Jebli Arabic

Updated on Oct 26, 2023

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Native to Morocco Glottolog jebl1238		ISO 639-3 (included in ary)

Ethnicity Jbalas, Ghomaras, Sanhajas de Srayr Language family Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Maghrebi Arabic Pre-Hilalian Jebli

Jebli (Jebelia) is a pre-Hilalian Arabic dialect spoken in the mountains of the north of Morocco.

The word jebli means "of/from the mountain". It is mainly spoken in the northwest of Morocco by tribes of arab Sherifian and Morisco descent as well as (primarily) Berbers who were Arabized over the past ten centuries.

Jbalas: all the forty-four tribes speak Jebli Arabic ;

Ghomaras: out of nine tribes, seven are fully Jebli-speaking, the two remaining are partially Jebli-speaking with a significant Ghomara Berber-speaking community ;

Sanhajas de Srayr: one Jebli-speaking tribe –Ketama– out of ten tribes, the remaining (nine) speak Sanhaja Berber ;

Riffians: out of twenty tribes, six are fully or partially Arabophone; among them, five speak Mountain Arabic −Targuist, Aït Itteftf, Aït Boufrah, Mestasa and Metioua− while the last one –Settout– speak Hilalian Arabic ;

Ghiatas, Maghraouas and Meknassas: the three tribes –that aren't part of any larger confederacy– are fully Jebli-speaking ;

Tribes of Zerhoun (Zerahnas) and the neighborhood of Sefrou (Kechtala, Behalil and Yazgha): although not belonging to the same ethno-linguistic group than Jebalas, their pre-Hilalian dialects are sometimes classified as belonging to the same macro-family (westernmost pre-Hilalian village dialects) than Jebli.

Jebli is heavily influenced by Berber; the grammar of Jebli is almost Berber while most the words are Arabic. The vocabulary is highly influenced by Spanish.

References

Jebli Arabic Wikipedia

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