| Also Known As: Tacenwit,Tachenwit,Shenwiyya,Cherchell
Description:
Chenoua (autonym: Haqbaylit̠) is the Berber language of Jebel Chenoua in Algeria, just west of Algiers near Tipasa and Cherchell. It is very closely similar to the Berber speech of the Beni Menacer nearby, and the name is thus sometimes extended to refer to the Berber speech varieties of that whole area. According to the Ethnologue (2004) (whose figure is taken from the World Christian Database, 2000), it has 4,764 speakers.
Judging by Laoust (whose work on the language unfortunately predates systematic phonology), Chenoua has the following sounds, given below with International Phonetic Alphabet and, between angle brackets , the Algerian standard Latin orthography for Berber languages used in the rest of the article:
Comparison with other Berber languages suggests that Laoust's transcription may have failed to distinguish certain sounds, notably pharyngealized zˁ.
/a/, /i/, /u/, /ə/ . Where Laoust's transcription uses o, he seems to be variously indicating labialization (/ʷ/) or an allophone of /u/.
Masculine nouns start with a-, i-, u- (in the singular) - like all Berber languages - or more rarely with a consonant (often corresponding to a- in other languages.) Examples:..... full article at Wikipedia |
