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Notes on the dialect of the Ḍhafr of north-eastern Arabia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Bruce Ingham
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It was remarked by the Czech linguist Pavle Ivi that it would be possible for particular linguistic landscapes to fit easily into particular theories about linguistic diffusion. He was referring especially to the difference between the Stammbaum or family tree theory and the Wellentheorie or wave theory as expounded by the Neo-grammarians. The family tree theory sees dialect features as genetically transmitted and traceable to the homeland of the group concerned. The wave theory on the other and concentrates more on the present geographical location of the speakers and traces the geographical diffusion of dialect features across the landscape independently of the movement of groups of people. If a distinction between family tree landscapes and wave theory landscapes is possible, as Ivi suggests, then the dialectology of the bedouin tribes of north-eastern Arabia falls quite definitely into the first group. In a previous article the writer described the dialect of the Muṭair tribe of Eastern Arabia which a dialect of the Central Najd type akin to the dialects of Central Najd and the 'Aniza tribes of the Syrian Desert. The Ḍhafr, although direct neighbours of the Muṭair to the north and west, speak a dialect of a quite different kind, basically North Najd, akin to the speech of the Jabel Shammar and the Shammar tribes, but with some admixture of Central Najd features. It seems that in this area dialect is a marker of tribal identity and since there is no gradation between membership of the Ḍhafr tribe and membership of the Muṭair, the dialects are similarly clearly demarcated geographically. The boundary between the Ḍhafr and the Muṭair also Muṭair also constitutes a more far-reaching boundary between Ahl al-Shiml and Ahl al-Jinb, northern and southern bedouin. This division is marked by dialect features and also certain other cultural externals such as dress and tent structure.

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Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , June 1982 , pp. 245 - 259
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Copyright School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1982

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References

1 Ivi, P On the structure of dialect differentiation, Word, 18, 1962, 3353, 456Google Scholar

2 Ingham, B. Notes on the dialect of the Muṭair of Eastern Arabia, ZAL, 2, 1979, 2335Google Scholar

3 This statement is based on the information of informants. To determine for certain whether, in fact, fringe groups and therefore fringe dialects do occur, would necessitate a wider geographical investigation

4 As this was related to me by a Shammar informant in Saudi Arabia in 1978, Uraifij al-Shili, the southern tribes such as the Harb close the front (i.e. longer face) of the tent and leave a small opening at the ends yḥajjirn albait) with the men's quarters on the left. The Shammar and other northern tribes leave the whole front open with the men's quarters on the right. This can in part be reconciled with Dickson's, H. R. P. remarks in The Arab of the desert, London, 1949, 80Google Scholar, except that, as he points out, what is left can immediately become right if the wind changes (Ibid., 69). It may, however, be that left is to be interpreted south and right north. See n. 65

5 Dickson, op. cit., 575 for the 'Aniza, and 284 for the 'Ajmn; also Philby, H. St. J. Heart of Arabia, London, 1922, 108, 249, 288Google Scholar, and Musil, A.Northern Neǧd, New York, 1982, 112Google Scholar for the 'Aniza. For the Muṭair, Oppenheim, von, M.Die Beduinen, III1 (ed. W. Caskel) Wiesbaden, 1952, 723Google Scholar

6 See pp. 2567 for oral tradition on this point

7 Although they are also in contact with other non-bedouin populations, this is often not one of equal social status and therefore not of a type to encourage transfer of dialect characteristics; see Gumperz, J. J. Social stratification in a North Indian village, American Anthropologist, LX, 4, 1958, 681Google Scholar, who examines different forms of social interaction and their effect on dialect diffusion

8 See Dickson, op. cit., 46, 502, for details of these annual migrations

9 See in particular Cantineau, O. tudes sur quelques parlers de nomades arabes orient, AIEO, 2, 1936, 1118Google Scholar; 3, 1937, 119237; Montagne, R. Contes potiques bdouins (rceuillis chez les ammar de Ǧzir), BEO, 5, 1935Google Scholar; Landberg, C. deLangue des Bdouins 'Anezeh, Leiden, 1919Google Scholar; Johnstone, T. M.Eastern Arbian dialect studies (EADS), London, 1967Google Scholar; Ingham, B. Regional and social factors in the dialect geography of southern Iraq and Khzistn BSOAS, XXXIX, 1, 1976, 6282CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a fuller biliography see my Notes on the dialect of the Muṭair, 23. The material on which this research is based was collected in Saudi Arabia at al-Ṣufairi, the centre of the Ḍhafr tribe, in 1978, and in London in 1981. My thanks are due to Amr 'Ajimi ibn Suwaiṭ and Muḥammad ibn Sa'dn al-Suwaiṭ in this connexion. In Saudi Arabia comparative material on the dialect of Sudair, of the Shammar (sinjra) and Ḥarb of Najd was also collected while based in thw Wdi Turmus area. Previously in 1977 in Kuwait, material on the dialect of Midhnab and from the 'Awzim. Rashvida and Mutair was also collected which is used in this article. My information on the dialect of the Ḥarb of Ḥijz is from Ḥamza Muzaini of Madina

