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Languages Of Libya
The official language of Libya is Modern Standard Arabic. Most residents speak one of the varieties of Arabic as a first language, most prominently Libyan Arabic, but also Egyptian Arabic and Tunisian Arabic Tunisian Arabic, or simply Tunisian (), is a Varieties of Arabic, variety of Arabic spoken in Tunisia. It is known among its 13 million speakers as ''Tūnsi'', "Tunisian" or ''Maghrebi Arabic, Derja'' (; meaning "common or everyday dialect") t .... Major language Arabic The official language of Libya is Arabic language, Arabic. The local Libyan Arabic variety is the common spoken vernacular. Minority languages Berber Various Berber languages are also spoken, including Tamahaq language, Tamahaq, Ghadamès language, Ghadamès, Nafusi language, Nafusi, Zuwara language, Zuwara, Yefren language, Yefren, Fezzan language, Fezzan, Kufra language, Kufra and Awjilah language, Awjilah. Both Berber and Arabic languages belong to the wider Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic family ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libya
Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–Libya border, the south, Niger to Libya–Niger border, the southwest, Algeria to Algeria–Libya border, the west, and Tunisia to Libya–Tunisia border, the northwest. With an area of almost , it is the 4th-largest country in Africa and the Arab world, and the List of countries and outlying territories by total area, 16th-largest in the world. Libya claims 32,000 square kilometres of southeastern Algeria, south of the Libyan town of Ghat, Libya, Ghat. The largest city and capital is Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli, which is located in northwestern Libya and contains over a million of Libya's seven million people. Libya has been inhabited by Berber people, Berbers since the late Bronze Age as descendants from Iberomaurusian and Capsian cultures. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afroasiatic Languages
The Afroasiatic languages (also known as Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian, Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic) are a language family (or "phylum") of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahara and Sahel. Over 500 million people are native speakers of an Afroasiatic language, constituting the fourth-largest language family after Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Niger–Congo. Most linguists divide the family into six branches: Berber (Amazigh), Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, Omotic, and Semitic. The vast majority of Afroasiatic languages are considered indigenous to the African continent, including all those not belonging to the Semitic branch (which originated in West Asia). The five most spoken languages are; Arabic (of all varieties) which is by far the most widely spoken within the family, with around 411 million native speakers concentrated primarily in West Asia and North Africa, the Chadic Hausa language w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Awjilah Language
Awjila (also ''Aujila'', ''Augila'', ''Aoudjila'', ''Awgila'', ''Awdjila''; own name: Jlan n Awilen; in other Berber varieties Tawjilit) is a severely endangered (considered "moribund" by ''Ethnologue'') Eastern Berber language spoken in Cyrenaica, Libya, in the Awjila oasis. Due to the political situation in Libya, immediate data on the language has been inaccessible. However, Facebook postings by speakers and younger semi-speakers have provided some recent supplementary data. General information Awjila is a member of the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic language family, of the Eastern Berber subgroup. It is closely related to the extinct Sokna language of Libya and is considerably endangered, with an estimated 2,000–3,000 native speakers remaining. UNESCO considers Awjila to be seriously endangered as the youngest speakers have reached or passed middle age. The Berber languages of Libya faced severe oppression during the period of Muammar Gaddafi, which has likely been t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kufra Language
Zurg, or Kufra, is reportedly an extinct Berber language formerly spoken in the town of Kufra in southeastern Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L .... No data seems to be attested for it, and it is described by Benkato (2017) as a "ghost language" that may never have existed. References Berber languages Berbers in Libya Languages of Libya Spurious languages {{Berber-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fezzan Language
Sokna (also ''Sawknah'', ''Sukna''; native name: Tasuknit) is a presumably extinct Eastern Berber language which was spoken in the town of Sokna (''Isuknan'') and the village of Fuqaha in northeastern Fezzan in Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L .... According to Václav Blažek (1999), Sokna was also spoken in the oasis of Tmassa. The most extensive and recent materials on it are Sarnelli (1924) for Sokna and Paradisi (1963) for El-Fogaha. Both articles report that the language was spoken only by a handful of old people at the time, so it is generally presumed to be extinct. Aikhenvald & Militarev (1984) and Blench (2006) consider Sokna and Fezzan to be separate languages. Blench lists Tmessa and Al-Foqaha as dialects of Fezzan. References Berber lang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yefren Language
