Amazigh Language
The indigenous people of Morocco have spoken a local dialect of Berber/Amazigh for about the last 2000 years. Recent efforts to create one, standardized, literary form has led to the creation of the Amazigh language, which was constitutionally recognized as an official language in 2011. In 2001, the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture was founded in Rabat, which leads all studies of Amazigh Culture. In Morocco, there are three main dialects of Amazigh: Tashelhit, Tamazight, and Tarifit.
Though Amazigh dialects are on a continuum and generally considered mutually intelligible, the dialects of Amazigh can vary from town-to-town. These Berber languages do become confusing, because they often have multiple names and it becomes hard to keep track of which is which, so let’s explore what we mean when we talk about Amazigh Languages in Morocco.
Moroccan Darija
Moroccan Arabic, also known as Darija, is the dialect of Arabic spoken in Morocco. It is very similar to the dialects spoken in Algeria, Mauritania, and Tunisia, but differs greatly from dialects spoken further east, in countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, and the Gulf countries.
Because Morocco has been ruled by many different governments and empires over time – including its colonization by the French and Spanish in the twentieth century – Darija has mixed influences. While its base is Arabic, Darija contains Amazigh (the native “Berber” languages), French, and Spanish. Basic phrases like thank you, hello, how are you? are the same as their native Arabic roots. But the Darija word for cheese, for example, is fromage – like French. And the Darija word for wheel is rueda, like Spanish.
Hassaniya Language
Hassānīya (Arabic: حسانية Ḥassānīya; also known as Hassaniyya, Klem El Bithan, Hassani, Hassaniya, and Maure) is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic spoken by Mauritanian Arabs and the Sahrawi. It was spoken by the Beni Ḥassān Bedouin tribes, who extended their authority over most of Mauritania and Morocco’s southeastern and Western Sahara between the 15th and 17th centuries. Hassānīya Arabic was the language spoken in the pre-modern region around Chinguetti.
The language has completely replaced the Berber languages that were originally spoken in this region. Although clearly a western dialect, Hassānīya is relatively distant from other Maghrebi variants of Arabic. Its geographical location exposed it to influence from Zenaga-Berber and Wolof. There are several dialects of Hassānīya, which differ primarily phonetically. Today, Hassānīya is spoken in Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Senegal.
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