Skip to content

The Girl and Seven Calves. Observations on the Language of a North-Yemenite Fairytale


Pages 295 - 322

DOI https://doi.org/10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.167.2.0295




This essay analyzes a fairytale which was told orally by a Jewish narrator from North Yemen. The dramatic scenes of the story involve an adorable young girl, a heartless stepmother, a ghoul, and seven lost brothers who go through various transformations and magic manifestations. These, as well as many other elements of the plot, match universal motifs familiar from folk tales throughout the world. At the same time, the story echoes the realia of life in the villages of North Yemen and stands out as a local Yemenite ecotype. Beside the full annotated text, the article offers a synopsis and elaborates on the specific Yemenite frame of reference.

The language of the narrative demonstrates the native, daily speech of the province of Ṣaʿdah. The article elaborates on several linguistic features which occur in the text, discusses them within the context of the annotated text, and also demonstrates them by comparable examples from a large corpus of other Yemenite recordings.

Jerusalem

1 Alexander, T. 1993: “Ḥaninat Alla, a Judeo-Yemenite Cinderella Story.” In: Peʿamim, Studies in Oriental Jewry 53, pp. 124–148 (in Hebrew).

2 Barghuthi, A. M. 1997: kān yā mā kān: al-qiṣaṣ aš-šaʿbiyyah [English title: Once Upon A Time, popular stories]. Jerusalem (maṭbaʿat aš-šarq al-ʿarabiyyah).

3 Bauer, L. 1957: Deutsch-arabisches Wörterbuch der Umgangsprache in Palästina und Libanon. Wiesbaden (2nd ed.).

4 Behnstedt, P. 1985: Die nordjemenitischen Dialekte. Teil 1: Atlas. Wiesbaden.

5 Behnstedt, P. 1987: Die Dialekte der Gegend von Ṣaʿdah (Nord Yemen). Wiesbaden.

6 Behnstedt, P. 1992, 1996, 2006: Die nordjemenitischen Dialekte. Teil 2: Glossar. 3 vols. Wiesbaden.

7 Behnstedt, P. 2001: “Notes on the Arabic Dialects of Eastern North-Yemen (ilǦawf, Ṣirwāḥ, Mārib, Banī Dabyān).” In: J. Rosenhouse / A. Elad-Bouskila (eds.): Linguistic and Cultural Studies on Arabic and Hebrew. Wiesbaden, pp. 23–40.

8 Ben-Cnaan, R. / A. Shenhar 1992: “The Jewish Versions of ‘The Brother and Sister’.” In: Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore 13–14 (= Dov Noy Festschrift), pp. 303–321.

9 Ben-David, A. 1999: Hawīdah ve-Dāwid mi-Tsfon Teman. Rehovot (Ahavat Teman).

10 Ben-David, A. 2005: “šedim ve-ruḥot be-miškenot Teman.” In: Shalom Seri / Yisrael Kesar (eds.): Halikhot kedem Be-Mishkenot Teman [English title: Ancient Customs of the Yemenite Jewish Community. Rehovot (Ahavat Teman), pp. 91–108.

11 Berggren, J. 1844: Guide français-arabe vulgaire des voyageurs et des Francs en Syrie et en Égypte. Uppsala.

12 Blau, J. 1995: A Grammar of Mediaeval Judaeo-Arabic. Jerusalem (in Hebrew).

13 Caton, S. T. 1990: Peaks of Yemen I Summon: Poetry as Cultural Practice in a North Yemeni Tribe. Berkeley, CA.

14 Clouston, W. A. 1887: Popular Tales and Fictions: Their Migrations and Transformations. 2 vols. New York.

15 Dbayyat, N. / J. Rosenhouse 2006: “Gender Switch in Female Speech of an Urbanized Arabic Dialect in Israel.” In: Anthropological Linguistics 48,2, pp. 169–186.

16 Diem, W. 1973: Skizzen jemenitischer Dialekte. Beirut.

17 Dundes, A. 1965: The Study of Folklore. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.

18 Gamlieli, N. B. 1978: The Chambers of Yemen, 131 Jewish-Yemenite Folktales and Legends. Tel-Aviv (Afikim) (in Hebrew).

19 Holes, C. 2011: “A participial infix in the eastern Arabian dialects—an ancient pre-conquest feature?” In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 38, pp. 75–98.

