Tuareg languages
group of closely related Amazigh languages and dialects
The Tuareg languages (English: ) constitute a group of closely related Berber languages and dialects. They are spoken by the Tuareg Berbers in large parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya, and Burkina Faso, with smaller communities, such as the Kinnin in Chad, and northern Darfur in Sudan.
Description
The Tuareg varieties, on account of their low internal diversity and high mutual intercomprehensibility, are commonly regarded as a single language by linguists (as for instance by Karl-Gottfried Prasse). They are distinguished mainly by a few sound shifts (notably affecting the pronunciation of original z and h). The Tuareg varieties are unusually conservative in some respects; they retain two short vowels where Northern Berber languages have one or none, and have a much lower proportion of Arabic loanwords than most Berber languages.
The Tuareg languages are traditionally written in the indigenous Tifinagh alphabet. However, the Arabic script is commonly used in some areas (and has been since medieval times), while the Latin script is official in Mali and Niger.
Subclassification
Blench (ms, 2006) lists the following as separate languages, with dialects in parentheses:
Tawellemet (Abalagh/East, West)
Tayiṛt (Ingal, Gofat)
Tamesgrest (Azerori)
Tafaghist
Tahaggart/Ahaggar
Ghat
Speakers of Tin Sert (Tetserret) identify as Tuareg, but the language is Tetserret, a Western Berber language.
Orthography
The Tuareg languages may be written using the ancient Tifinagh (Libyco-Berber) script, the Latin script or the Arabic script. The Malian national literacy program DNAFLA has established a standard for the Latin alphabet, which is used with modifications in Prasse's Lexique and the government literacy program in Burkina, while in Niger a different system was used.
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