Berber languages#Population

{{See also|Names of the Berber people}}"Tamazight" and "Berber languages" are often used interchangeably.{{Cite journal |last=Ridouane |first=Rachid |date=25 July 2014 |title=Tashlhiyt Berber |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |language=en |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=207–221 |doi=10.1017/S0025100313000388 |issn=0025-1003|doi-access=free }}{{cite encyclopedia |title=Berber languages |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61496/Amazigh-languages |access-date=2015-07-14 |date=2013-08-26 |author=H. Ekkehard Wolff |archive-date=28 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428095201/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61496/Amazigh-languages |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/399624 |title=The encyclopaedia of Islam. |date=1960–2009 |publisher=Brill |others=H. A. R. Gibb, P. J. Bearman |isbn=90-04-16121-X |edition=New |location=Leiden |oclc=399624 |access-date=14 December 2022 |archive-date=25 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925063229/https://www.worldcat.org/title/encyclopaedia-of-islam/oclc/399624 |url-status=live }} However, "Tamazight" is sometimes used to refer to a specific subset of Berber languages, such as Central Tashlhiyt.{{Cite book |last=Dalby |first=Andrew |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/320322204 |title=Dictionary of languages : the definitive reference to more than 400 languages |date=1998 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=1-4081-0214-5 |location=New York |oclc=320322204 |access-date=14 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081215/https://search.worldcat.org/title/320322204 |url-status=live }} "Tamazight" can also be used to refer to Standard Moroccan Tamazight or Standard Algerian Tamazight, as in the Moroccan and Algerian constitutions respectively.{{Cite web |title=Tamazight, Standard Moroccan |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/zgh |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=Ethnologue |language=en |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081216/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/zgh/ |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite web |title=Tamazight, Central Atlas |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tzm |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=Ethnologue |language=en |archive-date=6 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606183216/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tzm |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last1=Sanga |first1=Oumar |last2=Mackie |first2=Chris |date=October 31, 2022 |title=Education in Morocco |journal=World Education News & Reviews}}{{Cite journal |last=Gross |first=Joan E. |date=1993 |title=The Politics of Unofficial Language Use: Walloon in Belgium, Tamazight in Morocco |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308275X9301300204 |journal=Critique of Anthropology |language=en |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=181 |doi=10.1177/0308275X9301300204 |s2cid=145058398 |issn=0308-275X |quote="Tamazight in Morocco is divided by linguists into three major dialect areas usually referred to as: Taselhit in the south, Tamazight in the Middle Atlas mountains, and Tarifit in the north." |access-date=15 December 2022 |archive-date=15 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215065022/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308275X9301300204 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last=Alalou |first=Ali |date=2018-04-03 |title=The question of languages and the medium of instruction in Morocco |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14664208.2017.1353329 |journal=Current Issues in Language Planning |language=en |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=136–160 |doi=10.1080/14664208.2017.1353329 |s2cid=149159548 |issn=1466-4208 |access-date=19 December 2022 |archive-date=19 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219043821/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14664208.2017.1353329 |url-status=live }}

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."{{Cite book |last=Maddy-Weitzman |first=Bruce |title=The Berber Identity Movement and the Challenge to North African States |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780292745056 |pages=14–17}}{{Cite news |last=Vourlias |first=Christopher |date=January 25, 2010 |title=Moroccan minority's net gain |volume=417 |work=Variety |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |issue=10}}{{Cite web |date=2019-09-23 |title="Respecting Identity: Amazigh Versus Berber" |url=https://www.linguisticanthropology.org/blog/2019/09/23/respecting-identity-amazigh-versus-berber/ |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=Society for Linguistic Anthropology |language=en-US |archive-date=25 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025143159/https://www.linguisticanthropology.org/blog/2019/09/23/respecting-identity-amazigh-versus-berber/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Cheref |first=Abdelkader |date=2021-01-24 |title=Don't call us Berber, we are Amazigh |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/don-t-call-us-berber-we-are-amazigh-1.965334 |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=The National |language=en |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081722/https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/don-t-call-us-berber-we-are-amazigh-1.965334 |url-status=live }} One group, the Linguasphere Observatory, has attempted to introduce the neologism "Tamazic languages" to refer to the Berber languages.{{Cite web |title=1= Afro-Asian phylosector |url=http://www.linguasphere.info/lcontao/tl_files/pdf/master/OL-SITE%201999-2000%20MASTER%20ONE%20Sectors%201-Intro.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822050217/http://www.linguasphere.info/lcontao/tl_files/pdf/master/OL-SITE%201999-2000%20MASTER%20ONE%20Sectors%201-Intro.pdf |archive-date=Aug 22, 2022 |website=The Linguasphere Register}} Amazigh people typically use "Tamazight" when speaking English.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i3xdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 |title=Language Diversity Endangered |date=2015 |editor-first1=Matthias |editor-last1=Brenzinger |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |isbn=978-3-11-090569-4 |location=Berlin |pages=124 |oclc=979749010 |access-date=8 May 2024 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081803/https://books.google.com/books?id=i3xdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA124#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Jane E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=By1aJGHz8rwC&pg=PA7 |title=Berber Culture on the World Stage: From Village to Video |date=2005-11-03 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-21784-4 |pages=7 |language=en |access-date=8 July 2023 |archive-date=7 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607121333/https://books.google.com/books?id=By1aJGHz8rwC&pg=PA7 |url-status=live }}

{{main|Proto-Berber language}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/equipes/index.asp?Action=Edit&Langue=EN&Equipe=3%20%20&Page=Action&ActionNum=26 |title=DDL : Evolution – Themes and actions |publisher=Ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr |access-date=2015-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004213726/http://www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/equipes/index.asp?Action=Edit&Langue=EN&Equipe=3%20%20&Page=Action&ActionNum=26 |archive-date=2013-10-04 |url-status=dead }} 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.{{cite book|last=Bechaus-Gerst|first=Marianne|editor-last1=Blench|editor-first1=Roger|editor-last2=MacDonald|editor-first2=Kevin|title=The Origins and Development of African Livestock: Archaeology, Genetics, Linguistics and Ethnography – "Linguistic evidence for the prehistory of livestock in Sudan" (2000)|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1135434168|pages=453–457|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-t5QAwAAQBAJ|access-date=16 April 2015|archive-date=26 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081804/https://books.google.com/books?id=-t5QAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last1=Behrens|first1=Peter|title=Libya Antiqua: Report and Papers of the Symposium Organized by Unesco in Paris, 16 to 18 January 1984 – "Language and migrations of the early Saharan cattle herders: the formation of the Berber branch"|date=1986|publisher=Unesco|isbn=9231023764|page=30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_hwAAAAMAAJ|access-date=16 April 2015|archive-date=26 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081805/https://books.google.com/books?id=p_hwAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}} 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.

{{Main|Berber orthography}}File:Prehistory-draa16.jpg inscriptions in Zagora, Morocco|left]]Berber languages are primarily oral languages without a major written component.{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=George L. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/810078009 |title=The Routledge handbook of scripts and alphabets |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |others=Christopher Moseley |isbn=978-0-203-86548-4 |edition=2nd |location=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon |pages=58–59 |oclc=810078009 |access-date=20 March 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306014329/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/810078009 |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fY0eAAAAQBAJ&dq=libyco-berber+cyrenaica&pg=PA766 |title=The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology |last2=Lane |first2=Paul |date=2013-07-04 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-956988-5 |pages=766 |language=en |access-date=20 March 2023 |archive-date=20 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320014901/https://books.google.com/books?id=fY0eAAAAQBAJ&dq=libyco-berber+cyrenaica&pg=PA766 |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last1=Briggs |first1=L. Cabot |date=February 1957 |title=A Review of the Physical Anthropology of the Sahara and Its Prehistoric Implications |journal=Man |volume=56 |pages=20–23 |doi=10.2307/2793877 |jstor=2793877}} Usage of this script, in the form of Tifinagh, has continued into the present day among the Tuareg people.{{Cite book |last=Elmedlaoui |first=Mohamed |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |title=Semitic and Afroasiatic : challenges and opportunities |date=2012 |publisher=Harrassowitz |others=Lutz Edzard |isbn=978-3-447-06695-2 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=139–141 |chapter=Berber |oclc=793573735 |access-date=7 January 2023 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115194522/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |url-status=live }} Following the spread of Islam, some Berber scholars also utilized the Arabic script.{{Cite journal |last=Ben-Layashi |first=Samir |title=Secularism in the Moroccan Amazigh Discourse |year=2007 |journal=The Journal of North African Studies |volume=12 |issue=2 |publisher=Routledge |url=http://www.dayan.org/articles/Sl_Amazigh.pdf|accessdate=December 19, 2009 |issn=1362-9387 |doi=10.1080/13629380701201741 |pages=153–171 |s2cid=143728476 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923045709/http://www.dayan.org/articles/Sl_Amazigh.pdf |archive-date=September 23, 2010}}{{rp|166}} 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.{{Cite book |last=Aïtel |first=Fazia |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/895334326 |title=We are Imazigen : the development of Algerian Berber identity in twentieth-century literature and culture |date=2014 |isbn=978-0-8130-4895-6 |location=Gainesville, FL |pages=115–116 |oclc=895334326 |access-date=20 March 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306014407/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/895334326 |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Maddy-Weitzman |first=Bruce |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/741751261 |title=The Berber identity movement and the challenge to North African states |date=2011 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-73478-4 |edition=1st |location=Austin |pages=75 |oclc=741751261 |access-date=20 March 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306014339/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/741751261 |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite journal| last = Larbi| first = Hsen| title = Which Script for Tamazight, Whose Choice is it ?| journal = Amazigh Voice (Taghect Tamazight)| volume = 12| issue = 2| year = 2003| publisher = Amazigh Cultural Association in America (ACAA)| location = New Jersey| url = http://www.tamazgha.fr/Which-Script-for-Tamazight-Whose-Choice-is-it,359.html| access-date = December 17, 2009| archive-date = 7 September 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170907212936/http://www.tamazgha.fr/Which-Script-for-Tamazight-Whose-Choice-is-it,359.html| url-status = live}}

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.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1164662912 |title=The Oxford handbook of African languages |date=2020 |others=Rainer Vossen, Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal, Rainer Vossen, Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal |isbn=978-0-19-960989-5 |edition=First |location=Oxford |pages=281–282 |chapter=Berber |oclc=1164662912 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081721/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1164662912 |url-status=live }} Maarten Kossmann notes that it is difficult to apply the classic tree model of historical linguistics towards the Berber languages:

[The Berber language family]'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.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1164662912 |title=The Oxford handbook of African languages |date=2020 |others=Rainer Vossen, Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal, Rainer Vossen, Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal |isbn=978-0-19-960989-5 |edition=First |location=Oxford |pages=283–285 |chapter=Berber |oclc=1164662912 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081721/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1164662912 |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Languages of Morocco}}

File:Berber dialects in Morocco.PNG

Morocco is the country with the greatest number of speakers of Berber languages.{{Cite book |last=Ennaji |first=Moha |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62708280 |title=Multilingualism, cultural identity, and education in Morocco |date=2005 |publisher=Springer |isbn=0-387-23979-0 |location=New York |pages=72 |oclc=62708280 |access-date=26 December 2022 |archive-date=12 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212133945/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62708280 |url-status=live }} As of 2022, Ethnologue estimates there to be 13.8 million speakers of Berber languages in Morocco, based on figures from 2016 and 2017.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=223–224 |chapter=Morocco |oclc=1315489099 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526083238/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1315489099 |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite web |title=Bladi.net |url=http://www.bladi.net/marocain-berbere.html |access-date=2013-04-30 |publisher=Bladi.net |archive-date=12 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112133252/http://www.bladi.net/marocain-berbere.html |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite web |title=RGPH 2004 |url=https://applications-web.hcp.ma/hpmc/frmmarocenchiffres.aspx |access-date=December 25, 2022 |website=Haut-Commissariat au Plan |archive-date=26 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226015544/https://applications-web.hcp.ma/hpmc/frmmarocenchiffres.aspx |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite web |title=RGPH 2014 |url=http://rgphentableaux.hcp.ma/Default1/ |access-date=2022-12-25 |website=rgphentableaux.hcp.ma |archive-date=2 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202155426/http://rgphentableaux.hcp.ma/Default1/ |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite web | url=https://www.recensement.ma/ar | title=الإحصاء 2024 في المغرب }}

