Location of Berber varieties in Northern Africa.  Northern Africa (UN subregion)  geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa. ... A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common proto-language. ... The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a language family (Languages of Africa) with about 375 languages (SIL estimate) and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, and Southwest Asia (including some 200 million speakers of Arabic). ... Guanche is an extinct language of Spain, especially the Canary Islands. ... Afro-Asiatic - Berber - Zenaga Zenaga is a Berber language spoken by some 200 to 300 people between Mederdra and the Atlantic coast in southern Mauritania. ... Afro-Asiatic - Berber - Eastern Berber The Eastern Berber languages are a subgroup of the Berber languages, spoken in parts of Libya and Egypt. ... The Northern Berber languages are a dialect continuum across the Maghreb that form a sub-family within the Berber languages. ... Tuareg or Tamasheq/Tamajaq/Tamahaq is a Berber language or family of closely related languages spoken by the Tuareg, in parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso (with a few speakers, the Kinnin, even in Chad[1].) They are quite mutually comprehensible, and are commonly regarded as a... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... Download high resolution version (605x615, 69 KB) Distrubutions of Berbers in Northwest Africa. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | North Africa ...
Tashelhiyt	Central Morocco Tamazight
Tarifit	Chenoua
Kabyle	Chaouia
Tamasheq	Saharan Berber

The Berber languages (Berber: , Tamazight) are a group of closely related languages mainly spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Niger, Mali and Libya. A relatively sparse population extends into the whole Sahara and the northern part of the Sahel. They belong to the Afro-Asiatic languages phylum. There is a strong movement among speakers of the closely related northern Berber languages to unite them into a single standard Tamazight. Tashelhiyt (also Tashelhit or Shilha, native name: , French: tachelhit or chleuh, Arabic: تشلحيت) is the largest Berber language of Morocco both by number of speakers (between 8 and 10 million) and by the extent of its area. ... Rifi redirects here, for the place that is called Rifi in Greece, see Rifi, Greece Tarifit is a Northern Berber language of the Zenati subgroup, spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif by about 2 million people. ... The Chenoua language (self-denomination: Haqbaylit̠) is the Zenati Berber language of Jebel Chenoua in Algeria, just west of Algiers near Tipasa and Cherchell. ... Kabyle is a Berber language (Kabyle: ,  , pronounced ) spoken by the Kabyle people. ... Chaouia is the Zenati Berber language of the Chaoui people of eastern Algeria, around Batna and Khenchela. ... Tuareg or Tamasheq/Tamajaq/Tamahaq is a Berber language or family of closely related languages spoken by the Tuareg, in parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso (with a few speakers, the Kinnin, even in Chad[1].) They are quite mutually comprehensible, and are commonly regarded as a... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a language family (Languages of Africa) with about 375 languages (SIL estimate) and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, and Southwest Asia (including some 200 million speakers of Arabic). ... The Northern Berber languages are a dialect continuum across the Maghreb that form a sub-family within the Berber languages. ...

Among the Berber languages / Tamazight are Central Morocco Tamazight, Tarifit or Riffi (northern Morocco), Kabyle (Algeria) and Tashelhiyt (central Morocco). Tamazight has been a written language, on and off, for over 2000 years, although the tradition has been frequently disrupted by various invasions. It was first written in the Tifinagh alphabet, still used by the Tuareg; the oldest dated inscription is from about 200 BC. Later, between about 1000 AD and 1500 AD, it was written in the Arabic alphabet (particularly by the Shilha of Morocco); since the 20th century, it has often been written in the Latin alphabet, especially among the Kabyle. A variant of the Tifinagh alphabet was recently made official in Morocco, while the Latin alphabet is quasi-official in Algeria and official in Mali and Niger; however, both Tifinagh and Arabic are still widely used in Mali and Niger, while Tifinagh and Latin scripts are increasingly being used in Morocco. Rifi redirects here, for the place that is called Rifi in Greece, see Rifi, Greece Tarifit is a Northern Berber language of the Zenati subgroup, spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif by about 2 million people. ... Kabyle is a Berber language (Kabyle: ,  , pronounced ) spoken by the Kabyle people. ... Tashelhiyt (also Tashelhit or Shilha, native name: , French: tachelhit or chleuh, Arabic: تشلحيت) is the largest Berber language of Morocco both by number of speakers (between 8 and 10 million) and by the extent of its area. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... For other senses of this name, see Tuareg (disambiguation). ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing languages such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and others. ... Tashelhit is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Berber subgroup; it is spoken in Morocco and Algeria. ... Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz redirects here. ... This article focuses on the geographical area of Kabylie and its people. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz redirects here. ...

