A contribution to the documentation of Siwi (Berber)

Schiattarella, Valentina

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A contribution to the documentation of Siwi (Berber) through an annotated folktale

Valentina Schiattarella
University of Naples « L’Orientale »
vale.schiattarella@gmail.com

urn:nbn:de:0009-10-49617

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the documentation of the Siwi language (Berber, Egypt), through the transcription and translation of an unpublished folktale, recorded by the author in Siwa (Egypt) in 2018. The main stylistic features of the tale are described in the first part of the paper, while grammatical notes on the language are provided in the footnotes, in order to clarify some passages that could otherwise not be easily understood through the transcription, glosses and translation alone.

Zusammenfassung

Dieser Text will dazu beitragen, die Siwi-Sprache (Berber, Ägypten) besser zu dokumentieren. Das geschieht durch die Transkription und die Übersetzung einer bslang unveröffentlichten Erzählung, die die Autorin im Jahre 2018 in Siwa aufgezeichnet hat. Die wichtigsten stilistischen Merkmale der Erzählung sind im ersten Teil beschrieben. Erläuterung zu grammatischen Strukturen, die nicht trotz der Übersetzung und Glossierung nicht leicht zu verstehen sind, werden in den Fußnoten gegeben.

1. Introductory remarks

<1>

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the documentation of the Siwi language by presenting an unpublished folktale, transcribed and translated into English, thus incrementing the amount of data available on Siwi that may be useful for further studies on the language, as well as for comparative analysis from both a linguistic and literary point of view.

Siwi is a Berber language (Afro-asiatic phylum) spoken in the oases of Siwa and El Gaṛa in Egypt. Almost all speakers are bilingual (Siwi and Arabic). The main oasis, Siwa, is inhabited by over 25.000 people, including non-natives (especially Egyptians coming from other parts of the country).

<2>

The oral literary tradition in Siwa has already drawn the attention of researchers, and especially in the last few years. As far as folktales are concerned, four of are recounted in Laoust (1931: 146-159). Siwi anthropologist Malim (2001) included a number of Siwi folktales and proverbs in his book, but only translated into Arabic. The book has also been translated in other languages. Fourteen folktales collected among men and women from Siwa can be found in Schiattarella 2017. Siwa oral literary tradition is not limited to folktales, but features also other genres, such as proverbs, legends, religious poems, etc. For an overview, see Schiattarella 2019.

<3>

I recorded this 7ʹ56ʹʹ-long folktale on the 29^th of September 2018 at the house of my main consultant. The story was told by his brother, a man in his thirties, to an audience comprised of myself and other family members, both children and adults, who were present in the room. The reason why the narrator decided to tell me this story is interesting: he had been listening to his brother and me for several years and he had always been interested in our transcription sessions. As he knew I was particularly keen to record folktales, he spontaneously offered to tell me one he knew well, and which was meaningful to him because it was a way to remember his aunt, who used to gather all the children together for storytelling sessions, on winter evenings. [1]

1.1. Features of oral folktales

<4>

The folktale below follows the structure and features present in other folktales collected in North Africa, and shares fundamental characteristics with them (Bounfour & Merolla 1994: 2082-2084).

Before analysing the main features included in this story, I will summarise the main episodes of the plot. The story is about a girl who is obliged to remain secluded in her house while his father and brother go away for the pilgrimage. During her father’s absence, the girl is approached by ill-intentioned people. Despite the fact that she obeys her father’s instructions and does not let anyone into the house, when her father returns, someone tells him that the girl had gone out several times. The father thinks that the girl has disobeyed him, and tells his son to kill her. The girl’s brother manages to avoid killing his sister and instead leaves her in the desert. The girl survives, marries the son of a king and has seven children. Unfortunately, an evil character, a Christian, kills them all. The woman then flees and reaches a place where an old man teaches her to read the Quran. When the old man dies, she takes his place, dresses like a man and starts reciting the Quran. Many people go to listen to her beautiful voice, including all the people who hurt her in the past. She is then able to tell the truth about her story, exposing the wicked characters and finally returning to her house with her father and husband.

<5>

The main features typical of many oral folktales are unsurprisingly also found in this one. I will list some of them here, in order to present Siwi oral literary tradition within a broader frame.

The very first feature is the imprisonment of the girl while the men of the family are away, travelling and, as a consequence of the men being absent, the prohibition to open the door to any stranger. A second topos is the appearance of ill-intentioned characters who try to distract the protagonist from her promises. There are then also the father’s revenge for the injustice he feels he has suffered, and the trick come up with by the girl’s accomplice, in this case her brother.

<6>

Another interesting recurring theme is the prominence of the number seven – in this case the protagonist has seven sons (Scelles Millie 2002: 25-26; Lacoste-Dujardin 1970: 91-92 in Kabyle folktales; Schiattarella 2017: tales 3.2, 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9 for other examples of Siwi tales featuring the number seven) – and the crossdressing imposed on the protagonist when she needs to do something that according to social conventions is not acceptable for a woman - in this case leading and singing prayer. The beauty of the protagonist’s voice, and its fame reaching far, unnamed places, is also a very frequent pattern.

The punishment reserved to wicked characters also contains a recurrent element. Folktales usually end with cruelties: in this tale, the evil characters are burned over a bundle of wood. What is interesting here is that the rich evil-doer (it is not clear who the storyteller refers to) always receives a worse punishment than the poor one, namely being burned over two bundles of wood instead of one.

<7>

In general, no reference to a specific time in history or to a particular historical episode is found in Siwi folktales, as in many other folktales. Only on rare occasions is reference to a specific period given in the text (Lacoste-Dujardin 1970:142-145). In Siwi, tales usually start with the formula má ṛṛa di ‘once upon a time’, referring to an unspecified moment in the past. The rest of the narration proceeds in chronological order and the course of the events flows in linear succession without flashbacks or flash-forwards.

<8>

Space is unidentified. Nonetheless, some generic places are mentioned by the storyteller, and are the same often found in other tales as well: the ssuq, the market, which usually represents where the main activities take place. It is a space reserved for men, and when a woman spends much of her time there, this often carries a negative connotation (Lacoste-Dujardin 1970:139). Another generic place is the desert, removed from the view of most of the characters; its harshness is not described but inferred by the context, such as, in the tale below, from the fact that the protagonist suffers from lack of food and water. The cave, instead, represents a shelter from danger. In all other instances, such as when the protagonist must escape from the evil Christian, or when people come to hear her beautiful voice recite the Quran, the storyteller always refers to unspecified places and countries (SG šal ‘town’, PL šaliwən).

<9>

There are several characters who, one after the other, interact with the protagonist of the story. No detailed description of these characters is given: none of them has a name and physical appearance and personality features are never commented upon by the storyteller (‘non-visuality’, in Kossmann’s terms (2000: 55-59)), except for rare cases where certain attributes are relevant to the story. The story revolves around a girl whose father and brother are mentioned because of the fact that their departure for the pilgrimage is crucial to the events that ensue in the story. The mother of the children is never mentioned. The untrustworthy characters who wrong the protagonist are personified by a passer-by and an old woman, who is defined by the narrator as a bint ḥ aram ‘immoral woman’. Old women are usually associated with unfortunate misadventures in these folktales. Later on, the girl meets the emir, son of the king: this kind of meeting usually indicates that something positive is about to happen to the previously unlucky protagonist, as marriage to a noble character constitutes a sort of redressing of her past. The birth of her seven boys only serves as a pretext for the introduction of another wicked character, here personified by a Christian. The last character is an old man, who, contrary to the old woman, is often considered positively in tales, especially for his wisdom.

<10>

Religious elements are present throughout the tale and refer not only to Islam, but also to Christianity. The pilgrimage is found in many tales and is often used as a means to justify the absence of the protagonists for a long period of time (Lacoste-Dujardin 1970: 344). What is interesting here is the presence of a Christian, who plays a role similar to that usually associated with the ogre, as he kidnaps and eats the protagonist’s children. Other references to religion are the circumcision of the boys as they come of age, and the recitation of the Quran, which is usually performed by men.

<11>

Siwi tales are introduced by an opening formula and end with a closing one. Opening and closing formulas in fact play an important role in tales and usually serve to detach the dimension of reality from that of the imagination and to defend the storyteller from the evil eye that the narration might trigger (Schiattarella 2017: 21-22; 2019: 7470-7471). In the tale analysed here, the speaker only uses an Arabic ending formula, but most times, the two languages mix together, such as in the typical Siwi closing formula: ḥattuta, ḥattuta, qaṣṣaṛ ʕṃəṛha. akəṃṃús n xer i ənšní, akəṃṃús n šaṛ i əntn ə́n, literally ‘Tale, tale, it has shortened its span. A bundle of goodness to us, a bundle of badness to them’, where the first part is in Arabic and the second in Siwi.

