Tachelhit

A language of Morocco

Shilha, Soussiya, Southern Shilha, Susiya, Tachelheit, Tachilhit, Tashelheit, Tashelheyt, Tashelhit, Tashilheet, Tashlhiyt, Tasoussit

Autonym

Tašlḥiyt, تشلحيت‎ (tšlḥyt), ⵜⴰⵛⵍⵃⵉⵢⵜ‎ (taclhiyt)

User Population

5,000,000 in Morocco (2017). Total users in all countries: 5,118,000.

Location

Guelmim-Es Semara, Marrakesh-Tensift-Al Haouz, Souss-Massa-Drâa, and Tadla-Azilal regions: coast south to Ifni, north to near Agadir, northeast to Marrakech outskirts, east to Drâa, including Sous valley, and south near the border.

Language Maps

Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara

Language Status

5* (Developing).

Classification

Afro-Asiatic, Berber, Northern, Atlas

Typology

Prepositions; gender (masculine/feminine); case-marking (marked, unmarked); verb affixes mark person, number, gender of subject; tense and aspect; 32 consonant and 3 vowel phonemes.

Language Use

Many also use Moroccan Spoken Arabic [ary], especially men but few women.

Language Development

Literature. Newspapers. Radio. TV. Videos. Dictionary. Grammar. Texts. NT: 2010.

Language Resources

OLAC resources in and about Tachelhit

Writing

Arabic script, Naskh variant [Arab]. Latin script [Latn]. Tifinagh (Berber) script [Tfng], official usage.

Other Comments

‘Shilha’ is the Arabic name for Moroccan Berber varieties in general. Muslim.