Shilha language


Shilha is a Berber language native to Shilha people. It is spoken by more than eight million people in southwestern Morocco. The endonym is ⵜⴰⵛⵍⵃⵉⵢⵜ, Tacelḥit in Amazigh Latin alphabet, and in recent English publications the language is often rendered Tashelhiyt or Tashelhit. In Moroccan Arabic the language is called Šəlḥa, from which the alternative English name Shilha is derived. In French sources the language is called tachelhit, chelha or chleuh.
Shilha is spoken in an area covering c. 100,000 square kilometres, comprising the western part of the High Atlas mountains and the regions to the south up to the Draa River, including the Anti-Atlas and the alluvial basin of the Sous River. The largest urban centres in the area are the coastal city of Agadir and the towns of Guelmim, Taroudant, Oulad Teima, Tiznit and Ouarzazate.
In the north and to the south, Shilha borders on Arabic-speaking areas. In the northeast, roughly along the line Marrakesh-Zagora, there is a dialect continuum with Central Atlas Tamazight. Within the Shilha area, there are several Arabic-speaking enclaves, notably the town of Ouled Teima. Substantial Shilha-speaking migrant communities are found in most of the larger towns and cities of northern Morocco and outside Morocco in Belgium, France, Germany, Canada, the United States and Israel.
Shilha possesses a distinct and substantial literary tradition that can be traced back several centuries before the colonial era. Many texts, written in Arabic script and dating from the late 16th century to the present, are preserved in manuscripts. A modern printed literature in Shilha has developed since the 1970s.

Naming

Shilha speakers usually refer to their language as Tašlḥiyt. This name is morphologically a feminine noun, derived from masculine Acelḥiy "male speaker of Shilha". Shilha names of other languages are formed in the same way, for example Aɛṛab "an Arab", Taɛṛabt "the Arabic language".
The noun Acelḥiy, though now freely used as an endonym among Shilha speakers, is exonymic in origin, as the nominal stem šlḥ goes back to the Arabic noun šilḥ "bandit". The initial A- in Acelḥiy is the Shilha nominal prefix. The ending -iy forms denominal nouns and adjectives. There are also variant forms Acelḥay and Tacelḥayt, with -ay instead of -iy under the influence of the preceding consonant ḥ. The plural of Acelḥiy is Icelḥiyn; a single female speaker is a Tacelḥiyt, plural Ticelḥiyin.
In Moroccan colloquial Arabic, a male speaker is called a Šəlḥ, plural Šluḥ, and the language is Šəlḥa, a feminine derivation calqued on Tašlḥiyt. The Moroccan Arabic names have been borrowed into English as a Shilh, the Shluh, and Shilha, and into French as un Chleuh, les Chleuhs, and chelha or, more commonly, le chleuh.
The exonymic, uncomplimentary origin of the names Tacelḥiyt and Acelḥiy now seems lost from memory in Morocco among both Berbers and Arabs, but Hans Stumme noted that a speaker of Shilha will call himself an Acelḥiy while being fully aware that it is a term of abuse, taking his revenge by calling an Arab izikr "rope".
The now usual names Tacelḥiyt and Icelḥiyn seem to have gained the upper hand relatively recently, as they are attested only in those manuscript texts which date from the 19th and 20th centuries. In older texts, the language is still referred to as Tamaziɣt or Tamazixt "Tamazight". For example, the author Awzal speaks of nnaḍm n Tmazixt ann ifulkin "a composition in that beautiful Tamazight".
Because Sous is the most heavily populated part of the language area, the name Tasusiyt is now often used as a pars pro toto for the entire language. A speaker of Tasusiyt is an Asusiy, plural Isusiyn, feminine Tasusiyt, plural Tisusiyin.

Number of speakers

Completely reliable data on the number of Berberophones in Morocco do not exist. Ethnologue, in its 17th-20th editions cited the numbers yielded by the Moroccan census of 2004, according to which there were around 4 million speakers of Tashelhiyt, accounting for 13 percent of the total population. In its 21st edition, quotes a number of around 7 million speakers for the year 2016, or 20 percent of the population. Assuming that Ethnologue’s 2016 figure is correct, it appears that the 2004 census seriously underreported the number of speakers, as it is highly unlikely that the proportion of Tashelhiyt speakers in Morocco has actually risen by 7 percentage points between 2004 and 2016.
Some authors mention a much higher number of Shilha speakers. Stroomer estimated that there are "some 6 to 8 million" speakers, and he subsequently raised the number to "some 8 to 9 million". Stroomer does not refer to any published sources supporting his estimates, which are certainly too high.
Although many speakers of Shilha, especially men, are bilingual in Moroccan Arabic, there are as yet no indications that the survival of Shilha as a living language will be seriously threatened in the immediate future. Because of the rapid growth of the Moroccan population over the past decades, it is safe to say that Shilha is now spoken by more people than ever before in history.

Dialects

Dialect differentiation within Shilha, such as it is, has not been the subject of any targeted research, but several scholars have noted that all varieties of Shilha are mutually intelligible. The first was Stumme, who observed that all speakers can understand each other, "because the individual dialects of their language are not very different." This was later confirmed by Ahmed Boukous, a Moroccan linguist and himself a native speaker of Shilha, who stated: "Shilha is endowed with a profound unity which permits the Shluh to communicate without problem, from the Ihahan in the northwest to the Aït Baamran in the southwest, from the Achtouken in the west to the Iznagen in the east, and from Aqqa in the desert to Tassaout in the plain of Marrakesh."
There exists no sharply defined boundary between Shilha dialects and the dialects of Central Atlas Tamazight. The dividing line is generally put somewhere along the line Marrakesh-Zagora, with the speech of the Ighoujdamen, Iglioua and Aït Ouaouzguite ethnic groups belonging to Shilha, and that of the neighboring Inoultan, Infedouak and Imeghran ethnic groups counted as CAT.

Writing systems

Shilha has been written with several different alphabets. Historically, the Arabic script has been dominant. Usage of the Latin script emerged in the late 19th century. More recently there has been an initiative to write Shilha in Tifinagh.

Tifinagh

Tifinagh was introduced in the late 1990s and its use is now supported by the Moroccan authorities, in a standardised form promulgated by the Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe. Publications entirely printed in Tifinagh still remain rare, and only a tiny proportion of Shilha speakers, if any, are able to handle the new script with confidence. Its main role is emblematic, that of a cultural icon. As such, Tifinagh has entered the public space, with town signs now showing the name in Tifinagh as well as in Arabic and Latin script.

Latin script

Many Shilha texts from the oral tradition have been published since the 19th century, transcribed in Latin script. Early publications display a wide variety of transcription systems. Stumme and Destaing use an elaborate phonetic transcription, while Justinard and Laoust employ a transcription based on French orthographical conventions. A new standard was set by Aspinion who uses a simple but accurate, largely phonemic transcription with hyphenation.
Most academic publications of recent decades use a fairly uniform transcription-orthography in Latin script. The most unusual feature of this orthography is the employment of the symbol ɛ to represent , for example taɛmamt "turban". Except with ḥ, the subscript dot indicates pharyngealisation, for example aḍrḍur "deaf person". Geminated and long consonants are transcribed with doubled symbols, for example tassmi "needle", aggʷrn "flour". Word divisions are generally disjunctive, with clitics written as separate words.

