Berber Latin alphabet

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.[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 in Semitic languages there emerged a system based on Semitic romanization conventions:[1] 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.[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 the HCA in Algeria and IRCAM in Morocco (although in Neo-Tifinagh).[1]

The Berber Latin alphabet of Northern-Berber usually consists of 34 letters:

• 23 standard Latin letters, all found in the English alphabet except for O, P, and V. However, these three are also used by some in modern Berber texts.
• 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 34-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

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

q

r

ř

ṛ

s

ṣ

t

ṭ

u

w

x

y

z

ẓ

Table of Unicode Berber-Latin letters used in the Kabyle language of Algeria

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: Ü, ẞ, Å, ...). According to SIL, the letter P is used in Kabyle.

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 the Kabyle language and Riffian Berber) between stops and fricatives.[3]

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).[4] The INALCO standard uses the diacritic ⟨°⟩ for labiovelarization only when needed to distinguish words, e.g. ireggel vs. iregg°el.[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 as uccay).[6]

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.

Tawellemet and Tamajaq also use Ââ Êê F̣f̣ G̣g̣ Îî J̣j̣ Ḳḳ Ṃṃ Ṇṇ Ôô Ṛṛ Ṣṣ Ṣ̌ṣ̌ Ûû Ẉẉ[12]

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.[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⟩ for tămašăq.[14]

In Burkina Faso the emphatics are denoted by "hooked" letters, as in Fula, e.g. ⟨ɗ ƭ⟩.[15]

• Tifinagh

• "Initiation à la langue amazighe" (PDF) (in French). IRCAM. 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-01-24. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
• (in French) Tira n Tmaziɣt: Propositions pour la notation usuelle à base latine du berbère (Atelier du 24–25 juin 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. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
• Sudlow, David. (2001). The Tamasheq of North-East Burkina Faso. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.

• Kabyle alphabet on Omniglot