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

{{Main|Languages of Algeria}}

File:Aires linguistiques du nord-est algérien.svg and Shawiya languages in the central-eastern part of Algeria|left]]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%.{{Cite journal |last=Gautier |first=É.-F. |date=1913 |title=Répartition de la Langue Berbère en Algérie |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23437471 |journal=Annales de Géographie |volume=22 |issue=123 |pages=256 |doi=10.3406/geo.1913.8304 |issn=0003-4010 |jstor=23437471 |quote=Les chiffres se rapportent, non pas au dernier recensement, celui de 1911, mais au précédenl, celui de 1906. C'est le seul sur lequel on avait, et même on a encore maintenant, des données suffisantes. Voici ces chiffres. Sur une population indigène totale de 4 447 149 hab., nous trouvons 1 305 730 berbérophones; c'est un peu moins du tiers. |access-date=25 December 2022 |archive-date=25 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225215846/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23437471 |url-status=live }} 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%{{cite book |last=Nyrop |first=Richard F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h7_OflKe6EUC&pg=PA105 |title=Area Handbook for Algeria |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1972 |isbn= |pages=105 |access-date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=9 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309132900/https://books.google.com/books?id=h7_OflKe6EUC&pg=PA105 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last=Souriau |first=Christiane |title=XVI. L'arabisation en Algérie |url=https://books.openedition.org/iremam/141 |access-date=9 Mar 2023 |website=OpenEdition Books |series=Connaissance du monde arabe |date=10 April 2013 |pages=375–397 |publisher=Institut de recherches et d’études sur les mondes arabes et musulmans |isbn=9782271081247 |archive-date=9 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309154651/https://books.openedition.org/iremam/141 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |author=David W. Lesch |title=History in Dispute |publisher=St. James Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-55862-472-6 |pages=203}}{{cite book |author=Wolfgang Weissleder |title=The Nomadic Alternative Modes and Models of Interaction in the African-Asian Deserts and Steppes |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2011 |isbn=978-3-11-081023-3 |pages=13}} while other report 19%.{{Cite journal |last=Nesson |first=Claude |date=1994 |title=Répartition des berbérophones algériens (au recensement de 1966) |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/tigr_0048-7163_1994_num_85_1_1308 |journal=Travaux de l'Institut de Géographie de Reims |language=fr |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=93–107 |doi=10.3406/tigr.1994.1308 |access-date=7 March 2023 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307121129/https://www.persee.fr/doc/tigr_0048-7163_1994_num_85_1_1308 |url-status=live }}{{Citation |last=Filhon |first=Alexandra |title=Unités et diversités : la place des berbèrophones |date=2021-05-20 |url=http://books.openedition.org/ined/3282 |work=Langues d'ici et d'ailleurs : Transmettre l'arabe et le berbère en France |pages=61–81 |access-date=2023-03-09 |series=Les Cahiers de l'Ined |place=Paris |publisher=Ined Éditions |language=fr |isbn=978-2-7332-9022-4 |archive-date=9 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309153056/https://books.openedition.org/ined/3282 |url-status=live }}

File:Berbères en Algérie occidentale.svg in the central-western part of Algeria|left]]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.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=55–57 |chapter=Algeria |oclc=1315489099 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526083238/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1315489099 |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=77,160,208–210,220–221,233,322,363 |oclc=1315489099 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526083238/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1315489099 |url-status=live }}

Population estimates are summarized as follows:

As of 1998, there were an estimated 450,000 Tawellemmet speakers, 250,000 Air Tamajeq speakers, and 20,000 Tamahaq speakers in Niger.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=233 |chapter=Niger |oclc=1315489099 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526083238/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1315489099 |url-status=live }}

As of 2018 and 2014 respectively, there were an estimated 420,000 speakers of Tawellemmet and 378,000 of Tamasheq in Mali.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=220 |chapter=Mali |oclc=1315489099 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526083238/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1315489099 |url-status=live }}

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.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=208–210 |chapter=Libya |oclc=1315489099 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526083238/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1315489099 |url-status=live }}

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.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=322 |chapter=Tunisia |oclc=1315489099 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526083238/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1315489099 |url-status=live }} Chenini is one of the rare remaining Berber-speaking villages in Tunisia.{{Cite book |last1=Stone |first1=Russell A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDq4YV0VT00C&q=Berber-speaking+migrant+communities&pg=PA109 |title=Change in Tunisia: Studies in the Social Sciences |last2=Simmons |first2=John |date=1976 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=9780873953115 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084305/https://books.google.com/books?id=QDq4YV0VT00C&q=Berber-speaking+migrant+communities&pg=PA109#v=snippet&q=Berber-speaking%20migrant%20communities&f=false |url-status=live }}

There are an estimated 20,000 Siwi speakers in Egypt, based on figures from 2013.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=160 |chapter=Egypt |oclc=1315489099 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526083238/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1315489099 |url-status=live }}

As of 2018 and 2017 respectively, there were an estimated 200 speakers of Zenaga and 117,000 of Tamasheq in Mauritania.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=221 |chapter=Mauritania |oclc=1315489099 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526083238/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1315489099 |url-status=live }}

As of 2009, there were an estimated 122,000 Tamasheq speakers in Burkina Faso.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=77 |chapter=Burkina Faso |oclc=1315489099 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526083238/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1315489099 |url-status=live }}

There are an estimated 1.5 million speakers of various Berber languages in France.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=363 |chapter=France |oclc=1315489099}} A small number of Tawellemmet speakers live in Nigeria.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1315489099 |publisher=SIL International Publications |title=Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europe |date=2022 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |isbn=978-1-55671-502-0 |edition=Twenty-fifth |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=267 |chapter=Nigeria |oclc=1315489099}}

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

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.

{{See also|Standard Moroccan Amazigh}}

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.{{Citation |last=Bassiouney |first=Reem |title=Language policy and politics |date=2009-08-27 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623730.003.0006 |work=Arabic Sociolinguistics |pages=219–220 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |doi=10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623730.003.0006 |isbn=9780748623730 |access-date=2022-12-14 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084756/https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/28885/chapter-abstract/240549937?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live }}

The 2000 Charter for Education Reform marked a change in policy, with its statement of "openness to Tamazight."{{Cite journal |last=Marley |first=Dawn |date=2004 |title=Language attitudes in Morocco following recent changes in language policy |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1023/B:LPOL.0000017724.16833.66 |journal=Language Policy |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=25–46 |doi=10.1023/B:LPOL.0000017724.16833.66 |s2cid=145182777 |issn=1568-4555 |access-date=15 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084759/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:LPOL.0000017724.16833.66 |url-status=live }}

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

On July 29, 2011, Tamazight was added as an official language to the Moroccan constitution.{{Cite book |url=https://constitutionnet.org/sites/default/files/the_2011_moroccan_constitution_english.pdf |title=The 2011 Moroccan constitution : a critical analysis |date=2012 |others=Mohamed Madani, Driss Maghraoui, Saloua Zerhouni |isbn=978-91-86565-66-4 |location=Stockholm, Sweden |pages=16 |oclc=858866180 |access-date=15 December 2022 |archive-date=22 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222223846/https://constitutionnet.org/sites/default/files/the_2011_moroccan_constitution_english.pdf |url-status=live }}

{{See also|Standard Algerian Berber}}

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.

