Ouargli language

{{Short description|Zenati Berber language spoken in Algeria}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Ouargli

|nativename=Twargrit

|states=Algeria

|region=Ouargla, N'Goussa

|speakers=20,000

|date=2014

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Afro-Asiatic

|fam2=Berber

|fam3=Northern

|fam4=Zenati

|fam5=Mzab–Wargla

|iso3=oua

|glotto=taga1278

|glottorefname=Ouargli

|map=Mzab-Wargla Berberophone areas.PNG

|mapcaption=Berber-speaking areas of the Mzab, Ouargla, and Oued Righ

}}

Ouargli, or Teggargrent (also Twargrit, Təggəngusit), is a Zenati Berber language. It is spoken in the oases of Ouargla (Wargrən) and N'Goussa (Ingusa) in Algeria.

As of 1987, Ouargli had no more than 10,000 speakers.Delheure 1987:1 Ethnologue estimated only 5,000 speakers as of 1995.{{Cite news|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=oua|title=Tagargrent|work=Ethnologue|access-date=2018-02-09|language=en}}

There are some differences between the dialects of Ouargla (Təggargrənt) and N'Goussa (Təggəngusit), notably in the position of pronominal clitics; within Ouargla, there are minor differences between the three tribes At-Brahim, At-Sisin and At-Waggin.Delheure 1987:2

Speakers from Ouargla regard the varieties of Ouargla, N'Goussa, Tugurt/Temacine and Tumzabt/Mozabite, and possibly other Zenati varieties, as dialects of a single language they call Twargrit.Delheure 1988:20, 24; Delheure 1987:273 According to Delheure (1987:355), at Wargrən fəhhəmən d awəḥdi tawsint, "the Ouarglis understand Temacine very well."

The principal grammatical study is Biarnay (1908);S. Biarnay, 1908, [https://archive.org/details/tudesurledialec00biargoog Étude sur le dialecte berbère de Ouargla], Paris: Ernest Leroux a less detailed sketch is provided in Basset (1893).René Basset, 1893, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071108052646/http://www.amazighworld.org/studies/grammar/DIALECTE%20BERBERE%20(zenatya%20du%20Mzab,%20de%20Ouargla%20et%20de%20l%27Oued%20Righ).pdf Étude sur la Zenatia du Mzab, de Ouargla et de l'Oued-Rir']}}. Paris: Ernest Leroux. Its lexicon is fairly extensively documented in Delheure's (1987) dictionary.Jean Delheure, 1987, Agerraw n iwalen teggargarent-tarumit / Dictionnaire ouargli-français, Paris: SELAF The bilingual texts in Biarnay and Basset are more recently supplemented by the texts on daily life in Delheure (1988)Jean Delheure, 1988, Vivre et mourir à Ouargla. Tameddurt t-Tmettant Wargren. Paris: SELAF and the folk tale collection in Delheure (1989);Jean Delheure, 1989, Contes et légendes berbères de Ouargla : Tinfusin, Paris: Boîte à Documents the latter, unlike other work on Ouargli, includes texts from N'Goussa as well.