UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST

CENTER FOR ARAB STUDIES

ROMANO-ARABICA
XIX

Curses and Profanity in the Languages and Cultures

of the Middle East and North Africa

2019
Editors:
George Grigore (University of Bucharest, e-mail: [email protected])
Laura Sitaru (University of Bucharest, e-mail: [email protected])

Associate Editors:
Gabriel Bi unã (University of Bucharest, e-mail: [email protected])
Ovidiu Pietrãreanu (University of Bucharest, e-mail: [email protected])

Editors in charge of this issue

George Grigore & Gabriel Bi

Website administrator:
Ionete (University of Bucharest, e-mail: [email protected])

Cover designer (Graffito in Tunis. Photo taken by the designer)

Dennis Bi

Blind peer reviewed

Editorial and Advisory Board:
Jordi Aguadé (University of Cadiz, Spain)
Andrei A. Avram (University of Bucharest, Romania)
Ramzi Baalbaki (American University of Beirut, Lebanon)
Ioana Feodorov (Institute for South-East European Studies, Bucharest, Romania)
István T. Kristó-Nagy (University of Exeter, UK)
Hayder Ghadhban Mohsin (University of Babylon, Iraq)
Pierre Larcher (Aix-Marseille University, France)
Jérôme Lentin (INALCO, Paris, France)
Giuliano Mion (University of Cagliari, Italy)
Munteanu (University of Bucharest, Romania)
Bilal Orfali (American University of Beirut, Lebanon)
Stephan Procházka (University of Vienna, Austria)
Suçin (Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey)
Shabo Talay (Free University of Berlin, Germany)
Irina Vainovski-Mihai
Ángeles Vicente (University of Zaragoza, Spain)
John O. Voll (Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., USA)

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ISSN 1582-6953
 Contents

I. CURSES AND PROFANITY IN THE LANGUAGES AND CULTURES OF

THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA .............................................. 7
Lucia Avallone. Literary Creativity and Curses. A Study Case: -
mad al- ................................................................................ 9
Basilius Bawardi. .. 19
Gabriel Bi . The Tunisian Swearosaurus. Swear Words in the Spoken Arabic of Tunis 35
Meriem Bouzid Sababou. ......................... 47
Adela Chiru. Gros Mots ............................ 59
Luca . Curses, Insults and the Power of Words: Verbal Strategies in
Maghrebi Dialects ............................................................................................ 71
Emanuela De Blasio. The Use of Youth Language and Coarse Words in the Mashreq Area 83
Nino Ejibadze. Cursing and Reviling Formulas in the Egyptian Arabic Dialect ....... 93
Chiara Fontana. Rhetorical Features of Cursing and Foul-Mouthed Speech
affar an- ......... 99
Mufleh Hweitat. ................................. 117
Benjamin Koerber. al- - -
of Tunisian Cursing ......................................................................................... 131
Letizia Lombezzi. A e and his Relatives: Productive Genealogies for
Arabic Embodied Curses ................................................................................. 145
Gabriel M. Rosenbaum. Curses, Insults and Taboo Words in Egyptian Arabic: in
Daily Speech and in Written Literature ........................................................... 155
Jonas Sibony. Curses and Profanity in Moroccan Judeo-
it in the Hebrew Sociolect of Israelis from Moroccan Origins ........................ 193

II: MISCELLANEA .................................................................................................... 209

Maurizio Bagatin. La variation linguistique selon Ibn ald n ................................. 211
Simone Bettega. Genitive Markers in Omani Arabic ................................................. 227
Irina Vainovski-Mihai, George Grigore. From Dobrudja to Ada-Kaleh: A Bridge
between Empires ............................................................................................... 243

III: BOOK REVIEWS ................................................................................................ 251

Luca . 2017. Italiano, siciliano e arabo in contatto. Profilo sociolinguistico
della comunità tunisina di Mazara del Vallo Centro di Studi Filologici e
Linguistici siciliani, Palermo (Cristiana Bozza) ............................................... 253
Arik Sadan, Almog Kasher. 2018. A Critical Edition of the Grammatical treatise
-carabiyya by Ibn al- . Wiesbaden: Harassowitz
Werlag (Ovidiu ) .......................................................................... 257
Hela Ouardi. 2016. Les derniers jours de Muhammad (Laura Sitaru) ..................... 261
 THE TUNISIAN SWEAROSAURUS.
SWEAR WORDS IN THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF TUNIS

GABRIEL BI

University of Bucharest

Abstract..This study aims to identify the swear words in the Spoken Arabic of Tunis, an Arabic variety of
North Africa and classify them according to their origin (the denotative meanings behind them) or their usage
(they are pragmatically very versatile, because they can be utilized for different pragmatic reasons, including
negative politeness towards friends). This research is part of a bigger endeavor that aims to record and describe
a complete list of insults, curses and obscene language employed in the Spoken Arabic of Tunis, with a clear
pragmatic analysis of each category.
Keywords: swear words, Tunisian Arabic, Spoken Arabic of Tunis, curse words, profanity.

