Siwi

Siwi (also Siwa, Sioua, Oasis Berber, Zenati), self-designation ⵜⴰⵙⵉⵡⵉⵜ Tasiwit , is a Berber language spoken by around 20,000 Berbers in the Siwa Oasis in Egypt . The speakers are Muslim and the majority are bilingual with Arabic , more precisely Egyptian-Arabic . The language is the most easterly spoken Berber language and therefore shows some peculiarities compared to the other Berber languages. In particular, their proportion of Arabic loanwords is even higher than usual in most Berber languages.

The common language code according to ISO 639-2 is ber ; as a single language Siwi does not have an ISO 639-2 code, but a SIL code ( SIZ).

According to the system

Consonants

The Siwi knows the following consonants:

	Labials	Dental	emphatic dentals	Palatal	Velare	Postvelare
voiceless plosives		t	ṭ	č	k	q
voiced plosives	b	d	ḍ	ǧ	G
voiceless fricatives	f	s	ṣ	š		x
voiced fricatives		z	ẓ			γ
Nasals	m	n

There are also l, r, w, y, and (only in words of Arabic origin) the glottals ʔ, h and the pharyngals ḥ, ʕ.

In a few words there are velarized labials, which one could possibly also understand as emphatic labials: akubbwî ~ akuḅḅî "boy".

Vowels and vowel length

The Siwi has 6 vowels: a, e, i, o, u, ə.

ə is a reduced vowel that is always spoken briefly and can be omitted entirely. Words with initial double consonance can optionally have a scion vowel ə- (for example ččîγ ~ əččîγ "I ate"). In the context of the formation of shapes, wird is shifted many times in order to obtain a more favorable syllable structure, see:

• izm ə́ r "Aries (sg.)" - iz ə mr-ə́n "Aries (pl.)"
• nə-ft ə́ k "we opened" - f ə tk-ə́m "you opened"

The other five vowels are "full vowels". These can be phonetically short or long, but this is very largely predictable, so that the vowel length cannot be considered phonemic or only marginally.

In a stressed position, the full vowels tend to lengthen if there is no or only one consonant. This is noted here with a circumflex above the vowel: tliččâ "girl", taltî "woman", amân "water", fûs "hand", asên "tooth", kôm "much". Since it is not distinctive, this length is not always clearly realized by all speakers.

A stressed vowel before double consonance, as well as every stressed ə, is short. This is notated here with an acute acute above the vowel: tfunást "cow", tfúkt "sun", dídsən "with them", ilə́s "tongue".

Also -ay and -aw in the wording are always short: aẓáy "heavy (of weight)", awáw "bean".

In individual cases, especially with Arabic foreign words, the vowel length can deviate from the rules given here.

When a + i or a + u meet in the context of a sentence, this results in e or o: la "not" + ifîγ "I found"> ​​lefîγ "I did not find". Otherwise, e and o have arisen from a + i or a + u, at least in some cases. In some words that are notated with e in Vycichl (2005, see under "Literature"), Laoust (1931) wrote ^a i, which seems to represent an older pronunciation: asên (Vycichl) ~ as ^a in (Laoust) "Zahn ". This article follows the information provided by Vycichl.

Emphasis

The stress can be meaningful. It hardly serves to differentiate between vocabulary, but it does serve to distinguish between grammatical forms. In Laoust's earlier work, the accent was not noted.

Emphasis

The emphatic sounds correspond phonetically to those of Arabic, that is, they are characterized by a narrowing of the oral cavity caused by the lifting of the tongue. Traditionally, the characteristic of emphasis is notated on individual consonants, although it affects the entire syllable phonetically. Therefore it can be arbitrary in individual cases to which consonant one ascribes the characteristic of emphasis. For example, the stem "see" ẓər as a whole is emphatic, so that purely phonetically a notation ẓə̣ṛ could be used. However, one usually only writes ẓər because historically the emphasis has been based on ẓ.

In the vicinity of emphatic consonants, including q and γ, the pronunciation of the vowels changes. This is most noticeable with a, which is darkened to å, while in a non-emphatic environment it tends more towards ä (these details are not noted below).

