Dahalik language
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other Dahalik (ዳሃሊክ [haka (na)] dahālík, "[language (of)] the people of Dahlak";[1] also Dahaalik, Dahlik, Dahlak) is an endangered Afroasiatic language spoken exclusively in the Dahlak Archipelago in Eritrea. Its speech area is off the coast of Massawa, on three islands in the Dahlak Archipelago: Dahlak Kebir, Nora, and Dehil.
Dahalik belongs to the Afro-Asiatic family's Semitic branch, a member of the Ethiopic group, and is closely related to Tigre and Tigrinya. It is said to be not mutually intelligible with Tigre and, according to Simeone-Senelle, is sufficiently different to be considered a separate language.[2] However, there are those who disagree.[3]
Status
Dahalik is spoken on the Dahlak Archipelago, an island group belonging to Eritrea in the Red Sea. On the archipelago, most people are speakers of Dahalik with smaller populations of Arabic and Afar native speakers. The situation is different for every village: Durrubishet and Dasquo have almost universal use of Dahalik, while other villages have a greater mix of languages. Most islanders are multilingual in Dahalik, Arabic, and Afar, while the language of education is Arabic. Most Dahalik men have regular contact with Arabic, Tigre, and Afar, and any mixed marriages usually result in the children learning two mother tongues. Dahalik speakers also consider their language to be a mix of Arabic, Tigre, and a small amount of Tigrinya. Overall, there are only a few elderly monolingual speakers of Dahalik. However, Dahalik speakers do have positive attitudes towards the language and see it as an essential part of their cultural identity.[4]
Phonology
Vowels
Script error: No such module "IPA". might be another vowel. The vowel Script error: No such module "IPA". only occurs in unstressed syllables.[4]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | Template:IPAlink | Template:IPAlink |
| Open-mid | Template:IPAlink | Template:IPAlink |
| Open | Template:IPAlink | |
Consonants
Dahalik has 21 consonants.[4]
- The emphatic alveolar ṭ is described by Simeone-Senelle as pharyngealized Script error: No such module "IPA"., as in Arabic, with pharyngealization being weak[4] Idris describes ṭ as an ejective Script error: No such module "IPA"., as in Tigre and other mainland Ethiopian Semitic languages.[5] It is only found in native vocabulary in the dialect of Dehil, and corresponds to both Ethiopian Semitic ṭ and ṣ. The Dahlak Kebir and Nora dialects have Script error: No such module "IPA". in its place in these cases.[5]
- Script error: No such module "IPA". is rare and limited to loanwords.[4]
- The voiced uvular fricative Script error: No such module "IPA". is the most common articulation of Script error: No such module "IPA". in the intervocalic position, while the voiceless uvular fricative Script error: No such module "IPA". is used after a fricative.
- The velar fricative Script error: No such module "IPA". and the voiced alveolar sibilant Script error: No such module "IPA". are only used in loanwords from Arabic. Original Ethiopian Semitic *z has become Script error: No such module "IPA"..[5]
Morphology
Pronouns
Dahalik has two different forms for second and third person pronouns, one masculine and one feminine.[4]
| Singular | Plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine | |
| 1st person | ana | neħna | ||
| 2nd person | enta | enti | intum | intun |
| 3rd person | itu | ita | itun | itan |
Dahalik also has dependent (object) pronouns, suffixed to the end of the word.[4]
| Singular | Plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine | |
| 1st person | -(h)e, -ni | -(he), -ni | -na | |
| 2nd person | -ak | -ik | -kum | -kan |
| 3rd person | -o, -(h)u | -a | -(h)um | -(h)an |
Verbs
The word order of a simple sentence in Dahalik is subject–object–verb. For conditional subordinate clauses, the subordinating marker ('if' or something similar) is at the end of the clause or just before the verb in the subordinating clause.[4]
References
External links
Template:Languages of Eritrea Template:Semitic languages
Template:Asbox Template:Semitic-lang-stub
- ↑ Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle: Dahālík, a newly discovered Afro-Semitic language spoken exclusively in Eritrea Template:Webarchive (PDF), in: shaebia.org, 2005
- ↑ *Simeone-Senelle, Marie-Claude. 2000. 'Situation linguistique dans le sud de l'Erythrée', in Wolff/Gensler (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress of African Linguistics, 1997, Köln: Köppe, p. 261–276.
- ↑ Idris, S. M. 2012. Dahalik: An Endangered Language or a Tigre Variety? Journal of Eritrean Studies 6 (1): 51–74.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".