“Tamazight,” the pluralistic Amazigh language bloc, became official under the 2016 Constitution, and the State has since started to develop the necessary mechanisms for its teaching. One of the things that provoked discussion was the standardization of a single Amazigh language. Algeria has more than four Amazigh-speaking groups, not just Taqbaylit, which has been at the forefront of many initiatives. 

Daika Dridi wrote about this in HuffPost Algérie, “What neither Benghabrit nor Ouyahia say is that the students who are taught “Tamazight” everywhere in Algeria and including Kabylia are fleeing the courses of this teaching because they do not understand what is taught, because they do not recognize this language which is supposed to be their mother tongue. It is not really the Berber languages ​​as they are spoken by their communities that the schoolchildren of Kabylia, Mzab, the Shawi or Targi regions learn when they go to “Tamazight” class but something else.”

Abderrezak Dourari, who heads a state center for research and reflection on the teaching of Tamazight (National Pedagogical and Linguistic Center for Teaching Tamazight), talks about this pedagogical failure which, he says, is the same failure in Morocco, explaining that mistakes made with Arabization have been repeated with the teaching of Tamazight, which has become a “Re-Berberization” enterprise.

“What is the usefulness of this artificial language apart from flattering our ego? It has no chance of survival and it is this language that is taught at school,” says Abderrezak Dourari.

What began as a brilliant political victory with the enshrinement of Amazigh language teaching in the Algerian constitution has turned into a language that nobody understands, including those who created it. Dourari explains that it was political authorities like the High Commission for Amazighity (HCA) and not linguists who invented this language.

In reality, texts in “Tamazight” (official documents, advertising posters, etc.) never exist initially as “texts in an Amazigh language,” they are always translations of French or Arabic, acrobatically elaborated transcriptions using the Mammeri lexicon. Abderrezak Dourari regrets that the plural aspect of the Amazigh language bloc has been completely embroiled in a process of unification without any real reflection. The only linguistic plurality that seems to stay intact is the choice of script. This isn’t dictated by the Ministry of Education which ensures the presence of the three alphabets (Arabic, Tifinagh/neo-Tifinagh and Latin) in textbooks, leaving room for teachers to decide. This cannot be said for Morocco where IRCAM, a non-democratic body, has imposed the sole use of neo-Tifinagh. The first major network for Amazigh language teaching in Morocco was created in Rabat by a group from the Souss on November 10, 1966 (AMREC) whose action primarily targeted oral culture and literacy because of the repressive context at the time.

It is the role of an Amazigh Language Academy to preserve the plurality of Algerian Amazigh languages by taking them from those who speak them and collecting corpora for each of its varieties, so that they are taught in an effective way. This has not yet emerged. Abdelwahab Sahrawi, a specialist in Arabic and Islamic studies, said efforts should be focused on deepening academic research, before suggesting a common transcription between variants of the Amazigh language within the range of Shawi, Kabyle, Tamahaq, Tamzabt and Shelhi expression, knowing that some are concerned about consolidating the cohesion of the Algerian people. 

The president of the “Culture and Reform of the Old Qsar” association in Ouargla, Hocine Boughaba, for his part, discussed the means of preservation and promotion of the Amazigh heritage and its variants.

Mr. Boughaba said that the association has been, since its creation, a cell composed of researchers, academics and poets, responsible for the enrichment of research in the field of the Wargli-Zenatic linguistic variant.

For those interested in excellent linguistic work on Amazigh varieties check out: Salem Chaker, Lameen Souag, Amina Mettouchi, Marijn van Putten, and Maarten Kossmann.

New York – The New York Forum of Amazigh Film Festival (NYFAF) will return for its fifth edition on May 9-10, 2019 at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in Queens, New York.

NYFAF offers a unique platform to discover North African Amazigh culture and to showcase the cinematic works of its people with a particular focus on films created by and about Amazigh people, the indigenous people of North Africa.

All events are free and open to the public with prior registration. Check out the full Festival schedule at www.nyfaf.com

[ads1]

Colonialism is a doctrine or ideology that justifies colonization understood as the extension of sovereignty of a modern, foreign State over territories outside its national borders.

The Muslim Conquest was not a form of colonialism.