Personal pronouns

	independent	suffix	Possessive suffix	Object suffix
1. sg. "I"	nîš	-i	-ə́nnəw	-i
2. so. mask. "you"	šək	-k	-ə́nnək	-k / -šək
2. so. fem. "you"	šəm	-m	-ə́nnəm	-m / -šəm
3rd sg. mask. "he"	nə́tta	-s	-ə́nnəs	-a / -t
3rd sg. fem. "she"	əntâtət	-s	-ə́nnəs	-êt / -tət
1. pl. "we"	ə́nčni	-nax	-ə́nnax	-ânax
2. pl. "her"	ə́nknum	-wən	-ə́nwən	-êwən
3rd pl. "she"	ə́ntnən	-sən	-ə́nsən	-ên / -tən

In Siwi, as in Arabic, the gender is not only used in the pronoun of the 3rd sg., but also the 2nd sg. distinguished.

The independent pronouns can stand alone or for stress. The subject is already designated by the verb form and is therefore no longer necessarily expressed in the form of a pronoun. The short suffixes come mainly after prepositions.

noun

gender

The Siwi has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. Similar to German, it coincides with the natural gender for names of persons and, on the other hand, is quite arbitrary for descriptions of things.

In contrast to German, however, the gender in Siwi can be easily recognized by the form: Feminine nouns almost always begin with t- and usually end with -t:

• taʕrúṣt (fem.) "bride"
• tabṭût (fem.) "egg"
• taməẓẓúxt (fem.) "ear"
• tnast (fem.) "key"

Compare also terms like:

• funâs "bull" - tfunást "cow"
• iẓîṭ "donkey" - tiẓə́t "donkey"
• siwî "Siwa man" - tsiwə́t "Siwa woman"
• amdərrə́s "teacher" - tamdərrə́st "teacher"

Some feminine nouns have the prefix t- but a stressed vowel at the end instead of the -t:

• taltî "woman"
• tliččâ "girl"
• tazirî "moon"

Words of Arabic origin often do not have the t-marking, so the gender has to be learned here:

• əssnâ "year"
• əlwáqt "time"
• əmməṣrûb "way"

Of some terms, the masculine variant describes the collective and the feminine variant the individual:

• azəmmûr "olives" - tazəmmúrt "(an) olive; (an) olive tree"
• əssəmə́k "fish" - tismə́kt "(single) fish"

Plural

Nouns form a plural. Its shapes can be quite complicated. The following rules can be specified:

Basically, the plural ending is -ə́n for masculine nouns and -ên for feminine nouns, where -ên replaces the final -t.

In addition, there are usually changes at the beginning of the word: Many nouns begin with a-, which is to be interpreted as a singular sign, because it is replaced by i- in the plural. The t- of the feminine precedes this vowel, so it is called ta- (sg.) Or ti- (pl.):

• asên "tooth" - isenə́n "teeth"
• awáw "bean" - iwawə́n "beans"
• arâb "Arabs" - irabə́n "Arabs"
• tarábt "Arab women" - tirabên "Arab women"
• taməẓẓúxt "ear" - timəẓẓuγên "ears"

Some masculine nouns have an ending -ân instead of -ə́n or other different endings. This applies in particular to all nouns that end in the singular -î:

• akubbwî "boy" - ikubbwân "boy"

If the singular starts with a vowel other than a- (this is almost always i-), this vowel remains unchanged in the plural:

• irî "star" - irân "star"
• iγə́ṣ "bone" - iγṣân "bone"
• ulî "heart" - ulawə́n "heart"

If the singular starts with a-, but is followed by a consonant connection, the masculine plural usually does not contain an i- (but instead an optional scion vowel ə-). Correspondingly, tə- can occur in feminine, but here the regular ti- is used more often.

