Imaziɣen (males or males and females) Timaziɣin (females)
Language
Tamaziɣt
Standard Moroccan Amazigh is typically referred to as Tamazight, Amazigh, or Berber, although these terms can also be used to refer to any other Amazigh language, or to Amazigh languages as a whole, including those outside Morocco.[3][1][4][6]
As of 1993, about 40-60 percent of Moroccans spoke Tamazight, referring to either Tashelhit, Central Atlas Tamazight, or Tarifit, as a native language.[7][8][9] Following the independence of Morocco in 1956, Amazigh activists began calling for greater inclusion of Tamazight in official and public contexts.[10][11] Cultural associations also began demanding the standardization of Tamazight in the 1980s.[12]
In 2001, the creation of IRCAM, and its role in teaching Tamazight in the classroom, was announced.[13] This development required the standardization of Tamazight writing and the creation of dictionaries, textbooks, and teaching materials.[3][13]
In 2011, the Moroccan constitution was amended to include Tamazight as an official language.[4][5]
Development
To develop Standard Moroccan Amazigh, IRCAM analyzed written sources of Tashelhit, Central Atlas Tamazight, and Tarifit. In this process, 3584 verbs were added to the standardized vocabulary.[4] Words and syntactic structures with identical meanings across languages were added as synonyms; for example, both taddart, the Central Atlas Tamazight word for house, and tigammi, the Tashelhit word for house, mean "house" in Standard Moroccan Amazigh.[3]
To add words not found in any of Tashelhit, Central Atlas Tamazight, or Tarifit, IRCAM borrowed from Amazigh languages from outside Morocco when possible, and otherwise derived a new word from the existing Tamazight lexicon.[3]
Tamazight has typically been written in the Arabic script, the Berber Latin alphabet, or Tifinagh. As part of the standardization process, in 2003, IRCAM chose Tifinagh, referring to Neo-Tifinagh, as Standard Moroccan Amazigh's orthography.[14][15][16] The decision was controversial both inside and outside the deciding committee, having been made for political, rather than practical, reasons; most Moroccan speakers of Tamazight do not use Tifinagh.[14][15][17][18]
The version of Neo-Tifinagh used by IRCAM is slightly different from other versions.[19] As of 2016, the use of Tifinagh has been restricted primarily to public signage and other culturally conspicuous uses; it is not widely used in education or media.[20][21]
Criticism
The 2003 adoption of Tifinagh was met with widespread criticism, particularly among Amazigh activists, who find the choice impractical and limiting in the promotion of Tamazight.[18] Most Moroccan speakers of Tamazight use the Latin alphabet, rather than Tifinagh, and the Latin alphabet is the official script used for Amazigh languages outside of Morocco.[15][17][20][22] As a result, the adoption of Tifinagh is seen as limiting both within Morocco, and in connecting Morocco with broader Amazigh culture in North Africa, with the decision's harshest critics viewing it as an intentional ploy by the government.[15][17][18] Linguist Salem Chaker argued that the decision was "dangerous" and intended to "[drive] this transitional period of Amazigh writing and teaching into a sure dead end."[23] However, most non-activists opposed the official adoption of the Latin alphabet for Tamazight, and a 2011 survey found that 45.5% of respondents agreed that Tifinagh was the most appropriate script for writing Tamazight.[14][18][22]
In practice, while all three dialects are used in primary school textbooks, Tashelhit otherwise appears to be the main basis of the language used in Amazigh-language materials produced by the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture, supplemented by numerous puristic neologisms. This has led some critics to argue that Morocco's official "language policy" is marginalizing the northern and eastern Berber dialects of Morocco, and tacitly making all the Berber dialects of Morocco 'non-standard', particularly those whose speakers do not identify with any of the three major dialects used by IRCAM, such as "Iznasen Tamazight" in the far northeast, "Senhaja-Ktama Tamazight" in the north, Eastern Atlas Tamazight in central Morocco, Figuig Tamazight, and Southeastern Berber.[24][25][26]
^The Amazigh population in Morocco speak Tashelhit, Tarifit, Central Atlas Tamazight, and a few other varieties natively, not the standardized combination of them.
