ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵜⴰⵏⴰⵡⴰⵢⵜ

Standard Moroccan Tamazight

Afro-Asiatic > Berber > Northern Berber (planned standard pooling Tashelhiyt, Central Atlas Tamazight and Tarifit)

FamilyAfro-Asiatic > Berber > Northern Berber (planned standard pooling Tashelhiyt, Central Atlas Tamazight and Tarifit) Speakers~9M (planned standard, no native speakers) ScriptTifinagh (Neo-Tifinagh, the sole official orthography since IRCAM's choice in 2003) CountriesMorocco Official inMorocco (co-official with Arabic under Article 5 of the 2011 Constitution, the first time an Amazigh variety held that status in the country, with roll-out into schools and administration still being phased in) Vitalitysafe ISO 639-3zgh

Standard Moroccan Tamazight is not anybody's mother tongue but a planned standard, assembled by the Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe from 2001 onward by pooling Morocco's three large Amazigh varieties — Tashelhiyt, Central Atlas Tamazight and Tarifit. It was made co-official with Arabic by Article 5 of the 2011 constitution, and since 2003 it has been written exclusively in Neo-Tifinagh, an alphabet revived from ancient Libyco-Berber inscriptions and encoded in Unicode. IRCAM's Dictionnaire Général de la Langue Amazighe supplies both the inherited core (aman 'water', tafukt 'sun', tiṭṭ 'eye') and coinages for the modern world, such as amssuds 'computer', built like French ordinateur from a root meaning 'to arrange'. Because the standard resolves competing dialect forms by choice rather than by usage, forms such as amucc 'cat' and keyyi 'you (m.)' can differ from what any given speaker says at home. Implementation in schools, courts and signage has been slow, and most Moroccan Amazigh speakers still read and write their own variety rather than the standard.

Where it is spoken

31 core words in Standard Moroccan Tamazight

Water

ⴰⵎⴰⵏ

/aman/

Fire

ⵜⵉⵎⵙⵙⵉ

/timsːi/

Sun

ⵜⴰⴼⵓⴽⵜ

/tafukt/

Moon

ⴰⵢⵢⵓⵔ

/ajːur/

Star

ⵉⵜⵔⵉ

/itri/

Mother

ⵉⵎⵎⴰ

/imːa/

Father

ⴱⴰⴱⴰ

/baba/

I

ⵏⴽⴽ

/nəkː/

You

ⴽⵢⵢⵉ

/kəjːi/

Name

ⵉⵙⵎ

/isəm/

Eye

ⵜⵉⵟⵟ

/titˤː/

Hand

ⴰⴼⵓⵙ

/afus/

Heart

ⵓⵍ

/ul/

Love

ⵜⴰⵢⵔⵉ

/tajri/

Tree

ⴰⵙⴽⵍⵓ

/asəklu/

House

ⵜⵉⴳⵎⵎⵉ

/tiɡəmːi/

Dog

ⴰⵢⴷⵉ

/ajdi/

Cat

ⴰⵎⵓⵛⵛ

/amutʃː/

Eat

ⵛⵛ

/ətʃː/

Drink

ⵙⵓ

/su/

One

ⵢⴰⵏ

/jan/

Two

ⵙⵉⵏ

/sin/

Hello

ⴰⵣⵓⵍ

/azul/

Thank you

ⵜⴰⵏⵎⵎⵉⵔⵜ

/tanəmːirt/

Good

ⵉⴼⵓⵍⴽⵉ

/ifulki/

Computer

ⴰⵎⵙⵙⵓⴷⵙ

/amsːuds/

Sushi

ⵙⵓⵛⵉ

/suʃi/

Words compared

Compared with related Afro-Asiatic > Berber > Northern Berber (planned standard pooling Tashelhiyt, Central Atlas Tamazight and Tarifit) languages

Meaning Standard Moroccan TamazightTashelhitCentral Atlas TamazightKabyleShawiyaTarifitTamasheq (Tuareg)
Water ⴰⵎⴰⵏ /aman/ ⴰⵎⴰⵏ /aman/ ⴰⵎⴰⵏ /aman/ aman /aman/ aman /aman/ ⴰⵎⴰⵏ /aman/ ⴰⵎⴰⵏ /aman/
Fire ⵜⵉⵎⵙⵙⵉ /timsːi/ ⵜⵉⵎⵙⵉ /timsi/ ⵜⵉⵎⵙ /times/ times /timəs/ times /times/ ⵜⵎⵙⵙⵉ /θmesːi/ ⵜⵎⵙⵉ /təmsi/
Sun ⵜⴰⴼⵓⴽⵜ /tafukt/ ⵜⴰⴼⵓⴽⵜ /tafukt/ ⵜⴰⴼⵓⴽⵜ /tafukt/ iṭij /itˤiʒ/ ittij /itːiʒ/ ⵜⴼⵓⵢⵜ /θfujθ/ ⵜⴰⴼⵓⴽ /tafuk/
Moon ⴰⵢⵢⵓⵔ /ajːur/ ⴰⵢⵢⵓⵔ /ajːuɾ/ ⴰⵢⵢⵓⵔ /ajːuɾ/ aggur /aɡːuɾ/ ayur /ajuɾ/ ⴰⵢⵢⵓⵔ /ajːuɾ/ ⴰⵢⵓⵔ /ajor/
Star ⵉⵜⵔⵉ /itri/ ⵉⵜⵔⵉ /itri/ ⵉⵜⵔⵉ /itri/ itri /itri/ itri /iθri/ ⵉⵜⵔⵉ /iθri/ ⴰⵜⵔⵉ /atri/
Mother ⵉⵎⵎⴰ /imːa/ ⵉⵎⵎⴰ /imːa/ ⵢⵎⵎⴰ /jemːa/ yemma /jəmːa/ ima /ima/ ⵢⵎⵎⴰ /jemːa/ ⴰⵏⵏⴰ /anːa/
Father ⴱⴰⴱⴰ /baba/ ⴱⴰⴱⴰ /baba/ ⴱⴰⴱⴰ /baba/ baba /baba/ baba /baba/ ⴱⴰⴱⴰ /baba/ ⴰⴱⴱⴰ /abba/
I ⵏⴽⴽ /nəkː/ ⵏⴽⴽⵉ /nəkːi/ ⵏⴽⴽ /nəkː/ nekk /nəkː/ nec /nətʃ/ ⵏⵜⵛ /nətʃ/ ⵏⴽⴽ /nækː/
Page 1/4

Part of LangMap — a linguistic visualization project. This is a static, crawlable summary; the interactive maps offer pronunciation audio, filters, and a globe view.