Introduction

Profanity (or offensive language, bad words, cuss words, curse words, swear words, etc.)
represents an intrinsic part of our daily routine, whether we are the ones using it or simply
hearing it around us (in conversations, or at the TV or the radio), or reading it in books,
newspapers, and the internet (especially on social media websites).
Profanity is the kind of language that usually refers to taboo words or swear words.
Such words are considered either inappropriate or very unacceptable in most social
contexts. Swear words usually refer to bod
ethnicity, gender, sexual activity, bodily functions or anything that a particular society or
culture would find offensive or inappropriate. The contexts in which people usually resort
to swearing include arguing with or insulting the other, joking and mocking, being in pain
or frustrated, or as a product of anger or stress.
This study aims to list as much of the swear words utilized in the Spoken Arabic
of Tunis (henceforth SAT) as possible, while also classifying them according to their
origin and usage and discuss some cases where the swear words were employed for
different pragmatic reasons.
As mentioned by Ritt (2004: 165), it is very difficult for a foreing researcher to be able
to record linguist material containing swear words and insults, because the attitude that Arabs
take in front of foreigners is one with reservations and, as such, these words are seen taboo
and very shameful for the Arabic speakers, when they are outside their comfort zone (outside
their friends and family circle, where they can express themselves freely).
The study of cursing

From the theories of linguistic (im)politeness, Robin Lakoff (1973) argues, based on the
cooperative principle in verbal interaction (Grice 1975), that there is a choice of certain
-
supposes for the speaker or the listener. That is why a swear word is almost never
involuntarily (unless the person is under a lot of stress or pain) uttered by a person, because
it requires too much of a situational investment to just be thrown away, without gaining
something in return.
Geoffrey Leech (1983), in this same sense, formulates a principle of politeness based
on the conversational maxims of generosity, approbation, modesty, agreement and

theory (1967) and, in particular, the notion of face, postulate that there are universal
principles regulating social relations linked to courtesy, which work to avoid latent
interpersonal conflict in all verbal exchange.
The only issue involving these theories is that they are all built on the premises that
communication is taking place within the same ethnic or social context; thus,
communication can be thought of as a universal principle for human interaction.
Nonetheless, there is a plethora of forms of communication out there and they vary
immensely from one situation to another and from one social class to another, not to
mention the case of intercultural communication.

According to Jay (1999) cursing refers to several uses of offensive speech:

Technically speaking, cursing is wishing harm on a person (e.g., eat shit and die). But
the term cursing is used comprehensively here to include categories such as: swearing,
obscenity, profanity, blasphemy, name calling, insulting, verbal aggression, taboo
speech, ethnic-racial slurs, vulgarity, slang, and scatology.

However, compared to most other forms of speech, cursing is meant to suggest

connotative meanings rather than denotative, because the meanings that the speaker
builds and suggests to the listener using curse words are primarily understood as
connotative (Jay & Danks 1977):

Dirty words are unique because connotative meaning is dominant over denotative
meaning, and these two aspects of meaning can be easily separated. Dirty-word
expressions are typically interpreted connotatively (Jay and Danks, 1977). For example,
when we call someone a bastard we are not questioning the legitimacy of his birth but
expressing dislike for him. Connotation is generally linked to emotional expression, not
to denoting a specific feature of the person in question. (Jay 1981:30)

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 THE TUNISIAN SWEAROSAURUS. SWEAR WORDS IN THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF TUNIS