After independence, all the Maghreb countries to varying degrees pursued a policy of "Arabization", aimed primarily at displacing French from its colonial position as the dominant language of education and literacy. But under this policy the use of Amazigh / Berber languages has been suppressed or even banned. This state of affairs has been contested by Berbers in Morocco and Algeria — especially Kabylie — and is now being addressed in both countries by introducing Berber language in some schools and by recognizing Berber as a "national language" in Algeria,^[1] though not an official one. No such measures have been taken in the other Maghreb countries, whose Berber populations are much smaller. In Mali and Niger, there are a few schools that teach partially in Tamasheq. The Arab Maghreb Union This article is about the region. ... Location of Kabylie Largest city Béjaïa Government Not an administrative unit Area  -  Total 44 000 km²   sq mi  Population  -   estimate 7000000[1] (2004)  -  Density 170 /km²   /sq mi Great Kabylie in 1857 Kabylie or Kabylia (Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel) is a cultural region in the north of Algeria. ... A national language is a language (or language variant, i. ... An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ... Tuareg or Tamasheq/Tamajaq/Tamahaq is a Berber language or family of closely related languages spoken by the Tuareg, in parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso (with a few speakers, the Kinnin, even in Chad[1].) They are quite mutually comprehensible, and are commonly regarded as a...

Nomenclature

The term Berber has been used in Europe since at least the 17th century, and is still used today. It was borrowed from the Arabic designation for these populations, البربر, el-Barbar. The latter might have been derived from the Arabic or Persian words "barbakh"/"barbar" and "khanah", a house or guard on the wall.^{[citation needed]} Despite the phonetic resemblance, the term has probably nothing to do with the Latin barbarus, which was used by the Romans to refer to non-Roman tribes of the Roman Empire (see Barbarian). Although the Berbers obviously fell under that definition, Romans usually called them under more specific names, such as "Numidians" or "Mauri". The Egyptians referred to them as Rebu (= Libu), or Meshwesh, the ancient Greeks as "Libyans", the Byzantines as "Mazikes"^{[verification needed]}. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Arabic redirects here. ... Farsi redirects here. ... Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Barbarian (disambiguation). ... This article is about the Roman province. ... Bold text:For the modern country, see Mauritania. ... Map of Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was the civilization of the Nile Valley between about 3000 BC and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. As a civilization based on irrigation it is the quintessential example of an hydraulic empire. ... The Meshwesh (often abbreviated in ancient Egyptian as Ma) were an ancient Libyan (i. ... The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. ... Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered around its capital in Constantinople. ...

As far as languages are concerned, the term Tamazight has recently gained ground over Berber, particularly to refer to Northern Berber languages, just like "Amazigh" is used to refer to a native Berber speaker. In Western languages Tamazight can also (somewhat misleadingly) be used specifically to refer to the Central Morocco Tamazight dialect, closely related to Tashelhiyt. Etymologically, it means "language of the free" or "of the noblemen." Traditionally, the term "tamazight" (in various forms: "thamazighth", "tamasheq", "tamajeq", "tamahaq") was used by many Berber groups to refer to the language they spoke, including the Middle Atlas, the Rif, Sened in Tunisia, and the Tuareg. However, other terms were used by other groups; for instance, many parts of western Algeria called their language "taznatit" or Zenati, while the Kabyles called theirs "thaqvaylith", the inhabitants of Siwa "tasiwit", and the Zenaga. In Tunisia, the local Berber languages are usually referred to as "Shelha". "Tuddhungiya"[1]. Around the turn of the century, it was reported that the Zenata of the Rif called their language "Zenatia" specifically to distinguish it from the "Tamazight" spoken by the rest of the Rif. The Northern Berber languages are a dialect continuum across the Maghreb that form a sub-family within the Berber languages. ... The Berbers (also called Imazighen, free men, singular Amazigh) are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group indigenous to the Maghreb, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. ... Tashelhiyt (also Tashelhit or Shilha, native name: , French: tachelhit or chleuh, Arabic: تشلحيت) is the largest Berber language of Morocco both by number of speakers (between 8 and 10 million) and by the extent of its area. ... RIF may refer to: Reading Is Fundamental, an organization promoting childrens literacy Reconnaissance in Force, a type of military operation used specifically to probe an enemys disposition Reduction in Force, a large-scale ending of employment Renju International Federation, Renju is the professional variant of board game Gomoku... Sened is a small town in central Tunisia northwest of Gabes, and is also the name of the extinct Berber language that was spoken there and at the nearby town of Tmagourt until the mid-twentieth century. ... For other senses of this name, see Tuareg (disambiguation). ... The Zenata are one of the main divisions of the medieval Berbers, along with Senhaja and Masmuda. ... This article focuses on the geographical area of Kabylie and its people. ... The Siwa Oasis is an oasis in Egypt, located between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert. ... Afro-Asiatic - Berber - Zenaga Zenaga is a Berber language spoken by some 200 to 300 people between Mederdra and the Atlantic coast in southern Mauritania. ...

