Mauritania is relatively poorly studied in Russian Arabic studies. This is largely due to the fact that this state is located on the periphery of the Arab world and very often escapes the field of view of linguists and regional studies. This country is unique in that it is located at the junction of Northern and Tropical Africa and combines the features of the Maghreb 1 and the features of sub-Saharan States, and is a kind of "bridge" between Arab Africa and Black Africa. This is also confirmed by the distribution of the population on the territory of Mauritania: Moors (descendants of mixed Arab and Berber tribes) occupy most of the country, while various Negroid tribes inhabit the south, mainly the Senegal River Valley. Ethnic diversity creates a complex linguistic situation in the region.
Keywords: Hassania Arabic dialect, Mauritania, Berbers, Arabic literary language.
The Arab-Berber majority of Mauritania speaks the Hassaniya Arabic dialect, which belongs to the group of Western Arabic dialects - the so-called Maghreb dialects. As noted by the well-known Russian arabist Yu. N. Zavadovsky, " the Hassaniya dialect gives the impression of being uniform. Small differences, of course, exist between the dialects of different tribes and social groups, but in general, Hassaniya is much more homogeneous than other Arabic dialects of North Africa "(Zavadovsky, 1981, p. 11). The African population itself, which is concentrated along the southern border of Mauritania with Senegal, is linguistically opposed to the Arab Moors and speaks various languages and dialects belonging to two language groups: Atlantic (Fula, Wolof, Pulaar) and Mande (Soninke, Malinka, etc.).
Nevertheless, Arabic is the official language of Mauritania, which is considered a full member of the League of Arab States and an integral part of the Arab East. In accordance with the Constitution of 1961, Arabic was declared the state language, and French - the business language. This point of the Constitution has caused a long discussion. According to Polish ethnographer Kowalska-Lewicka, " The Berber-Hassan majority wanted Arabic to be a business language as well, but the Black minority did not agree. The black population in the River Valley (Senegal) did not know Arabic, and in everyday life they spoke their native languages, which did not have a written language, as a result of which only French was taught in schools. The introduction of the Arabic language could exclude the Negroid population from the administration of the country, would block their access to institutions "[Kowalska-Levicka, 1981, p. 280].
1 Arab countries located west of Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula.
Despite the fact that the status of the French language was changed after the coup d'etat in July 1978, it still remains the main one in the administrative sphere, being an integral part of the unique linguistic diversity of this area. Currently, it is widely distributed among the population of Mauritania, often used by intellectuals and business circles, as well as when communicating with foreigners. In parallel with Arabic, it publishes legislative acts, a number of newspapers and magazines, and conducts radio broadcasts. In addition, it is studied as a foreign language in almost all educational institutions [Chagall, 1998, p. 244].
Currently, the secular education system is taught in Arabic and French. However, the consistent policy of Arabization pursued by the Government of Mauritania is gradually reducing the role of French in the education of schoolchildren and students, even taking into account the fact that teaching in some university faculties is conducted entirely in French, and this situation is unlikely to change in the future due to the advantage of French terminology over Arabic.
As already mentioned, Arabic is represented in Mauritania in the form of its oral-colloquial variety-the Maghreb dialect of Hassaniya, as well as as an Arabic literary language, which in its oral form is used by a relatively small educated part of the population (10%), and is also constantly used in the written sphere - in the media, art literature, science, etc.
The Arabic literary language is known to serve more than 20 Arab countries as the official language, which inevitably leads to a gradual stratification of its continuum at the regional level. This became especially noticeable in the twentieth century, which was immediately reflected in the works of domestic and foreign Arabists, such as G. S. Sharbatov, V. M. Belkin, V. D. Osipov, V. E. Chagall, Ibrahim al-Samarrai, and others.
The unique uniqueness of the functioning conditions of the Arabic literary language in each individual country (region) leaves its own local imprint on the language itself, giving it regional features. In our study, the Arabic literary language is understood as "a certain set of varieties of the Arabic literary language in the Arab world", since in reality it functions in the form of many territorial variants (Mauritanian, Tunisian, Saudi, Egyptian, etc.), serving residents of Arab countries and demonstrating a multi-national character. V. E. Shagal rightly defines the " territorial variant of the Arabic literary language "as a certain" local variety that does not violate the norm of the Arabic literary language, but which, nevertheless, contains a number of specific features that are not characteristic of residents of other territories " [Shagal, 1987, p.90].
