Where is Tamasheq spoken?

Tamashek or Tamasheq is a Malian variety of Tuareg, a Berber macro-language widely spoken by nomadic tribes across North Africa in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.

What do Tuaregs speak?

Tamashek
Tamashek is the language of the Tuareg, who often call themselves the Kel Tamagheq, or Tamashek speakers. The language is also spoken in Algeria and Mali and possesses its own writing, called tifinagh, which is in widespread use.

Is Tuareg similar to Arabic?

The Tuareg varieties are unusually conservative in some respects; they retain two short vowels where Northern-Berber languages have one or none, and have a much lower proportion of Arabic loanwords than most Berber languages. The Tuareg languages are traditionally written in the indigenous Tifinagh alphabet.

Is Tamasheq Arabic?

Tamashek or Tamasheq is a Malian variety of Tuareg, a Berber macro-language widely spoken by nomadic tribes across North Africa in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. As of 2014, approximately 500,000 people speak Tamashek, 378,000 of whom are Malian.

How old is tifinagh?

It is attested from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. The script’s origin is uncertain, with some scholars suggesting it is related to the Phoenician alphabet.

Who were the Tuareg warriors?

The Tuareg tribe of North Africa have long captured the imaginations of outsiders. These people of the Sahara, sometimes called the “blue people,” are instantly recognizable as the quintessential desert warriors. Among the members of the tribe, it is the men, not the women, who are veiled.

Is Berber a Semitic language?

In the early 19th century, linguists grouped the Berber, Cushitic and Egyptian languages within a “Hamitic” phylum, in acknowledgement of these languages’ genetic relation with each other and with those in the Semitic phylum.

How old is Tamazight?

3000 years
Tamazight has been a written language, on and off, for almost 3000 years; however, this tradition has been frequently disrupted by various invasions. It was first written in the Tifinagh alphabet, still used by the Tuareg; the oldest dated inscription is from about 200 BC.

What is Tamasheq also known as?

Also known as Tahaggart. Tamasheq – language of the Kel Adrar (also known as Adrar des Ifoghas ), spoken in Mali by approximately 500,000 people. Air Tamajaq – language of the Kel Ayer (sometimes spelled Aïr), spoken in Niger by approximately 250,000 people.

Is Tamashek still spoken in Mali?

Tamashek is currently classified as a developing language (5), partly due to the Malian government’s active promotion of the language; it is currently taught in public education, from primary schools to adult literacy classes. Tamashek is often understood in Mali as a term that denotes all Tuareg varieties.

What are the two main morphological processes of Tamashek?

Tamashek’s two main morphological processes are ablaut and affixation, with the former permeat [ing] the language. Many processes also undergo a combination of the two.:21

How many consonants are there in Tamashek?

Tamashek has 33 consonants, featuring six manners of articulation and eight places of articulation. There are no non-pulmonic consonants. The consonants are detailed in the table below. :23