Кабиль тілі: Алжирдің солтүстік аймағының бербер тілі

Berber language of northern Algeria

Kabyle (/k//ə/'/b//aɪ//l/) or Kabylian (/k//ə/'/b//ɪ//l//i//ən/; native name: Taqbaylit ) is a Berber language (tamazight) spoken by the Kabyle people in the north and northeast of Algeria. It is spoken primarily in Kabylia, east of the capital Algiers and in Algiers itself, but also by various groups near Blida, such as the Beni Salah and Beni Bou Yaqob. Estimating the number of Berber speakers is very difficult and figures are often contested. A 2004 estimate was that 9.4% of the population speaks Kabyle. The diaspora population has been estimated at one million.

Kabyle is one of the Berber languages, a family within the Afroasiatic languages. It is believed to have broken off very early from Proto Berber, although after the Zenaga language did so.

Kabyle Berber is native to Kabylia. It is present in seven Algerian districts. Approximately one third of Algerians are Berber speakers, clustered mostly near Algiers, in Kabylian and Shawi, but with some communities related to Kabyle in the west (Shenwa languages), east and south of the country. The populations of Béjaïa (Bgayet), Bouïra (Tubirett) and Tizi Ouzou (Tizi Wezzu) provinces are in majority Kabyle speaking. In addition, Kabyle is mainly spoken in the provinces of Boumerdès, and as well as in Bordj Bou Arréridj, Jijel, and in Algiers where it coexists with Algerian Arabic. Kabyle Berber is also spoken as a native language among the Algerian Kabyle descended diaspora in European and North American cities (mainly France). It is estimated that half of Kabyles live outside the Kabylian region.

French ethnologist fr estimates four million Kabyle speakers in 2001 in Algeria. According to the International Encyclopedia of Linguistics there were 2.5 million speakers in Kabylia in 2003 out of 3.1 million worldwide. In 2004, Canadian linguist Jacques Leclerc (linguiste) estimated that there were 3.1 million Kabyle speakers in Algeria (9.4% of the total Algerian population) Salem Chaker estimated there were 5.5 million speakers in 2004, including 3 to 3.5 in Kabylia. The Encyclopædia Universalis gives 7 million Kabyle speakers. The French Ministry of Culture estimated there were one million Kabyle speakers in France in 2013. Linguist Matthias Brenzinger estimates the number of Kabyle speakers in Algeria at between 2.5 to 3 million in 2015. Bruce Maddy Weitzman's 2018 estimate is more than 5 million Kabyle speakers in Kabylie. Linguist Asya Pereltsvaig gives 5.6 million Kabyle speakers worldwide in 2020, mostly in Algeria. In 2021, Amina Mettouchi, professor of Berber linguistics, estimated the number of speakers at five million worldwide and more than three million in Algeria. In 2022, according to Ethnologue there were 7.5 million speakers worldwide, including 6.4 million in Algeria.

With the exception of the far eastern dialect, much of the vocabulary of Kabyle is common across its dialects, though some lexical differences exist, e. g. the word dream in English (from west to east): bargu, argu, argu, bureg.

Almost all Berber speakers are multilingual, in Arabic and often also in French. Kabyle is still strong in villages but Kabyles are increasingly shifting to Arabic in cities. A 2013 study found that 54% of Kabyles living in Oran spoke Arabic to their siblings.

After the 2001–02 widespread Kabyle protests known as the Black Spring, the Berber (Amazigh) language (with all its Algerian dialects and varieties) was recognized as a 'national language' in the 2002 Algerian Constitution, but not as an 'official language' until 2016 after a long campaign by activists. French is not recognized in any legal document of Algeria but enjoys a de facto position of an official language as it is used in every Algerian official administration or institution, at all levels of the government, sometimes much more than Arabic. The Berber (Amazigh) language faces an unfavourable environment, despite a public radio in Algeria (Channel II, which dates back to 1925), as well as a public TV channel in Morocco (Channel IV or Tamazight TV). Since private ownership of TV channels is illegal in Algeria, Kabyles have launched a private Kabyle speaking TV channel, called Berbère Television, that broadcasts from France. In 1994, Kabyle pupils and students boycotted Algerian schools for a year, demanding the officialization of Berber, leading to the symbolic creation of the "Haut commissariat à l'amazighité" (HCA) in 1995. Berber was subsequently taught as a non compulsory language in Berber speaking areas. The course being optional, few people attend. The Kabyle school boycott also resulted in the first recognition of Amazigh as a national language in November 1996. President Bouteflika has frequently stated that "Amazigh (the Berber language) will never be an official language, and if it has to be a national language, it must be submitted to a referendum". In 2005, President Bouteflika, stated that "there is no country in the world with two official languages" and "this will never be the case of Algeria". Nevertheless, after four decades of pacific struggle, riots, strikes, and social mobilization, including the Berber spring (1980, riots and strikes in the Kabylie region of Tizi Ouzou, Bouira and Bejaïa, as well as Algiers) and the Black Spring in 2001, President Bouteflika and his government recognized Amazigh (Berber) as a "national language" for the second time through a 2002 constitutional amendment. In February 2016, the Algerian constitution passed a resolution that made Berber an official language alongside Arabic.

The phonemes below reflect the pronunciation of Kabyle.

In the Kabyle language there are various accents which are the result of assimilations (these accents are generally divided into western and eastern Kabyle). Some of these assimilations are present among all Kabyle "dialects" and some not. These assimilations are not noted in writing, such as:

Axxam n wergaz ("the house of the man") is pronounced either "axxam n wergaz", "axxam bb wergaz" or "axxam pp wergaz". (N+W=BB)
D taqcict ("it's a girl") is pronounced "tsaqcict". (D+T=TS)
Here is a list of some of these assimilations: D/T+T=TS, N+W=BB/PP, I+Y=IG. Gemination affects the quality of certain consonants, turning semivowels and fricatives into stops; in particular, geminated ɣ becomes qq, geminated y becomes gg, and geminated w becomes bb.

In Moulieras (Auguste), Les fourberies de Si Djeh'a. Note: the predicative particle d was translated as "it. is", the particle of direction d was translated as "here".