Berber
Tamazight Amazigh تَمَزِيغت, Tamaziɣt
Ethnicity	Berbers
Geographic distribution	Scattered communities across parts of North Africa and Berber diaspora
Linguistic classification	Afro-Asiatic Berber
Proto-language	Proto-Berber
Subdivisions	Northern Western Tuareg Eastern ? Numidian † ? Guanche †
ISO 639-2 / 5	ber
Glottolog	berb1260
Berber-speaking populations are dominant in the coloured areas of Africa. Other areas, especially in North Africa, contain minority Berber-speaking populations. Northern Berber Kabyle    Kabyle (Taqbaylit) Atlas   Central Atlas Tamazight (Tamaziɣt)   Shilha (Tacelḥit)   Senhaja de Srair & Ghomara Zenati   Tarifit   Ayt Seghrouchen & Ayt Warayn   Shenwa   Shawiya   Other Zenati (Mzab-Wargla, East Zenati) Western Berber   Zenaga (Tuḍḍungiyya)   Tetserret Eastern Berber   Eastern Berber (Siwi, Nafusi, Sokna, Ghadamès, Awjila) Tuareg   Tuareg (Tamasheq)

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The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight,^[a] are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family.^[1][2] They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages^[3] spoken by Berber communities, who are indigenous to North Africa.^[4][5] The languages are primarily spoken and not typically written.^[6] Historically, they have been written with the ancient Libyco-Berber script, which now exists in the form of Tifinagh.^[7][8] Today, they may also be written in the Berber Latin alphabet or the Arabic script, with Latin being the most pervasive.^[9][10][11]

The Berber languages have a similar level of variety to the Romance languages, although they are sometimes referred to as a single collective language, often as "Berber", "Tamazight", or "Amazigh".^{[12][13][14][15]} The languages, with a few exceptions, form a dialect continuum.^[12] There is a debate as to how to best sub-categorize languages within the Berber branch.^[12][16] Berber languages typically follow verb–subject–object word order.^[17][18] Their phonological inventories are diverse.^[16]

Millions of people in Morocco and Algeria natively speak a Berber language, as do smaller populations of Libya, Tunisia, northern Mali, western and northern Niger, northern Burkina Faso and Mauritania and the Siwa Oasis of Egypt.^[19] There are also likely a few million speakers of Berber languages in Western Europe.^[20] Tashlhiyt, Kabyle, Central Atlas Tamazight, Tarifit, and Shawiya are some of the most commonly spoken Berber languages.^[19] Exact numbers are impossible to ascertain as there are few modern North African censuses that include questions on language use, and what censuses do exist have known flaws.^[21]

Following independence in the 20th century, the Berber languages have been suppressed and suffered from low prestige in North Africa.^[21] Recognition of the Berber languages has been growing in the 21st century, with Morocco and Algeria adding Tamazight as an official language to their constitutions in 2011 and 2016 respectively.^[21][22][23]

Most Berber languages have a high percentage of borrowing and influence from the Arabic language, as well as from other languages.^[24] For example, Arabic loanwords represent 35%^[25] to 46%^[26] of the total vocabulary of the Kabyle language and represent 51.7% of the total vocabulary of Tarifit.^[27] Almost all Berber languages took from Arabic the pharyngeal fricatives /ʕ/ and /ħ/, the (nongeminated) uvular stop /q/, and the voiceless pharyngealized consonant /ṣ/.^[28] Unlike the Chadic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages of the Afro-Asiatic phylum, Berber languages are not tonal.^[29][30]

Terminology

"Tamazight" and "Berber languages" are often used interchangeably.^[13][14][31] However, "Tamazight" is sometimes used to refer to a specific subset of Berber languages, such as Central Tashlhiyt.^[32] "Tamazight" can also be used to refer to Standard Moroccan Tamazight or Standard Algerian Tamazight, as in the Moroccan and Algerian constitutions respectively.^[33][34] In Morocco, besides referring to all Berber languages or to Standard Moroccan Tamazight, "Tamazight" is often used in contrast to Tashelhit and Tarifit to refer to Central Atlas Tamazight.^{[35][36][37][38]}