Data collection and informants

The corpus on which this research is based consists of my own recordings (all of which are
non-scripted and naturally-occurring, written or audio) employed in the summers of 2009,
2014, and, more recently, in February 2019, in the capital city of Tunis, as well as in 2015
and 2016 in Bucharest, from SAT speakers who were born and raised in Tunis.
Other important sources for my corpus of recordings were written recordings that I
have been able to save from social networking websites and forums on the internet (as well
as dedicated websites for corpora collection like ArabeTunisien.com, Tunisiya.org, and
TuniCo). I then asked the help of SAT speakers to read the texts I found and thus I was
able to better understand some utterances I was struggling with from only their written
samples and was finally able to transliterate them properly.
I have also used some works consecrated to SAT and to Tunisian Arabic in general
to get a better picture of some morphology and syntax issues I had while trying to
transliterate my recordings, as well as for identifying terms I may have missed during my
field research (Cohen 1975; Singer 1984; Ritt 2004; Mion 2006, 2008, 2013; Ritt-
Benmimoun & Procházka 2009; Procházka 2018).
For the SAT samples I have utilized a phonemic transcription system and I used the
data I found on TuniCo (Linguistic dynamics in the Greater Tunis Area: a corpus-based
approach) to double-
examples provided in this paper.
The informants were of all ages (from teenagers to elderly people), with various
levels of education and formation. However, in almost all cases, the informants were male.
I was only able to hear women swearing in very few cases, as it almost never occurs in
general, especially outside of their homes, or in front of foreigners.

Swear words related to body parts

In SAT the most frequent taboo words refer to body parts and the private areas (especially
the genitalia). These words are used in full-fledged swear expressions, but some of them
also act as stand-alone transmitters of inappropriate meanings and insults. The following
list indicates the swear words referring to body parts and bodily functions as found in my
corpus of recordings:

(1) zibb

(1a) zibb-i, -ya, malla -u

dick-1SG brother-1SG what a topic choose.2SG.PST-3SG.M

(1b) wijh-ik zibb-i

face-2SG like dick-1SG

37
(1c) w-n ibb -ik inti -ik ki-zibb-i
and-PRS.want.1SG PRS.say.1SG-2SG 2SG nature-2SG like-dick-1SG

(1e) - -k, iz-zibb-i?

what-with-2SG DEF-dick-1SG

h
(1f) iz-zibb-i! ?
DEF-dick-1SG why

(1g) f- ta ki ya zibb-i -fhimt-ik-

in-what PRS.speak.2SG VOC dick-1SG NEG-understand.PST.1SG-2SG-NEG

(1h) yidd-ik fi zibb-i

hand-2SG in dick-1SG

(1i) yidd-ik

(1j) sayyib zibb-i!

IMP.release.2SG dick-1SG

(1k) na an zibb-i!
curse religion dick-1SG

(1l) ya zibb-i
IMP.come.2SG here VOC mister dick-1SG

(1m) kassart l-i zibb-i

PST.break.2SG for-1SG dick-1SG

(2) zabb , a variant for zibb

zibb is probably the most frequent swear word used in Tunisian Arabic. It is
oftentimes utilized for expressing not only its denotative meaning, but its many connotative
meanings also. In (1a) it is used when someone is feeling desperate or miserable. In (1b)
and (1c) the term is used in comparisons to show that something is in a really bad situation
or it is ugly and undesirable. In (1e) and (1f) is used for expressing astonishment or surprise

38
 THE TUNISIAN SWEAROSAURUS. SWEAR WORDS IN THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF TUNIS

or as a reaction to something unexpected, but mostly not desired. The example in (1g)
marks the fact that the situation is much more serious or sever than what it would normally
be. zibb-i, does not
, as in (1i).
There are other expressions with yidd-ik like: yidd- -l-
or yidd-ik f -l-qa The examples in (1j) and (1k)
showcase the fact that the term zibb replaces , which is expected when referring to
oneself. In (1l) the term is used as a form of negative politeness and can only be employed
among friends with this connotation.
SAT,
three fo

(3) a ba , probably developed from Old Arabic

(3a) ya a ba ba a i fi o -ik
VOC dick out IMP.fill.2SG in pussy-2SG

(3b) a ba li-k w li-l- w illi

PRS.give.3SG.M dick to-2SG and to-DEF-groom and REL
i i
-ha w lli ktab-ha w lli
PRS.sing.3SG.M-3SG.F and who write.PST.3SG.M-3SG.F and REL
la an-ha
compose.PST.3SG.M-3SG.F
te it and the

(3c) A: - - - wa hwa
NEG-PRS.give.2SG-1SG-NEG thingy thingy-DU?
B: il- a ba!
DEF-dick
A -something?

(3c) is remarkable because it also indicates a completely connotative use of the term
a ba, inferring that using it as an answer when someone asks for something, it becomes
synonymous .

