survey, approximately 145,700 of Morocco's 161,000 Jews spoke a variety of Berber, 25,000 of whom were reportedly monolingual in the language.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Abramson|first=Glenda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Hp0DwAAQBAJ&q=161%2C000+bilingual+in+berber&pg=PT24|title=Sites of Jewish Memory: Jews in and From Islamic Lands|date=2018-10-24|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-75160-1|language=en}}</ref>

==Geographic distribution==
Communities in Morocco where Jews spoke Judeo-Berber included: [[Place:Tinghir|Tinghir]], Ouijjane, Asaka, Imini, Draa valley, Demnate and Ait Bou Oulli in the Tamazight-speaking Middle Atlas and High Atlas and Oufrane, [[Place:Tiznit|Tiznit]] and Illigh in the Tashelhiyt-speaking Souss valley (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:2). Jews were living among tribal Berbers, often in the same villages and practiced old tribal Berber protection relationships.

Almost all speakers of Judeo-Berber left Morocco in the years following its independence, and their children have mainly grown up speaking other languages. In 1992, about 2,000 speakers remained, mainly in [[Place:Israel|Israel]]; all are at least bilingual in Judeo-Arabic.

==Phonology==

Judeo-Berber is characterized by the following phonetic phenomena:<ref name=Chetrit2016/>

* Centralized pronunciation of /i u/ as [ɨ ʉ]
* Neutralization of the distinction between /s ʃ/, especially among monolingual speakers
* Delabialization of labialized velars (/kʷ gʷ xʷ ɣʷ/), e.g. nəkkʷni/nukkni > nəkkni 'us, we'
* Insertion of epenthetic [ə] to break up consonant clusters
* Frequent diphthong insertion, as in Judeo-Arabic
* Some varieties have q > kʲ and dˤ > tˤ, as in the local Arabic dialects
* In the eastern Sous Valley region, /l/ > [n] in both Judeo-Berber and Arabic

==Usage==
Apart from its daily use, Judeo-Berber was used for orally explaining religious texts, and only occasionally written, using Hebrew characters; a manuscript Pesah Haggadah written in Judeo-Berber has been reprinted (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970.) A few prayers, like the Benedictions over the Torah, were recited in Berber.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dayan.org/articles/JewsandBerbers.pdf |title=Jews and Berbers |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219184242/http://www.dayan.org/articles/JewsandBerbers.pdf |archivedate=2008-12-19 }}&nbsp;{{small|(72.8&nbsp;KB)}}</ref>

==Example==
Taken from Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:121 (itself from a manuscript from Tinghir):

{{interlinear|indent=2
|top= יִכְדַמְן אַיְיִנַגָא יפּרעו גְמַצָר. יִשוֹפִגַג רבי נּג דְיְנָג שוֹפוֹש נִדְרע שוֹפוֹש  יִכיווֹאַנ
|ixəddamn ay n-ga i pərʿu g° maṣər.  i-ss-ufġ aġ əṛbbi ənnəġ dinnaġ s ufus ən ddrʿ, s ufus ikuwan.
|servants what we-were for Pharaoh in Egypt.  he-cause-leave us God our there with arm of might, with arm strong.
|Servants of Pharaoh is what we were in Egypt.  Our God brought us out thence with a mighty arm, with a strong arm.}}

==See also==
*Judeo-Arabic languages
*Judeo-Moroccan
*Berber Jews

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* P. Galand-Pernet & Haim Zafrani. ''Une version berbère de la Haggadah de Pesaḥ: Texte de Tinrhir du Todrha (Maroc)''.  Compress rendus du G.L.E.C.S. Supplement I. 1970. {{in lang|fr}}
* Joseph Chetrit.  "Jewish Berber," ''Handbook of Jewish Languages'', ed. Lily Kahn & Aaron D. Rubin.  Leiden: Brill.  2016.  Pages 118–129.

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040813230951/http://www.mondeberbere.com/juifs/judeoberbere.htm Judeo-Berber, by Haim Zafrani] {{in lang|fr}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101110111121/http://www.mondeberbere.com/juifs/haggadah.htm Except from Haggadah]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Judeo-Berber Language}}
[[Category:Severely endangered languages]]

{{Sourceattribution|Judeo-Berber language}}