On the chronology of a phonetic innovation shared by Tuareg and Jerbi

This study examines the development of the consonant cluster nḅ, derived from *mḍ/*nḍ, in several Tuareg dialects and in the Berber language of Jerba. Those who have already studied this phenomenon in Tuareg (Prasse 1972 and Vycichl 1990) have put forward explanations that attribute an important role to the presence of a bilabial nasal in the original root, based mainly on the two verbs әnḅәl ‘to bury’ (from *әmḍәl) and әnḅәy “to taste” (from *әmḍәy). To the Tuareg data we can now add evidence from two other dialects: the contemporary dialect of Jerba and the medieval dialect of Kitāb al-Barbariyya, where the verb ‘to bury’ is also attested in the form әnḅәl. Furthermore, the dialect of Jerba presents this consonant cluster in a loanword from Arabic, әlḥәnbәl ‘colocynth’, which comes from ḥanẓal/al-ḥanḍal ( الحنظل ). Thanks to these testimonies, we can now put forward some diachronic hypotheses about the evolution of the phenomenon: 1) The phonetic phenomenon that gave rise to the consonant cluster nḅ in Tuareg and Djerbi was not triggered by the labial quality of the nasal, since it also affected an Arabic loanword containing a dental nasal. Consequently, it must be considered as a dissimilation from a *nḍ stage. 2) This phenomenon is relatively old, since it is already attested in a medieval text; however, the fact that it also occurred in an Arabic loanword indicates an evolution subsequent to contact with the Arabic language. A short Addendum concerns the treatment of the Arabic sound ḍād of the root rḍy ‘to be satisfied, be content’ in the borrowing eṛla ‘to be satisfied’ in Jerba, Zuara, and in in the medieval language of the Kitāb al-Barbariyya: another evidence of the originally lateral nature of ḍād.