• adrâr "mountain" - (ə) drarə́n "mountains"
• agmâr "horse" - (ə) gmarə́n "horses"
• aččêr "fingernail" - (ə) ččerə́n "fingernail"
• axfî "head" - (ə) xfawə́n "heads"
• ambû "mouth" - (ə) mbawə́n "mouth"
• agbə́n "house" - (ə) gbiwə́n "houses"
• awggîd "man" - (ə) ggwidân "men"
• taltî "woman" - təltawên "women"

If the singular does not start with a vowel at all, an i- appears in the plural anyway:

• funâs "bull" - ifunasə́n "bull"
• siwî "man from Siwa" - isiwân "men from Siwa"
• tsiwə́t "Woman from Siwa" - tisiwiyên "Women from Siwa"
• tyaẓə́t "chicken" - tiyaẓiṭên "chickens"
• tliččâ "girl" - tiččiwên "girl" (from * tilččiwên)

A vowel jump from ə can take place in the stem to make the word easier to speak:

• izmə́r "Aries" - izəmrə́n "Aries"
• alγə́m "camel" - iləγmân "camels"
• talγə́mt "camel mare" - tiləγmên "camel mares"
• adlû "bucket" - idəlwə́n "bucket" (adlû is to be understood as the realization of an * adlə́w)
• tabṭût "egg" - tibəṭwên "eggs"

Some nouns also show various further changes in the stem:

• fûs "hand" - ifəssə́n "hands"
• ṭâḍ "finger" - iṭuḍân "finger"
• ašṭîṭ "bird" - išəṭṭân "birds"
• ṭṭabə́nt "oven" - ṭṭabunên "oven"
• tnast "key" - tinisâ "key"

Nouns of Arabic origin in the plural often have neither one of the typical plural endings nor the plural prefix i-, but instead sometimes have a prefix l-. Arabic nouns also often show inner stem changes, some of which are taken directly from Arabic:

• əlḥúqq "box" - luḥqâq "boxes"
• əssnâ "year" - ləsnîn "year"
• əlfinǧâl "cup" - ləfnaǧîl "cups"
• aḥbîb "friend" - laḥbayə́b "friends"
• ʕammûd "stick" - laʕmamîd "sticks"
• agurznî "dog" - əlgurazə́n ~ lugrazə́n "dogs"
• ǧadîr "wall" - iǧudâr "walls"
• timdrə́st "school" - timdarsên "schools"

Finally, there are some perfectly irregular plurals:

• təṭ "eye" - ṭawên "eyes"
• ṭâṛ "foot" - təškâ "feet"
• ǧîr "child" - tərwawên "children"

Some expressions for fluids are generally plural and treated as grammatical plurals:

• amân "water" - amân isəmmaṭə́n "cold water" (the adjective is also in the plural)
• idammə́n "blood"

dual

The Siwi has no dual. However, in individual cases an Arabic dual form is borrowed as such:

• yomên "2 days"

Nouns of Arabic origin

Many nouns of Arabic origin are used in Siwi. Unless the loans are very recent, their pronunciation often deviates considerably from the pronunciation that is common in Egypt today. The word accent typically appears to be shifted towards the end of the word. The Arabic article (a) l- is often adopted; in other cases, l- is only adopted in the plural form (see above):

• əlǧəmə́t ~ ləǧmə́t "Friday" <Arab. ǧúmʕat
• aməzdîg "mosque" <Arab. másǧid
• əššaṛâʕ "street" <Arab. šâriʕ

Emphasis

Nouns are always stressed on the last syllable. In the following cases, however, they shift their accent to the penultimate syllable:

(1) According to Vycichl (see under "Literature"), the tone shift to the penultimate syllable has the meaning of a certain article:

• amân "water" - âman "the water"
• agbə́n "house" - ágbən "the house"
• tamdərrə́st "teacher" - tamdə́rrəst "the teacher"

The phenomenon would have to be investigated more closely. It is not known whether this accent shift is really possible for all nouns, or when exactly this form is used.

(2) After prepositions, nouns always move the accent to the penultimate syllable, regardless of whether or not they are definitive in terms of content.

(3) The same applies to nouns after the genitive particle n (see the “Possession” section).

adjective

In principle, adjectives are inflected like nouns and differentiate between two genders and two numbers. In addition, there is a comparative that is gender and number neutral. The comparative usually has the form consonant + consonant + ə + consonant. The formation of the shape is more or less regular. Some examples:

	mask. sg.	mask. pl.	fem. sg.	fem. pl.	comparative
old	aqdîm	iqdimə́n	taqdə́mt	tiqdimên	qdəm
another	laxâṛ	luxrîn	tlaxáṛt	luxrên	(is missing)
big	azuwâr	izuwarə́n	tazuwárt	tizuwarên	?
green	awrâγ	uraγə́n	tawráxt	turaγên	?
Well	akwáyyis	?	tkwayyíst	?	kwəs
small	aḥkîk	iḥkikə́n	taḥkə́kt	tiḥkikên	ḥkək
short	agzâl	gzalə́n	tagzált	tigzalên	gzəl
New	atrâr	trarə́n	tatrárt	titrarên	trər
bad	ašmâl	əšmalə́n	tašmált	təšmalên	šməl
sweet	aḥlû	əḥlutə́n	taḥlə́t	tiḥlutên	ḥlâ

