Languages of Morocco

Languages of Morocco


Ethnolinguistic Groups in Morocco
Morocco's official languages are Classical Arabic and since July 2011, also "Amazigh language" which is a standardized version of the Berber languages.
The majority of the population natively speaks Moroccan-Arabic. More than 12 million Moroccans speak Berber — which exists in Morocco in three different dialects (Riff, Shilha, and Central Atlas Tamazight) — either as a first language or bilingually with Moroccan Arabic.
The Hassaniya Arabic is spoken in the southern part of country. Morocco has recently included the protection of Hassaniya in the constitution as part of the July 2011 reforms.
French is taught universally and still serves as Morocco's primary language of commerce and economics; it is also widely used in education and government.
Spanish is also spoken by some in the northern part of the country as a foreign language. Meanwhile English, is increasingly becoming more popular among the educated particularly in the science fields.



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Culture of Morocco

Culture of Morocco


A Moroccan kaftan
Through Moroccan history, the country had many cultural influences (Europe, middle-east and sub-Saharan Africa). The culture of Morocco shares similar traits with that of neighboring countries, particularly Algeria and Tunisia and to a certain extent Spain.
Each region possesses its own uniqueness, contributing to the national culture. Morocco has set among its top priorities the protection of its diversity and the preservation of its cultural heritage.
The traditional dress for men and women is called djellaba; a long, loose, hooded garment with full sleeves. For special occasions, men also wear a red cap called a bernousse, more commonly referred to as a Fez. Women wear kaftans decorated with ornaments. Nearly all men, and most women, wear balgha (بلغه) —- soft leather slippers with no heel, often dyed yellow. Women also wear high-heeled sandals, often with silver or gold tinsel.
Moroccan style is a new trend in decoration which takes its roots from Moorish architecture, it has been made popular by the vogue of Riads renovation in Marrakech. Dar is the name given to one of the most common types of domestic structures in Morocco, is a home found in a medina, or walled urban area of a city. Most Moroccan homes traditionally adhere to the Dar al-Islam, a series of tenets on Islamic domestic life. Dar exteriors are typically devoid of ornamentation and windows, except occasional small openings in secondary quarters, such as stairways and service areas. These piercings provide light and ventilation.
Moroccan cuisine is home to Berber, Moorish, and Arab influences. It is known for dishes like couscous, pastilla, and others. Spices such as cinnamon are used in Moroccan cooking. Sweets like halwa are popular, as well as other sweets. Cuisines from neighbouring countries also influence the country's culinary traditions.
Moroccan craftsmanship has a rich tradition of jewellery, pottery, leather-work and and woodwork
The music of Morocco ranges and differs according to the various areas of the country, Moroccan music has a variety of styles from complex sophisticated orchestral music to simple music involving only voice and drums . There are three varieties of Berber folk music: village and ritual music, and the music performed by professional musicians. Chaabi الشعبي is a music consisting of numerous varieties which descend from the multifarious forms of Moroccan folk music. Chaabi was originally performed in markets, but is now found at any celebration or meeting. Gnawa is a form of music that is mystical. It was gradually brought to Morocco by Sub-Saharan Africans and later became part of the Moroccan tradition. Sufi brotherhoods (tarikas) are common in Morocco, and music is an integral part of their spiritual tradition. This music is an attempt at reaching a trance state which inspires mystical ecstasy.


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Berber Genetic Identity -Moroccan people

Berber Genetic Identity

The prehistoric populations (Berbers) of Morocco are related to the wider group of Paleo-Mediterranean peoples. The Afroasiatic phylum probably originated in the mesolithic period, perhaps in the context of the Capsian culture.[15][16] DNA analysis has found commonalities between Berber Moroccan populations and those of the Sami people of Scandinavia showing a link dating from around 9,000 years ago.[17] By 5000 BC, the populations of Morocco are an amalgamation of Ibero-Maurisian and a minority of Capsian stock blended with a more recent intrusion associated with the Neolithic revolution.[18] Out of these populations, the proto-Berber tribes form during the Late Paleoltihic Era.[19]


Berber children near the Atlas mountains range.
[edit]First settlers
According to the leading evolutionary theory of human origins, known as the Out of Africa theory, anatomically modern humans first emerged in Africa 150,000-200,000 years ago. All non-Africans are descended from at least one group of humans who migrated out of Africa into western Asia 50,000-70,000 years ago. The first modern humans in Europe, the Cro-Magnon, arrived from North-west Africa and are believed to have completely replaced the previous inhabitants, the Neanderthals. Cro-Magnons are known as Ibero-Maurisians or Mechta-Afalou People, they were in Morocco by 45,000 years ago or Probably they were Evolved from The Aterians, the Cro-Magnon people had populated much of North Africa. There was a massive major human migration from Morocco and this paleolithic population was weakly Mixed by later Capsian migrations during the Neolithic Era, this Prehistoric Population still survived and isolated in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco known until our days as Berbers.
[edit]Y-chromosome DNA


Distribution of Y haplotype E-M81 E1b1b1b in North Africa, West Asia and Europe.
Recent studies make clear no significant genetic differences exist between Arabic and non-Arabic speaking populations, The human leukocyte antigen HLA DNA data suggest that most Moroccans are of a Berber origin and that Arabs who invaded North Africa and Spain in the 7th century did not substantially contribute to the gene pool.[20][21] The Muslim refugees from Iberia settled in the coast-towns.[22] According to a 2000 article in European Journal of Human Genetics, Moroccans from North-Western Africa were genetically closer to Iberians than to Sub-Saharan Africans of Bantu Ethnicity and Middle Easterners.[23]
The different loci studied revealed close similarity between the Berbers and other north African groups, mainly with Moroccan Arabic-speakers, which is in accord with the hypothesis that the current Moroccan population has a strong Berber background.[24]
The E1b1b1 clade is presently found in various forms in Morocco. Total E1b1b1 (E-M35) frequencies reached at 93.8% in Moroccans [25]
E1b1b1b1(E-M81), formerly E1b1b1b, E3b1b, and E3b2, is the most common Y chromosome haplogroup in Morocco, dominated by its sub-clade E-M183. This haplogroup reaches a mean frequency of 100% to 50% In North Africa, decreasing in frequency from approximately 85% or more in Moroccan Berber populations, including Saharawis, to approximately 25% to the east of this range in Egypt. Because of its prevalence among these groups and also others such as Mozabite, Riffians, Chleuhs, Middle Atlas, Kabyle and other Berber groups, it is sometimes referred to as a genetic Berber marker.
This phylogenetic tree of The Berber haplogroup subclades is based on the YCC 2008 tree and subsequent published research as summarized by ISOGG.[26][27][28]
E1b1b1b (L19, V257)
E1b1b1b1 (M81)
E1b1b1b1a (M107) Underhill et al. (2000).
E1b1b1b1b (M183) This clade is extremely dominant within E-M81. In fact, while Karafet et al. (2008) continues to describe this as a sub-clade of E-M81, and ISOGG defers to Karafet et al., all data seems to imply that it should actually be considered phylogenetically equivalent to M81[citation needed]
E1b1b1b1b1 (M165) Underhill et al. (2000).
E1b1b1b1b2 (L351) Found in two related participants in The E-M35 Phylogeny Project.
Average North African Moroccan Berbers have frequencies of E3b3 in the +80%. Alvarez et al.(2009) study shows a frequency of E3b1b of 28/33 or 84.8% in Berbers from Marrakesh. With the rest of the frequencies being 1/33=3% E3a*, 1/33=3% E3b*, 1/33 or 3% E3b1a, and 1/33 or 3% E3b1c.[25]
The most basal and rare E-M78* paragroup has been found at lower frequencies in Moroccan Arabs. The sub-clade: E1b1b1a1d (E-V65), is found in high levels in the Maghreb regions of far northern Africa. Cruciani et al. (2007) report levels of about 20% amongst Libyan Arab lineages, and about 30% amongst Morrocan Arabs. It appears to be less common amongst Berbers, but still present in levels of >10%. The authors suggest a North African origin for this lineage. In Europe, only a few individuals were found in Italy and Greece. Capelli et al. (2009) studied the beta cluster in Europe. They found small amounts in Southern Italy, but also traces in Cantabria, Portugal and Galicia, with Cantabria having the highest level in Europe in their study, at 3.1% (5 out of 161 people).
Other frequencies of E1b1b1a1c (E-V22) is reported by Cruciani et al. (2007) include Moroccan Arabs (7.27%, 55 people) and Moroccan Jews (8%, 50 people).


