Tunisian Arabic - Distinctives

Distinctives

Tunisian Arabic is a spoken variety of Arabic, and as such shares many features with other modern varieties, especially North African ones. Some of its distinctives (from other Arabic dialects) are listed here.

• A conservative consonantal phonology (due to Berber substrates), with /q/ and interdental fricatives maintained.
• The use of إنتِ /ʔinti/ in urban varieties meaning "you" when addressing both men and women, and a concomitant loss of this gender distinction in the verbal morphology. This distinction is still maintained in rural varieties by using إنتَ /ʔinta/ for male and إنتِ /ʔinti/ for female.
• The lack of an indicative prefix in the verbal system, resulting in no distinction between indicative and subjunctive moods.
• The innovation of a progressive aspect by means of the participle قاعد /qaːʕid/, originally meaning "sitting"; and the preposition في /fiː/ "in" in transitive clauses.
• The distinctive usage of future tense by using the prefix باش /baːʃ/ + verb which is nearly equivalent to "will" + verb.
• Some vocabulary such as فيسع /fiːsaʕ/ "fast", باهي /baːhij/ 'good' and برشا /barʃa/ "very much". (e.g.: /baːhij barʃa/ = "very good")
• Unlike most of the other Muslim countries, the greeting as-salamu alaykum is not used as the common greeting word in Tunisia. Tunisians use the expression عسلامة /ʕaslaːma/ (formal) or أهلا /ʔahla/ (informal) for greeting. Also, بسلامة /bisslaːma/ (formal) or the Italian ciao (informal) are used as the Tunisian "goodbye" expression, and برك الله فيك /barak allaːhu fiːk/, عيشك /ʕajʃak/ or أحسنت /ʔaħsant/ for "thank you", in lieu of شكرا /ʃukran/.
• The passive derivation of verbs is similar to Berber and does not exist in Classical Arabic. It is obtained by prefixing the verb with /t-/, /tt-/, /tn-/ or /n-/ (ex: /ʃrab/ "to drink" → /ttaʃrab/ "to be drunk").
• Nearly all educated Tunisians can communicate in French, which is widely used in business and as the main means of communication with foreigners. French expressions and vocabulary are used in the local language itself.