The adjective comes after its reference word and is congruent with it:

• akubbwî aḥkîk "a little boy"
• ikubbwân iḥkikə́n "little boys"
• tliččâ taḥkə́kt "a little girl"
• tiččiwên tiḥkikên "little girls"

Possession

The sequence is always possessum - possessor. If the possessessor is pronominal, the possessive suffixes listed above in the section "Personal Pronouns" are used:

• ləgrûš "money" - ləgrušə́nnəw "my money" - ləgrušə́nnək "your (m) money" - ləgrušə́nnəs "his / her money" - ləgrušə́nsən "her (pl.) money"
• fûs "hand" - fusə́nnəw "my hand"
• ṭâḍ "finger" - ṭaḍə́nnək "your finger"
• ambû "mouth" - ambə́nnək "your mouth"
• laḥbayə́b "friends" - laḥbayəbə́nnəs "his / her friends"

If the possessor is nominal, a genitive particle n is used, so the construction is possessum - n - possessor. The Possessum retains its normal accent, while the Possessor shifts the accent to the penultimate syllable:

• adrâr "mountain" - axfî n ádrar "the head / peak of the mountain"
• əttaǧâṛ "merchant" - əddəkân n əttâǧaṛ "the merchant's shop"
• azəmmûr "olives" - aṭîl n azə́mmur "the olive garden"
• isiwân "Siwa residents" (plural of siwî) - ǧəlân n isîwan "the language of the Siwa residents"
• təškâ "feet" - arbaʕ n tə́ška "four feet / legs" (numbers are constructed with the genitive: "four of feet")
• bəttîn "who?" - m bə́ttin "from whom?", "whose?"

Some kinship terms are different: You always have to have a possessive suffix, and this has shorter forms than normal (essentially the simple suffixes, with plural suffix with inserted -t-, 1st sg. irregular):

• úmma "my mother" - ummêk "your (m) mother" - ummês "his / her mother" - ummêtsən "her (pl.) mother"

In the case of nominal possessor, a suffix must also be used in this case:

• ummês nə tlíčča "the girl's mother" (literally: "her mother, the girl")

Demonstrative pronouns

The following are typical forms of demonstrative pronouns:

	mask. sg.	fem. sg.	Plural
independent	wâ	tâ	wî
attributive	dâwa	tâta	dawya

The demonstrative pronoun follows its reference word. Examples:

• alγə́m dâwa "that camel"
• bəttîn wâ "who is that?"

verb

The Siwi has no infinitive. As a result, it is not entirely obvious which form of the verb should be used as the citation form. The shortest form is the imperative (singular), since it does not contain any prefixes or suffixes.

The Siwi forms a large number of verb forms, which are rather irregular and not fully documented.

imperative

The imperative is more or less identical to the verbal root. In the plural, the imperative has an ending -wət, which does not otherwise change the form:

• ə́ftək "open!" - ə́ftək-wət "open!"
• ə́xdəm "work!" - ə́xdəm-wət "works!"
• sweet "drink!" - sû-wət "drink!"

Personal flexion according to the subject

In Siwi, as in other Berber languages, the paradigm of personal inflection consists of a combination of personal prefixes and personal suffixes. As in Arabic and many other Afro-Asian languages, the 3rd person sg. the verb has different forms for the two grammatical genders.

In the past tense one can distinguish between two conjugations. The first is used for verbs with a very short stem (one or two phonemes, not counting), the second for verbs with a longer stem. The durative has a uniform inflection for most verbs, which is indicated in the third column; the symbol "D" stands for "doubling the first consonant".