The Moorish territorial variant, unlike some others, is not much influenced by the Hassaniya dialect. The only exceptions are the frequent use of the word wuld"son" in Moorish surnames (cf.: President of Mauritania wuld 'abdu "Mohamed ould Abdel Aziz", Prime Minister of Mauritania Moulayy wuld "Moulaye ould Mohamed Lagdaf", etc.).
Local features of the Arabic literary language can be clearly traced in the analysis of the local press, since the maximum normalization allows us to distinguish literary variants. As the well-known Russian arabist V. M. Belkin writes, "the dictionary of the modern press is standardized and unified to the maximum extent" [Belkin, 1975, p. 43]. In addition, due to the desire of the media to conform to the latest trends of the XXI century, it is possible to identify the features of the current state of the Arabic literary language in Mauritania.
For this study, we used articles published by the Mauritanian News Agency (MIA), which is the main media outlet in the country. All language facts are provided with detailed text illustrations to visually confirm the territorial differences in the use of the Arabic literary language. The chronological scope of the selection of articles was limited to 2009-2010. The sample size was 200 articles.
The Arabic literary language in Mauritania is similar in many respects to other territorial variants of the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco), but it also reveals its own unique features. While in newspapers and magazines of other Maghreb countries, certain words belonging to the usus Mashriqa 2 are necessarily replaced by local regionalism, in Mauritania such words often coexist, and both Maghribisms and Mashriqisms can be used in different articles.3 Perhaps this is due to the fact that Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco feel themselves members of a certain community and are often associated in Arabic studies with the concept of "Maghreb", even despite the fact that they, along with Mauritania and Libya, are members of the regional pan - Arab organization-the so-called Union of the Arab Maghreb. Therefore, the following name is often found in the literature for all the countries of the region-the Greater Maghreb, or the Arab West. Here, to avoid confusion, I will simply call it the Maghreb.
The locally marked vocabulary used for official posts and positions in Mauritania is almost identical to the corresponding names in other Maghreb countries. Most of these words are the result of calculating the corresponding French names, which naturally follows from the long period of French domination in the country, when French proteges occupied all the highest posts in the state. Such a language situation was the result of "French intervention in all its manifestations - 'pacification with weapons', land grabbing, planting their own administration, French as the official language, etc. " [Prozhogina, 1980, p. 35].
For example, the position of Prime Minister is indicated here using the word form l - 'awwal (doel, "first minister"). This is an obvious tracing paper from the French language, where the concept of "prime minister" is conveyed using the phrase premier ministre (also doel, "first minister"). For example: 'istaqbala l -' awwalu moulāy wuld l-yawmi l - 'arbi'ā'bi-maktabihi bi-l-wizārati as-sayyid l -' amm d-duwaliyyah bi-ziyārati ' amal li-bilādinā ("This afternoon, the Prime Minister of Mauritania, Moulaye ould Mohamed Lagdaf, received at his residence Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization Taleb Rifai, who is in our country on a working visit") (MIA, 15.09.2010).
The above example also contains the word form of the general Maghreb character al-wizāratu (literally "first ministry"), an adequate translation of which in this case can serve as the expression"residence of the Prime Minister".
In the Mashreka countries, the term "Prime Minister" serves the phrase l-wuzara '4.
The third person of the State of Mauritania after the President and Prime Minister is I - 'amm li-ri'asati (doel," Minister-General
2 Countries of the Arab East, which cover the territory of Western Asia up to Iran, including the Arabian Peninsula.
3 Maghreb and Mashriq regionalisms, respectively.
4 It should be noted here that it is the Mashriq literary norm that is considered classic and generally accepted for most newspapers in the Arab world at the moment. In addition, Arabic language teaching in Russia and abroad is entirely based on the Mashriq norm, while in some cases the Maghreb countries remain completely ignored.
secretary of the President of the Republic"). This unique position, which is not found in other Arab countries, was also the result of calculating the corresponding French position-Le Secrétaire général de la présidence de la République française ("Secretary General of the President of the French Republic"). In the Russian press, this phrase is most often translated as "Secretary General of the Elysee Palace" 5 or as "head of the presidential administration of France". The latter equivalent is quite applicable to Moorish reality. For example: gādara l-yawmi l- 'āmm li-ri'āsati s-sayyid 'ādamā mutawağğihan' ilā murrākuš bi-l-mamlakati l-magribiyyah ("This morning the head of the presidential Administration of Mauritania Si Adama left the capital of the country for the Moroccan city of Marrakech") (MIA, 07.10.2010).
