A grammar of Darfur Arabic

This thesis provides grammatical details on the phonology, morphology and syntax of the Arabic as it is spoken in Darfur (West Sudan). All three of these linguistic fields give evidence that this variety of Arabic is heavily influenced by the other, particularly Nilo-Saharan languages which are also spoken in the region. For example, the ‘typical’ Arabic guttural phonemes are omitted or mixed, there are no synchronic gender distinctions, a process towards an invariable pronominal system appears to be at work and Nilo-Saharan word order occurs frequently. As a contact language, Darfur Arabic stands midway between a pidgin or a creole on the one hand, an a full-fledged Arabic colloquial on the other. Moreover, the Arabic of Darfur displays considerable variability and much resembles Chadian Arabic.