This article contains Tifinagh text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Tifinagh letters.
Tarifit Berber, also known as Riffian or locally as Tamazight (Tarifit: Tmaziɣt[θmæzɪχt], Arabic: تريفيت) is a Zenati Berber language spoken in the Rif region in northern Morocco. It is spoken natively by some 1,271,000[3][4]Rifians primarily in the Rif provinces of Al Hoceima, Nador and Driouch. Tarifit is strongly influenced by the Arabic language, and borrowed foreign loanwords represent 51.7% of the total Tarifit vocabulary (56.1% of nouns and 44.1% of verbs).[5]
Name
In the Rif, the native name of this language is 'Tmaziɣt' (pronounced Tmazixt in most dialects). Speakers may specify by calling it 'Tarifiyt' (pronounced Tarifect in central dialects).[6]
Classification
Young man speaking Riffian Berber, recorded in Cuba.
Riffian is a Zenati Berber language[7] which consists of various sub-dialects specific to each clan and of which a majority are spoken in the Rif region, a large mountainous area of Northern Morocco, and a minority spoken in the western part of neighbouring Algeria.[8][9]
Geographic distribution
Percent of Rif-Berber speakers in Morocco by census 2004 Based on data found Here [1]
Riffian is spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif on the Mediterranean coast and in the Rif mountains, with a large minority in the Spanish autonomous city of Melilla.[10] There are also speakers of Riffian in Morocco outside the Rif region, notably in the rest of Moroccan cities where they compose a minority. The neighbour state of Algeria is also home to Rif minorities. A Riffian-speaking community exists in the Netherlands and Belgium as well as to a lesser extent other European countries.[citation needed]
Morocco
There is a large amount of dialectal variation in Riffian Berber; this can easily be seen using the dialect Atlas (Lafkioui, 1997), however Riffian compose a single language with its own phonetical innovations distinct from other Berber languages. Majority of them are spoken in Northern Morocco, this includes the varieties of Al Hoceima, Temsamane, Nador, Ikbadene (including Iznasen) and the more southernly variety in the Taza province. Besides Riffian, two other related and smaller Berber languages are spoken in North Morocco: the Sanhaja de Srair and the Ghomara languages. They are only distantly related to Riffian and are not mutually intelligible with it.[11]
Algeria
Linguistic map of western Algeria showing Berber-speaking areas, including Riffian cluster of Bettioua, Marsa Ben-Mhidi, Aït Snous and Aït Bousaïd
A few Riffian dialects are or used to be in the western part of Algeria, notably by the Beni Snouss tribe of the Tlemcen, as well in Bethioua but also in various colonial districts Riffians started to emigrate to since the 19th century.[12][13]
Dialects
Distribution of Riffian dialects
Dialects distribution
Western (28.68%)
Central (55.34%)
Eastern (9.26%)
Peripheral (6.72%)
There is no consensus on what varieties are considered Riffian and not, the difference of opinion mainly lie in the easternmost dialects of the Iznasen and the westernmost dialects of Senhaja de Sraïr and Ketama.[14] Dialects include West-Riffian (Al Hoceima), Central-Riffian (Nador) and East-Riffian (Berkan). Iznasen (Iznacen, Beni Snassen) is counted as a dialect in Kossman (1999), but Blench (2006) classifies it as one of the closely related Mzab–Wargla languages.
A mid-central vowel /ə/ can occur in lax positions.
Lax allophones of /i, a, u/ are heard as [ɪ, æ, ʊ].
In the vicinity of pharyngealized consonants, /i, a, u/ are heard as [ɪˤ, ɑˤ, ʊˤ].
