South Oran Berber, or Figuig Berber, is a cluster of the

Zenati languages The Zenati languages are a branch of the Northern Berber language family of North Africa. They were named after the medieval Zenata Berber tribal confederation. They were first proposed in the works of French linguist Edmond Destaing (1915) (1920 ...

, which belong to the

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...

branch of the

Afroasiatic family The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...

. It is spoken in a number of oases of southwestern

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

and across the border in

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 A ...

. These areas include most of the ksour (fortified villages) between Mecheria and

Béni Abbès Béni Abbès ( ar, بني عباس), also known as the ''Pearl of the Saoura'', and also as the ''White Oasis'', is a town and Communes of Algeria, commune located in western Algeria in Béchar Province, far from the provincial capital Béchar, ...

: Tiout,

Ain Sfisifa Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where ...

, Boussemghoun, Moghrar, Chellala,

Asla Asla (Arabic: عسلة, from Arabic "Assel", lit. '' honey'') is a municipality in Naâma Province, Algeria. It is coextensive with the district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the loc ...

Fendi Fendi () is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925, Fendi is known for its fur, fur accessories, and leather goods. ...

, Mougheul,

Lahmar Lahmar ( ar, اﻻﺣﻤﺮ) is a town and commune, and capital of Lahmar District, in Béchar Province, western Algeria. According to the 2008 census its population is 1,969, up from 1,404 in 1998, and its population growth rate is 3.5%, the hig ...

, Boukais,

Sfissifa Sfissifa (Arabic: صفيصيفة) is a municipality in Naâma Province, Algeria. It is coextensive with the district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the worl ...

, Ouakda, Barrbi near

Taghit Taghit ( ar, ﺗﺎﻏﻴﺖ) is a town and commune in Taghit District, Béchar Province, in western Algeria. The town is an oasis watered by the underground Oued Zousfana, which runs along beside the dunes of the Grand Erg Occidental. Accordi ...

, Igli, Mazzer in Algeria, Iche, Ain Chair and the seven ksour of

Figuig Figuig or Figig ( ar, فجيج; Figuig Berber: Ifeyyey) is an oasis town in eastern Morocco near the Atlas Mountains, on the border with Algeria. The town is built around an oasis of date palms, called ''Tazdayt'', meaning "palm tree" in the ...

(Ait Wadday, Ait Amar, Ait Lamiz, Ait Sliman, Ait Anaj, Ait Addi and Iznayen) in Morocco. Of these towns, the only one whose dialect has been studied in any detail is Figuig ( Kossmann 1997). A cursory study of the northern dialects, including texts and vocabulary, is Basset (1885, 1886) while a sketch grammar of its southernmost member, Igli, is provided by Kossmann (2010). El Idrissi (2017) focuses mainly on phonetic variation among the different villages. Like many other Berber varieties, the Figuig Berber dialects use bipartite verbal negation. The preverbal negator is ''ul'' (locally ''un'', ''il''); the postverbal negator is ''ša'' (Igli, Mazzer) / ''šay'' (Figuig, Iche, Moghrar) / ''iš'' (Boussemghoun, Ain Chair), with both the latter two appearing as allomorphs in Tiout. The numerals 1 and 2 are Berber, while higher numerals are Arabic borrowings throughout.Kossmann, ''op. cit.'':84

References

{{Languages of Morocco Berber languages Berbers in Algeria Berbers in Morocco Languages of Algeria Languages of Morocco