Tilburg University Formulaicity in Jbala poetry Gintsburg, S.Y. Publication date: 2014 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in Tilburg University Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Gintsburg, S. Y. (2014). Formulaicity in Jbala poetry. Tilburg University. 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Download date: 27. sep. 2021 Formulaicity in Jbala Poetry Formulaicity in Jbala Poetry PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan Tilburg University op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. Ph. Eijlander, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties aangewezen commissie in de Ruth First zaal van de Universiteit op dinsdag 11 februari 2014 om 16.15 uur door Sarali Yurievna Gintsburg geboren op 10 december 1976 te Sint-Petersburg, Rusland Promotores: prof. dr. Ad Backus prof. dr. Sjaak Kroon Copromotor: dr. Jan Jaap de Ruiter Overige leden van de commissie: prof. dr. Jan Blommaert dr. Anna Bonifazi prof. dr. Odile Heynders prof. Ángeles Vicente ISBN/EAN 978-94-6167-180-6 Cover design by PrismaPrint © Sarali Gintsburg, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any other means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission of the author. Table of Contents Preface 9 Transcription 11 1 Introduction 15 1.1 Traveling to Morocco 15 1.2 Significance of the Study 17 1.3 Structure of the Thesis 19 2 Research on Formulaic Language and Literacy Studies 21 2.1 Albert Lord and the Further Evolution of Formulaic Theory 21 2.2 Further Developments 24 2.3 The Parry-Lord Theory and Arabic Poetry 25 2.4 Formulaic Language, Everyday Speech and Literacy 28 2.5 Literacy: History of Literacy Studies 31 2.5.1 The Theory of Great Divide 31 2.5.2 New Literacies Studies and Grassroots Literacies 32 2.5.3 Literacy in the Arab World 34 2.6 The Definition of Literacy as applied in this Study 38 3 Jbala Folklore: Language, Poetry, Music, Performance 41 3.1 Morocco, Sketch of a Multilingual Society 41 3.1.1 Multiple Languages 41 3.1.2 Moroccan Arabic 43 3.2 Genres 44 3.2.1 Music Genres in Morocco 44 3.2.2 The Genres of the Jbala 47 3.3 The Performance 55 3.3.1 Live Performance 55 3.3.2 Studio Recording 58 3.4 Themes and Poetic Structure 60 3.5 Jbala Tradition Today: Between Traditionalism and Artistic Creativity 64 6 FORMULAICITY IN JBALA POETRY 4 Research Questions and Methodology 69 4.1 Research Questions 69 4.2 The Operationalization of Formulaicity 71 4.2.1 The Definition and Detection of Formulas in the Poetic Text 71 4.2.2 Types of Formulaicity 73 4.2.3 The Classification of Formulas 81 4.2.4 Level of Formulaicity 85 4.3 Literacy 86 4.4 Other Factors 89 5 The Corpus 93 5.1 The Three Corpora 93 5.2 Core Corpus: The Four Singers 95 5.2.1 Mohammed Laaroussi 96 5.2.2 Lahcen Laaroussi 97 5.2.3 Latifa Laaroussia 99 5.2.4 Abdelmalek al-Andaloussi 100 5.3 The Secondary Corpus 102 5.3.1 Secondary Corpus I: Audio Records made in the 1960s and 1990s 102 5.3.2 Secondary Corpus II: Old Printed Materials 104 6 Formulaicity in Modern Jbala Poetry: Results 107 6.1 Formulaic Analysis 107 6.2 The Level of Formulaicity of the Four Singers 109 6.2.1 Mohammed Laaroussi 109 6.2.2 Lahcen Laaroussi 112 6.2.3 Latifa Laaroussia 114 6.2.4 Abdelmalek al-Andaloussi 116 6.2.5 Non-Formulaic Songs 119 6.3 Jbala Poetry and Formulaicity 122 6.4 Literacy Skills of the Jbala Singers 133 6.4.1 Mohammed Laaroussi 134 6.4.2 Lahcen Laaroussi 134 6.4.3 Latifa Laaroussia 135 6.4.4 Abdelmalek al-Andaloussi 136 6.4.5 Level of Literacy of the Four Singers and Formulaicity 137 6.5 Context Factors 140 TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 7 Conclusions and Discussion 149 7.1 Summary of Conclusions 149 7.2 Discussion 152 7.3 Further Research 153 References 157 Appendix I: Texts of Songs 165 Secondary Corpus I: Audio Records Made between 1960 and 1990 199 Secondary Corpus II: Old Printed Materials 209 Appendix II: Interviews with Mohammed Laaroussi, Lahcen Laaroussi, Latifa Laaroussia, and Abdelmalek al-Andaloussi 217 Appendix III: Structuring Formulas, Content Formulas, and Lines with ‘Formulaic Elements’ 219 Table A.III.1: Structural Formulas 220 Table A.III.2: Content Formulas 222 Table A.III.3: ‘Formulaic Elements’ 231 Summary 235 Dissertations in Language and Culture Studies 239 Preface Big things have small beginnings. I will never forget the snowy January day in Chefchaouen in 2007, when I heard for the first time a live performance of Jbala songs and held my first interview with a local singer. That day in- augurated a pleasant, although sometimes rocky, journey and this book is a letter chronicling the highlights and interesting discoveries