| Italian Pidgin of Libya | |
|---|---|
| Pidgin italiano di Libia | |
| Region | Libya |
| Era | early to late 20th century |
Italian-based pidgin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| IETF | crp-LI |
Libya's Pidgin Italian is a name given to the Italian language used by the native Arabs in the North African nation of Libya. It was created in the 1920s and disappeared in the 1980s [1]
The Pidgin Italian of Libya is a legacy of Italian colonial period, when Libya was part of Italian North Africa. Of course Italian was the language of the Italians who settled in Libya. In 1940 nearly half the native Libyans were able to speak in Italian (and in Tripoli & Benghazi all of them) and many loanwords from Italian were assimilated in the local Arab language. [2] But since the 1920s started to be developed between the native Arab population a "Pidgin italian", with Arab and Italian words mixed (according to historian Tripodi [3] ).
Although it was greatly used by most of the Arab Libyans on the coast since colonial rule, the Pidgin Italian greatly declined under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi who expelled nearly all the Italian colonists population (and Italian-educated Libyans who were opposed to Gaddafi's rule). The Libyan dictator returned Arabic to be once again the sole official and common used language of the country. [4]
Under the colonial regime, Italian was the language of instruction in schools, but only a scattering of Muslim children attended these institutions. As a consequence, the Italian language did not take root in Libya to the extent that French did elsewhere in North Africa. Nevertheless, the strong wave of nationalism accompanying the 1969 revolution found expression in a campaign designed to elevate the status of the Arabic language. An order was issued requiring that all street signs, shop window notices, signboards, and traffic tickets be written in Arabic. This element of Arabization reached its apogee in 1973, when a decree was passed requiring that passports of persons seeking to enter the country contain the regular personal information in Arabic, a requirement that was strictly enforced. U.S. Library of Congress: Libya
Nonetheless, Italian and Pidgin Italian were still spoken and understood to some degree by mainly some old people until the 1980s. After the National Transitional Council (NTC) has been responsible for the transition of the administration of the governing of Libya, returning Libyan refugees from Italy or Switzerland and their children who speak Italian introduced these languages again in Libya but only in some limited cities, like in the capital Tripoli and in Benghazi.
While phonology and intonation are affected by Arabic, Libyan Italian is mostly based on the standard European form. The Italian lexicon used in Libya contains many loanwords of Arabic origin, including Islamic terms. Actually there are 682 loanwords in the dialect spoken in Tripolitania, according to Saul Hoffman. [5]
The nearly seven hundred loanwords are related to many terms of Italian origin about mechanics, especially in reference to cars and workshop work, but without excluding carpentry, building, plumbing and everything related to electricity. There follow areas such as food, clothing and medicine and then breakfast items and drink and so on up to daily domestic terms.
The following are some examples of these loanwords:
| Libyan Arabic & Libya's Pidgin Italian | Italian | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word | IPA (Western) | Meaning | Word | Meaning | |
| ṣālīṭa | [sˤɑːliːtˤa] | slope | salita | up slope [6] | |
| kinšēllu | [kənʃeːlːu] | metallic gate | cancello | gate [7] | |
| anguli | [aŋɡuli] | corner | angolo | corner [8] | |
| ṭānṭa, uṭānṭa | [tˤɑːntˤɑ],[utˤɑːntˤɑ] | truck | ottanta | eighty [9] (a model of a truck of Italian make) | |
| tēsta | [teːsta] | a hit with the forehead | testa | head [10] | |
| maršabēdi | [marʃabeːdi] | sidewalk | marciapiede | sidewalk [11] | |
| calcio | [kɑːttʃu] | kick | calcio | kick [12] | |
| sbageṭi, spageṭi | [sbɑːɡeːtˤi,spɑːɡeːtˤi] | spaghetti | |||
| lazānya | [lɑːzɑːnja] | lasagna | |||
| rizoṭu | [rizoːtˤu] | risotto | |||
| feṭuččini | [fetˤutˤ.ʃiːni] | fettuccine | |||
| kuğīna | [ku.dʒiːna] | kitchen | cucina | ||
Also, Libyan Italian can be seen to resemble the form and structure of Creole-based forms of European languages.
Actually some loanwords from the Italian language have been fully assimilated into the Libyan Arab language. [13]
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