After the 1994-1995 general school boycott in Kabylia, Tamazight was recognized for the first time as a national language.{{Cite book |last=Maddy-Weitzman |first=Bruce |title=Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781315626031 |pages=318 |language=English}} 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.{{Cite journal |date=2003 |title=Population, Health, and Human Well-Being: Algeria |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/e610792011-001 |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=PsycEXTRA Dataset |doi=10.1037/e610792011-001 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084818/https://www.crossref.org/_defunct-doi/ |url-status=live }}{{in lang|fr}} – [http://www.apn-dz.org/apn/french/constitution96/loi02_03.htm « Loi n° 02-03 portent révision constitutionnelle »] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221011712/http://www.apn-dz.org/apn/french/constitution96/loi02_03.htm |date=21 December 2010 }}, adopted on April 10, 2002, allotting in particular to "Tamazight" the status of national language. This was done on April 8, 2003.{{Citation |last=Bassiouney |first=Reem |title=Language policy and politics |date=2009-08-27 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623730.003.0006 |work=Arabic Sociolinguistics |pages=213–220 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |doi=10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623730.003.0006 |isbn=9780748623730 |access-date=2022-12-14 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084756/https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/28885/chapter-abstract/240549937?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live }}

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

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.{{Cite journal |date=2016 |title=ALGERIA: Tamazight Recognised |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-825x.2016.06822.x |journal=Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=20850B–20850C |doi=10.1111/j.1467-825x.2016.06822.x |issn=0001-9844 |access-date=14 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084755/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-825X.2016.06822.x |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=January 5, 2016 |title=Algeria's new constitution recognizes Tamazight as national, official language |work=BBC Monitoring Middle East}}{{cite web |url=http://www.aps.dz/images/doc/PROJET-DE%20REVISION-DE-LA-CONSTITUTION-28-DECEMBRE-2015.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-01-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160522160159/http://www.aps.dz/images/doc/PROJET-DE%20REVISION-DE-LA-CONSTITUTION-28-DECEMBRE-2015.pdf |archive-date=2016-05-22 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-35515769|title=Algeria reinstates term limit and recognises Berber language|work=BBC News|date=7 February 2016|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=15 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615194003/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-35515769|url-status=live}}

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,{{cite news|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/libya-berber-idUKLDE74O19G20110526|work=Reuters|date=26 May 2011|title=Libya's mountain Berber see opportunity in war|access-date=5 July 2011|first=Matt|last=Robinson|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305033844/http://uk.reuters.com/article/libya-berber-idUKLDE74O19G20110526|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/world/africa/09berbers.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/world/africa/09berbers.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited|date=8 August 2011|title=Amid a Berber Reawakening in Libya, Fears of Revenge|access-date=10 August 2011|first=C.J.|last=Chivers|work=The New York Times}}{{cbignore}} 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.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14026216 Waiting game for rebels in western Libya] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407205408/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14026216 |date=7 April 2022 }}, BBC News, John Simpson, 5 July 2011

In Mali and Niger, some Tuareg languages have been recognized as national languages and have been part of school curriculums since the 1960s.{{Cite book |last=Elmedlaoui |first=Mohamed |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |title=Semitic and Afroasiatic : challenges and opportunities |date=2012 |publisher=Harrassowitz |others=Lutz Edzard |isbn=978-3-447-06695-2 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=138 |chapter=Berber |oclc=793573735 |access-date=7 January 2023 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115194522/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |url-status=live }}

{{See also|Proto-Berber language#Phonology|Afroasiatic languages#Similarities in grammar and syntax}}

In linguistics, the phonology of Berber languages is written with the International Phonetic Alphabet, with the following exceptions:{{Cite book |last=Elmedlaoui |first=Mohamed |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |title=Semitic and Afroasiatic : challenges and opportunities |date=2012 |publisher=Harrassowitz |others=Lutz Edzard |isbn=978-3-447-06695-2 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=132 |chapter=Berber |oclc=793573735 |access-date=7 January 2023 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115194522/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |url-status=live }}

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.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=22–23 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594 |access-date=16 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084811/https://search.worldcat.org/title/795895594 |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten G. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858861608 |title=The Arabic influence on Northern Berber |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25309-4 |location=Leiden |pages=1 |oclc=858861608 |access-date=17 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081213/https://search.worldcat.org/title/858861608 |url-status=live }} Most Berber languages in northern regions have additionally undergone spirantization, in which historical short stops have changed into fricatives.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=27 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594 |access-date=16 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084811/https://search.worldcat.org/title/795895594 |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=26 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594 |access-date=16 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084811/https://search.worldcat.org/title/795895594 |url-status=live }}File:WIKITONGUES- Abderrahman speaking Tachelhit (vertical original).webm, one of the Berber languages, spoken by a man from Ait Melloul.]]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.

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.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=25 |oclc=795895594 |access-date=16 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084811/https://search.worldcat.org/title/795895594 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last1=Kossmann |first1=Marteen |last2=Stroomer |first2=H.J. |date=1997 |title=Berber Phonology |journal=Phonologies of Asia and Africa |pages=464–466}} All Berber languages, as is common in Afroasiatic languages, have pharyngealized consonants and phonemic gemination.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=508–509 |oclc=795895594 |access-date=16 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084811/https://search.worldcat.org/title/795895594 |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=530 |oclc=795895594 |access-date=16 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084811/https://search.worldcat.org/title/795895594 |url-status=live }} The consonants which may undergo gemination, and the positions in a word where gemination may occur, differ by language.{{Cite book |last=Elmedlaoui |first=Mohamed |title=Semitic and Afroasiatic: challenges and opportunities |date=2012 |publisher=Harrassowitz |isbn=978-3-447-06695-2 |editor-last=Edzard |editor-first=Lutz |series=Porta linguarum orientalium |location=Wiesbaden |pages=143 |chapter=Berber}} 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. Three (Kabyle, Tarifit and Shawiya) of the most spoken five Tamazight languages have the interdental consonants {{IPAblink|θ}} and {{IPAblink|ð}} which are considered rare cross-linguistically.

