Eastern Middle Atlas Berber

Eastern Middle Atlas Berber
Tmazight, Tamazight
Native to	Morocco
Region	Central Morocco: Middle Atlas
Native speakers	150,000–200,000 (2013, est.)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Berber Northern Berber Zenati Eastern Middle Atlas Berber
Dialects	Ayt Seghrushen Ayt Warayn etc.
Writing system	Tifinagh, Arabic, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None
Eastern Middle Atlas Berber

Eastern Middle Atlas Berber is a cluster of Berber dialects spoken in the eastern and north-eastern parts of the Middle Atlas, in Morocco. These dialects are those of the tribes of Aït Seghrushen, Aït Waraïn, Marmusha, Aït Alaham, Aït Yub and Aït Morghi.^[2][3][4]

Despite the fact that they are mutually intelligible with the neighboring Central Atlas dialects and are generally classified among them, these dialects actually belong to the Zenata dialectal family and are a kind on intermediate dialects between the north-eastern (Riffian) and central (Atlas) varieties of Berber.^[5][1][6]

Among these Zenati dialects, those of Aït Seghrouchen and Aït Waraïn were subject to most studies, while only a few studies were focused on the dialects of Aït Alaham and Marmusha, and practically none focused on the dialects of Aït Yub and Aït Morghi.

References

1. M. Kossmann, The Arabic Influence on Northern Berber, pp.20-22 (Brill, 2013)
2. Annales de géographie: bulletin de la Société de géographie, Volume 33, p.275 (A. Colin, 1924)
3. J. Bourrilly, Éléments d'éthnographie marocaine, p.42 (Larose, 1932)
4. G. S. Colin, Carte linguistique du Maroc (1934)
5. Revue d'ethnographie et des traditions populaires, Volume 2, p.68 (Société française d'ethnographie, 1921)
6. M. Kossmann, Berber subclassification (preliminary version, unpublished), pp.2-3