Distribution density of E1b1b1a (E-M78) in select areas of Africa and Eurasia


Distribution of E1b1b1c in select areas of Europe, Asia, and Africa
Concerning E-M123 without checking for the E-M34 SNP is found at small frequencies in Morocco A Low regional percentages for E-M123 was reported in Moroccan Berbers around 3%.


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Moroccan Goumier

Moroccan Goumier


Moroccan Goumiers were soldiers who served in auxiliary units attached to the French Army of Africa, between 1908 and 1956. The term Goumier was also occasionally used to designate native soldiers in the French army of the French Sudan and Upper Volta during the colonial era.


Description

The word originated in the Maghrebi Arabic word Koum (قوم), which means "people". The non-specific designation "Goumi" (French version "Goumier") was used to circumvent tribal distinctions and enable volunteers from different regions to serve together in mixed units for a "common" cause.
In French military terminology, a goum was a unit of 200 auxiliaries. Three or four goums made up a tabor. An engine or groupe was composed of three tabors. A goum in this case was the equivalent of a company in regular military units and a tabor would thereby be equivalent to a battalion. A tabor was the largest permanent goumier unit.
Each goum was a mix of different berber tribes mainly from the Atlas mountains of Morocco.[1]
[edit]Origins

The designation of "goumiers" was originally given to tribal irregulars employed as allies by the French Army during the early 1900s in southern Algeria. These mounted allies operated under their own tribal leadership and were entirely distinct from the regular Muslim cavalry (Spahi) and infantry (Tirailleur) regiments of the French Armée d'Afrique.[2]
[edit]Morocco, 1908–34

Algerian goumiers were employed during the initial stages of the French intervention in Morocco, commencing in 1908. After their terms of enlistment expired, the Algerians returned to their homeland, but the advantages of indigenous irregulars were such that they were replaced by Moroccan levies. Retaining the designation of goumiers, the Moroccans served in detachments under French officers, and initially mostly Algerian NCOs, both of whom were usually seconded from the Spahis and Tirailleurs.[3] Moroccan sous-officers were in due course appointed.
These semi-permanently employed Moroccan goumiers were initially raised by General Albert D'Amade to patrol recently-occupied areas. Goumiers also served as scouts and in support of regular French troops, and in 1911 they became permanent units. Nominally, they were under the control of the Sultan of Morocco, but in practice they formed an extension of the French Army and subsequently fought for France in third countries (see below). However, their biggest involvement was in Morocco itself during the period of French "pacification".
Initially, the Moroccan Goums wore tribal dress with only blue cloaks as uniform items, but as they achieved permanent status they adopted the distinctive brown and grey striped jellaba (a hooded Moroccan cloak) that was to remain their trademark throughout their history with the French Army. Their normal headdress was a turban. Goums included both infantry and cavalry elements. Their traditional and favoured weapons were sabres or elongated daggers.
An equivalent force known as the Mehal-La Jalifiana was raised in Spanish Morocco using France's goumiers as a model.
[edit]World War I

The Goumiers did not see service outside Morocco during the First World War. Their existence did, however, enable General Hubert Lyautey to withdraw a substantial portion of the regular French military forces from Morocco for service on the Western Front. Remaining separate from the regular Moroccan regiments of the French Armée d'Afrique, the Goumiers gave valuable service during the Rif Wars of the 1920s. They subsequently became a form of gendarmerie, keeping order in rural districts of Morocco.
[edit]World War II



