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I thought that Riffian, Shilha, Tuareg, etc. were separate languages rather than dialects. Most websites seem to mention them as separate languages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berber_languagesThey comprise a group of closely related languages spoken by the Berbers, who are indigenous to North Africa.[3] The languages were traditionally written with the ancient Libyco-Berber script, which now exists in the form of Tifinagh.[4]
Glottolog and Ethnologue also list consider the speech varieties of Amazigh to be separate languages rather than dialects.
But anyways, what Amazigh dialect/language did people from your region speak before Arabization?
As far as I know, there are multiple Amazigh languages spoken in Morocco, but there is only one standardized variety that is officially recognized, taught in schools, used in signs, etc. and the name of that language is Central Atlas Tamazight with its standardized form being called "Standard Moroccan Berber".I hope they will get more attention by our politicians and why not gradually replacing darija but I doubt that would happen. Also 40% of the population can speak it so it's not a small minority and it's a recognized and official language so our situation is better than in other countries like algeria or tunisia for example
So if this is true, it means that the other Amazigh languages have no status and non-Central Atlas Moroccans are learning an Amazigh language not native to their region, right?
Its true that it was part of Morocco before Western Europeans came, but it had a distinct identity to Morocco before Morocco conquered it. So I don't think its accurate to say it was always Moroccan.Western Sahara is moroccan and has always been moroccan. Any historian will tell you the truth and this border between western sahara and morocco is a fake one designed during the colonial era to separate french and spanish possessions. Even mauritania belonged to morocco before it's a recent country. Here a map of Morocco in 1891 before the french protectorate : https://imgur.com/A1d9QPm
The Western Sahara was part of the same region as modern "Mauritania" historically speaking. Arab geographers grouped them together as one region under the name Shinqit or Bilad Shinqit.
Both Western Sahara and Mauritania spoke the same dialect of Arabic (along with parts from neighboring countries) called Hassaniya Arabic:
Both Western Sahara and Mauritania spoke the same Amazigh language called Zenaga prior to Arabization whereas Morocco spoke Zenati and Atlas (Shilha-related) languages prior to Arabization. That's why Western Sahara and Mauritania both speak the same dialect of Arabic today.
Thanks for answering, don't have any comments to make on the other questions.
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