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Zenati Languages
The Zenati languages are a branch of the Northern Berber language family of North Africa. They were named after the medieval Zenata Berber tribal confederation. They were first proposed in the works of French linguist Edmond Destaing (1915) (1920–23). Zenata dialects are distributed across the central Berber world (Maghreb), from northeastern Morocco to just west of Algiers, and the northern Sahara, from southwestern Algeria around Béchar to Zuwara in Libya. The most widely spoken Zenati languages are Tmazight of the Rif in northern Morocco and Tashawit Berber in northeastern Algeria, each of which have over 3 million speakers. Languages Kossmann (2013) According to Kossmann (2013: 21–24),Maarten Kossmann (2013The Arabic Influence on Northern Berber/ref> Zenati is a rather arbitrary grouping, in which he includes the following varieties: * Riffian (Riffian Berber, or Rif-Berber, local name: ''Tmaziɣt'', north of Morocco); Includes Arzew dialect, in Arzew in we ...
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North Africa
North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of the Western Sahara in the west, to Egypt and Sudan's Red Sea coast in the east. The most common definition for the region's boundaries includes Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara, the territory territorial dispute, disputed between Morocco and the list of states with limited recognition, partially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. The United Nations’ definition includes all these countries as well as Sudan. The African Union defines the region similarly, only differing from the UN in excluding the Sudan and including Mauritania. The Sahel, south of the Sahara, Sahara Desert, can be considered as the southern boundary of North Africa. North Africa includes the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and the ...
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Sahara
The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Arctic. The name "Sahara" is derived from , a broken plural form of ( ), meaning "desert". The desert covers much of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt and the Sudan. It stretches from the Red Sea in the east and the Mediterranean in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, where the landscape gradually changes from desert to coastal plains. To the south it is bounded by the Sahel, a belt of Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, semi-arid tropical savanna around the Niger River valley and the Sudan (region), Sudan region of sub-Saharan Africa. The Sahara can be divided into several regions, including ...
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Ait Seghrouchen Berber
Ait Seghrouchen Berber, or Seghroucheni (Seghrusheni), is a Zenati Berber language of the Eastern Middle Atlas Berber cluster. It is spoken by the Ait Seghrouchen tribe inhabiting east-central Morocco. Classification Ait Seghrouchen Berber is commonly classed as Central Atlas Tamazight. It is reported to be mutually intelligible with the neighbouring Berber dialect of Ait Ayache. Genetically, however, it belongs to the Zenati subgroup of Northern Berber, rather than to the Atlas subgroup to which the rest of Central Atlas Tamazight belongs, and are therefore excluded by some sources from Central Atlas Tamazight. Ait Seghrouchen is part of the Eastern Middle Atlas Berber cluster of Zenati dialects, which is spoken in the eastern Middle Atlas. Phonology Consonants Ayt Seghrouchen is notable for having the lateral fricative as an allophone of the sequence . /k, g/ are pronounced as stops, unlike the closely related Ayt Ayache dialect in which they are fricatives. In the ...
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Arzew
Arzew or Arzeu (, ) is a seaport, port city in Algeria, 25 miles (40 km) from Oran. It is the capital of Arzew District, Oran Province. History Antiquity Like the rest of the Maghreb, the site of modern-day Arzew was originally inhabited by the Berber people, Berbers. Arzew's original Berber population came mainly from the nearby town of Bethioua, families from nearby Mostaganem, Kabyles, that were deported there. Nearby Bethioua was on the ruins of the Phoenicia, Phoenician Empire of Ancient Carthage, Carthage before becaming the Portus Magnus, Algeria, Portus Magnus ("Great Port") under the Ancient Rome, Roman Empire, although the name was used on Arzew's coat of arms under French Algeria, French colonial rule. Portus Magnus was a Roman colony or otherwise received Roman citizenship, citizen statusPliny the Elder, Pliny, ''Natural History (Pliny), Nat. Hist.'', Book V, Ch. 1. and exported grain and salt. Arsenaria was a nearby settlement 3 Roman miles (km) inland ...
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Arzew Berber
Tarifit (, ; ), also known as Riffian is a Zenati Berber language spoken in the Rif region in northern Morocco. It is spoken natively by some 1,200,000 Riffians, comprising 3.2% of the population, primarily in the Rif provinces of Nador, Al Hoceima and Driouch. Name The traditional autonym of the language is Thmaziɣt (Tamazight), a term that is widely used, albeit in different forms, among Berber speaking groups all over northern Africa. Tarifiyt (pronounced Tarifect in central dialects), as a linguistic term, is a new coinage, developed when it became more and more relevant to distinguish it from other Berber varieties. Classification Riffian is a Zenati Berber language which consists of various sub-dialects specific to each clan and of which a majority are spoken in the Rif region, a large mountainous area of Northern Morocco, and a minority spoken in the western part of neighbouring Algeria. Geographic distribution ] Riffian is spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif o ...
