Air Tamajeq (''Tayərt'') is a variety of

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

. It is spoken by the

Tuareg people The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; Endonym and exonym, endonym, depending on Tuareg languages#Subclassification, variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berbers, Berber ethnic group, ...

inhabiting the

Aïr Mountains The Aïr Mountains or Aïr Massif (Air Tamajeq language, Tamajăq: ''Ayǝr''; Hausa language, Hausa: Eastern ''Azbin'', Western ''Abzin'') is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara. Part of the West Sa ...

of the

Agadez Region Agadez Region is one of the seven regions of Niger. At , it covers more than half of Niger's land area, and is the largest region in the country, as well as the list of the largest country subdivisions by area, largest African state subdivision. ...

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

. ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'' lists two dialects: ''Air (Tayərt)'' and ''Tanassfarwat (Tamagarast/Taməsgərəst)''. Blench (2006) considers these two varieties to be distinct languages. He lists ''Ingal'' and ''Gofat'' as dialects of Air/Tayərt and Azerori as a dialect of Tamesgrest.

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

* Sounds ʃand ʒmainly occur as allophones of /t/ and /d/ before front vowels. A velar /ŋ/ mainly appears when followed by a labio-velar /w/, or a uvular /q/.

Orthograhy

Air Tamajeq, as well as other Tuareg languages, has traditionally and recently been written in three orthographies, with one or the other being the dominant orthography in specific contexts. These are

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 ...

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

, and Tifinagh (Traditional Tamajeq Tifinagh) script.Omniglot - Tayart Tamajeq (Tamajeq, ⵜⵎⵌⵆ, ثمجق)
https://www.omniglot.com/writing/tayarttamajeq.htm
/ref>West African Scripts Literature Ministry
https://www.westafricanscripts.org/
/ref> Tifinagh has been the ancient and traditional script for writing of Tuareg. However, as Tuareg peoples have been a largely oral society, Tifinagh has only been used primarily for games and puzzles, short graffiti and brief messages. Arabic alphabet has come to be adopted with the spread of Islam among Tuareg people from the 7th century onward. Tuareg people, being an integral part of the Trans-Saharan trade, played the most significant role in spreading

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

to indigenous African communities further south, in the

Sahel The Sahel region (; ), or Sahelian acacia savanna, is a Biogeography, biogeographical region in Africa. It is the Ecotone, transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a ...

and Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, Tuareg merchant, scholars, and clerics played a significant role in the teaching of the

Arabic alphabet The Arabic alphabet, or the Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is a unicase, unicameral script written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters, of which most ...

and its eventual adoption as part of what's today known as Ajami convention of writing, for writing of languages such as Songhay, Fula, and Hausa. Latin has been used for writing of Air Tamajeqand other Tuareg languages a lot more recently. Latin-derived scripts have been developed and adopted since the 19th century with the arrival of European Christian missionaries, colonial administrators, and linguists. The Latin script for Air Tamajeq is an "

Alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...

". Tuareg languages, including Air Tamajeq, are the only languages that use Tifinagh in its original traditional form. The Traditional Tifinagh script is an "

Abjad An abjad ( or abgad) is a writing system in which only consonants are represented, leaving the vowel sounds to be inferred by the reader. This contrasts with alphabets, which provide graphemes for both consonants and vowels. The term was introd ...

", meaning that vowels are not written or shown in any way, neither are geminated consonants. Only in the final position do letters ''a'' (), ''w'' (), ''y'' () serve as vowels in some contexts. Elsewhere, for example among the Imazighen (Berbers), the modified neo-Tifinagh, which is a full alphabet, is used. The Arabic script is an " Impure Abjad", meaning that some vowels are written using

diacritics A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...

and some using actual letters, consonant letters serving as vowels depending on the context.Savage, Andrew. ''Tifinagh Unicode Propositions''
Archive

Latin

Arabic

Tifinagh

Sample Text

Below is a sample text, translation of the Bible, Holy Bible, specifically the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...

, chapter 1, verses 1 to 4 into Air Tamajeq.

References

{{authority control Berbers in Niger Tuareg languages Languages of Niger