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.{{Cite book |last=Kossman |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=28 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594 |access-date=16 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084811/https://search.worldcat.org/title/795895594 |url-status=live }} For example, Taselhiyt has the vowels /i/, /a/, and /u/, while Ayer Tuareg has the vowels /i/, /ə/, /u/, /e/, /ɐ/, /o/, and /a/.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=625 |oclc=795895594}} 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. 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.{{Cite book |last=Kossman |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=28–33 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594}}

Most Berber languages:

• allow for any combination of CC consonant clusters.{{Cite book |last=Lahrouchi |first=Mohamed |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1028731846 |publisher=Routledge |title=The Routledge handbook of African linguistics |date=2018 |editor-first1=Augustine |editor-last1=Agwuele |editor-link2=Adams Bodomo |editor-first2=Adams |editor-last2=Bodomo |isbn=978-1-315-39298-1 |location=New York, NY |pages=171 |chapter=Syllable structure and vowel/zero alternations in Moroccan Arabic and Berber |oclc=1028731846 |quote="The Berber languages do not diverge from this trend, as no sonority restriction is imposed on their consonant clusters. Word-initial CC may consist of a sequence of stops or obstruent-sonorant, each with their mirror-image." |access-date=18 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085812/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1028731846 |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Heath |first=Jeffrey |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/60839346 |title=A grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali) |date=2005 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |isbn=3-11-018484-2 |location=Berlin |pages=42 |oclc=60839346 |access-date=18 December 2022 |archive-date=10 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210020620/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/60839346 |url-status=live }}
• have no lexical tones.{{Cite book |last=Maarten |first=Kossmann |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=33–34 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594}}
• either have no lexical stress (Northern Berber languages) or have grammatically significant lexical stress.

File:French professor speaking fluent Amazigh.webm language as spoken by a professor from France.]]

Phonetic correspondences between Berber languages are fairly regular.{{Cite book |last=Elmedlaoui |first=Mohamed |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |title=Semitic and Afroasiatic : challenges and opportunities |date=2012 |publisher=Harrassowitz |others=Lutz Edzard |isbn=978-3-447-06695-2 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=137 |chapter=Berber |oclc=793573735 |access-date=7 January 2023 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115194522/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |url-status=live }} Some examples, of varying importance and regularity, include [g/ž/y]; [k/š]; [l/ř/r]; [l/ž, ll/dd^ž]; [trill/ vocalized r]; [šš/tt^š]; [ss/tt^š]; [w/g/b]; [q/ɣ]; [h/Ø]; and [s-š-ž/h]. Words in various Berber languages are shown to demonstrate these phonetic correspondences as follows:{{Cite book |last=Elmedlaoui |first=Mohamed |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |title=Semitic and Afroasiatic : challenges and opportunities |date=2012 |publisher=Harrassowitz |others=Lutz Edzard |isbn=978-3-447-06695-2 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=139 |chapter=Berber |oclc=793573735 |access-date=7 January 2023 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115194522/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |url-status=live }}

Berber languages characteristically make frequent use of apophony in the form of ablaut. Berber apophony has been historically analyzed as functioning similarly to the Semitic root, but this analysis has fallen out of favor due to the lexical significance of vowels in Berber languages, as opposed to their primarily grammatical significance in Semitic languages.

The lexical categories of all Berber languages are nouns, verbs, pronouns, adverbs, and prepositions. With the exception of a handful of Arabic loanwords in most languages, Berber languages do not have proper adjectives. In Northern and Eastern Berber languages, adjectives are a subcategory of nouns; in Tuareg, relative clauses and stative verb forms are used to modify nouns instead.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=34 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594}}

The gender, number, and case of nouns, as well as the gender, number, and person of verbs, are typically distinguished through affixes. Arguments are described with word order and clitics.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=58–61 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594}}{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/646569109 |title=Morphologies of Asia and Africa |date=2007 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |others=Alan S. Kaye |isbn=978-1-57506-566-3 |location=Winona Lake, Ind. |pages=83–86 |chapter=Berber |oclc=646569109 |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085809/https://search.worldcat.org/title/646569109 |url-status=live }} When sentences have a verb, they essentially follow verb–subject–object word order, although some linguists believe alternate descriptors would better categorize certain languages, such as Taqbaylit.{{Cite book |last1=Mettouchi |first1=Amina |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/642205456 |title=The expression of information structure : a documentation of its diversity across Africa |last2=Fleisch |first2=Axel |date=2010 |publisher=J. Benjamins Pub. Co |others=Ines Fiedler, Anne Schwarz |isbn=978-90-272-8842-4 |location=Amsterdam |pages=194–199 |chapter=Topic-focus articulation in Taqbaylit and Tashelhit Berber |oclc=642205456 |access-date=25 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085919/https://search.worldcat.org/title/642205456 |url-status=live }}

Berber languages have both independent and dependent pronouns, both of which distinguish between person and number. Gender is also typically distinguished in the second and third person, and sometimes in first person plural.

Linguist Maarten Kossmann divides pronouns in Berber languages into three morphological groups:

1. Independent pronouns
2. Direct object clitics
3. Indirect object clitics; prepositional suffixes; adnominal suffixes

When clitics precede or follow a verb, they are almost always ordered with the indirect object first, direct object second, and andative-venitive deictic clitic last. An example in Tarifit is shown as follows:

{{Interlinear|indent=2

|y-əwš {{=}}as {{=}}θ {{=}}ið

|3SG:M-give:PAST {{=}}3SG:IO {{=}}3SG:M:DO {{=}}VEN

|"He gave it to him (in this direction)." (Tarifit)}}

The allowed positioning of different kinds of clitics varies by language.