Arabic script

;Traditional orthography
Traditional Shilha manuscript texts are written in a conventionalized orthography in Maghribi Arabic script. This orthography has remained virtually unchanged since at least the end of the 16th century, and is still used today in circles of traditional Islamic scholars. The main features of the traditional orthography are the use of two extra letters and full vocalization. Clitical elements are written connected to a noun or verb form.
;Modern orthography
Since the 1970s, a fair number of books in Shilha have been published inside Morocco, written in a newly devised, practical orthography in Arabic script. The main features of this orthography are the representation of vowels a, i, u by the letters alif, yāʼ, wāw, and the non-use of vocalization signs other than shaddah and ḍammah. The consonant g is written with گ, and ẓ is either written with زٜ or not distinguished from z. Word separations are mostly disjunctive.

Literature

Shilha has an extensive body of oral literature in a wide variety of genres. A large number of oral texts and ethnographic texts on customs and traditions have been recorded and published since the end of the 19th century, mainly by European linguists.
Shilha possesses a pre-colonial literary tradition. Numerous texts written in Arabic script are preserved in manuscripts dating from the past four centuries. The earliest datable text is a compendium of lectures on the "religious sciences" composed in metrical verses by Brahim u Ɛbdllah Aẓnag. The best known writer in this tradition is Mḥmmd u Ɛli Awzal, author of al-Ḥawḍ "The Cistern", Baḥr al-Dumūʿ "The Ocean of Tears" and other texts.
Since the 1970s, a modern literature in Shilha has been developing.

Previous research

The first attempt at a grammatical description of Shilha is the work of the German linguist Hans Stumme, who in 1899 published his Handbuch des Schilḥischen von Tazerwalt. Stumme's grammar remained the richest source of grammatical information on Shilha for half a century. A problem with the work is its use of an over-elaborate, phonetic transcription which, while designed to be precise, generally fails to provide a transparent representation of spoken forms. Stumme also published a collection of Shilha fairy tales.
The next author to grapple with Shilha is Saïd Cid Kaoui, a native speaker of Kabyle from Algeria. Having published a dictionary of Tuareg, he then turned his attention to the Berber languages of Morocco. His Dictionnaire français-tachelh'it et tamazir't contains extensive vocabularies in both Shilha and Central Atlas Tamazight, in addition to some 20 pages of useful phrases. The work seems to have been put together in some haste and must be consulted with caution.
On the eve of the First World War there appeared a small, practical booklet composed by Captain Léopold-Victor Justinard, entitled Manuel de berbère marocain . It contains a short grammatical sketch, a collection of stories, poems and songs, and some interesting dialogues, all with translations. The work was written while the author was overseeing military operations in the region of Fès, shortly after the imposition of the French protectorate. Justinard also wrote several works on the history of the Sous.
Emile Laoust, prolific author of books and articles about Berber languages, in 1921 published his Cours de berbère marocain, a teaching grammar with graded lessons and thematic vocabularies, some good ethnographic texts and a wordlist.
Edmond Destaing greatly advanced our knowledge of the Shilha lexicon with his Etude sur la tachelḥît du Soûs. Vocabulaire français-berbère and his Textes berbères en parler des Chleuhs du Sous . Destaing also planned a grammar which was to complete the trilogy, but this was never published.
Lieutenant-interpreter Robert Aspinion is the author of Apprenons le berbère: initiation aux dialectes chleuhs, an informative though somewhat disorganized teaching grammar. Aspinion's simple but accurate transcriptions did away with earlier phonetic and French-based systems.
The first attempted description in English is Outline of the Structure of Shilha by American linguist Joseph Applegate. Based on work with native speakers from Ifni, the work is written in a dense, inaccessible style, without a single clearly presented paradigm. Transcriptions, apart from being unconventional, are unreliable throughout.
The only available accessible grammatical sketch written in a modern linguistic frame is "Le Berbère" by Lionel Galand, a French linguist and berberologist. The sketch is mainly based on the speech of the Ighchan ethnic group of the Anti-Atlas, with comparative notes on Kabyle of Algeria and Tuareg of Niger.
More recent, book-length studies include Jouad, Dell and Elmedlaoui, El Mountassir, Roettger and the many text editions by Stroomer.

Phonology

Stress and intonation

Stress and intonation in Shilha are the subject of a monograph by Roettger, who used instrumental testing. He established the fact that Shilha does not have lexical stress, as noted earlier by Stumme and Galand.

Vowels

Shilha has three phonemic vowels, with length not a distinctive feature. The vowels show a fairly wide range of allophones. The vowel /a/ is most often realized as or , and /u/ is pronounced without any noticeable rounding except when adjacent to w. The presence of a pharyngealized consonant invites a more centralized realization of the vowel, as in kraḍ "three", kkuẓ "four", sḍis "six".
FrontCentralBack
Closeiu
Opena

Additional phonemic vowels occur sporadically in recent loan-words, for example /o/ as in rristora "restaurant".

Transitional vowels and "schwa"

In addition to the three phonemic vowels, there are non-phonemic transitional vowels, often collectively referred to as "schwa". Typically, a transitional vowel is audible following the onset of a vowelless syllable CC or CCC, if either of the flanking consonants, or both, are voiced, for example tigemmi "house", ameḥḍar "schoolboy". In the phonetic transcriptions of Stumme and Destaing, many such transitional vowels are indicated.
Later authors such as Aspinion, use the symbol ⟨e⟩ to mark the place where a transitional vowel may be heard, irrespective of its quality, and they also write ⟨e⟩ where in reality no vowel, however short, is heard, for example ⟨akessab⟩ "owner of livestock", ⟨ar išetta⟩ "he's eating". The symbol ⟨e⟩, often referred to as "schwa", as used by Aspinion and others, thus becomes a purely graphical device employed to indicate that the preceding consonant is a syllable onset: , . As Galand has observed, the notation of "schwa" in fact results from "habits which are alien to Shilha". And, as conclusively shown by Ridouane, transitional vowels or "intrusive vocoids" cannot even be accorded the status of epenthetic vowels. It is therefore preferable not to write transitional vowels or "schwa", and to transcribe the vowels in a strictly phonemic manner, as in Galand and all recent text editions.

Treatment of hiatus

does not occur within a morpheme, i.e. a morpheme never contains a sequence of two vowels without an intervening consonant. If hiatus arises when a morpheme-final vowel and a morpheme-initial vowel come together in context, there are several strategies for dealing with it. The first of the two vowels may be elided or, alternatively, the semivowel y may be inserted to keep the vowels apart:
Less commonly, vowels /i/ and /u/ may change into y and w: /ddu-at/ "go ye!" is realized either as dduyat or as ddwat.

Consonants

Shilha has thirty-three phonemic consonants. Like other Berber languages and Arabic, it has both pharyngealized and plain dental consonants. There is also a distinction between labialized and plain dorsal obstruents. Consonant gemination or length is contrastive.
The chart below represents the consonants in the standard Latin transcription. Where the transcription differs from the IPA orthography, the Latin transcription is bolded.
Additional phonemic consonants occur sporadically in recent loan-words, for example /bʷ/ as in bbʷa " father", and /p/ as in laplaž "beach".