The use of Berber has been the subject of debate due to its historical background as an exonym and present equivalence with the Arabic word for "barbarian."^{[39][40][41][42]} One group, the Linguasphere Observatory, has attempted to introduce the neologism "Tamazic languages" to refer to the Berber languages.^[43] Amazigh people typically use "Tamazight" when speaking English.^[44] Historically, Berbers did not refer to themselves as Berbers/Amazigh but had their own terms to refer to themselves. For example, the Kabyles use the term "Leqbayel" to refer to their own people, while the Chaouis identified themselves as "Ishawiyen" instead of Berber/Amazigh.^[45]

Origin

Since modern Berber languages are relatively homogeneous, the date of the Proto-Berber language from which the modern group is derived was probably comparatively recent, comparable to the age of the Germanic or Romance subfamilies of the Indo-European family. In contrast, the split of the group from the other Afroasiatic sub-phyla is much earlier, and is therefore sometimes associated with the local Mesolithic Capsian culture.^[46] A number of extinct populations are believed to have spoken Afroasiatic languages of the Berber branch. According to Peter Behrens and Marianne Bechaus-Gerst, linguistic evidence suggests that the peoples of the C-Group culture in present-day southern Egypt and northern Sudan spoke Berber languages.^[47][48] The Nilo-Saharan Nobiin language today contains a number of key loanwords related to pastoralism that are of Berber origin, including the terms for sheep and water/Nile. This in turn suggests that the C-Group population—which, along with the Kerma culture, inhabited the Nile valley immediately before the arrival of the first Nubian speakers—spoke Afroasiatic languages.^[47]

Orthography

Berber languages are primarily oral languages without a major written component.^[6] Historically, they were written with the Libyco-Berber script. Early uses of the script have been found on rock art and in various sepulchres; the oldest known variations of the script dates to inscriptions in Dugga from 600 BC.^[6][49][50] Usage of this script, in the form of Tifinagh, has continued into the present day among the Tuareg people.^[51] Following the spread of Islam, some Berber scholars also utilized the Arabic script.^[52] The Berber Latin alphabet was developed following the introduction of the Latin script in the nineteenth century by the West.^[51] The nineteenth century also saw the development of Neo-Tifinagh, an adaptation of Tuareg Tifinagh for use with other Berber languages.^[6][53][54]

There are now three writing systems in use for Berber languages: Tifinagh, the Arabic script, and the Berber Latin alphabet, with the Latin alphabet being the most widely used today.^[10][11]

Subclassification

With the exception of Zenaga, Tetserret, and Tuareg, the Berber languages form a dialect continuum. Different linguists take different approaches towards drawing boundaries between languages in this continuum.^[12] Maarten Kossmann notes that it is difficult to apply the classic tree model of historical linguistics towards the Berber languages:

's continuous history of convergence and differentiation along new lines makes an definition of branches arbitrary. Moreover, mutual intelligibility and mutual influence render notions such as "split" or "branching" rather difficult to apply except, maybe, in the case of Zenaga and Tuareg.^[55]

Kossmann roughly groups the Berber languages into seven blocks:^[55]

The Zenatic block is typically divided into the Zenati and Eastern Berber branches, due to the marked difference in features at each end of the continuum.^[56][55][57] Otherwise, subclassifications by different linguists typically combine various blocks into different branches. Western Moroccan languages, Zenati languages, Kabyle, and Ghadames may be grouped under Northern Berber; Awjila is often included as an Eastern Berber language alongside Siwa, Sokna, and El Foqaha. These approaches divide the Berber languages into Northern, Southern (Tuareg), Eastern, and Western varieties.^[56][57]

Population

The vast majority of speakers of Berber languages are concentrated in Morocco and Algeria.^[58][59] The exact population of speakers has been historically difficult to ascertain due to lack of official recognition.^[60]

Morocco

Morocco is the country with the greatest number of speakers of Berber languages.^[58][59][61] As of 2022, Ethnologue estimates there to be 13.8 million speakers of Berber languages in Morocco, based on figures from 2016 and 2017.^[62]

In 1960, the first census after Moroccan independence was held. It claimed that 32 percent of Moroccans spoke a Berber language, including bi-, tri- and quadrilingual people.^[63] The 2004 census found that 3,894,805 Moroccans over five years of age spoke Tashelhit, 2,343,937 spoke Central Atlas Tamazight, and 1,270,986 spoke Tarifit, representing 14.6%, 8.8%, and 4.8% respectively of the surveyed population, or roughly 28.2% of the surveyed population combined.^[64] The 2014 census found that 14.1% of the population spoke Tashelhit, 7.9% spoke Central Atlas Tamazight, and 4% spoke Tarifit, or about 26% of the population combined.^[65]

