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| Overseas languages | |
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See Also: Language policy in France | |
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| Maore | |
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| Shimaoreشِمَوُوْرِيْ | |
| Native to | Mayotte, Madagascar |
Native speakers | 152,000 (2012) [1] |
| Latin Arabic [2] [3] | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | swb |
| Glottolog | maor1244 |
G.44d [4] | |
| ELP | Maore Comorian |
Maore Comorian, or Shimaore (French Mahorais), is one of the two indigenous languages spoken in the French-ruled Comorian islands of Mayotte; Shimaore being a dialect of the Comorian language, while ShiBushi is an unrelated Malayo-Polynesian language originally from Madagascar. Historically, Shimaore- and ShiBushi-speaking villages on Mayotte have been clearly identified, but Shimaore tends to be the de facto indigenous lingua franca in everyday life, because of the larger Shimaore-speaking population. Only Shimaore is represented on the local television news program by Mayotte La Première. The 2002 census references 80,140 speakers of Shimaore in Mayotte itself, to which one would have to add people living outside the island, mostly in metropolitan France. There are also 20,000 speakers of Comorian in Madagascar, of which 3,000 are Shimaore speakers.
The same 2002 census indicates that 37,840 persons responded as knowing how to read or write Shimaore. However this number has to be taken with caution, since it was a few years after this census was taken that a standard writing system was introduced.
From a sociolinguistic perspective, French tends to be regarded by many Shimaore speakers as the language of higher education and prestige, and there is a temptation by native Mahorans to provide an all-French education to their children. This puts a lot of pressure on Shimaore and the language may become endangered in the near future if nothing is done.[ citation needed ]
Although French remains the official language in Mayotte, Shimaore will probably be taught in Mahoran schools starting in the next few years,[ when? ] and a pilot project began in fall 2004. As in many parts of France where local languages are introduced in the school system, this has led to tensions between partisans of a French-centered education system and administrations, versus those promoting a more diversified approach.[ citation needed ] Shimaore's position in this regard is however different from other French regions (such as Brittany), since the language is locally spoken by a majority of the population. The project in Mayotte has been inspired by similar projects involving Swahili in eastern Africa countries.
Mayotte is a geographically small territory, but frequent exchanges between villages only began in the last quarter of the twentieth century. As of 2004, linguistic differences between the east and west part of the island, and between the main city of Mamoudzou and the remote villages, are still noticeable, especially when it comes to phonological differences. One typical example is the word u-la (to eat), notably pronounced this way in the city due to the influence of a brand of yogurt bearing the same name, but pronounced u-dja in other parts of the island.
| Labial | Labio- dental | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | ʈ | k | ||||
| voiced | b | d | ɖ | ɡ | |||||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | |||||||
| prenasal | ᵐp,ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶯɖ | ᵑɡ | |||||
| Affricate | voiceless | ts | tʃ | ||||||
| voiced | dz | dʒ | |||||||
| prenasal | ⁿts,ⁿdz | ᶮdʒ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | ʃ | h | |||
| voiced | β | v | ð | z | ʒ | ||||
| Rhotic | r | ||||||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | ||||||
This language features an unusual contrast between /w,β,v,b,ɓ/.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Low | a |
This is a basic five-vowel system similar to that of languages such as Spanish.
Shimaore was traditionally written with an informal French-based Latin alphabet. On 22 February 2006, the Conseil de la Culture, de l'Éducation et de l'Environnement de Mayotte introduced an official alphabet developed by Association ShiMé that utilizes the basic Latin alphabet without c, q, and x and adds three letters: ɓ, ɗ, and v̄. [5] On 3 March 2020, the Conseil départemental de Mayotte announced the adoption of official orthographies in both Latin and Arabic scripts for Shimaore. [3] [6]
| Letter | A a | B b | Ɓ ɓ Implosive | D d | Ɗ ɗ Implosive | E e | F f | G g | H h | I i | J j | K k | L l | M m | N n | O o | P p | R r | S s | T t | U u | V v | V̄ v̄ | W w | Y y | Z z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA Value | /a/ | /b/ | /ɓ/ | /d/ | /ɗ/ | /e/ | /f/ | /ɡ/ | /h/ | /i/ | /ʒ/ | /k/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /o/ | /p/ | /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /v/ | /β/ | /w/ | /j/ | /z/ |
| Letter | Dh, dh | Dj, dj | Dr, dr | Dz, dz | Mb, mb | Mp, mp | Nd, nd | Ndj, ndj | Ndr, ndr | Ndz, ndz | Ng, ng | Nts, nts | Ny, ny | Sh, sh | Th, th | Tr, tr | Ts, ts | Tsh, tsh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA Value | /ð/ | /d͡ʒ/ | /ɖ/ | /d͡z/ | /mb/ | /mp/ | /ⁿd/ | /ᶮd͡ʒ/ | /ᶯɖ/ | /ⁿd͡z/ | /ᵑɡ/ | /ⁿt͡s/ | /ɲ/ | /ʃ/ | /θ/ | /ʈ/ | /t͡s/ | /t͡ʃ/ |
Maore Arabic Alphabet, officially recognized alongside Latin since 2020, consists of 35 letters, of which 27 are from the original Arabic script, and 9 are created for sounds not found in Arabic. However, many of the letters in Maore have a different pronunciation than their Arabic counterpart.