Semivowels

The semivowels /w/ and /y/ have vocalic allophones u and i between consonants and between consonant and pause. Similarly, the high vowels /u/ and /i/ can have consonantal allophones w and y in order to avoid a hiatus. In most dialects, the semivowels are thus in complementary distribution with the high vowels, with the semivowels occurring as onset or coda, and the high vowels as nucleus in a syllable. This surface distribution of the semivowels and the high vowels has tended to obscure their status as four distinct phonemes, with some linguists denying phonemic status to /w/ and /y/.
Positing four distinct phonemes is necessitated by the fact that semivowels and high vowels can occur in sequence, in lexically determined order, for example tazdwit "bee", tahruyt "ewe". In addition, semivowels /w/ and /y/, like other consonants, occur long, as in afawwu "wrap", tayyu "camel's hump". The assumption of four phonemes also results in a more efficient description of morphology.
In the examples below, /w/ and /y/ are transcribed phonemically in some citation forms, but always phonetically in context, for example ysti- "the sisters of", dars snat istis "he has two sisters".

Gemination and length

There is a phonemic contrast between single and non-single consonants:
Gemination and lengthening play a role in the morphology of nouns and verbs:
All consonants can in principle occur geminated or long, although phonemic xxʷ and ṛṛ do not seem to be attested. The uvular stops only occur geminated or long.
Four consonants have each two corresponding geminate or long consonants, one phonetically identical and one different:
In the oldest layers of the morphology, ḍ, w, ɣ, ɣʷ always have ṭṭ, ggʷ, qq, qqʷ as geminated or long counterparts:
Whether a non-single consonant is realized as geminated or as long depends on the syllabic context. A geminated consonant is a sequence of two identical consonants /CC/, metrically counting as two segments, and always separated by syllable division, as in tamdda "sparrowhawk". A long consonant is a consonant followed by a chroneme /C:/, metrically counting as a single segment and belonging to one syllable, as in tugga "testimony". When a morpheme contains a non-single consonant, it can be either geminated or long, depending on the context:
It is also possible for two identical consonants to occur in sequence, both being released separately and constituting the onset and nucleus of a vowelless syllable. Such sequences are transcribed with an intervening apostrophe:

Syllable structure

Shilha syllable structure has been the subject of a detailed and highly technical discussion by phoneticians. The issue was whether Shilha does or does not have vowelless syllables. According to John Coleman, syllables which are vowelless on the phonemic level have "schwa" serving as vocalic nucleus on the phonetic level. According to Rachid Ridouan on the other hand, Shilha's apparently vowelless syllables are truly vowelless, with all phonemes, vowels as well as consonants, capable of serving as nucleus. The discussion is summed up in Ridouan, where he conclusively demonstrates that a perfectly ordinary Shilha phrase such as tkkst stt "you took it away" indeed consists of three vowelless syllables , each made up of voiceless consonants only, and with voiceless consonants serving as nucleus. Many definitions of the syllable that have been put forward do not cover the syllables of Shilha.

Syllable types

The syllable structure of Shilha was first investigated by Dell and Elmedlaoui in a seminal article. They describe how syllable boundaries can be established through what they call "core syllabification". This works by associating a nucleus with an onset, to form a core syllable CV or CC. Segments that are higher on the sonority scale have precedence over those lower on the scale in forming the nucleus in a core syllable, with vowels and semivowels highest on the scale, followed by liquids and nasals, voiced fricatives, voiceless fricatives, voiced stops and voiceless stops. When no more segments are available as onsets, the remaining single consonants are assigned as coda to the preceding core syllable, but if a remaining consonant is identical to the consonant that is the onset of the following syllable, it merges with it to become a long consonant. A morpheme boundary does not necessarily constitute a syllable boundary. Example:
Core syllabification:
Coda assignment:
Application of core syllabification produces the following Shilha syllable types:
C VC: V
C V CC: V CC V C:C: V C:
C CC: CC C:C: C:
C C CC: C CC C C:C: C C:

Shilha syllable structure can be represented succinctly by the formula CX, in which C is any consonant, and X is any vowel or consonant and with the restriction that in a syllable CXC the X, if it is a consonant, cannot be higher on the resonance scale than the syllable-final consonant, that is, syllables such as and are possible, but not * and *.
Exceptional syllables of the types X and V occur in utterance-initial position:
Another exceptional syllable type, described by Dell and Elmedlaoui, occurs in utterance-final position, when a syllable of the type CC or CC: is "annexed" to a preceding syllable of the type CV or C:V, for example fssamt "be silent!" is not *.
Since any syllable type may precede or follow any other type, and since any consonant can occur in syllable-initial or final position, there are no phonotactical restrictions on consonant sequences. This also means that the concept of the consonant cluster is not applicable in Shilha phonology, as any number of consonants may occur in sequence:

Metrics

The metrics of traditional Shilha poems, as composed and recited by itinerant bards, was first described and analyzed by Hassan Jouad. The traditional metrical system confirms the existence of vowelless syllables in Shilha, and Jouad's data have been used by Dell and Elmedlaoui, and by Ridouane to underpin their conclusions.
The metrical system imposes the following restrictions:
Within these restrictions, the poet is free to devise his own metrical form. This can be recorded in a meaningless formula called talalayt which shows the number and the length of the syllables, as well as the place of the obligatory voiced consonant.
The system is illustrated here with a quatrain ascribed to the semi-legendary Shilha poet Sidi Ḥammu and published by Amarir :
Application of Dell and Elmedlaoui's core syllabification reveals a regular mosaic of syllables:
123456789101112
Line 1at í tb ir in at ú ml il in at ím gr á ḍ
Line 2ab: á hr aw rt ak: á mt il xl ah án: lb á z
Line 3ig á nb ut as: rw á lt ig lx at ḿɣ uḍ á ḍ
Line 4akʷ: ń ty ut uk an í ɣl id ig nw án iz ú g

The poem is composed in a metre listed by Jouad and exemplified by the formula a láy, la li la láy, la li la lá, li lád.

Grammar

Nouns

On the basis of their morphology, three types of Shilha nouns can be distinguished, two indigenous types and one type of external origin:
The relevant morpho-syntactic categories are gender, number and state.

