Languages of Morocco

Languages of Morocco
Official	Berber, Arabic
Vernacular	Riff, Shilha, Central Morocco Tamazight, Moroccan Arabic
Foreign	French (32%) Spanish (21%) English (14%)

There are a number of languages in Morocco, but the two official languages are Modern Standard Arabic and the Amazigh (Berber) language. Moroccan Arabic (known as Darija) is the spoken native vernacular.

There are 15 to 18 million Berber speakers in Morocco, about 50 to 65% of the population. French remains Morocco's unofficial second language, and is taught universally and serves as Morocco's primary language of commerce and economics; it is also widely used in education and government. Morocco is a member of the Francophonie.
Spanish is spoken by some Moroccans, especially in the northern regions. English is spoken sporadically in the business, science and education sectors but its usage and learning have grown over the last decade, especially since 2002, when English instruction was introduced from the 7th grade in public schools.

Arabic

An overview of the different Arabic dialects

Main article: Moroccan Arabic

Arabic is Morocco's official language, although it is the Moroccan dialect of Arabic, namely Darija, that is spoken or understood, frequently as a second language, by the majority of the population (about 85% of the total population). Many native Berber speakers also speak the local Arabic variant. In 1995 the number of native Arabic speakers in Morocco was approximately 18.8 million (65% of the total population), and 21 million including the Moroccan diaspora.

As a member of the Maghrebi Arabic grouping of dialects, Moroccan Arabic is similar to the dialects spoken in Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya (and also Maltese). The country shows a marked difference in urban and rural dialects. This is due to the history of settlement. Originally, Arabs established centers of power in only a few cities and ports in the region, with the effect that the other areas remained Berber-speaking. Then, in the 11th century, Bedouin tribes swept through many of the unsettled areas, spreading with them their distinct Arabic dialect in the non-urbanized areas and leaving speakers of Berber in isolated areas in the more mountainous regions.

The below table presents statistical figures of speakers, based on the 2004 population census (Population aged 5 and above)

Region	Moroccan Arabic	Total population	% Moroccan Arabic speakers
Souss-Massa-Draa	1,694,780	2,775,953	61.05%
Oriental	1,487,620	1,739,440	85.52%
Guelmim-Es Semara	261,109	382,029	68.35%
Meknes-Tafilalet	1,633,122	1,926,247	84.78%
Tadla-Azilal	1,038,765	1,299,536	79.93%
Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz	2,358,910	2,765,908	85.29%
Taza-Al Hoceima-Taounate	1,461,182	1,613,315	90.57%
Rabat-Sale-Zemmour-Zaer	2,101,916	2,136,636	98.38%
Fès-Boulemane	1,375,766	1,418,475	96.99%
Laayoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra	181,413	219,505	82.65%
Oued Ed-Dahab-Lagouira	53,988	64,163	84.14%
Grand Casablanca	3,292,543	3,306,334	99.58%
Tangier-Tetouan	2,199,093	2,205,457	99.71%
Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hssen	1,653,612	1,655,852	99.86%
Chaouia-Ouardigha	1,476,318	1,478,605	99.85%
Doukkala-Abda	1,765,904	1,768,150	99.87%
Morocco	24,036,041	26,755,605	89.84%

Amazigh

Berber speaking areas in Morocco

The exact population of Amazigh Language speakers is hard to ascertain, since most North African countries do not -traditionally- record language data in their censuses (An exception to this was the 2004 Morocco population census). The Ethnologue provides a useful academic starting point; however, its bibliographic references are inadequate, and it rates its own accuracy at only B-C for the area. Early colonial censuses may provide better documented figures for some countries; however, these are also very much out of date. The number for each dialect is difficult to estimate.

Speakers of Riff dialect were estimated to be around 1.5 million in 1990. The language is spoken in the Rif area in the north of the country, and is the smallest Berber dialect in Morocco, by number of speakers.

The Tashelhit language is considered to be the most widely spoken as it covers the whole of the Region Souss-Massa-Draâ, and is also spoken in the Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz and Tadla-Azilal regions. Studies done in 1990 show around 3 million people, concentrated in the south of Morocco, speak the dialect.

Central Morocco Tamazight is the second Berber language in Morocco. A 1998 study done by Ethnologue, shows that around 3 million people speak the language in Morocco. The language is most used in the regions Middle Atlas, High Atlas and east High Atlas Mountains.

Other Berber dialects are spoken in Morocco, as the Senhaja de Srair and the Ghomara dialects in the Rif mountains and the Figuig Shilha in Figuig (not to be confused with Atlas Shilha).