Nouns are distinguished by gender, number, and case in most Berber languages, with gender being feminine or masculine, number being singular or plural, and case being in the construct or free state.{{Cite book |last=König |first=Christa |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/304173611 |title=Case in Africa |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-155266-3 |location=Oxford, UK |pages=181–182 |oclc=304173611 |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085917/https://search.worldcat.org/title/304173611 |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/646569109 |title=Morphologies of Asia and Africa |date=2007 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |others=Alan S. Kaye |isbn=978-1-57506-566-3 |location=Winona Lake, Ind. |pages=433–434 |chapter=Berber Morphology |oclc=646569109 |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085809/https://search.worldcat.org/title/646569109 |url-status=live }} Some Arabic borrowings in Northern and Eastern Berber languages do not accept these affixes; they instead retain the Arabic article regardless of case, and follow Arabic patterns to express number and gender.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first1=Zygmunt |location=Cambridge |pages=54–55 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594 |editor-last2=Shay |editor-first2=Erin}}

Gender can be feminine or masculine, and can be lexically determined, or can be used to distinguish qualities of the noun. For humans and "higher" animals (such as mammals and large birds), gender distinguishes sex, whereas for objects and "lesser" animals (such as insects and lizards), it distinguishes size. For some nouns, often fruits and vegetables, gender can also distinguish the specificity of the noun.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=66–67 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594}} The ways in which gender is used to distinguish nouns is shown in as follows, with examples from Figuig:{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/646569109 |title=Morphologies of Asia and Africa |date=2007 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |others=Alan S. Kaye |isbn=978-1-57506-566-3 |location=Winona Lake, Ind. |pages=429–431 |chapter=Berber Morphology |oclc=646569109 |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085809/https://search.worldcat.org/title/646569109 |url-status=live }}

An example of nouns with lexically determined gender are the feminine t-lussi ("butter") and masculine a-ɣi ("buttermilk") in Figuig. Mass nouns have lexically determined gender across Berber languages.

Most Berber languages have two cases, which distinguish the construct state from the free state.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/646569109 |title=Morphologies of Asia and Africa |date=2007 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |others=Alan S. Kaye |isbn=978-1-57506-566-3 |location=Winona Lake, Ind. |pages=431–433 |chapter=Berber Morphology |oclc=646569109 |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085809/https://search.worldcat.org/title/646569109 |url-status=live }} The construct state is also called the "construct case, "relative case," "annexed state" (état d'annexion), or the "nominative case"; the free state (état libre) is also called the "direct case" or "accusative case." When present, case is always expressed through nominal prefixes and initial-vowel reduction. The use of the marked nominative system and constructions similar to Split-S alignment varies by language. Eastern Berber languages do not have case.

Number can be singular or plural, which is marked with prefixation, suffixation, and sometimes apophony. Nouns usually are made plural by one of either suffixation or apophony, with prefixation applied independently. Specifics vary by language, but prefixation typically changes singular a- and ta- to plural i- and ti- respectively. The number of mass nouns are lexically determined. For example, in multiple Berber languages, such as Figuig, a-ɣi ("buttermilk") is singular while am-an ("water") is plural.

Nouns or pronouns—optionally extended with genitival pronominal affixes, demonstrative clitics, or pre-nominal elements, and then further modified by numerals, adjectives, possessive phrases, or relative clauses—can be built into noun phrases.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/646569109 |title=Morphologies of Asia and Africa |date=2007 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |others=Alan S. Kaye |isbn=978-1-57506-566-3 |location=Winona Lake, Ind. |pages=72–76 |chapter=Berber |oclc=646569109 |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085809/https://search.worldcat.org/title/646569109 |url-status=live }} Possessive phrases in noun phrases must have a genitive proposition.

There are a limited number of pre-nominal elements, which function similarly to pronoun syntactic heads of the noun phrase, and which can be categorized into three types as follows:

• The pluralizer id-
• The four pre-nominal elements roughly meaning "son(s) of" and "daughter(s) of", which commonly denote group identity and origin
• Pre-nominal elements which expand on the meaning of the noun

Verb bases are formed by stems that are optionally extended by prefixes, with mood, aspect, and negation applied with a vocalic scheme. This form can then be conjugated with affixes to agree with person, number, and gender, which produces a word.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=36 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594}}{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/646569109 |title=Morphologies of Asia and Africa |date=2007 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |others=Alan S. Kaye |isbn=978-1-57506-566-3 |location=Winona Lake, Ind. |pages=435 |chapter=Berber Morphology |oclc=646569109 |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085809/https://search.worldcat.org/title/646569109 |url-status=live }}

Different linguists analyze and label aspects in the Berber languages vary differently. Kossman roughly summarizes the basic stems which denote aspect as follows:{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/646569109 |title=Morphologies of Asia and Africa |date=2007 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |others=Alan S. Kaye |isbn=978-1-57506-566-3 |location=Winona Lake, Ind. |pages=436–438 |chapter=Berber Morphology |oclc=646569109 |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085809/https://search.worldcat.org/title/646569109 |url-status=live }}

• Aorist, also called aoriste, without a preceding particle:
• imperative
• unmarked (taking aspect from preceding verb)
• Aorist, with the preceding article ad:
• irrealis (adhortative, future)
• Preterite, or accompli:
• past tense, in dynamic use
• states (such as "to want, to know"), in stative use
• Intensive Aorist, also called habitative or inaccompli:
• dynamic present
• habitative and iterative
• habitative imperative
• negation of any imperative

Different languages may have more stems and aspects, or may distinguish within the above categories. Stem formation can be very complex, with Tuareg by some measures having over two hundred identified conjugation subtypes.

The aspectual stems of some classes of verbs in various Berber languages are shown as follows:{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=39 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594}}

Verb phrases are built with verb morphology, pronominal and deictic clitics, pre-verbal particles, and auxiliary elements. The pre-verbal particles are ad, wər, and their variants, which correspond to the meanings of "non-realized" and "negative" respectively.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/646569109 |title=Morphologies of Asia and Africa |date=2007 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |others=Alan S. Kaye |isbn=978-1-57506-566-3 |location=Winona Lake, Ind. |pages=77 |chapter=Berber |oclc=646569109 |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526085809/https://search.worldcat.org/title/646569109 |url-status=live }}

Many Berber languages have lost use of their original numerals from three onwards due to the influence of Arabic; Tarifit has lost all except one. Languages that may retain all their original numerals include Tashelhiyt, Tuareg, Ghadames, Ouargla, and Zenaga.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/897946694 |title=Corpus-based studies of lesser-described languages : the CorpAfroAs corpus of spoken AfroAsiatic languages |date=2015 |others=Amina Mettouchi, Martine Vanhove, Dominique Caubet |isbn=978-90-272-6889-1 |location=Amsterdam, the Netherlands |pages=237–238 |oclc=897946694 |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526090604/https://search.worldcat.org/title/897946694 |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=64 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594}}

Original Berber numerals agree in gender with the noun they describe, whereas the borrowed Arabic forms do not.

The numerals 1–10 in Tashelhiyt and Mali Tuareg are as follows:Hans Stumme: Handbuch des Schilhischen von Tazerwalt. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1899, § 169; Transcription modified.Galand (1988, 4.11).