Inflected nouns

Inflected nouns are by far the most numerous type. These nouns can be easily recognised from their outward shape: they begin with a nominal prefix which has the form V-:
Inflected nouns distinguish two genders, masculine and feminine; two numbers, singular and plural; and two states, conventionally referred to by their French names as état libre and état d'annexion and glossed as EL and EA. Gender and number are all explicitly marked, but historical and synchronic sound changes have in some cases resulted in the neutralization of the difference between EL and EA.
The nominal prefix has no semantic content. It is made up of one or both of two elements, a gender prefix and a vocalic prefix. Singular feminine nouns may also have a gender suffix. For example, the noun tazdwit "bee" has the feminine prefix t-, the vocalic prefix a- and the feminine singular suffix -t added to the nominal stem zdwi. While feminine inflected nouns always have the feminine prefix, masculine nouns do not have a gender prefix in the free state ; for example abaɣuɣ "fox" has no gender prefix, but only a vocalic prefix a- added to the nominal stem baɣuɣ.
Gender is thus marked unambiguously, albeit asymmetrically. In just a handful of nouns, the morphological gender does not conform to the grammatical gender : ulli "sheep and goats" is morphologically masculine singular, but takes feminine plural agreement; alln "eyes" is morphologically masculine plural, but takes feminine plural agreement; tarwa " children, offspring" is morphologically feminine singular, but takes masculine plural agreement.
The annexed state is regularly formed by reducing the vocalic prefix to zero and, with masculine nouns, adding the masculine gender prefix w-:
With some nouns, the original vocalic prefix has fused with a stem-initial vowel, to produce an inseparable vowel:
With feminine nouns that have an inseparable vocalic prefix, the difference between EL and EA is thus neutralized.
While most inflected nouns have a vocalic prefix a-, some have i-, and a few have u-. When a masculine noun has the vocalic prefix i-, the masculine gender prefix w- changes to y-. The table below presents an overview :
The EA is not predictable from the shape of the noun, compare:
The phonological rules on the realization of /w/ and /y/ apply to the EA as well. For example, the EA of a-mɣar "chief" is /w-mɣar/, realized as wmɣar after a vowel, umɣar after a consonant:
Inflected nouns show a great variety of plural formations, applying one or more of the following processes:
There are also irregular and suppletive plurals. The feminine singular suffix -t is naturally lost in the plural.
Independent from these processes, the separable vocalic prefix a- is always replaced with i-. An inseparable vocalic prefix either remains unchanged, or changes as part of vowel change.
Below is a sample of nouns, illustrating various plural formations.
SingularPluralProcess
"mountain"a-drari-drar-nsuffixation
"dune"aduzi-dazz-nvowel change, gemination, suffixation
"head"a-gayyui-guyyavowel change
"ear"a-mẓẓuɣi-mzga-n
"waterhole"anuunavowel change
"document"arraarra+t-nstem extension, suffixation
"day"assussa-nvowel change, suffixation
"dog"a-ydiiḍa-n
"forehead"i-gnzii-gnzi+t-nstem extension, suffixation
"forearm"i-ɣili-ɣall-nvowel change, gemination, suffixation
"scorpion"iɣirdmiɣardm+iw-nvowel change, stem extension, suffixation
"witness"i-nigii-naga-nvowel change, suffixation
"slave"i-smgi-smga-nvowel change, suffixation
"face"udmudm+aw-nstem extension, suffixation
"song"urarurar-nsuffixation
"jackal"uššnuššan-nvowel change, suffixation
"egg"t-a-glay-tt-i-glay
"thing"t-a-ɣawsat-i-ɣaws+iw-instem extension, suffixation
"mouse"t-a-ɣrday-tt-i-ɣrday-insuffixation
"churn"t-a-gššul-tt-i-gʷšl-invowel change, suffixation, degemination
"fireplace"t-aka-tt-aka+t-instem extension, suffixation
"woman"t-a-mɣar-tt-u-mɣar-insuffixation
"porcupine"t-aruš-tt-urašvowel change
"key"t-a-saru-tt-i-suravowel change
"house"t-i-gmmit-i-gʷmmavowel change
"ewe"t-ilit-att-n
"meal"t-irm-tt-iramvowel change
"eye"t-iṭṭall-n
"mountain pass"t-izit-izzavowel change, gemination
"lioness"t-izm-tt-izm+aw-insuffixation, stem extension
"light"t-ufaw-tt-ufaw-insuffixation

The plural is generally not predictable from the shape of the singular, compare:
Many nouns have more than one plural, for example a-žnwiy "knife", plural i-žnway or i-žnwiy-n.
Many Shilha place-names are morphologically inflected nouns:
The same is the case with Shilha ethnic names:
Among the inflected nouns are found many incorporated loans. Examples include :

Uninflected nouns

This is the least common type, which also includes some loans. Examples:
It is probable that all uninflected nouns were originally masculine. The few that now take feminine agreement contain elements that have been reanalyzed as marking feminine gender, for example ttždmnni "type of spider", hlima "bat".
Many uninflected nouns are collectives or non-count nouns which do not have a separate plural form. Those that have a plural make it by preposing the pluralizer id, for example id lagar "stations".
The uninflected noun mddn or middn "people, humans" is morphologically masculine singular but takes masculine plural agreement.
Names of people and foreign place-names can be seen as a subtype of uninflected nouns, for example Musa, Muna, Fas "Fès", Brdqqiz "Portugal". Gender is not transparently marked on these names, but those referring to humans take gender agreement according to the natural sex of the referent.

Unincorporated loans

These are nouns of Arabic origin which have largely retained their Arabic morphology. They distinguish two genders and two numbers. A notable feature of these nouns is that they are borrowed with the Arabic definite article, which is semantically neutralized in Shilha:
The Arabic feminine ending -a is often replaced with the Shilha feminine singular suffix t:
Arabic loans usually retain their gender in Shilha. The exception are Arabic masculine nouns which end in t; these change their gender to feminine in Shilha, with the final t reanalyzed as the Shilha feminine singular suffix -t:
Arabic plurals are usually borrowed with the singulars. If the borrowed plural is not explicitly marked for gender it has the same gender as the singular:
Loan-words whose singular is masculine may have a plural which is feminine, and marked as such, for example lɛlam "flag", plural lɛlum-at.

Use of the annexed state

The annexed state of an inflected noun is used in a number of clearly defined syntactical contexts:
Outside these contexts, the EL is used. Uninflected nouns and unincorporated loans, which do not distinguish state, remain unchanged in these contexts.

Semantics of feminine nouns

The formation of feminine nouns from masculine nouns is a productive process. A feminine noun is formed by adding both the feminine nominal prefix t-, and the feminine singular suffix -t to a masculine noun. The semantic value of the feminine derivation is variable.
For many nouns referring to male and female humans or animals, matching masculine and feminine forms exist with the same nominal stem, reflecting the sex of the referent:
In a few cases there are suppletive forms:
Feminine nouns derived from masculine nouns with inanimate reference have diminutive meaning:
Conversely, a masculine noun derived from a feminine noun has augmentative meaning:
Feminine nouns derived from masculine collective nouns have singulative meaning:
Femine derivations are also used as names of languages, professions and activities:
There is an overlap here with feminine nouns denoting females:

Nominal deictic clitics

There are three deictic clitics which can follow a noun: proximal a-d "this, these", distal a-nn "that, those" and anaphoric lli "the aforementioned":

Personal pronouns

There are three basic sets of personal pronouns:
In addition, there are two derived sets which contain the suffixed pronouns :
Gender is consistently marked on 2nd singular, and on 2nd and 3rd plural. Gender is not consistently marked on 3rd singular and 1st plural. Gender is never marked on 1st singular.
The independent pronouns are used to topicalize the subject or the object.
They are also used with certain pseudo-prepositions such as zund "like", abla "except":
The direct object clitics are used with transitive verbs:
The 3rd singular feminine variant stt is used after a dental stop, compare:
The direct object clitics are also used to indicate the subject with pseudo-verbs, and with the presentative particle ha "here is, voici":
The pronominal suffixes are used with prepositions to indicate the object, and with a closed set of necessarily possessed kinship terms to indicate possession. The plural forms add an infix -t- before the suffix with kinship terms, for example baba-t-nɣ "our father" ; this infix also occurs with some prepositions as a free or dialectal variant of the form without the -t-:
The indirect object clitics convey both benefactive and detrimental meaning:
The possessive complements follow the noun.