One group, the Linguasphere Observatory, has attempted to introduce the neologism "Tamazic languages" to refer to the Berber languages. The Linguasphere Observatory is a language research network. ... A neologism is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (or coined), often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. ...

Origin

Tamazight is a member of the Afro-Asiatic language family (formerly called Hamito-Semitic), along with such languages as Hausa, Hebrew, Arabic, and Maltese. The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a language family (Languages of Africa) with about 375 languages (SIL estimate) and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, and Southwest Asia (including some 200 million speakers of Arabic). ... Map showing the distribution of Afro-Asiatic languages The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia. ... Hausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 24 million people, and as a second language by about 15 million more. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... Arabic redirects here. ...

Population

The exact population of Berber speakers is hard to ascertain, since most North African countries do not record language data in their censuses. The Ethnologue provides a useful academic starting point; however, its bibliographic references are inadequate, and it rates its own accuracy at only B-C for the area. Early colonial censuses may provide better documented figures for some countries; however, these are also very much out of date. Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language. ...

"Few census figures are available; all countries (Algeria and Morocco included) do not count Berber languages. The 1972 Niger census reported Tuareg, with other languages, at 127,000 speakers. Population shifts in location and number, effects of urbanization and education in other languages, etc., make estimates difficult. In 1952 A. Basset (LLB.4) estimated the number of Berberophones at 5,500,000. Between 1968 and 1978 estimates ranged from eight to thirteen million (as reported by Galand, LELB 56, pp. 107, 123-25); Voegelin and Voegelin (1977, p. 297) call eight million a conservative estimate. In 1980, S. Chaker estimated that the Berberophone populations of Kabylie and the three Moroccan groups numbered more than one million each; and that in Algeria, 3,650,000, or one out of five Algerians, speak a Berber language (Chaker 1984, pp. 8-9)."[2]

• Morocco: In 1952, André Basset ("La langue berbère", Handbook of African Languages, Part I, Oxford) estimated that a "small majority" of Morocco's population spoke Berber. The 1960 census estimated that 34% of Moroccans spoke Berber, including bi-, tri-, and quadrilinguals. In 2000, Karl Prasse cited "more than half" in an interview conducted by Brahim Karada at Tawalt.com. According to the Ethnologue (by deduction from its Moroccan Arabic figures), the Berber-speaking population is estimated at 35% (1991 and 1995). However, the figures it gives for individual languages only add up to 7.5 million, or about 28%. Most of these are accounted for by three dialects:
  • Tarifit: 1.5 million (1991)
  • Tachelhit: 3 million (1998)
  • Central Morocco Tamazight: 3 million (1998)

This nomenclature is common in linguistic publications, but is significantly complicated by local usage: thus Tachelhit is sub-divided into Tachelhit of the Dra valley, Tasusit (the language of the Souss) and several other (mountain)-dialects. Moreover, linguistic boundaries are blurred, such that certain dialects cannot accurately be described as either Central Morocco Tamazight (spoken in the Central and eastern Atlas area) or Tachelhit.

Mohamed Chafik claims 80% of Moroccans are Berbers. It is not clear, however, whether he means "speakers of Berber languages" or "people of Berber descent".

