Extinct East Zenati Berber language of Tunisia
Sened is an extinct East Zenati Berber language that was spoken in the nearby towns of Sened and Majoura (Berber Tmagurt) in southern Tunisia until the mid-20th century. In 1911, the whole town of Sened spoke Berber; by 1968, only the elderly did.
Sample
From a section translated from the epic Taghribat Bani Hilal, detailing the incursion of the Banu Hilal, in Provotelle's Etude sur la Tamazir't ou Zenatia de Qalaât Es-sned (Tunisie) (1911). The Arabic and French transcriptions of the text are reproduced unchanged; in the latter, r' represents a voiced uvular fricative, kh a voiceless uvular fricative, ch represents English sh, ou represents /u/ or /w/, i represents /i/ or /j/, and e represents schwa.
الوختي دياب الاَلاَلَي ينغاَ خليفا الزناتي يليس غيداء تني زنق نزيمل نبويس - ومان الاَلاَلي - تسكركوست تنغيتتش او يني زنق نزيمليس - يني دياب زنق نزيمليس - يونس باش اّينغيت.
tenr'it-etch.
you-killed-him-not.
El Oukhti Diab Elalalia ienr'a Khlifa Ezzenati ill-is R'ida tenni zenneg n ezzimmel n ebboïs. Oumman {El Alali}, teskerkoust tenr'it-etch. Aou ienni zenneg n ezziml-is. Ienni Diab zenneg n ezziml-is, ious-es bâch aïenr'it.
When Diab El Hilali killed Khlifa Ezzenati, daughter-his Ghida rode top of horse of father-her. Said-they the-Hilalis, you-have-lied you-killed-him-not. Here-he-is rides top of horse-his. Rode Diab top of horse-his, goes to kill-her.
When Diab El Hilali killed Khlifa Ezzenati, his daughter Ghida got on her father's horse. The Hilalis said "You lied; you didn't kill him!. There he is riding his horse." Diab mounted his horse and went forth to kill her.
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