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South Oran And Figuig Berber
South Oran Berber, or Tachelhit, is a cluster of the Zenati languages, which belong to the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family. It is spoken in a number of oases of southwestern Algeria and across the border in Morocco. These areas include most of the ksour (fortified villages) between Mecheria and Béni Abbès: Tiout, Ain Sfisifa, Boussemghoun, Moghrar, Chellala, Asla, Fendi, Mougheul, Lahmar, Boukais, Sfissifa, Ouakda, Barrbi near Taghit, Igli, Mazzer in Algeria, Iche, Ain Chair and the seven ksour of Figuig Figuig or Figig is an oasis town in eastern Morocco near the Atlas Mountains, on the border with Algeria. The town is built around an oasis of date palms, surrounded by rugged, mountainous wilderness. Modernization has somewhat raised the stan ... (Ait Wadday, Ait Amar, Ait Lamiz, Ait Sliman, Ait Anaj, Ait Addi and Iznayen) in Morocco. Of these towns, the only one whose dialect has been studied in any detail is Figuig ( Kossmann 1997). A cursory st ...
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Beni Snous Dialect
Beni Snous berber or At Snous berber (native name: ''Tmaziɣt'') is a Berber variety close to Zenati languages spoken near Tlemcen in Algeria. In the early 20th century, Beni Snous Berber was spoken in the villages of Kef, Tghalimet, Bou Hallou, Ait Larbi, Ait Achir, Adziddaz, and Mazzer; all speakers were bilingual in the Arabic language. The Beni Snous had no trouble conversing with their Berber-speaking neighbours among the Beni Bou Said just to the west, and (with some difficulty) could communicate in Berber with people from Figuig, Beni Iznacen, beside the border in Morocco. However, they found Tashelhiyt (in southern Morocco) and Kabyle (in central Algeria) almost unintelligible. Today, only a few elderly people in the region still speak Berber. Most of the Beni Snous have shifted to Arabic, retaining only a few words from their ancestral language, such as ''tabɣa'' "blackberries" or ''azduz'' "pestle". See also *Languages of Algeria Arabic, particularly the Alg ...
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Matmata Berber
Matmata Berber is a Zenati Berber dialect spoken around the town of Matmâta in southern Tunisia, and in the villages of Taoujjout, Tamezret and Zrawa. According to Ben Mamou's lexicon, its speakers call it ''Tmaziɣṯ'' or ''Eddwi nna'', meaning "our speech", while it is called ''Shelha'' or ''Jbali'' (جبالي) in local Tunisian Arabic dialects. The total population speaking this variety was estimated at 3,726 in 1975. Documentation of Matmata Berber is limited. A collection of fairy tales in this variety was published by Stumme in 1900. Basset (1950) provides a few dialect maps of Tunisian Berber including this region, showing lexical variation, while Penchoen (1968) offers a general discussion of Tunisian Berber and the effects of schooling. Collins (1981) discusses its verbal morphology along with that of other Tunisian Berber varieties. The only general grammatical sketch and vocabulary available is the website put together by Larbi Ben Mamou, a native speaker of ...
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Iznasen
Iznasen (also known as Eastern Tarifit and Beni Iznasen; native name: ''Tmaziɣt'') is a Berber language, belonging to the Zenati group. It is spoken in the extreme northeast of Morocco, in a speech area near the border of western Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger .... References Berber languages Languages of Morocco {{Berber-lang-stub ...
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Tarifit
Tarifit (, ; ), also known as Riffian is a Zenati Berber language spoken in the Rif region in northern Morocco. It is spoken natively by some 1,200,000 Riffians, comprising 3.2% of the population, primarily in the Rif provinces of Nador, Al Hoceima and Driouch. Name The traditional autonym of the language is Thmaziɣt (Tamazight), a term that is widely used, albeit in different forms, among Berber speaking groups all over northern Africa. Tarifiyt (pronounced Tarifect in central dialects), as a linguistic term, is a new coinage, developed when it became more and more relevant to distinguish it from other Berber varieties. Classification Riffian is a Zenati Berber language which consists of various sub-dialects specific to each clan and of which a majority are spoken in the Rif region, a large mountainous area of Northern Morocco, and a minority spoken in the western part of neighbouring Algeria. Geographic distribution ] Riffian is spoken mainly in the Moroccan ...
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Maarten Kossmann
Maarten Kossmann (born 5 February 1966 in Zuidlaren, Netherlands) is a Dutch linguist who specializes in Berber languages. He is currently professor of Berber studies at Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d .... Bibliography Books * * (= PhD, Leiden 1994) * * * * * * * * * * Articles in books and journals * * References 1966 births Linguists from the Netherlands Berberologists Living people Academic staff of Leiden University People from Zuidlaren Leiden University alumni {{Authority control ...
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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 ...
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