	Past tense, short stem	Simple past, long stem	Durative
1st sg.	─îγ	─aγ	D─aγ
2.sg.	─îṭ	─aṭ	D─aṭ
3.sg.mask.	y─â	y─	y─
3.sg.fem.	t─â	t─	t─
1.pl.	n─â	n─	n─
2.pl.	─ə́m	─ə́m	D─əm
3.pl.	y─ə́n	y─ən	y─ən

As an example, here is the conjugation of the verbs "love" and "open" in the simple past and in the durative:

	"love", simple past	"open", simple past	"love", durativ	"open", durative
1st sg.	(ə) xsîγ	fə́tkaγ	(ə) xxə́ssaγ	(ə) ffə́ttkaγ
2.sg.	(ə) xsîṭ	fə́tkaṭ	(ə) xxə́ssaṭ	(ə) ffə́ttkaṭ
3.sg.mask.	yəxsâ	yəftə́k	ixə́ss	ifə́ttək
3.sg.fem.	təxsâ	təftə́k	(ə) txə́ss	(ə) tfə́ttək
1.pl.	nəxsâ	nəftə́k	(ə) nxə́ss	(ə) nfə́ttək
2.pl.	(ə) xsə́m	fətkə́m	(ə) xxə́ssəm	(ə) ffə́ttkəm
3.pl.	yəxsə́n	ifə́tkən	ixə́ssən	ifə́ttkən

Observations:

• The marble vowel ə can be dropped, inserted or skipped depending on the syllable structure: nə-ft ə́ k "we opened", but f ə tk-ə́m "you opened".
• The prefix of the third person is more precisely y- before a vowel, i- before a simple consonant and yə- before a consonant group.

preterite

The past tense is formally the simplest tense that is created by combining the stem (which is more or less identical to the form of the imperative) with the personal affixes. Some verbs have an -a- in the stem, which is omitted as soon as an ending occurs, e.g. B. yə-qd â ṛ "he could" - yə́-qdṛ-ən "they could" - qə́dṛ-aγ "I could".

Perfect

A state form can be derived from the past tense as follows, which can be called the perfect:

• additional ending -a (after vowel -ya)
• the accent is always right before this ending
• a -ə- in open syllable, if the accent falls on it, becomes -î-

Examples:

• yəftə́k "he opened" - yəftîka "he opened"
• yəxdə́m "he worked" - yəxdîma "he worked"
• yəččâ "he ate" - yəččâya "he ate"
• ččəm "you ate" - ččîma "you ate"
• yədwə́l "he returned" - idwîla "he returned"
• idûlən "they returned" - idulîna "they returned"

The perfect tense can also be translated passively:

• yəbnûya "he has built; he is built"
• allôn yəftîka "the window is open"

Durative

The durative stands for an ongoing or repeated action. It often corresponds to a German present tense, but can also refer to the past.

The durative has a different stem compared to the past tense. The following changes occur:

• Prefixing a t- in front of the trunk, e.g. B. y-uṃṃâ "he said" - i-túṃṃ "he says"
• Doubling of the second stem consonant, e.g. B. yə-ftə́k "he opened" - i-fə́ttək "he opened"
• Insertion of -a- before the last stem consonant, e.g. B. yə-ẓṛâ "he saw" - i-ẓâr "he sees"
• Conversion of an -i - / - u- of the stem into -a-, e.g. B. yə-ssîwəl "he spoke" - i-sâwal "he speaks"

Often several of these agents are combined with one another.

If the first consonant is already geminated in the verbal stem (e.g. yə-ggə́z "he went down"), the durative, as far as known, is always formed with the prefix t- (e.g. i-tə́ggəz "he goes down) "). Otherwise, based on current knowledge, it is hardly possible to predict which stem changes the respective verbs will experience.

In addition, the personal affixes of the durative differ somewhat from those of the past tense (see table above). In the 1.sg., 2.sg. and 2.pl. the first consonant is doubled in the durative. This concerns either the first stem consonant (e.g. ifə́ttək "he opens" - ff ə́ttkaγ "I open") or the prefixed t- (e.g. itə́su "he drinks" - tt ə́swaγ "I drink").

In the durative, the accent usually falls on the penultimate syllable, but not on the personal prefix.

Future tense

A future tense comes in two variants. One adds a prefix ga- either before the form of the past tense or - less often - the durative. The future tense usually has the tone on the penultimate syllable, which often results in a tone shift compared to the past tense. If it is formed from the preterital stem, the personal affixes from the series usually appear for longer stems. Finally, contractions ga + i> ge and ga + u> go take place.