These estimates, as well as the estimates from various academic sources, are summarized as follows:

Algeria

Algeria is the country with the second greatest number of speakers of Berber languages.^[58][59] In 1906, the total population speaking Berber languages in Algeria, excluding the thinly populated Sahara region, was estimated at 1,305,730 out of 4,447,149, or 29%.^[69] Secondary sources disagree on the percentage of self-declared native Berber speakers in the 1966 census, the last Algerian census containing a question about the mother tongue. Some give 17.9%^{[70][71][72][73]} while other report 19%.^[74][75]

Kabyle speakers account for the vast majority of speakers of Berber languages in Algeria. Shawiya is the second most commonly spoken Berber language in Algeria. Other Berber languages spoken in Algeria include: Shenwa, with 76,300 speakers; Tashelhit, with 6,000 speakers; Ouargli, with 20,000 speakers; Tamahaq, with 71,400 speakers; Tugurt, with 8,100 speakers; Tidikelt, with 1,000 speakers; Gurara, with 11,000 speakers; and Mozabite, with 150,000 speakers.^[76][77]

Population estimates are summarized as follows:

Other countries

As of 1998, there were an estimated 450,000 Tawellemmet speakers, 250,000 Air Tamajeq speakers, and 20,000 Tamahaq speakers in Niger.^[82]

As of 2018 and 2014 respectively, there were an estimated 420,000 speakers of Tawellemmet and 378,000 of Tamasheq in Mali.^[82][83]

As of 2022, based on figures from 2020, Ethnologue estimates there to be 285,890 speakers of Berber languages in Libya: 247,000 speakers of Nafusi, 22,800 speakers of Tamahaq, 13,400 speakers of Ghadamés, and 2,690 speakers of Awjila. The number of Siwi speakers in Libya is listed as negligible, and the last Sokna speaker is thought to have died in the 1950s.^[84]

There are an estimated 50,000 Djerbi speakers in Tunisia, based on figures from 2004. Sened is likely extinct, with the last speaker having died in the 1970s. Ghadamés, though not indigenous to Tunisia, is estimated to have 3,100 speakers throughout the country.^[85] Chenini is one of the rare remaining Berber-speaking villages in Tunisia.^[86]

There are an estimated 20,000 Siwi speakers in Egypt, based on figures from 2013.^[87]

As of 2018 and 2017 respectively, there were an estimated 200 speakers of Zenaga and 117,000 of Tamasheq in Mauritania.^[88]

As of 2009, there were an estimated 122,000 Tamasheq speakers in Burkina Faso.^[89]

There are an estimated 1.5 million speakers of various Berber languages in France.^[90] A small number of Tawellemmet speakers live in Nigeria.^[91]

In total, there are an estimated 3.6 million speakers of Berber languages in countries outside of Morocco and Algeria, summarized as follows:

Status

After independence, all the Maghreb countries to varying degrees pursued a policy of Arabisation, aimed partly at displacing French from its colonial position as the dominant language of education and literacy. Under this policy the use of the Berber languages was suppressed or even banned. This state of affairs has been contested by Berbers in Morocco and Algeria—especially Kabylie—and was addressed in both countries by affording the language official status and introducing it in some schools.

Morocco

After gaining independence from France in 1956, Morocco began a period of Arabisation through 1981, with primary and secondary school education gradually being changed to Arabic instruction, and with the aim of having administration done in Arabic, rather than French. During this time, there were riots amongst the Amazigh population, which called for the inclusion of Tamazight as an official language.^[92]

The 2000 Charter for Education Reform marked a change in policy, with its statement of "openness to Tamazight."^[93]

Planning for a public Tamazight-language TV network began in 2006; in 2010, the Moroccan government launched Tamazight TV.^[40]

On July 29, 2011, Tamazight was added as an official language to the Moroccan constitution.^[22]