References
^ abcAtaa Allah, Fadoua; Boulaknadel, Siham (2018). Mastorakis, N.; Mladenov, V.; Bulucea, A. (eds.). "Morpho-Lexicon for standard Moroccan Amazigh". MATEC Web of Conferences. 210: 04024. doi:10.1051/matecconf/201821004024. ISSN 2261-236X.
^ abcStandard Moroccan Amazigh at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ abcdefAlalou, Ali (2018-04-03). "The question of languages and the medium of instruction in Morocco". Current Issues in Language Planning. 19 (2): 6–8. doi:10.1080/14664208.2017.1353329. ISSN 1466-4208. S2CID 149159548.
^ abcdFadoua Ataa, Allah; Boulaknadel, Siham (May 2014). "Amazigh Verb Conjugator" (PDF). Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC'14). European Language Resources Association (ELRA): 1053.
^ abAlalou, Ali (2018-04-03). "The question of languages and the medium of instruction in Morocco". Current Issues in Language Planning. 19 (2): 136–160. doi:10.1080/14664208.2017.1353329. ISSN 1466-4208. S2CID 149159548.
^Zouhir, Abderrahman (2014). "Language Policy and State in Morocco: The Status of Berber". Digest of Middle East Studies. 23 (1): 37–53. doi:10.1111/dome.12039.
^Alalou, Ali (2018-04-03). "The question of languages and the medium of instruction in Morocco". Current Issues in Language Planning. 19 (2): 136–160. doi:10.1080/14664208.2017.1353329. ISSN 1466-4208. S2CID 149159548. In Morocco, three Amazigh languages can be identified: Tamazight in the middle and center of the country, Tarifit in the north, and Tashelhit in the south. Although the adjective Amazigh is commonly used, the term Tamazight is now widely used as a generic name for all of the three languages.
^Gross, Joan E. (1993). "The Politics of Unofficial Language Use: Walloon in Belgium, Tamazight in Morocco". Critique of Anthropology. 13 (2): 181. doi:10.1177/0308275X9301300204. ISSN 0308-275X. S2CID 145058398. 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.
^Gross, Joan E. (1993). "The Politics of Unofficial Language Use: Walloon in Belgium, Tamazight in Morocco". Critique of Anthropology. 13 (2): 182. doi:10.1177/0308275X9301300204. ISSN 0308-275X. S2CID 145058398. As the mother tongue of 40-60 per cent of the population of Morocco, Tamazight is clearly a national language, yet in many ways it has less recognition by the state than does Walloon in Belgium since Walloon is now taught (as a foreign language) in the schools and Tamazight is not.
^Bassiouney, Reem (2009-08-27), "Language policy and politics", Arabic Sociolinguistics, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 219–220, doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623730.003.0006, ISBN9780748623730, retrieved 2022-12-14
^Vourlias, Christopher (January 25, 2010). "Moroccan minority's net gain". Variety. Vol. 417, no. 10. Penske Business Media, LLC.
^ abCrawford, David L. (2005). "Royal Interest in Local Culture: Amazigh Identity and the Moroccan State". Nationalism and minority identities in Islamic societies. Maya Shatzmiller. Montreal [Que.]: McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 164–165. ISBN978-0-7735-7254-6. OCLC 191819018.
^ abcSoulaimani, Dris (2016-01-02). "Writing and rewriting Amazigh/Berber identity: Orthographies and language ideologies". Writing Systems Research. 8 (1): 1–2. doi:10.1080/17586801.2015.1023176. ISSN 1758-6801. S2CID 144700140.
^ abcdLarbi, Hsen (2003). "Which Script for Tamazight, Whose Choice is it ?". Amazigh Voice (Taghect Tamazight). New Jersey: Amazigh Cultural Association in America (ACAA). 12 (2). Retrieved December 17, 2009.
^Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce (2011). The Berber identity movement and the challenge to North African states (1st ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 195. ISBN978-0-292-73478-4. OCLC 741751261. In Morocco, the Palace had chosen neo-Tifinagh as a compromise option, for political reasons.
^ abcSilverstein, Paul; Crawford, David (2004). "Amazigh Activism and the Moroccan State". Middle East Report (233): 46. doi:10.2307/1559451. ISSN 0899-2851. JSTOR 1559451.
^ abcdSoulaimani, Dris (2016-01-02). "Writing and rewriting Amazigh/Berber identity: Orthographies and language ideologies". Writing Systems Research. 8 (1): 12–14. doi:10.1080/17586801.2015.1023176. ISSN 1758-6801. S2CID 144700140.
