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TheBerber Latin alphabet (Berber languages:Agemmay Amaziɣ Alatin) is the version of theLatin alphabet used to write theBerber languages. It was adopted in the 19th century, using a variety of letters.

The Berber languages were originally written using the ancientLibyco-Berber script and then centuries later by theTuaregTifinagh script inTuareg language areas, of which theNeo-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.^[1] 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.^[1] With the arrival of linguists specialized inSemitic languages there emerged a system based onSemitic romanization conventions:^[1]diacritics were used, and dictionary entries were now ordered byroot. This system has since become the most common way of Berbertranscription in scientific documents and literature.^[1]

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 theHCA inAlgeria andIRCAM inMorocco (although in Neo-Tifinagh).^[1]

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

• 24 standard Latin letters, all found in theEnglish alphabet except forP, andV. 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.
• Thelabialization mark "ʷ" is added to some letters in some Berber dialects, producing:bʷ,gʷ,ɣʷ,kʷ,mʷ,nʷ,qʷ, andxʷ. 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 letterP is used in Kabyle.^{[citation needed]}

The following table shows the Northern-Berber Latin alphabet with its Neo-Tifinagh^[2] and Arabic equivalents:

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 theKabyle language andRiffian Berber) between stops and fricatives.^[3]

Phonemiclabiovelarization 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 pronouncedameqqran in At Yanni Kabyle-Berber, only a few kilometers away).^[4] TheINALCO standard uses the diacritic⟨ᵒ⟩ for labiovelarization only when needed to distinguish words, e.g.ireggel vs.ireggᵒel.^[4]

The letter⟨ṛ⟩ is used for[rˤ] only when it contrasts with⟨r⟩ (e.g.ṛwiɣ "I am satisfied" vs.rwiɣ "I am moved"). In all other cases⟨r⟩ is used, e.g.tarakna "carpet" (pronounced taṛakna). This is because[rˤ] is often an allophone of/r/ in the environment of other emphatics, and it rarely contrasts with/r/ otherwise.^[6] Exceptional cases of other emphatics, e.g.[ʊʃˤːæj] "hound", are ignored (i.e. written asuccay).^[6]

In mostRiffian areas (northern Morocco), the letter "L" in the wordalɣem is pronounced [ařɣem]. "Ř" is pronounced as something between "L" and "R".^{[needs IPA][7]}

Riffian Berbers pronounce the "LL" (in a word likeyelli, "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".

InSouss (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.^[8]

InKabyle-Berber (northeastern Algeria), the affricates/t͡s,d͡z/ have traditionally been notated as⟨ţ, z̧⟩ for over thirty years. However these affricates are uncommon in other dialects (except inRiffian) and they are morphologically conditioned, so for the sake of pan-dialectal legibility theINALCO standard omits them.^[9] In Kabyle the affricate[t͡s] may derive from underlying/tt/ or/ss/. In the former case the INALCO standard uses⟨tt⟩, and in the second it uses⟨ss⟩ (e.g.yettawi vs.ifessi deriving from the verbfsi).^[9]

Labiovelarization is indicated with the superscript letter⟨ʷ⟩ (examples: kʷ, gʷ), or with the "degree sign": "ᵒ" (examples: kᵒ, gᵒ), or simply by using the letter⟨w⟩.^[4]⟨ḇḏǥḵṯ⟩ may represent spirantization.^[1]

On the internet, it is common to replace the Latinized Greek epsilon and gamma,⟨Ɛɛ⟩ and⟨Ɣɣ⟩, with actual Greek letters:^[10]

• ⟨Σ⟩, Greek upper casesigma, since Greek upper case epsilon "Ε" is visually indistinguishable from Latin upper case E
• ⟨ε⟩, Greek small letter epsilon (Unicode U+03B5)
• ⟨Γ, γ⟩ Greek capital and small letter gamma (Unicode U+0393, U+03B3)

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

There has been a long and fierce debate on whether to use the Latin, Tifinagh, or Arabic alphabets for Berber inAlgeria andMorocco, 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.^[11] A small number of them prefer the Neo-Tifinagh alphabet.^{[citation needed]} The states ofMorocco andAlgeria usually distance themselves from Latin-based Berber writing, fearing^{[citation needed]} 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.^[12]

In 2003,Mohammed VI of Morocco approved theRoyal 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^{[citation needed]} among independent Berber activists and they saw it as a way of neutralizing Berber and preventing it from quick flourishing and development.

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

The vowelO 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.

TheMalian national literacy programDNAFLA has proposed a standard for the Latin alphabet, which is used with modifications inKarl G. Prasse's Tuareg French Dictionary and the government literacy program inBurkina. InNiger a slightly different system was used. There is also some variation in Tifinagh and in the Arabic script.^[13]

The DNAFLA system is a somewhat morphophonemic orthography, not indicating initial vowel shortening, always writing the directional particle as⟨dd⟩, and not indication all assimilations (e.g.⟨Tămašăɣt⟩ fortămašăq.^[14]

In Burkina Faso the emphatics are denoted by "hooked" letters, as inFula, e.g.⟨ɗƭ⟩.^[15]

• Tifinagh

• "Initiation à la langue amazighe"(PDF) (in French).IRCAM. 2004. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 24 January 2011. Retrieved19 December 2010.
• (in French)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.ISBN 978-2-84586-172-5
• Kessai, Fodil (2018)."Élaboration d'un dictionnaire électronique de berbère avec annotations étymologiques". F. Kessai. Retrieved15 August 2020.
• Sudlow, David (2001).The Tamasheq of North-East Burkina Faso. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.ISBN 3896453807. Archived fromthe original on 7 June 2010.

• Kabyle alphabet on Omniglot

• Latin alphabets
• Berber languages
• Writing systems of Africa
• Romanization

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