Northern Berber languages
The
Northern Berber languages are a dialect continuum across the
Maghreb that form a sub-family within the
Berber languages. Their continuity is broken by the spread of
Arabic, and to a lesser extent by the
Zenati subgroup, which, though unmistakably Northern Berber, shares certain innovations not found in the surrounding languages, notably a softening of
k to
sh or
ch, and an absence of
a- in certain words, such as "hand" (
afus vs.
fus.) They include (languages with over a million speakers in bold):
*Moroccan
Atlas languages:
**
Tachelhit language (also called Tasusit, Shilha; includes "
Judeo-Berber language"), in southern Morocco
**
Middle Atlas Tamazight language (also called Tachelhit), in central Morocco
**
Senhaja de Srair language (listed erroneously as Zenati by the Ethnologue), in the southern part of the
Rif in Morocco
*
Zenati languages**
Ghomara language, in the northwestern part of the
Rif in Morocco
**
Tarifit language, in northern Morocco
***
Beni Snous, in western Algeria near the border
***
Arzew, in western Algeria (extinct?)
**
South Oranais Berber, in the
ksours along the Algerian-Moroccan border
***
Figuig dialect, in southeastern Morocco
**
Central Maghreb Berber***
Achacha (extinct), north of
Mostaghanem in Algeria
***
Bel Halima (extinct), west of
Tiaret in Algeria
***
Ouarsenis (extinct?), east of
El Asnam in Algeria
***
Haraoua (extinct?), south of
Ain Defla in Algeria
***
Chenoua language/
Beni Menacer/
Djebel Bissa, between
Tipasa and
Tenes in north-central Algeria west of
Algiers**
Chaouia language, south of
Constantine in northeastern Algeria
**
northern Saharan varieties:
***
Tumzabt language of the
Mzab, Algeria
***
Ouargli language/Teggargarent at
Ouargla, Algeria
***"
Temacine Tamazight language" (
Ethnologue name) in
Oued Righ, around
Touggourt and
Temacine (Algeria)
***"
Taznatit language" of
Touat and
Gourara, Algeria (the Ethnologue name "Taznatit" is a misnomer, since that name is in fact used for most of the Zenati languages)
**
Tidikelt language**
Sened language in
Tunisia (extinct)
**
Djerbi language (including
Matmata and
Tamezret) in southern
Tunisia**
Zuara language (controversially classified by the Ethnologue as part of Nafusi, along with the previous), in northwestern
Libya*
Kabyle language, in north-central Algeria east of
Algiers** Various groups near
Blida, such as the
Beni Salah and
Beni Bou Yaqoub (extinct?)
The eastern boundaries of the group seem to be controversial; some sources include the
Nafusi language and the
Ghadames language, while others do not. Most sources agree in regarding
Ghadames language as outside of Northern Berber, but the Ethnologue does not.
There is no authoritative answer to the question of which of these to describe as a "
language" versus a "
dialect"; some academics have seen not only Northern Berber but all the
Berber languages as dialects of a single language, while others come up with much higher counts. At any rate,
mutual comprehensibility among Northern Berber languages is high, though not perfect.