As an example, the forms of the past tense and the future tense of the verb "go" (stem and imperative gestelltâḥ) are compared:

	preterite	Future tense
1st sg.	ḥḥîγ	gáḥḥaγ
2.sg.	ḥḥîṭ	gáḥḥaṭ
3.sg.mask.	iṛâḥ	gêṛaḥ
3.sg.fem.	tṛâḥ	gátṛaḥ
1.pl.	ṛṛâḥ	gáṛṛaḥ
2.pl.	ḥḥəm	gáḥḥəm
3.pl.	yəḥḥə́n	géḥḥən

Further examples:

• yəxdə́m "he worked" - gêxdəm "he will work"
• yə́qdṛən "they could" - gêqdṛən "they can become"
• ifîγ "I found" - gêfaγ "I will find"
• unîγ "I went up" - gônaγ "I will go up"

Functionally, the future tense corresponds roughly to the imperfect tense of Egyptian-Arabic ("yiktib") and can accordingly also have a modal meaning or come after auxiliary verbs:

• yəxsə́n gênγənt "they wanted to kill him"
• la yəxsâ gêləs "he did not want to dress" (ləs "clothe, put on")

The future tense formed by the durative is less common. An example:

• itə́ṛṛaḥ "he goes straight / again and again" - getə́ṛṛaḥ "he will go straight / again and again"

Stem forms

The following table contains the most important stem forms of a selection of verbs:

	imperative	Perfect 1st sg.	Perfect 3.sg.mask.	Future 3.sg.mask.	Durative 3.sg.mask.
to put on, to dress	ləs	lsîγ	yəlsâ	gêləs	ilə́ss
hanging	ûgəl	ûglaγ	yûgəl	gôgəl	itâgəl
to bake	ə́ntər	nə́traγ	yəntə́r	?	inə́ttər
to build	ə́bnu	(ə) bnûγ	yəbnû	?	ibə́nnu
eat	əčč	(ə) ččîγ	yəččâ	gêčč	itə́čč
Find	îf	ifîγ	yifâ	gêyif	itâf
give	ûš	ušîγ	yušâ	gêyuš	itâš
go	ṛâḥ	(ə) ḥḥîγ	iṛâḥ	gêṛaḥ	itə́ṛṛaḥ
to go up	wən	unîγ	yunâ	gêwən	itûwan
go out, go away	fəl	flîγ	yəflâ	gêfəl	itəffâl
go down	ə́ggəz	ggə́zaγ	yəggə́z	gêggəz	itə́ggəz
Listen	səl	slîγ	yəslâ	gêsəl	isə́ll
come	hêd	usíγd ~ usîx	yusə́d	gôsəd	itâsəd
can	(is missing)	qə́dṛaγ	yəqdâṛ	gêqdaṛ	iqə́ddaṛ
love, want	xəs	xsîγ	yəxsâ	gêxəs	ixə́ss
to open	ə́ftək	fə́tkaγ	yəftə́k	gêftək	ifə́ttək
say	uṃṃ	uṃṃîγ	yuṃṃâ	?	itúṃṃ
see	ẓər	ẓṛâγ	yəẓṛâ	?	iẓâr
speak	sîwəl	(ə) ssîwlaγ	yəssîwəl	gessîwəl	isâwal
drink	sweet	swîγ	yəswâ	gêsu	itə́su
to forget	ə́ttu	(ə) ttûγ	yəttû	?	itə́ttu
knowledge	ə́ssən	ssə́naγ	yəssə́n	?	?

