Last Updated: 2020-07-09
COMPROMISED: conflation between /l̪/ and /l̪ˤ/, and between /ʒ/ and /ʒˀ/
Background
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic / Berber / Northern / Atlas
- Central Atlas Tamazight is also known as Atlasic, Central Shilha, Central Morocco Tamazight, Middle Atlas Tamazight, or simply Tamazight. It is spoken primarily in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, but there is a small community of speakers in France.
Phonology
Consonants
- There is a definite lack of consensus around the consonant inventory of Central Atlas Tamazight, particularly concerning the pharyngealized (emphatic) and labialized consonants. Below, I have listed the differences:
- Kossmann and Stroomer (1997) argue for palatal fricatives as opposed to postalveolar (p. 467).
- Achab (2001) argues for /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ as opposed to /ʃ/ and /ʒ/. Only notes gemination for /d/, /t/, /ɡ/, /k/, and /q/ (p. 4).
- Bouladknadel (2009) argues for alveolar place of articulation for /s/, /z/, /sˤ/, and /zˤ/. Includes palatal fricatives as opposed to postalveolar (p. 3).
- Ait Aissa (2010) omits /rˤ/. Includes no labialized consonants and argues for laryngeal consonants (p. 27).
- Ridouane (2014) includes uvular fricatives (plain and labialized) as opposed to velar (p. 208).
- I have chosen to follow the analysis of Ridouane (2014), with minor changes influenced by the other sources.
- /lˤ/ is said to be rather marginal, appearing mainly in Arabic loanwords (Ridouane 2014, 212).
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Place of Articulation
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Manner of Articulation
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Labial
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Dental
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Postalveolar
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Palatal
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Velar
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Uvular
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Pharyngeal
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Glottal
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Stops
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b
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t̪ t̪ˤ d̪ d̪ˤ
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k kʷ ɡ ɡʷ
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q qʷ
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Fricatives
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f
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s̪ s̪ˤ z̪ z̪ˤ
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ʃ ʒ ʒˀ
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x xʷ ɣ ɣʷ
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ħ ʕ
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h
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Nasals
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m
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n̪
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Trills
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r̪ r̪ˤ
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Approximants
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l̪ l̪ˤ
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j
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w
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Note: Phonemes with the diacritic (ˤ) are pharyngealized, and phonemes with the diacritic (ʷ) are labialized.
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Vowels
- Tamazight does not have diphthongs or vowel clusters (Kossmann and Stroomer 1997, 463).
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Front
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Central
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Back
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High
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i
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u
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Low
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a
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Alphabet
- The traditional script of Tamazight reflects the Tifinagh alphabet, but a Romanized script has also gained traction. Both scripts are provided here.
- Both alphabets pose conflicts with /ʒ/ and /l̪/ and their pharyngealized counterparts, such that the contrast is not maintained. I have chosen to use the non-pharyngealized variants as default in the rules, but this ultimately compromises the language.
- Consonants can geminate (Ridouane 2014, 209). Geminate consonants are marked by duplicate graphemes (Haddachi 2000, 2–3).
Tifinagh Alphabet
- Note: /qʷ/ and /xʷ/ are not represented in the Tamazight (Tifinagh script) Crúbadán corpus.
