Turku Arabic
Arabic-based creole language formerly spoken in Chad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Turku Arabic or simply just Turku is an extinct variant of Bimbashi Arabic that served as a lingua franca in Chad.[1] It is the ancestor to Bongor Arabic[2] and potentially other Arabic pidgins spoken in Chad today, but since they have not been described, it is unclear whether they are direct descendants of Turku.[3]
| Turku Arabic | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Chad |
Arabic-based creole
| |
Early form | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | turk1244 |
History
Turku emerged as a regional variant of Bimbashi Arabic when Bimbashi-speaking enslaved soldiers were forced to relocate from Sudan to Chad after the abolition of slavery in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1879.[2] The primary lexifier of Turku is Sudanese Arabic, and it is also heavily influenced by Sango and Sara-Bagirmi languages, from which most of its loanwords originate.[2] Although not much is known about Turku, a dictionary and a phrasebook were published in 1926.[4]
Grammar
Turku had at least 2 tense/aspect markers: gahed (a continuous aspect particle) and bi- (a future tense particle). Similar particles are also found in Juba Arabic and Nubi.[5]