A "Goum" featured in Yank magazine, shown sharpening his bayonet.
Four Moroccan groups (regimental-sized units, about 12 000 men in total) served with the Allied forces during World War II. They specialised in night raiding operations, and fought against the forces of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during 1942-45. Goumier units were also used to man the front lines in mountainous and other rough terrain areas, freeing regular Allied infantry units to operate along more profitable axes of advance.
[edit]North Africa 1940–42
In May 1940, 12 Moroccan Goums were organized as the 1st Group of Moroccan Auxiliaries (French: 1er Groupe de Supplétifs Marocains - G.S.M.) and used in combat against Italian troops operating out of Libya. After the armistice of 1940, the Goums were returned to Morocco. To evade strict German limits on how many troops France could maintain in North Africa, the Goumiers were described as having Gendarmerie-type functions, such as maintenance of public order and the surveillance of frontiers, while maintaining military armament, organization, and discipline.[4]
[edit]Tunisia, 1942–43
The 1st GSM (Groupe de Supplétifs Marocains) fought on the Tunisian front as part of the Moroccan March Division from December 1942, and was joined by the 2nd GSM in January 1943.
The 15th Army Group commander, British General Harold Alexander considered the French Moroccan Goumiers as "great fighters" and gave them to the allies to help them to take Bizerte and Tunis.[5]
After the Tunisia Campaign, the French organized two additional groups and retitled the groups as Groupement de Tabors Marocains (G.T.M.) Each group contained a command Goum (company) and three Tabors (battalions) of three Goums each. A Tabor contained four 81-mm mortars and totalled 891 men. Each infantry Goum was authorized 210 men, one 60-mm mortar, two light machine guns, and seven automatic rifles.[6]
An anonymous junior officer from the U.S. 26th Infantry Regiment, a unit that fought alongside the Goumiers in Tunisia, wrote:
Two companies of Goums...were stationed next to our CP, and these had sent out two raiding parties the same night... Mostly mountain men from Morocco, these silent, quick-moving raiders were excellent at night raids, and in surprise attacks. How successful they had been was attested by the two [French] officers who had command of the companies of the Goumiers. The companies lacked most of the clothing, equipment and weapons necessary for warfare. Several raids had remedied that. Inspection of their clothing revealed a good many German articles of clothing under their conventional brown and white vertical striped robes. Their rifles were mixed German and Italian, with a few old French rifles firing clips of four. Mess equipment, and a good deal of the food was also of enemy origin, as were the knives, pistols, blankets and toilet articles. From questioning of the Italian prisoners, it was evident that they had either heard or experienced the merciless raids of the Goums, and they wanted no part of them. Part of the Goums' success lay in their silence as they moved forward, and in their highly perfected art of camouflage. One anecdote ran that one warrior had so successfully camouflaged himself all day in full sight of the Germans that a German officer had wandered over to what he thought was a bush, and had urinated on the motionless head of the Moroccan soldier who bore the trial well, but who marked that particular officer down for special attention that night. Goums did not take any prisoners, and it was well-known to the Germans and Italians what befell anyone who ran afoul of those Moroccans. There was certainly no desire to have our battalion tangle with either of the two raiding parties sent out the same night.[1]
Separate from the groups, the 14th Tabor did not participate in the fighting in Europe and remained in Morocco to keep public order for the remainder of the war.[4]
[edit]Italy, 1943–45
The 4th Tabor of Moroccan Goums fought in the Sicilian Campaign, landing at Licata on July 14, 1943, and was attached to the U.S. Seventh Army.[4][7] The Goumiers of the 4th Tabor were attached to the U.S. 1st Infantry Division on July 27, 1943 and were recorded in the U.S. 26th Infantry Regiment's log files for their courage. Upon their arrival many Italian soldiers surrendered en masse, while the Germans began staging major retreats away from known Goumiers presence.[8]
The Italian campaign of World War II is perhaps the most famous and most controversial in the history of the Goumiers. The 4th Group of Moroccan Tabors shipped out for Italy in November 1943, and was followed in January 1944 by the 3rd Group, and reinforced by the 1st Group in April 1944.[4]
In Italy, the Allies suffered a long stalemate at the German Gustav Line. In May 1944, three Goumier groupes, under the name Corps de Montagne, were the vanguard of the French Expeditionary Corps attack through the Aurunci Mountains during Operation Diadem, the fourth Battle of Monte Cassino. "Here the Goums more than proved their value as light, highly mobile mountain troops who could penetrate the most vertical terrain in fighting order and with a minimum of logistical requirements. Most military analysts consider the Goumiers' manoeuvre as the critical victory that finally opened the way to Rome."[2]
The Allied commander, U.S. General Mark Clark also paid tribute to the Goumiers and the Moroccan regulars of the Tirailleur units:
In spite of the stiffening enemy resistance, the 2nd Moroccan Division penetrated the Gustave [sic] Line in less than two day’s fighting. The next 48 hours on the French front were decisive. The knife-wielding Goumiers swarmed over the hills, particularly at night, and General Juin’s entire force showed an aggressiveness hour after hour that the Germans could not withstand. Cerasola, San Giorgio, Mt. D’Oro, Ausonia and Esperia were seized in one of the most brilliant and daring advances of the war in Italy... For this performance, which was to be a key to the success of the entire drive on Rome, I shall always be a grateful admirer of General Juin and his magnificent FEC.
During their fighting in the Italian Campaign, the Goumiers suffered 3,000 casualties, of which 600 were killed in action.[9]
[edit]Reported atrocities
However, the military achievements of the Goumiers in Italy were accompanied by widespread reports of war crimes: "...exceptional numbers of Moroccans were executed—many without trial—for allegedly murdering, raping, and pillaging their way across the Italian countryside. The French authorities sought to defuse the problem by importing numbers of Berber women to serve as "camp followers" in rear areas set aside exclusively for the Goumiers."[3] According to Italian sources, more than 7,000 people were raped by Goumiers. [4] Those rapes, later known in Italy as Marocchinate, were against women, children and men, including some priests. The mayor of Esperia (a comune in the Province of Frosinone), reported that in his town, 700 women out of 2,500 inhabitants were raped and that some had died as a result. In northern Latium and southern Tuscany, it is alleged that the Goumiers raped and occasionally killed women and young men after the Germans retreated, including members of partisan formations.[5] On the other hand a British journalist commented, “The Goums have become a legend, a joke… No account of their rapes or their other acts is too eccentric to be passed off as true.” [10]