^ abCampbell, George L. (2012). The Routledge handbook of scripts and alphabets. Christopher Moseley (2nd ed.). Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN978-0-203-86548-4. OCLC 810078009.
^"Morocco draft law on official use of Berber language scrutinised". BBC Monitoring Middle East. August 4, 2016.
^ abSoulaimani, Dris (2016-01-02). "Writing and rewriting Amazigh/Berber identity: Orthographies and language ideologies". Writing Systems Research. 8 (1): 6–9. doi:10.1080/17586801.2015.1023176. ISSN 1758-6801. S2CID 144700140.
^Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce (2011). The Berber identity movement and the challenge to North African states (1st ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 170–171. ISBN978-0-292-73478-4. OCLC 741751261.
^Three Moroccan activists claim that the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture is favoring other dialects and sidelining the Southeastern Berber dialect of Morocco, adjacent to the Sous region
^Criticism against Morocco's Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture
^Criticism against Morocco's Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture
Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Berber.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Standard Moroccan Amazigh.
Standard Moroccan Amazigh test of Tamazight at Wikimedia Incubator
Standard Moroccan Amazigh test of Wiktionary at Wikimedia Incubator
standard, moroccan, amazigh, ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ, ⵜⴰⵏⴰⵡⴰⵢⵜ, arabic, الأمازيغية, المعيارية, also, known, standard, moroccan, tamazight, standardized, language, developed, royal, institute, amazigh, culture, ircam, morocco, combining, features, tashelhit, central, atlas, t. Standard Moroccan Amazigh ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵜⴰⵏⴰⵡⴰⵢⵜ Arabic الأمازيغية المعيارية also known as Standard Moroccan Tamazight is a standardized language developed by the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture IRCAM in Morocco by combining features of Tashelhit Central Atlas Tamazight and Tarifit the three major Amazigh languages in Morocco 2 3 1 4 It has been an official language of Morocco since 2011 3 5 Standard Moroccan Amazigh 1 Standard Moroccan Tamazight 2 ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵜⴰⵏⴰⵡⴰⵢⵜ tamaziɣt tanawaytNative toMoroccoDate2011Native speakersNone 2 nb 1 Language familyAfro Asiatic BerberNorthernStandard Moroccan Amazigh 1 Writing systemTifinaghOfficial statusOfficial language in MoroccoRegulated byRoyal Institute of Amazigh CultureLanguage codesISO 639 2 span class plainlinks zgh span ISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code zgh class extiw title iso639 3 zgh zgh a Glottologstan1324PersonAmaziɣ male Tamaziɣt female PeopleImaziɣen males or males and females Timaziɣin females LanguageTamaziɣtStandard Moroccan Amazigh is typically referred to as Tamazight Amazigh or Berber although these terms can also be used to refer to any other Amazigh language or to Amazigh languages as a whole including those outside Morocco 3 1 4 6 Contents 1 History 2 Development 2 1 Orthography 3 Criticism 4 See also 5 Notes 6 ReferencesHistory EditSee also Languages of Morocco As of 1993 about 40 60 percent of Moroccans spoke Tamazight referring to either Tashelhit Central Atlas Tamazight or Tarifit as a native language 7 8 9 Following the independence of Morocco in 1956 Amazigh activists began calling for greater inclusion of Tamazight in official and public contexts 10 11 Cultural associations also began demanding the standardization of Tamazight in the 1980s 12 In 2001 the creation of IRCAM and its role in teaching Tamazight in the classroom was announced 13 This development required the standardization of Tamazight writing and the creation of dictionaries textbooks and teaching materials 3 13 In 2011 the Moroccan constitution was amended to include Tamazight as an official language 4 5 Development EditTo develop Standard Moroccan Amazigh IRCAM analyzed written sources of Tashelhit Central Atlas Tamazight and Tarifit In this process 3584 verbs were added to the standardized vocabulary 4 Words and syntactic structures with identical meanings across languages were added as synonyms for example both taddart the Central Atlas Tamazight word for house and tigammi the Tashelhit word for house mean house in Standard