This article is about the Berber language of western Morocco exclusively. For other languages or dialects, see Shilha.
Shilha
Tachelhit; Tashelhiyt
Taclḥiyt - ⵜⴰⵛⵍⵃⵉⵢⵜ - تاشلحيت
Pronunciation
/ˈtæʃəlhɪt/
Native to
Morocco
Region
Souss-Massa, Guelmim-Oued Noun, Drâa-Tafilalet, Marrakech-Safi, Béni Mellal-Khénifra, Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab
Ethnicity
Shilha
Native speakers
5.8 million (2020)[1]
Language family
Afro-Asiatic
Berber
Northern
Atlas
Shilha
Dialects
Judeo-Berber
Writing system
Arabic, Latin, Tifinagh
Language codes
ISO 639-3
shi
Glottolog
tach1250
Tashelhit language area
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Person
Aclḥiy (male) Taclḥiyt (female)
People
Iclḥiyn (male) Ticlḥiyin (female)
Language
Taclḥiyt
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Young man speaking Tachelhit, recorded in Cuba.
Shilha (/ˈʃɪlhə/SHIL-hə; from its name in Moroccan Arabic, Šəlḥa), now more commonly known as Tashelhiyt, Tachelhit (/ˈtæʃəlhɪt/TASH-əl-hit; from the endonym Taclḥiyt, IPA:[tæʃlħijt]),[a] is a Berber language spoken in southwestern Morocco. When referring to the language, anthropologists and historians prefer the name Shilha, which is in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Linguists writing in English prefer Tashelhit (or a variant spelling). In French sources the language is called tachelhit, chelha or chleuh.
Shilha is spoken in an area covering around 100,000 square kilometres, making the language area approximately the size of Iceland, or the US state of Kentucky. The area comprises the western part of the High Atlas mountains and the regions to the south up to the Draa River, including the Anti-Atlas and the alluvial basin of the Souss River. The largest urban centres in the area are the coastal city of Agadir (population over 400,000) and the towns of Guelmim, Taroudant, Oulad Teima, Tiznit and Ouarzazate.[citation needed]
In the north and to the south, Shilha borders Arabic-speaking areas. In the northeast, roughly along the line Demnate-Zagora, there is a dialect continuum with Central Atlas Tamazight. Within the Shilha-speaking area, there are several Arabic-speaking enclaves, notably the town of Taroudant and its surroundings. Substantial Shilha-speaking migrant communities are found in most of the larger towns and cities of northern Morocco and outside Morocco in Belgium, France, Germany, Canada, the United States and Israel.[citation needed]
Shilha possesses a distinct and substantial literary tradition that can be traced back several centuries before the protectorate era. Many texts, written in Arabic script and dating from the late 16th century to the present, are preserved in manuscripts. A modern printed literature in Shilha has developed since the 1970s.[citation needed]
^Shilha at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
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is a Berber language spoken in southwestern Morocco. When referring to the language, anthropologists and historians prefer the name Shilha, which is in...
The Shilha people (Berber languages: ⵉⵛⵍⵃⵉⵢⵏ, romanized: išelḥiyen, Arabic: الشلوح, romanized: aš-šlūḥ), or Schleuh or Ishelhien, are a Berber subgroup...
an me wi ma sair leg "He told me to run—and me with my sore leg". Shilhalanguage has examples like the following: darnɣ argan ar inkkr ɣ tagant (with...
Shilha (from Colloquial Arabic Šəlḥa) is a term used to refer to a number of Berber languages spoken across northern Africa. In international usage, it...
of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Shilhalanguage edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Kabyle language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia...
languages Tamil: Bible translations into Tamil Tanana, Upper (Alaska): Bible translations into Native American languages Tashelhayt, Shilhalanguage:...
significantly complicated by local usage: thus Shilha is sub-divided into Shilha of the Dra valley, Tasusit (the language of the Souss) and several other (mountain)...
kana in Japanese syllabaries Shi language Shī, transliteration of Chinese Radical 44 Tachelhit or the Shilhalanguage (ISO 639 code) Shi, a piece in Chinese...
people include Shilha, Central Morocco Tamazight, Riff, Shawiya and Kabyle. They fall into three groups: Moroccan Atlas languages (incl. Shilha, Central Morocco...
Shilha or Tashelhiyt is a Berber language spoken in southwestern Morocco. Shilha, like other varieties of Berber, has an extensive body of oral literature...
Northern Berber languages such as the Zenati languages, Shilhalanguage, and the Kabyle language although the modern northern Berber languages have gone through...
English but some lyrics as in the song "Imik Si Mik" are in the Berber Shilhalanguage. Influenced by singers like Cheikha Rimitti and Umm Kulthum Hindi Zahra...
Tfrawt is the annexed state of the noun Tafrawt; see the article Shilhalanguage, section Prefixed nouns. Destaing, E. (1938). Etude sur la tachelḥît...
most-spoken Berber languages (the other three being Kabyle, Shilha, and Riff), and rivals Shilha as the most-spoken Berber language in Morocco. 7.9% of...
Tamazight of Djerba, Shilha of Djerba, Djerbi or Djerbian (in Berber: eddwi jjerbi or Tadjerbit) is a Berber language of the Eastern Maghreb, spoken on...
Tamazight (Central Atlas Berber), spoken in the central Atlas Mountains Shilha (Tashelhiyt; also rendered Tachelhit, Tasusit; includes Judeo-Berber and...
was relatively much smaller than those written in other Berber languages such as Shilha, Mozabite, and Nafusi. The first French–Kabyle dictionary was compiled...
The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic, sometimes Afrasian), also known as Hamito-Semitic or Semito-Hamitic, are a language family (or "phylum") of...
ʢ] into a single pharyngeal column in the consonant chart. However, in Shilha Berber the epiglottal fricatives are not trilled. Although they might be...
vocabulary found in other Berber languages. For example, afagan (man) resembles Shilha and Central Atlas Tamazight of Morocco; ayddid (goatskin container for water)...
Senhaja de Srair ("Senhaja of Srair") is a Northern Berber language. It is spoken by the Sanhaja Berbers inhabiting the central part of the Moroccan Rif...
Berber languages are spoken by 26% of the population in three varieties (Tarifit, Shilha, and Tamazight). French is an implicitly "official language" of...
so been is consistent with *veen. The Berber feminine ends in -t, as in Shilha 1: yan (m), yat (f); 2: sin (m), snat (f), and this may explain discrepancies...
Old Testament New Testament The complete New Testament in the Berber Shilhalanguage of South Morocco, and also a collection of twenty-five Psalms, were...
Like all other varieties of Tunisian Berber, it is also referred to as Shilha. It is closely related to the Berber variety of Chenini. Most consonant...
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