Latin-based notation of Berber: assessment, proposals and prospects

Study day organized by the Langues et Cultures du Nord de l'Afrique et Diasporas (LACNAD) research team.
Couverture de l'ouvrage "Notation à base latine du berbère"
Notation usuelle à base latine du berbère © CRB‎

The dissemination of the "proposals for the usual Latin-based notation of Berber", born of an international meeting held at Inalco under the impetus of Salem Chaker in 1996, came at an opportune moment: Firstly, Amazigh (Berber) language departments had been opened at two universities in Kabylia in 1990 and 1991. Secondly, the teaching of Berber in Kabylia in particular had just been introduced into the national education system, following a major civil society movement (demonstrations, school boycotts, etc.), even though there was no official Berber language development, let alone a more or less stable writing system. Remember that Berber still had no recognized status.

These "proposals" were the fruit of workshops held in the early 90s at Inalco by the CRB (Berber research center, now part of LACNAD) and were already circulating more or less throughout France, Kabylia and other countries. They are the latest milestone in a long chain of proposals and uses since the 40s, by various authors: academics, missionaries, activists, in Kabylia.

With the various political developments in North African countries since the 90s, and the "intensive" use of the written word (academic and scholastic on the one hand, literary on the other) after centuries of marginalization, it was time to take stock of the use of this "usual notation" :

  • Evaluation of its use in universities, education, in literature,
  • Evaluation of its adaptations, modifications,
  • Perspectives, Proposals: improvements, points still left unresolved, elements of spelling not yet addressed.

Program

9h-9h30: welcome of participants

9h30-10h: Salem Chaker - "La notation usuelle du berbère: une lente maturation à parachever"

10h-10h30: Kamal Naït Zerad - "Evolutions du système d'écriture du berbère : quelques points de repères"

10h30-11h : Abdallah Boumalk - "Transparence syntaxique : jusqu'où l'on peut appliquer en graphie ?"

11am-11:30am: Coffee break

11:30am-12pm: Salem Djemai - "Evaluation of modifications and adaptations carried out in Algeria on the usual Latin-based notion within the university and public school"

12am-12:30pm: Mohand Tilmatine - "La transcription des occlusives : observations sur une pratique courante en rifain"

12h30-13h : Débat

13h-14h30 : Déjeuner

14h30-15h : Mohand Anaris - "Réflexion sur les choix de notation dans l'oeuvre d'Amar Mezdad"

3:00-3:30pm: Mustapha El Adak - "A propos du débat sur la notation du tarifit: essai de bilan"

3:30-4:00pm: Ourida Aït Mimoune - "Analysis of Latin-based notation in dissertations and theses in Kabylia"

4:00-4:30 pm: Debate

4:30-5:00 pm: Coffee break

5:00-6:00 pm: Round table: assessment and perspectives