Shenwa, also spelt Chenoua (native name: ÃÂÃÂèÃÂÃÂëHaqbaylità), is a Zenati Berber language spoken on Mount Chenoua (Jebel Chenoua) in Algeria, just west of Algiers, and in the provinces of Tipaza (including the town of Cherchell) and Chlef. The speech of Jebel Chenoua proper is mutually comprehensible with that of the nearby Beni Menacer and Beni Haoua, and they are thus treated as a single language. There are some 76,000 speakers.
Judging by Laoust (whose work on the language predates systematic phonology), Shenwa has the following sounds, which are given below in the International Phonetic Alphabet along with differing representations in the Algerian standard Latin orthography for Berber languages in angle brackets :
Comparison with other Berber languages suggests that Laoust's transcription may have failed to distinguish certain sounds, notably pharyngealized .
. Laoust's appears to variously indicate labialization () or an allophone of /u/.
Masculine nouns start with a-, i-, u- (in the singular) â like all Berber languages â or more rarely with a consonant (often corresponding to a- in other languages.) Examples: ayá¸Âi "dog"; fus "hand"; iri "neck"; urṯu "garden". Their plural is usually in i-...-en (e.g. ameà £in "death" â imeà £inen), but a variety of other plural forms (e.g. i-...-an, i-...-wen, i-...awen, i-...-en, i-...-a-), sometimes accompanied by internal ablaut, are also found: e.g. ijiá¸Âer "eagle" â ijuá¸Âar, iṯri "star" â iṯran, afer "wing" â ifrawen, icer "fingernail" â icaren.
Feminine nouns start with h- (originally t-), and usually end with -t or -ṯ: hagmarṯ "mare", hesa "liver". A few feminine nouns have lost the h-: malla "turtledove". A masculine noun can be made diminutive by adding the feminine affixes: afus "hand" â hafust "little hand". The plurals of feminine nouns fall into much the same types as masculine ones, but adding h- at the beginning and using -in rather than -en: hakṯemà £ "female" â hikṯemin, harract "girl" â harracin, huqiṯ "stone" â huqay, hawleliṯ "spider" â hiwlela.
Genitive constructions â English "X of Y" or "Y's X" â are formed as "X Y", in which the prefix of Y changes to u- (masc.) or n à £e- (fem.). Thus, for instance: aman n à £ala "the water of the fountain", aglim uóilas "the skin of the panther". n "of" is also used with foreign words: hagmarṯ n elqaydà"the mare of the Caid".
Adjectives agree in number and gender with the noun, and are formed in the same way: e.g. amellal "white", azegrar "long", azaim "good". The particle dÃÂ is used before adjectives in certain contexts (including as a copula), in the same way as in the Kabyle language.
As in Kabyle, only the first two numbers are Berber; for higher numbers, Arabic is used. They are ià(f. ict) "one", sen (f. senatà) "two". The noun being counted follows it in the genitive: senatàn à £uwura "two doors".
"First" and "last" are respectively amezgaru and aneggaru (regular adjectives). Other ordinals are formed with the prefix wis (f. his): wis sen "second (m.)", his tÃÂ elatÃÂ a "third (f.)", etc.
The basic personal pronouns of Shenwa are as follows. Gender is distinguished in all cases except the first person.
The basic demonstrative adjectives are -a "this" (also -ay, -adÃÂ ; -ax for middle distance), -in "that", -enni "the aforementioned". The demonstrative pronouns include:
The standalone possessive pronouns ("mine", "yours", etc.) are formed by suffixing the possessive pronouns to "this" (except that ha- is used instead of hax.) Similarly, the adjective "other" (invariable enniá¸Âen) combines with "this" to make forms meaning "the other": unniá¸Âen, henniá¸Âen, idàenniá¸Âen, hidàenniá¸Âin.
The main interrogative pronouns are: maà £a "what?", manà £ "which", manay "who?", mi lan "whose?", mikedà"with whom?", midàeg "in what?", mizeg "with what?", mifeg "on what?", mióer "at/for whom?"
The relative pronoun is i "which".
Indefinite pronouns include yeà(f. yectenà £) "one, someone", cra "something". Negative forms are made using the Arabic loanword haà £a (ÃÂêÃÂ); haà £a dàyeà"no one", haà £a dàelḥabb "nothing".
The declarative mood is divided into two tenses: preterite (past) and aorist (non-past, formed by the addition of a-.) There is also an imperative mood. The irregular imperative ia "come" is used with the aorist to form imperatives of the first person: iaw annaroḥetà"let's go". The pronoun affixes for these are given under Pronouns. The declarative mood is also accompanied by ablaut:
The participle is formed by adding -n to the 3rd person m. sg., sometimes with ablaut of final vowels: inziz "he sang" â inzizen; ayenziz "he will sing" â ayenzizen, yutàa "he hit" â yutàin.
The verb is negated by adding u... c around it: u à £inziz ec "don't sing", u huwiredàec "you didn't walk". "Not yet" is u rtàuci õadàor ur uci, where rtàuci and uci are verbs conjugated in the appropriate person: u rtàució õadàu d yuá¸Âeó ec "I haven't arrived yet", u hertàucidàõadà... "you haven't yet..."
Derived verb forms include:
Continuous forms can be formed with aql- "see X" in the present tense, à £uóa "was" in the past tense: aqlay à £eà £eó "I am eating", à £uóay à £eà £eó"I was eating".
Prepositions precede their objects: i medden "to the people", sgi Bazar "from Tipaza". Some of the main ones are: i "to" (dative), n "of", dàeg/dài/eg/i "in(to)", seg/zeg-/si "from", s "using" (instrumental), f/fell- "on", óer/ó "towards", akidà/dà, "with", jar "among", zatà"in front of", awr "behind", i sawen/susawen "under", addu "over".
Conjunctions precede the verb: ami yiwoḠ"when he arrived", qabel ma à £aóen "see if it's raining". Some important ones include: melmi "when?", ami, óassa(l), assóa, óir "when", ma, kagella, lukan, willa "if", (an)neó "or".
Qaren midden: Unni ayḥaÃÂen dàug ass, adeffeóen arraw ennes dàiferdàasen.
They say: he that tells stories in the daytime, his children will turn bald.
à ¢á¸¥aÃÂen óir dàeg iá¸Â
They only tell stories at night.
Iàwuccen iroḥ iggur lami g ufa iàwaḥzaw ià £ellem i hezra. Innas uccen i warrac enni: "Maà £a hellidàhegaredà." Arrac enni innas: "à ¢ellemeó dài hezra." Innas uccen: "Adàel ay hirkasin." Arrac enni ià £xiyeḠas iá¸Âaren nes. Lami iqaá¸Âa innas: "Roḥ, aõdàel iá¸Âaren ennekàóer fwità."
Iroḥ uccen yaõdàel iman es óer fwitàlami eqqoren iá¸Âaren u iÃÂim ec ayuwr.
Ikk ed sin iàwumcic; innas uccen: "Sellek ay u c eà £à £Ã³ec." Iks as umcic hazra seg á¸Âarennes. Iroḥ uccen iwalla óer waḥzaw iàas elkul ióeá¹Âá¹Âen.
A jackal went and met a child plaiting a rope. The jackal asked the child: "What are you doing?" This child replied: "I'm plaiting a rope." The jackal said: "Make me some shoes." This child tied up his feet. When he was done he told him: "Go show your feet in the sun."
The jackal went and showed his own feet in the sun, and his feet dried and he couldn't walk.
A cat arrived and the jackal told it: "Help me, I won't eat you." The cat took the rope off his feet. The jackal went back to the child, and ate all his goats.