(4) namm

(4a) a ya namm-i
put.PST.3PL song I love not, VOC dick-1SG

39
(4b) -na n nafra wa ad-na ya namm-i
IMP.release.2PL-1PL PRS.love.1PL PRS.be happy.1PL alone-1PL VOC dick-1SG

(5) katla kutla

(5a) yilzim-ik katla

PRS.have to.3SG.M-2SG dick of camel

(6)

(6b) tawwa ta ki? -kum

now become.PRF.2SG? PRS.speak.2SG PRS.give.3SG.M-2PL dick

(7) dick

(7a) -u -l- illi fi -u

who-3SG.M this-DEF-fucked-up REL PRS.rap.3SG.M in head-3SG.M

is a participle derived from the verb - , which was formed in

its turn from . Both the verb and the participle inherited the denotative meaning from
the noun term and developed accordingly.

(8)

(9) , cf. Old Arabic unn

(10 tirma , cf. Old Arabic taram 1944: 198)

a
(10a) id -hum a tram-hum
One PRS.give.3SG.M-3PL spanking on asses-3PL

(10b) ba a i tarmit-ik fi a u a o m-ik

out IMP.give.2SG ass-2SG in place other.F caliber pussy-2SG wide
lace else, [more appropriate to the] caliber of your

(11) , cf Old Arabic

(12) < bass ybiss

(12) o , probably cf. Old Arabic arm

40
 THE TUNISIAN SWEAROSAURUS. SWEAR WORDS IN THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF TUNIS

(12a) ba ba a a fi o -ik
VOC dick out IMP.fill.2SG in pussy-2SG

(13) , cf. Old Arabic

1944: 98)

(13a) ufla ki- -ha n ibb-ik -ha

girl when-PRS.say.2SG-3SG.F PRS.love.1SG-2SG pussy-3SG.F
ywalli qadd
PRS.become.3SG.F size barrel

(14)
umm-ik
curse.PST.3SG.M pussy mother-2SG

1
(15)

(16) zukk
h
(16a) rabb-ak fi zukk il-
Why God-2SG take.PST.2SG hotel in pussy DEF-town
a mas a, ya zibb-i w mnayyika
place dirty VOC dick-1SG and fucked

(16a) is another example that conveys the connotative meaning of zukk

seem to be totally
unrelated to the denotative meaning of the word, as the location of the vagina is central,
between the legs, thus using the

(17)

(17a) n ibb nar u t-ik

PRS.want.1SG PRS.suck.1SG tits sister-2SG

(18) , probably cf. Old Arabic

tal as fi n
what PRS.lick.2SG in clitoris that why men

1 seems to have developed via the French Trompe de fallope

tube that is found in all female mammal reproductive systems.

41
 - fi zabb
NEG-exist-NEG in Tunis dick

(19)

(20)

(20a) qul l-i ya l-

IMP.say.2SG for-1SG VOC mister DEF-shit

(20a) is frequently

(21)

(22) ku za k iz cf. Old Arabic kurz

(Kazimirski 1944: 883)

(22a) nfa t l-i k z-i

Inflate.PST.2SG for-1SG balls-1SG

Other swear words, unrelated to body parts

Most of the words in this second category refer to verbs that are considered inappropriate
or obscene. Some of these verbs are denominal, derived from nouns referring to other taboo
concepts and terms. The most productive root here is n-y-k, which generates meanings

(22) , a metaphor of

(23) - <

(23) l-i zibb-i

IMP.suck.2SG for-1SG dick-1SG

(24) a a

(24a) - ya

42
 THE TUNISIAN SWEAROSAURUS. SWEAR WORDS IN THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF TUNIS

(24) a l-i zibb-i

IMP.suck.2SG for-1SG dick-1SG

(25)

(25a) taww l-ik il- w-il-

now PRS.fuck.1SG for-2SG DEF-tribe and-DEF-trive
w-il-fa -ik
and-DEF-vritue of-2SG

(25b) and-i id a b-i -u tawwa

POSS-1SG one friend-1SG POSS-3SG.M machine photo good now
-h -h -na wa ad-na
PRS.bring.1PL PRS.fuck.1PL selves-1PL alone-1PL NEG better

(25c) wa a w alt a fi-n- nitkayyif

by God arrive.PST.1SG three packs in-DEF-day PRS.smoke.1SG
w waqt illi fi-l- -i
two normally and time REL in-DEF-night POSS-1SG

party disco or thing PRS.continue.1SG PRS.fuck.1SG pack

ar ya zibb-i
other VOC dick-1SG

I have a party or disco or something else in the night, I continue to fucking smoke

connotative meanings of

preferred

, the pragmatic reason for choosing the swear word is

to imply the seriousness of the situations. Nonetheless, the verb would have never
appeared in any of the abovementioned occurrences, had the speakers been in close
proximity to older people or their parents.

