Skip to main content

I and Us in Algerian Derja






You might have noticed that in the Algerian language, to conjugate a verb in the first person singular (in the present-future), you prefix it with noon : nften, nro7, n'bghi. This noon is also found in the conjugation of the first person plural verb (in the present-future), with the addition of the plural marker waw: nb'dlo, ntlaqaw, n7ebbo
 
noon is part of what makes "us" and "I". “We”, in Algerian, is grammatically built on part of the identity of "I". “We” is a continuation of “I” grammatically speaking. "I"s are linked by their plurality, the waw plural marker says as much. "We" is a plurality (waw) based on singularities (noon).  In Algerian, “we” is a group of individuals (I) linked by their singular state (noon). "We" is a group tied by their individualities - their differences, not by their similarities.

waw is also used elsewhere in grammar: it expresses the conjunction “and”. It connects.

Let's play a little and look at the construction of "we + verb" again. Could it be that "we + verb" is actually built on the concept of I-and-plural (where I is noon, and waw reveals both a group, a plural, and connects this interruption).
 
Derrida once said he could only reconcile himself with a "we" made of interruptions. J’appelleraisun « nous » disons acceptable un « nous » fait d’interruptions, un« nous » où ceux qui disent « nous » savent que ce sont dessingularités qui entretiennent entre elles un rapport interrompu.” (“I would call a “we” let us say, acceptable, an “us” made of interruptions, an “us” where those who say “we” know that they are singularities who maintain between themselves an interrupted connection”). 

This interruption is found in the Algerian Arabic parsing of a we in action. In Algerian, “I” has not melted into "us", it has not disappeared into the group. It is visible as the presence of noon shows. “We” in the Algerian language is a plural made of interruptions, a set of I's that gather.

But you and I have a question now because we can't help thinking of Arabic grammar. However little of Classical and modern Arabic we know, we are aware that in MSA and in Classical Arabic, the first person plural conjugation is built on noon (naf3al), but the first person singular conjugation is built on alif (asa'al). In Classical Arabic, I and We are separate constructions as far as grammar goes. In Algerian, they are not entirely separate, "I" and "We" are tied by their common prefix. "I" and "we" are bound.

And so, can I exist from the group? Have I ever existed away from us, in the Algerian language?

When I speak to an an Algerian "I" in Algeria, she or he often tells me that she or he feels weighed down by us (les us et les coutumes), by tradition and of wanting to follow it in part while attempting to break away from it in part.
 
One way to break away from "we", is by using another language, or by moving abroad.  Is it because "I" needs another language's conjugation and set of pronouns to break the morphological link?  

In Algerian society, as wide and varied as it is, can individuality exist away from the hold of the group, the “us”?  Grammar would say yes.  Individuality already exists, as we have seen above. Now, much depends on how individuality is defined. Individuality is not a state in which one is unbound, responsibilities come with freedom and that's a link (a waw). Individuality means to be visible, and for this visibility to be accepted and acceptable within and without the group.  I, in Algerian Derja's verbal conjugation, am visible in us, and equally, we are a group made of individualities and singularities, this group does not melt nor break.  In Algerian grammar, the group meets the singular, and let's it be. 

Is this grammatical reality reflected in Algerian society at large? I don't know.

I only know that grammar shows me one possibility: if ours is a system equally balanced between the visibility (the freedom) of the individual, and on these individuals' collective responsibility to a plural group, then the blue print and template for an open, plural and solid society is on our tongues. "We" are a set of interruptions. Like a great life-giving pulse.  


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Moufdi Zakaria - The Algerian Ilyad

I am over the moon to have found a PDF version of the original Algerian Ilyad by the great Algerian war poet Moufdi Zakaria. As it is the original version, it is in Arabic HERE (thanks to archive.org, a fantastic e-resource for old books, you should check it out).  You can access the book in other formats too HERE . The Algerian Iliad - إلياذة الجزائـر  -  l' Iliade algé rienne  is a 1,000 line poem retracing Algeria's history in great historical details.  Throughout, Cheikh Zakaria recounts all the names that have shapped the Algeria's history. He goes through all the regions' history and their greatest most emblematic figures. This poem is so valuable and beautiful.  It should be on the curriculum of any Arabic and history cursus in Algeria.  Perhaps it is and/or you know this poem? Who is Cheikh Moufdi Zakaria? Well, on 5th of July, three days from now, Algeria will celebrate 50 years of independence. A tremendous poem was composed during

"Kan darbe yaadatani, isa gara fuula dura itti yaaddu" (Oromo proverb)

"By remembering the past, the future is remembered". These notes are taken from Mengesha Rikitu's research on "Oromo Folk Tales for a new generation" by (see also his "Oromo Proverbs" and "Oromo Grammar"). Some proverbs are folk tales are worth the detour: 1) Oromo Proverb – Harreen yeroo alaaktu malee, yeroo dhuudhuuftu hin'beektu   "The Donkey doesn't know that it is farting again and again when it is braying." (ie some people concentrating on their own verbosity are unaware of what is going on behind them) You can tell that dhuudhuuftu is the farting can't you, am betting on the sound that word makes. Oromifa is one of the five most widely spoken (Afroasiatic) languages in Africa. Its importance lies in the numbers of its speakers and in its geographical extent. The 'official' numbers point to 30 million Oromo speakers (but there has not been to this day a complete or reliable census). The majority

List: Moroccan Literature in English (and) Translation

Moroccan Literature in English (and) Translation Many readers and bookshops organise their book piles, shelves and readings by country, loosely defined as the author’s country of origin, or of where the story takes place. It’s an approach to fiction I always found odd and enjoyable. There is a special kind of enjoyment to be had by sticking to the fiction of a place and concentrating on it for a while. The pleasure I derive from this may simply be due to my myopia, and the habit it brings of frowning at a single point until a clear picture emerges, but as others engage in the same, and comforted by a crowd, it’s a habit I pursue and which is now taking me to Morocco. This journey, I make accompanied by a list of Moroccan literature in English, that is, translated fiction or literature written originally in English. It is shared below for the curious and fellow addicts. I could say that my tendency to focus on a country is how the construction of the list began, but that w