Tetserret (''Tin Sert'') is a WesternBerber language spoken by the
Ait-Awari
Ait-Awari are a Tuareg tribe probably originating from northern Berber peoples who emigrated southwards centuries ago. Their language, called Tin Sert or Tetserret, may indicate that they came from the gulf of Sirte in Libya.
Today the Ait-Awa ...
Akoubounou
Akoubounou, or ''Akabinu'' in the local Tin Sert language, is a village located in the west to the town of Abalak, in the Tahoua Region of Niger.
Geography
Akoubounou is located in the northern Sahel region. The neighbouring municipalities ...
(''Akabinu'') commune in
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languagesAbalak, Akoubounou and Shadwanka. The variant spoken by the Kel Eghlal is called ''taməsəɣlalt''. The Tamasheq equivalent ''shin-sart'' / ''shin-sar'' / ''tin-sar'' is used in some older literature. Popular understanding among some Ait-Awari derives the name ''tet-serret'', and its Tamasheq equivalent ''shin-sart'', from expressions meaning 'the (language) of Sirte'.
Tetserret is one of the last Berber languages to be recognised as distinct. As late as 1981, Bernus treated Tetserret as a dialect of Tuareg, and some early sources even confused it with the Northern Songhay languages. The first published linguistic material on Tetserret was Drouin (1984), and only with Khamed Attayoub's (2001) thesis did it become clear how different Tetserret was from Tuareg.
Tetserret is the only surviving Berber language to share a number of sound shifts with Zenaga of Mauritania. It also has non-Tuareg vocabulary found in other Berber languages. For example, ''afagan'' (man) resembles Central Atlas Tamazight of
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...
; ''aiddid'' (goatskin container for water) resembles Ghadames of
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...
; and ''awdosh'' (ox) recalls
Hassaniya Arabic
Hassānīya ( ar, حسانية '; also known as , , , , and ''Maure'') is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic spoken by Mauritanian Arabs and the Sahrawi. It was spoken by the Beni Ḥassān Bedouin tribes, who extended their authority over most ...
.
All speakers of Tetserret are bilingual in the Tawellemmet language, which has influenced their language. As of 2011, Tetserret was no longer being spoken with children, and as such appears endangered.Lux 2011:54
Literature
* Drouin, Jeannine. 1984. Nouveaux éléments de sociolinguistique touarègue. Un parler méridional nigérien, la ''tamasaghlalt''. Paris Groupe Linguistique d'Études Chamito-Sémitiques, G.L.E.C.S.,XXIV-XXVIII (1979–1984), Geuthner, pp. 507–520.
* Khamed Attayoub, Abdoulmohamine. 2001. ''La tətsərret des Ayttawari Seslem : identification socio-linguistique d’un parler berbère non-documenté chez les touaregs de l’Azawagh (Niger)''. Mémoire de maîtrise dirigé par Salem Chaker. Inalco : Paris.
* Khamed Attayoub, Abdoulmohamine. Les mots du voyages chez les Touaregs Ayttawari Seslem. Quelques éléments lexicologues en ''tetserrét''. In ed. H. Claudot-Hawad, ''Voyager du point de vue d'un nomade''. Paris: Éditions Paris-Méditérranée, pp. 159–166.
* Lux, Cécile. 2011 Etude descriptive et comparative d’une langue menacée : le tetserret, langue berbère du Niger Doctoral thesis, Université de Lyon-2.
* Walentowitz, Saskia & Abdoulmohamine Khamed Attayoub. 2001 La tetserrét des Ayttawari Seslem: un parler proche du berbère "septentrionale" chez les Touaregs de l'Azawagh (Niger) ''Annuaire de l'Afrique du Nord'' vol. XXIX, 2000-2001.