Languages of Algeria

Languages of Algeria
Official language(s)	Literary Arabic
National language(s)	Berber languages
Regional language(s)	Hassānīya Arabic, Korandje
Vernacular(s)	Algerian Arabic
Main immigrant language(s)	Dawsahak
Main foreign language(s)	French
Sign language(s)	Algerian Sign Language

Trilingual welcome sign in Isser Municipality, (Boumerdès) written in Arabic, Kabyle (Tifinagh script), and French. ("The municipality of Isser welcomes you.")

The official language of Algeria is (literary) Arabic, as specified in its constitution since 1963. In addition to this, Berber has been recognized as a "national language" by constitutional amendment since May 8, 2002. Between them, these two languages are the native languages of over 99% of Algerians, with Arabic spoken by about 72% and Berber by 47%. French, though it has no official status, is widely used in government, culture, media (newspapers) and education (since primary school), due to Algeria's colonial history and can be regarded as being a de facto co-official language of Algeria. The Kabyle language, the most spoken Berber language in the country, is taught and partially co-official (with a few restrictions) in parts of Kabylia.

Currently spoken languages

Arabic

Trilingual signs at the Université de Tizi Ouzou, Algeria

Arabic is the language of 73% of Algeria's population; in addition to this, non-native speakers learn Arabic at school, as such the majority of the population understands Standard Arabic or the Algerian Arabic dialect. Algerian Arabic (or darija) is spoken by 85% of the total population and 83% of Arab speakers.

In Algeria, as elsewhere, spoken Arabic differs very substantially from written Arabic; Algerian Arabic has a much-simplified vowel system, a substantially changed vocabulary and has dropped the case endings of the written language. Within Algerian Arabic itself, there are significant local variations; Jijel Arabic, in particular, is noteworthy for its pronunciation of qaf as kaf and its profusion of Berber loanwords, and the dialects of some ports show influence from Andalusi Arabic brought by refugees from al-Andalus. Algerian Arabic is part of the Maghrebi Arabic dialect continuum, and fades into Moroccan Arabic and Tunisian Arabic along the respective borders.

In the Sahara more conservative Bedouin dialects, grouped under the name Saharan Arabic, are spoken; in addition, the many Sahrawi refugees at Tindouf speak Hassaniya Arabic.

Most Jews of Algeria once spoke dialects of Arabic specific to their community, collectively termed "Judeo-Arabic"; however, most came to speak French in the colonial period even before emigrating to France and Israel after independence^{[citation needed]}.

Berber

Berber-speaking population in each département in 1966.

Berber languages are spoken in many parts of Algeria, but mainly in Kabylia, in the Aurès, and in the Sahara (by Tuaregs). Until the Phoenicians' arrival, Berber was spoken throughout Algeria, as later attested by early Tifinagh inscriptions. Despite the growth of Punic, Latin, and later Arabic, it remained the main language of Algeria until the invasion of the Banu Hilal in the 11th century.^{[citation needed]}

Algerians speak one of the various dialects of Berber (native name: Tamazight), which add up to around 38%–45% of the population. Arabic remains Algeria's only official language, although Berber has recently been recognized as a national language.

The Berber languages/dialects spoken in Algeria include:

In the north

• Kabyle, about 4.5 million speakers mostly in Kabylia (some estimates are as high as 8 million).
• Chaouia (also called Tachawit, Chawi) in the Aurès, about 3,000,000 speakers.
• Chenoua, in Tipaza Province, estimated 56,300 speakers. Two dialects: Beni Menacer, west and south of Mount Chenoua area, in Mount Chenoua area, 55,250 speakers.

In the west

• Beni Snous, dialect of Berber spoken near Tlemcen.

In the Sahara

• Tumzabt language in the Mzab
• language of Touat and Gourara (called "Taznatit" by the Ethnologue, but that name is used for most of the Zenati languages)
• language of Touggourt and Temacine
• Tamahaq, among the Tuareg of the Hoggar (see Tuareg languages)

French

Bilingual French-Arabic sign in Algiers.

French is a part of the standard school curriculum, and is widely understood; Ethnologue estimates indicate that 111 000 people in Algeria speak it as their native language,[1] mostly pied-noirs who stayed behind and people raised in French-speaking households; other sources estimate much larger populations. Some two-thirds of Algerians have a "fairly broad" grasp of French, and half speak it as a second language. French is widely used in media and commerce. French is widely used and spoken in everyday life in Algeria's larger cities, in diglossic combination with Algerian Arabic.

French is the most widely studied foreign language in the country, and a majority of Algerians can understand it and speak it, though it is usually not spoken in daily life. Since independence, the government has pursued a policy of linguistic Arabization of education and bureaucracy, which has resulted in limiting the use of Berber and the Arabization of many Berber-speakers. The strong position of French in Algeria was little affected by the Arabization policy. All scientific and business university courses are still taught in French. Recently, schools have begun to incorporate French into the curriculum as early as children are taught written classical Arabic. French is also used in media and business. After a political debate in Algeria in the late 1990s about whether to replace French with English in the educational system, the government decided to retain French. English is taught in the first year of middle schools.

During the French colonisation, about one million French native speakers lived in Algeria. The pied-noirs developed a distinctive dialect, termed Pataouète. French was also the mother tongue for many of the Algerian Jews.

English

English, because of its status as a global lingua franca, is taught from the first year of Middle School. However, only a tiny number of Algerians speak English, most of them younger people.

Sub-Saharan African languages

The Korandje language of the Saharan oasis of Tabelbala is a heavily Berber-influenced variety of Songhay, a language more widely spoken far to the south in Niger. Another northern Songhay language, Dawsahak, may be spoken in parts of the far south; its nomadic speakers range over a wide area centered in northern Mali.

There are also a few thousand Hausa speakers in the south.

Sign languages

Algerian Sign Language is used in Algeria by the deaf; it has sometimes been used on national TV.

Formerly spoken languages

Phoenician

Phoenician, particularly in its North African Punic form, was brought to Algeria by Carthage's influence, and was widely spoken in its east for a time; Augustine grew up speaking it, and quotes occasional phrases. However, by his time the language was losing ground to Latin, and no trace of it survives now (apart from occasional names of places).

Latin

Latin itself was the language of the Roman occupation; it became widely spoken in the coastal towns, and Augustine attests that in his day it was gaining ground over Punic. However, it gave way to Arabic and Berber after the Umayyads' conquest, leaving only a few loanwords in those two languages.

Ottoman Turkish

Ottoman rule after the 16th century brought a dominant minority of Turks to Algeria, particularly concentrated in the large cities; for a while, Ottoman Turkish became a major governmental language. However, over time these Turks gradually assimilated, and, while many families of partial Turkish descent remain in Algeria, none speak the language.

Other

• Ladino was formerly spoken by some Algerian Jews, particularly around Oran, in the Tetuani dialect; however, most shifted to French during the colonial period.
• The Mediterranean Lingua Franca, a mixture of many Mediterranean languages, was once widespread as a means of communication with foreigners in the ports, including the slaves of the bagnios and the European renegades that joined the Barbary pirates; after 1830, it gradually disappeared, its functions taken over by French.
• Spanish has a long history in Oran, which was occupied by Spain between 1509 and 1790; it has left some traces in that city's dialect. It was also spoken by pied-noirs immigrating from the Spanish Mediterranean. Spanish is also spoken by the Sahrawis living in refugee camps in the area of Tindouf.

External links

• Langues d'Algérie
• PanAfriL10n page on Algeria