The Mzab–Wargla languages or Northern Saharan oasis dialects are a dialect 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 ...

, within the Northern Berber subbranch. They are spoken in scattered oases of

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

and

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 ...

Subclassification

;Kossmann (2013)

Maarten Kossmann Maarten Kossmann (born 5 February 1966 in Zuidlaren, Netherlands) is a Dutch linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and p ...

(2013) listed six "Northern Saharan oasis" dialects: * South Oranie and Figuig * Gurara * Tuwat- Tidikelt * Mzab *

Wargla Ouargla ( Berber: Wargrən, ar, ورقلة) is the capital city of Ouargla Province in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria. It has a flourishing petroleum industry and hosts one of Algeria's universities, the University of Ouargla. The commune ...

* Wad Righ (Tugurt) ;Ethnologue (2009) In ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

'' XVI (2009), the "Mzab–Wargla" languages are listed as: * Tagargrent (Wargli) * Temacine Tamazight (Tugurt) * Taznatit ("Zenati": Gurara, Tuwat and South Oran) *Tumzabt ( Mozabite) Unlike Kossmann, ''

'' considers the Berber dialect spoken in Tidikelt as a separate branch of the Zenati group, distinct from Tuwat. ;Blench

Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and work ...

(2006) listed eight varieties:Blench, Roger M. (2006
"The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List"
Cambridge: Mallam Dendo. * Gurara * Mzab, Ghardaia (Mozabite) *

* Tugurt * Seghrušen *

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 ...

Senhaja The Sanhaja ( ber, Aẓnag, pl. Iẓnagen, and also Aẓnaj, pl. Iẓnajen; ar, صنهاجة, ''Ṣanhaja'' or زناگة ''Znaga'') were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations, along with the Zanata and Masmuda confederations. Many ...

* Iznacen However, Senhaja is actually an

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

language.

Linguistic maps

File:Mzab-Wargla Berberophone areas.PNG, Mzab, Wargla and Wad Righ File:Gourara ksour - Linguistic map.PNG, Gourara File:South Oranie and Figuig Berber.PNG, South Oranie and Figuig

References

Berber languages {{Berber-lang-stub