• Algeria: In 1906, the total population speaking Berber languages in Algeria (excluding the thinly populated Sahara) was estimated at 1,305,730 out of 4,447,149, ie 29%. (Doutté & Gautier, Enquête sur la dispersion de la langue berbère en Algérie, faite par l'ordre de M. le Gouverneur Général, Alger 1913.) The 1911 census, however, found 1,084,702 speakers out of 4,740,526, ie 23%; Doutté & Gautier suggest that this was the result of a serious undercounting of Chaouia in areas of widespread bilingualism. A trend was noted for Berber groups surrounded by Arabic (as in Blida) to adopt Arabic, while Arabic speakers surrounded by Berber (as in Sikh ou Meddour near Tizi-Ouzou) tended to adopt Berber. In 1952, André Basset estimated that about a third of Algeria's population spoke Berber. The Algerian census of 1966 found 2,297,997 out of 12,096,347 Algerians, or 19%, to speak "Berber." In 1980, Salem Chaker estimated that "in Algeria, 3,650,000, or one out of five Algerians, speak a Berber language" (Chaker 1984, pp. 8-9). According to the Ethnologue, more recent estimates include (by deduction from its Algerian Arabic figures) 17% (1991) and 29% (Hunter 1996). The actual figures it gives for Berber languages, however, only add up to about 14 million, more than 45%. Most of these are accounted for by two dialects:
  • Kabyle: 6 million (2007), or 20% of the population - or "up to" 5 million (1998), which would be more like 20% and they live especially in Algiers, Bejaia, Tizi -Ouzou, Setif and Boumerdes.
  • Chaouia: 2 million (2007), thus 18% of the population and they live in Batna, Khenchela, Sétif, Souk Ahras, Oum-El-Bouaghi, Tebessa
  • Tuareg almost 1 million they live in south of Algeria
• Tunisia: Basset (1952) estimated about 1%, as did Penchoen (1968). According to the Ethnologue, there are only 26,000 speakers (1998) of a Berber language it calls "Djerbi" (But which Tunisians call "Shelha") in Tunisia, all in the south around Djerba and Matmata. The more northerly enclave of Sened apparently no longer speaks Berber. This would make 0.3% of the population.
• Libya: According to the Ethnologue (by deduction from its combined Libyan Arabic and Egyptian Arabic figures) the non-Arabic-speaking population, most of which would be Berber, is estimated at 4% (1991, 1996). However, the individual language figures it gives add up to 162,000, ie about 3%. This is mostly accounted for by languages:
  • Nafusi in Zuwarah and Jabal Nafusa: 141,000 (1998).
  • Tahaggart Tamahaq of Ghat: 17,000 (Johnstone 1993).
• Egypt: The oasis of Siwa near the Libyan border speaks a Berber language; according to the Ethnologue, there are 5,000 speakers there (1995). Its population in 1907 was 3884 (according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica); the claimed lack of increase seems surprising.
• Mauritania: According to the Ethnologue, only 200-300 speakers of Zenaga remain (1998). It also mentions Tamasheq, but does not provide a population figure for it. Most non-Arabic speakers in Mauritania speak Niger-Congo languages.
• Mali: The Ethnologue counts 440,000 Tuareg (1991) speaking:

Tamasheq: 250,000

Tamajaq: 190,000

• Niger: The Ethnologue counts 720,000 Tuareg (1998) speaking:

Tawallamat Tamajaq: 450,000

Tayart Tamajeq: 250,000

Tahaggart Tamahaq: 20,000

• Burkina Faso: The Ethnologue counts 20,000 - 30,000 Tuareg (SIL 1991), speaking Kidal Tamasheq. However the Ethnologue is very inaccurate here appearing to miss the largest group of Tamasheq in Burkina in the province of Oudalan. The Tamasheq speaking population of Burkina is nearer to 100,000 (2005), with around 70,000 Tamasheq speakers in the province of Oudalan, the rest mainly in Seno, Soum, Yagha, Yatenga and Kadiogo provinces. About 10% of Burkina Tamasheq speak a version of the Tawallamat dialect.
• Nigeria: The Ethnologue notes the presence of "few" Tuareg, speaking Tawallamat Tamajaq.
• France: The Ethnologue lists 537,000 speakers for Kabyle, 150,000 for Central Morocco Tamazight, and no figures for Tachelhit and Tarifit. For the rest of Europe, it has no figures.
• Spain: A majority of Melilla's 80,000 inhabitants, and a minority of Ceuta's inhabitants, speak Berber[3].
• Israel: A few thousand elderly Moroccan-born Israelis use Judeo-Berber dialects.

