Berber Latin alphabet

Template:Short description Template:Contains special characters The Berber Latin alphabet (Template:Langx) 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-Berber script and then centuries later by the Tuareg Tifinagh script in Tuareg language areas, of which the Neo-Tifinagh alphabet/abjad is the modern development.

The use of a Latin script for Berber has its roots in European (French and Italian) colonial expeditions to North Africa. Dictionaries and glossaries written with Latin letters, ordered alphabetically and following European orthography (mainly French) began to appear in print in the 19th century, they were intended to the colonial administration, traders and military officers. With the arrival of linguists specialized in Semitic languages there emerged a system based on Semitic romanization conventions: diacritics were used, and dictionary entries were now ordered by root. This system has since become the most common way of Berber transcription in scientific documents and literature.

Various writing standards were used since the 19th century, some are phonetically oriented, other phonologically oriented. While the Tuareg languages use a phonetically oriented transcription, the northern Berber languages use on the other hand a mixed transcription, the latter is recommended by the French institute of languages, INALCO and has been adopted by the HCA in Algeria and IRCAM in Morocco (although in Neo-Tifinagh).

Northern-Berber Latin alphabet

The Berber Latin alphabet of Northern-Berber usually consists of 35 letters:

• 24 standard Latin letters, all found in the English alphabet except for P, and V. However, these three are also used by some in modern Berber texts in loanwords and borrowings.
• 11 additional modified Latin letters: Č Ḍ Ɛ Ǧ Ɣ Ḥ Ř Ṛ Ṣ Ṭ Ẓ.
• The labialization mark "ʷ" is added to some letters in some Berber dialects, producing: bʷ, gʷ, ɣʷ, kʷ, mʷ, nʷ, qʷ, and xʷ. However, these are usually not considered as independent letters of the Berber Latin alphabet.

The 35-Letter Alphabet of Northern-Berber

A

B

C

Č

D

Ḍ

E

Ɛ

F

G

Ǧ

Ɣ

H

Ḥ

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

Q

R

Ř

Ṛ

S

Ṣ

T

Ṭ

U

W

X

Y

Z

Ẓ

Lower case

a

b

c

č

d

ḍ

e

ɛ

f

g

ǧ

ɣ

h

ḥ

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

q

r

ř

ṛ

s

ṣ

t

ṭ

u

w

x

y

z

ẓ

In Northern-Berber texts, foreign words and names are written in their original form even if they contain the letters: O, P, V, or any other non-Berber letter (like Ñ). According to SIL, the letter P is used in Kabyle.

Berber Latin alphabet and the Tifinagh Berber alphabet

The following table shows the Northern-Berber Latin alphabet with its Neo-Tifinagh and Arabic equivalents:

Berber-Latin		IRCAM's Tifinagh equivalent	Arabic equivalent	IPA equivalent	Similar sound in other languages
1	A a		أ / ا / َ	Template:IPA link	By default like English a in "map". When there is an emphatic Berber consonant then the Berber "a" is pronounced like the English a in "car".
2	B b		ب	Template:IPA link or Template:IPA link	English b or a soft Spanish b / v
3	C c		ش	Template:IPA link	English sh in "ship"
4	Č č (tc)		تش (چ‎)	Template:IPA link	English ch in "China"
5	D d		د / ذ	Template:IPA link or Template:IPA link	English d as well as English th in "this"
6	Ḍ ḍ		ض / ظ	Template:IPA link	Thick English d in "dick" or "door". Emphatic d
7	E e		none	Template:IPA link	English unstressed a in "attack".
8	Ɛ ɛ		ع	Template:IPA link	‘ayn (voiced equivalent of ḥ, similar to English onomatopoeia for retching)
9	F f		ف	Template:IPA link	English f
10	G g		ݣ (گ)	Template:IPA link	English g in "gate" or "gold"
11	Ǧ ǧ (dj)		ج	Template:IPA link	English j in "joke" or English g in "George"
12	Ɣ ɣ (gh)		غ	Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link	like French / German r or between this sound and Spanish intervocalic g
13	H h		هـ	Template:IPA link	Strong English h in "hello" or "hold"
14	Ḥ ḥ		ح	Template:IPA link	Arabic ḥ in Muḥammad (stronger than h, similar to English onomatopoeia for being cold)
15	I i		ي / ِ	Template:IPA link	English ee like in "sheet" or English i in "hidden".
16	J j		(ج)	Template:IPA link	English s in "measure" or "television", or English j in "déjà-vu".
17	K k		(ک)	Template:IPA link	English k
18	L l		ل	Template:IPA link or Template:IPA link	usually British English clear L in "light" (as in French, Spanish, German)
19	M m		م	Template:IPA link	English m
20	N n		ن	Template:IPA link	English n
21	Q q		ق	Template:IPA link, Template:IPA link or Template:IPA link	like k, but deeper in the throat
22	R r		ر	Template:IPA link, Template:IPA link	Spanish or Italian r
23	Ř ř		ر	Template:IPA link	Soft Italian/Spanish r, but even softer, almost l
24	Ṛ ṛ		ڕ	Template:IPA link	Thick emphatic Spanish r
25	S s		س	Template:IPA link	English s in "seed"
26	Ṣ ṣ		ص	Template:IPA link	Thick English s as in "sold". Emphatic s
27	T t		ت / ث	Template:IPA link or Template:IPA link	English t in "tea", as well as English th in "thought"
28	Ṭ ṭ		ط	Template:IPA link	Thick English "t" in "toll". Emphatic t
29	U u		و / ُ	Template:IPA link	English u in "put" or "rule"
30	W w		وْ	Template:IPA link	English w
31	X x		خ	Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link	German / Dutch ch in "Nacht", European Spanish j
32	Y y		يْ	Template:IPA link	English y in "yes" or "yard"
33	Z z		ز	Template:IPA link	English z in "zoo"
34	Ẓ ẓ		(ژ)	Template:IPA link	Thick English z in "Zorro". Emphatic z