Arab Conquest in North Africa

The seventh century Muslim Conquest does not represent some ultimate dagger to Berber populations by the “imposition of Arabization.” Arabization of North Africa happened in stages across vast periods of time, and Arabs were not the only ones to influence non-Arabs. Non-Arabs themselves played a tremendous role in the anchoring of the Arabic language in public life.

Linguistic Arabization also owes itself to variable causes — whether by education, migrating to an Arabophone city, the intermarriage between tribes, and so forth. Yussef Ou Tashfin, the military leader of the Almoravid dynasty, is said to not have spoken Arabic himself, yet today people from his tribe are Arabophones. The comparison between French colonization and the Muslim Conquest is quite evidently spurious once one acquires a constructive understanding of how nations and states have historically evolved.

Arabization was also not the same in different regions. Some regions were Arabized early, like the Doukkala of Morocco at the time of the Almohads, who brought Arab tribes to prevent revolts from the Idoukkalen. Other regions became Arabized during the colonial and post-colonial period for different reasons.

Arabic will never have the history of the French language in the Maghrib. Before then, Arabic was used because it was the lingua franca of the Muslim world; the alphabet was even used to write in Berber languages and other forms of ‘ajami. Mḥemmed U-Ɛli U-Brahim Akʷbil Awzal is the most important author in the literary tradition of Tashelhit. He was born around 1680 in the village of al-Qaṣaba in the tribal territory of the Indouzal (Sus region of Morocco), and died in 1749. His full name in Arabic is Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Akbīlī al-Hawzālī (or al-Indūzālī) al-Sūsī. He is the author of several works in Tashelhit (Shilha) and Arabic which are preserved in manuscripts.

For Kabylia, I recommend reading this very interesting article. Manuscript libraries of zawiyas in eastern Kabylia show transliteration of Taqbaylit using Arabic script. “The best-documented ones are the religiously focused materials from the collection of Shaykh Lmuhub Ulaḥbib of Tala Uzrar (near Bejaia), born in 1822 (Aïssani 1998), some of which may predate the 19th century.”

Furthermore, in Kabylia, “The codes submitted to the French authorities were in Arabic, frequently written by the local imam or other religious scholars” (Scheele, 2008). It was the French language that established a real colonial force in all history of the Muslim world.

During colonial times, the French declared that Maghribis were illiterate, but this was not true.

What is Arabization?

A relative balance between Arabophone and Berberophone regions was established over time, alongside complete Islamization (urban Jews aside). The territory became divided between Berber-speaking/Berber tribes, Arabic-speaking Berber tribes (who today are likely to consider themselves plainly Arab), Arab tribes, and more rarely bilingual Arab tribes. 

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Amazigh World News’ editorial views.

[ads2]

Tamazight is not one language

Pr. Mettouchi clears up a misconception, “This is not only a question of scientific truth, but it is also a trap for Berber languages, to talk about Tamazight as one language because then individual languages die in silence since as long as some speakers of major varieties still speak those varieties, one believes that “the language” is alive and does not involve themselves in documentation and preservation. This is what has happened in the last decades, and it is time we reverse the trend and celebrate and document the beautiful diversity of Berber languages.”

What can the average person do?

“The most urgent is to collect recordings from threatened Berber languages, make audio and video recordings of elders telling stories, evoking memories, remembering ancient traditions, songs, poems, proverbs, riddles etc.”

She continues, “One crucial thing also is that speaking a language to talk about modern realities in our Western lives is good, but doing only that leaves unseen the whole iceberg, which is the wealth of traditional knowledge that characterizes indigenous cultures,” regarding the environment, medicinal plants, philosophies or world-views, history, “that we do not use on an everyday basis to go shopping or talk about our feelings or our jobs.”

Pr. Mettouchi suggests setting up kindergartens where children can learn a respective Amazigh language in an interactive and organic way. “They are easy to implement, even in diaspora contexts at a smaller scale, but they are only possible if we think about it in a radically new way, by empowering women, especially older women who still are skilled in traditional activities and language, and by being confident in the value and importance of oral transmission.”

How can we spark interest in some Arabophones who may believe the preservation of Amazigh languages does not concern them?