Whereas in Arabic there are 3 vowels, in Maore there are 5. While the common convention in Swahili Ajami orthography has been to use two new diacritics, which are modified varieties of two existing diacritics, in Maore Arabic alphabet, only the 3 original Arabic diacritics are used. Arabic vowels themselves represent vowels [a], [u], and [i].
The vowel [o] is created by adding a waw "و" and a zero-vowel diacritic (sukun) after the consonant.
The vowel [e] is created by adding a ya' "ي" and a zero-vowel diacritic (sukun) after the consonant.
In Maore Arabic Alphabet, (similar to Swahili Ajami Script) stressed syllables are marked, either with alif "ا" (if the vowel of the syllable is [a]), waw "و" (if the vowel of the syllable is [u]), or ya' "ي" (if the vowel of the syllable is [i]). These letters are written with no diacritic, not even zero-vowel diacritic (sukun). (the existence or lack thereof of the zero-vowel diacritic is what distinguishes between [e] and a stressed [i]). This does not apply to stressed syllables containing vowels [o] or [e].
In most cases, the stressed syllable happens to be the one before last.
Whereas in Arabic, the letter ʿayn is used as a pharyngeal consonant, in Maore it has a unique role of being the carrier for nasal vowels. Meaning that with the use of diacritics (and the letter waw "و" and ya' "ي" as needed), nasal vowels are written.
When non-nasal vowels are at the beginning of a word, alif-hamza "أ / إ" is used as a carrier of the appropriate diacritic (followed by the letter waw "و" and ya' "ي" as needed.)
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| A | E | I | O | U |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أَ | إِيْـ / إِيْ | إِ | أُوْ | أُ |
| أَدَابُ adabu politeness | إِيْوَا ewa yes | إِينَا ina henna | أُوْكْتُوْٻْرُ Oktobru October | أُسُبُوتُ usuɓutu to defy |
| -a | -e | -i | -o | -u |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ◌َ | ◌ِيْـ / ◌ِيْ | ◌ِ | ◌ُوْ | ◌ُ |
| -a | -e | -i | -o | -u |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ◌َا | ◌ِيْـ / ◌ِيْ | ◌ِيـ / ◌ِي | ◌ُوْ | ◌ُو |
| Ã -ã | Ẽ -ẽ | Ĩ -ĩ | Õ -õ | Ũ -ũ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| عَـ / عَ | عِيْـ / عِيْ | عِـ / عِ | عُوْ | عُـ / عُ |
| أَنْـ / أَنْ ◌َانْـ / ◌َانْ | إِيْنْـ / إِيْنْ ◌ِيْنْـ / ◌ِيْنْ | إِنْـ / إِنْ ◌ِنْـ / ◌ِنْ | أُوْنْـ / أُوْنْ ◌ُوْنْـ / ◌ُوْنْ | أُنْـ / أُنْ ◌ُنْـ / ◌ُنْ |
zi-mbuzi
CL10.DEF-goat
z-angu
CL10-AGR-my
z-endr-e
CL10.SM-go-VH.RET
ɓazari
market
'My goats went to the market.'
wa-ntru-washe
CL2-person-female
wa-raru
CL2.AGR-three
wa-ngu
CL2.AGR-my
'my three wives' (Rombi 1983: 123)
| Official language | |
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| Regional languages |
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| Overseas languages | |
| See also | |
See Also: Language policy in France | |
| Europe | |
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| Asia | |
| Africa | |
The Arabic alphabet, or Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters, of which most have contextual letterforms. The Arabic alphabet is considered an abjad, with only consonants required to be written; due to its optional use of diacritics to notate vowels, it is considered an impure abjad.
Matres lectionis are consonants that are used to indicate a vowel, primarily in the writing of Semitic languages such as Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac. The letters that do this in Hebrew are alephא, heה, vavו and yodי, and in Arabic, the matres lectionis are ʾalifا, wāwو and yāʾي. The 'yod and waw in particular are more often vowels than they are consonants.
Mayotte, officially the Department of Mayotte, is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is located in the northern part of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Southeastern Africa, between Northwestern Madagascar and Northeastern Mozambique. Mayotte consists of a main island, Grande-Terre, a smaller island, Petite-Terre, as well as several islets around these two. Mayotte is the most prosperous territory in the Mozambique Channel, making it a major destination for immigration.
Arabic script has numerous diacritics, which include consonant pointing known as iʻjām (إِعْجَام), and supplementary diacritics known as tashkīl (تَشْكِيل). The latter include the vowel marks termed ḥarakāt.