10 The writer visited these in 1977 in the areas of al-Iṣlḥ and Jisr Sdn, north and northwest of Nṣiriyya. These tribes, together with the S'da and Bu'aij, were previously united under the Jash'am confederation (see p. 256) often referred to as the Ghizya. They are now counted as part of the Muntafiq. See al-Azzwi, A.'Ashyir al-'Irq, Baghdad, 1955, III, 546Google Scholar, IV 7986

11 Other fringe North Najd types include the dialect of the 'Umr, Slṭ, Sirḥn, as described by Cantineau, op. cit., 104, 176 and 232; also the Bani Khlid and Bani Ṣakhar, 1834 and 232

12 The suffixes for us -na, you (f.pl.) -kin or -in, and they (f.) -him are common to all and therefore omitted

13 Cantineau, op. cit., 78

14 Cantineau, op. cit., 76

15 Labov, W.Sociolinguistic patterns, Philadelphia, 1972, 12243Google Scholar; particularly p. 126

16 Cantineau, op. cit., 233

17 Cantineau, op. cit., 45, 14850

18 This suffix is transcribed - by Montagne. Cantineau transcribes it variously - or -i (op. cit. p. 185). My transcription reflects the phonetic quality heard from my informants from the Shilgn branch of Sinjra. This was phonetically -lh. Otherwise the transcription is that normally used for Arabic. Symbols deserving special comment are: voiceless palato-alveolar affricate, voiceless alveolar affricate, voiced alveolar affricate. The quality of vowels is that of the dialects of the area as outlined by Johnstone, EADS, 225. The vowel transcription system used here differs from that of the Muṭair article where ə is used. Here it is subsumed under the allophones of i

19 In the dialect of 'Anaiza as shown by Johnstone in Aspects of syllabication in the spoken Arabic of 'Anaiza, BSOAS, XXX, 1, 1967, 116Google Scholar, but not in the dialect of Midhnab as shown by my informant

20 Cantineau, op. cit., 456; see also 14950

21 Blanc, H. The Arabic dialect of the Negev bedouins, Proc. Israel Acad. of Sciences and Humanities, IV, 7, 1970, 31, 142Google Scholar

22 Johnstone, Aspects of syllabication, 12, 14

23 Blanc, op. cit., 130 19, 14029, 14231

24 Johnstone, EADS, 178Google Scholar

25 Johnstone, Aspects of syllabication, p. 13

26 Landberg, op. cit., shows numerous examples of b- such as ḥallat l-brka bak bihal ym (p. 9), el ḥadd biriģlh (p. 13), ḥauwal b-btuh (p. 14)

27 Blanc, op. cit., 14029

28 Cantineau, op. cit., 107 also gives hdenn for the Nu'aim and hdenn for the Faḍhl

29 See Cantineau, op. cit., 2939, and Johnstone, , EADS, 26Google Scholar

30 Glubb, J. B.The story of the Arab Legion, London, 1948. 1367Google Scholar

31 Landberg, op. cit., 136

32 The l of the article is oftern elided as in a(l)brḥa last night

33 Notice that the contrast is neutralized in certain environments as in taxxna (compare axxi). Other illustrative examples include rxṣ cheap, aḹḹa yhadk God guide you. See Blanc, op. cit., 6 1178 119, for further examples of this

34 The -a- vowel after the stem manx- is an antaptyctic common in the Najd dialects. This appears also in aḥuṭṭakam. See also Ingham, Muṭair, 289

35 yglllu < ygln-lu

36 s'inni < s'il-ni. The verb to ask is sa'al not sa'al in these dialects, also niad

37 wmara for umar. This would seem to be the correct phonological interpretation parallel to rufa (for uraf; sharfs)

