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Concept information

Preferred term

ghoGhomara  

Type

  • Language

Definition

  • The language of the Ghomara is a Northern Berber language spoken by at least 10,000 people in Morocco near Tetouan and Chaouen. While included in the Zenati subgroup by some sources (such as the Ethnologue), it is probably more closely related to southern Moroccan languages, such as Central Atlas Tamazight and Shilha. Ghomara Berber is spoken on the western edge of the Rif in Morocco. Contrary to the Ethnologue, it is not extinct; Peter Behnstedt reports that it is spoken in at least the douar of Amtiqan and its immediate neighborhood, just west of Oued Ouringa. However, it is spoken by only a small minority of the Ghomara; even in 1931, according to Carleton Coon, only one of their eight tribes, the Beni Bu Zra, continued to speak it. It is relatively similar to the so-called Senhadja de Srair Berber varieties, spoken around Ketama, but s probably difficult to understand for a speaker of the mainstream dialects of Riff.

Entry terms

  • Ghomara language

ISO 639-3 code

  • gho

Notation

  • gho

In other languages

  • Ghomara

    German

URI

http://lexvo.org/id/iso639-3/gho

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