Algeria

After gaining independence from France in 1962, Algeria committed to a policy of Arabisation, which, after the imposition of the Circular of July 1976, encompassed the spheres of education, public administration, public signage, print publication, and the judiciary. While primarily directed towards the erasure of French in Algerian society, these policies also targeted Berber languages, leading to dissatisfaction and unrest amongst speakers of Berber languages, who made up about one quarter of the population.^[94]

After the 1994-1995 general school boycott in Kabylia, Tamazight was recognized for the first time as a national language.^[95] In 2002, following the riots of the Black Spring, Tamazight was recognized for the second time as a national language, though not as an official one.^[96][97] This was done on April 8, 2003.^[94]

Tamazight has been taught for three hours a week through the first three years of Algerian middle schools since 2005.^[94]

On January 5, 2016, it was announced that Tamazight had been added as a national and official language in a draft amendment to the Algerian constitution; it was added to the constitution as a national and official language on February 7, 2016.^{[98][99][33][23]}

Libya

Although regional councils in Libya's Nafusa Mountains affiliated with the National Transitional Council reportedly use the Berber language of Nafusi and have called for it to be granted co-official status with Arabic in a prospective new constitution,^[100][101] it does not have official status in Libya as in Morocco and Algeria. As areas of Libya south and west of Tripoli such as the Nafusa Mountains were taken from the control of Gaddafi government forces in early summer 2011, Berber workshops and exhibitions sprang up to share and spread the Berber culture and language.^[102]

Other Countries

In Mali and Niger, some Tuareg languages have been recognized as national languages and have been part of school curriculums since the 1960s.^[67]

Phonology

Notation

In linguistics, the phonology of Berber languages is written with the International Phonetic Alphabet, with the following exceptions:^[103]

Consonants

The influence of Arabic, the process of spirantization, and the absence of labialization have caused the consonant systems of Berber languages to differ significantly by region.^[16] Berber languages found north of, and in the northern half of, the Sahara have greater influence from Arabic, including that of loaned phonemes, than those in more southern regions, like Tuareg.^[16][104] Most Berber languages in northern regions have additionally undergone spirantization, in which historical short stops have changed into fricatives.^[105] Northern Berber languages (which is a subset of but not identical to Berber languages in geographically northern regions) commonly have labialized velars and uvulars, unlike other Berber languages.^[104][106]

Two languages that illustrate the resulting range in consonant inventory across Berber languages are Ahaggar Tuareg and Kabyle; Kabyle has two more places of articulation and three more manners of articulation than Ahaggar Tuareg.^[16]

There is still, however, common consonant features observed across Berber languages. Almost all Berber languages have bilabial, dental, palatal, velar, uvular, pharyngeal, and laryngeal consonants, and almost all consonants have a long counterpart.^[107][108] All Berber languages, as is common in Afroasiatic languages, have pharyngealized consonants and phonemic gemination.^{[16][109][110]} The consonants which may undergo gemination, and the positions in a word where gemination may occur, differ by language.^[111] They have also been observed to have tense and lax consonants, although the status of tense consonants has been the subject of "considerable discussion" by linguists.^[108]

Vowels

The vowel systems of Berber languages also vary widely, with inventories ranging from three phonemic vowels in most Northern Berber languages, to seven in some Eastern Berber and Tuareg languages.^[112] For example, Taselhiyt has the vowels /i/, /a/, and /u/, while Ayer Tuareg has the vowels /i/, /ə/, /u/, /e/, /ɐ/, /o/, and /a/.^[112][113] Contrastive vowel length is rare in Berber languages. Tuareg languages had previously been reported to have contrastive vowel length, but this is no longer the leading analysis.^[112] A complex feature of Berber vowel systems is the role of central vowels, which vary in occurrence and function across languages; there is a debate as to whether schwa is a proper phoneme of Northern Berber languages.^[114]

Suprasegmentals

Most Berber languages:

• allow for any combination of CC consonant clusters.^[115][116]
• have no lexical tones.^[117]
• either have no lexical stress (Northern Berber languages) or have grammatically significant lexical stress.^[117]

Phonetic correspondences

Phonetic correspondences between Berber languages are fairly regular.^[118] Some examples, of varying importance and regularity, include ; ; ; ; trill/ vocalized r; šš/tt^š; ss/tt^š; w/g/b; q/ɣ; h/Ø; and s-š-ž/h.^[103] Words in various Berber languages are shown to demonstrate these phonetic correspondences as follows:^[119]