Sentences in Berber languages can be divided into verbal and non-verbal sentences. The topic, which has a unique intonation in the sentence, precedes all other arguments in both types.

Verbal sentences have a finite verb, and are commonly understood to follow verb–subject–object word order (VSO). Some linguists have proposed opposing analyses of the word order patterns in Berber languages, and there has been some support for characterizing Taqbaylit as discourse-configurational.

Existential, attributive, and locational sentences in most Berber languages are expressed with non-verbal sentences, which have no finite verb. In these sentences, the predicate follows the noun, with the predicative particle d sometimes in between. Two examples, one without and one with a subject, are given from Kabyle as follows: {{Interlinear|indent=2|ð a-qšiš|PRED {{gcl|EL|free state, also called the accusative case}}:M-boy|"It is a boy." (Kabyle)}}

{{Interlinear|indent=2|nətta ð a-qšiš|he PRED {{gcl|EL|free state, also called the accusative case}}:M-boy|"He is a boy." (Kabyle)}}Non-verbal sentences may use the verb meaning "to be," which exists in all Berber languages. An example from Tarifit is given as follows:{{Interlinear|indent=2|i-tiři ða|3SG:M-be:{{gcl|I|imperfective}} here|"He is always here." (habitual) (Tarifit)}}

Above all in the area of basic lexicon, the Berber languages are very similar.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}} However, the household-related vocabulary in sedentary tribes is especially different from the one found in nomadic ones: whereas Tahaggart has only two or three designations for species of palm tree, other languages may have as many as 200 similar words.Basset 1952, S. 45 In contrast, Tahaggart has a rich vocabulary for the description of camels.J.-M. Cortade, M. Mammeri: Lexique français-touareg, dialecte de l’Ahaggar. Paris 1967, 91–93

Some loanwords in the Berber languages can be traced to pre-Roman times. The Berber words te-ḇăyne "date" and a-sḇan "loose woody tissue around the palm tree stem" originate from Ancient Egyptian, likely due to the introduction of date palm cultivation into North Africa from Egypt.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten G. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858861608 |title=The Arabic influence on Northern Berber |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25309-4 |location=Leiden |pages=57 |oclc=858861608 |access-date=17 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081213/https://search.worldcat.org/title/858861608 |url-status=live }} Around a dozen Berber words are probable Phoenician-Punic loanwords, although the overall influence of Phoenician-Punic on Berber languages is negligible.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten G. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858861608 |title=The Arabic influence on Northern Berber |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25309-4 |location=Leiden |pages=58–59 |oclc=858861608 |access-date=17 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081213/https://search.worldcat.org/title/858861608 |url-status=live }} A number of loanwords could be attributed to Phoenician-Punic, Hebrew, or Aramaic. The similar vocabulary between these Semitic languages, as well as Arabic, is a complicating factor in tracing the etymology of certain words.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten G. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858861608 |title=The Arabic influence on Northern Berber |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25309-4 |location=Leiden |pages=60 |oclc=858861608}}

Words of Latin origin have been introduced into Berber languages over time. Maarten Kossman separates Latin loanwords in Berber languages into those from during the Roman empire ("Latin loans"), from after the fall of the Roman empire ("African Romance loans"), precolonial non-African Romance loans, and colonial and post-colonial Romance loans. It can be difficult to distinguish Latin from African Romance loans.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten G. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858861608 |title=The Arabic influence on Northern Berber |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25309-4 |location=Leiden |pages=63–64 |oclc=858861608}} There are about 40 likely Latin or African Romance loanwords in Berber languages, which tend to be agricultural terms, religious terms, terms related to learning, or words for plants or useful objects.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten G. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858861608 |title=The Arabic influence on Northern Berber |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25309-4 |location=Leiden |pages=68–72 |oclc=858861608}} Use of these terms varies by language. For example, Tuareg does not retain the Latin agricultural terms, which relate to a form of agriculture not practiced by the Tuareg people. There are some Latin loans that are only known to be used in Shawiya.

The Berber calendar uses month names derived from the Julian calendar. Not every language uses every month. For example, Figuig appears to use only eight of the months. These names may be precolonial non-African Romance loans, adopted into Berber languages through Arabic, rather than from Latin directly.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten G. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858861608 |title=The Arabic influence on Northern Berber |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25309-4 |location=Leiden |pages=74–76 |oclc=858861608}}

The most influential external language on the lexicon of Berber languages is Arabic. Maarten Kossmann calculates that 0-5% of Ghadames and Awdjila's core vocabularies, and over 15% of Ghomara, Siwa, and Senhadja de Sraïr's core vocabularies, are loans from Arabic. Most other Berber languages loan from 6–15% of their core vocabulary from Arabic.{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten G. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858861608 |title=The Arabic influence on Northern Berber |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25309-4 |location=Leiden |pages=110–111 |oclc=858861608}} Salem Chaker estimates that Arabic loanwords represent 38% of Kabyle vocabulary, 25% of Tashelhiyt vocabulary, and 5% of Tuareg vocabulary, including non-core words.{{Cite journal |last=Chaker |first=S. |date=1989-01-01 |title=Arabisation |url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/2570 |journal=Encyclopédie berbère |language=fr |issue=6 |pages=834–843 |doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.2570 |issn=1015-7344 |doi-access=free |access-date=21 February 2023 |archive-date=21 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221122856/https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/2570 |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten G. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858861608 |title=The Arabic influence on Northern Berber |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25309-4 |location=Leiden |pages=107 |oclc=858861608}}

On the one hand, the words and expressions connected to Islam were borrowed, e.g. Tashlhiyt bismillah "in the name of Allah" < Classical Arabic bi-smi-llāhi, Tuareg ta-mejjīda "mosque" (Arabic masjid); on the other, Berber adopted cultural concepts such as Kabyle ssuq "market" from Arabic as-sūq, tamdint "town" < Arabic madīna. Even expressions such as the Arabic greeting as-salāmu ʿalaikum "Peace be upon you!" were adopted (Tuareg salāmu ɣlīkum).Textes touaregs en prose de Charles de Foucauld et Adolphe de Calassanti-Motylinski. Édition critique avec traduction par Salem Chaker, Hélène Claudot, Marceau Gast. Edisud, Aix-en-Provence 1984, {{Falsche ISBN|2-85744-176-3}}, S. 302

