Tifinagh
Tifinagh (
(ⵜⵉⴼⵉⵏⴰⵖ) in Neo-Tifinagh, sometimes also written as Tifinaɣ in Berber Latin alphabet, pronounced [tifinaɣ]) are a series of abjad and alphabetic scripts used by some Berber peoples, notably the Tuareg, to write their language.[1] The Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. It is not in widespread use as a means of daily communication, but often serves to politically and symbolically assert a Berber identity. A slightly modified version of this Berber script, called Tifinagh Ircam is used in a very limited number of Algerian and Moroccan elementary schools in teaching the Berber language to children.
The word Tifinagh may be etymologically derived from tifi negh (our find/discovery),[2] or from a cognate to the word Punic.[3]
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Tifinagh or Neo-Tifinagh?
Linguists and historians tend to be specific in distinguishing between the millennia-old Berber abjad, which is Tifinagh, and the Neo-Tifinagh alphabet, which is based on the abjad but marks vowels and distinguishes more consonants.
The old Tifinagh script is found engraved in stones and tombs in some historical sites in northern Algeria, in Tunisia, and in Tuareg areas in the African Sahara.
The Neo-Tifinagh script was developed and computerized in the 20th century mainly by Moroccan and Algerian researchers, some of whom were based in Europe.
History
An older version of Tifinagh was more widely used by speakers of North Africa. It is attested from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD.
| Proto-Tifinagh | |
|---|---|
| Type | Abjad |
| Time period | 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD |
| Parent systems |
Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
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| Child systems | Tifinagh, Neo-Tifinagh |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols. | |
- There are two variants: eastern and western.
- The eastern variant was used in what is now Constantine, the Aures region and Tunisia. It is the best-deciphered variant, due to the discovery of several Numidian bilingual inscriptions in Libyan and Punic (notably at Dougga in Tunisia.) 22 letters out of the 24 were deciphered.
- The western variant was more primitive (Février (1964–1965). It was used along the Mediterranean coast from Kabylie to the Canary Islands. It used 13 supplementary letters.
- The Libyco-Berber script was a pure Abjad, it had no vowels.
- Gemination was not marked.
- The writing was usually from the bottom to the top, although right-to-left, and even other orders, were also found.
The Traditional Tifinagh (Tuareg)
| Tifinagh (Tuareg) | |
|---|---|
| Type | Abjad |
| Spoken languages | Tuareg language |
| Time period | ?? to present |
| Parent systems |
Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
|
| Child systems | Neo-Tifinagh |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols. | |
Traditionally, the script marks no vowels, except for word finals; however, various proposals to allow it to mark vowels have been made in recent times. In some areas, Arabic vowel diacritics are combined with Tifinagh characters to mark vowels.
Occasionally the script has been used to write other neighboring languages, such as Tagdal Songhai.
The Neo-Tifinagh script
| Neo-Tifinagh | |
|---|---|
| Type | Alphabet |
| Time period | 1980 to present |
| Parent systems |
Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
|
| ISO 15924 | Tfng |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols. | |
Salem Chaker, professor at INALCO had proposed a change in Neo-Tifinagh (Tafsut 1990 #14).
Until recently, virtually no books or websites were published in this alphabet, with activists favouring Latin (or, more rarely, Arabic) scripts for serious usage; however, it is extremely popular for symbolic use, with many books and websites written in a different script featuring logos or title pages using Neo-Tifinagh. However, in Morocco, the king took a "neutral" position between the claims of Latin script and Arabic script by adopting the Neo-Tifinagh script in 2003; as a result, books are beginning to be published in this script, and it is taught in some schools. Outside Morocco, it has no official status. Ironically, the Moroccan state arrested and imprisoned people using this script during 1980s and the 1990s.[4]
In Libya, the authorities have consistently banned the Neo-Tifinagh script from being used in public contexts such as store displays and banners.[5]
Code chart for the Neo-Tifinagh script
Neo-Tifinagh is encoded in the Unicode range U+2D30 to U+2D7F, starting from version 4.1.0. There are 55 defined characters, but there are more characters being used than those defined. In ISO 15924, the code Tfng is assigned to Neo-Tifinagh.
| Code | +0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 | +6 | +7 | +8 | +9 | +A | +B | +C | +D | +E | +F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U+2D30 |  |
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| U+2D40 |  |
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| U+2D50 |  |
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| U+2D60 |  |
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| U+2D70 |
Here is a comparison chart for the character glyph and the transliteration.
| Color | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Basic Tifinagh (IRCAM) | |
| Extended Tifinagh (IRCAM) | |
| Other Tifinagh letters | |
| Modern Tuareg letters | |
| This position shall not be used |
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References
- ↑ to a limited extent, see Interview met Karl-G. Prasse and Penchoen (1973:3)
- ↑ The Mother Tongue in Morocco: The politics of an indigenous education p. 20.
- ↑ Penchoen (1973:3)
- ↑ (French)Rapport sur le calvaire de l’écriture en Tifinagh au Maroc
- ↑ (Arabic)[1]
Bibliography
- Aghali-Zakara, Mohamed (1994). Graphèmes berbères et dilemme de diffusion: Interaction des alphabets latin, ajami et tifinagh. Etudes et Documents Berbères 11, 107-121.
- Aghali-Zakara, Mohamed; and Drouin, Jeanine (1977). Recherches sur les Tifinaghs- Eléments graphiques et sociolinguistiques. Comptes-rendus du Groupe Linguistique des Etudes Chamito-Sémitiques (GLECS).
- Ameur, Meftaha (1994). Diversité des transcriptions : pour une notation usuelle et normalisée de la langue berbère. Etudes et Documents Berbères 11, 25-28.
- Boukous, Ahmed (1997). Situation sociolinguistique de l’Amazigh. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 123, 41-60.
- Chaker, Salem (1994). Pour une notation usuelle à base Tifinagh. Etudes et Documents Berbères 11, 31-42.
- Chaker, Salem (1996). Propositions pour la notation usuelle à base latine du berbère. Etudes et Documents Berbères 14, 239-253.
- Chaker, Salem (1997). La Kabylie: un processus de développement linguistique autonome. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 123, 81-99.
- Durand, O. (1994). Promotion du berbère : problèmes de standardisation et d’orthographe. Expériences européennes. Etudes et Documents Berbères 11, 7-11.
- O’Connor, Michael (1996). The Berber scripts. The World’s Writing Systems, ed. by William Bright and Peter Daniels, 112-116. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Penchoen, Thomas G. (1973). Tamazight of the Ayt Ndhir. Los Angeles: Undena Publications.
- Savage, Andrew. 2008. Writing Tuareg — the three script options. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192: 5-14
- Souag, Lameen (2004). "Writing Berber Languages: a quick summary". L. Souag. Archived from the original on 2005-07-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20050730075554/http://www.geocities.com/lameens/tifinagh/. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
- Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. Tifinagh.
External links
- http://lbi-project.org/lbi-db.php an excellent compilation of images and information
- http://www.ancientscripts.com/berber.html
- http://ennedi.free.fr/tifin.htm
- Ircam Official website of the Royal Institute of the Amazigh Culture (in French)
- http://www.mondeberbere.com/langue/tifinagh/tifinagh_origine.htm
- http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tifinagh.htm
- Unicode character picker for Moroccan Tifinagh
- Tifinagh Font for Windows
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