Kabyle language
Kabyle (/kəˈbaɪl/) or Kabylian (/kəˈbɪliən/; native name: Taqbaylit [θɐqβæjlɪθ] ) is a Berber language (tamazight)[5] spoken by the Kabyle people in the north and northeast of Algeria. It is spoken primarily in Kabylia, east of the capital Algiers and in Algiers itself, but also by various groups near Blida, such as the Beni Salah and Beni Bou Yaqob.
Not to be confused with Kabiye language or Khabi language.Distribution[edit]
Geographical distribution[edit]
Kabyle Berber is native to Kabylia. It is present in seven Algerian districts. Approximately one-third of Algerians are Berber-speakers, clustered mostly near Algiers, in Kabylian and Shawi, but with some communities related to Kabyle in the west (Shenwa languages), east and south of the country.[1] The populations of Béjaïa (Bgayet), Bouïra (Tubirett) and Tizi Ouzou (Tizi Wezzu) provinces are in majority Kabyle-speaking. In addition, Kabyle is mainly spoken in the provinces of Boumerdès, and as well as in Bordj Bou Arréridj, Jijel, and in Algiers where it coexists with Algerian Arabic.
Kabyle Berber is also spoken as a native language among the Algerian Kabyle-descended diaspora in European and North American cities (mainly France). It is estimated that half of Kabyles live outside the Kabylian region.
Number of speakers[edit]
French ethnologist Camille Lacoste-Dujardin estimates four million Kabyle speakers in 2001 in Algeria.[11] According to the International Encyclopedia of Linguistics there were 2.5 million speakers in Kabylia in 2003 out of 3.1 million worldwide.[12] In 2004, Canadian linguist Jacques Leclerc (linguist) estimated that there were 3.1 million Kabyle speakers in Algeria (9.4% of the total Algerian population)[1] and 500,000 in France.[13] Salem Chaker estimated there were 5.5 million speakers in 2004, including 3 to 3.5 in Kabylia.[14] The Encyclopædia Universalis gives 7 million Kabyle speakers.[15][16] The French Ministry of Culture estimated there were one million Kabyle speakers in France in 2013.[17] Linguist Matthias Brenzinger estimates the number of Kabyle speakers in Algeria at between 2.5 to 3 million in 2015.[18] Bruce Maddy-Weitzman's 2018 estimate is more than 5 million Kabyle speakers in Kabylie.[19][20] Linguist Asya Pereltsvaig gives 5.6 million Kabyle speakers worldwide in 2020, mostly in Algeria.[21] In 2021, Amina Mettouchi, professor of Berber linguistics, estimated the number of speakers at five million worldwide and more than three million in Algeria.[22] In 2022, according to Ethnologue there were 7.5 million speakers worldwide, including 6.4 million in Algeria.[2]