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Ouargli language

Ouargli, or Teggargrent, is a Zenati Berber language. It is spoken in the oases of Ouargla (Wargrən) and N'Goussa (Ingusa) in Algeria.

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Ouargli
Twargrit
Native toAlgeria
RegionOuargla, N'Goussa
Native speakers
20,000 (2014)1
Language codes
ISO 639-3oua
Glottologtaga1278
ELPOuargli
Berber-speaking areas of the Mzab, Ouargla, and Oued Righ

Ouargli, or Teggargrent (also Twargrit, Təggəngusit), is a Zenati Berber language. It is spoken in the oases of Ouargla (Wargrən) and N'Goussa (Ingusa) in Algeria.

As of 1987, Ouargli had no more than 10,000 speakers.2 Ethnologue estimated only 5,000 speakers as of 1995.3

There are some differences between the dialects of Ouargla (Təggargrənt) and N'Goussa (Təggəngusit), notably in the position of pronominal clitics; within Ouargla, there are minor differences between the three tribes At-Brahim, At-Sisin and At-Waggin.4

Speakers from Ouargla regard the varieties of Ouargla, N'Goussa, Tugurt/Temacine and Tumzabt/Mozabite, and possibly other Zenati varieties, as dialects of a single language they call Twargrit.5 According to Delheure (1987:355), at Wargrən fəhhəmən d awəḥdi tawsint, "the Ouarglis understand Temacine very well."

The principal grammatical study is Biarnay (1908);6 a less detailed sketch is provided in Basset (1893).7 Its lexicon is fairly extensively documented in Delheure's (1987) dictionary.8 The bilingual texts in Biarnay and Basset are more recently supplemented by the texts on daily life in Delheure (1988)9 and the folk tale collection in Delheure (1989);10 the latter, unlike other work on Ouargli, includes texts from N'Goussa as well.

References

References

  1. Ouargli at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Delheure 1987:1
  3. "Tagargrent". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
  4. Delheure 1987:2
  5. Delheure 1988:20, 24; Delheure 1987:273
  6. S. Biarnay, 1908, Étude sur le dialecte berbère de Ouargla, Paris: Ernest Leroux
  7. René Basset, 1893, Étude sur la Zenatia du Mzab, de Ouargla et de l'Oued-Rir'. Paris: Ernest Leroux.
  8. Jean Delheure, 1987, Agerraw n iwalen teggargarent-tarumit / Dictionnaire ouargli-français, Paris: SELAF
  9. Jean Delheure, 1988, Vivre et mourir à Ouargla. Tameddurt t-Tmettant Wargren. Paris: SELAF
  10. Jean Delheure, 1989, Contes et légendes berbères de Ouargla : Tinfusin, Paris: Boîte à Documents
Bibliography

Bibliography

  • René Basset, Étude sur la zénatia du Mzab, de Ouargla et de l'Oued-Rir', Paris, Leroux, 1893
  • Samuel Biarnay, Étude sur le dialecte berbère de Ouargla, Alger, Leroux, 1908
  • Jean Delheure, Dictionnaire Ouargli-Français (Index Ricapitulatif Français-Ouargli), Paris, SELAF, 1987 - ISBN 2-85297-197-6
  • Jean Delheure, "Id akkaz ini id ahaji. Devinettes et énigmes de Ouargla (Sud Algérien)", Études et Documents Berbères 3 (1987), pp. 76–83 - ISSN 0295-5245
  • Jean Delheure, Vivre et mourir à Ouargla / Tameddurt t-tmettant wargren, Paris, SELAF, 1988 - ISBN 2-85297-196-8
  • Jean Delheure, "Baghdidis et l'Ogre. Saynète dans le parler de Ouargla", Études et Documents Berbères 4 (1988), pp. 103–115 - ISSN 0295-5245
  • Jean Delheure, Contes et légendes berbères de Ouargla, Paris, La Boîte à Documents, 1989 - ISBN 2-906164-05-4
  • Jean Delheure, "Izlan d id aghanni. Poésie et chants de Ouargla", Études et Documents Berbères 5 (1989), pp. 85–104 - ISSN 0295-5245
  • Alain Romey, histoire, mémoire et sociétés, L'exemple de N'goussa: oasis berbérophone du Sahara (Ouargla), Paris-Alger, L'Harmattan-Awal, 1992 ISBN 2-7384-1579-2