The names of the Ministers of State of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania do not differ from those generally accepted in other countries, except when they lead departments with specific names specific to the Maghreb region as a whole.6 For example, š-šugl wa l-mihniyy wa t-taqniyyāti ("Minister of Labor, Vocational Training and New Technologies"), l - 'iskān wa l -' umrān wa t-turābiyy ("Minister of Housing, Construction and Land Reclamation"), etc.
As a legacy of the French colonial rule, Mauritania also inherited a system of so-called state secretaries, who until 1791 were responsible for French foreign policy issues, and later were renamed Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Currently, State secretaries play the role of junior ministers and are accountable to the Minister or Prime Minister. A similar system has been preserved in the Maghreb region - in some countries to a greater extent, in some to a lesser extent.
The phrase kātibu d-dawlah (doel, "clerk of the state") appeared as a result of calculating the corresponding French concept of secrétaire d'ETAT - " state secretary, deputy minister (in France) "(doel, "secretary of the state, clerk of the state"). In Mauritania, this concept is not very common among senior leaders and is increasingly being replaced by the common word "minister"7. This is to some extent due to the recent success of Arabization in this country, which is taking place in order to "achieve true cultural independence and revive the Arabic language and Muslim culture" [Islamic Republic of Mauritania, 1987, p.20]. However, in other Maghreb countries (for example, in Tunisia) the state secretary system is still very strong.
Kātibu d-dawlah is a stable isafet phrase, i.e. it cannot break down into its component elements, the connection within the phrase is very strong, and it is semantically indivisible.8 Each of the junior ministers is usually responsible for some narrow range of issues within the ministry. Therefore, to express the meaning of "on business..., on..." due to the impossibility of violating the relay phrase, the most commonly used phrase is mukallaf bi - "responsible for...", while the preposition ladā- ("at-") indicates to which minister this high-ranking official is accountable. For example: kātibi d-dawlati l-mukallaf l- ' idārah wa t-taqniyyāti ("Posts: October 2008 - Head of Chancery
5 This translation is derived from the corresponding French title Secrétaire général de l'Élysée "Secretary General of the Elysee Palace", which is also often used to refer to this position.
6 They will be discussed in the article below.
7 In the Mashriqa region, it is used everywhere.
8 Currently, the same situation is observed with other similar stable phrases in the conjugate form, denoting public positions: l-wuzarā', ' āmm, etc.
Minister for Management Modernization and New Technologies") (MIA, 04.06.2010). When translating, most often the meaning of this Maghrebism is transmitted as simply "minister". As a consequence, the department headed by kātibu d-dawlah - kitābatu d-dawlah ("ministry") - is very rarely used in the Mauritanian press. It can be noted that here, too, the policy of intensive Arabization has borne fruit. For example: taqniyyāti l-ma kitābati d-dawlah ladā l - ' awwali l-mukallafah bi-t-taqniyyāti ("Positions: 2001-Director of Telecommunications and Information Technologies in the Ministry of New Technologies under the Prime Minister") (MIA, 04.06.2010).
For comparison, in Tunisia, this expression is also a thing of the past and is no longer found in the local press, although it was actively used some time ago. Now the concepts of "minister" and" ministry " are universally denoted by the common Arabic words and wizārah. In Algeria, kitābatu d-dawlah can easily be found in newspaper publications of this country, sometimes this phrase even takes on new meanings, for example, " state administration (of the President of the United States)". In Morocco, this unit is particularly popular and widespread, since, according to my observations, the number of ministries (they can even be called federal agencies) is larger here, and they are responsible for a wider range of issues.
The following regionalism, which is directly related to the topic of naming state bodies, is a unique language unit not only for the entire Mashriq, but also for the Maghreb. In this region, a borrowed term is very popular, which in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia means " cadres (specialists)". This lexical unit was formed as follows: the extensive French expansion into the Maghreb countries required a large volume of translations from French into Arabic. As a result, the original French concepts cadre ("frame, frame") and cadres ("frames") were translated by the corresponding word in Arabic, in this case they were chosen with the Arabic equivalents ("frame, frame") and ("frames"). However, in the future, the French began to actively use this word in a different meaning, namely: "a disciplined and quite suitable for active work composition of a particular social, professional group." Despite this, the Maghreb 9 decided not to invent a new word for this concept, but to rethink and expand the meaning of the old one by metaphorical transfer. As a result of this calculation, a unique unit was born, which is not known to most Arabs.