20 Ingham, B. 1997: Arabian Diversions. Studies on the Dialects of Arabia. Reading, pp. 87–116.

21 Jastrow, O. 1984: “Zur Phonologie und Phonetik des Ṣanʿānischen.” In: Entwicklungsprozesse in der Arabischen Republik Jemen. Wiesbaden (Jemen-Studien 1), pp. 289–304.

22 Jastrow, O. 1995: “Das Mädchen mit den sieben Brüdern. Ein Text im arabischen Dialekt von Qarṭ mī n.” In: Studia Orientalia 75, pp. 141–150.

23 Johnstone, T. M. 1961: “Some characteristics of the Dōsiri dialect of Arabic as spoken in Kuwait.” In: BSOAS 24,2, pp. 249–297.

24 Johnstone, T. M. 1964: “Further Studies on the Dōsiri dialect of Arabic as spoken in Kuwait.” In: BSOAS 27,1, pp. 77–113.

25 de Landberg, C. 1909: Etudes sur les dialectes de l'Arabie méridionale. Vol. 2: Datinah. Leiden.

26 de Landberg, C. 1920–1942: Glossaire Datinois. Leiden.

27 Muhawi, I. / Sh. Kanaana 2001: Qūl yā ṭēr …: Nuṣūṣ wa dirāsa fi al-ḥikāya alshaʿbīya al-filasṭīnīya (English Title: Speak, Bird, Speak Again: Palestinian Arab Folktales). Beirut (Institute for Palestine Studies).

28 Na ïm-Sanbar, S. 1994: “Contribution à l'étude de l'accent yéménite: Le parler des femmes de l'ancienne génération.” In: ZAL 27, pp. 67–89.

29 Piamenta, M. 1990, 1991: Dictionary of Post-Classical Yemeni Arabic. 2 vols. Leiden.

30 Radwan, N. M. 2012: Egyptian Colloquial Poetry in the Modern Arabic Canon. New York.

31 Retsö, J. 1988: “Pronominal Suffixes with -n(n)- in Arabic Dialects and other Semitic Languages.” In: ZAL 18, pp. 77–94.

32 Rossi, E. 1939: L'arabo parlato a San' â. Rome.

33 Rubin, A. D. 2005: Studies in Semitic Grammaticalization. Indiana.

34 Shachmon, O. 2007: Arabic Dialects of the Jews of North Yemen. Thesis submitted for the degree of “Doctor of Philosophy”. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

35 Shachmon, O. 2014: “ibn aššarīfah vs. ibn aljāriyah, The Hebrew component as a polemic device.” In: JQR 104, 1, pp. 144–166.

36 Shachmon, O. 2015: “Agglutinated Verb Forms in the Northern Province of Yemen.” In: L. Edzard (ed.): Arabic and Semitic Linguistics Contextualized. A Festschrift in Honor of Jan Retsö. Wiesbaden, pp. 260–273.

37 Shachmon, O. 2017: “New sources for the Study of North-Yemenite Arabic: Beit Ha-'Even and Sefer Ha- Ma'aśim.” In: JSS 62,1, pp. 113–135.

38 Sydow, C. W. von 1948: “Geography and Folk-Tale Oicotypes.” In: Selected Papers on Folklore. Copenhagen.

39 Talmon, R. 2001: “Some Syntactic and Stylistic Features of Interest in Galilean Arabic Folk-Tales.” In: J. Rosenhouse / A. Elad-Bouskila (eds.): Linguistic and cultural studies on Arabic and Hebrew: Essays presented to Professor Moshe Piamenta for his eightieth birthday. Wiesbaden, pp. 213–232.

40 Watson, J. C. E. 1993: A Syntax of Ṣanʿānī Arabic. Wiesbaden.

41 Watson, J. C. E. 1996: Ṣbaḥtū! A Course in Ṣanʿānī Arabic. Wiesbaden.

42 Watson, J. C. E. 2007: “Linguistic leveling in Sanʿani Arabic as reflected in a popular radio serial.” In: C. Miller / E. Al-Wer / D. Caubet / J. C. E. Watson (eds): Arabic in the city: Issues in dialect contact and language variation. London, pp. 166–187.

43 Watson, J. C. E. / B. Glover Stalls / K. Al-Razihi / Sh. Weir 2006: “Two Texts from Jabal Rāziḥ, North-west Yemen.” In: L. Edzard / J. Retsö (eds.): Current Issues in the Analysis of Semitic Grammar and Lexicon. Wiesbaden, pp. 40–63.

Share


Export Citation