The traditional autonym of the language is Tmaziɣt (Tamazight), a term that is widely used, albeit in different forms, among Berber speaking groups all over northern Africa. Tarifit/Tarifect, as a linguistic term, is a new coinage, developed when it became more relevant to distinguish it from other Berber varieties.
Classification
Young man speaking Riffian Berber, recorded in Cuba.
Tarifit is a Zenati Berber language, consisting of various sub-dialects specific to each clan. It is spoken primarily in the Rif, a mountainous region of northern Morocco.
Geographic distribution
Percent of Rif-Berber speakers in Morocco by census 2004 Based on data found Here
Tarifit is spoken primarily in the Rif region of northern Morocco, including the Mediterranean coast and the Rif mountains, as well as in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, which has a large Tarifit-speaking minority. Smaller Tarifit-speaking communities are found in other Moroccan cities, in neighboring Algeria, and in Europe, notably the Netherlands and Belgium.
Morocco
Tarifit has significant dialectal variation, as shown in the dialect atlas by Lafkioui (1997). The majority of Tarifit varieties are spoken in northern Morocco, including those of Al Hoceima, Temsamane, Nador, Ikebdanen, and the more southern variety in Taza province. Two smaller Berber languages are spoken in North Morocco: the Sanhaja de Srair and the Ghomara languages. They are only distantly related to Tarifit and are not mutually intelligible with it.
Spain
Tarifit is spoken in the Spanish autonomous city of Melilla, which is also located within the Rif region. It is protected in Spain under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, although it has been subjected to calls for the government to accord it further protection as a recognized regional language.
Algeria
Linguistic map of western Algeria showing Berber-speaking areas
A few Tarifit dialects are spoken, or used to be spoken, in western Algeria, particularly in settlements established by Riffian emigrants from the 19th century onward, such as Bethioua.
Dialects
Riffian dialectal groups according to Mena B. Lafkioui
There is no consensus on what varieties are considered Tarifit. Disagreement mainly concerns the easternmost dialects of the Iznasen and the westernmost dialects of Senhaja de Sraïr. Iznasen is counted as a dialect in Kossman (1999), but Blench (2006) classifies it as one of the closely related Mzab–Wargla languages.
Lafkioui (2020) argues that the Berber varieties of the Rif area – including the varieties of the Senhaja and of the Iznasen – form a language continuum with five stable core aggregates:
Western Rif Berber: cities such as Ketama and Taghzout.
West-Central Rif Berber: cities such as Al Hoceima, Targuist, Imzouren.
Central Rif Berber: cities such as Nador, Midar and Kassita.
East-Central Rif Berber: cities such as Al Aaroui, Driouch and Ain Zohra.
Eastern Rif Berber: cities such as Berkane and Ras Kebdana.
According to Lafkioui, these groupings cut across the traditionally used groupings (Senhaja, Rif, Iznasen), which she argues hold no classification value and do not reflect the actual complexity of the Rif area's sociolinguistic landscape.
A mid-central vowel /ə/ can occur in lax positions.
Lax allophones of /i, a, u/ are heard as [ɪ, æ, ʊ].
In the vicinity of pharyngealized consonants, /i, a, u/ are heard as [ɪˤ, ɑˤ, ʊˤ].
Vowels lengthen in closed final syllables, e.g. tisit [θɪsɪˑθ] 'mirror'.
Vocalized r
Vocalization
Example
Phonemically
Phonetically
IPA
Originally
Translation
/iɾ/
[ɛa]
[sːɛað]
ssird
to wash
/uɾ/
[ɔa]
[ʊjɔa]
uyur
to walk
/aɾ/
[a~æ]
[zəmːa~æ]
zemmar
to be able to
/iɾˤ/
[ɪˤɑ]
[ɪˤɑðˤ]
iṛḍ
to dress
/uɾˤ/
[ʊˤa]
[ʃːʊˤa]
ccuṛ
to fill
/aɾˤ/
[ɑˤ]
[θɑˤmɣɑˤθ]
tamɣaṛt
woman
Consonants
All consonants except for /ŋ/, /tʃ/ and /ʔ/ have a geminate counterpart. Most of the time, a geminate is only different from its plain counterpart because of its length. Spirantized consonants have long stops as their geminate counterparts, e.g. yezḏeɣ [jəzðəʁ] 'he lives' vs. izeddeɣ [ɪzədːəʁ] 'he always lives'. There are only a few phonotactic exceptions to this, e.g. in verb suffixes before vowel-initial clitics, ṯessfehmeḏḏ-as [θəsːfəɦməðːæs]. A few consonants have divergent geminated counterparts; ḍ (/dˤ/ and /ðˤ/) to ṭṭ (/tˤː/), w (/w/) to kkʷ (/kːʷ/), ɣ (/ʁ/) to qq (/qː/), and ř (/r/) to ǧ (/dʒː/). There are some exceptions to this. This is most common with ww, e.g. acewwaf [æʃəwːæf] 'hair', and rarely occurs with ɣɣ and ḍḍ e.g. iɣɣed [ɪʁːəð] 'ashes', weḍḍaạ [wədˤːɑˤ] 'to be lost'. /dʒ/ and /dʒː/ are allophonic realizations of the same phoneme, both are common.