Nevertheless, in Mauritania, one can observe an absolutely specific use of this locally marked lexeme: if in the Maghreb it occurs only in the plural, then here it is both in the singular and in the plural, and the plural from here is not correct ("whole"), as is customary in other countries of the region, but the so-called broken - For example: 'agušt 2004 diğimbir 2005 yu' raf ba ' d bi-š-šarikati ("Positions: from August 2004 to December 2005-employee of the Shankit oil project, which was later renamed the National Fuel Company") (MIA, 05.06.2010); wa kāna ziyāratihi l- 'āli wa wa' adad min l-wizārah ("During the trip, the Minister was accompanied by the Director of Higher and secondary Education and a number of employees of the Ministry") (MIA, 04.10.2010).
Thus, when used in the singular, it acquires the meaning of "employee, employee, employee" in the Moorish territorial version of the Arabic literary language. At the same time, in other countries of the Arab world, the token
9 Residents of the Maghreb.
it is not locally marked and has the value "frame" ("frames"). Interestingly, the Mashriq countries have taken a different path in forming the Arabic equivalent of the French concept of cadres ("cadres"). Here the method of direct borrowing from a foreign language was applied, as a result of which a new language unit was born - kādir (kawādir).
The French education system has also left its mark on the Arabic literary language of Mauritania. So, after three years of studying at the university, a student receives a bachelor's degree-from fra. license), and after four years of study - a master's degree-from fran. maîtrise). For example: wa qāla 'anna d-dawrah tas'ā 'ilā r-raf' min mustawā 'alāshahādati mu 'assasātinā at-ta ("He noted that the purpose of this session is to raise the level of students who receive a master's degree in our educational institutions and specialize in two foreign languages") (MIA, 02.08.2010). As a consequence, the concepts of "bachelor" and" master " also came to the Moorish territorial version from the French language - (from fr. bachelor) and (from fr. magistère). Например: aš- šahādāt - z-zirā 'iyyah (šahādah) 1972 - 1977: min dharni'ati stayt bi-l-wilāyāti ("Diplomas - Bachelor of Agriculture (diploma), 1972-1977: Master of Oregon State University, USA") (MIA, 04.06.2010).
It is also necessary to note fluctuations in the spelling of individual words related to the educational process. For example, "diploma" - "doctorate" - The latter variants are usually typical only for the Moorish territorial version of the Arabic literary language.
The influence of the French language is felt in Mauritania and in a number of other cases, in particular in the designation of certain terms. For example, (from fr. électrotechnique) "electrical engineering", (from French. electro-mechanics": 1991-šahādatu muhandisi dawlah bi-l-madrasati 'ati l-ma ' daniyyah ("June 1991-diploma of State engineer in electrical Engineering issued by the National School of Mining in Rabat") (MIA, 04.06.2010).
In Mashriq, these borrowings correspond to the following analogs: handasah kahrabā ' iyyah ("electrical engineering") and l-kahrabā' ("electro-mechanics"). It is noteworthy that in the Maghreb countries, almost everywhere the noun ("mechanics") is replaced by a similar equivalent borrowed from the French language. Nevertheless, Mauritania is an exception here and uses the Mashriq term, although, as we have already seen above, the Maghreb variant is still used in compound words.
Borrowing such compound words from the French language is generally quite typical for the Maghreb region. For example, in Morocco there are such constructions as (from the French psychosociologique) - "psychosociological", (from the French psychosociologique). électromagnétisme) - "electromagnetism" , etc. However, due to the limited linear length of the Arabic word and the widespread use of isafet phrases, such constructions are unproductive and relatively rare in the text.
In addition, some adjectives came from the French language to Mauritania. For example, ("ecological"), which is derived from the French word ecologique ("ecological") and opposes the general French in the same meaning: wa nabbahati l - 'amma li-l- d- duwaliyyil' anna bi-ma 'awi hāmmah mağāli ("The Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature noted that Mauritania has a large number of places with ecological abundance") (MIA, 28.06.2010).
The adjective ("pedagogical") is also found in the Moorish press; as in Russian, it is derived from the French word pedagogique ("pedagogical"). Например: 'ani l-multaqā 4 'ayyām 3 waršāt tatanāwalu 'awwaluhā li-t- wa tata'allaqu bi-l-muqārabāt wa bi-kayfiyyati 'i 'dādi wa l-barāmiğ ("As a result of the four-day meeting, three seminars will be organized with discussions on three topics: pedagogical concepts of education, methods and ways of developing pedagogy, and the quality of training and program development") (MIA, 04.10.2009).