Moroccan Amazigh 3 To add words not found in any of Tashelhit Central Atlas Tamazight or Tarifit IRCAM borrowed from Amazigh languages from outside Morocco when possible and otherwise derived a new word from the existing Tamazight lexicon 3 Orthography Edit See also Berber orthography and Tifinagh Neo Tifinagh Tamazight has typically been written in the Arabic script the Berber Latin alphabet or Tifinagh As part of the standardization process in 2003 IRCAM chose Tifinagh referring to Neo Tifinagh as Standard Moroccan Amazigh s orthography 14 15 16 The decision was controversial both inside and outside the deciding committee having been made for political rather than practical reasons most Moroccan speakers of Tamazight do not use Tifinagh 14 15 17 18 The version of Neo Tifinagh used by IRCAM is slightly different from other versions 19 As of 2016 the use of Tifinagh has been restricted primarily to public signage and other culturally conspicuous uses it is not widely used in education or media 20 21 Criticism EditThe 2003 adoption of Tifinagh was met with widespread criticism particularly among Amazigh activists who find the choice impractical and limiting in the promotion of Tamazight 18 Most Moroccan speakers of Tamazight use the Latin alphabet rather than Tifinagh and the Latin alphabet is the official script used for Amazigh languages outside of Morocco 15 17 20 22 As a result the adoption of Tifinagh is seen as limiting both within Morocco and in connecting Morocco with broader Amazigh culture in North Africa with the decision s harshest critics viewing it as an intentional ploy by the government 15 17 18 Linguist Salem Chaker argued that the decision was dangerous and intended to drive this transitional period of Amazigh writing and teaching into a sure dead end 23 However most non activists opposed the official adoption of the Latin alphabet for Tamazight and a 2011 survey found that 45 5 of respondents agreed that Tifinagh was the most appropriate script for writing Tamazight 14 18 22 In practice while all three dialects are used in primary school textbooks Tashelhit otherwise appears to be the main basis of the language used in Amazigh language materials produced by the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture supplemented by numerous puristic neologisms This has led some critics to argue that Morocco s official language policy is marginalizing the northern and eastern Berber dialects of Morocco and tacitly making all the Berber dialects of Morocco non standard particularly those whose speakers do not identify with any of the three major dialects used by IRCAM such as Iznasen Tamazight in the far northeast Senhaja Ktama Tamazight in the north Eastern Atlas Tamazight in central Morocco Figuig Tamazight and Southeastern Berber 24 25 26 See also EditLibyco Berber alphabet 2011 Moroccan constitutional referendumNotes Edit The Amazigh population in Morocco speak Tashelhit Tarifit Central Atlas Tamazight and a few other varieties natively not the standardized combination of them References Edit a b c Ataa Allah Fadoua Boulaknadel Siham 2018 Mastorakis N Mladenov V Bulucea A eds Morpho Lexicon for standard Moroccan Amazigh MATEC Web of Conferences 210 04024 doi 10 1051 matecconf 201821004024 ISSN 2261 236X a b c Standard Moroccan Amazigh at Ethnologue 25th ed 2022 a b c d e f Alalou Ali 2018 04 03 The question of languages and the medium of instruction in Morocco Current Issues in Language Planning 19 2 6 8 doi 10 1080 14664208 2017 1353329 ISSN 1466 4208 S2CID 149159548 a b c d Fadoua Ataa Allah Boulaknadel Siham May 2014 Amazigh Verb Conjugator PDF Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation LREC 14 European Language Resources Association ELRA 1053 a b Alalou Ali 2018 04 03 The question of languages and the medium of instruction in Morocco Current Issues in Language Planning 19 2 136 160 doi 10 1080 14664208 2017 1353329 ISSN 1466 4208 S2CID 149159548 Zouhir Abderrahman 2014 Language Policy and State in Morocco The Status of Berber Digest of Middle East Studies 23 1 37 53 doi 10 1111 dome 12039 Alalou Ali 2018 04 03 The question of languages and the medium of instruction in Morocco Current Issues in Language Planning 19 2 136 160 doi 10 1080 14664208 2017 1353329 ISSN 1466 4208 S2CID 149159548 In Morocco three Amazigh languages can be identified Tamazight in the middle and center