Tarifit language
From Freepedia
- Rifi redirects here, for the place that is called Rifi in Greece, see Rifi, Greece
| Tarifit (Tarifit) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Morocco, Algeria |
| Region: | Rif |
| Total speakers: | 2 million |
| Ranking: | Not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Afro-Asiatic |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | - |
| Regulated by: | - |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | - |
| ISO 639-2 | ber |
| SIL | RIF |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Tarifit is a Northern Berber language of the Zenati subgroup, spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif by about 2 million people.
Contents |
Classification
Tarifit is a Berber language, belonging to the Zenati subgroup of Northern Berber, and possibly the Rif subgroup of Zenati.
Geographic distribution
Tarifit is spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif by about 2 million people, with a few speakers across the border in Algeria. There is also a substantial Tarifit-speaking community in the Netherlands. Its own speakers simply call it thamazighth, or Tamazight, a term also often applied in a broader sense to Berber languages in general.
Sounds
Tarifits most noticeable differences from other Berber languages are that:
- /l/ becomes /r/ as in ul (heart) -> ur
- /r/ after a vowel but not followed by a vowel is dropped, as in taddart (house/home) -> taddat. In e.g. tamara the /r/ is conserved because it is followed by a vowel.
- /ll/ (geminated (double) /l/) becomes /dj/ as in ylli (daughter) -> ydji.
- /lt/ becomes /tch/ as in ultma (sister) -> utchma.
- Most /k/ becomes /ch/ while in some local sub-accents just a softened /k/.
- Also, the initial masculin a- prefix gets dropped in certain words, like afus (hand) becomes fus, and afighar (snake) becomes fighar. This change, characteristic of Zenati Berber varieties, further distances Tarifit from neighbouring dialects such as Atlas-Tamazight and Tashelhiyt.
Writing system
Like other Berber languages, it has been written with several different systems over the years. Most recently (since 2003), Tifinagh has become official throughout Morocco, while the Arabic alphabet and Latin alphabet continue to be used unofficially online and in various publications. However, unlike the nearby Tachelhit (Tasusit), Tarifit has little written literature before the twentieth century.
See also
- List of Mzab-Wargla languages
- List of Zenati languages
- List of Northern Berber languages
- Ghomara language
- Rif languages
- Senhaja De Srair language
- East Zenati languages
References
- McClelland, Clive. The Interrelations of Syntax, Narrative Structure, and Prosody in a Berber Language (Studies in Linguistics and Semiotics, V. 8). Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000. (ISBN 0773477403)
