Tamajeq Tayart
Tamajeq
Native toNiger
RegionSahara
EthnicityTuareg
Native speakers
480,000 (2021)[1]
Dialects
  • Air (Tayiṛt)
  • Tanassfarwat (Tamagarast)
Latin
Tifinagh
Language codes
ISO 639-3thz
Glottologtaya1257

Air Tamajeq (Tayiṛt) is a variety of Tuareg. It is spoken by the Tuareg people inhabiting the Aïr Mountains of the Agadez Region in Niger.

Ethnologue lists two dialects: Air (Tayert) and Tanassfarwat (Tamagarast/Tamesgrest). Blench (2006) considers these two varieties to be distinct languages. He lists Ingal and Gofat as dialects of Air/Tayirt and Azerori as a dialect of Tamesgrest.

Phonology

Vowels

Short Vowels
Front Central Back
High i ə u
Mid e ă o
Low a
Phonetic vowel sounds
Oral Pharyngealized
Front Central Back Front Central Back
High [i] [ɨ ~ ə] [u] [ɪˤ] [ɜˤ] [ʊˤ]
Mid [ɪ ~ e] [ɜ ~ ɐ] [ʊ ~ o] [ɛˤ ~ æˤ] [ɐˤ ~ aˤ] [ɔˤ]
Low [æ ~ a] [aˤ ~ ɑˤ]

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palato-
alveolar
Velar Uvular Glottal
plain phar. plain phar. plain phar.
Plosive voiceless t (tˤ) (č) [tʃ] k q
voiced b d (ǧ) [dʒ] g
Fricative voiceless f (fˤ) s (sˤ) š [ʃ] χ h
voiced z ž [ʒ] ʁ
Nasal m (mˤ) n (nˤ) ŋ
Lateral l (ɫ)
Trill r (rˤ)
Approximant w y [j]
  • Sounds [tʃ] and [dʒ] mainly occur as allophones of /t/ and /d/ before front vowels. A velar /ŋ/ mainly appears when followed by a labio-velar /w/, or a uvular /q/.[2]

References

  1. Tamajeq Tayart at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. Kossmann, Maarten G. (2011). A Grammar of Ayer Tuareg (Niger). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.



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