of the country Tarifit in the north and Tashelhit in the south Although the adjective Amazigh is commonly used the term Tamazight is now widely used as a generic name for all of the three languages Gross Joan E 1993 The Politics of Unofficial Language Use Walloon in Belgium Tamazight in Morocco Critique of Anthropology 13 2 181 doi 10 1177 0308275X9301300204 ISSN 0308 275X S2CID 145058398 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 Gross Joan E 1993 The Politics of Unofficial Language Use Walloon in Belgium Tamazight in Morocco Critique of Anthropology 13 2 182 doi 10 1177 0308275X9301300204 ISSN 0308 275X S2CID 145058398 As the mother tongue of 40 60 per cent of the population of Morocco Tamazight is clearly a national language yet in many ways it has less recognition by the state than does Walloon in Belgium since Walloon is now taught as a foreign language in the schools and Tamazight is not Bassiouney Reem 2009 08 27 Language policy and politics Arabic Sociolinguistics Edinburgh University Press pp 219 220 doi 10 3366 edinburgh 9780748623730 003 0006 ISBN 9780748623730 retrieved 2022 12 14 Vourlias Christopher January 25 2010 Moroccan minority s net gain Variety Vol 417 no 10 Penske Business Media LLC African Literacies Ideologies Abdelhay Asfaha Yonas Mesfun Newcastle upon Tyne 2014 p 153 ISBN 978 1 4438 6826 6 OCLC 892969053 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link a b Crawford David L 2005 Royal Interest in Local Culture Amazigh Identity and the Moroccan State Nationalism and minority identities in Islamic societies Maya Shatzmiller Montreal Que McGill Queen s University Press pp 164 165 ISBN 978 0 7735 7254 6 OCLC 191819018 a b c Soulaimani Dris 2016 01 02 Writing and rewriting Amazigh Berber identity Orthographies and language ideologies Writing Systems Research 8 1 1 2 doi 10 1080 17586801 2015 1023176 ISSN 1758 6801 S2CID 144700140 a b c d Larbi Hsen 2003 Which Script for Tamazight Whose Choice is it Amazigh Voice Taghect Tamazight New Jersey Amazigh Cultural Association in America ACAA 12 2 Retrieved December 17 2009 Maddy Weitzman Bruce 2011 The Berber identity movement and the challenge to North African states 1st ed Austin University of Texas Press p 195 ISBN 978 0 292 73478 4 OCLC 741751261 In Morocco the Palace had chosen neo Tifinagh as a compromise option for political reasons a b c Silverstein Paul Crawford David 2004 Amazigh Activism and the Moroccan State Middle East Report 233 46 doi 10 2307 1559451 ISSN 0899 2851 JSTOR 1559451 a b c d Soulaimani Dris 2016 01 02 Writing and rewriting Amazigh Berber identity Orthographies and language ideologies Writing Systems Research 8 1 12 14 doi 10 1080 17586801 2015 1023176 ISSN 1758 6801 S2CID 144700140 African Literacies Ideologies Abdelhay Asfaha Yonas Mesfun Newcastle upon Tyne 2014 pp 151 152 ISBN 978 1 4438 6826 6 OCLC 892969053 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link a b Campbell George L 2012 The Routledge handbook of scripts and alphabets Christopher Moseley 2nd ed Milton Park Abingdon Oxon Routledge pp 58 59 ISBN 978 0 203 86548 4 OCLC 810078009 Morocco draft law on official use of Berber language scrutinised BBC Monitoring Middle East August 4 2016 a b Soulaimani Dris 2016 01 02 Writing and rewriting Amazigh Berber identity Orthographies and language ideologies Writing Systems Research 8 1 6 9 doi 10 1080 17586801 2015 1023176 ISSN 1758 6801 S2CID 144700140 Maddy Weitzman Bruce 2011 The Berber identity movement and the challenge to North African states 1st ed Austin University of Texas Press pp 170 171 ISBN 978 0 292 73478 4 OCLC 741751261 Three Moroccan activists claim that the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture is favoring other dialects and sidelining the Southeastern Berber dialect of Morocco adjacent to the Sous region Criticism against Morocco s Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture Criticism against Morocco s Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Berber Wikimedia Commons has media related to Standard Moroccan Amazigh Standard Moroccan Amazigh test of Tamazight at Wikimedia Incubator Standard Moroccan Amazigh test of Wiktionary at Wikimedia Incubator This Afroasiatic languages related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Standard Moroccan Amazigh amp oldid 1135355037, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