Verb with object suffixes

The pronominal direct object is expressed by suffixes on the verb (see table above in the section "Personal pronouns"). Shaping can be complicated and not fully documented. Some examples:

• idúqq "he hit" - idúqq-i "he hit me" - iduqq-êk "he hit you" - idúqq-a "he hit him" - iduqq-êt "he hit her (sg.)"
• yəẓṛâ "he saw" - yəẓṛ-î "he saw me" - yəẓṛâ-k "he saw you" - yəẓṛâ "he saw him" - yəẓṛ-êt "he saw her (sg.)"
• ẓṛâγ "I saw" - ẓṛáx-šək ~ ẓṛâ-šək "I saw you" - ẓṛáx-t "I saw him" - ẓṛáx-tət "I saw her (sg.)"
• yəẓrə́n "they saw" - iẓə́rn-i "they saw me"
• ifîγ "I found" - ifə́x-tən "I found her (pl.)"
• gênγən "they will kill" (nəγ "kill") - gênγən-t "they will kill him"
• kə́traṭ "you brought" - kə́trat (from kə́traṭ + t) "you brought him / it"

prepositions

The Siwi has prepositions. If the preposition is followed by a noun, its accent shifts to the penultimate syllable:

• agbə́n "house" - g-ágbən "in the house"
• aṭîl "garden" - g-âṭil "in the garden"
• arγîf "bread" - d-árγif "with bread"

In addition, prepositions can be combined with personal suffixes (for their form see above in the section "Personal pronouns"). Prepositions have up to three different forms (1) before noun, (2) before singular suffix and (3) before plural suffix. The following table lists some significant forms of important prepositions:

	"in"	"with and"	"from"	"at"	"in front"
+ Noun	G	d	səg	gən	zdât
+ "I"	əgdî	dîdi	sə́gdi	γûri	zdâti
+ "you (mask.)"	əgdə́k	dîdək	sə́gdək	γûrək	zdâtək
+ "he, she"	əgdə́s	dîdəs	sə́gdəs	γûrəs	zdâtəs
+ "we"	gə́dnax	dídnax	sgə́dnax	γúnnax	?
+ "they (pl.)"	gə́dsən	dídsən	sgə́dsən	γúrsən	?

The preposition for "bei" can be used, optionally in a form lengthened by -a, in the sense of "have":

• γûri or γurîya "with me (is) ..." = "I have ..."
• γûrəs or γurîsa "with him / her (is) ..." = "he / she has ..."
• γúrsən or γursîna "with them (is) ..." = "they have ..."

dative

The dative is expressed by the preposition i- / y-. Here, too, the noun experiences a shift in accent:

• taltî "woman" - i tálti "the woman"
• zəmzə́m (personal name) - i zə́mzəm "for Zəmzəm"
• gdâ "here" - y-ə́gda "here"

The pronominal dative is expressed using suffixes on the verb. You add the verb -â- and the personal suffix to it. Only -i appears in the first person.

• uṃṃîγ "I said" - uṃṃiγ-â-k "I told you" - uṃṃiγ-â-s "I told him / her" - uṃṃiγ-â-sən "I told them"
• yušâ "he gave" - ​​yuš-î "he gave me" - yuš-â-s "he gave him / her"

syntax

Word order

The object usually comes after the verb:

• itə́su amân "he drinks water"

The subject often comes before the verb:

tličča tədwə́l
girl returned-back
"the girl returned"

kul əǧǧən yəṭṣi əǧǧət
everyone brings something. FEM
"everyone brings something (meaning: a gift)"

Often, however, the subject also comes after the verb. Similar to German, this is particularly the case when the beginning of the sentence is already occupied by an adverb or another part of the sentence:

bʕadên yəkkə́r azîdi
then stood-on jackal
"then the jackal stood up"

amma lkak yətsəγən-t əttəǧar
what-concerns (type of date) they-buy-it dealers
"the alkak dates, they buy the dealers"

Non-verbal sentence

A sentence with a non-verbal predicate can in principle be formed without a copula:

• bəttîn wâ "who is that?"
• bəttîn šək "who are you?"

Predicative adjectives congruent with the subject:

• əmməṣrûb taṭwə́lt "the way is long" (noun and adjective are feminine)

In the case of an adverbial predicate, one likes to use a copula dílla (masc.) / Ttə́lla (fem.) / Díllan (pl.), Which can only be flexed according to gender and number, not according to the person:

• šək dílla máṣra "you (mas.) are in Egypt"
• šəm ttə́lla máṣra "you (fem.) are in Egypt"
• nə́tta dílla g-ágbən "he is at home"

negation

Almost all sentence types can be denied with lâ "not":

• nəssə́n "we know" - lâ nəssə́n "we don't know"
• xsîṭ "you want" - la xsîṭ "you don't want"
• gêsu "he will drink" - lâ gêsu "he will not drink"
• ifîγ "I found" - lefîγ "I did not find" (from la + ifîγ)
• usîṭ "you came" - losîṭ "you did not come" (from la + usîṭ)
• nifâ "we found" - la nifâ abdan "we found nothing"
• γûri ləgrûš "I have money" - la γûri ləgrûš "I have no money"

In the case of the negative imperative, however, the durative stem or a similar form must apparently be used (this type of sentence is not sufficiently documented):

• sûwət "drink!" - lâ tswət "don't drink!"