The French Expeditionary Corps executed 15 soldiers by firing squad and sentenced 54 others to hard labor in military prisons for acts of rape or murder.[9]
See also: Marocchinate
[edit]Corsica, 1943
In September 1943 the 2nd Group of Moroccan Tabors participated in the liberation of Corsica, and fought the Germans in the mountains near Bastia, by Cape Corse.[6]
[edit]Elba, 1944
The 2nd Group of Moroccan Tabors was part of the French Forces that took Elba from the Germans in June 1944. The operation was called Operation Brassard. The island was more heavily defended than expected, and there were many casualties on both sides as a result of the severe fighting.
[edit]Mainland France, 1944
The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Groups of Moroccan Tabors fought in the campaigns in southern France, Vosges Mountains, and Alsace during late 1944 and early 1945. The Goumiers started landing in southern France on August 18, 1944. Attached to the 3rd Algerian Infantry Division, all three groups took part in the combat to liberate Marseille from August 20–28, 1944. The 1st Group was subsequently used to secure France's Alpine frontier with Italy until late October 1944, and then took part in the forcing of the Belfort Gap in November. During late September and early October 1944, the 2nd and 3rd Groups fought in the areas of Remiremont and Gérardmer. All three groups fought in the Vosges Mountains during November and December 1944, facing extremely cold weather and bitter German resistance. After hard fighting in the Vosges Mountains and the Colmar Pocket, the 3rd Group was repatriated to Morocco in April 1945. It was replaced in Europe by the 4th Group, which had returned to North Africa after French forces left Italy.[11] [7]
[edit]Germany, 1945
The 1st, 2nd, and 4th Groups of Moroccan Tabors fought in the final operations to overrun southwestern Germany in 1945.[11] The 1st Group fought through the Siegfried Line in the Bienwald from March 20–25, 1945. In April 1945, the 1st and 4th Groups took part in the combat to seize Pforzheim. In the last weeks of the war, the 2nd Group fought in the Black Forest and pushed southeast to Germany's Austrian border. During the same period, the 1st and 4th Groups advanced with other French forces on Stuttgart and Tübingen. By mid-1946, all three groups had been repatriated to Morocco.
The total of Goumier casualties in World War II from 1942 to 1945 was 8,018 of which 1,625 were killed in action.[8]
[edit]Indochina, 1949-1954

Following World War II Moroccan goumiers saw service in French Indo-China from June 1949 until the fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Stationed in the northern frontier zone of Tonkin, the goumier units were used mainly for convoy escort and quadrillage de zone (regional search and destroy) duties. By contrast with the regular Moroccan tirailleurs, who enlisted for fixed terms of service, the goumiers were contracted to serve specifically in Indo-China for the period of hostilities.[12]
As in previous campaigns, the goumiers were organised in battalion sized Tabors, each comprising several Goums or companies. The proportion of French officers to Moroccan other ranks was low, with normally only two in each company. Locally recruited Indochinese auxiliaries were attached to each Tabor as reconnisance units. Brigaded for administrative purposes in the Groupement de Tabors Marocain d'Extreme Orient there were, at any one time, usually three Tabors serving in Indochina during the war against the Viet Minh. In October 1950 the 11e Tabor was overrun at Na Kheo, with only 369 survivors out of 924 goumiers and French officers.[13]
During this, their final campaign in French service, the goumiers continued, at least for parade and in cold weather, to wear the distinctive flat-topped turbans and brown-striped djellabas that had distinguished these units since 1911.
[edit]Following Moroccan independence

With Moroccan independence in 1956, the Goums were incorporated into the new Royal Army of Morocco. Following negotiations between the French, Spanish and Moroccan governments, it was agreed that both regular and auxiliary Moroccan units could be transferred into the new Forces Armées Royales or FAR.
Fourteen thousand Moroccan personnel were according transferred from French service. The modern Moroccan military includes both a Royal Gendarmerie and Auxiliary Force Companies. Both forces have an overlapping rural policing role and are in that sense the successors of the Goumiers.
[edit]Decorations

In France, citations made during World War I, World War II or colonial conflicts were accompanied with awards of a Croix de guerre (Cross of War) with attachments on the ribbon depending on the degree of citation: the lowest being represented by a bronze star (for those who had been cited at the regiment or brigade level) while the highest degree is represented by a bronze palm (for those who had been cited at the army level). A unit can be mentioned in Despatches. Its flag is then decorated with the corresponding Croix. After two citations in Army Orders, the men of the unit concerned are all entitled to wear a fourragère.
[edit]Second World war[14]
In total, between 1942 and 1945, the Group of Tabors, Tabors and Goums earned the Croix de Guerre with bronze palm (Army level) seventeen times and the Croix de Guerre with silver gilt star (corps level) nine times:[15]
The 2nd Group of Tabors were awarded the fourragère (colors of the médaille militaire) for having earned the Croix de Guerre with bronze palm four times
The 1st, 3rd and 4th Groups of Tabors were awarded the fourragère for having earned the Croix de Guerre with bronze palm two or three times
[edit]First Indochina War[14]
The 1st and 5th tabors were awarded the fourragère for having earned the Croix de Guerre with bronze palm two or three times
In 1945, the Goumiers received their first flag, from Charles de Gaulle. In 1952 this standard was awarded the Legion of Honour, the highest decoration in France.[16][17]
[edit]In fiction

A scene in which women are raped by goumiers during the 1944 Italian Campaign of World War II has a key role in Alberto Moravia's 1958 novel "Two Women" (Orig. title in Italian "La Ciociara") and the 1960 film based on the novel.
Similarly, in the novel Point of Honor by Mortimer R. Kadish (1951), whose setting is the American Army campaign in Italy in 1944, the closing pages depict the protection by Americans of Italian villagers against a threat of rape and murder by "Ayrab" or "Goum" troops.

