Verse:Mwtqwlqwj/Qwbmwdqwg

Corsican Arabic/Lexicon

Corsican Arabic
əl-KoRSəKī́jə; táNGəTNaN
Pronunciation	[ɜ̟lq̟ʰɔɾˁsˁʌˈq̟ʰɪːjɜ̟]
Created by	Inthar
Setting	Verse:Irta
Native to	Corsica
Native speakers	330,000 ()
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Irta Maghrebi Arabic Corsican Arabic

Corsican Arabic is an Irish-influenced Arabic variety spoken in the Irta timeline's Corsica (natively əl-KóRSəKə [ɜ̟lˈq̟ʰɔɾˁsˁʌq̟ʰʌ]), an independent country where it's an official language alongside English. In Irta it's called Corsican (natively əl-KoRSəKī́jə [ɜ̟lq̟ʰɔɾˁsˁʌˈq̟ʰɪːjɜ̟] or ət-táNGə KoRSəKī́jə [ɜ̟t̪ˈt̪ʰæɴ̟ɢ̟ʌ q̟ʰɔɾˁsˁʌˈq̟ʰɪːjɜ̟]; táNGə is from Irish teanga). It may also be called táNGəTNaN 'our language'. Its speakers are predominantly Catholic and almost always also speak English.

Its premise is "Maltese but with Irish (and secondarily French and Irta 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 (8th c. - 11th c.), then by the Irish (11th 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. Though it uses mainly native vocabulary, it has most of the syntactic features of modern Corsican Arabic.

Corsican Arabic evolved from Sardino-Arabic, a fictional vernacular Arabic variety similar to our Tunisian Arabic which had 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/
  • Ə - schwa archiphoneme, i between 2 nonemphatics

Phonology

Consonants

Corsican Arabic has an almost complete set of emphatic-nonemphatic pairs, formed from both native emphatic consonants (Classical Arabic T D S Z q became D Z S Z G) and the contrast between broad (velarized) and slender (palatalized) consonants in borrowed Irish vocabulary. (Some of the labial pairs probably have low functional load, though.) 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). Clusters may not follow "broad with broad, slender with slender" in native words or with Irish words put into Arabic patterns. This article represents emphatic consonants with capitalized letters.

(blue background and bold = regularly occurs in native words' underlying forms)

Consonant phonemes in Corsican Arabic

		Labial		Dental/Alveolar		Postalveolar	Dorsal		Glottal
		plain	uvularized	plain	velarized		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
	unaspirated	b b	B bˁ	d d̪	D d̪ˁ		g ɡ̟	G ɢ̟
Fricative	voiceless	f φ	F ʍˁ	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

H [hˁ] is an allophone of /h/ or a marginal phoneme.

Emphatic consonants are realized as uvularized (for dorsal and labial emphatics) or velarized (for coronal emphatics, like Irish broad coronals). They're transcribed as pharyngealized for simplicity.

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].

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'

Archiphonemes

• Ē (Classical ā), Ā (Middle Irish á): ē and ā respectively after nonemphatics; both become ō after emphatics and ā after pharyngeals
  • Some analogical leveling happens, though, which collapses some occurrences to invariable /ē ā ō/
• Ə: schwa archiphoneme, i between 2 nonemphatics in a final syllable

Morphology

Pronouns

• ínə, ínt(ə), hú(wə), hí(jə), nán(ə), íntum, húm(ə); impersonal mar, -mər (< mar2)
• emphatic pronouns: Rūhi, Rūhak, ...

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'? (dəwáNi '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 ž

sg and sound pl fem possessives: -i -ək -uh -hə -nan -kum -hum

sound pl masc possessives: -éjjə -ė́k -ė́h -ė́hə -ė́nan -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 non-nisba adjectives have the same declension: -0 -ə -īn -Ēh. Nisba adjectives decline as -i -ījə -īn -ijēh. Inanimate plurals are treated as sg fem

Predicative adjectives and adverbs formed from adjectives use kəl-(moon)/kəC-(sun) + masculine sg. form of the adjective.

Verbs

4 principal parts: past 3sg.m, imperative sg, passive participle, verbal noun

loan verbs use -əXəZ for VN from MidIr *-aghadh (~ Scottish Gaelic -achadh, Irish -ú)

passive binyanim are lost; maSdars serve the same grammatical roles as Irish verbnouns

Gzarot split based on emphatic/nonemphatic, then simplification

negative mə-š sticks to the first (focused) constituent; the unmarked construction is məRáDWi huš 'he did not admit' for pronoun subjects, but məRáDWiš šēMəS 'Séamus did not admit' for noun subjects.

Work out interactions between subject suffixes + object suffixes + subject pronoun clitics

fa33ala (Stems whose past and imperative stems fall together get the preverb rə-/Rə- in the past tense, də-/Də- if the first consonant in the stem is R/r (from Irish ro and do). Some conservative dialects only use the Irish preverbs rə-/də- in the past tense (in verbs that use them) when in the affirmative, not in interrogatives or negatives (cf. Irish lenition/d'- and Welsh mi):

– əl Gáddis KáLəM əlláwm? – RəGáddis. (Standard əR RəGáddis)

– Did Calum attend Mass today? – He did.

