View source for Tagdal language

{{short description|Songhay language}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Tagdal
|altname=Tagdal-Tabarog
|nativename=Tihishit
|states=[[Niger]]
|ethnicity=[[Igdalen people|Igdalen]], Iberogan
|speakers={{sigfig|65,300|2}}
|date=2021
|ref=e26
|familycolor=Nilo-Saharan
|fam2=[[Songhay languages|Songhay]]
|fam3=[[Northern Songhay languages|Northern Songhay]]
|dia1=Tagdal
|dia2=Tabarog
|script= [[Tifinagh]]
|iso3=tda
|glotto=tagd1238
|glottorefname=Tagdal
|map           =Songhay languages.svg
|mapcaption    =Location of [[Songhay languages]]<ref>This map is based on classification from Glottolog and data from Ethnologue.</ref><br />
'''Northwest Songhay:'''
{{legend|#002b00|[[Korandje language|Korandje]]}}
{{legend|#008000|[[Koyra Chiini language|Koyra Chiini]]}}
{{legend|#00ff00|[[Tadaksahak]]}}
{{legend|#55ff55|[[Tasawaq language|Tasawaq]]}}
{{legend|#aaffaa|Tagdal}}
'''Eastern Songhay:'''
{{legend|#2b0000|[[Tondi Songway Kiini]]}}
{{legend|#800000|[[Humburi Senni language|Humburi Senni]]}}
{{legend|#d40000|[[Koyraboro Senni]]}}
{{legend|#ff5555|[[Zarma language]]}}
{{legend| #ffff00|[[Songhoyboro Ciine]]}}
{{legend|#ffaaaa|[[Dendi language|Dendi]]}}
}}
{{infobox ethnonym|Agdal|Igdalan|Tagdal||Agdal}}
{{infobox ethnonym||Iberogan|Tabarog||Abarog}}
'''Tagdal''' (Tuareg name: ''Tagdalt'')<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ritter|first1=Georg|title=Wörterbuch zur Sprache und Kultur der Twareg II Deutsch-Twareg|date=2009|publisher=Harrassowitz|location=Wiesbaden|page=735}}</ref> is a [[mixed language|mixed]] [[Northern Songhay language]] of central [[Niger]]. [[Ethnologue]] considers it a "mixed Berber–Songhay language",<ref name="e26" /><ref name="torres2009" /> while other researchers consider it [[Northern Songhay languages|Northern Songhay]].<ref name="RueckChristiansen1999" /> Nicolaï (1981) argued that Tagdal was originally derived from the [[Tuareg languages]] and adopted characteristics of Songhai rather than vice versa.<ref name=tainecheikh1989>Catherine Taine-Cheikh. [http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00456346/ Les langues parlées au sud Sahara et au nord Sahel]. De l'Atlantique à l'Ennedi (Catalogue de l'exposition « Sahara-Sahel »), Centre Culturel Français d'Abidjan (Ed.) (1989) 155-173</ref>

There are two dialects: Tagdal proper, spoken by the [[Igdalen people]], [[Pastoralism|pastoralists]] who inhabit a region to the east along the [[Niger]] border to [[Tahoua]] in Niger,<ref name=torres2009>{{cite book |last=Benítez-Torres |first=Carlos M. |year=2009 |chapter=Inflectional vs. Derivational Morphology in Tagdal: A Mixed Language 
|editor1=Masangu Matondo |editor2=Fiona Mc Laughlin |editor3=Eric Potsdam |title=In Selected Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference on African Linguistics |location=Somerville |pages=69–83 |publisher=Cascadilla Proceedings Project |chapter-url=http://www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/38/paper2136.pdf}}</ref> and '''Tabarog''', spoken by the Iberogan people of the [[Azawagh]] valley on the Niger–Mali border. The Iberogan sometimes refer to their language as Tagdal.{{cn|date = August 2024}}

Nicolaï (1981) uses the name ''Tihishit'' as a cover term. Rueck & Christiansen say that

