Editing Berber languages (section)

==Orthography==
{{Main|Berber orthography}}[[File:Prehistory-draa16.jpg|thumb|Ancient [[Tifinagh|Libyco-Berber]] inscriptions in [[Zagora, Morocco|Zagora]], Morocco|left]]Berber languages are primarily oral languages without a major written component.<ref name="Campbell-2012b">{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=George L. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/810078009 |title=The Routledge handbook of scripts and alphabets |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |others=Christopher Moseley |isbn=978-0-203-86548-4 |edition=2nd |location=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon |pages=58–59 |oclc=810078009 |access-date=20 March 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306014329/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/810078009 |url-status=live }}</ref> Historically, they were written with the [[Libyco-Berber alphabet|Libyco-Berber script]]. Early uses of the script have been found on [[Mount Adad Madani|rock art]] and in various sepulchres; the oldest known variations of the script dates to inscriptions in [[Dougga|Dugga]] from 600 BC.<ref name="Campbell-2012b"/><ref name="Mitchell-2013">{{Cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fY0eAAAAQBAJ&dq=libyco-berber+cyrenaica&pg=PA766 |title=The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology |last2=Lane |first2=Paul |date=2013-07-04 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-956988-5 |pages=766 |language=en |access-date=20 March 2023 |archive-date=20 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320014901/https://books.google.com/books?id=fY0eAAAAQBAJ&dq=libyco-berber+cyrenaica&pg=PA766 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Briggs |first1=L. Cabot |date=February 1957 |title=A Review of the Physical Anthropology of the Sahara and Its Prehistoric Implications |journal=Man |volume=56 |pages=20–23 |doi=10.2307/2793877 |jstor=2793877}}</ref> Usage of this script, in the form of [[Tifinagh]], has continued into the present day among the [[Tuareg people]].<ref name="Elmedlaoui-2012a">{{Cite book |last=Elmedlaoui |first=Mohamed |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |title=Semitic and Afroasiatic : challenges and opportunities |date=2012 |publisher=Harrassowitz |others=Lutz Edzard |isbn=978-3-447-06695-2 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=139–141 |chapter=Berber |oclc=793573735 |access-date=7 January 2023 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115194522/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/793573735 |url-status=live }}</ref> Following the spread of [[Islam]], some Berber scholars also utilized the [[Arabic script]].<ref name="sec14">{{Cite journal |last=Ben-Layashi |first=Samir |title=Secularism in the Moroccan Amazigh Discourse |year=2007 |journal=The Journal of North African Studies |volume=12 |issue=2 |publisher=Routledge |url=http://www.dayan.org/articles/Sl_Amazigh.pdf|accessdate=December 19, 2009 |issn=1362-9387 |doi=10.1080/13629380701201741 |pages=153–171 |s2cid=143728476 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923045709/http://www.dayan.org/articles/Sl_Amazigh.pdf |archive-date=September 23, 2010}}{{rp|166}}</ref> The [[Berber Latin alphabet]] was developed following the introduction of the Latin script in the nineteenth century by the West.<ref name="Elmedlaoui-2012a" /> The nineteenth century also saw the development of Neo-Tifinagh, an adaptation of Tuareg Tifinagh for use with other Berber languages.<ref name="Campbell-2012b"/><ref name="Aïtel-2014">{{Cite book |last=Aïtel |first=Fazia |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/895334326 |title=We are Imazigen : the development of Algerian Berber identity in twentieth-century literature and culture |date=2014 |isbn=978-0-8130-4895-6 |location=Gainesville, FL |pages=115–116 |oclc=895334326 |access-date=20 March 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306014407/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/895334326 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Maddy-Weitzman-2011c">{{Cite book |last=Maddy-Weitzman |first=Bruce |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/741751261 |title=The Berber identity movement and the challenge to North African states |date=2011 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-73478-4 |edition=1st |location=Austin |pages=75 |oclc=741751261 |access-date=20 March 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306014339/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/741751261 |url-status=live }}</ref>

There are now three writing systems in use for Berber languages: Tifinagh, the Arabic script, and the [[Berber Latin alphabet]], with the Latin alphabet being the most widely used today.<ref name="choice">{{cite journal| last = Larbi| first = Hsen| title = Which Script for Tamazight, Whose Choice is it ?| journal = Amazigh Voice (Taghect Tamazight)| volume = 12| issue = 2| year = 2003| publisher = Amazigh Cultural Association in America (ACAA)| location = New Jersey| url = http://www.tamazgha.fr/Which-Script-for-Tamazight-Whose-Choice-is-it,359.html| access-date = December 17, 2009| archive-date = 7 September 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170907212936/http://www.tamazgha.fr/Which-Script-for-Tamazight-Whose-Choice-is-it,359.html| url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="Silverstein-2004" />