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The Fessi dialect () is a dialect of
Moroccan vernacular Arabic, or Darija, associated with the city of
Fes, especially with the old elite families of the city.
It is considered
pre-Hilalian and some of its distinguishing phonological features are the pronunciation of ''
rāʾ'' ( ر ) as a
postalveolar approximant
The voiced alveolar and postalveolar approximants are types of consonantal sounds used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the alveolar and postalveolar approximants is , a lowercase lette ...
(like the American pronunciation of /ɹ/ in the word "red") instead of a
trilled and of
''qāf'' ( ق or, traditionally, ڧ ) as a
pharyngealized
Pharyngealization is a secondary articulation of consonants or vowels by which the pharynx or epiglottis is constricted during the articulation of the sound.
IPA symbols
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, pharyngealization can be indicate ...
glottal stop
The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...
or
voiceless uvular plosive
The voiceless uvular plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is pronounced like a voiceless velar plosive , except that the tongue makes contact not on the soft palate but on the uvula. The symbol in the ...
instead of a
voiced velar plosive
The voiced velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages.
Some languages have the voiced pre-velar plosive, which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulat ...
(
g">G_(IPA).html" ;"title="nowiki/>G (IPA)">g.
The Fessi dialect has traditionally been regarded as a Prestige (sociolinguistics)">prestige dialect
Prestige in sociolinguistics is the level of regard normally accorded a specific language or dialect within a speech community, relative to other languages or dialects. Prestige varieties are language or dialect families which are generally c ...
over other forms of Moroccan Darija, as a function of the historic social and economic power of its speakers.
History
Like other urban Moroccan dialects, it is considered
pre-Hilalian.
'Pre-Hilalian' in this context refers to dialects believed to descend from the Arabic spoken in the region prior to the arrival of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Ma'qil tribes that began in the 12th century. After this event, "Hilalian" dialects became dominant in the rural regions of central Morocco and are a major component of wider Moroccan Arabic today.
Due to social and demographic changes that started in the 20th century such as mass rural migration into the city and the departure of most of the city's old urban elites to Casablanca, the traditional linguistic features are no longer dominant in the speech of Arabic speakers in Fes today.
Jewish Fessi dialect
The
Jewish community in Fes, prior to the departure of most of the city's Jewish residents in the second half of the 20th century, also spoke
an Arabic dialect similar to the rest of city.
Linguistic features
Phonology
It has traditionally had distinctive linguistic features, many of which were shared with other pre-Hilalian dialects in the region:
on the
phonological
Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often prefer ...
level, these include the stereotypical use of a
postalveolar approximant
The voiced alveolar and postalveolar approximants are types of consonantal sounds used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the alveolar and postalveolar approximants is , a lowercase lette ...
(like the American pronunciation of /ɹ/ in the word "red") in the place of a
trilled for /
ر/, or a
pharyngealized
Pharyngealization is a secondary articulation of consonants or vowels by which the pharynx or epiglottis is constricted during the articulation of the sound.
IPA symbols
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, pharyngealization can be indicate ...
glottal stop
The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...
or
voiceless uvular plosive
The voiceless uvular plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is pronounced like a voiceless velar plosive , except that the tongue makes contact not on the soft palate but on the uvula. The symbol in the ...
in the place of a
voiced velar plosive
The voiced velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages.
Some languages have the voiced pre-velar plosive, which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulat ...
(
g">G_(IPA).html" ;"title="nowiki/>G (IPA)">g for /Qoph">ق/.
Morphosyntax
On the
G (IPA)">g">G_(IPA).html" ;"title="nowiki/>G (IPA)">g for /Qoph">ق/.
Morphosyntax
On the morphosyntactic level, gender distinction in pronouns and verb
inflections is neutralized in the second Grammatical person">person
A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...
singular.
Sociolinguistic features
The Fessi dialect has traditionally been regarded as a Prestige (sociolinguistics)">prestige dialect
Prestige in sociolinguistics is the level of regard normally accorded a specific language or dialect within a speech community, relative to other languages or dialects. Prestige varieties are language or dialect families which are generally c ...
over other forms of Moroccan Darija—particularly those seen as rural or ''