The languages of Morocco are classical Arabic as an official language (it is the "classical" Arabic of the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
, literature and news media), also the country has a distinctive dialect of Arabic known as
Moroccan ArabicMoroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco, as opposed to the official communications of government and other public bodies which use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries, while a mixture of French and Moroccan...
or Darija. Approximately 19 million Moroccans speak Berber — which exists in Morocco in three different dialects (Tarifit, Tashelhit, and Tamazight) — either as a first language or bilingually with the spoken Arabic dialect.
| Languages of Morocco |
| Official language |
Literary Arabic Standard Arabic or Literary Arabic is the standard and literary variety of Arabic used in writing and in formal speech...
|
| Major native language |
Moroccan Arabic Moroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco, as opposed to the official communications of government and other public bodies which use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries, while a mixture of French and Moroccan...
|
| Origin languages |
Berber dialectsThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
(Tarifit, Tachelhit, Central Morocco TamazightCentral Morocco Tamazight is a Berber language[Alternatively Central Morocco Tamazight is a language in the Berber language family...]
) |
Main foreignA foreign language is a language not spoken by the people of a certain place: for example, not only English but also Late Old Japanese is a foreign language in Japan. It is also a language not spoken in the native country of the person referred to, i.e. an English speaker living in Japan can say...
/second languageA second language is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue . Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas....
s |
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
, (SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
) |
The languages of Morocco are classical Arabic as an official language (it is the "classical" Arabic of the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
, literature and news media), also the country has a distinctive dialect of Arabic known as
Moroccan ArabicMoroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco, as opposed to the official communications of government and other public bodies which use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries, while a mixture of French and Moroccan...
or Darija. Approximately 19 million Moroccans speak Berber — which exists in Morocco in three different dialects (Tarifit, Tashelhit, and Tamazight) — either as a first language or bilingually with the spoken Arabic dialect.
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
, which remains Morocco's unofficial
second languageA second language is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue . Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas....
, is taught universally and still serves as Morocco's primary language of commerce and economics; it is also widely used in education and government. Morocco is a member of
La FrancophonieLa Francophonie, or the Francophonie, is an international organization of polities and governments with French as the mother or customary language, wherein a significant proportion of people are francophones or where there is a notable affiliation with the French language or culture.Formally known...
. Amazigh (Berber) activists have struggled for half a century for the recognition of their language as the official language of Morocco in the Moroccan constitution. They also demand that this language should be taught in all Moroccan schools and universities.
Arabic
Arabic is Morocco's only official language although it is the Moroccan dialect of Arabic, namely Darija that is spoken or understood, frequently as a second language, by the great majority of the population (about 85% of the total population).
Berbers
The exact population of Berber speakers is hard to ascertain, since most North African countries do not record language data in their censuses. The Ethnologue provides a useful academic starting point; however, its bibliographic references are inadequate, and it rates its own accuracy at only B-C for the area. Early colonial censuses may provide better documented figures for some countries; however, these are also very much out of date. It is generally assumed that at least 55-70% of the Moroccan population, maybe more, are native Berber speakers. The number for each dialect is difficult to estimate. The Tashelhiyt dialect is considered to be the most widely spoken, as it covers the whole of the Region
Souss-Massa-DraâSouss-Massa-Draâ is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in central Morocco. It covers an area of 70,880 km² and has a population of 3,113,653 . The capital is Agadir. One of the major languages spoken in this region of Morocco, along with Moroccan Arabic and a minor amount...
, which has around 5.1 million inhabitants, and is also widespread in the
Marrakech-Tensift-El HaouzMarrakech-Tensift-El Haouz is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in central Morocco. It covers an area of 31,160 km² and has a population of 3,102,652...
region, which has also 6.1 million inhabitants. In addition, numerous Berber families from the south settle specifically in the "economic axis" of
CasablancaCasablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean...
and
RabatRabat , population 2 million , is the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco. It is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region....
, so an estimate of at least 6 million speakers might seem acceptable. The
Central Morocco TamazightCentral Morocco Tamazight is a Berber language[Alternatively Central Morocco Tamazight is a language in the Berber language family...]
dialect covers the whole of
Tadla-AzilalTadla-Azilal is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in central Morocco. It covers an area of 17,125 km² and has a population of 1,450,519 . The capital is Beni Mellal....
(4.45 million inhabitants), parts of
Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-ZaerRabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in north-western Morocco. It covers an area of 9,580 km², and has a population of 2,366,494...
