Zenaga is a Berber language spoken by some 200 to 300 people between Mederdra and the Atlantic coast in southern Mauritania. The language shares its basic structure with other Berber languages, but specific details are quite different; in fact, it is probably the most divergent surviving Berber language, with a significantly different sound system made even more distant by sound changes such as l > dj and kh > k, as well as a difficult to explain profusion of glottal stops. The name 'Zenaga' comes from that of a much bigger ancient Berber tribe, known to medieval Arab geographers as the Senhaja; the name "Senegal", ironically, derives from "Zenaga" as well.
The language seems to be going extinct since its speakers do not teach it to their children. Those learn Hassaniya, the dominant Arabic language of Mauritania, which itself contains a substantial number of Zenaga loanwords.
The people speaking Zenaga are Muslimnomads. Racially the group is both black and white. The blacks are descendants of slaves that were captured centuries ago.
Zenaga (autonym Tuḍḍungiyya) is a Berber language spoken by some 200 to 300 people (Ethnologue estimate, 1998) between Mederdra and the Atlantic coast in southwestern Mauritania.
Zenaga was once spoken throughout much of Mauritania, but fell into decline when its speakers were defeated by the Maqil Arabs in the Char Bouba war of the 17th century.
Zenaga was used only within the tribe, and it was considered impolite to speak it when non-speakers were present; some speakers deliberately avoided using Zenaga with their children, hoping to give them a head start in Hassaniya.
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