User:Xeimonanthos/Zuwara Berber
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Number of Speakers
[edit]By some estimates, 297,000 people speak Zuwara Berber or a similar dialect. Approximately 247,000 of these speakers reside in Libya.[1]
Writing System
[edit]This language uses the Naskh variant of the Arabic script.[1]
Phonology
[edit]Zuwara Berber has many consonants compared to vowels. However, words can end in both consonants and vowels. For instance, the Latinized words "ˈa.man" and "ˈa.nu" mean "water" and "water well" in English, respectively.[2]
Consonants
[edit]Zuwara Berber has a total of 31 consonants.[2]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | b | t, tˁ, d, dˁ | k, g | q | |||
| Nasal | m, mˁ | n, nˁ | |||||
| Fricative | f | s, sˁ, z, zˁ | ʃ, ʒ | χ, ʁ, ʁˁ | ħ, ʕ | ɦ | |
| Approximant | w | r, rˁ | j | ||||
| Lateral | l, lˁ |
Vowels
[edit]Zuwara Berber has a total of four vowels: /i/, /u/, /ə/, and /a/.[2]
Prosody
[edit]Stress
[edit]In roughly 85% of words, the stress goes on the penultimate syllable, especially for native Zuwara Berber words. For instance, the Latinized word "a.ˈzi.zaw" means "green" in English and has three syllables. Thus, the stress is on the second syllable, "ˈzi".[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Nafusi". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
- ^ a b c d Gussenhoven, Carlos. “Zwara Berber: Journal of the International Phonetic Association.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 11 Apr. 2017, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/zwara-zuwarah-berber/0BB97A645CE95ECA305643645A00866E.