<12>

It is not rare for some parts of the text, especially verbs, to be repeated in order to connect one episode with another. This is the case in (154-155), (160-161), (190), (198-199) and (202-203) with verbs, where the characters move from one scene to another and from one episode to the other. Another way in which these connections are achieved is through the use of temporal connectives. Several formulaic expressions in Arabic are used to divide the text and establish the temporal frame of the sequence of the episodes. That is why we very often find expressions such as ššwayte ́n ‘after a while’ (see (81), (138), (164) and (203)).

<13>

The intonation of the speaker’s voice changes throughout the text, in accordance with which character is speaking and with the function of each section of the text. The speaker tries to individually reproduce the voices of all the different characters, and the difference is remarkable when two characters speak to each other, one after the other. The tone is instead more neutral when the speaker narrates the events of the story, but then changes again, with a raising of the voice, when the speaker is offering a clarification and/or a personal comment on what is happening. See for example (40-41) agg^w íd l-yə́ rriyyaḥ ‘The man was not satisfied’; (69) yərfa ́ -ya ‘He was scared’; (116) yə xsá g-iqə́rb-et yá ʕni ‘He wanted to grab her’; (169-170) ágg^wid šárəf laʕmí l-íẓəṛṛ ‘The old man was blind, he could not see’; (183) abbá-nnəs n təṛwáwen ‘the father of the children’.

It is not uncommon to find formulas or riddles, sometimes in Arabic, within Siwi tales, which are sung by the protagonists of the story and sometimes repeated several times in the text. In the case of our folktale, we can find an example in (38), where the formula is in Arabic (in square brackets).

<14>

Indirect speech is never present in this folktale, as is generally the case in all folktales. Dialogue, on the contrary, is sometimes used in order to create suspense in the story (Kossmann 2000: 63). In our story, suspence is also created by monologues, such as in the passage in (78-80), where the brother asks himself how to react to his father’s request to kill his sister: ga- ɣə́ṛṣʕ-as na la-ga-ɣə́ṛṣʕ-as? mámək ga-ɣə́ṛṣʕ-as i wə́ltma? ‘“Should I slaughter her or not? How will I slaughter my sister?”’

1.2. Structure of the folktale

<15>

The entire story can be divided in five main parts:

1) The main characters are presented: a father and his son, who announce their intention to leave for a pilgrimage, and a daughter, who is obliged to wait for them inside the house. The first two wicked characters are introduced, as they try to convince the girl to disobey her father’s orders.

2) The men return from the pilgrimage, the girl is the victim of false accusations which cause her father to order her to be killed. Her brother takes her to the desert, but the girl manages to survive.

3) The girl reaches a far-away place, marries an emir and has seven children. She is again the victim of an evil character, who kills all her children and plans to kill her too.

4) The girl runs away again, finds an old man, starts to recite the Quran and attracts the attention of many people.

5) The girl is reunited with all the characters mentioned before. She is able to tell the truth about her story and to obtain justice, punishing the characters who had wronged her.

Despite the fact that storytelling as a practice has almost disappeared, and that this tale was not told by a professional storyteller (who in the past were usually women who entertained kids with their stories in the evenings), the narrator is able to deliver a coherent and clear plot for the story in each of its parts. This is probably due to the fact that he heard this story many times as a child, confirming the importance of the storytelling ritual in a not so distant past.

2. A Siwi folktale (tanf̣ast)

<16>

The following folktale has been transcribed, glossed and translated into English. I decided to mark the end of minor and major intonation units, false starts and hesitations. These elements may well prove useful for further studies. The grammatical notes in the footnotes are meant to clarify some passages that might not immediately be clear from the transcription, gloss or translation alone without a prior knowledge of the language. They will, of course, only cover a small number of features. [2]

(1)	máṛṛa [3]	di:::	agg^wíd [4]	/	d:::	ɣúṛ-əs	tləččá	/	d
	once	EXIST	man.SG.M	/	and	at-3SG	girl.SG.F	/	and
	Once upon a time there was a man, he had a daughter and

(2)	akəḅḅí	/	abbá-nn-əs	n	tlə́čča	/	[FS]	d	akə́ḅḅi
	boy.SG.M	/	father.SG.M-of-3SG	of	girl.SG.F	/	[FS]	and	boy.SG.M
	a son. The father of the girl, and the boy

(3)	yə-xs-ə́n	tiḥí	i	aḥáǧǧi	/
	3-want.PFV-PL	go.VN	to	make_a_pilgrimage.VN	/
	wanted to go on a pilgrimage.

(4)	g-yə́-ǧǧ-ən	bəttín	/	g-yə́-ǧǧ-ən
	IRR-3-leave.AOR-PL	who	/	IRR-3-leave.AOR-PL
	Who would they leave (behind)? They would leave

(5)	tlə́čča	imán-n-əs	/
	girl.SG.F	REFL-of-3SG	/
	the girl (behind) on her own.

(6)	i-sáwq-n-as	ləbdaʕə́t	n	[FS]	tləttšhúṛ
	3-buy.PFV-PL-IO.3SG	supply.SG.F	of	[FS]	three_months
	They bought a supply (of food) for three,

(7)	arbaʕtšhúṛ	/	g-yə́-ḥḥ-ən	i	aḥáǧǧi
	four_months	/	IRR-3-go.AOR-PL	to	make_a_pilgrimage.VN
	four months, and then they went on the pilgrimage

(8)	s	iləɣṃán	/
	with	camel.PL.M	/
	with (their) camels.

(9)	yə-ṃṃ-án-as	ya	bat	/	lá-təf̣f̣aɣ	/
	3-say.PFV-PL-IO.3SG	VOC	girl.SG.F	/	NEG-go_out.IMP	/
	They told her: “Girl, do not go out!

(10)	ga-n-ḥáṭṭ-am	əlmunə́t	n	tləttšhúṛ
	IRR-1PL-put.AOR-IO.2SG.F	supply.SG.F	of	three_months
	We will leave for you a supply of food for three,

(11)	arbaʕtšhúṛ	lá-təf̣f̣aɣ	af	álbab	n	ágbən
	four_months	NEG-go_out.IMP	on	door.SG.M	of	house.SG.M
	four months, do not go out the door of the house,

(12)	i	álbaṛṛ	xáḷəṣ	/	lá-təf̣f̣aɣ	/	tə-ṃṃ-ásən
	to	outside	at_all	/	NEG-go.out.IMP	/	3SG.F-say.PFV-IO.3PL
	outside, never, do not go out!” She told them:

(13)	xḷaṣ	a	ábba	lā-f̣f̣ɣ-ax	xáḷəṣ	/	[FS]
	stop	VOC	father.SG.M	NEG-go_out.AOR-1SG	at_all	/	[FS]
	“Alright, father, I will not go out at all!”

(14)	yə-ǧǧ-ə́n	yə-qqə́s-n-as	albáb	s	albáṛṛ	/
	3-leave.PFV-PL	3-close.PFV-PL-IO.3SG	door.SG.M	from	outside	/
	They left, they closed the door from the outside,

(15)	i-sáwq-n-as	ləbdaʕə́t	n	tləttšhúṛ	/
	3-buy.PFV-PL-IO.3SG	supply.SG.F	of	three_months	/
	they bought a supply (of food) for three months,

(16)	yə-ǧǧ-ə́n-tət	ǧáǧi	/
	3-leave.PFV-PL-DO.3SG.F [5]	inside	/
	they left her inside.

(17)	di	agg^wíd	yə-xsá:::	ažbad-ə́nn-əs	tlə́čča	/
	EXIST	man.SG.M	3SG.M-want.PFV	take.VN-of-3SG	girl.SG.F	/
	There was a man who wanted to take the girl.

(18)	i-wə́ṣṣa	taltí	tləʕǧúst	tšarə́ft	/
	3SG.M-ask.PFV	woman.SG.F	old.SG.F	old.SG.F	/
	He asked an old woman,

(19)	taltí	bint_ḥarám	/	t-ṛaḥ [6]
	woman.SG.F	ill_repute	/	3SG.F-go.PFV
	a woman of ill-repute, she started

(20)	tə-qqə́rqb-as	/	ulá	/	y-usə́d
	3SG.F-knock.PFV-IO.3SG	/	NEG	/	3SG.M-come.PFV
	knocking. No! The man came first,

(21)	agg^wíd	úwwəl	/	qbəl:::	tálti	tšárəft	/
	man.SG.M	first	/	before	woman.SG.F	old.SG.F	/
	before the old woman.

(22)	bəttín	wa [7]	i-qə́rqab	bəttín	?
	who	DEM.SG.M	3SG.M-knock.IPFV	who	?
	“Who is knocking?”

(23)	tə-ṃṃ-ás:::	/	niš	ʕbər_sabíl	/
	3SG.F-say.PFV-IO.3SG	/	IDP.1SG	passer_by.SG.M	/
	she said. (The man replied): “I am a passer-by,

(24)	xs-ix	amán	əʕṭəš-áx-a	/
	want.PFV-1SG	water.PL.M	be_thirsty.PFV-1SG-PRAGM [8]	/
	I want water, I am thirsty”.

