| Tamahaq | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Algeria,Libya,Niger |
| Region | Sahara |
| Ethnicity | Tuaregs |
Native speakers | 130,000 (2020–2022)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Arabic alphabet Latin alphabet Tifinagh | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | thv |
| Glottolog | taha1241 |
| ELP | Tahaggart Tamahaq |
Tamahaq, also known asTahaggart Tamahaq orTamahaq Tahaggart, is the only knownNorthern Tuareg language, spoken inAlgeria, westernLibya and northernNiger. It varies little from the SouthernTuareg languages of theAïr Mountains,Azawagh andAdagh. The differences mostly consist of sound changes, such asTamahaq instead ofTamajaq orTamasheq. This language is "one of the sister languages spoken by the inhabitants of many districts of the Atlas range of mountains fromEgypt to the Western shores ofMorocco, and which are all included in the general term Berber."[2]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Open | a |
| Labial | Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | pharyngealized | |||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | t | tˤ | k | ||||
| voiced | b | d | dˤ | dʒ | g | q | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | χ | h | ||
| voiced | z | zˤ | ʒ | ɣ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||
| Tap | ɾ | |||||||
| Approximant | w | l | ʝ | |||||
Tamahaq is written inTifinagh, an abjad of 25 letters. Like other abjads such asHebrew andArabic, it is written from right to left.[3]
| Tifinagh | IPA equivalent |
|---|---|
| ⴰ (tegherit) | a |
| ⵢ/ⵉ (yay) | ʝ, i |
| ⵓ (yaw) | w, u |
| Tifinagh | IPA equivalent[4] |
|---|---|
| ⵀ (yab) | b |
| ⵜ (yat) | t |
| ⵋ (yaj) | ʒ |
| ⴶ (yag) | dʒ |
| ⵆ (yax) | χ |
| ⴷ (yad) | d |
| ⵔ (yar) | ɾ |
| ⵣ (yaz) | z |
| ⵟ (yaṭ) | tˤ |
| ⴾ (yak) | k |
| ⵍ (yal) | l |
| ⵎ (yam) | m |
| ⵏ (yan) | n |
| ⵌ (yaẓ) | zˤ |
| ⴹ (yaḍ) | dˤ |
| ⵗ (yaɣ) | ɣ |
| ⴼ (yaf) | f |
| ⵈ (yaq) | q |
| ⵙ (yas) | s |
| ⵛ (yaš) | ʃ |
| ⵂ (yah) | h |
| ⴳ (yag) | ɡ, ġ |
Tamahaq nouns belong to twonoun classes, traditionally called "masculine" and "feminine", each potentially inflecting for twonumbers, singular and plural.[5]
In general, singular masculine nouns begin with a vowel (a, ă, e, i, u, or o), plural masculine nouns begin with the sound i, and feminine singular and plural nouns begin with the sound t.[5]
There are a few exceptions to these rules:[6]
Feminine nouns can often be formed from masculine nouns by adding/t/ to the beginning and end.[6]
There are three main varieties of Tamahaq:[7]
Blench (2006) regards Tahaggart and Ghat as distinct Tuareg languages.
| Official language | |
|---|---|
| National languages | |
| Other languages | |
| Working language | |
| Immigrant languages | |
 | ThisBerber languages-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |
