Editing Berber languages (section)

== Subclassification ==
With the exception of Zenaga, Tetserret, and Tuareg, the Berber languages form a [[dialect continuum]]. Different linguists take different approaches towards drawing boundaries between languages in this continuum.<ref name="Kossmann-2020b">{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1164662912 |title=The Oxford handbook of African languages |date=2020 |others=Rainer Vossen, Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal, Rainer Vossen, Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal |isbn=978-0-19-960989-5 |edition=First |location=Oxford |pages=281–282 |chapter=Berber |oclc=1164662912 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081721/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1164662912 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Maarten Kossmann]] notes that it is difficult to apply the classic [[tree model]] of historical linguistics towards the Berber languages:<blockquote>[The Berber language family]'s continuous history of convergence and differentiation along new lines makes an definition of branches arbitrary. Moreover, mutual intelligibility and mutual influence render notions such as "split" or "branching" rather difficult to apply except, maybe, in the case of Zenaga and Tuareg.<ref name="Kossmann-2020a">{{Cite book |last=Kossmann |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1164662912 |title=The Oxford handbook of African languages |date=2020 |others=Rainer Vossen, Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal, Rainer Vossen, Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal |isbn=978-0-19-960989-5 |edition=First |location=Oxford |pages=283–285 |chapter=Berber |oclc=1164662912 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526081721/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1164662912 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>Kossmann roughly groups the Berber languages into seven blocks:<ref name="Kossmann-2020a" />

{{tree list}}
* '''Berber'''
** [[Western Berber languages|Western]] (Zenaga, Tetserret)
** [[Tuareg languages|Tuareg]]
** Western Moroccan
*** southwestern and central Moroccan languages (Tashelhiyt, most of Central Atlas Tamazight)
*** northwestern Moroccan languages (Ghomara, Senhadja de Sraïr)
** Zenatic (a dialect continuum stretching from eastern Morocco to the [[Siwa Oasis]])
** Kabyle
** Ghadames
** Awjila
{{tree list/end}}

The Zenatic block is typically divided into the [[Zenati languages|Zenati]] and [[Eastern Berber languages|Eastern Berber]] branches, due to the marked difference in features at each end of the continuum.<ref name="König-2008" /><ref name="Kossmann-2020a" /><ref name="Blažek-2010">{{Cite journal |last=Blažek |first=Václav |date=2010 |title=On the Classification of Berber |journal=Folia Orientalia |volume=Neuveden |issue=47 |issn=0015-5675}}</ref> Otherwise, subclassifications by different linguists typically combine various blocks into different branches. Western Moroccan languages, Zenati languages, Kabyle, and Ghadames may be grouped under [[Northern Berber languages|Northern Berber]]; Awjila is often included as an Eastern Berber language alongside Siwa, Sokna, and El Foqaha. These approaches divide the Berber languages into Northern, Southern (Tuareg), Eastern, and Western varieties.<ref name="König-2008" /><ref name="Blažek-2010" />