Inherited 3-consonant verbs

fa3ala:

Stem I verb conjugation: katib 'he wrote' (Arabic kataba)

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg.m	3sg.f	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	kətábnə	kətábt, kətábbint	kátib hu	kátbit hi	kətábnan	kətábtum, kətábbintum	kátbu hum
future	náktibnə	táktibint	jáktib hu	táktib hi	náktibnan	táktibintum	jáktbu hum
imperative	-	uktib!	-	-	-	uktəbu!	-
passive participle	məktūb
verbal noun	kitb

Stem I verb conjugation: šaRəB 'he drank' (Arabic šaraba)

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg.m	3sg.f	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	šəRáBNə	šəRáBT, šəRáBBiNT	šáRəB hu	šáRBəT hi	šəRáBNaN	šəRáBTuM, šəRáBBiNTuM	šáRəBu hum
future	nášRəBiNə	tášRəBiNT	jášRəB hu	tášRəB hi	nášRəBiNaN	tášRəBiNTuM	jášRəBu hum
imperative	-	ušRəB!	-	-	-	ušRəBu!	-
passive participle	məšRūB
verbal noun	šuRB

Stem II verb conjugation: RəGaddis 'he sanctified; he attended Mass' (Arabic qaddasa)

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg.m	3sg.f	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	RəGəddásnə	RəGəddást, RəGəddássint	RəGáddis hu	RəGáddəsit hi	RəGəddásnan	RəGəddástum, RəGəddássintum	RəGáddəsu hum
future	nəGáddəsnə	təGáddəsint	jəGáddis hu	təGáddis hi	nəGáddəsnan	təGáddəsintum	jəGáddəsu hum
imperative	-	Gáddis!	-	-	-	Gáddəsu!	-
passive participle	məGaddəs
verbal noun	taGdīs

4-consonant roots

usually treated somewhat like loan verbs; they even take r- in the past tense

CaCCƏC verb conjugation: rətárgim 'he translated' (Arabic tarjama)

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg.m	3sg.f	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	rətərgámnə	rətərgámt, rətərgámmint	rətárgim hu	rətárgəmit hi	rətərgámnan	rətərgámtum, rətərgámmintum	rətárgəmu hum
future	nətárgəminə	tətárgəmint	jətárgim hu	tətárgim hi	nətárgəmunan	tətárgəmintum	jətárgəmu hum
imperative	-	tárgəm!	-	-	-	tárgəmu!	-
passive participle	mittárgim
verbal noun	tárgəməXəZ

Irish -aigh 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 R- to past forms from Irish ro and d-/D- if the 1st consonant in the stem is a r/R)

past tense forms are lenited as in Irish, and VN follows that (Irish feminine definite article lenition + analogy to past for d-/t-/s-)

Irish loan verb conjugation: RáDWi 'he admitted, confessed' (from *ro admhaigh sé)

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg.m	3sg.f	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	RəDWájnə	RəDWájt, RəDWájnt	RáDWi hu	RáDWiT hi	RəDWájnan	RəDWájtum, RəDWájntum	RáDWu hum
future	náDWiNə	táDWiNT	jáDWi hu	táDWi hi	náDWuNaN	táDWiNTuM	jáDWu hum
imperative	-	áDWi!	-	-	-	áDWu!	-
passive participle	mitáDWi
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 -aigh loan verbs, but have a fixed stem.

Newer loan verb conjugation: rəmaksimízi 'he maximized' (from French maximiser)

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg.m	3sg.f	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	rəmaksimizájnə	rəmaksimizájt, rəmaksimizájnt	rəmaksimízi hu	rəmaksimízit hi	rəmaksimizájnan	rəmaksimizájtum, rəmaksimizájntum	rəmaksimízu 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

frė́jə, frėk, frėh, frė́hə, frė́nan, frė́kum, frė́hum (that -hə for 3fs really sounds Scottish Gaelic)

ā́lə = on; alájjə, alájk, ...

mijéjn 'about' (~ Scottish Gaelic mu dheidhinn): mijéjni, mijéjnək, mijéjnih, mijéjnhə, mijéjnnan, 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.

Less topic-prominent than Arabic so no "anā ismī"

Question particle əl (from hal)

The vocative particle jə/j' is consistently used (like the Irish vocative): əl məRūhakš fi-targiməXəZHuM, jə šān? 'Aren't you the one translating them, Seán?'

• is fear é Dónal = Rágil hu DóWNəL
• is é Dónal an Taoiseach olc = DóWNəL hu əT-TīšəX āR
• tá Dónal mór = DóWNəL kəl-kəbīR; bhí Dónal ... = kēn DóWNəL..., beidh Dónal = jəkin DóWNəL...
• tá úll ann/agam = (form of kēn) tuffēh nēk/āndi (reverse of Arabic)

Texts

The Lord's Prayer

called əl-Pádir or əl-misḗrnə