Prepositions

Prepositions can have up to three different forms, depending on the context in which they are used:
The form before nouns and demonstrative pronouns and the independent form are identical for most prepositions, the exception being the dative preposition i.
Most prepositions require a following inflected noun to be in the annexed state . Exceptions are ar "until", s "toward" and prepositions borrowed from Arabic such as bɛd "after" and qbl "before".
The instrumental and allative prepositions s "by means of" and s "toward" were still consistently kept apart in premodern manuscript texts. In most modern dialects they have been amalgamated, with both now requiring the EA, and with the pre-pronominal forms each occurring with both meanings: sr-s "toward it", is-s "with it".
The use of the different forms is illustrated here with the preposition ɣ "in":
Two prepositions can be combined:
Spatial relations are also expressed with phrases of the type "on top of":
The preposition gi- "in" with pronominal suffixes, with all its free and dialectal variants, is presented below. The other prepositions display much less variety.
gig-gi-with -t-Irregular formations
1 sg.gig-igi-Ø
2 sg.m.gik-kgi-k
2 sg.f. gig-mgi-m
3 sg.gi-sgiz, gid, git
1 pl.gig-nɣgi-ɣgi-t-nɣ
2 pl.m.gig-ungi-wngi-t-un
2 pl.f.gig-untgi-wntgi-t-unt
3 pl.m.gi-sngi-t-sngizn, gidsn
3 pl.f.gi-sntgi-t-sntgiznt, gidsnt

Numerals

The inherited cardinal numeral system consists of ten numerals and three numeral nouns for "a tensome", "a hundred" and "a thousand". There is also an indefinite numeral meaning "several, many" or "how many?" which morphologically and syntactically patterns with the numerals 1 to 10. For numbers of 20 and over, Arabic numerals are commonly used.

Numerals 1 to 10, indefinite numeral

These are listed below. The formation of feminine "one" and "two" is irregular.
MasculineFeminine
"one"ya-nya-t
"two"sinsna-t
"three"kraḍkraṭ-ṭ
"four"kkuẓkkuẓ-t
"five"smmussmmus-t
"six"sḍissḍis-t
"seven"sasa-t
"eight"tam, ttamtam-t, ttam-t
"nine"tẓa, ttẓatẓa-t, ttẓa-t
"ten"mrawmraw-t
indefinitemnnawmnnaw-t

The numerals 1 to 10 are constructed with nouns, the gender of the numeral agreeing with that of the noun:
The same obtains with the indefinite numeral:
Numerals yan, yat "one" also serve as indefinite article, for example yan urumiy "one Westerner, a Westerner", and they are used independently with the meaning "anyone", "anything" :
The final n of masculine yan "one" and sin "two" is often assimilated or fused to a following w, y or l:

Teens

The teens are made by connecting the numerals 1 to 9 to the numeral 10 with the preposition d "with". In the premodern language, both numerals took the gender of the counted noun, with the following noun in the plural :
In the modern language, fused forms have developed in which the first numeral is always masculine, while the following noun is in the singular, and connected with the preposition n "of":

Tens, hundreds, thousands

There are three inherited nouns to denote "a tensome", "a hundred" and "a thousand". These now seem to be obsolete, but they are well attested in the premodern manuscripts. Morphologically, they are ordinary inflected nouns.
The tens, hundreds and thousand were formed by combining the numerals 1 to 10 with the numeral nouns:
The numeral nouns are connected with the preposition n "of" to a noun, which is most often in the singular:
In the modern language the Arabic tens are used, which have developed a separate feminine form:
The numerals between the tens are most frequently made with the Arabic numerals 1 to 10:
The Arabic hundreds and thousands are used in the modern language, taking the places of the original numeral nouns while the original syntax is maintained:
There is also a vigesimal system built on the Arabic numeral ɛšrin "twenty, score", for example sin id ɛšrint n tfunast "forty cows".

Ordinal numerals

"First" and "last" are usually expressed with relative forms of the verbs "be first" and "be last":
There are also agent nouns derived from these verbs which are apposed to a noun or used independently:
The other ordinals are formed by prefixing masc. wis-, fem. tis- to a cardinal numeral, which is then constructed with a plural noun in the usual manner:
The ordinal prefixes is also used with Arabic numerals and with the indefinite numeral:
Because four of the numerals 1 to 10 begin with s, the geminated ss that results from the prefixation of wis-, tis- is often generalized to the other numerals: wissin, wisskraḍ, wisskkuẓ, etc.

Verbs

A Shilha verb form is basically a combination of a person-number-gender affix and a mood-aspect-negation stem.

Sample verb

The workings of this system are illustrated here with the full conjugation of the verb fk "to give". The Perfective negative goes with the negation wr "not". The Imperfective goes with the preverbal particle ar.
Aorist
Perfective
Perfective
negative		Imperfective
MAN stem →fkfki/afkiakka
1 sg.fk-ɣfki-ɣur fki-ɣar akka-ɣ
2 sg.t-fk-tt-fki-tur t-fki-tar t-akka-t
3 sg.m.i-fki-fkaur i-fkiar y-akka
3 sg.f.t-fkt-fkaur t-fkiar t-akka
1 pl.n-fkn-fkaur n-fkiar n-akka
2 pl.m.t-fki-mt-fka-mur t-fki-mar t-akka-m
2 pl.f.t-fki-mtt-fka-mtur t-fki-mtar t-akka-mt
3 pl.m.fki-nfka-nur fki-nar akka-n
3 pl.f.fki-ntfka-ntur fki-ntar akka-nt
Imperative
2 sg.fkakka
2 pl.m.fk-atakka-y-at
2 pl.f.fk-amtakka-y-amt
Relative
sg.i-fka-nur i-fki-ny-akka-n
pl.fka-n-inur fki-n-inakka-n-in

The verb "give" has the full complement of four different MAN stems:

Person-number-gender affixes

There are two basic sets of PNG affixes, one set marking the subject of ordinary verb forms, and another set marking the subject of imperatives.
Two suffixes are added to the 3rd singular and masculine 3rd plural masculine verb forms respectively to make relative forms, as in i-fka-n "who gives", fka-n-in "who give".
1 sg…-ɣ
2 sg.t-…-t
3 sg.m.y-…
3 sg.f.t-…
1 pl.n-…
2 pl.m.t-…-m
2 pl.f.t-…-mt
3 pl.m.…-n
3 pl.f.…-nt
Imperative
2 sg.…-Ø
2 pl.m.…-at
2 pl.f.…-amt
Relative
3 sg.y-…-n
3 pl.…-n-in