Thus, judging by the not necessarily reliable Ethnologue, the total number of speakers of Berber languages in the Maghreb proper appears to lie anywhere between 14 and 20 million, depending on which estimate is accepted; if we take Basset's estimate, it could be as high as 25 million. The vast majority are concentrated in Morocco and Algeria. The Tuareg of the Sahel add another million or so. Tarifit is a Northern Berber language of the Zenati subgroup, spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif by about 2 million people. ... Tachelhit is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Berber subgroup; it is spoken in Morocco and Algeria. ... Mohammed Chafiq (also Mohamed Chafik or Shafiq) (Amazigh: ) is a major Amazigh/ Berber Moroccan figure in the Moroccan academic and cultural domain. ... Chaouia is the Zenati Berber language of the Chaoui people of eastern Algeria, around Batna and Khenchela. ... The term bilingualism (from bi meaning two and lingua meaning language) can refer to rather different phenomena. ... Blida (Arabic: البليدة) is a major town of Algeria, chief town of the department(Wilaya) of Blida, 45 km south-west of Algiers. ... Tizi Ouzou comes from Berber language Tizi Uzezzu, spelt Tizi Wezzu, translates to View point of the flower, is a major Kabyle town and capital of Tizi Ouzou province, Algeria. ... This article focuses on the geographical area of Kabylie and its people. ... Chaouia is the Zenati Berber language of the Chaoui people of eastern Algeria, around Batna and Khenchela. ... For other senses of this name, see Tuareg (disambiguation). ... Djerba [1] (also transliterated as Jerba, Jarbah or Girba جزيرة جربة) is the largest island off North Africa, located in the Gulf of Gabes off the coast of Tunisia. ... For the New Zealand town, see Matamata The Hotel Sidi Driss, a traditional Berber troglodyte underground building in the village of Matmata, Tunisia. ... Sened is a small town in central Tunisia northwest of Gabes, and is also the name of the extinct Berber language that was spoken there and at the nearby town of Tmagourt until the mid-twentieth century. ... Ghat (Arabic: غات) is a city in remote south-western Libya. ... Siwa may refer to: The Siwa Oasis in Egypt 140 Siwa, an asteroid Siwa is a Slavic goddess of fertility. ... The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ... Afro-Asiatic - Berber - Zenaga Zenaga is a Berber language spoken by some 200 to 300 people between Mederdra and the Atlantic coast in southern Mauritania. ... Tuareg or Tamasheq/Tamajaq/Tamahaq is a Berber language or family of closely related languages spoken by the Tuareg, in parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso (with a few speakers, the Kinnin, even in Chad[1].) They are quite mutually comprehensible, and are commonly regarded as a... The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the worlds major language families, and Africas largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. ... For other senses of this name, see Tuareg (disambiguation). ... Tuareg or Tamasheq/Tamajaq/Tamahaq is a Berber language or family of closely related languages spoken by the Tuareg, in parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso (with a few speakers, the Kinnin, even in Chad[1].) They are quite mutually comprehensible, and are commonly regarded as a... Tamajaq is the Tuareg language of Niger, belonging to southern Berber, spoken by the Kel Tamajaq or Imuhagh, Tuareg. ... For other senses of this name, see Tuareg (disambiguation). ... Tayart is a dialect of the Tuareg language Tamasheq spoken in the Agadez area of Niger. ... For other senses of this name, see Tuareg (disambiguation). ... SIL International is a worldwide non-profit evangelical Christian organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document lesser-known languages in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy and aid minority language development. ... For other senses of this name, see Tuareg (disambiguation). ... This article focuses on the geographical area of Kabylie and its people. ... Tachelhit is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Berber subgroup; it is spoken in Morocco and Algeria. ... Tarifit is a Northern Berber language of the Zenati subgroup, spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif by about 2 million people. ... Capital Official language(s) Spanish Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked  20 km²   Population  â€“ Total (2006)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked  66,871    3,343. ... Capital Ceuta City Official language(s) Spanish Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked  28 km²   Population  â€“ Total (2006)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked  75,861    2,709. ... The Kingdom of Morocco is a country in northwest Africa. ... Judæo-Berber is a collective term given to the Hebrew-influenced Berber varieties spoken by some North Africans Jews, mainly in Morocco (where Tachelhit was the main factor. ... The Arab Maghreb Union This article is about the region. ... For other senses of this name, see Tuareg (disambiguation). ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Grammar

Nouns in Berber languages / Tamazight vary in gender (masculine vs feminine), in number (singular vs plural) and in state (free state vs construct state). In the case of the masculine, nouns generally begin with one of the three vowels of Berber, a, u or i: In linguistics, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ... In linguistics, grammatical gender is a morphological category associated with the expression of gender through inflection or agreement. ...

afus "hand"

argaz "man"

udem "face"

ul "heart"

ixf "head"

iles "tongue"

While the masculine is unmarked, the feminine (also used to form diminutives and singulatives, like an ear of wheat) is marked with the circumfix t...t. Feminine plural takes a prefix t... : A diminutive is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment. ... In linguistics, a singulative form is a form of a noun which expresses the idea of an individual example of the noun; for instance, snowflake may be considered a singulative from snow. In some languages, singulatives can be productively formed from collective nouns; eg Algerian Arabic ḥjəṛ stone > ḥəjṛa (individual... A circumfix or circumflection is an affix, a morpheme which is placed around another morpheme. ...

afus → tafust

udem → tudemt

ixf → tixft

ifassn → tifetussin

Berber languages / Tamazight have two types of number: singular and plural, of which only the latter is marked. Plural has three forms according to the type of nouns. The first, "regular" type is known as the "external plural"; it consists in changing the initial vowel of the noun, and adding a suffix -n: For other uses of number, see number (disambiguation). ... Look up plural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Suffix in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

afus → ifasen "hands"

argaz → irgazen "men"

ixf → ixfawen "heads"

ul → ulawen "hearts"

The second form of the plural is known as the "broken plural". It involves only a change in the vowels of the word:

adrar → idurar "mountain"

agadir → igudar "wall"

abaγus → ibuγas "monkey"

The third type of plural is a mixed form: it combines a change of vowels with the suffix -n:

izi → izan "fly"

azur → izuran "root"

iziker → izakaren "rope"