“All studies on bilingualism or multilingualism in the last decades have proved that speaking several languages is better for everything, from health to wealth, than being monolingual. The idea that for instance, an Arabic speaker must, for her children, choose between learning English and learning Rif Berber is beside the point.”

Pr. Mettouchi’s favorite project and final remarks

“I have a soft spot in my heart for the first international project I coordinated, CorpAfroAs, because it was very innovative at the time, and there were several young Ph.D. researchers involved, whose input was crucial, and whose energy carried the project onwards. But the most exciting endeavor for me is the one I am developing right now, this large-scale project on the documentation of the diversity of Berber languages, which interacts with other more academic interests of mine. I love the fact that my academic work might make a difference in the lives of children who are in danger of never having the opportunity to speak their ancestors’ language, and who will perhaps be given back that opportunity because everyone will feel responsible for that, and act in that direction.”

For full story: https://insidenorthafrica.com/2019/03/23/linguist-and-professor-amina-mettouchi-endangered-berber-languages/

Algiers Sep 21, 2018

Algerian MP Naima Salhi who’s become known by a her racist video that she would “kill” her young daughter if she spoke Tamazight. Is once again launching a campaign against teaching Tamazight language in Algerian cities other than Kabyle region.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]nternational Women’s Day is an annual celebration of the respect, honor and appreciation towards women across the world. In recent years, the annual event has gained decent recognition, giving a chance to celebrate achievements in the women’s movement and to inspire further progress through both local and international action.

On this occasion, the Amazigh World News team would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all women across the globe including the Amazigh women of Tamazgha/North Africa, to whom we owe so much.

We also want to assure that we will continue to defend Amazigh women’s rights, try to help them in their daily struggle for a better life, work to promote their role in society, and create a suitable platform that helps them to actively participate in civil society, political leadership and economic development.[ads1]

Amazigh alphabet ‘Tifinagh’ has been featured in a new UNESCO brochure publication entitled “Writing Peace ” aimed at introducing the world’s writing systems to the readers interested in characteristics of different alphabets throughout the world.

The brochure consists of 22 scripting systems. Among the oldest writings of the world, Chinese alphabet is written after the Chinese, Greek, Roman and Hebrew script and forms part of the global effort by UNESCO to raise awareness on the various forms of transmission of culture and heritage down the ages, and the convergence of values conductive to peace, through a number of alphabets and other writing systems used in various parts of the world that transcend time and space

On the pages dedicated to Amazigh Tifinagh script, the reader will be given an opportunity to get acquainted with the Amazigh alphabet along with a short history . It also provide a short exercise for better understanding of the Amazigh  alphabet.

[ads2]

[ads1]

“Languages Matter!”

Tamazight language matters!

Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

Among the list of recommendations made to the Member States by the declartion of this International day one reads:

(a) create the conditions for a social, intellectual and media environment of an international character which is conducive to linguistic pluralism;

(b) promote, through multilingual education, democratic access to knowledge for all citizens, whatever their mother tongue, and build linguistic pluralism; strategies to achieve these goals.

[ads1]

The 21st of February is celebrated as World Mother Tongue Day. The UNESCO, which hopes to make people conscious of the importance of the mother tongue, declares in its latest publication Education in a Multilingual World (2003), that the most suitable language for teaching basic concepts to children is the mother tongue.

Indeed, the UNESCO declared this as early as 1953 in its report The Use of Vernacular Languages in Education. Yet, as the world modernized, the smaller and weaker mother tongues started dying. The schooling system, the media and the jobs all demanded the languages of power – the languages used in the domains of power i.e. administration, government, military, commerce, education, media etc. – which had to be learned by people in their own interest. As globalization increases, languages die.

[ads1]

The 21st of February reminds us that, despite this inequality of power between our mother tongues and the languages of power, we must not give up hope. We must be conscious of the significance of our mother tongues, which give us identity; which are repositories of culture and which, in the final analysis, make us what we are.

The day-long event is organised by Digital Media Culture , an organization whose goal is to preserve and promote the Amazigh culture throughout Europe.

Activities include a documentary screening,  ‘Art to live better’ by Noufel Bouzeboudja, live music by Andaz Uzzal and Smail Kessay, and of course, no cultural festival would be complete without authentic Amazigh couscous dish.