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}} Berber or the Amazigh languages or dialects (Berber name: ''Tamaziɣt'', ''Tamazight'', ) are a family of similar and closely related languages and dialects indigenous to North Africa. They are spoken by large populations in Algeria and Morocco, and by smaller populations in Libya, Tunisia,〔Mughal, Muhammad Aurang Zeb. 2012. Tunisia. Steven Danver (ed.), ''Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures, and Contemporary Issues'', Vol. 3. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, pp. 688–689.〕 northern Mali, western and northern Niger, northern Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and in the Siwa Oasis of Egypt. Large Berber-speaking migrant communities have been living in Western Europe since the 1950s. In 2001, Berber became a constitutional national language of Algeria, and in 2011 Berber became a constitutionally official language of Morocco, after years of persecution.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Morocco bans Berber names on birth certificates )〕 Berber constitutes a branch of the Afroasiatic language family,〔Hayward, Richard J., chapter ''Afroasiatic'' in Heine, Bernd & Nurse, Derek, editors, ''African Languages: An Introduction'' Cambridge 2000. ISBN 0-521-66629-5.〕 and has been attested since ancient times. The number of ethnic Berbers is much higher than the number of Berber speakers. The bulk of the populations of the Maghreb countries are considered to have Berber ancestors. In Algeria, for example, a majority of the population consists of Arabized Berbers. There is a movement among speakers of the closely related varieties of Northern Berber to unite them under a standard language. The name ''Tamazight'', originally the self-name in the Atlas and the Rif regions, is being increasingly used for this Standardized Berber, and even for Berber as a whole, including Tuareg-Berber. Around 90 percent of the Berber-speaking population speak one of six major varieties of Berber, each with at least two million speakers. They are, in the order of demographic weight: Tashelhit (''Tacelḥit''), Kabyle (''Taqbaylit''), Atlas Tamazight (''Tamaziɣt''), Riffian (''Tamaziɣt/Tarifit''), Shawi (''Tacawit'') and Tuareg (''Tamahaq/Tamaceq''). Additionally, the extinct Guanche language spoken on the Canary Islands by the Guanches as well as the languages of the ancient C-Group Culture in present-day southern Egypt and northern Sudan are believed to have belonged to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. The Berber languages and dialects have had a written tradition, on and off, for over 2,200 years, although the tradition has been frequently disrupted by invasions. They were first written in the Tifinagh alphabet, still used by the Tuareg. The oldest dated inscription is from about 200 BCE. Later, between about 1000 CE and 1500 CE, they were written in the Arabic script, and since the 20th century in the Berber Latin alphabet, especially among the Kabyle and Riffian communities of Morocco and Algeria. The Berber Latin alphabet was also used by most European and Berber linguists during the 19th and 20th centuries. A modernized form of the Tifinagh alphabet was made official in Morocco in 2003. Algerians mostly use the Neo-Tifinagh or Berber Arabic alphabet, with the Berber Latin alphabet being taught at schools. Mali and Niger recognize a Tuareg Berber Latin alphabet customized to the Tuareg phonological system. However, traditional Tifinagh is still used in those countries. Tifinagh, Berber-Arabic and Berber-Latin alphabets are being increasingly used in Morocco and Algeria. ==Terminology== The term ''Berber'' has been used in Europe since at least the 17th century, and is still used today. It was borrowed from either the Arabic designation for these populations, البربر, ''al-Barbar'', see Berber (name); or from the Roman and Greek denominations of the Berber people "Barbaricae". Etymologically, the Berber root ''Mazigh'' (singular noun ''Amazigh'', feminine ''Tamazight'') means "free man", "noble man", or "defender". The feminine ''Tamazight'' traditionally referred specifically to the Riffian and Central Morocco Tamazight dialects. Many Berber linguists prefer to consider the term "Tamazight" as a pure Berber word to be used only in Berber text; while using the European word "Berber/ Berbero/ Berbère" in European texts to follow the traditions of European writings about the Berbers. European languages distinguish between the words "Berber" and "barbaric", while Arabic has the same word "al-barbari" for both meanings. Some other Berber writers, especially in Morocco, prefer to refer to Berber with "Amazigh" when writing about it in French or English. Traditionally, the term "Tamazight" (in various forms: "thamazighth", "tamasheq", "tamajeq", "tamahaq") was used by many Berber groups to refer to the language they spoke, including the Middle Atlas, the Riffians, the Sened in Tunisia, and the Tuareg. However, other terms were used by other groups; for instance, some parts of Algeria called their language "Taznatit" (Zenati) or 'Shelha', while the Kabyles called theirs "Taqbaylit", the inhabitants of Siwa "Siwi". In Tunisia, the local Amazigh language is usually referred to as "Shelha", a term which has been observed in Morocco as well.〔() 〕 One group, the Linguasphere Observatory, has attempted to introduce the neologism "Tamazic languages" to refer to the Berber languages. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Berber languages」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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