Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Nafusi language

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Native to
  
Libya

ISO 639-3
  
jbn

Native speakers
  
140,000 (2006)

Glottolog
  
nafu1238

Language family
  
Afro-Asiatic Berber Eastern? Nafusi

Nafusi (also spelled Nefusi, Berber name: Maziɣ or Tanfusit) is a Berber language spoken in the Nafusa Mountains (Drar n infusen), a large area in northwestern Libya. Its primary speakers are the Ibadite communities around Jadu, Nalut (Lalut) and Yafran.

The dialect of Yefren in the east differs somewhat from that of Nalut and Jadu in the west. A number of Old Nafusi phrases appear in Ibadite manuscripts as early as the 12th century, representing some of the earliest manuscript records of Berber.

The Ethnologue entry includes nearby Zuara Berber, Matmata Berber, and Djerbi under the rubric "Nafusi", which corresponds neither to local nor to academic usage of the term.

The dialect of Jadu is described in some detail in Beguinot (1931). Motylinski (1898) describes the dialect of Jadu and Nalut as spoken by a student from Yefren.

Nafusi shares several innovations with the Zenati languages, but, unlike them, maintains prefix vowels before open syllables; for example, ufəs "hand" < *afus, rather than Zenati fus; it appears especially closely related to Sokni and Siwi to its east.

References

Nafusi language Wikipedia


Similar Topics