Berber languages also have two types of states or cases of the noun, organized ergatively: one is unmarked, while the other serves for the subject of a transitive verb and the object of a preposition, among other contexts. The former is often called free state, the latter construct state. The construct state of the noun derives from the free state through one of the following rules: The first involves a vowel alternation, whereby the vowel a becomes u : In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun indicates its grammatical function in a greater phrase or clause; such as the role of subject, of direct object, or of possessor. ... In linguistics, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ... In ergative-absolutive languages, the ergative case identifies the subject of a transitive verb. ...

argaz → urgaz

amγar → umγar

adrar → udrar

The second involves the loss of the initial vowel, in the case of some feminine nouns:

tamγart → temγart "old women"

tamdint → temdint "town"

tarbat → terbat "girl"

The third involves the addition of a semi-vowel (w or y) word-initially:

asif → wasif "river"

adu → wadu "wind"

iles → yiles "tongue"

uccen → wuccen "wolf"

Finally, some nouns do not change for free state:

taddart → taddart "village"

tuccent → tuccent "female wolf"

The following table gives the forms for the noun amγar "old man":

Subclassification

Modern Berber Languages

Subclassification of the Berber languages is made difficult by their mutual closeness; Maarten Kossmann (1999) describes it as two dialect continua, Northern Berber and Tuareg, and a few peripheral languages, spoken in isolated pockets largely surrounded by Arabic, that fall outside these continua, namely Zenaga and the Libyan and Egyptian varieties. Within Northern Berber, however, he recognizes a break in the continuum between Zenati languages and their non-Zenati neighbors; and in the east, he recognizes a division between Ghadames and Awjila on the one hand and El-Foqaha, Siwa, and Djebel Nefusa on the other. The implied tree is: Image File history File links Berber-map. ... Image File history File links Berber-map. ... A dialect continuum is a range of dialects spoken across a large geographical area, differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in mutual intelligibility as the distances become greater. ... The Northern Berber languages are a dialect continuum across the Maghreb that form a sub-family within the Berber languages. ... Tuareg or Tamasheq/Tamajaq/Tamahaq is a Berber language or family of closely related languages spoken by the Tuareg, in parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso (with a few speakers, the Kinnin, even in Chad[1].) They are quite mutually comprehensible, and are commonly regarded as a... Arabic redirects here. ... Afro-Asiatic - Berber - Zenaga Zenaga is a Berber language spoken by some 200 to 300 people between Mederdra and the Atlantic coast in southern Mauritania. ... The Zenati languages include 12 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken in Africa and western Asia; this language group is a part of the Northern Berber language family. ... Ghadames is an oasis in the west of Libya. ... Awjila is an oasis after which an Eastern Berber language spoken there is named. ... Siwa may refer to: The Siwa Oasis in Egypt 140 Siwa, an asteroid Siwa is a Slavic goddess of fertility. ...

• Nefusa-Siwa languages
• Ghadames-Awjila languages
• Northern Berber languages
  • Zenati languages (including Tarifit)
  • Kabyle language
  • Moroccan Atlas languages (including Tashelhiyt and Central Morocco Tamazight)
• Tuareg languages
• Zenaga language

There is so little data available on Guanche that any classification is necessarily uncertain; however, it is almost universally acknowledged as Berber on the basis of the surviving glosses. Much the same can be said of the language, sometimes called "Numidian", used in the Libyan or Libyco-Berber inscriptions around the turn of the Common Era, whose alphabet is the ancestor of Tifinagh. The Northern Berber languages are a dialect continuum across the Maghreb that form a sub-family within the Berber languages. ... The Zenati languages include 12 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken in Africa and western Asia; this language group is a part of the Northern Berber language family. ... Rifi redirects here, for the place that is called Rifi in Greece, see Rifi, Greece Tarifit is a Northern Berber language of the Zenati subgroup, spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif by about 2 million people. ... Kabyle is a Berber language (Kabyle: ,  , pronounced ) spoken by the Kabyle people. ... The Atlas languages, or more exactly Moroccan Atlas languages, are a subgroup of the Northern Berber languages spoken in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. ... Tashelhiyt (also Tashelhit or Shilha, native name: , French: tachelhit or chleuh, Arabic: تشلحيت) is the largest Berber language of Morocco both by number of speakers (between 8 and 10 million) and by the extent of its area. ... Tuareg or Tamasheq/Tamajaq/Tamahaq is a Berber language or family of closely related languages spoken by the Tuareg, in parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso (with a few speakers, the Kinnin, even in Chad[1].) They are quite mutually comprehensible, and are commonly regarded as a... Afro-Asiatic - Berber - Zenaga Zenaga is a Berber language spoken by some 200 to 300 people between Mederdra and the Atlantic coast in southern Mauritania. ... Guanche is an extinct language of Spain, especially the Canary Islands. ... This article is about the Roman province. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

