Standard Moroccan Amazigh (; ), also known as Standard Moroccan Tamazight or Standard Moroccan Berber, is a standardized language developed by the

Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture The Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture ( (IRCAM); (SGSM); ) is an academic institute of the Moroccan government in charge with the promotion of the Berber languages and culture, and of the development of Standard Moroccan Amazigh and its instru ...

(IRCAM) in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

by combining features of

Tashelhit ( ; from its name in Moroccan Arabic, ), now more commonly known as Tashelhiyt or Tachelhit ( ; from the endonym , ), is a Berber language spoken in southwestern Morocco. When referring to the language, anthropologists and historians prefer the ...

Central Atlas Tamazight Central Atlas Tamazight or Atlasic (native name: ''Tamazight'' ; ) is a Berber languageCentral Atlas Tamazight may be referred to as either a Berber language or a Berber dialect. As Berber languages have some degree of mutual intelligibility, ...

, and

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 ...

, the three major

Amazigh 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 Berber communities, who are ...

in Morocco. It has been an official language of Morocco since 2011. Standard Moroccan Amazigh is typically referred to as Tamazight, Amazigh, or

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

, 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.

History

As of 2024, 24.8 percent of Moroccans spoke Tamazight, referring to either Tashelhit, Central Atlas Tamazight, or Tarifit, as a native language. Following the independence of Morocco in 1956, Amazigh activists began calling for greater inclusion of Tamazight in official and public contexts. Cultural associations also began demanding the standardization of Tamazight in the 1980s. In 2001, the creation of IRCAM, and its role in teaching Tamazight in the classroom, was announced. This development required the standardization of Tamazight writing and the creation of dictionaries, textbooks, and teaching materials. In 2011, the Moroccan constitution was amended to include Tamazight as an official language.

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. 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. 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.

Orthography

Tamazight has typically been written in the

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...

, the

Berber Latin alphabet The Berber Latin alphabet () is the version of the Latin alphabet used to write the Berber languages. It was adopted in the 19th century, using a variety of letters. History The Berber languages were originally written using the ancient ''Libyco- ...

, or

Tifinagh Tifinagh ( Tuareg Berber language: ; Neo-Tifinagh: ; Berber Latin alphabet: ; ) is a script used to write the Berber languages. Tifinagh is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber alphabet. The traditional Tifinagh, sometimes called Tuareg Tifi ...

. As part of the standardization process, in 2003, IRCAM chose Tifinagh, referring to Neo-Tifinagh, as Standard Moroccan Amazigh's orthography. 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. The version of Neo-Tifinagh used by IRCAM is slightly different from other versions. 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.

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. Most Moroccan speakers of Amazigh use the Latin alphabet, rather than Tifinagh, and the Latin alphabet is the official script used for Amazigh languages outside of Morocco. 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. Linguist

Salem Chaker Salem Chaker (; born 1950 in Nevers) is a French linguist. A specialist in Berber linguistics (syntax, diachrony, sociolinguistics), he is recognized as the "dean" of modern Berber studies. Biography Salem Chaker was born in 1950 in Nevers, Fr ...

argued that the decision was "dangerous" and intended to "

rive Rive or La Rive may refer to: Places * Rive, Piedmont, Italy * Rive d'Arcano, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy * Rive Droite, Paris, France * Rive Gauche, Paris, France People * De la Rive, a surname and list of people * Joey Rive (July 8, 1963) ...

this transitional period of Amazigh writing and teaching into a sure dead end." However, most non-activists opposed the official adoption of the Latin alphabet for Amazigh, and a 2011 survey found that 45.5% of respondents agreed that Tifinagh was the most appropriate script for writing Tamazight. In practice, while all three languages are used in primary school textbooks, Tashelhit otherwise appears to be the main basis of the standard used in Amazigh-language materials produced by the

, 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 languages of Morocco, and tacitly making all the Berber languages of Morocco 'non-standard', particularly those whose speakers do not identify with any of the three major languages used by IRCAM, such as

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 ...

in the far northeast, Senhaja-Ktama in the north, Eastern Atlas Tamazight in central Morocco,

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 ...

, and Southeastern Berber.Criticism against Morocco's Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture

Notes

References