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Moroccan Arabic

Evolution

In general, Moroccan Arabic is one of the most innovative (in the technical sense of "least conservative") of all Arabic dialects. Nowadays Moroccan Arabic continues to integrate new French words, mainly technological and modern words. However, in recent years constant exposure to revived classical forms on television and in print media and a certain desire among many Moroccans for a revitalization of an Arab identity has inspired many Moroccans to integrate words from Standard Arabic, replacing their French or Spanish counterparts or even speaking in Modern Standard Arabic while keeping the Moroccan accent to sound less pedantic. This phenomenon mostly occurs among literate people.
Though rarely written, Moroccan Arabic is currently undergoing an unexpected and pragmatic revival. It is now the preferred language in Moroccan chat rooms or for sending SMS, using Arabic Chat Alphabet composed of Latin letters supplemented with the numbers 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 for coding specific Arabic sounds as is the case with other Arabic speakers.
The language continues to evolve quickly as can be noted when consulting the Colin dictionary. Many words and idiomatic expressions recorded between 1921 and 1977 are now obsolete.
[edit]Diglossia and social prestige

While being a natural localization of Classical Arabic for geographic and historical reasons, as French has evolved from Vulgar Latin, Moroccan Arabic is considered as a language of low prestige[citation needed] whereas it is Modern Standard Arabic that is used in more formal contexts. While Moroccan Arabic is the mother tongue of nearly twenty million people in Morocco it is rarely used in written form. This situation may explain in part the high illiteracy rates in Morocco.[citation needed]
This situation is not specific to Morocco but occurs in all Arabic-speaking countries. The French Arabist William Marçais coined in 1930 the term diglossie (diglossia) to describe this situation, where two (often) closely related languages co-exist, one of high prestige (the standard language), which is generally used by the government and in formal texts, and one of low prestige, which is usually the spoken vernacular tongue.
[edit]Artistic expression

There exists some poetry written in Moroccan Arabic like the Malhun. In the troubled and autocratic Morocco of the 70s (known as the years of lead), the legendary Nass El Ghiwane band wrote beautiful and allusive lyrics in Moroccan Arabic which were very appealing to the youth even in other Maghreb countries.
Another interesting movement is the development of an original rap music scene, which explores new and innovative usages of the language.
[edit]Newspapers

There are now at least three Moroccan Arabic newspapers; their aim is to bring information to people with a low level of education. From September 2006 to October 2010, Telquel Magazine had a Moroccan Arabic edition Nichane. There is also a free weekly magazine that is entirely written in "standard" Moroccan dialect: Khbar Bladna, i.e. 'News of our country'.


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Moroccan people

Moroccan people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the people of Morocco. For a specific analysis of the population of Morocco, see Demographics of Morocco.
Moroccans
المغاربة


Total population
~ 38M
Regions with significant populations
 Morocco 33,403,000 [1]
 France 1,514,000 [2][3][4]
 Spain 754,080 [5]
 Israel 686,600 [6]
 Italy 506,000 [7]
 Netherlands 368,662 (2013) [8]
 Belgium 333,244 [9]
 Germany 102,000 [10]
 Canada 120,000 [11]
 United States 77,468 [12]
 Canada 66,000 [13]
 Saudi Arabia 43,216
 Kuwait 21,843
 Sweden 20,000
 Australia 15,000
 Denmark 15,000
 Switzerland 13,500
 United Arab Emirates 7,400
Languages
Moroccan Arabic
Berber
Religion
Predominantly Islam (Sunni, Sufi) with a minority practicing Christianity[14] and Judaism
The Moroccan people (Arabic: المغاربة‎ Modern Standard Arabic: al-Maghāribah, Moroccan Arabic: l-Mgharbah) are a people that share a common Moroccan culture, ancestry and speak the Moroccan variant of the Arabic language or a Berber language as a mother tongue.
In addition to the 33 million Moroccans in Morocco, there is a large population in France, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and smaller groups in United Kingdom, United States and Canada (see Moroccan diaspora).
Because of wide-ranging diaspora, about estimated 5 million Moroccans living abroad and of full or partial Moroccan ancestry live outside of Morocco, most notably in Europe, North America and many Arabic-speaking countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait amongst others.


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Moroccan Arabic

Moroccan Arabic (الـمغربيّة, [əlməɣɾibijja]; also known as Darija, الدّارجة, [əddæɾiʒa]) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco. For official communications, the government and other public bodies use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries. A mixture of Arabic and some French is used in business. It is within the Maghrebi Arabic dialect continuum.


Overview



An overview of the different Arabic dialects
Moroccan Arabic is considered a spoken variety of Arabic and not a separate language. Superficially, Moroccan Arabic (or perhaps a combined Moroccan–Tunisian–Algerian or "Maghrebi" Arabic) may appear to be a separate language; thorough study shows many common points between Maghreb dialects and dialects of the East, though they are hardly mutually intelligible; Arabic is a good example of a dialect continuum in which clear boundaries cannot be drawn (i.e. Moroccan Arabic is similar to Algerian Arabic, which is similar to Tunisian Arabic, which is similar to Egyptian Arabic, and so on, but the Moroccan and Gulf dialects are largely mutually unintelligible.)
Like other spoken varieties (dialects), Moroccan Arabic is rarely used in literature and lacks prestige compared to Standard Arabic (fuṣḥa). Moroccan Arabic continues to evolve by integrating new French or English words, notably in technical fields, or by replacing old French and Spanish ones with Standard Arabic words within some circles.
Darija (which means "current") can be divided into two groups:
• The pre-French protectorate: when Morocco was officially colonized by France in 1912, it had an accelerated French influence in aspects of everyday life. The pre-French Darija is one that is spoken by older and more conservative people. It is an Arabic dialect that can be found in texts and poems of Malhoun, and Andalusi music for example. Later, in the 1970s, traditionalist bands like Nass El Ghiwane and Jil Jilala followed this course, and only sang in "classical Darija".
• The post-French protectorate: after the coming of the French, any French word, whether a verb or a noun, could be thrown into a sentence. ("Code switching.") This is most common among the young, educated, urban class.
A similar phenomenon can be observed in Algerian Arabic and Tunisian Arabic.
[edit]Relationship with other languages

Moroccan Arabic, like many other forms of Arabic, is mutually unintelligible with some varieties, particularly those of Middle Eastern origin.[citation needed] Moroccan Arabic is grammatically simpler and with a less voluminous vocabulary than Classical Arabic, supplemented by French and Spanish loanwords. There is a relatively clear-cut division between Moroccan Arabic and Standard Arabic, and many Moroccans do not understand Modern Standard Arabic.[according to whom?] Depending on cultural background and degree of literacy, those who do speak Modern Standard Arabic may prefer to use Arabic words instead of their French or Spanish borrowed counterparts, while upper and educated classes often adopt code-switching between French and Moroccan Arabic. As elsewhere in the world, how someone speaks and what words or language they use is often an indicator of their social class.
[edit]Pronunciation

