Chaouia language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chaoui Tachawit
Spoken in:	Algeria
Region:	Aurès ( Batna, Khenchela, Sétif, Constantine, Oum el-Bouaghi, Souk Ahras, Tebessa)
Total speakers:	2,000,000
Language family:	Afro-Asiatic  Berber   Northern    Chaoui
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	ber
ISO 639-3:	shy
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Chaoui is the Chaoui language, Berber language of the Chaoui people of eastern Algeria, around Batna, Khenchela, Setif, Constantine, Oum el-Bouaghi, Souk Ahras, Tebessa and the north part of Biskra. It has over two million speakers. Known alternative spellings are "Shawia", "Shawiya", "Tachawit", "Thachawith", "Tachaouith", and "Th'Chèwith", but in the Chaouia language, the leading TH /θ/ sound is often reduced to an H, thus the name is pronounced "H'chawit".

As some parts of North Africa were only recently arabized, some chaoui from the urban centers got partially arabized in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Chaouia is not a written language and based on the fact that it is not taught in schools, it may soon become extinct. Being that the nature of the Chaouia people is a very rural and secluded one, the language also does not suffice in conversation about modern machinery or technology. Instead, other language such as Arabic, French, or even English are used to describe certain things. THis is another reason that Chaouia is becoming obsolete.