Tuareg languages
Encyclopedia
Tuareg ˈtwɑrɛɡ is a Berber
language or family of very closely related languages and dialects spoken by the Tuareg Berbers, in large parts of Mali
, Niger
, Algeria
, Libya
and Burkina Faso
, with a few speakers, the Kinnin, in Chad
.
loanword
s than most Berber languages. They are traditionally written in the indigenous Tifinagh
alphabet; however, the Arabic alphabet
is commonly used in some areas (and has been since medieval times), while the Latin alphabet
is official in Mali
and Niger
.
, the Arabic script, or Tifinagh
. The Malian national literacy program DNAFLA has established a standard for the Latin alphabet, which is used with modifications in Prasse's Lexique and the government literacy program in Burkina, while in Niger a different system was used. There is also some variation in Tifinagh and in the Arabic script.
The Arabic script is mostly in use by tribes more involved in Islamic learning, and little is known about its conventions.
Tifinagh usage is restricted mainly to writing magical formulae, writing on palms when silence is required, and recently letter-writing.
The DNAFLA system is a somewhat morphophonemic orthography, not indicating initial vowel shortening, always writing the directional particle as < dd>, and not indication all assimilations (e.g. for [tămašăq]).
In Burkina Faso the emphatics are denoted by "hooked" letters, as in Fula
, e.g. <ɗ ƭ>.
*/ĭ/ and */ŭ/.
Sudlow classes the "semivowels" /w, j/ with the vowels, and notes the following possible diphthongs: /əw/ (>[u]), /ăw/, /aw/, /ew/, /iw/, /ow/, /uw/, /əj/ (>[i]), /ăj/, /aj/, /ej/, /ij/, /oj/, /uj/.
Before emphatics, vowels lower, turning /ə/ into [ă], /e, i/ into "emphatic" [e], and /u, o/ into "emphatic" [o], with some dialectal variation (with the realizations of /i, u/ "less open" than /e, o/).
The consonant inventory largely resembles Arabic: differentiated voicing; uvulars, pharyngeals (traditionally referred to as emphatics) /tˤ/, /lˤ/, /sˤ/, /dˤ/, /zˤ/; requiring the pharynx muscles to contract and influencing the pronunciation of the following vowel (although /lˤ, sˤ/ only occur in Arabic loans and /lˤ/ only in the name of Allah
).
/ŋ/ is rare, /ʒ/ is rare in Tadraq, and /ħ, ʕ/ are only used in Arabic words in the Tanəsləmt dialect (most Tamasheq replace them with /x, ɣ/ respectively).
The glottal stop is non-phonemic. It occurs at the beginning of vowel-initial words to fill the place of the initial consonant in the syllable structure (see below), although if the words is preceded by a word ending in a consonant, it makes a liaison
instead. Phrase-final /a/ is also followed by a phonetic glottal stop.
Gemination is contrastive. Normally /ɣɣ/ becomes [qː], /ww/ becomes [ɡː], and /dˤdˤ/ becomes [tˤː]. /q/ and /tˤ/ are, with a few exceptions, always geminate. In addition, in Tadraq /ɡ/ is usually geminate, but in Tudalt singleton /ɡ/ may occur.
Voicing assimilation occurs, with the first consonant taking the voicing of the second (e.g. /edˤkăr/ > [etˤkăr]).
Cluster reduction
turns word/morpheme-final /-ɣt, -ɣk/ into [-qː] and /-kt, -ɟt, -ɡt/ into [-kː] (e.g. /tămaʃăɣt/ > [tămaʃăq] 'Tamasheq').
Other differences can easily be traced back to borrowing. For example, the Arabic pharyngeals ħ and ''ʻ have been borrowed along with Arabic loanwords by dialects specialized in Islamic (Maraboutic) learning. Other dialects substitute ħ and ''ʻ respectively with x and ɣ.
such as Tasawaq
, whose speakers are culturally Tuareg but speak Songhay varieties; this influence includes points of phonology and sometimes grammar as well as extensive loanwords.
