Comparative Notes on the Jewish Arabic Dialects of Gabes and Djerba (Tunisia)

Jewish Arabic dialects of Gabes and Djerba, though geographically close, exhibit significant phonological and syntactic distinctions. While Jewish Gabes retains three phonemic vowels and retroflex sibilants, Jewish Djerba shows a reduced vowel system with fronted palatal sibilants. Syntactically, the dialects diverge in future tense markers—Jewish Gabes uses both 'bāš' and 'ḥabb', whereas Jewish Djerba employs 'ḥa', potentially derived from 'ḥabb'. Both dialects also feature topicalisation strategies akin to Chinese-style constructions. This study combines linguistic analysis with field recordings, offering insights into the historical and sociolinguistic dynamics of North African Jewish communities.

Gębski, W. (2025). Comparative Notes on the Jewish Arabic Dialects of Gabes and Djerba (Tunisia). Interconnected Traditions: Semitic Languages, Literatures, Cultures—A Festschrift for Geoffrey Khan, 399–428. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0464.13