(25)	tə-ṃṃ-ás	ábba	yə-ṣṣaf̣f̣áṛ-a	/
	3SG.F-say.PFV-IO.3SG	father.SG.M	3SG.M-travel.PFV-PRAGM	/
	(The girl) replied: “My father is away,

(26)	áṃṃa	yə-ṣṣaf̣f̣áṛ-a	/
	brother.SG.M	3SG.M-travel.PFV-PRAGM	/
	my brother is away,

(27)	lā-fətk-ʕ-as [9]	albáb	i	ḥədd	/
	NEG-open.AOR-1SG-IO.3SG	door.SG.M	to	person.SG.M	/
	I will not open the door to anyone,

(28)	[FS]	lā-fətk-ʕ-as	i	ḥídda	/
	[FS]	NEG-open.AOR-1SG-IO.3SG	to	person.SG.M	/
	I will not open (the door) to anyone!”

(29)	ḥarám	fəllá-m	úš-i	amán	/
	shame	on-2SG.F	give.IMP-IO.1SG	water.PL.M	/
	(The man said:) “Shame on you! Give me water”.

(30)	tə-ṃṃ-ás	ábba	yə-ṃṃa-í-ya
	3SG.F-say.PFV-IO.3SG	father.SG.M	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.1SG-PRAGM
	She said: “My father told me

(31)	la-fə́ttk-as	i	ḥədd	/	lá-təf̣f̣aɣ
	NEG-open.IMP-IO.3SG	to	person.SG.M	/	NEG-go_out.IMP
	‘do not open for anyone, do not go out

(32)	i	albáb	xáḷəṣ	/	yə-flá	táni	yom
	to	door.SG.M	at_all	/	3SG.M-leave.PFV	second	day.SG.M
	the door at all’”. He left. The second day

(33)	y-usə́d	yə-qqə́rqb-as	/	tálət	yom
	3SG.M-come.PFV	3SG.M-knock.PFV-IO.3SG	/	third	day.SG.M
	he came and knocked (at her door), the third day

(34)	yə-qqə́rqb-as	/	lá-tə-ftək	albáb	/
	3SG.M-knock.PFV-IO.3SG	/	NEG-3SG.F-open.PFV	door.SG.M	/
	he knocked (at her door), she did not open the door.

(35)	al	i-wə́ṣṣa	taltí	tšarə́ft	/
	until	3SG.M-ask.PFV	woman.SG.F	old.SG.F	/
	Until (the passer-by) asked an old woman,

(36)	taltí:::	bint_ḥarám	/	t-usə́d
	woman.SG.F	ill_repute	/	3SG.F-come.PFV
	a woman of ill-repute, she came

(37)	t-qqərqb-ás	i	tlə́čča	/
	3SG.F-knock.PFV-IO.3SG	to	girl.SG.F	/
	and knocked on the girl(‘s door).

(38)	[yəhdiki	yarḍiki	mišʕarəf	eh]	hánta	/
	[May God lead you and fulfill you and so on]				what	/
	“[In Arabic: (May God) lead you and fulfill you, and so on]. What?

(39)	fə́ttk-i	a	bénti	/	t-ugáy
	open.IMP-IO.1SG	VOC	my_girl	/	3SG.F-refuse.PFV
	Open up for me, girl”. She refused

(40)	ga-tə́-ftək	albáb	/	agg^wíd
	IRR-3SG.F-open.AOR	door.SG.M	/	man.SG.M
	to open the door. The man

(41)	l-yə́-rrəyyaḥ	/	al:::	abbá-nn-əs	xḷaṣ
	NEG-3SG.M-rest.PFV	/	until	father.SG.M-of-3SG	stop
	was not satisfied. Until the father, well,

(42)	i-tás-ənd	sg	əlḥəǧǧáǧ	anni
	3-come.IPFV-PL	from	pilgrimage.PL.M	COMP
	they were coming back from the pilgrimage.

(43)	g-(y)-ús-ənd	/	yə-fl-ə́n	tləttšhúṛ	/
	IRR-3-come.AOR-PL	/	3-leave.PFV-PL	three_months	/
	Three months had passed,

(44)	na	arbaʕtšhúṛ	/	i-tás-ənd
	or	four_months	/	3-come.IPFV-PL
	or (maybe) four, they were coming back

(45)	sg	əlḥəǧǧáǧ	//	ágg^wid	i-ṛáḥ
	from	pilgrimage.PL.M	//	man.SG.M	3SG.M-go.PFV
	from the pilgrimage. The man (who knocked at the girl’s door)

(46)	yə-ṃṃ-ás	i	abbá-nn-əs	/	ɣwa
	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG	to	father.SG.M-of-3SG	/	DEM.SG.M
	told her father: “There you go,

(47)	tləččá-nn-ək	tə-f̣f̣áɣ-a	/	tə́-ṛṛaḥ
	girl.SG.F-of-2SG.M	3SG.F-go-out.PFV-PRAGM	/	3SG.F-go.IPFV
	your daughter has gone out. She went

(48)	i	ssuq	tə́-ṛṛaḥ	i	iṭílən	lá-di
	to	market.SG.M	3SG.F-go.IPFV	to	garden.PL.M	NEG-EXIST
	to the market, she went to the gardens,

(49)	šra	/	lá-di	ankán	lá-tə-ṛṛaḥ	/
	thing.SG.M	/	NEG-EXIST	place.SG.M	NEG-3SG.F-go.IPFV	/
	there is nothing, there is no place she did not go,

(50)	ɣer	/	niš	əṃṃí-ʕ-ak	əlmanə́t	ánni
	but	/	IDP.1SG	say.PFV-1SG-IO.2SG.M	deposit.SG.F	COMP
	but I am (just) telling you (this) secret in order to

(51)	ga-wəṣṣl-áx-tət	niš	wəṣṣl-áx-tət
	IRR-transmit.AOR-1SG-DO.3SG.F	IDP.1SG	transmit.PFV-1SG-DO.3SG.F
	transmit it. I transmitted it”.

(52)	xḷaṣ	/	abbá-nn-əs	yə-ṃṃ-ás
	stop	/	father.SG.M-of-3SG	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG
	Well, the father said:

(53)	tlə́čča	tat-ók	/	əṣṣiy-ét
	girl.SG.F	DEM.SG.F-2SG.M	/	take.IMP-DO.3SG.F
	“This girl, take her.

(54)	ga-ɣə́ṛṣ-ʕ-as [10]	/	lá-xs-ix	azəṛṛá-nn-əs
	IRR-slaughter.AOR-1SG-IO.3SG	/	NEG-want.PFV-1SG	see.VN-of-3SG
	I will slaughter her. I don’t want to see her.

(55)	xs-ix	ga-ktə́r-ṭ-i	idammən-ə́nn-əs	/
	want.PFV-1SG	IRR-bring.AOR-2SG-IO.1SG	blood.PL.M-of-3SG	/
	I want you to bring me her blood.

(56)	ga-sw-áx-tən [11]	/	lá-xs-ix	azəṛṛá-nn-əs
	IRR-drink.AOR-1SG-DO.3PL	/	NEG-want.PFV-1SG	see.VN-of-3SG
	I will drink it. I don’t want to see her”.

(57)	bídu	/	mámək	ábba	?
	also	/	how	father.SG.M	?
	(His son said:) “How (is it possible), my father?”

(58)	yə-ṃṃ-ás	ga-ɣə́ṛṣ-ṭ-as	na
	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG	IRR-slaughter.AOR-2SG-IO.3SG	or
	(The father) said: “You will slaughter her or

(59)	ga-ɣəṛṣ-ʕ-áwən	i	ǧmíʕa	/	yə-ṃṃ-ás
	IRR-slaughter.AOR-1SG-IO.2PL	to	everybody	/	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG
	I will slaughter you both”. (The brother) replied:

(60)	xḷaṣ	ábba	/	gá-ḥḥ-ax	ga-ṣṣy-áx-tət	/
	stop	father.SG.M	/	IRR-go.AOR-1SG	IRR-take.AOR-1SG-DO.3SG.F	/
	“Alright, father, I will go, I will take her,

(61)	ga-ɣə́ṛṣ-ʕ-as	/	i-ṛáḥ	yə-qqə́rqəb
	IRR-slaughter.AOR-1SG-IO.3SG	/	3SG.M-go.PFV	3SG.M-knock.PFV
	I will slaughter her”. (The brother) started knocking

(62)	g	álbab	/	bəttín	?	yə-ṃṃ-ás	niš
	in	door.SG.M	/	who	?	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG	IDP.1SG
	on the door. (Her sister asked:) “Who is (there)?”. He replied “I am

(63)	áṃṃa-m	/	gmáni	ábba	?
	brother.SG.M-POSS.2SG.F	/	where	father.SG.M	?
	your brother.” (She replied): “Where is my father?”