<blockquote>...the Igdalen and the Iberogan have for many purposes been treated as one group, and their speech forms are closely related. Nicolaï uses "tihishit" as a common designator for these two speech forms...; however, this term is ambiguous. "Tihishit" is a term of [[Air Tamajeq language|Tamajaq]] origin meaning "the language of the blacks". The Igdalen and Iberogan used it to refer to all Northern Songhay speech forms.<ref name=RueckChristiansen1999>Michael J Rueck; Niels Christiansen. [http://www.sil.org/silesr/1999/008/nsonghay.html Northern Songhay languages in Mali and Niger, a sociolinguistic survey]. Summer Institute of Linguistics (1999).</ref></blockquote>

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" |[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Postalveolar consonant|Post-alv.]]/<br>[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Pharyngeal consonant|Pharyn-<br>geal]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!<small>plain</small>
!<small>[[Pharyngealization|phar.]]</small>
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|{{IPA link|nˤ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Plosive]]/<br>[[Affricate]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|
|{{IPA link|t}}
|{{IPA link|tˤ}}
|{{IPA link|tʃ}}
|{{IPA link|k}}
|{{IPA link|q}}
|
|
|- align="center"
!<small>voiced</small>
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|{{IPA link|dˤ}}
|{{IPA link|dʒ}}
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|{{IPA link|f}}
|{{IPA link|s}}
|{{IPA link|sˤ}}
|{{IPA link|ʃ}}
|{{IPA link|x}}
|
|{{IPA link|ħ}}
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
|
|{{IPA link|z}}
|{{IPA link|zˤ}}
|{{IPA link|ʒ}}
|{{IPA link|ɣ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ʕ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Tap and flap consonants|Tap]]
|
|{{IPA link|ɾ}}
|{{IPA link|ɾˤ}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|{{IPA link|lˤ}}
|
|
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|{{IPA link|w}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|
|
|}

*/w/ may be heard as [ʋ] in the Tarbun dialect.

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|iː}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|uː}}
|- align="center"
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}} {{IPA link|eː}}
|{{IPA link|ə}}
|{{IPA link|o}} {{IPA link|oː}}
|- align="center"
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|aː}}
|
|}

* Each of the vowels /i, e, ə, a, o, u/ tend to fluctuate within the presence of the phonemes /x, ɣ, q, ʕ, ħ/ or of a pharyngealized consonant, as [ɨ, ɛ, ʌ, ɑ, ɔ, o].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Benítez-Torres |first=Carlos M. |title=A Grammar of Tagdal: a Northern Songhay language |publisher=Leiden University |year=2021}}</ref>

== Grammar ==
Tagdal is an [[agglutinative language]], most likely due to Tuareg influence.<ref name=torres2009/>{{rp|71}}

=== Pronouns ===
Tagdal gets its pronominal system from Northern Songhay languages.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!1st
|ɣɑy
|iri
|-
!2nd
|nin
|ɑnji
|-
!3rd
|ɑnga
|ingi
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Subject prefixes:
!
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!1st
|ɣɑ- 
|iri-
|-
!2nd
|ɘn/ni-
|ɑnji-
|-
!3rd
|ɑ-
|i-
|}

Tadgal has two different prefixes used for negation. The first is ''nɘ''-, which functions as perfective negation, and is the default choice for negation. It indicates something that might have happened in the past, but didn't, or in the case of stative verbs, something that is not true. The other negation prefix is ''sɘ''-, which acts as a negation in the present or future. Uses of this negation are shown in these examples:<ref>{{Cite book|last=Benítez-Torres|first=Carlos M.|date=2009|title=Inflectional vs. Derivational Morphology in Tagdal: A Mixed Language|pages=69–83 |publisher=Cascadilla Proceedings Project |isbn=9781574734294 |url=http://www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/38/abstract2136.html}}</ref>

* ''ɣɑnɘkoy'': I did not go
* ''ɣɑsɘbkoy'': I was not going/I do not (habitually) go
* ''ɣɑnəyɑrdɑ'': I disagree

==References==
{{Reflist|32em}}

{{Songhay languages}}

[[Category:Tuareg languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Niger]]
[[Category:Songhay languages]]
[[Category:Mixed languages]]


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