2004 Population Census

Percentage of Amazigh Languages speakers by region (2004 Population census)

The below table presents statistical figures of speakers, based on the 2004 population census (Population aged 5 and above)

Region	Tashlhyt	Tamazight	Tarifit	Total pop	% of Amazigh speakers
Souss-Massa-Draa	1,717,139	313,284	3,873	2,775,953	73.28%
Oriental	48,076	85,916	741,913	1,739,440	50.36%
Guelmim-Es Semara	182,695	6,670	766	382,029	49.77%
Meknes-Tafilalet	37,533	843,595	33,966	1,926,247	47.51%
Tadla-Azilal	199,092	409,446	1,436	1,299,536	46.94%
Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz	969,561	14,170	2,372	2,765,908	35.65%
Taza-Al Hoceima-Taounate	18,923	111,731	338,083	1,613,315	29.05%
Rabat-Sale-Zemmour-Zaer	166,658	268,687	14,965	2,136,636	21.08%
Fès-Boulemane	23,138	217,845	15,275	1,418,475	18.07%
Laayoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra	28,352	6,569	891	219,505	16.31%
Oued Ed-Dahab-Lagouira	6,910	3,214	296	64,163	16.24%
Grand Casablanca	367,558	25,067	9,036	3,306,334	12.15%
Tangier-Tetouan	26,783	11,963	98,780	2,205,457	6.24%
Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hssen	37,162	13,816	6,105	1,655,852	3.45%
Chaouia-Ouardigha	40,858	8,308	1,435	1,478,605	3.42%
Doukkala-Abda	24,367	3,656	1,794	1,768,150	1.69%
Morocco	3,894,805	2,343,937	1,270,986	26,755,605	28.07%

Older studies

Multilingual sign in Nador, Morocco.

"Few census figures are available; all countries (Algeria and Morocco included) do not count Berber languages. Population shifts in location and number, effects of urbanization and education in other languages, etc., make estimates difficult. In 1952 A. Basset (LLB.4) estimated the number of Berberophones at 5,500,000. Between 1968 and 1978 estimates ranged from eight to thirteen million (as reported by Galand, LELB 56, pp. 107, 123–25); Voegelin and Voegelin (1977, p. 297) call eight million a conservative estimate. In 1980, S. Chaker estimated that the Berberophone populations of Kabylie and the three Moroccan groups numbered more than one million each; and that in Algeria, 3,650,000, or one out of five Algerians, speak a Berber language (Chaker 1984, pp. 8-)

In 1952, André Basset ("La langue berbère", Handbook of African Languages, Part I, Oxford) estimated that a "small majority" of Morocco's population spoke Berber. The 1960 census estimated that 34% of Moroccans spoke Berber, including bi-, tri-, and quadrilinguals. In 2000, Karl Prasse cited "more than half" in an interview conducted by Brahim Karada at Tawalt.com. According to the Ethnologue (by deduction from its Moroccan Arabic figures), the Berber-speaking population is estimated at 65% (1991 and 1995). However, the figures it gives for individual languages only add up to 7.5 million, or about 57%. Most of these are accounted for by three dialects:

Riff: 4.5 million (1991)

Shilha: 7 million (1998)

Central Morocco Tamazight: 7 million (1998)

This nomenclature is common in linguistic publications, but is significantly complicated by local usage: thus Shilha is sub-divided into Shilha of the Dra valley, Tasusit (the language of the Souss) and several other (mountain) dialects. Moreover, linguistic boundaries are blurred, such that certain dialects cannot accurately be described as either Central Morocco Tamazight (spoken in the Central and eastern Atlas area) or Shilha. The differences among all Moroccan dialects are not too pronounced: public radio news are broadcast using the various dialects; each journalist speaks his or her own dialect with the result that understanding is not obstructed, though most southern Berbers find that understanding Riff requires some getting used to.

Hassani Dialect

Hassānīya, is spoken by about 0.7% of the population mainly in the southern regions and the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Communities of speakers exist elsewhere in Morocco too, especially in the metropolitan areas of Agadir, Marrakech, Rabat and Casablanca.
The below table presents statistical figures of speakers, based on the 2004 population census (Population aged 5 and above)

Region	Hassaniya	Total pop	Hassniya speakers
Souss-Massa-Draa	13,349	2,775,953	0.48%
Oriental	573	1,739,440	0.03%
Guelmim-Es Semara	68,597	382,029	17.96%
Meknes-Tafilalet	983	1,926,247	0.05%
Tadla-Azilal	470	1,299,536	0.04%
Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz	3,248	2,765,908	0.12%
Taza-Al Hoceima-Taounate	186	1,613,315	0.01%
Rabat-Sale-Zemmour-Zaer	2,781	2,136,636	0.13%
Fès-Boulemane	370	1,418,475	0.03%
Laayoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra	86,926	219,505	39.60%
Oued Ed-Dahab-Lagouira	13,501	64,163	21.04%
Grand Casablanca	1,778	3,306,334	0.05%
Tangier-Tetouan	329	2,205,457	0.01%
Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hssen	526	1,655,852	0.03%
Chaouia-Ouardigha	617	1,478,605	0.04%
Doukkala-Abda	508	1,768,150	0.03%
Morocco	194,742	26,755,605	0.73%

Foreign languages

Further information: Maghreb French and African French

At the time of the French protectorate of Morocco, French was the official language of administration and education. Since independence, Morocco, like other countries of the Maghreb, has undertaken a policy of Arabization. Nonetheless, French remains an important language in Morocco, where it competes with/complements Standard Arabic as the language of written expression and of higher education.

About 5 million Moroccans speak Spanish. English, while still far behind French and Spanish in terms of the number of speakers, is rapidly becoming the second foreign language of choice among educated youth, after French. As a result of national education reforms entering into force in late 2002, English will be taught in all public schools from the fourth year on.

See also

• Berber languages
• Arabic
• Moroccan Arabic
• Morocco
• Languages of Algeria
• Languages of Mauritania
• Languages of Spain