Some notes on Maraa: II

• Main Author: Löffler, Lorenz G.
• Other Authors: University of Zurich
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177976
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The first part of this paper appeared in LTBA 25.1:123-136. Some minor changes have been for this part. The earlier part speaks of "Maraa", though my analysis in the first part was based on Tlemsai Maraa only. As a matter of fact, this version of Maraa is now trying to establish itself as "standard Maraa", and may also succeed in doing so, since it is supported by Lorrain's dictionary and a bible translation revised by the Maraa themselves. But linguistically speaking there is little reason to accept this restricted view. This paper expands the ear¬lier coverage, replacing many general "Maraa" by "T" (as a shorthand for Tl0usai). This "T" will be supplemented by two additional dialects ("F" and "Z") in the following text. Although all of them still can be subsumed under "Maraa", their vocabulary cannot be united in an undifferentiated dictionary. Their vowel systems have drifted far apart, and the only way to reunite them to some extend is by reconstructing the once common basis which I will call OM (short for Old Maraa).