When r becomes vocalized, the following diphthongs are heard [ɛa, a ~ æ, ɔa]
When ṛ becomes vocalized, the following diphthongs are heard [ɪˤɑ, ɑˤ, ʊˤa]
Consonants
In the history of Western and Central Riffian /l/ has become /r/ in a lot of words. In most dialects there is no difference in this consonant (ř) and in original r, but in some dialects it is more clearly distinguished by the fact that ř is trilled while r is a tap. All consonants except for /ŋ/, /tʃ/ and /ʔ/ have a geminate counterpart. Most of the time, a geminate is only different from its plain counterpart because of its length; this is the case for /bː/, /dː/, /fː/, /gː/, /ɦː/, /ħː/, /jː/, /kː/, /lː/, /mː/, /nː/, /pː/, /pˤː/, /qː/, /r/, /rˤ/, /sː/, /sˤː/, /ʃː/, /ʃˤː/, /tː/, /tˤː/, /χː/, /zː/, /zˤː/, /ʒː/ and /ʕː/. Spirantized consonants have long stops as their geminate counterparts, e.g. yezḏeɣ [jəzðəʁ] 'he lives' vs. izeddeɣ [ɪzədːəʁ] 'he always lives'. There are only a few phonatactic expeceptions to this, e.g. in verb suffixes before vowel-initial clitics, ṯessfehmeḏḏ-as [θəs:fəɦməð:æs]. A few consonants have divergent geminated counterparts; ḍ (/dˤ/ and /ðˤ/) to ṭṭ (/tˤː/), w (/w/) to kkʷ (/kːʷ/), ɣ (/ʁ/) to qq (/qː/), and ř (/r/) to ǧ (/dʒː/). There are some exceptions to this. This is most common with ww, e.g. acewwaf [æʃəwːæf] 'hair', and rarely occurs with ɣɣ and ḍḍ e.g. iɣɣed [ɪʁːəð] 'ashes', weḍḍaạ [wədˤːɑˤ] 'to be lost'. /dʒ/ and /dʒː/ are allophonic realizations of the same phoneme, both are common.[15]
/ʝ/ has become /j/ in most of Central Riffian e.g. ayenduz [æjəndʊz] instead of aɡ̠enduz [æʝəndʊz] 'calf'.
/ç/ has mostly become /ʃ/ in Central Riffian and only occurs in a few words, e.g. seḵsu [səçsʊ] 'couscous'.
Pharyngealization is a spreading feature, it may spread to a whole word.
The only pharyngealized consonants common in Berber roots are /dˤ/, /ðˤ/, /zˤ/ and /rˤ/; the others seem to mainly occur in words of Arabic and Spanish origin.
/ʃˤ/ seems to only occur in the nouns ucca [ʊˤʃˤ:ɑˤ] 'greyhound' and mucc [mʊˤʃˤ:] 'cat'.
/ŋ/ occurs exclusively before the consonant /w/, it may be an assimilatory variant of n.
Labialization only occurs with the geminates /kːʷ/ and /gːʷ/.
Assimilations
There are quite a few assimilations that occur with the feminine suffixes t and ṯ.[17]
d + ṯ = tt (e.g. a t-tawi < a d-ṯawi 'she will bring here')
ḍ + ṯ = ṭṭ (e.g. tyaẓiṭṭ < tyaẓiḍṯ 'hen')
m + ṯ = nt (e.g. taxxant < taxxamṯ 'small room')
ř + ṯ = č (e.g. tameǧač < tameǧařṯ 'egg')
Spirantized consonants become stops after the consonant 'n', this occurs between words as well.
qqimen da < qqimen ḏa 'they sit here'
tilifun tameqqṛant < tilifun ṯameqqṛant 'the big phone'
Sound shifts
Letter ř
In the history of Western and Central Riffian /l/ has become /r/ in a lot of words, this sound shift has affected other consonants as well.
/l/ in other dialects corresponds to 'ř' (/r/) in Riffian (e.g. ul > uř 'heart')
The geminate equivalent, (/lː/) in other dialects corresponds to 'ǧ' (/dʒː/) in Riffian (e.g. yelli > yeǧi 'my daughter'). It is underlyingly řř.
/lt/ in other dialects corresponds to 'č' (/tʃ/) in Riffian (e.g. weltma > wečma 'my sister'). It is underlyingly řt.
