Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun The continuum of closely-related Berber languages spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and other parts of northern Africa.
  • proper noun Sometimes used to designate a specific dialect of the Moroccan Middle Atlas.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Tamazight ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ.

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Examples

  • A sign in Arabic, Tamazight and French outside of Tizi Ouzou, Algeria.

    The Washington Note 2010

  • If one talks to these kids coming from the illiterate villages in the mountains and south, it has been my experience that they are quite weary of official attempts to educate them in Tamazight; why not teach them to read and write in a language they can use first, rather than marring them down with a language that doesn't take them anywhere beyond where they're already at?

    Global Voices in English » Morocco: Teaching “Berber” in Schools 2009

  • I have heard multiple people from the Sousse describe the attempt to teach Tamazight and promote Tifinagh as a “conspiracy” to keep already debilitated Berber communities as they are.

    Global Voices in English » Morocco: Teaching “Berber” in Schools 2009

  • But the fascinating thing was that everyone spoke three or four different languages: Maghrebi, the Moroccan dialect of Arabic; classical Arabic, the kind one heard on the news; French or Spanish, the colonial tongues; one of the three dialects of Tamazight (Berber); and, increasingly, English (the language of Business).

    Nowhere’s Vernacular : Ange Mlinko : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation 2007

  • Tamazight (plur. of Amazigh), are the Gætulian indigenes speaking an Africo – Semitic tongue (see Essai de Grammaire Kabyle, etc., par A. Hanoteau, Paris, Benjamin Duprat).

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • I certainly don't want to imply that her lack of knowledge of Chinese and the mistakes it produced necessarily invalidate her views regarding the languages she really masters, but what scares me is the idea that I could be as easily induced in error if she were talking about Tamazight or Quechua, two languages I still ignore completely.

    languagehat.com: ON TRANSLATING NAMES 2 2004

  • Four associations linked to the Berber Cultural Movement called for a march through the city centre to demand that Tamazight, the

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1995

  • "We were put in a bottle and sealed up," said Fadia Suleiman, a teacher who has begun teaching the Tamazight alphabet to her students but is hampered because few people remain who know how to write the language.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • Jubilant men and women echoed his sentiments, delighted to speak Tamazight, a language illegal under Gadhafi, and to see a flag that is flown by Amazigh people all over northwest Africa but that many in Kabaw had never seen before the revolution.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • Under Gadhafi, it was forbidden to speak, write or sing Tamazight, on pain of arrest or beating by security forces, who would also smash up shops displaying Tamazight script.

    The Seattle Times 2011

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