# Ait Seghrouchen Berber

Ait Seghrouchen Berber, or Seghroucheni (Seghrusheni), is a Zenati Berber language of the Eastern Middle Atlas Berber cluster. It is spoken by the Ait Seghrouchen tribe inhabiting east-central Morocco.

## Classification

Ait Seghrouchen Berber is commonly classed as Central Atlas Tamazight. It is reported to be mutually intelligible with the neighbouring Berber dialect of Ait Ayache. Genetically, however, it belongs to the Zenati subgroup of Northern Berber, rather than to the Atlas subgroup to which the rest of Central Atlas Tamazight belongs, and are therefore excluded by some sources from Central Atlas Tamazight.
Ait Seghrouchen is part of the Eastern Middle Atlas Berber cluster of Zenati dialects, which is spoken in the eastern Middle Atlas.

## Phonology
### Consonants

Ayt Seghrouchen is notable for having the lateral fricative [ɬ] as an allophone of the sequence /lt/. /k, g/ are pronounced as stops, unlike the closely related Ayt Ayache dialect in which they are fricatives.
In the table below, when consonants appear in pairs, the one on the left is voiceless.
Ayt Seghrouchen consonants (Ayt Ayache) :
| | | Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyn- geal | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | nˤ | | | | | |
| Plosive | voiceless | | tˤ | | k | | | |
| Plosive | voiced | b | dˤ | | ɡ | | | |
| Fricative | voiced | b | zˤ | ʒ | | ʁ | ʕ | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | sˤ | ʃ | | χ | ħ | h |
| Fricative | lateral | | (ɬ) | | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | lˤ | j | w | | | |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | rˤ | | | | | |
* ↑ mainly in Arabic borrowings
* ↑ /t/ is aspirated [tʰ]
* ↑ for a small number of speakers, /b/ is sometimes lenited to [β]
* ↑ realization of the sequence /lt/ for some speakers, e.g. ultma 'sister', altu 'not yet'
* ↑ Abdel-Massih refers to this as a "flap" produced with "vibration" of the tongue.

### Vowels

Ait Seghrouchen Berber has a typical phonemic three-vowel system, similarly to Classical Arabic:
Tamazight vowel phonemes :
| | Front | Back |
| Close | i | u |
| Open | a | a |
These phonemes have numerous allophones, conditioned by the following environments:
(# denotes word boundary, X denotes C$_{[−flat−/χ/−/ʁ/]}$, C̣ denotes C$_{[+flat]}$, G denotes C, /χ/, and /ʁ/)
Tamazight vowel allophony :
| Phoneme | Realization | Environment | Example | Gloss |
| /i/ | [i] | #_X | /ili/ | 'to exist' |
| /i/ | [ɨ] | #_Xː / Xː_ | /idːa/ | 'he went' |
| /i/ | [ɪ] [e] | _G / G_ | /dˤːiqs/ | 'to burst out' |
| /i/ | [ɪj] | X_# | /isːfrˤħi/ | 'he made me happy' |
| /u/ | [u] | #_X / X(ː)_X | /umsʁ/ | 'I painted' |
| /u/ | [ʊ] [o] | _G / G_ | /idˤurˤ/ | 'he turned' |
| /u/ | [ʊw] | X(ː)_# | /bdu/ | 'to begin' |
| /u/ | [ʉ] | kː_ / ɡː_ | /lːajɡːur/ | 'he goes' |
| /a/ | [æ] | #_X(ː) / X(ː)_X | /azn/ | 'to send' |
| /a/ | [ɐ] | X(ː)_# | /da/ | 'here' |
| /a/ | [ɑ] | _C̣ / C̣_ | /ħadˤr/ | 'to be present' |
Phonetic Schwa
There is a predictable non-phonemic vowel inserted into consonant clusters, realized as [ɪ̈] before front consonants (e.g. /b t d .../) and [ə] before back consonants (e.g. /k χ .../). These are some of the rules governing the occurrence of [ə]:
(# denotes word boundary, L denotes /l r m n/, H denotes /h ħ ʕ w j/)
Tamazight schwa epenthesis :
| Environment | Realization | Example | Pronunciation | Gloss |
| #C(ː)# | əC(ː) | /ɡ/ | [əɡ] | 'to be, to do' |
| #LC# | əLC or LəC | /ns/ | [əns] ~ [nəs] | 'to spend the night' |
| #CC# | CəC | /tˤsˤ/ | [tˤəsˤ] | 'to laugh' |
| #CːC# | əCːəC | /fːr/ | [əfːər] | 'to hide' |
| #CCC# | CCəC / C1C2 are not {L H} | /χdm/ | [χdəm] | 'to work' |
| #CCC# | CCəC / C1C2 are not {L H} | /zʕf/ | [zʕəf] | 'to get mad' |
| #CCC# | əCCəC or #CəCəC# / {C1 C3} is {L H} | /hdm/ | [əhdəm] ~ [hədəm] | 'to demolish' |
| #CCC# | CəCəC / C2C3 = {L H} | /dˤmn/ | [dˤəmən] | 'to guarantee' |

### Stress

Word stress is non-contrastive and predictable — it falls on the last vowel in a word (including schwa).