[edit]Vowels
One of the most notable features of Moroccan Arabic is the collapse of short vowels. Initially, short /ă/ and /ĭ/ were merged into a phoneme /ə/ (however, some speakers maintain a difference between /ă/ and /ə/ when adjacent to pharyngeal /ʕ/ and /ħ/). This phoneme was then deleted entirely in most positions; for the most part, it is maintained only in the position /...CəC#/ or /...CəCC#/ (where C represents any consonant and # indicates a word boundary), i.e. when appearing as the last vowel of a word. When /ə/ is not deleted, it is pronounced as a very short vowel, tending towards [ɐ] in the vicinity of emphatic consonants, [a] in the vicinity of pharyngeal /ʕ/ and /ħ/ (for speakers who have merged /ă/ and /ə/ in this environment), and [ɪ] elsewhere. Original short /ŭ/ usually merges with /ə/ except in the vicinity of a labial or velar consonant. In positions where /ə/ was deleted, /ŭ/ was also deleted, and is maintained only as labialization of the adjacent labial or velar consonant; where /ə/ is maintained, /ŭ/ surfaces as [ʊ]. This deletion of short vowels can result in long strings of consonants (a feature shared with Berber and certainly derived from it). These clusters are never simplified; instead, consonants occurring between other consonants tend to syllabify, according to a sonorance hierarchy. Similarly, and unlike most other Arabic dialects, doubled consonants are never simplified to a single consonant, even when at the end of a word or preceding another consonant.
Some dialects are more conservative in their treatment of short vowels. For example, some dialects allow /ŭ/ in more positions. Dialects of the Sahara, and eastern dialects near the border of Algeria, preserve a distinction between /ă/ and /ĭ/ and allow /ă/ to appear at the beginning of a word, e.g. /ăqsˤărˤ/ "shorter" (standard /qsˤərˤ/), /ătˤlăʕ/ "go up!" (standard /tˤlăʕ/ or /tˤləʕ/), /ăsˤħab/ "friends" (standard /sˤħab/).
Long /a/, /i/ and /u/ are maintained as semi-long vowels, which are substituted for both short and long vowels in most borrowings from Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Long /a/, /i/ and /u/ also have many more allophones than in most other dialects; in particular, /a/, /i/, /u/ appear as [ɑ], [e], [o] in the vicinity of emphatic consonants, but [æ], [i], [u] elsewhere. (Most other Arabic dialects only have a similar variation for the phoneme /a/.) In some dialects, such as that of Marrakech, front-rounded and other allophones also exist.
Emphatic spreading (i.e. the extent to which emphatic consonants affect nearby vowels) occurs much less than in many other dialects. Emphasis spreads fairly rigorously towards the beginning of a word and into prefixes, but much less so towards the end of a word. Emphasis spreads consistently from a consonant to a directly following vowel, and less strongly when separated by an intervening consonant, but generally does not spread rightwards past a full vowel. For example, /bidˤ-at/ [bedɑt͡s] "eggs" (/i/ and /a/ both affected), /tˤʃaʃ-at/ [tʃɑʃæt͡s] "sparks" (rightmost /a/ not affected), /dˤrˤʒ-at/ [drˤʒæt͡s] "stairs" (/a/ usually not affected), /dˤrb-at-u/ [drˤbat͡su] "she hit him" (with [a] variable but tending to be in between [ɑ] and [æ]; no effect on /u/), /tˤalib/ [tɑlib] "student" (/a/ affected but not /i/). Contrast, for example, Egyptian Arabic, where emphasis tends to spread forward and backward to both ends of a word, even through several syllables.
Emphasis is audible mostly through its effects on neighboring vowels or syllabic consonants, and through the differing pronunciation of /t/ [t͡s] and /tˤ/ [t]. Actual pharyngealization of "emphatic" consonants is weak and may be absent entirely. In contrast with some dialects, vowels adjacent to emphatic consonants are pure; there is no diphthong-like transition between emphatic consonants and adjacent front vowels.
[edit]Consonants
Moroccan Arabic consonant phonemes[1]
  Labial Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn-
geal Glottal
plain emphatic labialized plain emphatic
Nasal m (mˤʷ)2 n
Plosive voiceless (p)3 t͡s, (t)1 tˤ k q6 ʔ
voiced b (bˤʷ)2 d dˤ ɡ6,7
Fricative voiceless f (fˤʷ)2 s8 sˤ ʃ x ħ h
voiced (v)3 z8 zˤ ʒ7 ɣ ʕ
Tap ɾ ɾˤ4
Approximant l (lˤ)5 j w
In normal circumstances, non-emphatic /t/ is pronounced with noticeable affrication, almost like /t͡s/ (still distinguished from a sequence of /t/ + /s/), and hence is easily distinguishable from emphatic /tˤ/. However, in some recent loanwords from European languages, a non-affricated, non-emphatic [t] appears, distinguished from emphatic /tˤ/ primarily by its lack of effect on adjacent vowels (see above; an alternative analysis is possible).
mˤʷ, bˤʷ, fˤʷ are very distinct consonants that only occur geminated, and almost always come at the beginning of a word. They function completely differently from other emphatic consonants: They are pronounced with heavy pharyngealization, affect adjacent short/unstable vowels but not full vowels, and are pronounced with a noticeable diphthongal off-glide between one of these consonants and a following front vowel. Most of their occurrences can be analyzed as underlying sequences of /mw/, /fw/, /bw/ (which appear frequently in diminutives, for example). However, a few lexical items appear to have independent occurrences of these phonemes, e.g. /mˤmˤʷ-/ "mother" (with attached possessive, e.g. /mˤmˤʷək/ "your mother").
(p) and (v) occur mostly in recent borrowings from European languages, and may be assimilated to /b/ or /f/ in some speakers.
Unlike in most other Arabic dialects (but, again, similar to Berber), non-emphatic /r/ and emphatic /rˤ/ are two entirely separate phonemes, almost never contrasting in related forms of a word.
(lˤ) is rare in native words; in nearly all cases of native words with vowels indicating the presence of a nearby emphatic consonant, there is a nearby triggering /tˤ/, /dˤ/, /sˤ/, /zˤ/ or /rˤ/. Many recent European borrowings appear to require (lˤ) or some other unusual emphatic consonant in order to account for the proper vowel allophones; but an alternative analysis is possible for these words where the vowel allophones are considered to be (marginal) phonemes on their own.
Original /q/ splits lexically into /q/ and /ɡ/; for some words, both alternatives exist.
Original /dʒ/ normally appears as /ʒ/, but as /ɡ/ (sometimes /d/) if /s/ or /z/ appears later in the same stem: /ɡləs/ "he sat" (MSA /dʒalas/), /ɡzzar/ "butcher" (MSA /dʒazzaːr/), /duz/ "go past" (MSA /dʒuːz/).
Original /s/ is converted to /ʃ/ if /ʃ/ occurs elsewhere in the same stem, and /z/ is similarly converted to /ʒ/ as a result of a following /ʒ/: /ʃəmʃ/ "sun" vs. MSA /ʃams/, /ʒuʒ/ "two" vs. MSA /zawdʒ/ "pair", /ʒaʒ/ "glass" vs. MSA /zudʒaːdʒ/, etc. This does not apply to recent borrowings from MSA (e.g. /mzaʒ/ "disposition"), nor as a result of the negative suffix /ʃ/ or /ʃi/.
[edit]Writing

