Riffian
The Berber variety of the Rif region in northern Morocco. Heavily distinct from other Tamazight varieties in phonology, including a strong final-vowel reduction.
Tamasheq
Also known as: Tuareg Berber
The Berber variety of the Tuareg confederations across the central Sahara. Written historically in the Tifinagh script, which Tuareg communities have preserved continuously.
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Frequently asked questions
What language is Tamasheq?
Tamasheq is a dialect of the Tamazight language.
Where is Tamasheq spoken?
Tamasheq is primarily spoken in Mali, Niger, Algeria.
Which region is Tamasheq associated with?
Tamasheq is part of the West & Central Africa region on DialectAtlas.
Is Tamasheq known by other names?
Yes — Tamasheq is also referred to as Tuareg Berber.
What are the other dialects of Tamazight?
Tamazight also includes Tarifit, Tashelhit, Kabyle, Central Atlas Tamazight, Siwi, Nafusi. Each variety has its own vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural context.
Other Tamazight dialects
See on the atlas →Shilha · Soussian Berber
The Berber variety of the southern Atlas and Souss valley in Morocco. The most numerous Tamazight variety, with a literary tradition going back centuries.
Taqbaylit
The Berber variety of the Kabylie region in northern Algeria. The most documented and standardised Algerian Tamazight, with a strong written literary tradition.
Tamazight · Beraber
The Berber variety of the Middle Atlas mountains in central Morocco. Roughly 2.5 million speakers; the basis of much of the standardised Moroccan Tamazight taught in schools.
Siwa Berber
The easternmost surviving Berber language, spoken in the Siwa Oasis of western Egypt. Heavily restructured by Arabic contact; the only Tamazight variety inside Egypt.
Nafusi Berber · Jebel Nafusa
The Berber variety of the Nafusa mountains in north-western Libya. Around 200,000 speakers; one of the few surviving Berber languages inside Libya.
Nearby dialects
See on the atlas →352 km away
A Nilo-Saharan language cluster of the Niger river bend, the language of the medieval Songhay empire. Around 4 million speakers across Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.
582 km away
The Hausa of the Republic of Niger, used alongside French as a national language. Differs from Nigerian Hausa in spelling conventions and contact lexicon.
582 km away
The Songhay-Zarma variety of south-western Niger, centred on Niamey and the Tillabéri–Dosso belt. The second national language of Niger after Hausa, with around 3.7 million speakers; treated by most descriptive work as a distinct standardized language within the wider Songhay cluster.
718 km away
The Hausa of Sokoto in north-western Nigeria. Carries the historical prestige of the Sokoto Caliphate and a distinct lexicon of religious and political terms.
775 km away
A Niger-Congo branch of around twenty deeply differentiated varieties on and around the Bandiagara escarpment in central Mali, with smaller populations in north-western Burkina Faso. Around 600,000 speakers total; descriptive work since the 2000s treats several Dogon varieties (Toro So, Tomo Kan, Jamsay, others) as separate languages rather than dialects of a single Dogon language.
805 km away
A Gur Niger-Congo language and the largest language of Burkina Faso, spoken by the Mossi people on the Ouagadougou plateau. Around 8 million speakers.