(64)	yə-ṃṃ-ás	abbá-nn-əm	mázal	g	ləmṣaṛíb	/
	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG	father.SG.M-of-2SG.F	still	in	road.PL.F	/
	He said: “Your father is still on the road,

(65)	ʕammál	i-tásəd	/	háyya	gá-(n)-ṛṛaḥ
	PROG	3SG.M-come.IPFV	/	come_on	IRR-(1PL)-go.AOR
	he is coming. Come on, let’s go

(66)	ga-n-qábl-a	/	tə-ftə́k	albáb
	IRR-1PL-meet.AOR-DO.3SG.M	/	3SG.F-open.PFV	door.SG.M
	and meet him”. She opened the door,

(67)	t-uɣá [12]	aṃṃá-s	ašaḅə́t	i-gə́lləs	/
	3SG.F-take.PFV	brother.SG.M-POSS.3SG	hug.VN	3SG.M-cry.IPFV	/
	she hugged her brother, he cried.

(68)	mámək	g-i-ɣə́ṛṣ-as	i
	how	IRR-3SG.M-slaughter.AOR-IO.3SG	to
	How will he slaughter

(69)	wə́ltma-s	?	yə-rfá-ya	/
	sister.SG.F-POSS.3SG	?	3SG.M-be_scared.PFV-PRAGM	/
	his sister? He was scared.

(70)	yə-ṣṣy-ét	g	ágmar	/
	3SG.M-take.PFV-DO.3SG.F	in	horse.SG.M	/
	He took her on the horse,

(71)	yə-fl-ə́n	i	ṣṣáḥṛa	/	i-tə́ffal-ən	bʕid
	3SG.M-leave.PFV-PL				to	desert.SG.M	/	3-leave.IPFV-PL	far
	they went to the desert, they went far,

(72)	bʕid	bʕid	bʕid	bʕid	/	yə-f̣f̣ɣ-ə́n	af	šal
	far	far	far	far	/	3-go_out.PFV-PL	from	country.SG.M
	far away, they went out of the town,

(73)	xáḷəṣ	/	al:::	i-ẓə́wṭ-ən	yə-ṃṃ-ás
	at_all	/	until	3-be_tired.PFV-PL	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG
	until (the time) they were tired and he told her:

(74)	háyya	ga-n-rrə́yyaḥ	/	mazál	ábba	g	ma [13]	?
	come_on	IRR-1PL-rest.AOR	/	still	father.SG.M	in	where	?
	“Come on, let’s rest”. (She said:) “Where is our father?”

(75)	yə-ṃṃ-ás	mazál	bʕid	ɣer	ga-n-rrə́yyaḥ	/
	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG	still	far	but	IRR-1PL-rest.AOR	/
	He replied: “(Our father is) still far away. Let’s rest”.

(76)	yə-f-ə́n	taṃɣáṛt	/	yə-ṭṭs-ə́n	/	yə́-ṣṣbaṛ	al:::
	3-find.PFV-PL	cave.SG.F	/	3-sleep.PFV-PL	/	3SG.M-wait.PFV	until
	They found a cave, they laid down, he waited until

(77)	t-nə́ddum	/	yə-ṣṣáy	txuṣə́t	/
	3SG.F-sleep.IPFV	/	3SG.M-take.PFV	knife.SG.F	/
	she was sleeping. He took a knife.

(78)	ga-ɣə́ṛṣ-ʕ-as	na
	IRR-slaughter.AOR-1SG-IO.3SG	or
	(He thought:) “Should I slaughter her or

(79)	la-ga-ɣə́ṛṣ-ʕ-as	?
	NEG-IRR-slaughter.AOR-1SG-IO.3SG
	not?

(80)	mámək	ga-ɣə́ṛṣ-ʕ-as	i	wə́ltma	/
	how	IRR-slaughter.AOR-1SG-IO.3SG	to	sister.SG.F	/
	How will I slaughter my sister?”

(81)	ššwaytén	sbḥan_allah	ráḅḅi	/
	after_a_while	praise_be_to_Allah	God.SG.M	/
	After a while, praise be to Allah, God

(82)	i-baʕt-ás	tyaṛẓáṣt	/
	3SG.M-send.PFV-IO.3SG	rabbit.SG.F	/
	sent him a rabbit.

(83)	yə-ṭṭə́f	tyáṛẓaṣt
	3SG.M-catch.PFV	rabbit.SG.F
	(The brother) caught the rabbit

(84)	i-ɣə́ṛṣ-as	/	yə-ṣṣáy	ləwʕá:::	/
	3SG.M-slaughter.PFV-IO.3SG	/	3SG.M-take.PFV	bowl.SG.M	/
	and slaughtered it, he took a bowl,

(85)	yə-fá	ləwʕá	/	yə-ččúṛ-a	idammə́n
	3SG.M-find.PFV	bowl.SG.M	/	3SG.M-fill.PFV-PRAGM	blood.PL.M
	(well, actually) he found a bowl, he filled it with blood,

(86)	ə́gd-əs	/	yə-ṭṭə́wah	tyáṛẓaṣt	yə-nyá
	in-3SG	/	3SG.M-throw_away.PFV	rabbit.SG.F	3SG.M-mount.PFV
	(then) he threw away the rabbit, he mounted

(87)	ágmar	yə-flá	/	yə-ḥḥ-ás	i
	horse.SG.M	3SG.M-leave.PFV	/	3SG.M-go.PFV-IO.3SG	to
	the horse and he left. He went to

(88)	abbá-nn-əs	/	ah	ɣə́ṛṣ-ṭ-as	?
	father.SG.M-of-3SG	/	yes	slaughter.PFV-2SG-IO.3SG	?
	his father. (The father asked): “So, did you slaughter her?”

(89)	yə-ṃṃ-ás	ah	ɣə́ṛṣ-ʕ-as	/
	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG	yes	slaughter.PFV-1SG-IO.3SG	/
	(His son) replied: “Yes I slaughtered her.

(90)	ɣw-í-ya	idammə́n	/
	DEM-PL-PRAGM	blood.PL.M	/
	This is (her) blood”.

(91)	yə-ṣṣy-én	yə-sw-én	//
	3SG.M-take.PFV-DO.3PL	3SG.M-drink.PFV-DO.3PL	//
	(The father) took it and drank it.

(92)	báʕd-ma	yə-sw-én	/	tlə́čča	xḷaṣ	/
	after-COMP	3SG.M-drink.PFV-DO.3PL	/	girl.SG.F	stop	/
	After he drank... well, the girl

(93)	t-nə́ddum	/	yə-ǧǧá	wə́ltma-s
	3SG.F-sleep.IPFV	/	3SG.M-leave.PFV	sister.SG.F-POSS.3SG
	was sleeping, (the brother) had left his sister

(94)	tt-ə́lla	g	táṃɣaṛt	yə-flá	i	ágbən	xḷaṣ
	3SG.F-exist	in	cave.SG.F	3SG.M-leave.PFV	to	house.SG.M	stop
	in the cave, he went home

(95)	aqbá	i-ɣəṛṣ-ás-a	/	nə́tta
	as_if	3SG.M-slaughter.PFV-IO.3SG-PRAGM	/	IDP.3SG.M
	as if he had slaughtered her. (But in fact) he

(96)	yə-ǧǧ-ét	tə-ddír-a	/
	3SG.M-leave.PFV-DO.3SG.F	3SG.F-live.PFV-PRAGM	/
	left her alive.

(97)	[FS]	t-fə́ttaš	/	t-ṭəḅḅáḥ
	[FS]	3SG.F-look_for.IPFV	/	3SG.F-call.IPFV
	(The girl started) searching, she called out,

(98)	lá-di	ḥídda	i-təṃṃ-ás	/	[FS]
	NEG-EXIST	person.SG.M	3SG.M-say.IPFV-IO.3SG	/	[FS]
	there was no one,

(99)	imán-n-əs	tt-ə́lla	g	ṣṣáḥṛa	/
	REFL-of-3SG	3SG.F-exist	in	desert.SG.M	/
	she was alone in the desert,

(100)	ɣer	g	táṃɣaṛt	/	t-ifá
	but	in	cave.SG.F	/	3SG.F-find.PFV
	but in the cave. She found

(101)	tyaṛẓáṣt	tə-ɣṛíṣ-a	tə-ḷḷúẓ	/
	rabbit.SG.F	3SG.F-slaughter.PFV-PRAGM	3SG.F-be_hungry.PFV	/
	a slaughtered rabbit, she was hungry,

(102)	tə-ṣṣáy	aksúm	tə-bdú	aččú	ə́gd-əs	/
	3SG.F-take.PFV	meat.SG.M	3SG.F-start.PFV	eat.VN	in-3SG	/
	she took the meat, she started to eat it,

(103)	kə́llma_klləmtén	ga-tə́-čč	ḥə́bba	ə́gd-əs	/
	word_two_words	IRR-3SG.F-eat.AOR	a_little	in-3SG	/
	every once in a while, she would eat a bit of it.

