by Lameen Souag
800 years
Since Tabelbala was founded. Both of those are language names; more or less appropriate group names would be Belbalis and North African Arabs, though both concepts are more or less problematic.
Since ca. 1980, when the road was built
Probably 800 years or so, since Tabelbala was founded; there's really no way to know
Since the 1980s or so, when the road was built
500 years or more
All the major landowning families claim patrilineal ancestry from outside the oasis
Late 20th-early 21st century
Especially after the road opened
Probably about 800 years
The language of literacy in Tabelbala has been Arabic ever since it became a town, and its growth was intimately tied to trade with urban centres to the north where Arabic would have been more widely spoken. The locally born scholar Makhluf al-Balbali (d. after 1533) studied in Morocco and elsewhere, so involvement had certainly started by then. The earliest explicitly dated inscription from Tabelbala, in Judeo-Arabic, was made in 1322. This relatively limited initial contact, however, would certainly have intensified during the 1400s as the oasis came under the sway of Arab nomadic groups, and further intensified in the early 20th century after the French conquest.
1962-present
After Algeria's independence, opportunities for education and especially higher education were massively expanded by government intervention.
Sporadically: probably since the language came into existence about 800 years ago Regularly: probably since the region first came under Arab political domination, about 500 years ago Intimately: since the oasis began to have a large Arabic-speaking community, about 100 years ago
After about 1980
At this point the road had been built and the effects of education had begun to show themselves
Through individual immigrants: probably ~800 years Through larger-scale settlement: about 100 years (since the French fort was built, and a largely Arabic-speaking village grew up around it)
The immigration of Hadj Larbi ben Yahia about 200 years ago, ancestor to one of the main families, provides an example of the kind of local-level contact that would have occurred earlier.
mid 20th c.-present
The exact cutoff is arbitrary, but the number of non-Korandje speakers settled in the town grew throughout the 20th century, first due to the fort, then due to nomads becoming sedentary and more government officials arriving.
800 years or so (ie, ever since Korandje emerged as a separate language); longer if you count contacts between proto-Northern Songhay and Arabic.
Ca. 1980-present
The first paved road connecting Tabelbala to the rest of the country was built around 1980, reducing the time taken to get to any other settlement from 3 days to a few hours.
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