Manoscritti e fonti orali: nuove prospettive per gli studi sul berbero orientale e sulla storia dei suoi parlanti

This contribution aims at drafting a short history of the linguistic studies about Eastern Berber, including under this label the languages spoken or attested in Libya, Egypt as well as Tunisia, a country which up to now has been strikingly neglected by the Berberologists. Most of the existing literature on Eastern Berber comes from Italian researchers, and the first part of the article summarizes the work which has been done since the end of the 19th century. In spite of their isolation from the other Berber languages and of the strong pressure exerted by the surrounding Arabic dialects, the eastern languages still retain many important features which make them worth a deeper study. In particular, some remnants of an old literature coming from the ibāḍite regions (Algeria: Mzab; Tunisia: Jerba; Libya: Zuara and Jebel Nefusa) are still kept in oral and written records. Recent researches by the author of the article led to the discovery of new interesting texts of different times: contemporary compositions, religious poems composed at the beginning of the 19th century, and even medieval texts. As far as the oldest records are concerned, a huge manuscript tracing back to the Middle Ages, the commentary to Abū Ġānim’s Mudawwana by Abū Zakarīyaʾ Yaḥyâ al-Yafranī has been recently rediscovered and is being studied. It is one of the longest texts written in Berber, and will shed light on many issues in the oldest history of Berber, above all of its Eastern varieties. Aas a conclusion, it is worth noting that the recent changes in Libya offer the possibility of a freer, better and deeper knowledge of the existing Berber languages, not only by European scholars but also by indigenous ones.