Hassan, (01)
I admit that I was trying to be brief. I also have a question at the
end about the relationships between Arabic, Berber, and French. (02)
> I am originally from North Africa (Algeria) and I am a berber (Amazigh)
> from the Kabylie Region (east of Algiers). Arabic has definitely *not*
> replaced our language (of Hamitic roots). It is still very well alive,
> thank you! (03)
Yes. For a map of the distribution of those languages,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hamito-Semitic_languages.jpg (04)
Even in France, the Celtic language Breton survives in the northeast.
That is also the setting for the comic books about Astérix le Gaulois. (05)
But the general point, which Ostler discusses, is that languages with
similar structure allow a continuous blend from one form to the other.
As an example, I mentioned Argentina: Italian immigrants gradually
made their Italian more and more Spanish-like, but German immigrants
had to make an abrupt switch (or not). (06)
As another example, there is a dialect called "Chinese-waiter-English",
which uses Chinese syntax with a substitution of English words about
items on the menu. Japanese syntax, however, is so different from
English that a similar substitution would be unintelligible. (07)
Question: How easy is it for Berbers to learn Arabic? Do they follow
the pattern of Italian/Spanish, Chinese-waiter-English, or something
in between? What about learning French or English? (08)
John (09)
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