Mood-aspect-negation stems

A few verbs have just one MAN stem. The majority of verbs have two, three or four different MAN stems. The Aorist stem serves as the citation form of a verb. The list below offers an overview of MAN stem paradigms. Around 15 paradigms of non-derived verbs can be recognized, based on the formation of the Perfective and the Perfective negative. Further subdivisions could be made on the basis of the formations of the Imperfective. All sections in the list contain a selection of verbs, except sections 12, 14, and 15, which contain a full listing.
Aorist
Perfective
Perfective
negative		Imperfective
1"laugh"ḍssaḍssaḍssaḍssa
"bark"ttaɣttaɣttaɣttaɣ
2"accompany"munmunmuntt-mun
"sit"skkiwsskkiwsskkiwsskkiwis, tt-skiwis
"be crazy"nuflnuflnufltt-nuful
3"enter"kšmkšmkšimkššm
"graze"frdfrdfridffrd
"mention"bdrbdrbdiraddr, tt-bdar
"ascend, climb"ɣlyɣlyɣliyaqqlay
"open, be open"rẓmrẓmrẓimtt-nurẓum
4"fall"ḍrḍrḍirṭṭar
"hit"wtwtwitkkat
5"break, be broken"rẓrẓi/arẓirẓẓa
"eat"šššši/aššištta
"give"fkfki/afkiakka
"show, explain"mlmli/amlimmal
"drink"swswi/aswissa
"call"ɣrɣri/aɣriaqqra
"be; put"ggi/agitt-gga
6"sew"gnugni/agnignna, gnnu, tt-gnu
"go"ftufti/aftifttu, tt-ftu
"go"dduddi/additt-dda, tt-ddu, tt-udu
"divide"bḍubḍi/abḍiaṭṭa
7"be better"afufuftt-afa
"fly"aylluylluylltt-aylal
"give back"rarrurrurtt-rara
"inherit"kkaskkuskkustt-kasa
8"take"amẓumẓumiẓtt-amẓ
"steal"akʷrukrukirtt-akʷr
"help"awsiwsiwistt-aws
"run"azzluzzluzziltt-azzal
9"find"afufi/aufitt-afa
"come"aškuški/auškitt-aška
10"flay"azuuzi/auzitt-azu
"contain"amuumi/aumitt-amu
11"hold, possess"ṭṭf, ṭṭafṭṭf, ṭṭafṭṭiftt-ṭṭf, tt-ṭṭaf
"take away"kks, kkiskks, kkiskkistt-kks, tt-kkis
"go out"ffɣ, ffuɣffɣ, ffuɣffiɣtt-ffɣ, tt-ffuɣ
12"die"mmtmmutmmuttt-mttat
13"be afraid"iksuḍ, ksuḍksaḍksaḍtt-iksuḍ, tt-ksuḍ
"be first, precede"izwur, zwurzwarzwartt-izwur, zggʷur
14"possess"ilili/alitt-ili
"want"iriri/aritt-iri
15"exist"ililli/allitt-ili
"say"ininni/annitt-ini

Uses of MAN stems

The table below is adapted from Kossmann.
MAN stemMain context in which MAN stem is usedExamplesTranslation
Aoristimperative
consecutive		amẓ
y-amẓ		"take!"
" he took"
ad + Aoristnon-realizeday y-amẓ"that he take"
rad + Aoristfutureray y-amẓ"he will take"
ur + Aoristnegated consecutiveur y-amẓ" he didn't take"
ad + ur + Aoristnegated imperativead ur t-amẓ-t"don't take!"
ur + rad + Aoristnegated futureur ray y-amẓ"he will not take"
Perfectivepast action
state 		y-umẓ
i-rɣa		"he took"
"it was hot, it is hot"
ur + Perfective Negativenegated past action
negated state		ur y-umiẓ
ur i-rɣi		"he did not take"
"it was not hot, it is not hot"
Imperfectivehabitual/iterative imperativett-amẓ"always take!"
ad + Imperfectivehabitual/iterative imperativeat tt-amẓ-t"you must always take"
ad + ur + Imperfectivenegated habitual/iterative imperativead ur tt-amẓ-t"you should never take"
ar + Imperfectivesimultaneous action
habitual, iterative, durative		ar i-tt-amẓ"he is taking, he always takes"
ur + ar + Imperfectivenegated simultaneous action
negated habitual, iterative, durative		ur a y-tt-amẓ, ur aɣ i-tt-amẓ"he is not taking, he never takes"

Stative verbs

Shilha has around twenty verbs which express basic adjectival meanings. These "stative" verbs are still recognizable as a separate group on the basis of their MAN stem paradigms. In earlier stages of the language, they had their own separate set of PNG markers, which are sporadically found in premodern manuscripts:
In the modern language, these verbs take the regular PNG markers. Only the original singular relative form without prefix y- may still be encountered, for example adrar mqqur-n or adrar i-mqqur-n "big mountain". Stative verbs do not have a separate Perfective negative form. The table shows a selection of stative verbs.
AoristPerfectiveImperfective
"be few"idrusdrustt-idrus
"be many"igutgguttt-igut
"be small, young"imẓiymẓẓiytt-imẓiy
"be big, old"imɣurmqqurtt-imɣur
"be yellow"iwriɣwraɣtt-iwriɣ
"be red"izwiɣzggʷaɣtt-izwiɣ

Verbal deictic clitics

There are two deictic clitics which are used with verbs to indicate movement toward or away from the point of reference: centripetal d "hither" and centrifugal nn "thither":
The use of these clitics is compulsory with certain verbs. For example, the verb "come" always goes with the centripetal particle, and "find" with the centrifugal clitic:
When the verbal deictic clitics occur after an object pronoun, they change to id and inn:

Possession

Within a noun phrase

A possessive construction within a noun phrase is most frequently expressed as Possessee n Possessor. The preposition n "of" requires a following inflected noun to be in the annexed state. This kind of possessive construction covers a wide range of relationships, including both alienable and inalienable possession, and most of them not involving actual ownership:
Many such possessive constructions are compounds, whose meaning cannot be deduced from the ordinary meaning of the nouns:
The possessor can itself be a possessee in a following possessive construction:
As a rule, the preposition n assimilates to, or fuses with, a following w, y, l or m:
The possessor can also be expressed with a pronominal possessive complement. This consists of a pronominal suffix added to the preposition, which then takes the shape nn-. The form of the 1st singular possessive complement is anomalous: nw after a vowel, and inw after a consonant :

Within a clause

There are two ways to express possession within a clause. The most common way is to use the "exist with" construction:
The verb "exist" is usually omitted, leaving a verbless clause:
Alternatively, the verb ṭṭf, ṭṭaf "hold, possess" can be used:
In addition, there is the verb ili "possess", whose use is restricted to part-hole relationships and kinship relationships:
In al its usages ili can be replaced with ṭṭaf or the "exist with" construction, but not the other way around:

