Three for the price of one the dialects of Kerkennah (Tunisia)

Abstract

The Kerkennah archipelago is situated 18 kilometres east of Tunisia's second major city, Sfax. It consists of two main islands, Gharbi / Gharbiya, also called Mellita, the smaller island, and Chergui / Cherguiya, covering an area of 160km2 • Ramla, on Chergui, is the main town, and on the two islands there are about ten small villages and the communities attached to them.! The north-eastern region of the archipelago is dotted with a cluster of islets. The highest point in the whole archipelago hardly exceeds twelve metres and a substantial area is covered by sebkhas, that is, salty marshes. The surrounding sea is very shallow and tidal fluctuations are a very characteristic feature of these islands. Cercina, the Latin name from which the Arabic toponym qarqna is derived, and the surrounding islands, were colonized by the Carthaginians, and Punic tombs, going back to the third century BC, have been unearthed in various parts of the archipelago. In 196 BC the Punic Carthaginian military commander Hannibal Barca passed through these islands on his way to his exile in Syria.