Historical Linguistics of Korandje

Note: This talk has not gone through a process of peer review, and findings should therefore be treated as preliminary and subject to change.

SOAS Linguistics Webinars
Summer 2020
August 18

Lameen Souag (LACITO-CNRS)

Abstract: The oasis of Tabelbala stands alone in Northwest Africa as the only place whose language, Korandje, comes from south of the Sahara. By analysing word origins and regular sound correspondences, its vocabulary can be divided into different strata, each reflecting a different phase of its speakers’ history and, in some cases, providing information on their past available from no other source. In combination with other data, this also makes it possible better to understand how the people of Tabelbala gradually integrated themselves into overlapping regional identities, navigating the racial and ethnic categories of a society deeply affected by slavery and its aftermath.