Possessed nouns

These are a subtype of uninflected nouns. As with proper names, gender is not transparently marked on possessed nouns, which take gender agreement according to the natural sex of the referent. Plurals are either suppletive or made with the preposed pluralizer id. Most possessed nouns are consanguinal kinship terms which require a possessive suffix.
SingularPluralRemarks
"the mother of"ma-id ma-
"the father of"baba-id baba-
"the daughter of"ylli-ysti-
"the son of"yiw-, yu-, ywi-the plural is a pl.m. inflected noun "sons, offspring"
"the sister of"wlt-ma-yst-ma-compound, lit. "the daughter of the mother of"
"the brother of"gʷ-ma-ayt-ma-compound, lit. "the son of the mother of"
"grandmother: the mother of the mother of"ždda-Arabic loan
"grandfather: the father of the mother of"ti-ma-compound
"grandmother: the mother of the father of"tabt-ti-compound
"grandfather: the father of the father of"žddi-Arabic loan

These kinship terms cannot occur without pronominal suffix. Example:
ultma-Ø"my sister"
ultma-k"your sister"
ultma-m"your sister"
ultma-s"her sister, his sister"
istma-t-nɣ"our sisters"
istma-t-un"your sisters"
istma-t-unt"your sisters"
istma-t-sn"their sisters"
istma-t-snt"their sisters"

If these nouns are part of an NP-internal possessive construction, possession must be indicated twice:
The suffix must also be added when possession is expressed in a clause:
Some kinship terms are not possessed nouns but inflected nouns which take possessive complements.
Another group of possessed nouns require a following noun phrase, occurring only in an NP-internal possessive phrase. A following inflected noun must be in the EA.
SingularPlural
"the son of, native of"wayt
"the female native of"wltyst

These four possessed nouns occur as first element in compound kinship terms. They also serve to indicate descent, origin and ethnicity:
When w is followed by another w the result is ggʷ:
Ayt occurs in many Shilha ethnonyms:

Proprietive and privative elements

The proprietive elements masc. bu "he with, he of" and fem. mm "she with, she of" are borrowed from Arabic. They are used as versatile formative elements to make nicknames, and require a following inflected noun to be in the annexed state. The plural is formed with the pluralizer id:
In many cases, bu fuses with a following nominal prefix:
The feminine mm is encountered less frequently:
The privative elements masc. war "he without" and fem. tar "she without" are made up of a gender prefix and an element ar which is probably related to the negation wr "not". They do not require the annexed state, and should probably be translated as "who does not have", with the following noun phrase as object:

Lexicon

Shilha retains a large native lexicon, supplemented by borrowings from the languages with which its speakers came into contact.

Loan-words

The earliest identifiable loan is tiyni "dates", from Egyptian-Coptic.
Phoenician-Punic, a Northwest-Semitic language, was spoken in parts of North Africa, especially in what is now Tunisia, up to the 5th century CE. Punic loans are found in several Berber languages, among them Shilha. Examples :
The verb lmd "to learn" is probably also a Punic loan.
The noun uday "Jew" probably came to the Berber languages from the Aramaic language spoken by early Jewish immigrants in North Africa.
It has been noted that the numerals 5 to 9 seem to be Semitic loans. The corresponding numerals in Phoenician-Punic and in Arabic, the historically most likely origin, do not seem to be the source. A comparison:
ShilhaTigrinyaPhoenicianArabic
"five"semmusḥammuš-ḥmšxams-
"six"sḍisšɨdɨš-ššsitt-
"seven"sašobʕat-šbʕsabʕ-
"eight"tam, ttamšommon-šmnθamān-
"nine"tẓẓa, ttẓatɨšʕat-tšʕtisʕ-

A variety of Latin/Romance was spoken in parts of northern Morocco right up to the advent of Islam. Loans from Latin and early Romance include:
Later Romance loans can be distinguished by the fact that original s becomes š instead of s as in the earlier loans. Presumably, the later loans originated from Ibero-Romance, with which Berber speakers came into contact in al-Andalus. Examples include:
Another probable loan from a Romance language is tabaɣa "tobacco".
Also borrowed from Romance are the names of the months of the Julian calendar:
ShilhaCatalanSpanishPortuguese
yennayergenerenerojaneiro
brayrfebrerfebrerofevereiro
marṣmarçmarzomarço
ibril, ibrirabrilabrilabril
mayyumaigmayomaio
yunyujunyjuniojunho
yulyujulioljuliojulho
ɣuštagostagostoagosto
šutambirsetembresetiembreseptembro
ktubeṛoctubreoctubreoutubro
nuwambirnovembrenoviembrenovembro
dujambirdezembrediciembredezembro

Most Spanish and French nouns borrowed since the colonial era came via Arabic, as shown by the presence of the Arabic definite article:
The noun atay "tea" is a unique loan, from Dutch thee .
By far the most numerous group of loans is from Arabic. As with most languages spoken in the Islamic cultural sphere, Shilha has adopted many hundreds of words from Arabic, which now permeat the entire lexicon. Loans include verbs and nouns as well as numerals, prepositions, conjunctions and adverbs. Borrowed verbs are completely absorbed into the Shilha verbal system. Many of the borrowed nouns were not incorporated into the nominal morphological system, thus constituting a subgroup of their own.
Although some nouns denoting typically Islamic concepts such as timzgida "mosque", taẓallit "ritual prayer", uẓum "fasting", which certainly belong to the very oldest layer of Arabic loans, are incorporated into Shilha morphology, but that many equally central Islamic concepts are expressed with unincorporated nouns. It is possible that during the early stages of islamization such concepts were expressed with native vocabulary or with earlier, non-Arabic loans. One such term which has survived into the modern era is tafaska "ewe for slaughter on the Feast of Immolation", from pascha, the Latinized name of the Jewish festival of Passover or, more specifically, of the paschal lamb which is sacrificed during the festival. Another example is ibkkaḍan "sins", obsolete in the modern language, but attested in a premodern manuscript text, whose singular abkkaḍu is borrowed from Romance.

Secret languages

Destaing mentions a secret language called inman or tadubirt which is spoken by "some people of Sous, in particular the descendants of Sidi Ḥmad u Musa." He quotes an example: is kn tusat inman? "do you speak the secret language?"
Two secret languages used by Shilha women are described by Lahrouchi and Ségéral. They are called tagnawt and taɛžmiyt or taqqžmiyt. They employ various processes, such as reduplication, to disguise the ordinary language.