The Ethnologue, mostly following Aikhenvald and Militarev (1991), subdivides it somewhat differently:

• Guanche
• Eastern Berber languages
  • Siwa
  • Awjila-Sokna languages
• Northern Berber languages
  • Zenati languages
  • Kabyle language
  • Chenoua language
  • Moroccan Atlas languages
• Tamasheq languages
  • Northern Tamasheq languages
  • Southern Tamasheq languages
• Zenaga language

Guanche is an extinct language of Spain, especially the Canary Islands. ... Afro-Asiatic - Berber - Eastern Berber The Eastern Berber languages are a subgroup of the Berber languages, spoken in parts of Libya and Egypt. ... Siwi is a Berber Afro-Asiatic language of Egypt, spoken by about 5,000 people in and around the oasis of Siwa near the Libyan border. ... The Awjila-Sokna languages include 2 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken in Africa and western Asia; this language group is a part of the Eastern Berber language family. ... The Northern Berber languages are a dialect continuum across the Maghreb that form a sub-family within the Berber languages. ... The Zenati languages include 12 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken in Africa and western Asia; this language group is a part of the Northern Berber language family. ... Kabyle is a Berber language (Kabyle: ,  , pronounced ) spoken by the Kabyle people. ... The Chenoua language (self-denomination: Haqbaylit̠) is the Zenati Berber language of Jebel Chenoua in Algeria, just west of Algiers near Tipasa and Cherchell. ... The Atlas languages, or more exactly Moroccan Atlas languages, are a subgroup of the Northern Berber languages spoken in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. ... Tuareg or Tamasheq/Tamajaq/Tamahaq is a Berber language or family of closely related languages spoken by the Tuareg, in parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso (with a few speakers, the Kinnin, even in Chad[1].) They are quite mutually comprehensible, and are commonly regarded as a... The Southern Tamasheq languages include 3 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken in Africa and western Asia; this language group is a part of the Tamasheq language family. ... Afro-Asiatic - Berber - Zenaga Zenaga is a Berber language spoken by some 200 to 300 people between Mederdra and the Atlantic coast in southern Mauritania. ...

See also

• Arsène Roux
• Karl Prasse
• Henri Basset
• Tifinagh alphabet
• Berber alphabet
• Garamantes
• Barbary Coast

The first page of an 18th century Sous Berber manuscript of Muḥammad Awzals al-Ḥawḍ, part I, one of the many manuscripts collected by Roux (adapted from N. v. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Berber alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet. ... The Garamantes were a Saharan Berber-speaking people who used an elaborate underground irrigation system, and founded a kingdom in the Fezzan area of modern-day Libya, in the Sahara desert. ... The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans from the 16th until the 19th century to refer to the coastal regions of what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. ...

Notes

is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ...

References

• Ethnologue entry for Berber languages
• Brett, Michael; & Fentress, Elizabeth (1997). The Berbers (The Peoples of Africa). ISBN 0-631-16852-4. ISBN 0-631-20767-8 (Pbk).
• Abdel-Massih, Ernest T. 1971. A Reference Grammar of Tamazight (Middle Atlas Berber). Ann Arbor: Center for Near Eastern and North African Studies, The University of Michigan
• Basset, André. 1952. La langue berbère. Handbook of African Languages 1, ser. ed. Daryll Forde. London: Oxford University Press
• Chaker, Salem. 1995. Linguistique berbère: Études de syntaxe et de diachronie. M. S.—Ussun amaziɣ 8, ser. ed. Salem Chaker. Paris and Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters
• Dallet, Jean-Marie. 1982. Dictionnaire kabyle–français, parler des At Mangellet, Algérie. Études etholinguistiques Maghreb–Sahara 1, ser. eds. Salem Chaker, and Marceau Gast. Paris: Société d’études linguistiques et anthropologiques de France
• de Foucauld, Charles Eugène. 1951. Dictionnaire touareg–français, dialecte de l’Ahaggar. 4 vols. [Paris]: Imprimerie nationale de France
• Delheure, Jean. 1984. Aǧraw n yiwalen: tumẓabt t-tfransist, Dictionnaire mozabite–français, langue berbère parlée du Mzab, Sahara septentrional, Algérie. Études etholinguistiques Maghreb–Sahara 2, ser. eds. Salem Chaker, and Marceau Gast. Paris: Société d’études linguistiques et anthropologiques de France
• ———. 1987. Agerraw n iwalen: teggargrent–taṛumit, Dictionnaire ouargli–français, langue parlée à Oaurgla et Ngoussa, oasis du Sahara septentrinal, Algérie. Études etholinguistiques Maghreb–Sahara 5, ser. eds. Salem Chaker, and Marceau Gast. Paris: Société d’études linguistiques et anthropologiques de France
• Kossmann, Maarten G. 1999. Essai sur la phonologie du proto-berbère. Grammatische Analysen afrikaniscker Sprachen 12, ser. eds. Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig, and Bernd Heine. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag
• Kossmann, Maarten G., and Hendrikus Joseph Stroomer. 1997. "Berber Phonology". In Phonologies of Asia and Africa (Including the Caucasus), edited by Alan S. Kaye. 2 vols. Vol. 1. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. 461–475
• Naït-Zerrad, Kamal. 1998. Dictionarrie des racines berbères (formes attestées). Paris and Leuven: Centre de Recherche Berbère and Uitgeverij Peeters
• Prasse, Karl-Gottfried, Ghubăyd ăgg-Ălăwžəli, and Ghăbdəwan əg-Muxămmăd. 1998. Asăggălalaf: Tămaẓəq–Tăfrăsist — Lexique touareg–français. 2nd ed. Carl Niebuhr Institute Publications 24, ser. eds. Paul John Frandsen, Daniel T. Potts, and Aage Westenholz. København: Museum Tusculanum Press
• Quitout, Michel. 1997. Grammaire berbère (rifain, tamazight, chleuh, kabyle). Paris and Montréal: Éditions l’Harmattan
• Rössler, Otto. 1958. "Die Sprache Numidiens". In Sybaris: Festschrift Hans Krahe zum 60. Geburtstag am 7. February 1958, dargebracht von Freunden, Schülern und Kollegen. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz
• Sadiqi, Fatima. 1997. Grammaire du berbère. Paris and Montréal: Éditions l’Harmattan. ISBN 2-7384-5919-6
• Cannon, Garland. 1994. The Arabic Contributions to the English Language: A Historical Dictionary.

Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916). ...

External links

• Tamazight language
• Emazighen
• Amuddu n-Umsiggel - a philosophical Berber story
• Interview with Karl-G. Prasse (source)
• Libyamazigh Page about Libyan culture with Tamazight language section.
• Tifinagh
• Ancient Scripts
• Ennedi
• Tawiza
• Berber
• Interview with Rachid Aadnani on the Amazigh issue
• Algerian Dardja Online Dictionary: contains many Tamazight terms
• Imyura Kabyle site about literature

French

• Berber Research Center (INALCO, Paris) Articles and maps of high scientific value for a large audience

v • d • e Afro-Asiatic-speaking nations   Berber      Algeria  Egypt The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a language family (Languages of Africa) with about 375 languages (SIL estimate) and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, and Southwest Asia (including some 200 million speakers of Arabic). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Algeria. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Egypt. ...  Libya  Mali Image File history File links Flag_of_Libya. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Mali. ...  Mauritania  Morocco Image File history File links Flag_of_Mauritania. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Morocco. ...  Niger  Tunisia Image File history File links Flag_of_Niger. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Tunisia. ... v • d • e Chadic      Cameroon  Central African Republic  Chad The Chadic languages are a language family spoken across northern Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic and Cameroon, belonging to the Afro-Asiatic phylum. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Cameroon. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Central_African_Republic. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Chad. ...  Niger  Nigeria Image File history File links Flag_of_Niger. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Nigeria. ... v • d • e Cushitic     Cushitic  Djibouti  Eritrea The Cushitic languages are a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic languages, named after the Biblical figure Cush by analogy with Semitic. ... The Cushitic languages are a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic languages, named after the Biblical figure Cush by analogy with Semitic. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Djibouti. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Eritrea. ...  Ethiopia  Kenya Image File history File links Flag_of_Ethiopia. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Kenya. ...  Somalia Image File history File links Flag_of_Somalia. ... Beja  Egypt  Eritrea Beja (also called Bedawi, Bedauye, To Bedawie) is an Afro-Asiatic language of the southern coast of the Red Sea, spoken by about two million nomads in parts of Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Egypt. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Eritrea. ...  Sudan Image File history File links Flag_of_Sudan. ... v • d • e Egyptian     Egypt v • d • e Omotic  Ethiopia v • d • e Semitic     Arabic / Maltese  Algeria  Bahrain  Egypt  Iraq  Israel  Jordan The language of the Egyptian hieroglyphs and their modern descendant, the Coptic language is classifed under this category. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Egypt. ... The Omotic languages are Afro-Asiatic languages spoken in northeast Africa. ... 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Image File history File links Flag_of_Israel. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Syria. ... South Semitic  Eritrea  Ethiopia  Oman  Yemen South Semitic is one of the three macro-classifications in Semitic linguistics, the other two being North Semitic (e. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Eritrea. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Ethiopia. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Oman. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Yemen. ... 1 excluding Southern Sudan.    2 Aramaic and Hebrew.