Mauritania is relatively poorly studied in Russian Arabic studies. This is largely due to the fact that this state is located on the periphery of the Arab world and very often escapes the field of view of linguists and regional studies. This country is unique in that it is located at the junction of Northern and Tropical Africa and combines the features of the Maghreb 1 and the features of sub-Saharan States, and is a kind of "bridge" between Arab Africa and Black Africa. This is also confirmed by the distribution of the population on the territory of Mauritania: Moors (descendants of mixed Arab and Berber tribes) occupy most of the country, while various Negroid tribes inhabit the south, mainly the Senegal River Valley. Ethnic diversity creates a complex linguistic situation in the region.
Keywords: Hassania Arabic dialect, Mauritania, Berbers, Arabic literary language.
The Arab-Berber majority of Mauritania speaks the Hassaniya Arabic dialect, which belongs to the group of Western Arabic dialects - the so-called Maghreb dialects. As noted by the well-known Russian arabist Yu. N. Zavadovsky, " the Hassaniya dialect gives the impression of being uniform. Small differences, of course, exist between the dialects of different tribes and social groups, but in general, Hassaniya is much more homogeneous than other Arabic dialects of North Africa "(Zavadovsky, 1981, p. 11). The African population itself, which is concentrated along the southern border of Mauritania with Senegal, is linguistically opposed to the Arab Moors and speaks various languages and dialects belonging to two language groups: Atlantic (Fula, Wolof, Pulaar) and Mande (Soninke, Malinka, etc.).
Nevertheless, Arabic is the official language of Mauritania, which is considered a full member of the League of Arab States and an integral part of the Arab East. In accordance with the Constitution of 1961, Arabic was declared the state language, and French - the business language. This point of the Constitution ...
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