The meaning of" pedagogical " in Mashriq is not expressed by any special adjective, as in the Maghreb, but is transmitted at the expense of other words, most often being the last terms in the isafet phrase.
Separately, it is necessary to mention the word that is used in the Maghreb in the broad sense of "open space" and has truly limitless semantic possibilities in this region. This is especially true in Tunisia, where this lexical unit is so multi-faceted that in different contexts it can take on such meanings as "place", "zone", "position" and "event". This Maghrebism is also found in newspapers in Morocco and Algeria, but with much fewer meanings.
As for Mauritania, the main equivalent for here is "place". For example: wa 'akkada' anna 'amr 'alā wa ' anna sa-tuwākibuhā riqābah ma'a l-hay'ah li-l-murāqabah ("He confirmed that illegal occupation of the construction site is absolutely unacceptable and the new program will be strictly controlled, and a supervisory agency will be created") (MIA, 04.07.2010). Also, the expression"fertile soil", which is peculiar only to the local territorial variant, is registered here: wa 'ašfa 'a l-'iğtimā' š- šurakā' l-mubādarata min naw 'ihā bi- 'i 'tibārihā sa-tumakkinu min bilādinā bi-šakl šaffāf ("The meeting was accompanied by speeches of its participants, who highly appreciated this unique initiative, considering that it will create a fertile ground for transparent environmental control in our country") (MIA, 07.09.2010).
It is noteworthy that the word is used in most Arab countries as an uncountable noun with the meaning "space", but in the Maghreb countries (in particular, in Mauritania) it takes an unusual plural form
The general vocabulary of the Arabic literary language is also represented in Mauritania by a set of typical locally marked Maghreb lexemes and their own unique regionalisms.
in this region, the meaning is "professional training, training (personnel)", as opposed to the general Russian usage in the meaning of "creation, formation" 10. For example: wa nabbaha ' ilā ' anna kāna bi-šahādah đārmi'iyyah wa laday-hi ma wa lam mihniyy dirāsatihi l-āmi'iyyah mimma sabbaba ntišāri bayna ("He pointed out that earlier students graduated from the university with a diploma and knowledge of theory, not a specialty. While studying at the university, they had no professional training, which led to widespread unemployment among university graduates") (MIA, 29.09.2010).
The turāb token is a unit of common Maghreb meaning with the meaning "territory". It can be found, for example, in Morocco, where we recorded
10 In the Mashrika region, the term "training (personnel)" is denoted by the word
The phrase turābiyyah means " territorial integrity "(cf.: in Mauritania, turābiyyah means "territorial integrity"). In Tunisia, it is also very common. Within the framework of the Moorish territorial variant, the expression at-turābu ("territory of the country") is also often used. For example: wa šarikata sa-tabda 'u min yawmi l -' ā šir min l-āri mātil 'alā kāffatit-turābi 'ittifāqiyyah ma 'a l-mu 'assasāt nafsi l-mağāl ("He added that on October 10, Moripost will start providing services to Matel throughout the country, and pointed out that an agreement has already been signed with one of the companies working in this area") (MIA, 06.10.2010).
As for the use of turāb in the Mashrik countries, here its general meaning is "land, soil", but it is largely reduced to the phrases turābu turābu ("native land"). This word here takes on an overexpressive and overemotional meaning, and is often used in nationalist articles, unlike in the Maghreb countries, where it is constantly seen in ordinary socio-political materials or even as an integral part of the name of official positions, as we have already indicated above.
The word is also noted in the uzus of both Mauritania and the entire Maghreb region quite often. Other countries in the Arab world use it to refer to the concept of "demonstration", but within this area it has the meaning of "event", "event" or even the more fashionable now "forum". For example: wa ' ašrafa 'alā as-sayyid l -' āmm li-wizārati wa š-šabāb wa tanāwala kalimatihi bi-l - munāsabah ta wa ' alāqata mumārasatihā bi-l- 'insāni l -' arabiyy 'abra t-ta ("Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Hamid Hamouni opened the sports event and gave a speech in which he touched upon the history of this sport and its constant connection with Arab society for centuries") (MIA, 22.09.2010).
Another lexical unit common in Mauritania came to the local territorial version from Libya. In this country, for the first time, the following appeal to the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi appeared: al-qā'id mu 'ammar qā' idu min sibtambara ("Muammar Gaddafi is the leader of the revolution that took place at the beginning of great September")11. In addition, one of the 25 municipalities in Libya is named after this word. It is also impossible not to recall the first surah of the Qur'an, which literally means " the surah that opens, begins the Qur'an."
