The Zenati languages are a branch of the Northern Berber language family of

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

. They were named after the medieval Zenata Berber tribal confederation. They were first proposed in the works of French linguist Edmond Destaing (1915) (1920–23). Zenata dialects are distributed across the central Berber world (

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

), from northeastern

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

to just west of Algiers, and the northern

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

, from southwestern

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

around Bechar to Zuwara in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...

. The most widely spoken Zenati languages are Tmazight of the Rif in northern Morocco and Tashawit Berber in northeastern Algeria, each of which have over 3 million speakers.

Languages

Kossmann (2013)

According to

Kossmann Kossmann or Koßmann is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Alfred Kossmann (1922–1998), Dutch poet and prose writer *Ernst Kossmann (1922–2003), Dutch historian and twin brother of Alfred *Hans Kossmann (born 1962), Can ...

(2013: 21–24),Maarten Kossmann (2013
The Arabic Influence on Northern Berber
/ref> Zenati is a rather arbitrary grouping, in which he includes the following varieties: * Riffian (Riffian Berber, or Rif-Berber, local name: ''Tmaziɣt'', north of

); Includes Arzew dialect, in Arzew in western Algeria * Iznasen (north east of Morocco) * Eastern Middle Atlas:

Ait Seghrouchen The Ait Seghrouchen (Berber: ''Ayt Seɣruccen'') are a Berber tribe of east-central Morocco. They are divided into two geographically separated groups, one on the south side of the Middle Atlas and one on the north side of the High Atlas. They sp ...

and a group of dialects including Ait Warain (Ayt Warayn) (north-central Morocco) * Western Algerian, west of Algiers (a diffuse group): ** Beni Snous (Tlemcen) dialect, in western Algeria near the border **Jebel Bissa (intelligible with Shenwa) ** Shenwa (Chenoua), between Tipasa and Ténès in north-central Algeria west of Algiers ** Beni Messaoud (Shenwa?) ** Beni Menacer ** Metmata (of Algeria; distinct from Matmata Berber of Tunisia) **etc. (see article) *

Shawiya Shawiya, or Shawiya Berber, also spelt Chaouïa (native form: ''Tacawit'' ), is a Zenati Berber language spoken in Algeria by the Shawiya people. The language's primary speech area is the Awras Mountains in Eastern Algeria and the surrounding a ...

(Chaouia), around

Batna Batna or BATNA may refer to: *Batna (city), Algeria *Batna Province, Algeria *Best alternative to a negotiated agreement In negotiation theory, the best alternative to a negotiated agreement or BATNA (no deal option) refers to the most advantageou ...

and Khenchela, south of Constantine in northeastern Algeria * Mzab–Wargla (Northern Saharan oases): ** South Oran and Figuig, in the ksours along the Algerian–Moroccan border and in Figuig in southeastern Morocco ** Gourara Berber (Taznatit) ( Gourara, southwestern Algeria, around

Timimoun Timimoun ( ar, ﺗﻴﻤﻴﻤﻮن) is a town and commune, and capital of Timimoun District, in Adrar Province, south-central Algeria. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 33,060, up from 28,595 in 1998, with an annual growth ra ...

) ** Tidikelt and

Tuat Tuat, or Touat, is a natural region of desert in central Algeria that contains a string of small oases. In the past, the oases were important for caravans crossing the Sahara. Geography Tuat lies to the south of the Grand Erg Occidental, to t ...

( Touat, Algeria) ** Mozabite aka ''Mzab, Tumzabt'' (northern Algerian Sahara, near Ghardaia) ** Wargla (Ouargli aka ''Tagergrent, Teggargarent''), northern Algerian Sahara, near Ouargla ** Oued Righ Berber (incl. Touggourt; Ethnologue name "Temacine Tamazight") in Oued Righ, around Touggourt and Temacine, Algeria * Southeastern Tunisian–Libyan: Djerbi (island of

Djerba Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 ...

), Matmata Berber ( Matmata), Sened and Zuwara Berber ( Zuwara in northwestern

)

Features

According to Kossmann (1999:31-32, 86, 172),Maarten Kossmann, ''Essai sur la phonologie du proto-berbère'', Rüdiger Köppe:Köln common innovations defining the Zenati languages include: * The vowel ''a-'' in nominal prefixes is dropped in a number of words when it precedes CV, where C is a single consonant and V is a full (non-

schwa In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English ...

) vowel. For example, ''afus'' "hand" is replaced with ''fus''. (A similar development is found in some Eastern Berber languages, but not Nafusi.) * Verbs whose original aorist forms end in ''-u'' while their perfect forms end in ''-a'' end up with ''-a'' in the aorist as well, leaving the aorist / perfect distinction unmarked for these verbs. For example, *''ktu'' "forget", Siwi ''ttu'', becomes Ouargli ''tta''. (This also affects

Nafusi Nafusi (also spelt Nefusi; ber, Ažbali / Maziɣ / Mazoɣ, script=Latn, label=in Nafusi) is a Berber language spoken in the Nafusa Mountains (), a large area in northwestern Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State ...

.) * Verbs consisting (in the aorist) of two consonants with no vowel other than schwa fall into two classes elsewhere in Berber: one where a variable final vowel appears in the perfect form, and one which continues to lack a final vowel in the perfect. In Zenati, the latter class has been entirely merged into the former in the perfect, with the single exception of the negative perfect of *''əɣ s'' "want". For example, Kabyle (non-Zenati) ''gər'' "throw", pf. ''-gər'' (int. ''-ggar''), corresponds to Ouargli (Zenati) ''gər'', pf. ''-gru''. (This change too also affects

; Basset (1929:9) gives examples where it appears not to occur in Chenoua.) * Proto-Berber *''-əβ'' has become ''-i'' in Zenati. For example, *''arəβ'' "write" becomes ''ari''. (This change also occurs in varieties including the Central Atlas Tamazight dialect of the Izayan, Nafusi, and Siwi.) * Proto-Berber palatalised ''k´'' and ''g´'', corresponding to ''k'' and ''g'' in non-Zenati varieties, become ''š'' and ''ž'' in Zenati (although a fair number of irregular correspondences for this are found.) For example, ''k´ăm'' "you (f. sg.)" becomes ''šəm''. (This change also occurs in Nafusi and Siwi.) In addition to the correspondence of ''k'' and ''g'' to ''š'' and ''ž'', Chaker (1972), while expressing uncertainty about the linguistic coherence of Zenati, notes as shared Zenati traits: * A proximal demonstrative suffix "this" ''-u'', rather than ''-a'' * A final ''-u'' in the perfect of two-consonant verbs, rather than ''-a'' (e.g. ''yə-nsu'' "he slept" rather than ''yə-nsa'' elsewhere) These characteristics identify a more restricted subset of Berber than those previously mentioned, mainly northern Saharan varieties; they exclude, for example, Chaoui and all but the easternmost Riff dialects. Lafkioui, Mena. 2007. ''Atlas linguistique des variétés berbères du Rif''. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 207, 178.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zenati Languages Zenati languages Berber languages Berbers in Algeria Berbers in Morocco Languages of Algeria Languages of Morocco