38 al'ama. Stressed on the first syllable 'ama

39 Diphthongal quality often occurs in hu (haw) hi (hay); also in the suffixes of the imperative rḥi (rḥay), gmu (gmau); also tigahwaw, below, p. 253. This is common also in the dialect of Kuwait and seems to be a northeastern feature; see Johnstone, EADS, 50Google Scholar

40 Feminine singular concord is common with nouns denoting tribal units

41 The stress is on the first syllable nguṣ and therefore analyzable as niguṣ, as also with l'am(m) above

42 The -n of the masculine plural suffix is occasionally elided yglu < ygln. Landberg, op. cit., also gives examples of this: ymḥeru, p. 2; yrḥelu, p. 5

43 drbin nunation. Participle forms with verbal function regularly show nunation if not followed by a suffix. See also Cantineau, op. cit., 2045, who gives conditions for the occurrence of nunation in Najd dialects

44 ydixln < Form IV yudxiln causative

45 This is the form given. Landberg, however, gives damawi which is the expected form from dam blood. Musil, A.Manners and customs of the Rwala bedouin, New York, 1928Google Scholar, gives damwijje or dmijje (p. 489)

46 Landberg, op. cit., gives uiḥlafu kullen mḍa tḥat el-f Ils se jurerent mutuellement que tout serait enfoui dans oubli (pp. 6, 25)

47 l or ly < iḏ. Narrative use of the imperative. See also Blanc, op. cit., 28 13929 140

48 mi' often has locative function in the Najd dialects

49 ig'id and izbin. Narrative use of the imperative. See also Blanc, op. cit., 28 13929 140

50 'aṭna < 'aṭna. As with n. 33. above, replaces in many emphatic environment

51 Narrative imperative, if for agfa

52 Narrative imperative, ruḥ for rḥ, also a vocative addressed to the participant in the action

53 'aṭw, the North Najd form of the third masculine singular suffix -w. See p. 248

54 Locative use of ma'

55 fsallah < fa sallah

56 swṭt, a poetic plurnal. The usual plural is suwaṭ

57 muṣma'illah. The morphological analysis of this form is not clear. However, it was explained to me as shown below

58 zyrtil-lah < zyrtin-lah; not it seems, zydtin-lah

59 hḥna < hlḥna. Elision of the l of the article as in a(l)gabyil above

60 Cantineau, op. cit., 152 gives ym < ym for the Shammar

61 The Sharfs, descendants of the Prophet, the governors of Mecca and the Ḥijz. Certain other tribes also have a tradition of war with Sharfs of Mecca as the origin of their exodus from western Arabia. These include the Ka'b of Khzistn and the 'Awzim of eastern Arabia. See A. K., 'Ubayyid Qablat al-'Awzim, Beirut, 1971, 27Google Scholar. It may be that this is a purely mythological interpretation of their early migrations.

62 The l Suwaiṭ, leaders of the Buṭn section of the Ḍhafr, and generally acknowledged as leaders of the whole tribe. See Northern Neǧd, 169Google Scholar; Glubb, J. B.War in the desert, London, 1960, passim, but particularly 6980Google Scholar; also Oppenheim, op. cit., III1, 59

63 For the concept of xuwa or tutelage see Musil, Rwala bedouin, op. cit., 45Google Scholar

64 Son of Hshim, signifying descent from the Prophet and therefore of equal standing with the Sharf

65 Sha'b al-Dth is to the west of al-Rass, 43.15 E. 25.70 Musil, N.Northern Neǧd, 176Google Scholar, mentions that fg above may mean west of as used by the Ḍhafr; also ḥadir below, east; yisra left, south and yimma right, north

66 Oppenheim, op. cit. III1, 60, gives the form as 'Eldjnt. The alternation of for is not uncommon. See Ingham, Muṭair, 28

67 The Shaikhs of the Ṣmida sectikon, the Aba Dhr'a clan. See Musil, , Northern Neǧd, 169Google Scholar

68 The narrator here addresses himself

69 i.e. the first of the prominent shaikhs of the l Suwaiṭ

70 Oppenheim, op. cit., III1, 54, states that the Ḍhafr began their wandering towards Najd from the Ḥijz about 350 years ago

71 The Jash'am ruled the area west of the Euphrates in the seventeenth century. The Ḥumaid and Rufai' tribes mentioned above (p. 247) were part of a confederation of whom the Jash'am were the head