Question sentence

In the question, the last syllable of the sentence can be stretched and the accent shifted to that last syllable. When stretching, -ə- becomes either -ê- or -î-. Examples:

• wôk atrâr "this is new" - wôk atrââr? "is this new?" (-â- with excess length)
• ččîma "you ate" - ččimâ "did you eat?"
• itə́čč "he eats" - itêčč "does he eat?"
• wiyôk trarə́n "they are new" - wiyôk trarîn "are they new?"
• ixə́ddəm "he works" - têxəddêm "what does he work?" (from ta "was" + ixəddêm)

Relative clause

Relative clauses are introduced by the relative pronoun wən (mask. Sg. And pl.) Or tən (fem. Sg. And pl.):

• tliččâ tən sə́ddwək "the girl who is with you"
• agmâr wən sγîγ "the horse that I bought"
• wən əxsîṭ "what you want"
• wən uṃṃiγâk "what I told you"

vocabulary

Some elements from the basic vocabulary; Verbs are quoted in the imperative:

eye	təṭ
three	təlâta
one	əǧǧən
eat	əčč
woman	taltî
five	xámsa
give	ûš
go	râḥ
big	azuwâr
Well	akwáyyis
hand	fûs
Listen	səl
man	awggîd ~ aggwîd
mouth	ambû
Surname	ssmiyə́t
say	uṃṃ
see	ẓər
four	árbʕa
water	amân
knowledge	ə́ssən
two	sən

literature

• A. Basset: Siwa, Aoudjila et Imeghran. On the subject of un rapprochement , Annales de l'Institut d'Études Orientales 2, 1936, 119-127
• A. Basset: Verbal problems in le parler berbère de Siwa , in Mélanges Maspero vol. 3, 1935-1940, 155-159
• A. Basset: Siwa et Aoudjila. Problème verbal berbère , in Mélanges Gaudefroy-Demombynes, 1935-1945, 279-300
• Laoust, Émile 1931: Siwa. Son parler , Paris
• A. Leguil: Notes sur le parler berbère de Siwa , Bulletin des Etudes Africaines de l'Inalco 6, 1986, 5-42 and 97-124
• A. Louali & G. Philippson: L'accent en Siwi (berbère d'Egypte) , Proceedings of XXVe Journées d'Etudes sur la Parole, 2004, 325-328
• Stanley, C. 1912: The Siwan language and vocabulary, proper names, Siwan money, weights and measures , in Journal of the Royal African Society 11: 438-457
• Vycichl, Werner 2005: Berber Studies & A sketch of Siwi Berber (Egypt) , Cologne, there pp. 153-258

The grammar of Laoust is the most detailed, but aloud it is not very precise and, in particular, does not give any information about the accent. Vycichl's sketch is superior in this regard. A dictionary of the Siwi does not exist, but the book by Laoust contains a glossary. There are also older word lists in very imprecise notation such as Stanley's.

Web links

• Siwi fonts can be downloaded from [1] .

Remarks

1. ↑ An exception is umma "mother".
2. ↑ stem -yaẓəṭ-, at the end of the word ṭ + t becomes t.
3. ↑ Unknown accent.
4. ↑ -γ of the endings -îγ and -aγ is often hardened to -x, if not followed by another suffix.
5. ↑ Assimilation rḥ> ḥḥ.
6. ↑ From ga + iṛaḥ
7. ↑ Assimilation nṛ> ṛṛ.
8. ↑ Assimilation rḥ> ḥḥ.
9. ↑ This verb is quite irregular. The forms of this verb have an additional ending -d, originally a ventive element corresponding to the German "her". The imperative is formed by its own tribe.
10. ↑ Form is not used for semantic reasons.
11. ↑ Inconsistent information on the accent.