Yafran (), also spelled ''Jefren'', ''Yefren'', ''Yifran'', ''Yifrin'' or ''Ifrane'', is a city in northwestern Libya, in the Jabal al Gharbi District in the western Nafusa Mountains. Before 2007, Yafran was the administrative seat of the Yafran District. History Libyan civil war Yafran people, as in other cities of Libya, have demonstrated against Muammar Gaddafi. Subsequently, Yafran was exposed to bombardment and siege by Gaddafi forces. As of May 2011, Gaddafi's forces had shut down the water system and blocked food supplies and held the western part of the town with some 500 rebels in the eastern section of Yafran still resisting. Yafran fell to Gaddafi's forces sometime in late May or early June. The centre of the town was used as a position for "government tanks, artillery guns and snipers". On 2 June, rebel forces retook the city center and started to clear the area of Gaddafi's forces. On 6 June, an on-site Reuters journalist reported that the pro-Gaddafi forces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zuwara Language
Zuwara Berber or Twillult language (also: ''Zuara'', ''Zwara'', (Berber name: Twillult, ) is a Berber dialect, one of the Berber Zenati languages. It is spoken in Zuwara city, located on the coast of western Tripolitania in northwestern Libya. Several works of Terence Mitchell, most notably ''Zuaran Berber (Libya): Grammar and texts'', provide an overview of the language's grammar along with a set of texts, based mainly on the speech of his consultant Ramadan Azzabi. Some articles on this subject were also published by Luigi Serra. The speakers refer to their specific variety of the language as ''twillult'' /t.ˈwil.lult/ ‘the language of Willul’, and the word "Mazigh" /ˈma.ziʁ/ may refer both to the wider Amazigh language or to any Amazigh person. Although rare for a Berber idiom, the masculine form is used to refer to the language. ''Ethnologue'' considers this language a dialect of Nafusi, although the two belong to different branches of Berber according to Koss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nafusi Language
Nafusi (also spelt Nefusi; or ''Tanfust'') is a Berber language spoken in the Nafusa Mountains (), a large area in northwestern Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L .... Its primary speakers are the Ibadi Muslim communities around Jadu, Nalut () and Yafran. The dialect of Yefren in the east differs somewhat from that of Nalut and Jadu in the west. Old Nafusi phrases appear in Ibadite manuscripts as early as the 12th century. The dialect of Jadu is described in some detail in Beguinot (1931). Motylinski (1898) describes the dialect of Jadu and Nalut as spoken by a student from Yefren. Nafusi shares several innovations with the Zenati languages, but unlike these Berber varieties, it maintains prefix vowels before open syllables. For example, ''ufəs'' "hand" < ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ghadamès Language
Ghadamès (Berber languages, Berber: / , Modern Standard Arabic, Standard Arabic , Libyan Arabic ) also called Ghadamsi or Ghadamsian is a Berber language that is spoken in, and named after, the oasis town of Ghadames in Nalut District, western Libya. Research Ghadamès language materials have been gathered by two linguists. The first materials were published in 1903 and 1904 by :fr:Adolphe de Calassanti Motylinski, Adolphe de Calassanti Motylinski (1854–1907). A more copious and reliable source is provided by the works of White Fathers, White Father Jacques Lanfry (1910-2000), who stayed in Ghadames from 1944 to 1945 and who published his main works in 1968 and 1973. No new research has been undertaken on location since then. Recently, Maarten Kossmann, Kossmann (2013) has published a modern grammar of Ghadamès based on Lanfry’s materials. Number of speakers Lanfry mentions the number of c. 4,000 speakers as an optimistic estimate. The actual number of speakers is not kno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamahaq Language
Tamahaq also known as (''Tahaggart Tamahaq'' or ''Tamahaq Tahaggart'') is the only known Tuareg languages, Northern Tuareg language, spoken in Algeria, western Libya and northern Niger. It varies little from the Southern Tuareg languages of the Aïr Mountains, Azawagh and Kel Adagh, Adagh. The differences mostly consist of sound substitutions, such as ''Tamahaq'' instead of ''Tamajaq'' or ''Tamasheq''. This language is “one of the sister languages spoken by the inhabitants of many districts of the Atlas range of mountains from Egypt to the Western shores of Morocco, and which are all included in the general term Berber.” Orthography The Tuareg write from right to left, like other abjads such as Hebrew and Arabic. The alphabet is called “Tifinagh” and contains 25 letters. Phonology Vowels Consonants Grammar Nouns Tamahaq nouns belong to two Noun class, noun classes, traditionally called ''masculine'' and ''feminine'', each potentially inflecting for two Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berber Languages
The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berbers, Berber communities, who are indigenous to North Africa.Hayward, Richard J., chapter ''Afroasiatic'' in Heine, Bernd & Nurse, Derek, editors, ''African Languages: An Introduction'' Cambridge 2000. . The languages are primarily spoken and not typically written. Historically, they have been written with the ancient Libyco-Berber script, which now exists in the form of Tifinagh. Today, they may also be written in the Berber Latin alphabet or the Arabic script, with Latin being the most pervasive. The Berber languages have a similar level of variety to the Romance languages, although they are sometimes referred to as a single collective language, often as "Berber", "Tamazight", or "Amazigh". The languages, with a few exceptions, form a dialect continuum. There is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