72 In fact only of the southern area between Ht and Samwa

73 Vocative used for rhetorical effect

74 As above

75 This would seem to be the interpretation. This is not unlike the story of the wife of Abu Lahab, a contemporary of the Prophet, who ate the liver of a fallen foe. Burton, R. F. mentions similar practices for the 'Utaliba, Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to al-Madinah and Mecca, II, London, 1857, 118Google Scholar; also Doughty, C. M.Travels in Arabia Deserta, London, 1923, II, 401Google Scholar of the Qaḥṭn

76 Perhaps to move eastward in view of n. 65 above

77 Mentioned by Musil (Rwala bedouin, 57477), dated by him as the beginning of the ninteenth century. He was alive at the time of Guarmani's visit in 1864, Guarmani, C.Northern Najd, London, 1938, 99Google Scholar

78 This is correct in the context although dakhl usually signifies fugitive. This may, however, be just a slip of the tongue

79 The ibn Hadhdhl clan were shaikhs of the 'Amrt branch of 'Aniza and generally rulers of the 'Aniza of 'Irq

80 l Jarba, shaikhs of the Northern Shammar

81 It seems to have been the custom occasionally, when exceptional rainfall led to large temporary lakes, for tribes to come to a temporary truce in order to take advantage of water and grazing. Dickson, op. cit., 252, gives an account of a similar large lake at al-Jahra on which different tribal elements had camped in 1935

82 Faiḍhat al-Adyn, N. 31.26, E.41.43 on the Wdi 'Ar'ar. Faiḍha signifies a hollow in which rainwater collects

83 Said in exhortation rather than as an abuse

84 In Landberg's version the word ṯaniya also appears but with the meaning rigole d'coulement, op. cit. 7

85 This is an allusion to the epithet hal al-buwait clan of the little tent by which the l Suwaiṭ were known. The tent is a symbol of hospitality and the Ḍhafr, perhaps as a result of being a small tribe composed of different elements, were well known for their good faith in harbouring fugitives. Dickson, op. cit., 12930. The term little tent is used affectionately rather than in reference to size. See also Glubb, Arab Legion, 136Google Scholar, who refers to the little tent. But see also Philby, The heart of Arabia, I, 250Google Scholar, who mentions the sobriquet he of the little tent r' al-buwait of Darwsh ibn Rid'n, shaikh of the 'Afnn section of the Ḍhafxr who had previously lorded it over all the Ḍhafr. This would seem to be in conflict with the statement of my informants who said that the title al-buwait referred to the Suwaiṭ clan in general. The 'Afnn are in fact a branch of the Suwait who at that time had transferred their allegiance to Ibn Hadhdhl (India Office Records, R15595, 1CII, The Dhafr raid, 1931, p.82)

86 In Landberg's version ibn Suwaiṭ offers seven Suwaiṭ girls to the Jarba rather than give up the fugitive, op. cit., 9

87 Therefore stronger and of greater stamina

88 An allusion to the speed and vigour of the mount

89 Sons of Wil signifies the 'Aniza, who refused refuge

90 An allusion to the name 'Aniza, cognate with 'anz goat

91 i.e. The mount they gave him

92 Signifying a period of stability

93 possessions here signifies sheep tribute

94 'Azzwi, op. cit., gives the time of entry of the Ḍhafr to 'Irq territory as the beginning of the thirteenth century A.H. (vol I, p. 295)

95 The Ṭuwl al-Ḍhafr wells are probably referred to. These are the wells which the Ḍhafr resort to in the summer

96 The shepherd tribes of the Euphrates. For information on these, see Dickson, op. cit., 54560; also Glubb War in the Desert, passim

97 In fact only the southern region is signified

98 The Muntafiq confederation of the Nṣiriyya region were independent of the Ḍhafr and their leaders the lSa'dn were the chief rivals of the Ḍhafr in the southern desert. See Bell, G.The Arab War, London, 1920, 3344Google Scholar

99 After the First World War, Ḥamd ibn Suwaiṭ was the leader of the Ḍhafr and represented them during the British mandate in 'Irq, see Glubb, War in the Desert, 73, passimGoogle Scholar; also Philby, Heart of Arabia, I, 238, 247Google Scholar who mentions Ḥamd by implication as one of the friendly sheikhs of the Euphrates marches. Ḥamd died in 1925. Glubb op. cit., 167

100 For the early life of 'Ajimi ibn Suwaiṭ, see Glubb, op. cit., passim; also Philby, op. cit., I, 250