These sound shifts do not occur in the easternmost Riffian dialects of Icebdanen and Iznasen and the westernmost dialects.[18]
Riffian letter
Riffian word
Original word
English meaning
Ř ř
uř
ul
heart
aɣyuř
aɣyul
donkey
awař
awal
speech / word
Ǧ ǧ
azeǧif
azellif
head
yeǧa
yella
he is / he exists
ajeǧid
ajellid
king
Č č
wečma
weltma
my sister
tacemřač
tacemlalt
blonde / white
taɣyuč
taɣyult
female donkey (jenny)
Postvocalic r
Postvocalic /r/ preceding a consonantal coda is dropped, as in taddart > taddaat 'house/home'. Thus in tamara 'hard work/misery' the /r/ is conserved because it precedes a vowel. These sound shifts do not occur in the easternmost Riffian dialects of Icebdanen and Iznasen and the westernmost dialects beyond Ayt Waayaɣeř.[19]
Zenati sound shifts
Additionally, the initial masculine a- prefix is dropped in certain words, e.g., afus 'hand' becomes fus, and afiɣaṛ 'snake' becomes fiɣạạ. This change, characteristic of Zenati Berber varieties, further distances Riffian from neighbouring dialects such as Atlas-Tamazight and Shilha.[20]
Writing system
Like other Berber languages, Riffian has been written with several different systems over the years. Unlike the nearby Tashelhit (Shilha), Riffian Berber has little written literature before the twentieth century. The first written examples of Riffian berber start appearing just before the colonial period. Texts like R. Basset (1897) and S. Biarnay (1917) are transcribed in the Latin alphabet but they are transcribed in a rather deficient way. Most recently (since 2003), Tifinagh has become official throughout Morocco. The Arabic script is not used anymore for writing Riffian Berber. The Berber Latin alphabet continues to be the most used writing system online and in most publications in Morocco and abroad.[21]
Tarifit has loaned a fair amount of its vocabulary from Arabic, Spanish and French.[26] Around 51.7% of the vocabulary of Tarifit is estimated to have been borrowed (56.1% of nouns and 44.1% of verbs).[27] All loaned verbs follow Riffian conjugations, and some loaned nouns are Berberized as well. A lot of loans are not recognizable because of sound shifts that have undergone, e.g. ǧiřet [dʒːɪrəθ] 'night' (Arabic: al-layla), hřec [ɦrəʃ] 'sick' (Arabic: halaka).
Examples of words loaned from Classical/Moroccan Arabic
ddenya: 'world' (orig. al-dunyāالدنيا)
tayezzaat: 'island' (orig. jazīraجزيرة)
řebḥaa: 'ocean' (orig. al-baḥrالبحر)
lwalidin: 'parents' (orig. al-wālidaynالوالدين)
ḥseb: 'to count' (orig. ḥasabaحسب)
Examples of words loaned from Spanish
familiya: 'family' (orig. familia)
tpabut: 'duck' (orig. pavo)
ṣpiṭạạ: 'hospital' (orig. hospital)
pṛubaa: 'to try' (orig. probar)
arrimaa: 'to land' (orig. arrimar)
Examples of words loaned from French
maamiṭa: 'pot' (orig. marmite)
furciṭa: 'fork' (orig. fourchette)
ṣuṣis: 'sausage' (orig. saucisse)
fumaḍa: 'cream' (orig. pommade)
jjarḍa: 'garden' (orig. jardin)
Examples of words loaned from Latin
faacu: 'eagle' (orig. falco)
aqninni: 'rabbit' (orig. cuniculus)
fiřu: 'thread' (orig. filum)
aɣaṛṛabu: 'boat' (orig. carabus)
asnus: 'donkey foal' (orig. asinus)
Sample Text
From 'An introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocc)' by Khalid Mourigh and Maarten Kossmann: Sirkuḷasyun (trafic)[28]
A:
A:
Ssalamuɛlikum.
peace.upon.you(PL)
A: Ssalamuɛlikum.
A: peace.upon.you(PL)
A: Hello.
