Tifinagh is a script used to write the Berber languages. Tifinagh is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber alphabet. The traditional Tifinagh, sometimes called Tuareg Tifinagh, is still favored by the Tuareg Berbers of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria, northeastern Mali, northern Niger and northern Burkina Faso for use writing the Tuareg Berber language. Neo-Tifinagh is an alphabet developed by Berber Academy to adopt Tuareg Tifinagh for use with Kabyle; it has been since modified for use across North Africa.
Moroccan music varies greatly between geographic regions and social groups. It is influenced by musical styles including Arab, Berber, Andalusi, Mediterranean, Saharan, West African, and others.
The Zenati languages are a branch of the Northern Berber language family of North Africa. They were named after the medieval Zenata Berber tribal confederation. They were first proposed in the works of French linguist Edmond Destaing (1915) (1920–23). Zenata dialects are distributed across the central Berber world (Maghreb), from northeastern Morocco to just west of Algiers, and the northern Sahara, from southwestern Algeria around Bechar to Zuwara in Libya. The most widely spoken Zenati languages are Tmazight of the Rif in northern Morocco and Tashawit Berber in northeastern Algeria, each of which have over 3 million speakers.
Arsène Roux was a French Arabist and Berberologist. He was born in Rochegude and emigrated to Morocco in his early twenties where he started studying Classical Arabic, Moroccan Arabic and the Moroccan Berber languages. In the following years, he worked in various schools and universities as a professor and director; he also founded and presided over the Collège Berbère d'Azrou.
The document known as the Berber Dahir is a dhahir (decree) created by the French protectorate in Morocco on May 16, 1930. This Dahir changed the legal system in parts of Morocco where Amazigh languages were primarily spoken, while the legal system in the rest of the country remained the way it had been before the French invasion. Sultan Muhammad V signed the Dahir under no duress, though he was only 20 years old at the time.
Mohamed Chafik, born 17 September 1926, is a leading figure in the Amazigh cultural movement. An original author of the Amazigh Manifesto, he was later appointed as the first Rector of the Royal Institute of the Amazigh Culture. He has worked extensively on incorporating Amazigh culture into Moroccan identity and is a leading intellectual of the Moroccan intelligentsia.
Central Atlas Tamazight or Atlasic is a Berber language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken by 2.3 million in the Atlas Mountains of Central Morocco as well as by smaller emigrant communities in France and elsewhere.
Fatima Tabaamrant is a Moroccan Berber actress and singer-songwriter. She sings and performs in her native Berber tongue.
Mririda n'Ait Attik was a Berber Moroccan Shilha poet writing in Tashelhit. She was born in Megdaz in the Tassaout valley. Her poems were put to paper and translated into French in the 1930s by René Euloge. Euloge was a French civil servant based in Asilah since 1927.
Ali Sidqi Azaykou, also called Dda Ali, was a Moroccan Berber poet, historian, philosopher and critic. He was an Amazigh activist. He has greatly influenced the cultural Berber movements.
Parti écologiste marocain - Izigzawen, is the new self-denomination of the Berberist Moroccan Parti démocrate amazigh marocain (PDA) or Moroccan Amazigh Democrat Party, launched in 2005, banned in November 2007 and judicially dissolved in April 2008. It has no connection with the Global Greens and has not been legally reestablished, even under its new denomination.
There are a number of languages in Morocco. De jure, the two official languages are Standard Arabic and Standard Moroccan Berber. Moroccan Arabic is by far the primary spoken vernacular and lingua franca, whereas Berber languages serve as vernaculars for significant portions of the country. The languages of prestige in Morocco are Arabic in its Classical and Modern Standard Forms and sometimes French, the latter of which serves as a second language for approximately 33% of Moroccans. According to a 2000–2002 survey done by Moha Ennaji, author of Multilingualism, Cultural Identity, and Education in Morocco, "there is a general agreement that Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, and Berber are the national languages." Ennaji also concluded "This survey confirms the idea that multilingualism in Morocco is a vivid sociolinguistic phenomenon, which is favored by many people."
Sefrou is a city in central Morocco situated in the Fès-Meknès region. It recorded a population of 79,887 in the 2014 Moroccan census, up from 63,872 in the 2004 census.
Zayanes are a Berber population inhabiting the Khenifra region, located in the central Middle Atlas mountains of Morocco.
Ammouri M'barek was the renovator of the Moroccan Amazigh (Berber) Music, was born in 1951 in Irguiten, a small village located at the bottom of the High Atlas near Taroudannt town, in Taroudannt Province, Morocco.
The Ait Yafelman are a large Berber tribal confederation of the eastern High Atlas of Morocco, with their capital at Imilchil. They consist of four tribes: Ayt Morghad, Ayt Haddidou, Ayt Izdeg and Ayt Yehia. These tribes created the alliance in the 17th century to counter the expansion of their Ait Atta neighbours. The Ait Yafelman speak Central Atlas Tamazight.
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.
Sidi Ali ibn al-Mekki Amhaouch (1844–1918) was a Moroccan religious leader who opposed the French conquest of Morocco. Amhaouch was descended from a long line of marabouts who were influential religious figures in Morocco from 1715. Amhaouch backed two rebellions against the Moroccan government and later fought against the French occupying forces. He declared a defensive jihad against France during the Zaian War but died of natural causes in 1918, three years before the war ended in the tribesmen's defeat. His son, Sidi El Mekki Amhaouch, continued to fight the French until his defeat in 1932. Amhaouch's descendant is a religious leader in modern-day Morocco.
Abdellah Bounfour is a Moroccan linguist and philologist specialized in Berber languages, literature and culture. He is an Emeritus University Professor at Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) in Paris.
Mena B. Lafkioui is a linguist specializing in Berber languages. She is currently Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and Professor of Berber Linguistics at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences.