/ʝ/ has become /j/ in most of Central Tarifit e.g. ayenduz [æjəndʊz] instead of aɡ̠enduz [æʝəndʊz] 'calf'.
/ç/ has mostly become /ʃ/ in Central Tarifit and only occurs in a few words, e.g. seḵsu [səçsʊ] 'couscous'.
Pharyngealization is a spreading feature, it may spread to a whole word.
The only pharyngealized consonants common in Berber roots are /dˤ/, /ðˤ/, /zˤ/ and /rˤ/; the others seem to mainly occur in words of Arabic and Spanish origin.
/ʃˤ/ seems to only occur in the nouns ucca [ʊˤʃˤ:ɑˤ] 'greyhound' and mucc [mʊˤʃˤ:] 'cat'.
/ŋ/ occurs exclusively before the consonant /w/, it may be an assimilatory variant of n.
Labialization only occurs with the geminates /kːʷ/ and /gːʷ/.
Assimilations
There are quite a few assimilations that occur with the feminine suffixes t and ṯ.
d + ṯ = tt (e.g. a t-tawi < a d-ṯawi 'she will bring here')
ḍ + ṯ = ṭṭ (e.g. tyaẓiṭṭ < tyaẓiḍṯ 'hen')
m + ṯ = nt (e.g. taxxant < taxxamṯ 'small room')
ř + ṯ = č (e.g. tameǧač < tameǧařṯ 'egg')
Spirantized consonants become stops after the consonant 'n', this occurs between words as well.
qqimen da < qqimen ḏa 'they sit here'
tilifun tameqqṛant < tilifun ṯameqqṛant 'the big phone'
Sound shifts
Zenati sound shifts
The initial masculine a- prefix is dropped in certain words, e.g., afus 'hand' becomes fus, and afiɣaṛ 'snake' becomes fiɣạạ. This change, characteristic of Zenati Berber varieties, distances Tarifit from neighbouring dialects such as Atlas-Tamazight and Shilha.
L and ř
In the history of Western and Central Tarifit /l/ has become /r/ in a lot of words. In most dialects there is no difference in this consonant (ř) and in original r, but in some dialects it is more clearly distinguished by the fact that ř is trilled while r is a tap. The difference becomes clearer when they are preceded by a vowel, because only original r has a heightening effect on the vowel preceding it e.g. aři [æɾɪ] vs ari [aɾɪ]. This sound shift has affected other consonants as well.
/l/ in other dialects corresponds to 'ř' (/r/) in Tarifit (e.g. ul > uř 'heart')
The geminate equivalent, (/lː/) in other dialects corresponds to 'ǧ' (/dʒː/) in Tarifit (e.g. yelli > yeǧi 'my daughter'). It is underlyingly řř.
/lt/ in other dialects corresponds to 'č' (/tʃ/) in Tarifit (e.g. weltma > wečma 'my sister'). It is underlyingly řt.
These sound shifts do not occur in the easternmost Tarifit dialects of Icebdanen and Iznasen and the westernmost dialects.
Tarifit letter
Tarifit word
Original word
English meaning
Ř ř
uř
ul
heart
aɣyuř
aɣyul
donkey
awař
awal
speech / word
Ǧ ǧ
azeǧif
azellif
head
yeǧa
yella
he is / he exists
ajeǧid
ajellid
king
Č č
wečma
weltma
my sister
tacemřač
tacemlalt
blonde / white
taɣyuč
taɣyult
female donkey (jenny)
R vocalization
Postvocalic /r/ preceding a consonantal coda is vocalized, as in taddart > taddaat 'house/home'. Thus in tamara 'hard work/misery' the /r/ is conserved because it precedes a vowel. These sound shifts do not occur in the easternmost Tarifit dialects of Icebdanen and Iznasen and the westernmost dialects beyond Ayt Waayaɣeř.
Writing system
Like other Berber languages, Tarifit has been written with several different systems over the years. Unlike the nearby Tashelhit, Riffian Berber has little written literature before the twentieth century. The first written examples of Tarifit start appearing just before the colonial period. Texts like R. Basset (1897) and S. Biarnay (1917) are transcribed in the Latin alphabet but they are transcribed in a rather deficient way. Most recently (since 2003), Tifinagh has become official throughout Morocco. The Berber Latin alphabet continues to be the most used writing system online and in most publications in Morocco and abroad.