Moroccan Arabic is rarely written (most books and magazines are in French or Modern Standard Arabic), and there is no universally standard written system.[2] There is also a loosely standardized Latin system used for writing Moroccan Arabic in electronic media, such as texting and chat, often based on sound-letter correspondences from French ('ch' for English 'sh', 'ou' for English 'u', etc.) and using numbers to represent sounds not found in French or English (2-3-6-7-9 used for ق-ح-ص-ع-ء). It is extremely rare to find Moroccan Arabic written in the Arabic script, which is reserved for Standard Arabic. However, most systems used for writing Moroccan Arabic in linguistic works largely agree among each other, and such a system is used here.
Long (aka "stable") vowels /a/, /i/, /u/ are written a, i, u. e represents /ə/ and o represents /ŭ/ (see section on phonology, above). ă is used for /ă/ in speakers who still have this phoneme in the vicinity of pharyngeal /ʕ/ and /ħ/. ă, ĭ, and o are also used for ultra-short vowels used by educated speakers for the short vowels of some recent borrowings from MSA.
Note that in practice, /ə/ is usually deleted when not the last vowel of a word, and hence some authors prefer a transcription without this vowel, e.g. ka-t-ktb-u "You're (pl) writing" instead of ka-t-ketb-u. Others (like Richard Harrell in his reference grammar of Moroccan Arabic) maintain the e; but it never occur in an open syllable (followed by a single consonant and a vowel). Instead the e is transposed with the preceding (sometimes geminated) consonant, which ends up following the e; this is known as inversion.
y represents /j/.
ḥ and ` represent pharyngeal /ħ/ and /ʕ/.
ġ and x represent velar /ɣ/ and /x/.
ṭ, ḍ, ṣ, ẓ, ṛ, ḷ represent emphatic /tˤ, dˤ, sˤ, zˤ, rˤ, lˤ/.
š, ž represent hushing /ʃ, ʒ/.
[edit]Code switching

Many Moroccan Arabic speakers among the educated class, especially in the territory which was previously known as French Morocco, also practice code-switching (moving from Moroccan Arabic to French and the other way around as it can be seen in the movie Marock). In the northern parts of Morocco, as in Tangier, it is common for code-switching to occur between Moroccan Arabic and Spanish, as Spain had previously controlled part of the region, and also continues to possess the territories of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa bordering only Morocco. On the other hand, some educated Moroccans, particularly those sympathetic to the ideas of Arab nationalism, generally attempt to avoid French and Spanish influences (save those Spanish influences from al-Andalus) on their speech, even when speaking in darija; consequently, their speech tends to resemble old Andalusi Arabic and pre-occupation Maghrebi.
[edit]Vocabulary

Moroccan Arabic is grammatically simpler and has a less voluminous vocabulary than Classical Arabic. It has also integrated many Berber, French and Spanish words. Spanish words typically entered Moroccan Arabic earlier than French ones. Some words might have been brought by Moriscos who spoke Andalusi Arabic which was influenced by Spanish (Castilian), an example being the typical Andalusian dish Pastilla. Other influences have been the result of the Spanish protectorate in Spanish Morocco. French words came with the French protectorate (1912–1956). Recently, young Moroccans have started to use English words in their dialects.
There are noticeable lexical differences between Moroccan Arabic and most other dialects. Some words are essentially unique to Moroccan Arabic: e.g. daba "now". Many others, however, are characteristic of Maghrebi Arabic as a whole, including both innovations and unusual retentions of Classical vocabulary that has disappeared elsewhere such as hbeṭ' "go down" from Classical habaṭ. Others distinctives are shared with Algerian Arabic such as hḍeṛ "talk", from Classical hadhar "babble" and temma "there" from Classical thamma.
There are a number of Moroccan Arabic dictionaries in existence, including (in chronological order):
A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English, ed. Richard S. Harrell & Harvey Sobelman. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1963 (reprinted 2004.)
Mu`jam al-fuṣḥā fil-`āmmiyyah al-maghribiyyah معجم الفصحى في العامية المغربية, Muhammad Hulwi, Rabat: al-Madaris 1988.
Dictionnaire Colin d'arabe dialectal marocain (Rabat, éditions Al Manahil, ministère des Affaires Culturelles), by a Frenchman named Georges Séraphin Colin, who devoted nearly all his life to it from 1921 to 1977. The dictionary contains 60 000 entries and was published in 1993, after Colin's death.
[edit]Some words borrowed from Berber
Mouch or Mech: cat (orig. Amouch) (pronounced [muʃ])
Khizzou: carrots ([xizzu])
Takshita: typical Moroccan dress
Lalla: lady, madam
Henna: grandmother (jebli and northern urban dialects)
Dchar or Tchar: zone, region ([tʃɑr])
Neggafa: wedding facilitator (orig. taneggaft) ([nɪɡɡafa])
sifet or sayfet: send ([sˤaɪfɪtˤ])
Sebniya: veil (jebli and northern urban dialects)
Jaada : carrots (jebli and northern urban dialects)
sarred : synonyme of send (jebli and northern urban dialects)
Chlaɣem : mustache
Awriz: heel (jebli and northern urban dialects)
But: navel (orig. bed), in the west
Tamara: hardship, worries
Tamssumant : effort
[edit]Some words borrowed from French
forchita: fourchette (fork) (pronounced [forʃitˤɑ])
tomobile or tonobile: automobile (car) ([tˤomobil])
telfaza: télévision (television) ([tɪlfɑzɑ])
radio: radio ([rɑdˤjo])—NB: rādio is common across most varieties of Arabic.
bartma: appartement (apartment) ([bɑrtˤmɑ])
rambwa: rondpoint (traffic circle) ([rambwa])
tobis: autobus (bus) ([tˤobis])
camera: caméra (camera) ([kɑmerɑ])
portable: portable (cell phone) ([portˤɑbl])
tilifūn: téléphone (telephone) ([tilifuːn])
brika: briquet (lighter) ([brike])
parisiana: a French baguette, more common is komera, stick
disk: song
[edit]Some words borrowed from Spanish
Some of these words might also have come through Andalusi Arabic brought by Moriscos when they were expelled from Spain following the Christian Reconquest.
roueda: rueda (wheel) (pronounced [rwedˤɑ])
cuzina: cocina (kitchen) ([kuzinɑ])
simana: semana (week) ([simɑnɑ])
manta: manta (blanket) ([mɑntˤɑ])
rial: real (five centimes; this term has also been borrowed into many other Arabic dialects) ([rjɑl])
fundo: fondo (bottom of the sea or the swimming pool) ([fundˤo])
carrossa: carrosa (carrosse) ([kɑrrosɑ])
courda: cuerda (rope) ([kordˤɑ])
cama (in the north only): cama (bed) ([kamˤɑ])
blassa: plaza (place) ([blasɑ])
el banio: el baño (toilet) ([el bɑnjo])
comer : eat (but Moroccans use this expression to name the parisian bread) ([komer])
Disco : song (in north only) ([disko])
elmario : El armario (in north only) [The cupboard]([elmɑrjo)
blaya  : playa (beach) ([blɑjɑ)
mariya : marea (water flow) ([mɑrjɑ)
[edit]Some words borrowed from Portuguese and German
These words are used in several coastal cities across the Moroccan coast like Oualidia, El Jadida, and Tangier)
[edit]Some examples of regional differences
Now: "Daba" in the majority of regions but "druk" or "druka" is also used in some regions in the center and south, and "drwek" or "durk" in the East
When?: "fuqash" in most regions,"fewakht" in the Northwest (Tangier-Tetouan) but "imta" in the Atlantic region, and "waqtash" in Rabat region
What?: "Ashnu", "shnu" or "ash" in most regions, but "shenni", "shennu" in the North, "shnu", "sh" in Fes, and "washta", "wasmu", "wash" in the Far East
[edit]Some useful sentences
Note: All the sentences are written according to the transliteration of the Arabic alphabet.
English Western Arabic Northern (Jebli, Tetouani) Arabic Eastern (Oujda) Arabic
How are you? La bas? La bas? / Bi-xayr?/ Kif ntin/ntina? / Amandra? La bas? / Rak ġaya / Rak šbab?
Can you help me? Yemken-lek tʿaweni? Teqdar dʿaweni? Waxa d'aweni? Yemken-lek tʿaweni?
Do you speak English? Waš ka-tehdar lengliziya / waš ka-tedwi be-l-lengliziya? Waš ka-dehdar be-l-lengliziya? / kat tehdar lengliziya? Waš tehdar lengliziya?
Excuse me Smaḥ-liya Smaḥ-li Smaḥ-liya
Good luck ḥaḍ saʿid ḥaḍ saʿid ḥaḍ saʿid
Good morning ṣbaḥ l-xir ṣbaḥ l-xir / ṣbaḥ n-nur ṣbaḥ l-xir
Good night Teṣbaḥ ʿla xir ṣbaḥ ʿla xir Teṣbaḥ ʿla xir
Goodbye Be-slama Be-slama / Be-slama f had saʿa / huwa hadak Be-slama
Happy new year Sana saʿida Sana saʿida Sana saʿida
Hello s-salam ʿalikum / as-salamu ʿalaykum (Classical) / ʔahlan As-salamu ʿalaykum/ ʔahlan As-salam ʿlikum
How are you doing? La bas ʿlik? La bas? La bas ʿlik?
How are you? Ki dayer ? (masculine) / Ki dayra ? (feminine) Kif ntin? / Kif ntinah? Ki rak?
Is everything okay? Kul-ši mezyan ? Kul-ši mezyan ? / Kul-ši huwa hadak ? Kul-ši mliḥ? / Kul-ši zin?
Nice to meet you Metšaṛṛfin Metšaṛṛfin Metšaṛṛfin
No thanks La šukran La šukran La šukran
Please Allāh yxallik / ʿafak La-yxallik / La-yʿizek / xayla Allāh yxallik / yʿizek
Take care Tḥalla f-ṛaṣek Tḥalla Tḥalla f-ṛaṣek
Thank you very much Šukran bezzaf Šukran bezzaf Šukran bezzaf
What do you do? Faš xaddam? Škad ʿaddel? / šenni xaddam? (masculine) / šenni xaddama? (feminine) / š-ka-dexdem? / šini ka-te'mel/'adal f-hyatak? Faš texdem? (masculine) / Faš txedmi ? (feminine)
What's your name? Ašnu smiytek? / šu smiytek Šenni ʔesmek? / kif-aš msemy nta/ntinah? Wašta smiytek?
Where are you from? Mnin nta? (masculine) / Mnin nti? (feminine) Mnayen ntina? Min ntaya? / Min ntiya?
Where are you going? Fin ġadi temši? Nayemmaši?/Fayn maši? (masculine) / Nayemmaša?/Fayn mašya? (feminine) F-rak temši? / F-rak rayaḥ
You are welcome La šukr ʿla wažib / Bla žmil La šukr ʿla wažib/maši muškil / dunya hania La šukr ʿla wažib
[edit]Grammar