The letter "O" does occur often in Tuareg-Berber orthography and sometimes in Northern Berber. In Northern-Berber orthography it usually corresponds to the letter "U".

In the interest of pan-dialectal legibility, the Berber Latin alphabet omits the partly phonemic contrasts found in some Berber language varieties (notably the Kabyle language and Riffian Berber) between stops and fricatives.

Phonemic labiovelarization of consonants is widespread in Berber varieties, but there are rarely minimal pairs and it is unstable (e.g. ameqqʷran "large", in the Ainsi dialect of Kabyle, is pronounced ameqqran in At Yanni Kabyle-Berber, only a few kilometers away). The INALCO standard uses the diacritic Template:Angbr for labiovelarization only when needed to distinguish words, e.g. ireggel vs. ireggᵒel.

Labiovelars

North-Berber Latin letter	Tifinagh equivalent	IPA equivalent
Bʷ bʷ / Bᵒ bᵒ
Gʷ gʷ / Gᵒ gᵒ
Ɣʷ ɣʷ / Ɣᵒ ɣᵒ
Kʷ kʷ / Kᵒ kᵒ
Qʷ qʷ / Qᵒ qᵒ
Xʷ xʷ / Xᵒ xᵒ
Mʷ mʷ / Mᵒ mᵒ

The letter Template:Angbr is used for only when it contrasts with Template:Angbr (e.g. ṛwiɣ "I am satisfied" vs. rwiɣ "I am moved"). In all other cases Template:Angbr is used, e.g. tarakna "carpet" (pronounced taṛakna). This is because is often an allophone of in the environment of other emphatics, and it rarely contrasts with otherwise. Exceptional cases of other emphatics, e.g. "hound", are ignored (i.e. written as uccay).

Rif-Berber usages

In most Riffian areas (northern Morocco), the letter "L" in the word alɣem is pronounced [ařɣem]. "Ř" is pronounced as something between "L" and "R".Template:IPA needed

Riffian Berbers pronounce the "LL" (in a word like yelli, "my daughter") like "dj" or "ǧǧ" (yedji). Depending on the author's whim, this might be represented in writing as "ll", "dj", a single "ǧ", or "ǧǧ".

Riffian letter	Riffian word	The word in other Berber dialects	meaning in English
Ř ř	uř	ul	heart
	aɣyuř	aɣyul	donkey
	awař	awal	speech / talk
Ǧ ǧ	azeǧif	azellif	head
	yeǧa	yella	(he) is / (he) exists
	ajeǧiđ	agellid	king
Č č	wučma	weltma	my sister
	t̲acemřač	tacemlalt	white
	t̲aɣyuč	taɣyult	female donkey (jenny)

Souss-Berber local usage

In Souss (mid-southern Morocco), Berber writers rarely use the neutral vowel "e", because the unphonemic schwa is rarer in Tachelhit due to a different stress system than its sister languages.

Kabyle-Berber local usages

In Kabyle-Berber (northeastern Algeria), the affricates have traditionally been notated as Template:Angbr for over thirty years. However these affricates are uncommon in other dialects (except in Riffian) and they are morphologically conditioned, so for the sake of pan-dialectal legibility the INALCO standard omits them. In Kabyle the affricate Template:IPAblink may derive from underlying or . In the former case the INALCO standard uses Template:Angbr, and in the second it uses Template:Angbr (e.g. yettawi vs. ifessi deriving from the verb fsi).

Unofficial usage (Kabyle)

Character	INALCO equivalent	IRCAM Tifinagh equivalent	IPA equivalent	Pronunciation
Ţ ţ	Tt tt		Template:IPA link	ts like in "Tsetse fly"
	Ss ss
Z̧ z̧	Zz zz		Template:IPA link	dz / the English "ds" in words

Labiovelarization is indicated with the superscript letter Template:Angbr (examples: kʷ, gʷ), or with the "degree sign": "ᵒ" (examples: kᵒ, gᵒ), or simply by using the letter Template:Angbr. Template:Angbr may represent spirantization.