(104)	t-ifá	[FS]	t-ʕəṭə́š	tə-xsá
	3SG.F-find.PFV	[FS]	3SG.F-be_thirsty.PFV	3SG.F-want.PFV
	She was thirsty, she wanted

(105)	amán	/	t-fə́ttaš	t-fə́ttaš	/
	water.PL.M	/	3SG.F-look_for.IPFV	3SG.F-look_for.IPFV	/
	some water. She kept searching,

(106)	tə-bdú	abḥát	g	támart	/	tə-bdú	tiswí
	3SG.F-start.PFV	dig.VN	in	land.SG.F	/	3SG.M-start.PFV	drink.VN
	she started digging in the ground. She started drinking

(107)	amán	/	al:::	di:::	əlʔamír	ǧir	n	əlmálək
	water.PL.M	/	until	EXIST	emir.SG.M	son.SG.M	of	king.SG.M
	water. Until (the moment) there was an emir, the son of the king,

(108)	i-ḅə́ṛṛəṃ	s	ágmar	/
	3SG.M-go_around.IPFV	with	horse.SG.M	/
	who was going around with (his) horse,

(109)	yə-ẓṛ-ét	/	tə́-ʕǧb-as	/
	3SG.M-see.PFV-DO.3SG.F	/	3SG.F-please.PFV-IO.3SG	/
	he saw her, she pleased him,

(110)	yə-ṣṣiy-ét	/	í-ṛaḥ	yən	abbá-nn-əs
	3SG.M-take.PFV-DO.3SG.F	/	3SG.M-go.PFV	to	father.SG.M-of-3SG
	he took her, he went to his father’s

(111)	yə-nǧf-ét	//
	3SG.M-marry.PFV-DO.3SG.F	//
	and married her.

(112)	t-iráw	sə́bʕa	n	ikəḅḅán	/
	3SG.F-give_birth.PFV	seven	of	boy.PL.M	/
	She gave birth to seven boys.

(113)	di	ə́ǧǧən	/	əlkah	[FS]	wihín	amsiḥḥí	/
	EXIST	one.M	/	priest.SG.M [14]	[FS]	whatchacallit	Christian.SG.M	/
	There was a person, a pri(est), whatchacallit, a Christian,

(114)	yə-xsá	ɣer	aqrab-ə́nn-əs	/
	3SG.M-want.PFV	only	grab.VN-of-3SG	/
	he just wanted to grab

(115)	taltí	n	əlʔamír	n	əlmálək	//
	woman.SG.F	of	emir.SG.M	of	king.SG.M	//
	the wife of the king’s emir.

(116)	yə-xsá	g-i-qə́rb-et	yáʕni	/
	3SG.M-want.PFV	IRR-3SG.M-grab.AOR-DO.3SG.F	I_mean	/
	He wanted to take her, I mean.

(117)	t-ugáy	/	al	təṛwáwen	yə-zúr-ən	/	əlwóqt
	3SG.F-refuse.PFV	/	until	child.PL.F	3-grow.PFV-PL	/	time.SG.F
	She refused. Until the boys grew up. When

(118)	wən	təṛwáwen	g-yə-zúr-ən	ənnhaṛdin
	REL	child.PL.F	IRR-3-grow.AOR-PL	in_the_past
	the boys grew up, at that time,

(119)	t [15]	yə-ʕṃaṛ-ə́n	/	g-yə́-ṃṃ-as	i
	what	3-do.PFV-PL	/	IRR-3SG.M-say.AOR-IO.3SG	to
	what did they do? (The emir) would say to

(120)	abbá-nn-əs	hánta	xs-əm	?
	father.SG.M-of-3SG	what	want.PFV-2PL	?
	his father: “What do you (all) want?

(121)	ṭləb	wən	yə́-xs-ən	aqbə́l	g-i-ṭáhr-ən	/
	ask.IMP	REL	3-want.PFV-PL	before	IRR-3-circumcise.AOR-PL	/
	Ask (them) what they want before they get circumcised.

(122)	lázəm	aqbə́l	aṭahár	/	di	ə́ṭḷəḅ
	it_is_needed	before	circumcise.VN	/	EXIST	ask.VN
	They have to ask before they get circumcised”.

(123)	g-yə-ṭə́ḷḅ-ən-t	/	amsíḥḥi	yə-ṃṃ-ásən
	IRR-3-ask.AOR-PL-DO.3SG.M	/	Christian.SG.M	3-say.PFV-IO.3PL
	The Christian told

(124)	i	təṛwáwen	ləwqáddin	ǧiddí-twən
	to	child.PL.F	a_while_ago	grandfather.SG.M-POSS.2PL
	the children: “A while ago your granfather

(125)	yə-ṃṃ-áwən	tánta	xs-əm	?	əṃṃá-m-as [16]
	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.2PL	what	want.PFV-2PL	?	say.IMP-2PL-IO.3SG
	asked you: ‘what do you want?’. (Well, you all) tell him

(126)	nə-xsa	aẓəṛṛá	ɣer	xalí-tnax	/	ánni
	1PL-want.PFV	see.VN	only	uncle.SG.M-POSS.1PL	/	COMP
	‘We just want to see our uncle, so that

(127)	ga-ḅḅ-á-nknum [17]	gá-ẓṛ-əm	xalí-twən
	IRR-take.AOR-1SG-DO.2PL	IRR-see.AOR-2PL	uncle.SG.M-POSS.2PL
	I will take you and you will see your uncle

(128)	ga-sdul-á-nknum	/	anni	g-yə́-qqad
	IRR-let_come_back.AOR-1SG-DO.2PL	/	COMP	IRR-3SG.M-take.AOR
	and (then) I will let you come back” (so that he could take

(129)	əṃṃ-és	d	təṛwawén	//
	mother.SG.F-POSS.3SG	and	child.PL.F	//
	the mother and (her) children).

(130)	y-usə́d	ǧə́ddi-s	/	háyya	awlád
	3-come.PFV	grandfather.SG.M-POSS.3SG	/	come_on	boy.PL.M
	The grandfather came (and asked:) “Come on, boys,

(131)	ga-ṭáhr-am	u	xḷaṣ	yomén	tláta
	IRR-circumcise.AOR-2PL	or	stop	two_days	three
	you will be circumcised, two, three days more days

(132)	ga-n-ṭahr-áwən	/	hánta	xs-əm	?
	IRR-1PL-circumcise.AOR-IO.2PL	/	what	want.PFV-2PL	?
	and we will circumcise you. What do you want?”

(133)	yə-ṃṃá-n-as	ənšní	nə-xsá	aẓəṛṛá
	3-say.PFV-PL-IO.3SG	IDP.1PL	1PL-want.PFV	see.VN
	(The children) told him: “We just want to meet

(134)	xwalí-tnax	/	yə-ṃṃ-ásən	xḷaṣ	/	yáḷḷa	/
	uncle.SG.M-POSS.1PL	/	3-say.PFV-IO.3PL	stop	/	come_on	/
	our uncle”. He said: “Alright, let’s go!”

(135)	yə-ktr-ə́n	amsíḥḥi	/	yə-qqád-ən-t	/
	3-bring.PFV-PL	Christian.SG.M	/	3-take.PFV-PL-DO.3SG.M	/
	They (the emir and the king) brought the Christian, they took him,

(136)	yə-qqád-ən	tálti	/	yə-fl-ə́n	/
	3-take.PFV-PL	woman.SG.F	/	3-leave.PFV-PL	/
	they took the woman and they left.

(137)	yə-ṣṣaf̣f̣aṛ-ə́n	yə-ḥḥ-ə́n	anni	g-yə́-ẓṛ-ən
	3-travel.PFV-PL	3-go.PFV-PL	COMP	IRR-3-see.AOR-PL
	They traveled, in order to see

(138)	xwalí-tsən	/	ššwaytén
	uncle.SG.M-POSS.3PL	/	after_a_while
	their uncle. After a while,

(139)	i-mə́rq-ən	g	ankán
	3-reach.PFV-PL	in	place.SG.M
	they reached a place.

(140)	yə-ṃṃ-ás	ah	/	ga-ṭṭáwaʕ-ṭ-i
	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG	yes	/	IRR-obey.AOR-2SG-IO.1SG
	(The Christian) said: “Will you obey me

(141)	na	ga-ɣə́ṛṣ-ʕ-am	ə́ǧǧən	n	ǧir	?
	or	IRR-slaughter.AOR-1SG-IO.2SG.F	one.M	of	son.SG.M	?
	or will I slaughter one of the children?

