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Berber
The Berber languages (Berber, Tamazight) are a group of closely related languages spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, as well as by Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse population extends into the whole Sahara and the northern part of the Sahel. They belong to the Afro-Asiatic languages phylum. There is a strong movement among speakers of the closely related northern Berber languages to unite them into a single standard Tamazight. Among the Berber languages / Tamazight are Central Morocco Tamazight, Tarifit or Riffi (northern Morocco), Kabyle (Algeria) and Tashelhiyt (central Morocco). Tamazight has been a written language, on and off, for over 2000 years, although the tradition has been frequently disrupted by various invasions. It was first written in the Tifinagh alphabet, still used by the Tuareg; the oldest dated inscription is from about 200 BC. Later, between about 1000 AD and 1500 AD, it was written in the Arabic alphabet (particularly by the Shilha of Morocco); since the 20th century, it has often been written in the Latin alphabet, especially among the Kabyle. A variant of the Tifinagh alphabet was recently made official in Morocco, while the Latin alphabet is quasi-official in Algeria and official in Mali and Niger; however, both Tifinagh and Arabic are still widely used in Mali and Niger, while Tifinagh and Latin scripts are increasingly being used in Morocco and parts of Algeria. There is also a Berber constructed language called Asrav. After independence, all the Maghreb countries to varying degrees pursued a policy of "Arabization", aimed primarily at displacing French from its colonial position as the dominant language of education and literacy. But under this policy the use of Amazigh / Berber languages has been suppressed or even banned. This state of affairs has been contested by Berbers in Morocco and Algeria — especially Kabylie — and is now being addressed in both countries by introducing Berber language in some schools and by recognizing Berber as a "national language" in Algeria,[1] though not an official one. No such measures have been taken in the other Maghreb countries, whose Berber populations are much smaller. In Mali and Niger, there are a few schools that teach partially in Tamasheq.  Nomenclature The term Berber has been used in Europe since at least the 17th century, and is still used today. It was borrowed from the Arabic designation for these populations, el-Barbar. The latter might have been derived from the Arabic or Persian words "barbakh"/"barbar" and "khanah", a house or guard on the wall.[citation needed] Despite the phonetic resemblance, the term has probably nothing to do with the Greek word "barbaros" (βαρβαρος), since the Greeks categorized all the non-Greek speaking peoples as barbars or barbarians, also meaning non-civilized (Πας μη Ελλην Βαρβαρος). Although the Berbers obviously fell under that definition, Romans usually called them under more specific names, such as "Numidians" or "Mauri". The Egyptians referred to them as Rebu (= Libu), or Meshwesh, the ancient Greeks as "Libyans", the Byzantines as "Mazikes. Dictionary: |
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