The meaning of this noun appeared as a result of the substantiation of the participle of the real voice ("opening, beginning"). It is usually used to indicate the beginning of a certain period of time, for example ("at the beginning of October"), l- ' am ("at the beginning of the year"), etc.
Interestingly, the frequency of use of this language unit is particularly high in Mauritania and Libya - two states that are located on the periphery of the Maghreb region, encircling it from different sides. Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria use this word much less often. For example: bada ' at min šahri l-āāri 'alā mustawā tastamirru šahrayn ("At the beginning of October, a ban on commercial fishing began to take effect, which will last for two months") (MIA, 03.10.2010).
Typical Mauritanismis the word zawāl ("day"), which is rarely used outside of this country, but is constantly found here when referring to the time of various conferences and summits. For example:
11 The Libyan revolution took place on September 1, 1969.
s-sanawāti r-rawābi' bi-kulliyyāti l-āmi 'ahmağāli fa" āliyyātu d-dawrati bi-āmi 'ati zawāla l-yawm bi-kulliyyati ("This afternoon, the Faculty of Economics and Law of the University of Nouakchott started a professional language training session for fourth-year students of the University") (MIA, 02.08.2010).
This time of day designation is specific to some countries. For example, it is used in Saudi Arabia in the meaning of "evening". This unit is particularly common in phrases like 'ams ("last night"), l-yawm ("tonight"), etc.The word is used in all Muslim countries as the name of the obligatory afternoon prayer from the end of the midday prayer of Zuhr until the beginning of sunset. Saudi usage of the word associated with the role of the State as the cradle of the Muslim religion is not so well known there.
Recently, a new lexical unit kazrah has appeared in Moorish usage, denoting the phenomenon when local residents illegally build houses and live in them without any permission from the state. In Russian, it can be translated as "samostroy". It is a kind of neologism that has not yet been noted in dictionaries, including the famous Arabic-Russian dictionary of H. K. Baranov, which, to be fair, was published more than half a century ago. For example: wa tas l - 'iğrā' ' ilā 'alā l-kazrah qabla nihāyati 2010 ("With the help of this measure, the state authorities are trying to eradicate Samostroy from the city of Anvazibu as a phenomenon until the end of 2010") (MIA, 12.10.2010).
Also, based on the analysis of the press of Mauritania, we can conclude that there is a curious phenomenon of mixing Mashriq and Maghreb norms. For example, the concept of "work" here is denoted by two lexemes - šugl, characteristic of the Maghreb, and 'amal, characteristic of the rest of the Arab world. Along with the traditional Maghreb meaning of "speech, speech, conversation", the lexeme is also used in Mauritania in its pan-Maghreb meaning of "intervention, intervention". Such words as nağā 'ah (Maghrib) and āadwā (Mashrik) - "benefit" also duplicate each other. Maghrebism ("internship, length of service, industrial practice"), formed as a result of calculating the similar French concept of stage, is also used in Mauritania and in its general Arabic meaning as "masdar" from the verb ("to lie in wait for something"). For example: fa - ' anā mukallaf bi-š - šuglwa 'an taktatiba man tašā'wa lāyumkinu li-l- 'idārati ("I am engaged in work, not employment. Companies are free to hire whomever they want, and management cannot interfere in the selection process") (MIA, 26.09.2010).
Some typical Maghreb units were never adopted by the Moorish territorial version of the Arabic literary language and still uses only Mashriq equivalents, as in the case of the word that in the Maghreb region has always meant the concept of "agriculture". However, in Mauritania it was replaced by the common Arabic word zirā 'ah, and is used in the sense of "agriculture".
The use of calendar months also carries some elements of the above-mentioned confusion of Maghreb and Mashriq norms. So, on the one hand, transliterated and partially adapted European names of months are mainly used here (yanāyir - "January", fibrāyir - "February", māris - "March", - "April", - "May", - "June", - "July", - "August" sibtambar - "September", - "October", - "November", - "december"), on the other hand, elements of the French system of month names are partially borrowed - "August", štambar - "September", diğimbir - "December"). How we can
For example, the latter are close to the Moroccan system of naming months ("August", štanbar - "September", diğinbir - "December") and represent locally marked units unique to Mauritania, which are not marked in other Arab countries.