(142)	tə-bdú	aglás	/	yə-ṃṃ-ás	lá-gəlləs	/
	3SG.M-start.PFV	cry.VN	/	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG	NEG-cry.IMP	/
	(The woman) started to cry. (The Christian) said: “Don’t cry,

(143)	na	ga-ɣə́ṛṣ-ʕ-as	i	ǧir	na
	or	IRR-slaughter.AOR-1SG-IO.3SG	to	child.SG.M	or
	either I will slaughter one child or

(144)	ga-ṭṭáwaʕ-ṭ-i	/	yə-ṃṃ-ás
	IRR-obey.AOR-2SG-IO.1SG	/	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG
	you will obey me”. He said:

(145)	ɣə́ṛṣ-as	/	kull	yom	i-ɣə́ṛṛəṣ
	slaughter.IMP-IO.3SG	/	every	day.SG.M	3SG.M-slaughter.IPFV
	“Slaughter him”. Every day he slaughtered

(146)	hánta	?	[laugh]	ǧir	/	al	yə-qq^wá-n	/
	what	?	[laugh]	son.SG.M	/	until	3-finish.PFV-PL	/
	what? (One of the) son(s). Until there were no more.

(147)	yə-ṃṃ-ás	xḷaṣ	g	axf-ə́nn-əm [18]	/	na
	3SG.M-say.PFV-IO.3SG	stop	in	head.SG.M-of-2SG.F	/	or
	(The Christian) told her: “Now it’s your turn.

(148)	ga-ṭṭáwaʕ-ṭ-i	na	ga-ɣə́ṛṣ-ʕ-am	?
	IRR-obey.AOR-2SG-IO.1SG	or	IRR-slaughter.AOR-1SG-IO.2SG.F	?
	Will you obey me or will I slaughter you?”

(149)	tə́-ṃṃ-as	ə́ṣṣbaṛ	gá-ʕbb-ax	/
	3SG.F-say.PFV-IO.3SG	wait.IMP	IRR-wash.AOR-1SG	/
	She said: “Wait, I will do the ablutions,

(150)	ga-ẓáḷḷ-ax	baʕd	ams-ók	ɣə́ṛṣ-i	/
	IRR-pray.AOR-1SG	after	this-2SG.M	slaughter.IMP-IO.1SG	/
	I will pray and then, slaughter me!”

(151)	t-ṛaḥ	tə-ṣṣáy	əṭṭánǧṛət	/	tə-ɣṛə́ṣ
	3SG.F-go.PFV	3SG.F-take.PFV	pot.SG.F	/	3SG.F-slaughter.PFV
	She took the pot, she slaughtered

(152)	tyaẓə́ṭ	/	t-ḥáṭṭ-as	ḥə́bba	n	áman
	chicken.SG.F	/	3SG.F-put.PFV-IO.3SG	a_bit	of	water.PL.M
	a chicken, she put a bit of water,

(153)	tə-ǧǧ-ét	t-bə́ršak	/	tə-ḷḷúm
	3SG.F-leave.PFV-DO.3SG.F	3SG.F-immerse.PFV	/	3SG.F-gather.PFV
	she left it, she immerse (it). She gathered

(154)	əlḥal-ə́nn-əs	/	tə-rwə́l	/	ət-tə́zzəl
	stuff.SG.M-of-3SG	/	3SG.F-flee.PFV	/	3SG.F-run.IPFV
	her stuff, she ran away,

(155)	ət-tə́zzəl	ət-tə́zzəl	/	amsíḥḥi	/
	3SG.F-run.IPFV	3SG.F-run.IPFV	/	Christian.SG.M	/
	far, far away. The Christian

(156)	l-i-tbáh-a	yə-ǧʕíl-a
	NEG-3SG.M-sleep.PFV-PRAGM	3SG.M-think.PFV-PRAGM
	did not pay attention, he thought that she

(157)	əntátət	/	tə́-ʕbbu	/
	IDP.3SG.F	/	3SG.F-wash.IPFV	/
	was doing the ablutions,

(158)	əntátət	tə-ɣṛíṣ-a
	IDP.3SG.F	3SG.F-slaughter.PFV-PRAGM
	but she had slaughtered

(159)	tyaẓə́ṭ	t-ḥaṭṭ-ít-a	g	bətta	?
	chicken.SG.F	3SG.F-put.PFV-DO.3SG.F-PRAGM	in	what	?
	the chicken and put it where?

(160)	g	əṭṭánǧṛət	/	əlmuhumm	tə-bdú	ət-tákəl
	in	pot.SG.F	/	important.SG.M	3SG.F-start.PFV	3SG.F-walk.IPFV
	In the pot. Most importantly, she started to walk

(161)	ət-tákəl	t-kim	i	šal	xlaf
	3SG.F-walk.IPFV	3SG.F-enter.PFV	to	country.SG.M	different.SG.M
	a lot, she entered another town,

(162)	tə-f̣f̣áɣ-a	/	tə-rwə́l	af	amsíḥḥi
	3SG.F-go_out.PFV-PRAGM	/	3SG.M-flee.PFV	on	Christian.SG.M
	she had gone out, she had run away from the Christian,

(163)	xáḷəṣ	//
	at_all	//
	a lot.

(164)	ššwaytén	t-ifá	agg^wíd	ləʕǧúz	i-ɣə́ṛṛ
	after_a_while	3SG.F-find.PFV	man.Sg.M	old.SG.M	3Sg.M-read.IPFV
	After a while, she found an old man who was reading

(165)	əlquʔrán	/	tə-ʕə́nʕən	səddw-ə́s	/	tə-lsá
	Quran.SG.M	/	3SG.F-sit.PFV	beside-3SG.F	/	3SG.F-wear.PFV
	the Quran and she sat close to him, she wore

(166)	əllə́bs	n	agg^wídan	/	tə-ʕṃáṛ-a	alfáf	/
	cloth.PL.M	of	man.PL.M	/	3SG.F-do.PFV-PRAGM	turban.SG.M	/
	men’s clothes, she made a turban,

(167)	tə-lmə́d	aḥfáṭ	əlquʔrán	/	sgən	agg^wíd
	3SG.M-learn.PFV	recite.VN	Quran.SG.M	/	from	man.SG.M
	she learned how to recite the Quran, from the old man.

(168)	šárəf	/	tə-bdú	aččú	tiswí	tə-ʕṃáṛ
	old.SG.M	/	3SG.M-start.PFV	eat.VN	drink.VN	3SG.F-do.PFV
	She started to eat, drink, she became

(169)	imán-n-əs	agg^wíd	/	ágg^wid	šárəf	laʕmí
	REFL-of-3SG	man.SG.M	/	man.SG.M	old.SG.M	blind.SG.M
	herself (like) a man. The old man was blind,

(170)	l-í-ẓəṛṛ	/	tə-ɣlá	fəll-ás
	NEG-3SG.M-see.IPFV	/	3SG.F-like.PFV	on-IO.3SG
	he could not see. He liked her,

(171)	yə-ǧǧá	díd-əs	/
	3SG.M-leave.PFV	with-3SG	/
	he stayed with her,

(172)	tə-ḥfáṭ	əlquʔrán	/	agg^wíd	yə-mmúṭ	/
	3SG.F-recite.PFV	Quran.SG.M	/	man.SG.M	3SG.M-die.PFV	/
	she recited the Quran. The old man died

(173)	əntátət	tə-bdú	hánta	?
	IDP.3SG.F	3SG.F-start.PFV	what	?
	(and) what did she start (doing)?

(174)	t-ɣəṛṛ	əlquʔrán	/
	3SG.F-read.IPFV	Quran.SG.M	/
	(She started) reading the Quran.

(175)	yə-bdú-n	itadə́m	s	bʕid	i-tasə́d-n-as	/
	3-start.PFV-PL	people.PL.M	from	far	3-come.IPFV-PL-IO.3SG	/
	People from far away started to come to her,

(176)	ánni	g-i-sə́l-n-as	/	tálti
	COMP	IRR-3-listen.AOR-PL-IO.3SG	/	woman.SG.F
	in order to listen to her. This woman,

(177)	tát-ok	/	əntátət	tə-ʕṃáṛ-a
	DEM.SG.F-2SG.M	/	IDP.3SG.F	3SG.F-do.PFV-PRAGM
	(well) she became

(178)	imán-n-əs	agg^wíd	/	əllə́ḥla	n
	REFL-of-3SG	man.SG.M	/	beauty.SG.M	of
	herself (like) a man, (for) the beauty of

(179)	səwṭ-ə́nn-əs	i-tás-ənd	/	s	əgdá
	voice.SG.M-of-3SG	3-come.IPFV-PL	/	from	here
	her voice, they came from here,

(180)	s	əgdá	/	səg	šaliwə́n	xlaf	/
	from	here	/	from	country.PL.M	different.SG.M	/
	they came from there, they came from different countries.
(181)	al:::	ə́ǧǧən	n	ənnháṛ	tə-ẓṛá	bəttín
	until	one.M	of	day.SG.M	3SG.F-see.PFV	who
	Until one day, who did she see,

