Tamazight, in twelve varieties.

Kabyle

ⵜⴰⵇⴱⴰⵢⵍⵉⵜ

Taqbaylit

Speakers

~6 million

Range

Northern Algeria, Kabylia

The largest single Berber-speaking community of north Africa. Spoken across Greater Kabylia (Tizi Ouzou, Bouïra) and Lesser Kabylia (Béjaïa, Sétif), and in a substantial French-Belgian-Canadian diaspora. The most widely used and best-documented variety.

Tachelhit

ⵜⴰⵛⵍⵃⵉⵢⵜ

Tashelḥiyt

Speakers

~8 million

Range

Southern Morocco

The southern Berber variety of Morocco — Souss valley, Anti-Atlas, western High Atlas. Carries the longest continuous written tradition of any Berber variety, with manuscripts in Arabic script (Lhuruf) from at least the sixteenth century.

Central Tamazight

ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ

Tamaziɣt

Speakers

~5 million

Range

Middle Atlas, central High Atlas, eastern Morocco

The central variety of Moroccan Tamazight, spoken across the Middle Atlas, the central High Atlas, the Saghro, the Drâa, and the Tafilalt. The IRCAM-standardised official Tamazight of Morocco (since 2003) draws principally on this variety.

Tarifit

ⵜⴰⵔⵉⴼⵉⵢⵜ

Tarifiyt

Speakers

~5 million

Range

Northern Morocco, Rif

The northern Berber variety of Morocco, spoken across the Rif from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Moulouya. Several internal dialects — Beni Iznasen, Aith Waryaghar, Aith Touzin — and a substantial diaspora in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.

Chaoui

ⵜⴰⵛⴰⵡⵉⵜ

Tachawit

Speakers

~2 million

Range

Eastern Algeria, Aurès

The Berber variety of the Aurès massif and its eastern extensions in northeastern Algeria. The second-largest Berber-speaking community in Algeria after the Kabyles, closely related to Kabyle within the northern branch.

Tamasheq

ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵙⵀⴻⵇ

Tamasheq / Tamahaq

Speakers

~3 million

Range

Sahara: southern Algeria, Libya, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso

The Tuareg language family across the Saharan-Sahelian arc. Northern Tamahaq (Hoggar) and southern Tamasheq / Tamajaq (Aïr, Adagh, Iwellemmedan). The only Berber language with continuous indigenous Tifinagh script use, particularly among women.

Mozabite

ⵜⵓⵎⵥⴰⴱⵜ

Tumzabt

Speakers

~200,000

Range

Northern Algerian Sahara, M'zab valley

The eastern Berber variety of the M'zab valley, spoken in the five Ibadi-Muslim Mozabite cities (Ghardaïa, Beni Isguen, Melika, Bounoura, El Atteuf) and in the Mozabite merchant networks across Algerian cities.

Nafusi

Tanfusit

Speakers

~250,000

Range

Northwestern Libya, Nafusa Mountains

The Berber variety of the Nafusa highlands of northwestern Libya, classified in the Zenati branch. The principal surviving Berber-speaking population of Libya, with substantial Ibadi-Muslim communities at Yefren, Jadu, and Nalut.

Siwi

ⵙⵉⵡⵉ

Siwi

Speakers

~30,000

Range

Egypt, Siwa oasis

The only surviving Berber-speaking community in Egypt, in the Siwa oasis of the Western Desert. Classified within the eastern Berber group; under steady pressure from Egyptian Arabic dominance in school and media.

Ghadames

Eɣademes

Speakers

<10,000

Range

Western Libya, Ghadames oasis

The Berber variety of the Ghadames oasis of westernmost Libya, classified in the Zenati branch and now estimated at fewer than ten thousand speakers, increasingly bilingual in Arabic.

Zenaga

Tuḍḍungiyya

Speakers

~5,000

Range

Southern Mauritania

The most divergent of the surviving Berber varieties — the only one with a glottal stop and a voiceless lateral fricative in its phoneme inventory. The linguistic descendant of the medieval western Saharan Sanhaja, severely endangered.

Guanche

Speakers

extinct

Range

Canary Islands

The Berber language of the pre-Hispanic Canary Islands, extinct since the seventeenth century. Partially reconstructed from Libyco-Berber rock inscriptions, place names (Tenerife, Tegueste, Tamadaba), and word lists recorded by Spanish chroniclers; reconstructed forms align with continental Berber, particularly Tachelhit and Zenaga.