As a result, double word pairs sibtambar-štambar are formed, which are easily interchangeable within the local territorial variant. For example: wa 'akkada raddihi' alā s-su 'āli š-šafahiyy 'anna wa 'ummāli l-ma 'āhid qad rawātibahum 'ilā nihāyati 2009 'ammā fa-min baynihim man suddidat la-hum 'ila nihāyatidiğimbir2009 wa minhum man la-hu mā bayna 5 'ilā 7 'ašhur ("Answering this question, the Minister confirmed that all employees and employees of the institutes have already received salaries up to the end of August 2009, as for students, there are those who were paid scholarships before the end of December 2009, and those who still have 5-7 - month arrears") (MIA, 04.01.2010).
As we can see in the example above, different words from doublet forms perfectly coexist within the same sentence.
It is also necessary to say a few words about the use of adjectives in Moorish texts. It also reflects the effect of mixing the Maghreb and Mashriq norms. Thus, the concept of" past", which is used to refer to various time frames, is expressed in Mauritania with the help of lexemes more characteristic of the Maghreb region, as well as common Arabic ones.
In addition, some adjectives are used in accordance with the general Maghreb usage.
For example, olihawiyy ("regional") is derived from olihah ("region"), which is a division of the Tunisian administrative division. Despite the fact that usihah is used in Mauritania only in the general Arabic meaning "side, direction", usihawiyy functions quite successfully here. Например: wa ru'asā'u l-fanniyyati l-ğihawiyyati l-ma 'niyyah wa 'adad mina l-wilāyah ("This forum, organized in the administrative center of the region, was attended by the heads of relevant regional technical departments and a number of employees") (MIA, 14.10.2010).
The adjective ("general, public") is used in the Maghreb on a par with ' amm, but at the present stage the former is found almost everywhere. This is because in the minds of the inhabitants of this region, the word is associated with the French word publique ("public"), which is why the name of all the main departments and institutions is used for example ("organs of the state apparatus") (cf. the French equivalent-service publique), maktabah ("public library") (cf. French equivalent - bibliothèque publique), etc.
In the case of Mauritania, it forms the following new construction: ("public authorities"). For example: wa wa wa mas baramiğ bi-l-bank wa liqā 'āt ma 'a wa l-muğtama 'i l-madaniyy wa ("A delegation consisting of high-ranking directors, specialists, employees and programmers of the bank will hold meetings with government authorities, representatives of civil society and the private sector") (MIA, 04.10.2010).
This group also includes the comparative adjective ' azyad min ("more than, more than"), which in the Maghreb countries replaces the corresponding common Arabic adjective min and is registered both in Mauritania and in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. For example: wa l - 'ihtimām 'irsāli 400tun' azyad mintis 'ati min-hā li-wilāyati
li-da ' mi ("This interest was expressed in sending 400 tons of seeds of traditional crops to support the farmers who produce them. Inshiri region received more than nine tons") (MIA, 24.09.2010).
Also of interest are a number of verbs that are often found in the Moorish press. So, the common Arabic verb ("perpetuate") It is used here in the sense of "celebrate", thereby almost completely replacing another common Arabic verb. It is possible that this word usage originates in the expression ("perpetuate memory") and it arose under the influence of the corresponding French verb commémorer ("to celebrate the memory of someone/something, to celebrate"). For example: bilādunā al-yauma d-duwaliyyah, as-sanata d-duwaliyyah li-t-tanawwu ' i ("Today our country is celebrating the International Day of Biological Diversity together with the UN") (MIA, 27.06.2010).
Some verbs have specific features that are characteristic of the territorial variants of the Maghreb and Mashriq, and demonstrate the ability to duplicate each other already described above based on the combination of norms of the two main regions of the Arab world.
The verb has the meaning "to accept"in Mauritania. If we consider this regionalism from the point of view of common Arabic usage, then this lexeme belongs to a high style with a rather high-flown meaning "to take, to embrace"12. However, in the Maghreb, it is considered an ordinary socio-political word, which is often the beginning of a sentence or an entire article about the arrival of certain delegations, the conduct of important negotiations, etc. At the same time, the sentence here is built according to a model that differs from the Russian language; in English, for example, there is a similar and very common expression to host, so it is recommended to translate such constructions not using the model "some city hosted some event", but using the formula that is more effective for newspaper style "some event took place in some city." However, the common Greek verb ("to receive someone as a guest") is also used here.
The term" visit "is also used in Moorish newspapers and magazines with the use of the typically Maghreb verb phrases 'addā ziyārah (doel," pay a visit") and qāma bi-ziyārah (Mashriq). For example: maqarru al-yauma 'iğtimā 'a' amal bayna wafd min lağnati š - ša ' biyyah hāliyyanbi - ziyārati 'amal li-bilādinā ma'a min l-hisābāti ("On Monday, representatives of the Court of Accounts of Mauritania met at its headquarters in Nouakchott with members of the delegation of the Accounts Commission of the People's Republic of China, who are currently in our country with working visit") (MIA, 28.06.2010).
