36th Annual Student Research Conference
The Mythology of the Qara Oasis
Adam F. Bishop
Prof. Alex Tetlak, Faculty Mentor
The Berber languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family spoken by the Berber people of northern Africa. Qaran Berber is an endangered Berber language spoken by the people of the Qara Oasis in north-west Egypt. This language is undocumented, with all known sources claiming that Siwi Berber, the language of the nearby Siwa Oasis, is the only Berber language spoken in Egypt. However, in research presented at the 2022 Student Research Conference, I have found Qaran Berber to be a separate language from Siwi Berber. I have continued research into Qaran Berber, now having collected several mythological stories in the Qaran tradition through online text and audio elicitation from a native speaker. I will present samples of these stories in the original language, translations that highlight important linguistic features, and analyses of the similarities and differences between the Qaran stories and the traditional Egyptian myths.
Keywords: Qaran Berber, Berber language, linguistic analysis, Qara Oasis, undocumented language, Berber mythology, Egyptian mythology, folklore
Topic(s):Linguistics
Folklore
African Studies
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Session: 206-6
Location: SUB 3202
Time: 11:30