Ghomara language

Ghomara
Native toMorocco
RegionChefchaouen Province
EthnicityGhomara
Native speakers
10,000 (2008)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3gho
Glottologghom1257
ELPGhomara
  Ghomara Berber

The Ghomara language is a Northern Berber language spoken in Morocco. It is the mother tongue of the Ghomara Berbers, who total around 10,000 people. Ghomara Berber is spoken on the western edge of the Rif, among the Beni Bu Zra and Beni Mansur tribes of the Ghomara confederacy. Despite being listed as endangered, it is still being passed on to children in these areas.[4]

Ghomara Berber is relatively similar to Senhadja de Srair Berber spoken around Ketama. However, it is difficult to understand for a speaker of Rifian.

Some typical features that distinguish the Ghomara variety of Berber from Rifian Berber are the use of the preposition dar instead of the Rifian ghar, the feminine plural ending -an instead of -in, and the absence of spirantisation in word-initial position.

  1. ^ Jamal El Hannouche, Arabic influence in Ghomara Berber, 2010
  2. ^ Maarten Kossmann, Berber subclassification (preliminary version), Leiden (2011)
  3. ^ Sebastian Nordhoff et al., "Ghomara", in: Glottolog 2.2, Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (2013)
  4. ^ "Did you know Ghomara is threatened?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2017-07-19.