The Berber languages (also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight) are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related languages spoken by Berber communities, who are indigenous to North Africa.Hayward, Richard J., chapter Afroasiatic in Heine, Bernd & Nurse, Derek, editors, African Languages: An Introduction Cambridge 2000. . Historically, they have been written with the ancient Libyco-Berber script, which now exists in the form of Tifinagh. Today, they may also be written in the Berber Latin alphabet or the Arabic script, with Latin being the most widespread.
The Berber languages have a level of variety similar to the Romance languages, and with few exceptions form a dialect continuum. Regardless, they are frequently referred to as a single collective language, often as "Berber", "Tamazight", or "Amazigh". There is a debate as to how to best sub-categorize languages within the Berber branch. Berber languages typically follow verb–subject–object word order. Their phonological inventories are diverse. Outside of the various languages within it, there are currently two standardized national varities of Berber, Standard Algerian Amazigh, and Standard Moroccan Amazigh.
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. There are also probably a few million speakers of Berber languages in Western Europe. Tashlhiyt, Kabyle, Central Atlas Tamazight, Tarifit, and Shawiya are some of the most commonly spoken Berber languages. Exact numbers are difficult to ascertain as there are few recent North African censuses that include questions on language use, and what censuses do exist tend to be biased.
Since the 1950s, the Berber languages have been suppressed and suffered from low prestige in North Africa. Recognition of the Berber languages has grown in the 21st century, with Morocco and Algeria adding Tamazight as an official language to their constitutions in 2011 and 2016 respectively.
Terminology
"Tamazight" and "Berber languages" are often used interchangeably. However, "Tamazight" is sometimes used to refer to a specific subset of Berber languages, such as Central Tashlhiyt. "Tamazight" can also be used to refer to Standard Moroccan Amazigh or Standard Algerian Berber, as in the Moroccan and Algerian constitutions respectively. 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.
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." One group, the Linguasphere Observatory, has attempted to introduce the neologism "Tamazic languages" to refer to the Berber languages. Amazigh people typically use "Tamazight" when speaking English. The use of this endonym dates back to antiquity, as attested by groups such as the Mazices. It remains in use today, although others have 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".
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. A number of extinct populations are believed to have spoken Afroasiatic languages of the Berber branch. The earliest example of a text possibly written in Berber or Proto-Berber is a single Egyptian papyrus written in the extinct Kehek language originating in the New Kingdom era of Egypt. 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. 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.
Orthography
Berber languages are primarily oral languages without a major written component. The first example of writing in a language that was possibly related to Berber was a papyrus written by the Egyptians in Hieratic, transliterating a snake chant in the Kehek language. Historically, Berber languages 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 originating from around 600 BC. Usage of this script, in the form of Tifinagh, has continued into the present day among the Tuareg people. Following the spread of Islam, some Berber scholars also utilized the Arabic script. The Berber Latin alphabet was developed following the introduction of the Latin script in the nineteenth century by the West. The nineteenth century also saw the development of Neo-Tifinagh, an adaptation of Tuareg Tifinagh for use with other Berber languages.
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.
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. Maarten Kossmann notes that it is difficult to apply the classic tree model of historical linguistics towards the Berber languages, citing various areal features that cut through his classifications:[The Berber language family]'s continuous history of convergence and differentiation along new lines makes any 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. Kossmann roughly groups the Berber languages into seven blocks:
Berber Western Zenaga Tetserret Tuareg Western Moroccan Western Moroccan (incl. Tashelhit, most of Central Atlas Tamazight) Northwestern Moroccan (Ghomara, Sanhaja de Srair) Zenatic Kabyle Ghadamès (likely related to Djebel Nefusa) Awjila
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. Otherwise, subclassifications by different linguists typically combine various blocks into different branches. Western Moroccan languages, Zenati languages, Kabyle, and sometimes Ghadamès may be grouped under Northern Berber; Awjila is often included as an Eastern Berber language alongside Siwa, Sokna, and El Foqaha, and sometimes Ghadamès. These approaches divide the Berber languages into Northern, Southern (Tuareg), Eastern, and Western varieties.
Population
The vast majority of speakers of Berber languages are concentrated in Morocco and Algeria. The exact population of speakers has been historically difficult to ascertain due to lack of official recognition.
Morocco
Morocco is the country with the greatest number of speakers of Berber languages. As of 2022, Ethnologue estimates there to be 13.8 million speakers of Berber languages in Morocco, based on figures from 2016 and 2017.
At the beginning of colonialism in Morocco, Berber speakers were estimated at 40–45% of the Moroccan population. 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. 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. 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. The 2024 census found that 14.2% of the population spoke Tashelhit, 7.4% spoke Central Atlas Tamazight, and 3.2% spoke Tarifit, which represents 24.8% of the population.
These estimates, as well as the estimates from various academic sources, are summarized as follows: + Estimated number of speakers of Berber languages in Morocco Source Date Total Tashelhit Central Atlas Tamazight Tarifit NotesMoroccan census19603.5 million–––Calculated via reported percentages.Tamazight of the Ayt Ndhir19736 million – – –Extrapolating from Basset's 1952 La langue berbère based on overall population changes.Ethnologue20017.5 million3 million3 million1.5 million --Moroccan census20047.5 million 3.9 million 2.3 million 1.3 millionAlso used by Ethnologue in 2015. Only individuals over age 5 were included.Multilingualism, Cultural Identity, and Education in Morocco200515 million6.8 million5.2 million3 millionAlso used in Semitic and Afroasiatic: Challenges and Opportunities in 2012.Moroccan census20148.8 million4.8 million2.7 million1.4 millionCalculated via reported percentages. As in the 2004 census, only individuals over age 5 were surveyed for language.Ethnologue202213.8 million5 million4.6 million4.2 millionAdditional Berber languages include Senhaja Berber (86,000 speakers) and Ghomara (10,000 speakers).Moroccan census20249.1 million5.2 million2.7 million1.2 millionCalculated via reported percentages. As in the 2004 and 2014 census, only individuals over age 5 were surveyed for language.
Algeria
Algeria is the country with the second greatest number of speakers of Berber languages. 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%. 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% while other report 19%.
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.
Population estimates are summarized as follows: + Estimated number of speakers of Berber languages in Algeria Source Date Total Kabyle Shawiya OtherAnnales de Géographie19061.3 million – – –Textes en linguistique berbère19803.6 million – – –International Encyclopediaof Linguistics2003 – 2.5 million – –Language Diversity Endangered2015 4.5 million 2.5–3 million 1.4 million Journal of African Languagesand Literatures2021 –3 million – –
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.
As of 2018 and 2014 respectively, there were an estimated 420,000 speakers of Tawellemmet and 378,000 of Tamasheq in Mali.