Global InformationBerber languages information
| Berber | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tamazight Amazigh تَمَزِيغت, Tamaziɣt | |||
| Ethnicity | Berbers | ||
| Geographic distribution | Scattered communities across parts of North Africa and Berber diaspora | ||
| Linguistic classification | Afro-Asiatic
| ||
| Proto-language | Proto-Berber | ||
| Subdivisions |
| ||
| 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.
| |||
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]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Lafkioui, Mena B. (24 May 2018). "Berber Languages and Linguistics". Oxford Bibliographies: 9780199772810–0219. doi:10.1093/obo/9780199772810-0219.
- ^ H. Ekkehard Wolff (26 August 2013). "Berber languages". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ Baldauf, Richard B.; Kaplan, Robert B. (1 January 2007). Language Planning and Policy in Africa. Multilingual Matters. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-84769-011-1.
Most languages of the Berber branch are mutually unintelligible.
- ^ Hayward, Richard J., chapter Afroasiatic in Heine, Bernd & Nurse, Derek, editors, African Languages: An Introduction Cambridge 2000. ISBN 0-521-66629-5.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Brettwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Campbell-2012bwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Briggs, L. Cabot (February 1957). "A Review of the Physical Anthropology of the Sahara and Its Prehistoric Implications". Man. 56: 20–23. doi:10.2307/2793877. JSTOR 2793877.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Punicwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Soulaimani, Dris (2 January 2016). "Writing and rewriting Amazigh/Berber identity: Orthographies and language ideologies". Writing Systems Research. 8 (1): 2–5. doi:10.1080/17586801.2015.1023176. ISSN 1758-6801. S2CID 144700140.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
choicewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Silverstein, Paul; Crawford, David (2004). "Amazigh Activism and the Moroccan State". Middle East Report (233): 46. doi:10.2307/1559451. ISSN 0899-2851. JSTOR 1559451.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
Kossmann-2020bwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Ridouane-2014was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Ekkehard Wolff-2013was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Peabwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Kossmann-2012awas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Kossmann-2007dwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Mettouchi-2010was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce (2011). The Berber identity movement and the challenge to North African states (1st ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 2–3. ISBN 978-0-292-72587-4. OCLC 679936739.
- ^ Kossmann, Maarten G. (2013). The Arabic influence on Northern Berber. Leiden. p. 24. ISBN 978-90-04-25309-4. OCLC 858861608.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c Kossmann, Maarten G. (2013). The Arabic influence on Northern Berber. Leiden. pp. 30–31. ISBN 978-90-04-25309-4. OCLC 858861608.
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Madanin-2012was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
BBC News-2016was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Mattar, Philip (2004). Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa: Aaronsohn-Cyril VI. Macmillan Reference USA. p. 463. ISBN 978-0-02-865769-1.
Most Berber languages have a high percentage of borrowing from Arabic, as well as from other languages.
- ^ Baldauf, Richard B.; Kaplan, Robert B. (1 January 2007). Language Planning and Policy in Africa. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 978-1-84769-011-1.
- ^ Kossmann, Maarten (18 July 2013). The Arabic Influence on Northern Berber. BRILL. p. 98. ISBN 978-90-04-25309-4.
- ^ Haspelmath, Martin; Tadmor, Uri (2009). Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. p. 56. ISBN 978-3-11-021843-5.
- ^ Kossmann, Maarten (29 March 2017), "Berber-Arabic Language Contact", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.232, ISBN 978-0-19-938465-5, retrieved 30 May 2023
- ^ "Berber Language Family | History & Culture | Britannica".
- ^ "Cushitic languages | Phonetics & Phonology | Britannica".