On the internet, it is common to replace the Latinized Greek epsilon and gamma, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, with actual Greek letters:

• Template:Angbr, Greek upper case sigma, since Greek upper case epsilon "Ε" is visually indistinguishable from Latin upper case E
• Template:Angbr, Greek small letter epsilon (Unicode U+03B5)
• Template:Angbr Greek capital and small letter gamma (Unicode U+0393, U+03B3)

Among non-Kabyle Berber writers a number of alternative letters are used:

Unofficial / alternative usages

Character	INALCO equivalent
 â	Ɛ ɛ
Ġ ġ	Ɣ ɣ
Gh gh
Dj	Ǧ ǧ

Controversy

There has been a long and fierce debate on whether to use the Latin, Tifinagh, or Arabic alphabets for Berber in Algeria and Morocco, between Berber activists and anti-Berber establishments, mainly those with an Arab-Islamic orientation. Berber activists overwhelmingly favor the use of the Latin alphabet in order to ensure a quick development and proliferation of the Berber language (Tamazight) in schools, in public institutions, and on the internet. A small number of them prefer the Neo-Tifinagh alphabet. The states of Morocco and Algeria usually distance themselves from Latin-based Berber writing, fearing that it would strengthen the position of Berber against Arabic and French, and thus leading to a stronger Berber political activism. The Arab-Islamic establishments and political parties often reject the Latin alphabet as a Berber alphabet for the same reasons, and they usually brand it as a tool to westernize and Christianize Berbers.

In 2003, Mohammed VI of Morocco approved the Royal Institute of the Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) Berber Institute's decision of using Neo-Tifinagh as the sole official alphabet for the Berber language in Morocco. The IRCAM's decision was met with much disapproval among independent Berber activists and they saw it as a way of neutralizing Berber and preventing it from quick flourishing and development.

Southern-Berber Latin alphabet (Tuareg)

The Southern-Berber (Tuareg) Latin alphabet is made of 36 letters. They are mostly Latin letters with one IPA character and one Greek letter incorporated.

The vowel O is used in the Latin alphabet of Southern Berber (Tuareg), but is also used in some (but not all) Northern Berber languages. The vowel "O" in Tuareg words mostly corresponds to "U" in Northern Berber words.

A

Ă

B

Ḅ

D

Ḍ

E

Ǝ

F

G

Ɣ

H

Ḥ

I

J

K

L

Ḷ

M

N

Ŋ

O

Q

R

S

Ṣ

Š

T

Ṭ

U

W

X

Y

Z

Ž

Ẓ

Γ

a

ă

b

ḅ

d

ḍ

e

ǝ

f

g

ɣ

h

ḥ

i

j

k

l

ḷ

m

n

ŋ

o

q

r

s

ṣ

š

t

ṭ

u

w

x

y

z

ž

ẓ

ʕ

37-Letter Latin alphabet for Tuareg-Berber (Tamahaq), official in Niger since 1999
A	Ă	Ǝ	B	C	D	Ḍ	E	F	G	Ǧ	H	I	J	J̌	Ɣ	K	L	Ḷ	M	N	Ŋ	O	P	Q	R	S	Ṣ	Š	T	Ṭ	U	W	X	Y	Z	Ẓ
a	ă	ǝ	b	c	d	ḍ	e	f	g	ǧ	h	i	j	ǰ	ɣ	k	l	ḷ	m	n	ŋ	o	p	q	r	s	ṣ	š	t	ṭ	u	w	x	y	z	ẓ

The Malian national literacy program DNAFLA has proposed a standard for the Latin alphabet, which is used with modifications in Karl G. Prasse's Tuareg French Dictionary and the government literacy program in Burkina. In Niger a slightly different system was used. There is also some variation in Tifinagh and in the Arabic script.

The DNAFLA system is a somewhat morphophonemic orthography, not indicating initial vowel shortening, always writing the directional particle as Template:Angbr, and not indication all assimilations (e.g. Template:Angbr for tămašăq.

In Burkina Faso the emphatics are denoted by "hooked" letters, as in Fula, e.g. Template:Angbr.

See also

• Tifinagh

Bibliography

• Template:In lang Tira n Tmaziɣt: Propositions pour la notation usuelle à base latine du berbère (Atelier du 24–25 June 1996, INALCO/CRB; synthèse des travaux par S. Chaker), Études et documents berbères, 14, 1997, p. 239–253.
• Kamal Nait-Zerrad. Grammaire moderne du kabyle, tajerrumt tatrart n teqbaylit. Éditions KARTHALA, 2001. Template:ISBN

External links

• Kabyle alphabet on Omniglot