1/603 - Berber Language I

The study of the Amazigh (Berber) language, offered in both Bachelor's and Master's degree programs, provides linguistic and cultural training focused on an indigenous heritage spoken across North Africa and the Sahara, particularly in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mali, and Niger. In Morocco and Algeria, Amazigh is now officially recognized as a national or co-official language.

Starting this year, the programs also adopt the term "Amazigh" alongside "Berber", to reflect the self-identification of speaker communities and to promote a more culturally respectful approach.

The program encourages inclusion, diversity, and intercultural awareness, exploring key topics such as orality, neologism, the Tifinagh script, and language policies.

The Berber Language course is organized into three annual modules, structured around a core component dedicated to Nefusi Amazigh (spoken in western Libya), and a Tachelhit laboratory (focused on the variety spoken in Morocco). The three-year pathway integrates grammar, communication, and culture. In the first two years, both the Latin and Tifinagh alphabets are used; in the third year, the Maghrebi Arabic script is also introduced.

Year 1 – Introduction to Nefusi Amazigh

Grammar

The first year introduces the core elements of Nefusi grammar and writing:

• Introduction to the Tifinagh script;
• Noun structure: nouns, definiteness/indefiniteness, adjectives;
• Personal pronouns: independent and clitic forms, including those related to kinship terms;
• Prepositions and basic sentence formation;
• Expressing the verbs “to be” and “to have” in Amazigh;
• Use of demonstratives, interrogatives, quantifiers, indefinites, and numerals;
• Overview of the verbal system, including simple forms and the four main conjugation patterns;
• Use of the directional clitic d;
• Forms of negation and interrogation;
• Introduction to the intensive aorist (forms I, II, III) in both affirmative and negative sentences.

Communication

Students will begin forming simple sentences and engaging in basic interactions:

• Introducing oneself and others;
• Describing people and objects;
• Asking and answering simple questions about everyday life.

Culture

• Introduction to neologism formation in modern Amazigh;

Preliminary reflections on the role of language in oral knowledge transmission and collective identity.

Tachelhit Language Laboratory – First Year (12 hours)

This introductory 12-hour Tachelhit lab (a variety of Amazigh spoken in southern Morocco) is designed to provide students with essential linguistic, communicative, and cultural foundations. The course is structured around three main areas:

• Language and Grammar: basic phonetics and transcription, personal pronouns, annexed state, the verb to have, introduction to perfect tense verbs, numbers, kinship terms, and prepositions.
• Communication: greetings, introductions, expressions of thanks, asking for basic information, and vocabulary related to daily life and workplaces.
• Culture: key aspects of Moroccan geography (with a focus on the Souss region), traditional celebrations (such as weddings), cuisine, music, and an introduction to Tifinagh script with short reading excerpts from Amadal Amazigh newspaper.

This lab supports the main Amazigh language course by offering practical tools to begin developing oral skills and a contextual understanding of the language.

Year 2 – Morphological Deepening and Sociolinguistic Awareness

Grammar

The second year focuses on more advanced morphological structures:

• Study of derived and compound verb forms;
• Exploration of state or quality verbs;
• Further analysis of the clitic d in varied contexts;
• Use of pronominal clitics in object and possessive constructions.

Communication

• Expressing emotional and physical states;
• Narrating past events and telling simple stories;
• Using appropriate tense and aspect in conversation.

Culture

• Introduction to language policies in contemporary North Africa, with attention to Amazigh activism and standardization efforts;
• Discussion of the sociopolitical implications of language recognition and revitalization.

Tachelhit Language Laboratory – Second Year (12 hours)

• Grammar: the focus is on verbs in the habit form. Negation. The utilisation of prepositions is a fundamental aspect of linguistic analysis. Demonstratives. The following pronouns are interrogative and possessive in nature.
• Communication: Days of the week. The act of posing a question regarding the activities of another person. The request for information. The act of bestowing a gift.
• Culture and civilisation: Video documentary. Musical genres known in the Middle Atlas region.

Year 3 – Syntax, Translation Strategies, and Oral Tradition

Grammar

The third year explores advanced syntactic and discourse-level structures:

• Elements of Amazigh syntax, including complex and subordinate clauses;
• Translation strategies for different verbal moods and tenses (indicative, infinitive, gerund, participle);
• Analysis of constituent order in sentence construction.

Communication

• Producing more structured oral and written texts;
• Translating and rephrasing content between Nefusi and other languages;
• Developing argumentation and oral presentation skills.

Culture

The final year includes deeper cultural exploration focused on oral tradition and identity:

• Study of traditional social organization and local festivals;
• Exploration of Amazigh oral literature: poetry, proverbs, folk tales;
• Critical reflection on the role of language in the construction of Amazigh collective identity, including in diaspora and transnational contexts.

Tachelhit Language Laboratory – Third Year (12 hours)

The Tachelhit Laboratory, with a duration of 12 hours in total, provides an in-depth exploration of syntax, along with the translation and grammar analysis of texts of medium complexity.

Amazigh/Berber Literature – Year 1

This course explores the specific features of orality and African oral literatures, with a particular focus on the Amazigh literary tradition. It examines issues of gender and cultural identity, highlighting the complex experience of being both a woman and Amazigh through oral texts and narratives. The course investigates narrative pathways from oral storytelling to written literature, emphasizing social imagery, symbolism, and representations of the natural world within the Amazigh context.

The following subjects will be addressed in particular:

1.Orality and its specificities.African oral literature. Theoretical and methodological perspectives.

2.Amazigh literary tradition and the question of oral literary genres.

3.From the performance to the text: purposes and folktales and poetry’s functions.

4.Literary production in Tachelhit, Tamazight and Tarifit (Morocco).

5.The ancient poems Kabyles (isefra).

The Amazigh-Ibadi literary tradition of Tripolitania (Libya).

Amazigh/Berber Literature – Year 2

The second-year course focuses on the Amazigh-Ibadite literary tradition of Tripolitania and North Africa, exploring the historical and cultural development of Ibadism and its role in shaping specific identities. Special attention is given to the role of Ibadite women, education, and religious rites. The course includes reading, translation, and analysis of texts in the original language, fostering an in-depth understanding of the Amazigh literary and cultural heritage.

The following topics will be addressed in particular:

1.Main references for the study of Ibadism and research of sources in North Africa.

2.Development and spread of Ibadism in North Africa. From political legitimacy to a specific identity (8th -10th century). Some ḥadīth apocryphal on the virtues of the Imazighen.

3.The Amazigh-Ibadi literary tradition of Tripolitania (Libya).

4.The Ibadi of Jerba: another way of Islam.

5.The Ibadi community in the Mzab.

6.Amazigh Ibadism. Cultural identity and specificity. Practices, cults and rites

Reading, translation and analysis of simple texts in amazigh.