| Judeo-Berber | |
|---|---|
| Judeo-Shilha | |
| Region | Israel,France,Canada |
Native speakers | 200 (2023) |
| Hebrew alphabet (generally not written) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | jbe |
| Glottolog | (insufficiently attested or not a distinct language)jude1262 |
 Map of Judeo Berber speaking communities in the first half of the 20th century | |
Judeo-Berber is the language and dialects formed inBerber Jewish communities of central and southernMorocco whereBerberdialects were common. Judeo-Berber was the primary, if not the only, language used by many in Berber Jewish communities, though others used primarily Judeo-Arabic.[1] The language arose as a result of Arabic-speaking Jews getting in touch with Berber languages.[2] It is also calledJudeo-Amazigh,Judeo-Tamazight, andJewish Amazigh.
Its speakers immigrated toIsrael in the 1950s and 1960s. While mutually comprehensible with theTamazight spoken by most inhabitants of the area (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:14), these varieties are distinguished by the use ofHebrew loanwords and the pronunciation ofš as /s/, contrary toJudeo-Moroccan Arabic.
The first indication of Jews speaking any Berber language only appears in the early 19th century and it's of rural Jews inJebel Nefusa and SaharanGhardaia.
As of 1912, about 8,000 of Moroccan Jews spoke Judeo-Berber. The language was spoken in the country'sBerber or partly Berber rural and mountainous areas.[3] According to a 1936 survey, approximately 145,700 of Morocco's 161,000 Jews spoke a variety of Berber (though not specifically Judeo-Berber), 25,000 of whom were reportedly monolingual in a Berber language.[4]
Due to themass migration of Moroccan Jews after the1948 Arab-Israeli war, the number of speakers declined as the language was not passed down to new speakers, leaving it with only about 200 speakers left in France and Israel as of 2023.[3]
Communities inMorocco where Jews spoke Judeo-Berber included:Tinghir,Ouijjane,Asaka,Imini,Draa valley,Demnate andAit Bou Oulli in the Tamazight-speakingMiddle Atlas and High Atlas andOufrane,Tiznit andIlligh in the Tashelhiyt-speakingSouss valley (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:2). Jews were living among tribal Berbers, often in the same villages, and practiced old tribal Berber protection relationships.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | ǝ | ||
| Open-mid | |||
| Open | a |
Judeo-Berber is characterized by the following phonetic phenomena:[2]
The lexicon of Judeo-Berber is the same as that of regular Shilha, except it has Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic loanwords. This lack of differentiation from Shilha means it is not a language but rather a dialect.[5] Judeo-Berber lexicon also influenced Judeo-Arabic.[3]
Apart from its daily use, Judeo-Berber was used for orally explaining religious texts, and only occasionally written, using Hebrew characters; aPesahHaggadah manuscript written in Judeo-Berber has been reprinted (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970.) A few prayers, like the Benedictions over the Torah, were recited in Berber.[6]
Taken from Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:121 (itself from a manuscript from Tinghir):
ixəddamn
servants
ay
what
n-ga
we-were
i
for
pərʿu
Pharaoh
g°
in
maṣər.
Egypt.
i-ss-ufġ
he-cause-leave
aġ
us
əṛbbi
God
ənnəġ
our
dinnaġ
there
s
with
ufus
arm
ən
of
ddrʿ,
might,
s
with
ufus
arm
ikuwan.
strong.
ixəddamn ay n-ga i pərʿu g° maṣər. i-ss-ufġ aġ əṛbbi ənnəġ dinnaġ s ufus ən ddrʿ, s ufus ikuwan.
servants what we-were for Pharaoh in Egypt. he-cause-leave us God our there with arm of might, with arm strong.
Servants of Pharaoh is what we were in Egypt. Our God brought us out thence with a mighty arm, with a strong arm.