B:
B:
Waɛlikumssalam.
and.upon.you(PL).peace
B: Waɛlikumssalam.
B: and.upon.you(PL).peace
B: Hello.
A:
A:
Teẓṛid
you(SG).saw
lakṣiḍa-nni
accident-that
yewqɛen?
happening
A: Teẓṛid lakṣiḍa-nni yewqɛen?
A: you(SG).saw accident-that happening
A: Did you see the (car) crash that happened?
B:
B:
Lla,
no
sřiɣ
i.heard
xas
on.it
waha.
only
B: Lla, sřiɣ xas waha.
B: no i.heard on.it only
B: No, I only heard about it.
A:
A:
Tewqeɛ
it(F).happened
deggʷ
in
brid
road(AS)
n
of
Wezɣenɣan.
zeghanghane(AS)
A: Tewqeɛ deggʷ brid n Wezɣenɣan.
A: it(F).happened in road(AS) of zeghanghane(AS)
A: It happened on the Zeghanghane road.
B:
B:
Wah,
yes
lakṣiḍa
accident
d
PRED
tameqqṛant.
big(F:SG:FS)
B: Wah, lakṣiḍa d tameqqṛant.
B: yes accident PRED big(F:SG:FS)
B: Yeah, it was a big (car) crash.
A:
A:
Abrid
road(FS)
ibelleɛ
it.is.closed
maṛṛa.
all
A: Abrid ibelleɛ maṛṛa.
A: road(FS) it.is.closed all
A: The whole road is closed.
B:
B:
Immut
he.died
din
there
ca
some
n
of
yijjen?
one(M:AS)
B: Immut din ca n yijjen?
B: he.died there some of one(M:AS)
B: Did anybody die there?
A:
A:
Wah,
yes
yemmut
he.died
ijjen
one
waayaz
man(AS)
d
and
mmi-s,
son-his
msakin.
poor.guys
A: Wah, yemmut ijjen waayaz d mmi-s, msakin.
A: yes he.died one man(AS) and son-his poor.guys
A: Yes, one man and his son died, the poor guys.
B:
B:
Mamec
how
temsaa?
it(F).happened
B: Mamec temsaa?
B: how it(F).happened
B: How did it happen?
A:
A:
Yesḥạạq
he.burned
ssṭupp
traffic.light
uca
then
tudef
it(F).entered
daysen
in.them(M)
ijjen
one
ṭṭumubin.
car
A: Yesḥạạq ssṭupp uca tudef daysen ijjen ṭṭumubin.
A: he.burned traffic.light then it(F).entered in.them(M) one car
A: He crossed the red light and then a car hit them.
B:
B:
Tuɣa
PAST
itazzeř
he.runs
ɛini.
probably
Iwa,
well
a
AD
ten-yạạḥem
them(M:DO)-he.has.mercy
sid-ạạbbi.
sir-lord
B: Tuɣa itazzeř ɛini. Iwa, a ten-yạạḥem sid-ạạbbi.
B: PAST he.runs probably well AD them(M:DO)-he.has.mercy sir-lord
B: He was probably speeding. Well, may them rest in peace.
A:
A:
Ttḥawař
be.careful!
waha,
only
din
there
aṭṭas
much(FS)
n
of
ṭṭumubinat.
cars
A: Ttḥawař waha, din aṭṭas n ṭṭumubinat.
A: be.careful! only there much(FS) of cars
A: Just be careful. There are many cars.
B:
B:
A
o
wah,
yes
yewseɣ
it(M).is.many
uqedduḥ.
tin.can(AS)
B: A wah, yewseɣ uqedduḥ.
B: o yes it(M).is.many tin.can(AS)
B: Yes, there are many tin cans (i.e. cars).
