Berber-speaking areas belonging to Kossmann's "Tunisian-Zuwara" dialectal group
Douiret (also called Douiri) is a Berber language variety spoken in Douiret in the southern part of mainland Tunisia.[1][2][3] Like all other varieties of Tunisian Berber, it is also referred to as Shilha. It is closely related to the Berber variety of Chenini.[1]
Most consonant sounds may also have geminated variants as [Cː].
Pharyngeal sounds /fˤ, mˤ, dˤ, zˤ, rˤ, nˤ, lˤ/ are mostly heard as allophonic variants of /f, m, d, z, r, n, l/ within intervocalic and pharyngeal positions.
Sounds /t, k/ may have aspirated allophones of [tʰ, kʰ] when in word-final and pre-consonantal positions.
/k, ɡ, ɣ/ may also have labialized allophones as [kʷ, ɡʷ, ɣʷ].[1]
in word-final position or within monosyllabic words
[ɪ]
when preceding geminated consonants
/a/
[a]
elsewhere
[aː]
in word-initial position when preceding a consonant
[æ]
in word-initial position or when following pharyngealized consonants
[e]
when preceding geminated consonants
[eː]
when following pharyngealized consonants in word-final positions
/u/
[u]
elsewhere
[uː]
in word-final position or within monosyllabic words
[ʊ]
when preceding geminated consonants
[o]
when preceding pharyngealized consonants
[oː]
when following pharyngealized consonants in word-final positions
References
^ abcGabsi, Zouhir (2003). An outline of the Shilha (Berber) vernacular of Douiret (Southern Tunisia). Sydney: University of Western Sydney.
^Gabsi, Zouhir (2011). "Attrition and maintenance of the Berber language in Tunisia". Journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2011 (211): 135–164. doi:10.1515/ijsl.2011.041.
^Mughal, Muhammad Aurang Zeb (2013). "Tunisia". In Steven Danver (ed.). Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures, and Contemporary Issues. Routledge. pp. 688–689.
