# Judeo-Berber language

Judeo-Berber also known as Judeo-Amazigh, Judeo-Tamazight, and Jewish Amazigh (Berber languages: ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵏ ⵡⵓⴷⴰⵢⵏ tamazight n wudayen, Hebrew: ברברית יהודית‎ berberit yehudit) is any of several hybrid Berber dialects traditionally spoken as a second language in Berber Jewish communities of central and southern Morocco, and perhaps earlier in Algeria. Judeo-Berber is a contact language; the first language of speakers was Judeo-Arabic. Speakers immigrated to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s. While mutually comprehensible with the Tamazight spoken by most inhabitants of the area (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:14), these varieties are distinguished by the use of Hebrew loanwords and the pronunciation of š as s as seen in Judeo-Moroccan Arabic.

## History

Our first indication of Jews speaking any Berber language is only from the early 19th century and it's of rural Jews in Jebel Nefusa and Saharan Ghardaia. As of 1912 about 8,000 of Moroccan Jews spoke Judeo-Berber. the language was spoken in the country's Berber or partly Berber rural and mountainous areas. According to a 1936 survey, approximately 145,700 of Morocco's 161,000 Jews spoke a variety of Berber (though not specifically Judeo-Berber), 25,000 of whom were reportedly monolingual in a Berber language. Due to the mass migration of Moroccan Jews after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war the speaker count declined as the language wasn't passed down to new speakers, leaving it with only about 200 speakers left in France and Israel as of 2023.

### Geographic distribution

Communities in Morocco where Jews spoke Judeo-Berber included: Tinghir, Ouijjane, Asaka, Imini, Draa valley, Demnate and Ait Bou Oulli in the Tamazight-speaking Middle Atlas and High Atlas and Oufrane, Tiznit and Illigh in the Tashelhiyt-speaking Souss valley (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:2). Jews were living among tribal Berbers, often in the same villages and practiced old tribal Berber protection relationships.

## Phonology

Consonants :
| | | Labial | Bilabial | Dental-Alveolar | Alveolar | Post-Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Laryngeal |
| Plosive | Unvoiced | | p | t | | | | k | q | | |
| Plosive | Voiced | | b | d | | | | g | | | |
| Nasals | Nasals | | m | n | | | | | | | |
| Fricative | Unvoiced | | | | s | ʃ | | x | | ħ | h |
| Fricative | Voiced | | | | z | ʒ | | ɣ | | ʕ | |
| Trill | Trill | | | r | | | | | | | |
| Lateral | Lateral | | | | l | | | | | | |
| Approximant | Voiced | w | | | | | j | | | | |
Vowels :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i | | u |
| Mid | | ǝ | |
| Open-mid | | | |
| Open | a | | |
Judeo-Berber is characterized by the following phonetic phenomena:
* Centralized pronunciation of /i u/ as [ɨ ʉ]
* Neutralization of the distinction between /s ʃ/, especially among monolingual speakers
* Delabialization of labialized velars (/kʷ gʷ xʷ ɣʷ/), e.g. nəkkʷni/nukkni > nəkkni 'us, we'
* Insertion of epenthetic [ə] to break up consonant clusters
* Frequent diphthong insertion, as in Judeo-Arabic
* Some varieties have q > kʲ and dˤ > tˤ, as in the local Arabic dialects
* In the eastern Sous Valley region, /l/ > [n] in both Judeo-Berber and Arabic

## Lexicon

The lexicon of Judeo-Berber is the same as that of regular Shilha except it has Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic loanwords. This lack of differentiation from Shilha means it is not a language but rather a dialect. Judeo-Berber lexicon also influenced Judeo-Arabic.

## Usage

Apart from its daily use, Judeo-Berber was used for orally explaining religious texts, and only occasionally written, using Hebrew characters; a manuscript Pesah Haggadah written in Judeo-Berber has been reprinted (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970.) A few prayers, like the Benedictions over the Torah, were recited in Berber.

## Sample Text

Taken from Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:121 (itself from a manuscript from Tinghir):
ixəddamn
servants
ay
what
n-ga
we-were
i
for
pərʿu
Pharaoh
g°
in
maṣər.
Egypt.
i-ss-ufġ
he-cause-leave
aġ
us
əṛbbi
God
ənnəġ
our
dinnaġ
there
s
with
ufus
arm
ən
of
ddrʿ,
might,
s
with
ufus
arm
ikuwan.
strong.
ixəddamn ay n-ga i pərʿu g° maṣər. i-ss-ufġ aġ əṛbbi ənnəġ dinnaġ s ufus ən ddrʿ, s ufus ikuwan.
servants what we-were for Pharaoh in Egypt. he-cause-leave us God our there with arm of might, with arm strong.
Servants of Pharaoh is what we were in Egypt. Our God brought us out thence with a mighty arm, with a strong arm.