Their various languages belong to the Hamito-Semitic language family which includes five major groupings as well as a large number of dialects. Although the Berber languages differ greatly from one another sound, they only vary slightly in grammar and vocabulary. The Berbers are often noted for their skills in various crafts. In regard to labor, the men do most of the farming, while the women's responsibilities include milking and gathering. Government at the community level is notably democratic.
All authority is vested in an assembly called the jemaa .
The jemaa, which is composed of all adult males, usually meets weekly. In nearly every Berber society, each district, and sometimes each community as well, is divided into two opposing factions called sofs. Membership into the sof is hereditary. Among tribes that no longer live in their original environments, the political units are allied with one another in identical divisions of higher levels known as lefs . Bonds of alliance are re-confirmed by traditional forms of hospitality as well as by huge annual feasts to which members invite one another.