AS: annexed state FS: free state AD: the particle 'a(d)' "non-realized"
References
^Maaroufi, Youssef. "Recensement général de la population et de l'habitat 2004". Site institutionnel du Haut-Commissariat au Plan du Royaume du Maroc (in French). Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
^"Population légale des régions, provinces, préfectures, municipalités, arrondissements et communes du Royaume d'après les résultats du RGPH 2014" (Xls). Morocco. Haut Commissariat au Plan. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
^Maaroufi, Youssef. "Recensement général de la population et de l'habitat 2004". Site institutionnel du Haut-Commissariat au Plan du Royaume du Maroc (in French). Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
^"Population légale des régions, provinces, préfectures, municipalités, arrondissements et communes du Royaume d'après les résultats du RGPH 2014" (Xls). Morocco. Haut Commissariat au Plan. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
^Haspelmath, Martin; Tadmor, Uri (2009). Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 56 and 197. ISBN 978-3-11-021843-5.
^Tarifit at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^Destaing, Edmond (1907). Leroux, Ernest (ed.). Etude sur le dialecte Berbère des Beni-Snous (in French).
^Biarnay, Samuel (1910). Étude sur les Bet'-t'ioua du Vieil-Arzeu.
^"CpM moción regular Tamazight Melilla tomando ejemplo Bable Asturias". 14 April 2010. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Mena Lafkioui (2007). Atlas linguistique des variétés berbères du Rif. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-89645-395-2.
^Destaing, Edmond (1907). Leroux, Ernest (ed.). Etude sur le dialecte Berbère des Beni-Snous (in French).
^Biarnay, Samuel (1910). Étude sur les Bet'-t'ioua du Vieil-Arzeu.
^Mena Lafkioui (2007). Atlas linguistique des variétés berbères du Rif. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-89645-395-2.
^Maarten Kossmann; Khalid Mourigh (2020). An introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocco). Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 9783868353075.
^Maarten Kossmann; Khalid Mourigh (2020). An introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocco). Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 9783868353075.
^Maarten Kossmann; Khalid Mourigh (2020). An introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocco). Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 9783868353075.
^Mena Lafkioui (2007). Atlas linguistique des variétés berbères du Rif. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-89645-395-2.
^Mena Lafkioui (2007). Atlas linguistique des variétés berbères du Rif. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-89645-395-2.
^Mena Lafkioui (2007). Atlas linguistique des variétés berbères du Rif. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-89645-395-2.
^Maarten Kossmann; Khalid Mourigh (2020). An introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocco). Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 9783868353075.
^Maarten Kossmann; Khalid Mourigh (2020). An introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocco). Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 9783868353075.
^Kossmann, Maarten (2009), Haspelmath, Martin; Tadmor, Uri (eds.), Tarifiyt Berber, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
^Kossmann, Maarten (2009). Loanwords in Tarifiyt, a Berber language of Morocco. De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 9783110218435.
^Maarten Kossmann; Khalid Mourigh (2020). An introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocco). Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 9783868353075.
Sources
Biarnay, Samuel. 1911. Etude sur le dialecte des Bet't'ioua du Vieil-Arzeu. Alger: Carbonel.
Biarnay, Samuel. 1917. Etude sur les dialectes berbères du Rif. Paris: Leroux.
Cadi, Kaddour. 1987. Système verbal rifain. Forme et sens. Paris: Peeters.
Colin, Georges Séraphin. 1929. "Le parler berbère des Gmara." Hespéris 9: 43–58.
Kossmann, Maarten. 2000. Esquisse grammaticale du rifain oriental. Paris: Peeters.
Lafkioui, Mena. 2007. Atlas linguistique des variétés berbères du Rif. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
McClelland, Clive. 1996. Interrelations of prosody, clause structure and discourse pragmatics in Tarifit Berber. University of Texas at Arlington.
McClelland, Clive. The Interrelations of Syntax, Narrative Structure, and Prosody in a Berber Language (Studies in Linguistics and Semiotics, V. 8). Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000. (ISBN 0-7734-7740-3)
Mourigh, K., & Kossmann, M. 2020. An introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocco) (Lehrbücher orientalischer Sprachen ; volume IV/1). (ISBN 9783868353075)
Renisio, A. 1932. Etude sur les dialectes berbères des Beni Iznassen, du Rif et des Senhaja de Sraïr. Paris: Leroux.
