| Judeo-Berber | |
| Also Known As: | Judeo-Shilha |
| Region: | Israel |
| Speakers: | none L2 speakers: |
| Date: | 2018 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Afro-Asiatic |
| Fam2: | Berber |
| Fam3: | Northern |
| Fam4: | Atlas |
| Fam5: | Shilha |
| Script: | Hebrew alphabet (generally not written) |
| Iso3: | jbe |
| Glotto: | spurious |
| Glotto2: | jude1262 |
| Glottorefname2: | Judeo-Berber |
| Map: | Judeo Berber map.svg |
| Mapcaption: | Map of Judeo Berber speaking communities in the first half of the 20th century |
Judeo-Berber or Judeo-Amazigh (Berber languages: ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵏ ⵡⵓⴷⴰⵢⵏ tamazight n wudayen, berberit yehudit) is any of several hybrid Berber varieties traditionally spoken as a second language in Berber Jewish communities of central and southern Morocco, and perhaps earlier in Algeria. Judeo-Berber is (or was) a contact language; the first language of speakers was Judeo-Arabic.[1] (There were also Jews who spoke Berber as their first language, but not a distinct Jewish variety.)[1] Speakers immigrated to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s. While mutually comprehensible with the Tamazight spoken by most inhabitants of the area (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:14), these varieties are distinguished by the use of Hebrew loanwords and the pronunciation of š as s (as in many Jewish Moroccan Arabic dialects).
According to a 1936 survey, approximately 145,700 of Morocco's 161,000 Jews spoke a variety of Berber, 25,000 of whom were reportedly monolingual in the language.[2]
Communities in Morocco where Jews spoke Judeo-Berber included: Tinghir, Ouijjane, Asaka, Imini, Draa valley, Demnate and Ait Bou Oulli in the Tamazight-speaking Middle Atlas and High Atlas and Oufrane, Tiznit and Illigh in the Tashelhiyt-speaking Souss valley (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:2). Jews were living among tribal Berbers, often in the same villages and practiced old tribal Berber protection relationships.
Almost all speakers of Judeo-Berber left Morocco in the years following its independence, and their children have mainly grown up speaking other languages. In 1992, about 2,000 speakers remained, mainly in Israel; all are at least bilingual in Judeo-Arabic.
Judeo-Berber is characterized by the following phonetic phenomena:[1]
Apart from its daily use, Judeo-Berber was used for orally explaining religious texts, and only occasionally written, using Hebrew characters; a manuscript Pesah Haggadah written in Judeo-Berber has been reprinted (Galand-Pernet et al. 1970.) A few prayers, like the Benedictions over the Torah, were recited in Berber.[3]
Taken from Galand-Pernet et al. 1970:121 (itself from a manuscript from Tinghir):