Some local labeling can also be found in the prepositions and conjunctions used in the Mauritanian media.
The prepositional combination min , which is often found within the Maghreb, corresponds in Russian to the form of the creative case in the passive voice. In such cases, in classical Arabic grammar, the word denoting the performer of an action usually occupies the syntactic position of an indirect complement, attached by a construction consisting of the preposition min and one of the following:
12 It is in this sense that it is sometimes found in some countries, such as Saudi Arabia.
13 Unfortunately, it is very difficult to adequately reflect this verb in translation due to the change in the entire structure of the Arabic sentence when translating it in Russian.
the following words: qibal ("side"), ("side"), āānib ("side"). Min qibal is typical of the Mashriqa countries, while min is typical of the Maghreb (min āānib is practically not used).
Nevertheless, it should be noted that practically constructions with such turns are not widely used, since when the performer of the action is known, it is preferable to use a valid pledge. At the same time, these language units are very popular in newspapers in Mauritania - for example, almost every third article has a turnover ("organized by whom-L./what-L."). Min was formed as a result of calculating the French expression de la part de ("from the side of someone-L., on behalf of someone-L."). For example: wa l-liqā'min 'idārati wa l- 'iršād bi-wizārati t-tanmiyati bi-da' m mina d-duwaliyyah li-l- wa z-zirā ' ah (fāw) ("The meeting was organized by the Office of Research and Control under the Ministry of Rural Development with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization UN (FAO)") (MIA, 13.10.2010).
Another French expression au profit de... ("for the benefit of something") was transformed in the framework of the Arabic literary language of the Maghreb into the prepositional combination li-fā 'idah ("for what-L., for what-L."). In Mauritania, it is not as common as, for example, in Tunisia, but it is sometimes found along with its synonym, apparently formed from the same construction. It is the latter that is used everywhere here. For example: niqābatu l-yaumi l - 'arbi' ā waršah mağāli taqniyyāti l - ' i 'lām wa bi-t-ta'āwun ma'a sifārati l-wilāyati ("This morning, the Mauritanian Journalists' Union, together with the US Embassy in Nouakchott, organized a professional seminar in the field of information technology for 20 reporters") (MIA, 06.10.2010).
The administrative division of each Arab country is a unique phenomenon, which was mainly formed under the influence of various historical conditions. Of course, such features are reflected in the territorial variants of the Arabic literary language, and they must be taken into account. Administratively, Mauritania is divided into 12 wilayahs, or regions, as well as the metropolitan administrative district of Nouakchott, headed by a wali, or governor. Vilayets, in turn, are divided into 44 departments, each of which is headed by an ' ah ("head of department"). For example: wa rāfaqa l-wāli z-ziyārah kull min hākimi l - ' amniyyah bi-l-wilāyah ("During this trip, the governor was accompanied by the head of the Silibabi Department and the regional security Service") (MIA, 13.10.2010).
Thus, the Moorish territorial version of the Arabic literary language is characterized by a wide variety of lexical regionalisms. On the one hand, it is a representative of a typical Maghreb norm with a certain set of words and expressions peculiar only to this region, on the other hand, there is a curious phenomenon of mixing Maghribisms with mashrikisms, which can easily replace each other in the text. In addition, Mauritania has a number of its own locally marked tokens. Undoubtedly, this country provides a wealth of material for research that can clarify the position of territorial variants in the Arabic language system.
* * *
Below is a phonetic transcription based on Latin graphics with a number of additional diacritics added.
Appendix Transcription used in the article Consonant sounds
Vowel sounds
list of literature
Belkin V. M. Arab Lexicology, Moscow: MSU Publishing House, 1975.
Zavadovsky Yu. N. The Moorish dialect of the Arabic language (hassaniya), Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1981.
Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Handbook, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1987.
Kowalska-Levicka A. Mauretania, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1981.
Prozhogina S. V. Tipologiya razvitiya sovremennykh francoyazychnykh literatury stran Maghreb [Typology of the development of modern French-language literatures in the Maghreb countries]. Moscow: 1980.
Shagal V. E. Language aspect of national processes in Arab countries, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1987.
Shagal V. E. Arab Countries: Language and Society, Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura, 1998.
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