Comorian is the name given to a group of four Bantu languages spoken in the Comoro Islands, an archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. It is named as one of the official languages of the Union of the Comoros in the Comorian constitution. Shimaore, one of the languages, is spoken on the disputed island of Mayotte, a French department claimed by Comoros.
A ring diacritic may appear above or below letters. It may be combined with some letters of the extended Latin alphabets in various contexts.
The Azerbaijani alphabet has three versions which includes the Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic alphabets.
The Persian alphabet, also known as the Perso-Arabic script, is the right-to-left alphabet used for the Persian language. It is a variation of the Arabic alphabet with four additional letters: پ چ ژ گ. It was the basis of many Arabic-based scripts used in Central and South Asia. It is used for the Iranian and Dari standard varieties of Persian; and is one of two official writing systems for the Persian language, alongside the Cyrillic-based Tajik alphabet.
Aljamiado or Aljamía texts are manuscripts that use the Arabic script for transcribing European languages, especially Romance languages such as Mozarabic, Aragonese, Portuguese, Spanish or Ladino.
Aleph is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ʾālep 𐤀, Hebrew ʾālef א, Aramaic ʾālap 𐡀, Syriac ʾālap̄ ܐ, Arabic ʾalif ا, and North Arabian 𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez ʾälef አ.
The Hans Wehr transliteration system is a system for transliteration of the Arabic alphabet into the Latin alphabet used in the Hans Wehr dictionary. The system was modified somewhat in the English editions. It is printed in lowercase italics. It marks some consonants using diacritics rather than digraphs, and writes long vowels with macrons.
The Buckwalter Arabic transliteration was developed as part of the ALPNET Arabic Project being run by Ken Beesley in 1988.
Serer, often broken into differing regional dialects such as Serer-Sine and Serer saloum, is a language of the Senegambian branch of the Niger–Congo family spoken by 1.2 million people in Senegal and 30,000 in the Gambia as of 2009. It is the principal language of the Serer people, and was the language of the early modern kingdoms of Sine, Saloum, and Baol.
Wolofal is a derivation of the Arabic script for writing the Wolof language. It is basically the name of a West African Ajami script as used for that language.
Wadaad's writing, also known as wadaad's Arabic, is the traditional Somali adaptation of written Arabic as well as the Arabic script as historically used to transcribe the Somali language. Originally, it referred to an ungrammatical Arabic featuring some words in Somali, with the proportion of Somali vocabulary terms varying depending on the context. Alongside standard Arabic, wadaad's writing was used by Somali religious men (wadaado) to record xeer petitions and to write qasidas. It was also used by merchants for business and letter writing. Over the years, various Somali scholars improved and altered the use of the Arabic script for conveying Somali. This culminated in the 1930s with the work of Mahammad 'Abdi Makaahiil, standardizing vowel diacritics and orthographic conventions, and in 1950s with the controversial proposal of Musa Haji Ismail Galal which substantially modified letter values and introduced new letters for vowels.
Hamza is a letter in the Arabic alphabet, representing the glottal stop. Hamza is not one of the 28 "full" letters and owes its existence to historical reform of standard writing system. It is derived from the Arabic letter ʿAyn. In the Phoenician, Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets, from which the Arabic alphabet is descended, the glottal stop was expressed by alif (𐤀), continued by Alif (ا) in the Arabic alphabet. However, Alif was used to express both a glottal stop and a long vowel. In order to indicate that a glottal stop is used, and not a mere vowel, it was added to Alif diacritically. In modern orthography, hamza may also appear on the line, under certain circumstances as though it were a full letter, independent of an Alif.
Bushi or Kibosy is a dialect of Malagasy spoken in the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte. Malagasy dialects most closely related to Bushi are spoken in northwestern Madagascar in the area of Antsiranana (Diego-Suarez) and Mahajanga (Majunga), which is also the closest point in Madagascar to Mayotte. Kibosy and Majunga together are considered one of the Malagasy languages by Glottolog.
In orthography, a zero consonant, silent initial, or null-onset letter is a consonant letter that does not correspond to a consonant sound, but is required when a word or syllable starts with a vowel. Some abjads, abugidas, and alphabets have zero consonants, generally because they have an orthographic rule that all syllables must begin with a consonant letter, whereas the language they transcribe allows syllables to start with a vowel. In a few cases, such as Pahawh Hmong below, the lack of a consonant letter represents a specific consonant sound, so the lack of a consonant sound requires a distinct letter to disambiguate.
Pegon is a modified Arabic script used to write the Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese languages, as an alternative to the Latin script or the Javanese script and the Old Sundanese script. It was used in a variety of applications, from religion, to diplomacy, to poetry. But today particularly, it is used for religious (Islamic) writing and poetry, particularly in writing commentaries of the Qur'an. Pegon includes letters that are not present in Modern Standard Arabic. Pegon has been studied far less than its Jawi counterpart which is used for Malay, Acehnese and Minangkabau.
Swahili Ajami script refers to the alphabet derived from Arabic script that is used for the writing of Swahili language.