[edit]Verbs
[edit]Introduction
The regular Moroccan verb conjugates with a series of prefixes and suffixes. The stem of the conjugated verb may change a bit depending on the conjugation. Example:
The stem of the Moroccan verb for "to write" is kteb.
[edit]The past tense
The past tense of kteb "write" is as follows:
I wrote: kteb-t
You wrote: kteb-ti
He/it wrote: kteb (kteb can also be an order to write, e.g.: kteb er-rissala: Write the letter)
She/it wrote: ketb-et
We wrote: kteb-na
You (pl) wrote: kteb-tu
They wrote: ketb-u
Note that the stem kteb turns into ketb before a vowel suffix, due to the process of inversion described above.
[edit]The present tense
The present tense of kteb "write" is as follows:
I'm writing: ka-ne-kteb
You're (masculine) writing: ka-te-kteb
You're (feminine) writing: ka-t-ketb-i
He's/it's writing: ka-ye-kteb
She's/it's writing: ka-te-kteb
We're writing: ka-n-ketb-u
You're (pl) writing: ka-t-ketb-u
They're writing: ka-y-ketb-u
Note that the stem kteb turns into ketb before a vowel suffix, due to the process of inversion described above. Between the prefix ka-n-, ka-t-, ka-y- and the stem kteb, an e vowel appears, but not between the prefix and the transformed stem ketb, due to the same restriction that produces inversion.
In the north, "you're writing" is always ka-de-kteb, regardless of whom you are speaking to. This is also the case of de in de-kteb, as northerners prefer to use de and southerners prefer using te. Instead of the prefix ka, some speakers prefer the use of ta (e.g. ta-ne-kteb "I'm writing"). The co-existence of these two prefixes is due to historical differences. In general ka is more used in the north and ta in the south. In some regions like the east (Oujda) the majority of speakers don't use any preverb (ne-kteb, te-kteb, y-kteb, etc.).
[edit]Other tenses
To form the future tense, just remove the prefix ka-/ta- and replace it with the prefix ġa-, ġad- or ġadi instead (e.g. ġa-ne-kteb "I will write", ġad-ketb-u (north) or ġadi t-ketb-u "You (pl) will write").
For the subjunctive and infinitive, just remove the ka- (e.g. bġit ne-kteb "I want to write", bġit te-kteb "I want you to write").
The imperative is conjugated with the suffixes of the present tense but without any prefixes or preverbs:
kteb "Write! (masc. sing.)"
ketb-i "Write! (fem. sing.)"
ketb-u "Write! (pl.)"
[edit]Negation
One characteristic of Moroccan syntax which it shares with other North African varieties as well as some southern Levantine dialect areas is in the two-part negative verbal circumfix /ma-...-ʃi/.
Past: /kteb/ "he wrote" /ma-kteb-ʃi/ "he didn't write"
Present: /ka-y-kteb/ "he writes" /ma-ka-y-kteb-ʃi/ "he doesn't write"
/ma-/ comes from the Classical Arabic negator /ma/. /-ʃi/ is a development of Classical /ʃayʔ/ "thing". The development of a circumfix is similar to the French circumfix ne ... pas, where ne comes from Latin non "not" and pas comes from Latin passus "step". (Originally, pas would have been used specifically with motion verbs, as in "I didn't walk a step", and then was generalized to other verbs.)
The negative circumfix surrounds the entire verbal composite including direct and indirect object pronouns:
/ma-kteb-hom-li-ʃi/ "he didn't write them to me"
/ma-ka-y-kteb-hom-li-ʃi/ "he doesn't write them to me"
/ma-ɣadi-y-kteb-hom-li-ʃi/ "he won't write them to me"
/waʃ ma-kteb-hom-li-ʃi/ "didn't he write them to me?"
/ waʃ ma-ka-y-kteb-hom-li-ʃi/ "doesn't he write them to me?"
/waʃ ma-ɣadi-y-kteb-hom-li-ʃi/ "won't he write them to me?"
Note that future-tense and interrogative sentences use the same /ma-...-ʃi/ circumfix (unlike, for example, in Egyptian Arabic). Also, unlike in Egyptian Arabic, there are no phonological changes to the verbal cluster as a result of adding the circumfix. In Egyptian Arabic, adding the circumfix can trigger stress shifting, vowel lengthening and shortening, elision when /ma-/ comes into contact with a vowel, addition or deletion of a short vowel, etc. However, none of these occur in Moroccan Arabic (MA):
There is no phonological stress in MA.
There is no distinction between long and short vowels in MA.
There are no restrictions on complex consonant clusters in MA, and hence no need to insert vowels to break up such clusters.
There are no verbal clusters that begin with a vowel: The short vowels in the beginning of Forms IIa(V) and such have already been deleted, and MA has first-person singular non-past /ne-/ in place of Egyptian /a-/.
Negative pronouns such as walu "nothing", ḥta ḥaja "nothing" and ḥta waḥed "nobody" could be added to the sentence without ši as a suffix.
Examples:
ma-ġa-ne-kteb walu "I will not write anything"
ma-te-kteb ḥta ḥaja "Do not write anything"
ḥta waḥed ma-ġa-ye-kteb "Nobody will write"
wellah ma-ne-kteb or wellah ma-ġa-ne-kteb "I swear to God I will not write"
Note: wellah ma-ne-kteb could be a response to a command to write kteb, while wellah ma-ġa-ne-kteb could be an answer to a question like waš ġa-te-kteb? "Are you going to write?"
In the north, "you're writing" is always ka-de-kteb, regardless of whom you are speaking to. This is also the case of de in de-kteb, as northerners prefer to use de and southerners prefer using te. Instead of the prefix ka, some speakers prefer the use of ta (e.g. ta-ne-kteb "I'm writing"). The co-existence of these two prefixes is due to historical differences. In general ka is more used in the north and ta in the south. In some regions like the east (Oujda) the majority of speakers don't use any preverb (ne-kteb, te-kteb, y-kteb, etc.).
[edit]Negative interrogation
In Moroccan Arabic, the word order doesn't change for negative questions in the northern parts of Morocco, but in the western areas and other regions, the word order is preferably changed. The pronoun waš could be added in the beginning of the sentence, although it rarely changes the meaning of it. The prefix ma can rarely be removed when asking a question in a fast way.
Examples:
ma-ġa-te-kteb-ši? "Aren't you going to write?"
ma-ġadi-ši-te-kteb? (same)
waš ma-baġi-ši te-kteb? "You don't want to write?" (North)
waš ma-bġi-t(i)-ši te-kteb? (same) (Western and other regions)
A ka can be added in the beginning of the sentence when asking a question in an angry or surprised way. In this case, waš can't be added.
Examples:
ka ma-ġa-te-kteb-ši?!
ka ma-ġadi-ši-te-kteb?!
[edit]In Detail
Verbs in Arabic are based on a consonantal root composed of three or four consonants. The set of consonants communicates the basic meaning of a verb. Changes to the vowels in between the consonants, along with prefixes and/or suffixes, specify grammatical functions such as tense, person and number, in addition to changes in the meaning of the verb that embody grammatical concepts such as causative, intensive, passive or reflexive.
Each particular lexical verb is specified by two stems, one used for the past tense and one used for non-past tenses along with subjunctive and imperative moods. To the former stem, suffixes are added to mark the verb for person, number and gender, while to the latter stem, a combination of prefixes and suffixes are added. (Very approximately, the prefixes specify the person and the suffixes indicate number and gender.) The third person masculine singular past tense form serves as the "dictionary form" used to identify a verb, similar to the infinitive in English. (Arabic has no infinitive.) For example, the verb meaning "write" is often specified as kteb, which actually means "he wrote". In the paradigms below, a verb will be specified as kteb/ykteb (where kteb means "he wrote" and ykteb means "he writes"), indicating the past stem (kteb-) and non-past stem (also -kteb-, obtained by removing the prefix y-).
The verb classes in Arabic are formed along two axes. The first or derivational axis (described as "form I", "form II", etc.) is used to specify grammatical concepts such as causative, intensive, passive or reflexive, and mostly involves varying the consonants of a stem form. For example, from the root K-T-B "write" is derived form I kteb/ykteb "write", form II ketteb/yketteb "cause to write", form III kateb/ykateb "correspond with (someone)", etc. The second or weakness axis (described as "strong", "weak", "hollow", "doubled" or "assimilated") is determined by the specific consonants making up the root—especially, whether a particular consonant is a W or Y—and mostly involves varying the nature and location of the vowels of a stem form. For example, so-called weak verbs have a W or Y as the last root consonant, which is reflected in the stem as a final vowel instead of a final consonant (e.g. rˤma/yrˤmi "throw" from R-M-Y). Meanwhile, hollow verbs are usually caused by a W or Y as the middle root consonant, and the stems of such verbs have a full vowel (/a/, /i/ or /u/) before the final consonant, oftentimes along with only two consonants (e.g. ʒab/yʒib "bring" from ʒ-Y-B).
When speaking of the weakness axis, it is important to distinguish between strong, weak, etc. stems and strong, weak, etc. roots. For example, X-W-F is a hollow root, but the corresponding form II stem xuwwef/yxuwwef "frighten" is a strong stem. In particular:
Weak roots are those that have W or Y as the last consonant. Weak stems are those that have a vowel as the last segment of the stem. For the most part, there is a one-to-one correspondence between weak roots and weak stems. However, form IX verbs with a weak root will show up the same way as other root types (that is, with doubled stems in most dialects, but with hollow stems in Moroccan Arabic).
Hollow roots are triliteral roots that have W or Y as the last consonant. Hollow stems are those that end with /-VC/, where V is a long vowel (most dialects) or full vowel in Moroccan (i.e. /a/, /i/ or /u/). Only triliteral hollow roots form hollow stems, and only in forms I, IV, VII, VIII and X. In other cases, a strong stem generally results. In Moroccan Arabic, all form IX verbs yield hollow stems regardless of root shape, e.g. sman "be fat" from S-M-N.
Doubled roots are roots that have the final two consonants identical. Doubled stems end with a geminate consonant. Only Forms I, IV, VII, VIII, and X yield a doubled stem from a doubled root—other Forms yield a strong stem. In addition, in most dialects (but not Moroccan) all stems in Form IX are doubled, e.g. Egyptian Arabic iħmárˤrˤ/yiħmárˤrˤ "be red, blush" from Ħ-M-R.
Assimilated roots are those where the first consonant is a W or Y. Assimilated stems begin with a vowel. Only Form I (and Form IV?) yields assimilated stems, and only in the non-past. In Moroccan Arabic, assimilated stems don't really exist at all.
Strong roots and stems are those that don't fall under any of the other categories described above. It is common for a strong stem to correspond with a non-strong root, but not usually the other way around.
[edit]Table of Verb Forms
In this section all verb classes and their corresponding stems are listed, excluding the small number of irregular verbs described above. Verb roots are indicated schematically using capital letters to stand for consonants in the root:
F = first consonant of root
M = middle consonant of three-consonant root
S = second consonant of four-consonant root
T = third consonant of four-consonant root
L = last consonant of root
Hence, the root F-M-L stands for all three-consonant roots, and F-S-T-L stands for all four-consonant roots. (Traditional Arabic grammar uses F-ʕ-L and F-ʕ-L-L, respectively, but the system used here appears in a number of grammars of spoken Arabic dialects and is probably less confusing for English speakers, since the forms are easier to pronounce than those involving /ʕ/.)
The following table lists the prefixes and suffixes to be added to mark tense, person, number and gender, and the stem form to which they are added. The forms involving a vowel-initial suffix, and corresponding stem PAv or NPv, are highlighted in silver. The forms involving a consonant-initial suffix, and corresponding stem PAc, are highlighted in gold. The forms involving no suffix, and corresponding stem PA0 or NP0, are unhighlighted.


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