(26) nayyak ynayyik tnayyak ytnayyak,

where the prefix t- has been assimilated into the verb form

(26a) - - - a -ni
NEG-PRS.say.2SG-3SG.F-NEG 1SG professional PART-1SG

43
 - - n awwir nayyik
NEG-PRS.know.1SG-NEG PRS.take photo.1SG IMP.be fucked.2SG

(26b) ba a nik il-umm umm-ik mnayyak

out IMP.fuck.2SG DEF-mother of mother-2SG VOC fucked
motherfucker

(27)

(28)

(28b) -hu fi -u
PART-3SG.M man pedophile fucker in brain-3SG.M

(29) , pl.

(30) w ka
and after PRS.become.1SG 1SG liar VOC homosexual
w inti ka -ya w ba a
and PRS.become.2SG 2SG liar with-1SG and out
i
d m
so PRS.become.3SG.M movie sex

liar together with me and soon after it

(31) a - -

(32) qa ba . This term has given the

(32a) ub - ub
from qa ba

(33) a

(33a) na3rif a l-ik min-

PRS.know.1SG origin-2SG from-where VOC homosexual,
min
from people homosexual

The discrepancy between the classical utterance ban (indicates the family origin
or heritage), with which someone can take pride in, and the shock given by the combination

44
 THE TUNISIAN SWEAROSAURUS. SWEAR WORDS IN THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF TUNIS

of this classical utterance and such an inappropriate term makes this utterance weigh even
more heavily on the listener.

(34) , probably from Spanish bonita

(34a) -hu
PART-3SG.M PRS.pull.3SG.M handjob

(35) ta l-i -h
PRS.shit.2SG for-1SG in-3SG.M

Final remarks

Although the list of curse words in SAT presented throughout this study is, by far, not
complete, it still manages to showcase the versatility of some of these taboo terms. The
most productive ones were the words referring to the penis and the verb used to indicate
the act of sexual intercourse, showing that the society in which these swear words are used,
is not only a patriarchal society, but, more than anything, one that is dominated by

to foul language.

References

Brown, P., Levinson S.C. [1978] 1987. Politeness. Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Cohen, David. 1975. Le parler arabe des juifs de Tunis. II: Étude linguistique. The Hague Paris: Mouton.
Goffman, Erving. 1967. Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. New York: Pantheon Books.
Grice, Paul (1975). "Logic and conversation". In Cole, P. & Morgan, J.: Syntax and Semantics. 3: Speech acts.
New York: Academic Press. 41 58.
Jay, Timothy B. (1981). Comprehending Dirty-Word Descriptions Language and Speech 24. 29-38
Jay, Timothy. 1999. Why We Curse. A neuro-psycho-social theory of speech. Amsterdam/Philadelphia:
John Benjamins.
Jay, Timothy B., Danks, Joseph H. (1977). Ordering of taboo adjectives , in Bulletin of the Psychonomic
Society, 9(6), 405-408.
Kazimirski, A. de Biberstein. 1944. Dictionnaire arabe-français. Beirut: Librairie du Liban.
Lakoff, Robin. 1973. . In C. Corum, T. Cedric Smith-
Stark, A. Weiser (eds.): Papers from the Ninth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society.
292 305. Chicago: Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago.
Leech, G. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. London, New York: Longman Group Ltd.
, in Revista degli studi orientali.
Nuova serie. Volume LXXVIII Fasc.1-2. 243-255.
Mion, Giuliano. 2008. In S. Procházka & V. Ritt-Benmimoun
(eds.): Between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Studies on Contemporary Arabic Dialects. Proceedings
of the 7th Aida Conference. Viena: LIT Verlag. 305-314.
Mion, Giuliano. 201 -
Folia Orientalia. Vol 50. Pp. 51-65

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 - und Tabuwörter im südtunesischen Beduinendialekt der Ma
eine erste Bestandsaufnahme , in Estudios de dialectología Norteafricana y Andalusí 8. 163-184.
Ritt-Benmimoun, Veronika. & Procházka, Stephan. 2009.
, in Estudios de dialectología
Norteafricana y Andalusí 13. 31-92.
Singer, Hans-Rudolf. 1984. Grammatik der arabischen Mundart der Medina von Tunis. Berlin New York: de Gruyter.

Online sources

Procházka in Catherine Miller, Alexandrine

Barontini, Marie-Aimée Germanos, et al.: Studies on Arabic Dialectology and Sociolinguistics.
Published online: https://books.openedition.org/iremam/4017#ftn10.
TUNICO https://tunico.acdh.oeaw.ac.at
Tunisiya Tunisian Arabic Corpus: http://www.tunisiya.org/

46