Sample text

;Free translation
' The story of the man who sold honey in the souk. ' A man had filled several leather bags of honey in the souk. ' There came another man to him, who wanted to buy honey. He said: "At how much do you sell that honey?" ' The seller said to him: "Just taste it, and if it pleases you, you can make a bid." ' The man took a bag, poured out some, tasted the honey and gave it back to its owner. He said: "Hold it, until I have tried another one". ' held it in his hand, while the buyer took another bag, poured out some, tasted the honey and gave it back to its owner. ' He held it in his other hand; then the buyer took one bag of honey and ran away. The honey-seller could not do anything because of the bags he held. ' He started calling out to people to liberate him.
;Text
' Lqqiṣt n yan urgaz lli yzznzan tammnt ɣ ssuqq. ' Yan urgaz iɛmmr mnnaw yilmawn n tammnt ɣ ssuqq. ' Yašk nn dars yan urgaz, ira ad dars isɣ tammnt. Inna y as: "Mnšk at tzznzt tammnt ann?" ' Inna y as: "Mḍi tt, iɣ ak tɛžb ar gis tsawalt." ' Yasy urgaz ann yan yilm, ifsi t, imḍi tammnt, ifk t i bab nns, inna as: "Amẓ, ar kiɣ gussɣ wayyaḍ." ' Yamẓ t s ufus nns, yasi daɣ umsaɣ lli wayyaḍ, ifsi t, imḍi tammnt, ifk t daɣ i bab nns. ' Yamẓ t s ufus nns yaḍnin, yasy umsaɣ yan yilm n tammnt, irur. Iggammi bu tammnt mad a yskar i yilmawn lli yumẓ. ' Ar yaqqra y mddn at t fukkun.
;Word-by-word translation
' story of a man who is.selling honey in market ' a man he.filled several leather.bags of honey in market ' he.came thither with.him a man he.wanted to with.him he.buys honey he.said to.him how.much is.it.that you.sell honey that ' he.said to.him taste it if to.you it.pleased about.it you.can.talk ' he.picked.up man that one leather.bag he.poured.out it he.tasted honey he.gave it to owner of.it he.said to.him hold until when I.tasted another.one ' he.held it with hand of.him he.picked.up also buyer the.aforementioned another.one he.poured.out it he.tasted honey he.gave it also to owner of.it ' he.held it with hand of.him other he.picked.up buyer one leather.bag of honey he.fled he.was.incapable.of he.of honey what.it.is.that he.can.do to leather.bags which he.held ' he.starts.calling to people that him they.liberate
;Glosses
' lqqiṣ-t = feminine noun, "story" | n = preposition, "of" | ya-n = masculine numeral, "one, a" | u-rgaz = masculine noun, annexed state, "man" | lli = relative pronoun, "who" | y-zz-nza-n = singular relative verb form, "who is selling" | t-ammn-t = feminine noun, free state, "honey" | ɣ = preposition, "in" | ssuqq = masculine noun, "market" ' ya-n = masculine numeral, "one, a" | u-rgaz = masculine noun, annexed state, "man" | i-ɛmmr = 3sg.m. perfective, "he filled" | mnnaw = masculine indefinite numeral, "several, many" | y-ilmaw-n = masculine plural noun, annexed state, "skins, leather bags" | n = preposition, "of" | t-ammn-t = feminine noun, annexed state, "honey" | ɣ = preposition, "in" | ssuqq = masculine noun, "market" ' y-ašk = 3sg.m. aorist, "he came" | nn = directional particle, centripetal, "thither" | dar-s = preposition + 3sg. suffix, "with him" | ya-n = masculine numeral, "one, a" | u-rgaz = masculine noun, annexed state, "man" | i-ra = 3sg.m. perfective, "he wanted" | ad = prospective preverbal particle | dar-s = preposition + 3sg. suffix, "with him" | i-sɣ = 3sg.m. aorist, "he buys" | t-ammn-t = feminine noun, free state, "honey" | i-nna = 3sg.m. perfective, "he said" | y = inserted consonant | a-s = 3sg. indirect object clitic, "to him" | mnšk = question word, "how much?" | at /ad/ = "is-it-that" | t-zz-nz-t = 2sg. aorist, "you sell" | t-ammn-t, feminine noun, free state, "honey" | a-nn = demonstrative particle, distal, "that" ' i-nna = 3sg.m. perfective, "he said" | y = inserted consonant | a-s = 3sg. indirect object clitic, "to him" | mḍi = imperative singular, "taste!" | tt = 3sg.f. object clitic, "it" | iɣ = conjunction, "if" | a-k = 2sg.m. indirect object clitic, "to you" | t-ɛžb = 3sg.f. perfective, "it pleased" | ar = imperfective preverbal | gi-s = preposition + 3sg. suffix, "in it, about it" | t-sawal-t = 2sg. imperfective, "you talk, you can talk" ' y-asy = 3sg.m. aorist, "he picked up" | u-rgaz = masculine noun, annexed state, "man" | a-nn = demonstrative particle, distal, "that" | ya-n = masculine numeral, "one, a" | y-ilm = masculine noun, annexed state, "skin, leather bag" | i-fsi = 3sg.m. aorist, "he poured out" | t = 3sg.m. object clitic, "it" | i-mḍi = 3sg.m. aorist, "he tasted" | t-ammn-t = feminine noun, free state, "honey" | i-fk = 3sg.m. aorist, "he gave" | t = 3sg.m. object clitic, "it" | i = preposition, "to" | bab = masculine noun, "owner" | nn-s = 3sg. possessive complement, "of it" | i-nna = 3sg.m. perfective, "he said" | a-s = 3sg. indirect object clitic, "to him" | amẓ = imperative singular, "hold!" | ar = preposition, "until" | kiɣ = conjunction, "when" | guss-ɣ = 1sg. perfective, "I tasted" | wayyaḍ = masculine singular, "another one" ' y-amẓ = 3sg.m. aorist, "he held" | t = 3sg.m. object clitic, "it" | s = preposition, "with" | u-fus = masculine noun, annexed state, "hand" | nn-s = 3sg. possessive complement, "of him" | y-asi = 3sg.m. aorist, "he picked up" | daɣ = adverb, "also" | u-m-saɣ = masculine noun, annexed state, "buyer" | lli = demonstrative particle, anaphoric, "the aforementioned" | wayyaḍ = masculine singular, "another one" | i-fsi = 3sg.m. aorist, "he poured out" | t = 3sg.m. object clitic, "it" | i-mḍi = 3sg.m. aorist, "he tasted" | t-ammn-t = feminine noun, free state, "honey" | i-fk = 3sg.m. aorist, "he gave" | t = 3sg.m. object clitic, "it" | daɣ = adverb, "also" | i = preposition, "to" | bab = masculine noun, "owner" | nn-s = 3sg. possessive complement, "of it" ' y-amẓ = 3sg.m. aorist, "he held" | t = 3sg.m. object clitic, "it" | s = preposition, "with" | u-fus = masculine noun, annexed state, "hand" | nn-s = 3sg. possessive complement, "of him" | yaḍnin = "other" | y-asy = 3sg.m. aorist, "he picked up" | u-m-saɣ = masculine agent noun, annexed state, "buyer" | ya-n = masculine numeral, "one, a" | y-ilm = masculine noun, annexed state, "skin, leather bag" | n = preposition, "of" | tammnt = feminine noun, annex state, "honey" | i-rur = 3sg.m. aorist, "he fled" | i-ggammi = 3sg.m. aorist, "he was incapable of" | bu = masculine proprietive element, "he of" | t-ammn-t = feminine noun, annexed state, "honey" | mad /ma + ad/ = "what it-is-that" | a = imperfective preverbal particle | y-skar = 3sg.m. imperfective, "he is doing, he can do" | i = preposition, "to" | y-ilmaw-n = masculine plural noun, annexed state, "skins, leather bags" | lli = relative pronoun, "which" | y-umẓ = 3sg.m. perfective, "he held" ' ar = imperfective preverbal | y-aqqra = 3sg.m. "he is calling, he starts calling" | y /i/ = preposition, "to" | mddn = masculine plural noun, "people" | at /ad/ = prospective preverbal particle | t = 3sg.m. object clitic, "him" | fukku-n = 3pl.m. aorist, "they liberate".

Various online articles