made in the course of this journey. Unrecorded are the ups, when things seemed to be going relatively right and the downs, when I was uncertain if the journey was a fool’s errand. At such times I was very close to giving up. I was lucky, however, to be surrounded by friends and colleagues who were un- waveringly by my side and had faith in me even when I did not. Without their support it would had been impossible to finish this project. The debt to my supervisors can never be repaid. Dr. Jan Jaap de Ruiter was a rock providing support, patience and a readiness to help during all the stages of my research and writing. Prof. Sjaak Kroon was generous with his time, valuable comments and support toward my research topic. Prof. Ad Backus gave me guidance when I was working on the linguistic aspects. I am grateful to Carine Zebedee, the departmental secretary, for graciously helping with the editing. I would like to express my very deep appreciation to Heikki Palva, professor emeritus of the University of Helsinki, for his help, during the early stages of work, with translating and transcribing the lyrics that later became the core corpus of my research. The Jbala singers and poets deserve special thanks and recognition as a fountain of beautiful art. Their creative works bring joy not only to their people but also to those who live outside of the Jbala region. Special thanks to the enthusiasts of the local folklore Mohammed Amin Laaroussi and Abdessalam Msaada, for helping to resolve some language technicalities and 10 FORMULAICITY IN JBALA POETRY patiently answering endless questions on the native customs and traditions as well as the details of the modern everyday life of the Jbala people. I would like to thank my family. My late father Yuriy supported my first field trip to Morocco. My mother Nina and my husband Anthony provided love, continuous support and encouragement throughout my study. Special thanks to my son Anthony Jr., although you are only two years old, you have been a loving source of inspiration. Sarali Gintsburg Houston, December 2013 Transcription The transcription chosen for the collection of poetical texts dealt with in this thesis is simplified. Although it does not reflect nuances of the Jbala variety of Moroccan Arabic, it allows the reader to read the text easily even if he or she is not acquainted with Arabic. Transcription is mostly used for tran- scribing poetical texts and some local terminology. Personal, geographical, and tribal names start with capital letters: Abdessalaam (personal name), Bni Zerwaal (tribal name), Gwiira (geographical name). Geographical locations are transliterated in one of two ways: (1) in the French way, if they have an established history of being written in French, for instance, Chefchaouen and Tanger; or (2) in the conventional English transliteration, if they represent small towns, villages or other localities like Gharuzim and Jbel Lahbib. If necessary, transcription is given between brackets next to the name. The same system is applied to personal and tribal names: Mohamed Laaroussi, Lahcen Laaroussi. Terms of cultural and ethnographical character are given in italics: ayta, iqaa, fraja. For the reader’s convenience, a solid line is used to indicate instances of formulas or formulaic elements in the text, where necessary. For instance: wa-maa ṭarṭaaq el-baruuṭ There are sounds of gun-powder explosions fe j-jbel de Bni Darkuul In the mountain of Bni Darkuul. wa-maa ila wṣelt n timm If you arrived there, yebqa fummek meḥluul Keep your mouth shut (Appendix I, ML 1: 27-30) Consonants are transcribed as indicated in the table below. 12 FORMULAICITY IN JBALA POETRY Transcription Phonetic description Arabic ب b voiced bilabial stop ت -t voiceless plain alveolar stop with affricate like release ج j voiced palato-alveolar fricative; can have a voiced palatal fricative variant ح ḥ voiceless pharyngeal fricative خ x voiceless velar fricative د d voiced plain alveolar stop ر r alveolar tremulant continuant ز z voiced alveolar fricative س s voiceless alveolar fricative ش š voiceless palato-alveolar fricative ص ṣ voiceless alveolar fricative, emphatic ض ḍ voiced alveolar fricative, emphatic ط ṭ voiceless alveolar stop, emphatic ع ε voiced pharyngeal fricative غ gh voiced velar fricative ف f voiceless labiodental fricative ق q voiceless uvular stop ك k voiceless velar stop ل l alveolar lateral continuant م m bilabial nasal continuant ن n alveolar nasal continuant ه h fricative not stop و w bilabial semivowel ي y palatal semivowel ء ˀ voiceless glottal stop گ g voiced velar stop TRANSCRIPTION 13 Vowels are transcribed as indicated in the table below.