Nigerian Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken in the farthest northeastern part of Nigeria in Borno State especially in Maidaguri where constitute 10% of the population[1]. It is characterized by the loss of both the pharyngeals [ħ] and [ʕ], the interdental fricatives [ð], [θ] and [ðˁ], and diphthongs[2][3]. But it also has [lˁ], [rˁ] and [mˁ] as extra non-allophonic emphatics. Some examples of minimal pairs for such emphatics are gallab "he galloped", galˁlˁab "he got angry"; karra "he tore" karˁrˁa "he dragged"; amm "uncle", amˁmˁ "mother"[2]. Nigerian Arabic, also, has the feature of inserting an /a/ after gutterals (ʔ,h,x,q)[2]. Another notable feature is the change of the 5th Standard Arabic 5th stem from tafaʻʻal(a) to alfaʻʻal for example the word "taʻallam(a)" becomes alʻallam[4]. The first person singular of verbs is different from its formation in other Arabic dialects in that it does not have a final t thus the first person singular of the verb katab is katab with stress on the second part of the word[2]. Whereas other varieties of Arabic, including Classical Arabic, retain the final t[2]. Nigerian Arabic differentiate between the first person singular and the third person singular masculine by stressing the second part of the of the verb in the former form and stressing the first part of the latter form[2].
The following is a sample vocabulary:
| word |
meaning |
notes |
| anīna |
we |
|
| 'alme |
water |
frozen definite aticle 'al |
| īd |
hand |
|
| īd |
festival |
|
| jidãda, jidãd |
chicken, (collective)chicken |
|
| šumāl |
north |
|
References
- ^ Owens, Jonathan (2007). "Close Encounters of a Different Kind: Two types of insertion in Nigerian Arabic code switching". in Miller, Catherine G.. Arabic in the city: issues in dialect contact and language variation. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-77311-3.
- ^ a b c d e f Jonathan Owens 2006, A Linguistic History of Arabic. Oxford University Press
- ^ Andrew, Fox (October 1988). "Nigerian Arabic-English Dictionary, Book Review". Language 64 (4): 836. doi:10.2307/414603.
- ^ Jonathan Owens 2000, Arabic as a Minority Language. Walter de Gruyter
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