Korandje language

Korandje
Kwarandzyey
Native toAlgeria
RegionTabelbala, Béchar Province
EthnicityBelbali
Native speakers
3,000 (2010)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3kcy
Glottologkora1291
ELPKwarandzyey
Location of Songhay languages[2]

Northwest Songhay:

  Korandje
  Koyra Chiini
  Tadaksahak
  Tasawaq
  Tagdal

Eastern Songhay:

  Tondi Songway Kiini
  Humburi Senni
  Koyraboro Senni
  Zarma language
  Songhoyboro Ciine
  Dendi

Korandje (Korandje: kwạṛa n dzyəy; Arabic: البلبالية, romanized: al-Balbaliyyah) is a Northern Songhay language[3] which is by far the most northerly of the Songhay languages. It is spoken around the Algerian oasis of Tabelbala by about 3,000 people; its name literally means "village's language". While retaining a basically Songhay structure, it is extremely heavily influenced by Berber and Arabic; about 20% of the 100-word Swadesh list of basic vocabulary consists of loanwords from Arabic or Berber, and the proportion of the lexicon as a whole is considerably higher.[4]

The only published studies of Korandje based on first-hand data are Cancel (1908),[5] a 45-page article by a French lieutenant covering basic grammar and vocabulary and a couple of sample texts; Champault (1969),[6] an anthropological study containing some incidental linguistically relevant materials such as sentences and rhymes; Tilmatine (1991, 1996),[7] an article (published in German, then reworked in French) revisiting Cancel and Champault and adding about a page of new data recorded by the author; and Souag (2010a, 2010b),[8] the former arguing the case for Western Berber loans in the lexicon, the latter studying the effect of contact with Berber and Arabic on its grammar.

  1. ^ Korandje at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ This map is based on classification from Glottolog and data from Ethnologue.
  3. ^ Souag, Lameen (2012-01-11). "The subclassification of Songhay and its historical implications". Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. 33 (2). doi:10.1515/jall-2012-0008. ISSN 1613-3811.
  4. ^ Grammatical Contact in the Sahara: Arabic, Berber, and Songhay in Tabelbala and Siwa, Lameen Souag, PhD thesis, SOAS, 2010
  5. ^ «Etude sur le dialecte de Tabelbala», Lt. Cancel, Revue Africaine 1908, Nº 270-271, 302-347.
  6. ^ Une oasis du Sahara nord-occidental, Tabelbala, Dominique Champault, Paris: CNRS, 1969.
  7. ^ "Tabelbala: Eine Songhaysprachinsel in der Algerischen Sahara", Mohamed Tilmatine, Afrikanische Arbeitspapiere Sondernummer 377-397, 1991; "Un parler berbèro-songhay du sud-ouest algérien (Tabelbala): Elements d’histoire et de linguistique", Mohamed Tilmatine, Etudes et documents berbères 14:163-198, 1996.
  8. ^ "The Western Berber Stratum in Kwarandzyey (Tabelbala, Algeria)", in ed. D. Ibriszimow, M. Kossmann, H. Stroomer, R. Vossen, Études berbères V – Essais sur des variations dialectales et autres articles. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 2010; Grammatical Contact in the Sahara: Arabic, Berber, and Songhay in Tabelbala and Siwa, Lameen Souag, PhD thesis, SOAS, 2010