Shawiya

Shawiya (autonymously Tacawit, also Chaouia) is a Northern Berber Zenati language of the Afro-Asiatic family, spoken by around 2 million people in the Aurès Mountains of eastern Algeria (Batna, Khenchela, Oum El Bouaghi, Souk Ahras, Tébessa wilayas). The Shawiya, who self-identify as Aurasi or Ichawiyen, are descendants of the historic Aurès Berber tribes who long resisted Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, and Arab conquests. The legendary Berber Queen Kahina (al-Kahina) who led the Aurès resistance against the Umayyad Arab conquest of North Africa in the late 7th century is a Shawiya cultural heroine. Linguistically, Shawiya is closely related to Kabyle (kab) but with distinct palatalization patterns and vocabulary, exemplified by the change of /k/ to /tʃ/ in many positions. The post-2002 Algerian recognition of Tamazight has strengthened Shawiya's institutional status.