Arabic borrowings in Tima

Abstract

In this contribution, we look at Arabic borrowings in Tima, a Niger-Congo language spoken in the north-west of the Nuba Mountains (as well as in the Sudanese diaspora). Due to several factors, outlined in the paper, Arab culture has been exerting more and more influence on the Tima way of life, especially with regard to the Tima language, where we find – to varying degrees – Arabic lexemes, phrases and whole utterances. A detailed analysis of the phonotactic and morpho-phonological adaptation of Arabic borrowings is followed by a discussion on the socio-linguistic setting of language contact, i.e. essentially a contact between Arabic and Tima speakers. Eventually, as we argue, a repertoire approach seems the appropriate way to tackle the issue of language use in today’s Tima society.

Anthropological Linguistics

“…Other members of the society are spread mainly in the larger towns of Sudan, with a bigger community in the suburbs of Khartoum. As the people themselves note with concern, the endangerment of the Tima language is obvious, not only in the diaspora, but also in the Tima area, where Arabic as a lingua franca of the area plays an ever-growing role (for the linguistic contact situation and the sociolinguistic setting see Hashim et al, 2020).…”

Tima

“…1 Tima has a relatively small number of lexical roots, a fact which is compensated for by making use of metaphors, metonymy and synecdoche (see Schneider-Blum 2012;Schneider-Blum & Dimmendaal, to appear) as well as by altering the roots' basic meanings through derivation. However, a good number of words from Arabic (or via Arabic) have entered the lexicon, with the new words mostly being morphophonologically adapted to the Tima system (see Hashim et al 2020).…”