Last Updated: 2019-07-09
Background
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic / Berber / Northern / Atlas
- The name of the language is spelled in a variety of ways, including Shilha, Tashelheet, and Tachelhit.
- Shilha is spoken in Morocco.
Phonology
Consonants
- All Shilha consonants can be geminated (Ridouane 2008, 323).
- Applegate (1958) argues for the labialized consonants as allophones that occur before /u/, although he also describes them as having relatively free variation (pp. 2-3).
- Kossmann, Maarten G. and Stroomer, Harry J. (1996) argues for the absence of /nˤ/ and /ʒˤ/ (p. 467).
- Kossmann, Maarten G. and Stroomer, Harry J. (1996) argue for velar rather than uvular fricatives (ibid.).
- Kossmann, Maarten G. and Stroomer, Harry J. (1996) state that no minimal pairs exist between labialized consonants and their non-labialized counterparts (p. 468). I have chosen to include labialized consonants in the rule set for those that have been attested, thus represented below.
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Place of Articulation
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Manner of Articulation
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Labial
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Alveolar
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Alveolar (pharyngealized)
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Postalveolar
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Postalveolar (pharyngealized)
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Palatal
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Velar
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Labiovelar
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Uvular
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Labio-uvular
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Pharyngeal
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Glottal
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Stops
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b
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t d
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tˤ dˤ
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k ɡ
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kʷ ɡʷ
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q
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qʷ
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Fricatives
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f
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s z
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sˤ zˤ
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ʃ ʒ
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ʒˤ
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χ ʁ
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χʷ ʁʷ
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ħ ʕ
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h
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Nasals
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m
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n
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nˤ
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Trills
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r
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rˤ
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Approximants
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l
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lˤ
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j
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w
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Note: Phonemes to the left of each cell are voiceless and phonemes to the right of each cell are voiced.
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Vowels
- [ə] is added through epenthesis in some contexts, but is not a phoneme in its own right (Kossmann, Maarten G. and Stroomer, Harry J. 1996, 468).
- There are no diphthongs or vowel clusters in Shilha (Kossmann, Maarten G. and Stroomer, Harry J. 1996, 463).
- Applegate (1958) attests two tonal contours, but does not appear to find them contrastive (p. 6).
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Front
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Central
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Back
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High
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i
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u
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Low
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a
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Alphabet
- Note: /ʒˤ/, /nˤ/, /rˤ/, and /lˤ/ are not represented in Crúbadán.
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Grapheme
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Phoneme
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Comment
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a
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/a/
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b
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/b/
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d
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/d/
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ḍ
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/dˤ/
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e
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[ə]
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⟨e⟩ will go to null in the ruleset due to [ə]’s non-phonemic status in Shilha
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ɛ
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/ʕ/
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f
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/f/
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g
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/ɡ/
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ġ
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/ʁ/
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h
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/h/
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ḥ
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/ħ/
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h̬
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/χ/
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in some orthographies
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i
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/i/
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j
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/ʒ/
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j̣
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/ʒˤ/
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k
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/k/
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l
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/l/
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ḷ
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/lˤ/
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m
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/m/
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n
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/n/
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ṇ
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/nˤ/
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q
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/q/
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r
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/r/
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ṛ
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/rˤ/
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s
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/s/
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ṣ
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/sˤ/
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š
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/ʃ/
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t
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/t/
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ṭ
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/tˤ/
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u
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/u/
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w
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/w/
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ʷ
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marks labialization of preceding consonant
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x
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/χ/
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in some orthographies
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y
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/j/
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z
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/z/
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ẓ
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/zˤ/
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Lenition Rules
- Some dialects spirantize bilabial and velar stops; other dialects spirantize the alveolar stops (Ridouane 2008, 323).
Misc. Rules
- Epenthetic [ə] occurs interconsonantally, except in VCCV or #CCV sequences, where adding [ə] would yield an open syllable (Kossmann, Maarten G. and Stroomer, Harry J. 1996, 463).
- Where there exist more than two consecutive consonants, epenthesis first occurs between the final two consonants in the cluster, and proceeds backwards, adding [ə] in any permissible positions. For instance, the word /iʃrz/ becomes [iʃrəz] rather than *[iʃərəz] or *[iʃərz] (ibid.).
- A few consonants undergo fortition when they lengthen. /dː/ devoices to [tː], /ʁː/ despirantizes and devoices to [qː], and /wː/ deapproximantizes to [ɡʷː] (Kossmann, Maarten G. and Stroomer, Harry J. 1996, 465).
References
Applegate, Joseph R. 1958. An Outline of the Structure of Shilha. American Council of Learned Societies.
Kossmann, Maarten G., and Stroomer, Harry J. 1996. “Berber Phonology.” In Phonologies of Asia and Africa, edited by Kaye, Alan S. and Daniels, Peter T., 461–76. Routledge.
Ridouane, Rachid. 2008. “Syllables without Vowels: Phonetic and Phonological Evidence from Tashlhiyt Berber.” Phonology 25: 321–59.