Grammar
Nouns
Tarifiyt has two genders, masculine and feminine. In countable nouns with Berber affixes, gender is derivative: in principle, every masculine noun has a feminine counterpart. Gender derivation is relatively straightforward. The feminine is derived from
the masculine form by adding an element /t-/ to the prefix, and a suffix /-t/, as in most Berber languages. With humans and higher animals, masculine and feminine mark natural gender, e.g.
For a few basic items there exist suppletive pairs, e.g.
aayaz (M) 'man' → tamɣaat (F) 'woman'
amyan (M) 'he-goat' → tɣaṭṭ (F) 'she-goat'
icarri (M) 'ram' → tixsi (F) 'ewe'
yis (M) 'horse' → řɛawda (F) 'mare'
Tarifiyt countable nouns distinguish a singular from a plural. Masculine plurals generally take the prefix /i-/, feminines /ti-/, and take the suffix /-en/ in the masculine and /-in/ in the feminine, e.g.
axxam (SG) 'room' → ixxamen (PL) 'rooms'
tafunast (SG) 'cow' → tifunasin (PL) 'cows'
A few nouns have suppletive plurals:
uma (SG) 'my brother' → ayetma (PL) 'my brothers'
učma (SG) 'my sister' → issma (PL) 'my sisters'
Nouns with Berber affixes distinguish two forms, which are related to the syntactic context and function of the noun, "Free State" and "Annexed State". The Annexed State is used for subjects placed after the verb, after all prepositions except ař and břa, as a posttopic put in extraposition to the central clause and after a few prenominal elements. The Annexed State is formed as follows: in masculines, initial /a/ becomes /we/ and initial /i/ becomes /ye/. In feminines, initial /ta/ usually becomes /te/ and initial /ti/ also usually becomes /te/, e.g.
asnus → wesnus 'donkey foal (M)'
tasnust → tesnust 'donkey foal (F)'
isnas → yesnas 'donkey foals (M)'
tisnas → tesnas 'donkey foal (F)'
In the Annexed State of the masculine, the high vowels u and i are used instead of the semivowels w and y when the noun stem starts with a consonant followed by a vowel (including schwa). The feminine AS prefix does not have schwa under this condition. This has to do with the constraint on schwa in open syllables, e.g.
Tarifit has loaned a fair amount of its vocabulary from Arabic, Spanish and French. Around 51.7% of the vocabulary of Tarifit is estimated to have been borrowed (56.1% of nouns and 44.1% of verbs). All loaned verbs follow Tarifit conjugations, and some loaned nouns are Berberized as well. A lot of loans are not recognizable because of sound shifts that have undergone, e.g. ǧiřet [dʒːɪrəθ] 'night' (Arabic: al-layla), hřec [ɦrəʃ] 'sick' (Arabic: halaka).
Examples of words loaned from Classical/Moroccan Arabic
ddenya: 'world' (orig. al-dunyāالدنيا)
tayezzaat: 'island' (orig. jazīraجزيرة)
řebḥaa: 'ocean' (orig. al-baḥrالبحر)
lwalidin: 'parents' (orig. al-wālidaynالوالدين)
ḥseb: 'to count' (orig. ḥasabaحسب)
Examples of words loaned from Spanish
familiya: 'family' (orig. familia)
tpabut: 'duck' (orig. pavo)
ṣpiṭạạ: 'hospital' (orig. hospital)
pṛubaa: 'to try' (orig. probar)
arrimaa: 'to land' (orig. arrimar)
Examples of words loaned from French
maamiṭa: 'pot' (orig. marmite)
furciṭa: 'fork' (orig. fourchette)
ṣuṣis: 'sausage' (orig. saucisse)
fumaḍa: 'cream' (orig. pommade)
jjarḍa: 'garden' (orig. jardin)
Examples of words loaned from Latin
faacu: 'eagle' (orig. falco)
aqninni: 'rabbit' (orig. cuniculus)
fiřu: 'thread' (orig. filum)
aɣaṛṛabu: 'boat' (orig. carabus)
asnus: 'donkey foal' (orig. asinus)
Sample text
From 'An introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocco)' by Khalid Mourigh and Maarten Kossmann: Sirkuḷasyun (trafic)
A:
A:
Ssalamuɛlikum.
peace.upon.you(PL)
A: Ssalamuɛlikum.
A: peace.upon.you(PL)
A: Hello.
B:
B:
Waɛlikumssalam.
and.upon.you(PL).peace
B: Waɛlikumssalam.
B: and.upon.you(PL).peace
B: Hello.
