Overview
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Endangered

Native Speakers Worldwide

~3000

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Community Members

    No members

Revitalization Programs

No programs

Discussion Forum

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Language Information By Source

Grammatical Contact in the Sahara: Arabic, Berber, and Songhay in Tabelbala and Siwa
Arrow pointing down
Endangered

Native Speakers Worldwide

~3000

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2010

Location and Context

Countries

Algeria

Coordinates

No data

Location description

"Kwarandzyey (kʷara n dzyəy "village language", or lbəlbaliyya "Belbali"; Korandjé in earlier literature) is spoken by about 3000 people, called Belbalis, from the villages of Kwara (Zaouia), Ifrənyu (Cheraia), and Yami (Makhlouf) in the oasis of Tabelbala in southwestern Algeria, about halfway between Bechar and Tindouf. There are significant numbers of Belbalis in Tindouf, and smaller numbers in Bechar and Oran."

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

Negative

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

"Kwarandzyey (kʷara n dzyəy "village language", or lbəlbaliyya "Belbali"; Korandjé in earlier literature) is spoken by about 3000 people, called Belbalis, from the villages of Kwara (Zaouia), Ifrənyu (Cheraia), and Yami (Makhlouf) in the oasis of Tabelbala in southwestern Algeria, about halfway between Bechar and Tindouf. There are significant numbers of Belbalis in Tindouf, and smaller numbers in Bechar and Oran."

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

Arabic

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

"At present, Kwarandzyey is endangered. All Belbali men, and most women, speak dialectal Arabic [...] Most speakers claim to speak only Arabic to their young children, and in Ifrənyu people in their twenties can be found who have only a very limited passive knowledge of Kwarandzyey. The djemaa (council of elders) of Ifrənyu collectively resolved to give up Kwarandzyey in the 1970s, hoping to improve their children's educational chances by making sure they knew Arabic from the start (Tabelbala has had a government school since just before independence); the people of Kwara (Zaouia) followed suit in the 1980s. Nonetheless, Kwara's children have continued to acquire Kwarandzyey in their early teens from older teenagers."

Threatened

Native Speakers Worldwide

5,000

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2010

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

29.4049,-3.2605

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

No data

Native Speakers Worldwide

No estimate available

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2009

Location and Context

Countries

Algeria;

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Threatened

Native Speakers Worldwide

~3,000

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2011

Location and Context

Countries

Algeria

Coordinates

29.520891, -3.268433

Location description

"Tabelbala oasis, in southwestern Algeria between Béchar and Tindouf."

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

"Tabelbala oasis, in southwestern Algeria between Béchar and Tindouf."

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

No data

Native Speakers Worldwide

No data

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

1991

Location and Context

Countries

Algeria

Coordinates

30.154627,-3.560486

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

Negative

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

Arabic, Berber

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

"Daß das K. kein hohes Prestige genießt, ist, in einer arabischen Umwelt, wohl vorstellbar. Einerseits ein als Sprache des Koran sakralisiertes Arabisch mit einer langen und reichen Traditions- und Kulturgeschichte, das von Millionen Menschen gesprochen wird, und andererseits das K., eine kleine unbedeutende 'Sprache der Jnūn' (Sprache der Teufel), wie manche Nicht-Belbali sie nennen... und die den Muttersprachlern als nicht geeignet erscheint, technische oder wissenschaftliche Sachverhalte wiederzugeben."

Media Resources

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No resources

No resources

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  1. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)
    Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)
    http://www.ethnologue.com/
  2. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger
    Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)
    http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas
  3. Grammatical Contact in the Sahara: Arabic, Berber, and Songhay in Tabelbala and Siwa
    Lameen Souag. Grammatical Contact in the Sahara: Arabic, Berber, and Songhay in Tabelbala and Siwa. PhD thesis, University of London, 2010.
  4. Korandje
    Lameen Souag. 2011. "Korandje." Sorosoro. Online: http://www.sorosoro.org/en/korandje.
    http://www.sorosoro.org/en/korandje
  5. Tabelbala: eine Songhaysprachinsel in der algerischen Sahara
    Mohand Tilmatine. 1991. "Tabelbala: Eine Songhaysprachinsel in Der Algerischen Sahara." In Ägypten im Afro-orientalischen Kontext. Aufsätze zur Archäologie, Geschichte und Sprache eines unbegrenzten Raumes: Gedenkschrift Peter Behrens, edited by Daniela Mendel and Ulrike Claudi. 377-397. Inst. für Afrikanistik, Univ. zu Köln.