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Grapheme
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Phoneme
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Comment
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ⴰ
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/a/
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ⴱ
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/b/
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ⴳ
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/ɡ/
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ⴷ
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/d̪/
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ⴹ
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/d̪ˤ/
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ⴻ
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/i/
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represents a reduced vowel phonetically
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ⴼ
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/f/
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ⴽ
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/k/
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ⵀ
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/h/
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ⵃ
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/ħ/
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ⵄ
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/ʕ/
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ⵅ
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/x/
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ⵇ
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/q/
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ⵉ
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/i/
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ⵊ
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/ʒ/; /ʒˀ/
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/ʒ/: default in rules
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ⵍ
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/l̪/; /l̪ˤ/
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/l̪/: default in rules
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ⵎ
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/m/
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ⵏ
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/n̪/
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ⵓ
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/u/
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ⵔ
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/r̪/
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ⵕ
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/r̪ˤ/
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ⵖ
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/ɣ/
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ⵙ
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/s̪/
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ⵚ
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/s̪ˤ/
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ⵛ
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/ʃ/
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ⵜ
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/t̪/
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ⵟ
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/t̪ˤ/
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ⵡ
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/w/
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ⵢ
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/j/
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ⵣ
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/z̪/
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ⵥ
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/z̪ˤ/
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Digraph
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ⴳⵯ
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/ɡʷ/
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ⴽⵯ
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/kʷ/
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ⵇⵯ
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/qʷ/
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ⵅⵯ
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/xʷ/
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ⵖⵯ
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/ɣʷ/
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Latin Alphabet
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Grapheme
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Phoneme
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Comment
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a
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/a/
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b
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/b/
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g
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/ɡ/
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d
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/d̪/
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ḍ
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/d̪ˤ/
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e
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/i/
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represents a reduced vowel phonetically
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f
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/f/
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k
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/k/
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h
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/h/
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ḥ
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/ħ/
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’
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/ʕ/
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q
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/q/
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i
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/i/
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j
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/ʒ/; /ʒˀ/
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/ʒ/: default in the rules
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l
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/l̪/; /l̪ˤ/
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/l̪/: default in the rules
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m
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/m/
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n
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/n̪/
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u
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/u/
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r
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/r̪/
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ṛ
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/r̪ˤ/
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s
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/s̪/
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ṣ
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/s̪ˤ/
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t
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/t̪/
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ṭ
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/t̪ˤ/
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w
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/w/
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y
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/j/
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z
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/z̪/
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ẓ
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/z̪ˤ/
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Multigraph
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kh
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/x/
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gh
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/ɣ/
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sh
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/ʃ/
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gw
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/ɡʷ/
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kw
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/kʷ/
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qw
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/qʷ/
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khw
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/xʷ/
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ghw
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/ɣʷ/
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Syllable Structure
- The structure of syllables in Tamazight is (C)(C)V(C)(C) (Ait Aissa 2010, 35).
- Syllabification of consonants is frequent in the language (Coleman 2001, 34).
Lenition Rules
- In the northern dialect, the plain stops except /q/ spirantize (Mezhoud 2015).
- /r/ is often realized as a flap (Ridouane 2014, 210).
Misc. Rules
- The labials /b/ and /m/ have a tendency to devoice before voiceless consonants (Ait Aissa 2010, 27–28).
- /t/ is aspirated in some positions, e.g., word-finally (Ait Aissa 2010, 27).
- /k/ is aspirated word-initially or preceding a vowel (Ait Aissa 2010, 28).
- [ə] is frequently epenthesized (Kossmann and Stroomer 1997, 468).
References
Achab, Karim. 2001. “The Tamazight (Berber) Language Profile.”
Ait Aissa, Mouloud. 2010. “The Role of Phonological Awareness of Tamazight in Promoting the Oral Performance of English Secondary School Learners: The Case Study of Second Year Students in the Secondary School of Barbacha-Bejaia.” Dissertation, University of Setif.
Bouladknadel, Siham. 2009. “Amazigh Concorde: An Appropriate Concordance for Amazigh.” In Actes Du Ler Symposium International Sur Le Traitement Automatique de La Culture Amazighe, Sitacam’09.
Coleman, John. 2001. “The Phonetics and Phonology of Tashlhiyt Berber Syllabic Consonants.” Transactions of the Philological Society.
Haddachi, Ahmed. 2000. Dictionnaire de Tamazight: Parler Des Ayt Merghad (Ayt Yaflman). Imprimerie Beni Snassen.
Kossmann, Maarten G., and Harry J. Stroomer. 1997. “Berber Phonology.” In Phonologies of Asia and Africa (Including the Caucasus), edited by Alan S. Kaye and Peter T. Daniels, 1:461–76. Winona Lake IN: Eisenbrauns.
Ridouane, Rachid. 2014. “Tashlhiyt Berber.” Journal of the International Phonetic Association 44 (2). Cambridge University Press (CUP): 207–21. doi:10.1017/s0025100313000388.