Author: Nasser Berjaoui
Date: 1999
Institution: Chouaib Doukkali University
Subject:
Linguistics
Abstract:This dissertation, fully based on an extensive fieldwork of eight years, presents the rules of the Moroccan Arabic 'ghous' (a Secret Language) of the Tafilalet (South-east of Morocco) in four parts. The first part shows that the Tafilalet 'ghous' comprises four multi-faceted types, namely the Substitution-Pseudo-Suffixation, the Substitution, the Restructuration and the Inversion types, and that the variables of localization, communities, age and sex characterize each type. The second part discusses the rules in the encoding of prefixless, prefixed and negated words in the four types of the Tafilalet 'ghous'. The Substitution-Pseudo-Suffixation 'ghous' works through the replacement of the opening consonant of the word by the consonant of the 'ghous' and by the hosting of the replaced opening consonant in a disguise element that is pseudo-suffixed to the word. The Substitution 'ghous' functions through the simple replacement of the first consonant of the word by a consonant of the varieties of this family. The Restructuration type is based on the deletion of the vowels of the word and on the restructuration of the remaining consonants in terms of four distinct patterns, namely the L-CUCI FUCI/L-CUCeC FUCeC, the MeTT-CACCI TRISA/TIFeRKUSIN, the MeTT-CACCI, and the Te-CCICI WICI/Te-CCICeC WICeC. The Inversion type operates by the postposing of given items in the word. The second issue that is analysed in the second part in this study is related to the encoding, in the four types of the Tafilalet 'ghous', of examples that are preceded by the negational element 'ma' and/or prefixes. In the Substitution-Pseudo-Suffixation and the Substitution 'ghous', it is the opening consonant of the word root that is substituted. In the Restructuration 'ghous', each sub-type encodes the parts of speech in question in several different and flexible ways. In the Inversion type, any elements that may precede or follow the word are taken as part of it and are encoded accordingly. The third part shows the encoding of long parts of speech, short parts of speech (usually one-consonantals) and lengthened parts of speech (lengthened one-consonantals). Long parts of speech are optionally encoded in the Substitution-Pseudo-Suffixation as well as the Substitution 'ghous'. The Restructuration 'ghous' encodes these parts of speech in several ways. The Inversion type operates through the encoding of these either as separate parts of speech or as part of the word they precede. The third part analyses the syntactic structure of the encoded phrases, clauses and sentences in the Tafilalet 'ghous'. In the Substitution-Pseudo-Suffixation, the Substitution and the Restructuration 'ghous', the structures of all the forms in question are not affected in the encoding. In the Inversion 'ghous, however, all the sentence, the clause and the phrase structures -with the exception of nominal and prepositional phrases- remain unchanged. In the former case, the definite article no longer precedes the noun, and in the latter, the preposition follows the noun. In the latter cases, the encoding operation affects the entire phrase and not the word. The fourth part presents a very limited extract of the fieldwork, self-recorded, conversational and multi-functional corpora and shows the substantial use of the 'ghous' words, sentences and entire every-day verbal exchanges.