Expressions of Tense and Aspect in the Tunisian Varieties of Arabic: A Comparative Study of Jewish and Muslim Dialects

Abstract

The aspectual and temporal value of the verb is one of the most discussed problems in Semitic linguistics. Nonetheless, in the field of North African Arabic dialectology this subject has not received its due attention, and compared to other Arabic dialects, it remains terra incognita. The present article explores strategies by which spoken varieties of Tunisian Arabic express tense and aspect. The core data examined in this study comes from an endangered dialect spoken by the Jews of Gabes (southern Tunisia). Comparative material includes an array of examples from both Jewish and Muslim varieties. I reconstruct the origin of the preverbal particles and auxiliaries in Tunisian Arabic, and argue that, in contradistinction to Moroccan Arabic, the ka- particle in Jewish Gabes does not originate in kān. I present evidence that the active participle in Jewish and Muslim varieties has divergent functional distribution, which suggests a Northwest Semitic substrate in Judeo-Arabic.