A:
A:
Teẓṛid
you(SG).saw
lakṣiḍa-nni
accident-that
yewqɛen?
happening
A: Teẓṛid lakṣiḍa-nni yewqɛen?
A: you(SG).saw accident-that happening
A: Did you see the (car) crash that happened?
B:
B:
Lla,
no
sřiɣ
i.heard
xas
on.it
waha.
only
B: Lla, sřiɣ xas waha.
B: no i.heard on.it only
B: No, I only heard about it.
A:
A:
Tewqeɛ
it(F).happened
deggʷ
in
brid
road(AS)
n
of
Wezɣenɣan.
zeghanghane(AS)
A: Tewqeɛ deggʷ brid n Wezɣenɣan.
A: it(F).happened in road(AS) of zeghanghane(AS)
A: It happened on the Zeghanghane road.
B:
B:
Wah,
yes
lakṣiḍa
accident
d
PRED
tameqqṛant.
big(F:SG:FS)
B: Wah, lakṣiḍa d tameqqṛant.
B: yes accident PRED big(F:SG:FS)
B: Yeah, it was a big (car) crash.
A:
A:
Abrid
road(FS)
ibelleɛ
it.is.closed
maṛṛa.
all
A: Abrid ibelleɛ maṛṛa.
A: road(FS) it.is.closed all
A: The whole road is closed.
B:
B:
Immut
he.died
din
there
ca
some
n
of
yijjen?
one(M:AS)
B: Immut din ca n yijjen?
B: he.died there some of one(M:AS)
B: Did anybody die there?
A:
A:
Wah,
yes
yemmut
he.died
ijjen
one
waayaz
man(AS)
d
and
mmi-s,
son-his
msakin.
poor.guys
A: Wah, yemmut ijjen waayaz d mmi-s, msakin.
A: yes he.died one man(AS) and son-his poor.guys
A: Yes, one man and his son died, the poor guys.
B:
B:
Mamec
how
temsaa?
it(F).happened
B: Mamec temsaa?
B: how it(F).happened
B: How did it happen?
A:
A:
Yesḥạạq
he.burned
ssṭupp
traffic.light
uca
then
tudef
it(F).entered
daysen
in.them(M)
ijjen
one
ṭṭumubin.
car
A: Yesḥạạq ssṭupp uca tudef daysen ijjen ṭṭumubin.
A: he.burned traffic.light then it(F).entered in.them(M) one car
A: He crossed the red light and then a car hit them.
B:
B:
Tuɣa
PAST
itazzeř
he.runs
ɛini.
probably
Iwa,
well
a
AD
ten-yạạḥem
them(M:DO)-he.has.mercy
sid-ạạbbi.
sir-lord
B: Tuɣa itazzeř ɛini. Iwa, a ten-yạạḥem sid-ạạbbi.
B: PAST he.runs probably well AD them(M:DO)-he.has.mercy sir-lord
B: He was probably speeding. Well, may them rest in peace.
A:
A:
Ttḥawař
be.careful!
waha,
only
din
there
aṭṭas
much(FS)
n
of
ṭṭumubinat.
cars
A: Ttḥawař waha, din aṭṭas n ṭṭumubinat.
A: be.careful! only there much(FS) of cars
A: Just be careful. There are many cars.
B:
B:
A
o
wah,
yes
yewseɣ
it(M).is.many
uqedduḥ.
tin.can(AS)
B: A wah, yewseɣ uqedduḥ.
B: o yes it(M).is.many tin.can(AS)
B: Yes, there are many tin cans (i.e. cars).
AS: annexed state
FS: free state
AD: the particle 'a(d)' "non-realized"
↑Gazzah, Miriam (2008). Rhythms and Rhymes of Life: Music and Identification Processes of Dutch-Moroccan Youth. ISIM Dissertations. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. p.12. ISBN978-90-485-0649-1. It is estimated that roughly 60 to 80% of the Moroccans in the Netherlands trace their roots back to the mountainous Rif area (Benali and Obdeijn 2005: 211) and speak a Berber language (Douwes et al. 2005: 29). [...] This has produced a rather heterogeneous Dutch-Moroccan population, which consists of Moroccan Berbers and non-Berbers, some speaking a Berber language and Moroccan-Arabic (and Dutch), others speaking only a Berber language (and Dutch), and later generations only speaking Dutch (Chafik 2004: 129). [...] The Berbers from the Rif speak Tarifit.
↑Mourigh, Khalid; Kossmann, Maarten (2019). An Introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocco). Ugarit-Verlag. p.12. ISBN978-3-86835-307-5. According to the most recent census data, Tarifiyt is spoken by 4.0% of the Moroccan population, which amounts to about 1.35 million people. One may add to this number sizeable communities outside Morocco, especially in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Spain.