(182)	yə-ḷḷumí-n-a	sg	itadə́m	?	agg^wid-ə́nn-əs	/
	3-gather.PFV-PL-PRAGM	from	people.PL.M	?	man.SG.M-of-3SG	/
	gathered among the people? Her husband

(183)	d:::	abbá-nn-əs	n	təṛwáwen	/	d:::	əlmálək	/
	and	father.SG.M-of-3SG	and	child.PL.F	/	and	king.SG.M	/
	(the father of the children), the king,

(184)	əlli	howa	ǧíddi-s	n	təṛwáwen	/
	REL	IDP.3SG.M	granfather.SG.M-POSS.3SG	of	child.PL.F	/
	the one who was the gradfather of the children,

(185)	d	amsíḥḥi	/	d:::	abbá-nn-əs	/
	and	Christian.SG.M	/	and	father.SG.M-of-3SG	/
	the Christian, her father,

(186)	d	áṃṃa-s	/	tálti	tlə́ʕǧust	/
	and	brother.SG.M-POSS.3SG	/	woman.SG.F	old.SG.F	/
	her brother, the old woman,

(187)	d	[FS]	tálti	tlə́ʕǧust	wən	tə-qqə́rqb-as	/
	and	[FS]	woman.SG.F	old.SG.F	REL	3SG.F-knock.PFV-IO.3SG	/
	the old woman who knocked (at her door)

(188)	d	agg^wíd	wən	yə-qqə́rqb-as	nnúba
	and	man.SG.M	REL	3SG.M-knock.PFV-IO.3SG	all
	and the man who knocked (at her door), everybody

(189)	i-llayəm-ín-a	/	g	ammás	n	itádəm	/
	3-meet.PFV-PL-PRAGM	/	in	middle	of	people.PL.M	/
	met among other people.

(190)	t-ɣəṛṛ	t-ɣəṛṛ	t-ɣəṛṛ	nnúba
	3SG.F-read.IPFV	3SG.F-read.IPFV	3SG.F-read.IPFV	all
	She (kept) reading, reading, reading. Everybody

(191)	i-sə́ll-ən	/	lə́ḥla	n	sawṭ-ə́nn-əs	/
	3-listen.IPFV-PL	/	beauty.SG.M	of	voice.SG.M-of-3SG	/
	was listening to the beauty of her voice.

(192)	báʕd-ma	tə-xḷə́ṣ	g	aɣə́ṛṛa	/	tə-ṃṃ-ás
	after-COMP	3SG.F-finish.PFV	in	read.VN	/	3SG.F-say.PFV-IO.3SG
	When she stopped reading, she said:

(193)	yaḷḷa	ga-nə-xxḅáṛ-wət	ḥə́bba	/	kull	əǧǧə́n
	come_on	IRR-1PL-tell.AOR-2PL	a_little	/	every	one.M
	“Come on, let’s tell (a story). Each one (of you)

(194)	[FS]	g-i-xə́ḅḅaṛ	tánta	i-ṣaṛ-ás-a
	[FS]	IRR-3SG.M-tell.AOR	what	3SG.M-happen.PFV-IO.3SG-PRAGM
	should say what happened

(195)	g	əddənyət-ə́nn-əs	//	[FS]	yə-ṃṃá-n-as	yáḷḷa	/
	in	life.SG.F-of-3SG	//	[FS]	3-say.PFV-PL-IO.3SG	come_on	/
	in his (/her) life”. They told her: “Come on,

(196)	šəm	gá-bdu-ṭ	úwwəlúwwəl	/	tə-ṃṃ-ás
	IDP.2SG.F	IRR-start.AOR-2SG	first_of_all	/	3SG.F-say.PFV-IO.3SG
	you start first”. She said:

(197)	xḷaṣ	niš	ga-xəḅḅṛ-ʕ-áwən	/	i-ṣáṛ
	stop	IDP.1SG	IRR-tell.AOR-1SG-IO.2PL	/	3SG.M-happen.PFV
	“Ok, I will tell you, it happened

(198)	i-sáṛ	i-sáṛ	i-ṣáṛ
	3SG.M-happen.PFV	3SG.M-happen.PFV	3SG.M-happen.PFV
	this and this

(199)	i-ṣáṛ	i-ṣáṛ	/	lá-t-təṃṃəl
	3SG.M-happen.PFV	3SG.M-happen.PFV	/	NEG-3SG.F-say.IPFV
	and so on.” (But) she did not tell

(200)	fəll-ás	əntátət	/	ət-tə́ṃṃəl	di	taltí
	on-IO.3SG	IDP.3SG.F	/	3SG.F-say.IPFV	EXIST	woman.SG.F
	that it was about her, she said: ‘There was a woman and

(201)	i-ṣáṛ-as	ámsa	d	ámsa	d	ámsa	/
	3SG.M-happen.PFV-IO.3SG	like_this	and	like_this	and	like_this	/
	this and this and this happened to her,

(202)	i-ṣáṛ	i-ṣáṛ	i-ṣáṛ
	3SG.M-happen.PFV	3SG.M-happen.PFV	3SG.M-happen.PFV
	and so on”.

(203)	i-ṣáṛ	i-ṣáṛ	/	ššwaytén	/
	3SG.M-happen.PFV	3SG.M-happen.PFV	/	after_a_while	/
	After a while,

(204)	tálti	tlə́ʕǧust	d	ágg^wid	/	šək [19]	akəddáb
	woman.SG.F	old.SG.F	and	man.SG.M	/	IDP.2SG.M	liar.SG.M
	the old woman and the man (told her): “You are a liar,

(205)	səg	má	ssn-aṭ	žlan	daw-í-ya	?
	from	where	know.PFV-2SG	speech.PL.M	DEM-PL-PRAGM	?
	from where do you know this story?”

(206)	šaṭṭ	t-išə́ršaḥ	akbər-ə́nn-əs	tə-ṃṃ-ás
	šaṭṭ	3SG.M-tear_off.PFV	cloth.SG.M-of-3SG	3SG.F-say.PFV-IO.3SG
	She tore off her clothes, she said:

(207)	niš	bídu	nə́tta	/	tə-bʕád
	IDP.1SG	also	IDP.3SG.M	/	3SG.F-tear.PFV
	“It’s me, indeed (behind this man).” She tore off

(208)	alfaf-ə́nn-əs	/	tə-f̣f̣áɣ	tálti	/
	turban.SG.M-of-3SG	/	3SG.F-go_out.PFV	woman.SG.F	/
	her turban, the woman came out.

(209)	n	wən:::	yə-qqərqb-n-ás-a	/	amsíḥḥi
	of	REL	3-knock.PFV-PL-IO.3SG-PRAGM	/	Christian.SG.M
	Those who knocked (at her door) and the Christian

(210)	i-ɣəṛṣ-ás-a	təṛwawen-ə́nn-əs	/
	3SG.M-slaughter.PFV-IO.3SG-PRAGM	child.PL.F-of-3SG	/
	who had slaughtered her children,

(211)	yə-ṭṭf-ə́n-tən	/	ašə́bʕan	/
	3-apprehend.PFV-PL-DO.3PL	/	rich.SG.M	/
	they apprehended them. (To) the rich,

(212)	i-ḥáṭṭ-n-as	sən	n	tiḥə́zma	n	ṣɣáṛən
	3-put.PFV-PL-IO.3SG	two	of	bundle.PL.F	of	wood.PL.M
	they put two bundles of wood

(213)	yə-ḥə́ṛq-ən-t	/	afə́qṛi	/	i-ḥáṭṭ-n-as
	3-burn.PFV-PL-DO.3SG.M	/	poor.SG.M	/	3-put.PFV-PL-IO.3SG
	and they burned him. (To) the poor, they put

(214)	ə́ǧǧət	n	tḥə́zmət	n	ṣɣáṛən	yə-ḥə́ṛq-ən-t	/
	one.F	of	bundle.SG.F	of	wood.PL.M	3-burn.PFV-PL-DO.3SG.M	/
	one bundle of wood and they burned him.

(215)	tə-dwə́l	yən	agg^wid-ə́nn-əs	/	t-šáḅəṭ
	3SG.F-come_back.PFV	to	man.SG.M-of-3SG	/	3SG.F-hug.PFV
	(The woman) came back to her husband, she hugged

(216)	abbá-nn-əs	/	yə́-ʕš-ən
	father.SG.M-of-3SG	/	3SG.M-live.PFV-PL
	her father, they lived

(217)	[fi	aman	w	tabat	aw	nabat	/	xallifu	ṣubyan	u	banat]
	[Ending formula in Arabic: in peace and security, they gave birth to boys and girls].

3. Conclusions

<17>

The list of features in the first part of this paper has shown how Siwi folktales fit with the broader characteristics that have been found to be typical in North African folktales, showing that this kind of oral production is constantly influenced and transmitted between different peoples who may even live far away from each other. Nevertheless, the folktale presented above also enriches our knowledge of Siwi literary tradition because it contains elements not found in the Siwi texts collected until now, such as the presence of different religious people who are sometimes connoted positively, and other times negatively.