(4.3 million) and the biggest part of
Meknes-TafilaletMeknès-Tafilalet is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in north-central Morocco, bordering Algeria. It covers an area of 79,210 km² and has a population of 2,141,527...
(3.1 million); a figure of at least 6.5-7 million could be considered. Tarifit is spoken in the
Taza-Al Hoceima-TaounateTaza-Al Hoceima-Taounate is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in northern Morocco. It covers an area of 24,155 km² and has a population of 1,807,113 . The capital is ALHOCEIMA]....
region (4.8 million inhabitants), and partially in the
OrientalNot to be confused with the "Oriental Region", a part of AsiaOriental is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in north-eastern Morocco, bordering Algeria and Spanish Melilla. It covers an area of 82,900 km² and has a population of 1,918,094...
(1.9 million inhabitants) and to a lesser extent in the
Tangier-TétouanTangier-Tétouan is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in north-western Morocco. It covers an area of 11,570 km² and has a population of 2,470,372...
region (4.4 million inhabitants]], so a figure of at 4.5-5 million seems plausible. That would result in 18-23 million speakers or around 60% of the total population. Berber families who settled in cities like Fes, Tanger or Kenitra, generally considered as Arabic-speaking territories, might add to that figure.
"Few census figures are available; all countries (Algeria and Morocco included) do not count Berber languages. The 1972 Niger census reported Tuareg, with other languages, at 127,000 speakers. Population shifts in location and number, effects of urbanization and education in other languages, etc., make estimates difficult. In 1952 A. Basset (LLB.4) estimated the number of Berberophones at 5,500,000. Between 1968 and 1978 estimates ranged from eight to thirteen million (as reported by Galand, LELB 56, pp. 107, 123-25); Voegelin and Voegelin (1977, p. 297) call eight million a conservative estimate. In 1980, S. Chaker estimated that the Berberophone populations of Kabylie and the three Moroccan groups numbered more than one million each; and that in Algeria, 3,650,000, or one out of five Algerians, speak a Berber language (Chaker 1984, pp. 8-
In 1952, André Basset ("La langue berbère", Handbook of African Languages, Part I, Oxford) estimated that a "small majority" of Morocco's population spoke Berber. The 1960 census estimated that 34% of Moroccans spoke Berber, including bi-, tri-, and quadrilinguals. In 2000, Karl Prasse cited "more than half" in an interview conducted by Brahim Karada at Tawalt.com. According to the Ethnologue (by deduction from its Moroccan Arabic figures), the Berber-speaking population is estimated at 65% (1991 and 1995). However, the figures it gives for individual languages only add up to 7.5 million, or about 57%. Most of these are accounted for by three dialects:
Tarifit: 4.5 million (1991)
Tachelhit: 7 million (1998)
Central Morocco Tamazight: 7 million (1998)
This nomenclature is common in linguistic publications, but is significantly complicated by local usage: thus Tachelhit is sub-divided into Tachelhit of the Dra valley, Tasusit (the language of the Souss) and several other (mountain)-dialects. Moreover, linguistic boundaries are blurred, such that certain dialects cannot accurately be described as either Central Morocco Tamazight (spoken in the Central and eastern Atlas area) or Tachelhit. The differences among all Moroccan dialects are not too pronounced: public radio news are broadcast using the different dialects; each journalist speaks his or her own dialect and it is considered that understanding is not obstructed, even though most southern Berbers find Tarifit a little hard to listen to and need getting used to it to understand it.
Foreign languages
About 20,000 Moroccans in the northern part of the country speak
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
.
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
, while still far behind French and Spanish in terms of the number of speakers, is rapidly becoming the second foreign language of choice among educated youth, after French. As a result of national education reforms entering into force in late 2002, English will be taught in all public schools from the fourth year on.
See also
- Arabic
- Moroccan Arabic
Moroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco, as opposed to the official communications of government and other public bodies which use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries, while a mixture of French and Moroccan...
- Moroccan Spanish
Moroccan Spanish is defined as the variation of the Spanish language as spoken in Morocco.-Vocabulary:For further studies see:
http://www.lingref.com/cpp/wss/2/paper1147.pdf Ruth Scipione and Lotfi Sayahi: "Consonantal Variation of Spanish in Northern Morocco"...
- Berber dialects
The Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
- Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
- Languages of Algeria
The official language of Algeria is Arabic, as specified in its constitution since 1963. In addition to this, Berber has been recognized as a "national language" by constitutional amendment since May 8, 2002. Between them, these two languages are the native languages of over 99% of Algerians,...