The Berber languages have influenced local Arabic dialects in the Maghreb. Although Maghrebi Arabic has a predominantly Semitic and Arabic vocabulary,{{cite book |last1=Elimam |first1=Abdou |url=http://gerflint.fr/Base/Tunisie1/elimam.pdf |title=Du Punique au Maghribi :Trajectoires d'une langue sémito-méditerranéenne |publisher=Synergies Tunisie |year=2009 |access-date=30 May 2023 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171009/http://gerflint.fr/Base/Tunisie1/elimam.pdf |url-status=live }} it contains a few Berber loanwords which represent 2–3% of the vocabulary of Libyan Arabic, 8–9% of Algerian Arabic and Tunisian Arabic, and 10–15% of Moroccan Arabic.{{Cite book |last=Wexler |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJpdiPiG2g4C&pg=PA174 |title=The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews |date=2012-02-01 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-1-4384-2393-7 |pages=174 |language=en |quote=Zavadovskij gives statistics for the percentage of Berber words in North African Muslim Arabic dialects: 10–15 percent Berber components in the Moroccan Arabic lexicon, 8–9 percent in Algerian and Tunisian Arabic, and only 2–3 percent in Libyan Arabic. |access-date=25 June 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164800/https://books.google.com/books?id=YJpdiPiG2g4C&pg=PA174 |url-status=live }} Their influence is also seen in some languages in West Africa. F. W. H. Migeod pointed to strong resemblances between Berber and Hausa in such words and phrases as these:

In addition he notes that the genitive in both languages is formed with n = "of" (though likely a common inheritance from Proto-Afro-Asiatic; cf. A.Eg genitive n).Migeod, F. W. H., The Languages of West Africa. Kegan, Paul, Trench & Trübner, London 1913. pages 232, 233.

A number of extinct populations are believed to have spoken Afro-Asiatic languages of the Berber branch. According to Peter Behrens (1981) and Marianne Bechaus-Gerst (2000), 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 pastoralism related loanwords 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 Afro-Asiatic languages.

Additionally, historical linguistics indicate that the Guanche language, which was spoken on the Canary Islands by the ancient Guanches, likely belonged to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family.Richard Hayward, 2000, "Afroasiatic", in Heine & Nurse eds, African Languages, Cambridge University Press

• List of Berber-language television channels
• Amazigh Cultural Association in America
• Shilha literature

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite encyclopedia |first=Michael |last=Brett |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Berber |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |title=Berber |date=23 May 2023 |quote=By [the 14th century], however, the Berbers were in retreat, subjected to Arabization of two very different kinds. The predominance of written Arabic had ended the writing of Amazigh (Berber) languages in both the old Libyan and the new Arabic script, reducing its languages to folk languages. |trans-quote=In other words, Tamazight had earlier been the dominant spoken and written language of the Imazighen. |access-date=15 June 2023 |archive-date=1 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801182132/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Berber |url-status=live }}

{{cite web |url=https://peabody.harvard.edu/galleries/imazighen-amazigh-aesthetics-symbology |publisher=Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, at Harvard |title=Imazighen – Amazigh Aesthetics & Symbology |quote=Amazigh arts, like the Tamazight language, have coexisted with other North African forms of expression since pre-Islamic times. |access-date=15 June 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526090955/https://peabody.harvard.edu/galleries/imazighen-amazigh-aesthetics-symbology |url-status=live }} {{ea}}

See Libyco-Berber alphabet, and Tifinagh: "The word tifinagh (singular tafinəq < *ta-finəɣ-t) is thought by some scholars to be a Berberized feminine plural cognate or adaptation of the Latin word 'Punicus', (meaning 'Punic' or 'Phoenician') through the Berber feminine prefix ti- and the root √FNƔ < *√PNQ < Latin Punicus; thus tifinagh could possibly mean 'the Phoenician (letters)' or 'the Punic letters'."
The adjective "Punic" commonly refers to Carthage, destroyed by Rome at the end of the Punic Wars, 146 BCE. In the usual theory, Carthaginians were western Phoenicians. But maybe not so much:
• {{cite journal |url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.13.483276v1.full.pdf |doi=10.1101/2022.03.13.483276 |first1=Hannah M. |last1=Moots |display-authors=etal |location=Stanford, California |website=Biorxiv.org |date=2022-03-13 |title=A Genetic History of Continuity and Mobility in the Iron Age Central Mediterranean |s2cid=247549249 |quote=The contribution of autochthonous North African populations in Carthaginian history is obscured by the use of terms like 'Western Phoenicians', and even to an extent, 'Punic', in the literature to refer to Carthaginians, as it implies a primarily colonial population and diminishes indigenous involvement in the Carthaginian Empire. As a result, the role of autochthonous populations has been largely overlooked in studies of Carthage and its empire. Genetic approaches are well suited to examine such assumptions, and here we show that North African populations contributed substantially to the genetic makeup of Carthaginian cities. |access-date=15 June 2023 |archive-date=13 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613064838/https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.13.483276v1.full.pdf |url-status=live }}

}}

{{wiktionary|Berber}}{{InterWiki|code=zgh|Standard Moroccan Tamazight language}}

{{InterWiki|code=shi|Shilha language}}

{{InterWiki|code=kab|Kabyle language}}

{{Incubator|tzm|lang=Central Atlas Tamazight}}

{{Incubator|rif|lang=Riffian language}}

{{commons category|Berber languages}}

• [https://asegzawal.miraheze.org/wiki/Tamazight-English_Dictionary Tamazight-English Dictionary]
• [http://lotexx.de/Berberisch/index_en.htm "What does Berber sound like?" (Thamazight poems as text & MP3)]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110624061513/http://www.llmap.org/languages/tzm.html Map of Berber language from the LL-Map Project] (archived 24 June 2011)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101102041258/http://sites.google.com/site/tamazight/the-tamazight-berber-language-profile The Berber Language Profile] (archived 2 October 2010)
• [https://www.scribd.com/doc/13240446/The-Etymology-of-Berber Etymology of "Berber"]
• [https://www.scribd.com/doc/15056143/The-Etymology-of-the-Word-Amazigh Etymology of "Amazigh"]
• [http://www.tachelhit.info/ Early Christian history of Berbers]
• [http://www.tifinagh.freeservers.com/custom.html Tifinagh]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170826045645/http://www.ancientscripts.com/berber.html Ancient Scripts] (archived 26 August 2017)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130812220445/http://www.imyura.net/ Imyura Kabyle site about literature] (archived 12 August 2013)
• [http://www.amawal.net/ Amawal: The online open source Berber dictionary]

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