<18>

Moreover, the presence or Arabic riddles and ending formulas confirms how this kind of oral production influences and in turn is being influenced by surrounding communities. It is auspicable that in the near future we will have more data on the oral literary production of the non-Siwi communities living in the oasis (such as Bedouins living in the peripheral areas of the oasis). This would allow us to understand whether this influence is limited to specific/functional parts of the folktale only, or whether it is taking place on a larger scale. The paper aims at making a small contribution to filling this gap in an area which still requires a lot of investigation.

4. List of abbreviations

AOR	aorist
COMP	complementizer
DEM	demonstrative
DO	direct object
EXIST	existential
F	feminine
FS	false start
IDP	independent pronoun
IMP	imperative
IO	indirect object
IPFV	imperfective
IRR	irrealis
M	masculine
PFV	perfective
PL	plural
POSS	possessive
PRAGM	pragmatic relevance marker
PROG	progressive
N	noun
NEG	negative
REL	relative
SG	singular
VOC	vocative
VN	verbal noun
1	first person
2	second person
3	third person
/	end of a minor prosodic unit
//	end of a major prosodic unit

5. References

Bounfour Abdellah & Daniela Merolla 1994

« Contes », Encyclopédie berbère [on line], document C91, http://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/2324 (last access 29.11.2019)

Chaker, Salem 1997

Quelques faits de grammaticalisation en berbère. Grammaticalisation et reconstruction. In Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, pp.103-121

Kossmann, Maarten 2000

A study of Eastern Moroccan Fairy Tales. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarium Fennica

Lacoste-Dujardin, Camille 1970

Le conte kabyle. Etude ethnologique. Paris: Editions La Découverte

Laoust Émile 1931

Siwa : son parler. Paris: Leroux.

Malim Fathi 2001

Oasis Siwa: from the inside. Traditions, customs & magic. Egypt: Al Katan

Naumann, Christfried 2012

Acoustically Based Phonemics of Siwi (Berber). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag

Scelles-Millie Jeanne 2002

Contes mystérieux d’Afrique du Nord. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose

Schiattarella Valentina 2015

Le berbère de Siwa. Documentation, syntaxe et sémantique. PhD dissertation. Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01794622v1

Schiattarella Valentina 2017

Berber texts from Siwa (Egypt) – Including a grammatical sketch. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag

Schiattarella Valentina 2019

Siwa: littérature. Encyclopédie berbère. Salem Chaker (ed.), Edisud: Aix-en-Provece, pp.7469-7476

Schiattarella, Valentina (forthcoming)

The -a suffix in Siwi Berber. In Vossen Rainer, Ibriszimow Dymitr & Stroomer Harry (eds.), Études berbères VII. Essais sur la sémantique et autres articles. Proceedings of the 7. Bayreuth-Frankfurt-Leidener Kolloquium zur Berberologie, Francfort-sur-le-Main, 16-18 July 2012. Berber Studies, Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.

Souag Lameen 2013

Berber and Arabic in Siwa (Egypt): a study in linguistic contact. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag

Souag, Lameen 2014a

Siwi addressee agreement and demonstrative typology. In Taine-Cheikh Catherine and Lux Cécile (eds.). Berber in typological perspective. STUF – Language Typology and Universals 67,1:35-45

Souag, Lameen 2014b

The development of addressee agreement on demonstratives. Diachronica 31,4:535-563

Vycichl, Werner 2005

Berberstudien & A sketch of Siwi Berber (Egypt). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.

[1] I wish to thank here the narrator of this tale and all the speakers of Siwi who have helped me throughout the years I spent conducting my research.

[2] For a more thorough analysis of different aspects of the Siwi language, the reader might refer to Laoust 1931, Vycichl 2005, Naumann 2012, Souag 2013, Schiattarella 2017, as well as to all the works cited throughout the paper. The list is not intended to be exhaustive.

[3] The symbols used in the examples do not always correspond to the ones used in IPA, namely: š [ʃ]; ž [ʒ]; y [j]; č [ʧ]; ǧ [ʤ ]; x [χ]; ɣ[ʁ]; ḥ [ʜ]; ʕ[ʢ]; h [ɦ]. Moreover, pharyngealization is marked here with a subscribed dot, while in IPA, it is marked by a raised ʕ [ˁ]. For example: ḅ=bˁ.

[4] In this article, the accent has been marked using an acute accent. Accent on nouns in Siwi is not fixed and does not depend on the syllable weight. The accent can in fact fall on the last or penultimate syllable. When a vowel is long and stressed, only the length diacritic will be used (ex. ā).

[5] 3SG.M/F and 3PL direct object clitics also follow two different paradigms, depending on the fact that they follow the verb stem or other suffixes. See for example yə-ǧǧ-ə́ n-tə t : 3-leave.PFV-PL-DO.3SG.F ‘they left her’ and yə- xsá g-iqə́ rb-et : 3SG.M-want.PFV IRR-3SG.M-grab.AOR-DO.3SG.F ‘he wanted to grab her’ (116). See Souag 2013: 46 for an overview on the Siwi pronouns.

[6] The verb ‘to go’ is grammaticalized in Siwi (Schiattarella 2015: 95), like in other Berber languages (Chaker 1997: 110) and is used to express that the action is imminent.

[7] Demonstratives in Siwi have a very rare typological feature: the addressee agreement. If the addressee is a male, the suffix is -ok, if a female, the suffix is -om, if there is more than one person -erwən. A suffix -a (-ya) is also possible, when the speaker does not share the information with the addressee or when the speaker refers to abstract referents (see Souag 2013: 138-151, 2014a, 2014b; Schiattarella 2017: 33-34).

[8] The -a suffix, here glossed PRAGM, can be attached to verbs, adjectives, demonstratives, quantifiers and to the existential particle di ‘there is’ or ‘ɣuṛ-‘at’+pronouns’, indicating possession. Its function for all this categories is to mark pragmatic relevance for the speaker. See Schiattarella (forthcoming) for more details.

[9] When a verb at 1SG is followed by an indirect object clitic, the personal clitic is -(a)ʕ instead of -(a)x.

[10] The noun following ɣəṛṣ ‘to slaughter’ can be both a direct or indirect object. In the latter case, the indirect object pronoun is obligatory suffixed to the verb and the lexical indirect object is preceded by the preposition i ‘to’. The choice between direct and indirect complements is often determined by semantic properties, like animacy and definiteness. Direct objects are favoured with non-human and/or non-identifiable nouns, while indirect objects are preferred with human and/or identifiable nouns. When the indirect pronoun is not co-referential to the noun that follows the verb (the object of slaughtering), the noun following the verb is a direct object (without i), even if human and/or identifiable (see 141 and 210).

[11] idammən ‘blood’, as well as most liquids, is plural in Siwi. That is why the direct object pronoun here is -tən (3PL): ga-swáx-t ən, lit. ‘I will drink them’.

[12] The verb aɣ ‘to take’ is here grammaticalized and used with the meaning of ‘to do the action of’. The verb ‘to give’ is also grammaticalized in this sense. See for example: y-uš-as ačču ‘he did the action of eating, he started to eat’, lit. ‘he gave him to eat’.

[13] The interrogative word mani ‘where’, sometimes preceded by a preposition (g ‘in’ mani, sg ‘from’, i ‘to’) can be reduced to ma, like in this passage (g ma instead of g mani) or to m alone ‘i m əttḥ-aṭ (to where go.IPFV-2SG) ‘where are you going?’.

[14] wihin (SG.M/PL); tihin (SG.F) is a placeholder word used when the speaker has temporarily forgotten what to say. The speaker was about to say əlkahin ‘priest’ rather than ‘Christian’.

[15] The interrogative word for ‘what’ tanta, can be reduced to ta: ta taʕṃaṛ ‘what does she do?’ or t alone, if followed by a word starting with a vowel, like in this example.

[16] When an imperative is followed by an indirect object, the plural -wət is replaced by -m- (Souag 2013: 195-196).

[17] When the verb is 1SG and has the 2SG.M/F or 2PL direct object, the suffix is just a (instead of -(a)x and the direct object clitic does not follow the usual paradigm, but the independent pronouns are used instead (in this case ənknum ‘you (all)’).

[18] axfi is the word for ‘head’, but when followed by the possessive pronoun, it can also be translated with ‘turn’: axf-ənnaw ‘my turn’, axf-ənnək ‘your turn (M), etc.’.

[19] The 2SG.M form of the independent pronoun is used here because people think the protagonist is a man, as she is wearing men’s clothes.

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Recommended citation ¶

Schiattarella V (2019). A contribution to the documentation of Siwi (Berber). Afrikanistik-Aegyptologie-Online, Vol. 2019. (urn:nbn:de:0009-10-49617)

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