Berber orthography is the writing system(s) used to transcribe the Berber languages.
In antiquity, the Libyco-Berber script was utilized to write Berber languages. Early uses of the script have been found on rock art and in various sepulchres.[1] Usage of this script, in the form of Tifinagh, has continued into the present day among the Tuareg people.[2]
Following the spread of Islam, some Berber scholars utilized the Arabic script.[3] Excluding among the Tuareg people, the Arabic script became the dominant form of Berber orthography.[4]
The Berber Latin alphabet was developed following the introduction of the Latin script in the nineteenth century by the West.[2] The nineteenth century also saw the development of Neo-Tifinagh, an adaptation of Tuareg Tifinagh for use with other Berber languages.[5][6][7]
There are now three writing systems in use for Berber languages: Tifinagh, the Arabic script, and the Berber Latin alphabet.[8] Different groups in North Africa have different preferences of writing system, often motivated by ideology and politics.[8] With the exception of one text transcribed in Hebraic square alphabet, no other systems are known to have been used to transcribe the Berber languages.[4]
^Briggs, L. Cabot (February 1957). "A Review of the Physical Anthropology of the Sahara and Its Prehistoric Implications". Man. 56: 20–23. doi:10.2307/2793877. JSTOR2793877.
^ abElmedlaoui, Mohamed (2012). "Berber". In Edzard, Lutz (ed.). Semitic and Afroasiatic: challenges and opportunities. Porta linguarum orientalium. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. pp. 140–141. ISBN978-3-447-06695-2.