Again like Japanese, the “pronoun/particle ‘a’ is used with a following relative clause to bring a noun in a phrase to the beginning for emphasis,” a structure which can be used to emphasize even objects of prepositions. Sudlow’s example (s denotes voiceless palato-alveolar fricative):
The indirect object marker takes the form i/y in Tudalt and e/y in Tadraq.
The verbal correspondence with Japanese continues with the use of aspect; Tamasheq uses four, as delineated by Sudlow:
Commands are expressed in the imperative mood, which tends to be a form of the imperfective aspect, unless the action is to be repeated or continued, in which case the cursive aspect is preferred.
Berber languages
The Berber languages are a family of languages indigenous to North Africa, spoken from Siwa Oasis in Egypt to Morocco , and south to the countries of the Sahara Desert...
language or family of very closely related languages and dialects spoken by the Tuareg Berbers, in large parts of Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
and Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
, with a few speakers, the Kinnin, in Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
.
Description
Other Berber languages and Tamashaq are quite mutually comprehensible, and are commonly regarded as a single language (as for instance by Karl Prasse); they are distinguished mainly by a few sound shifts (notably affecting the pronunciation of original z and h). They are unusually conservative in some respects; they retain two short vowels where northern Berber languages have one or none, and have a much lower proportion of ArabicArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s than most Berber languages. They are traditionally written in the indigenous Tifinagh
Tifinagh
Tifinagh is a series of abjad and alphabetic scripts used by some Berber peoples, notably the Tuareg, to write their language.A modern derivate of the traditional script, known as Neo-Tifinagh, was introduced in the 20th century...
alphabet; however, the Arabic alphabet
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...
is commonly used in some areas (and has been since medieval times), while the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
is official in Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
and Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
.
Subclassification
- Northern
- TamahaqTamahaq languageTamahaq is the only known Northern Tuareg language, spoken in Algeria, western Libya, and northern Niger. It varies little from the southern languages of Ayr, Azawagh or Adagh, with the differences mostly being substitution of sounds, for instance Tamahaq instead of Tamajaq or...
– Language of the Kel AhaggarKel AhaggarKel Ahaggar is a Tuareg confederation in the Ahaggar Mountains in Algeria. The confederation is believed to have been founded by Tin Hinan, with the "official" founding being around 1750...
, and Kel AjjerKel AjjerKel Ajjer is a Tuareg confederation in western Libya and eastern Algeria. Their main stronghold was Ghat, with Ubari coming second. They speak the language Tamahaq.-See also:* Azjar*Tuareg**Kel Adagh**Kel Ahaggar**Kel Ayr...
spoken in Algeria and in the north of Niger by a large saharan population. Also known as Tahaggart.
- Tamahaq
- Southern
- Tamasheq – Language of the Kel Adrar (also known as Adagh or Ifoghas), spoken in Mali by approximately 270,000 people.
- Tayart Tamajaq languageTayart TamajeqTayart is a dialect of the Tuareg language Tamasheq spoken in the Agadez Region of Niger.There are two sub-dialects:*Air*Tanassfarwat...
– Language of the Kel AyerKel AyrKel Ayr were a semi-nomadic Tuareg tribal confederation which ruled an area centered on the Aïr Mountains in what is today Niger....
(sometimes spelled Aïr), spoken in Niger by approximately 1,250 000 people. - Tawallammat TamajaqTawallammat Tamajaq languageThe Tawellemmet language is a member of the Tuareg branch of the Berber languages, usually classed within Tamajeq. It is the language of the Iwellemmeden Tuareg peoples, spoken in Mali and Niger by approximately 670,000 people.-References:...
– Language of the Iwellemmeden, spoken in Mali and Niger by approximately 870 000 people. The term Iwellemmeden (the name of the people) is sometimes used to denote the language. - Tamashaq language language of Kal Asakan.
- Speakers of Tin Sert (Tetserret) identify as Tuareg, but the language is Western Berber.
Orthography
The Tuareg languages may be written in the Latin alphabetLatin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
, the Arabic script, or Tifinagh
Tifinagh
Tifinagh is a series of abjad and alphabetic scripts used by some Berber peoples, notably the Tuareg, to write their language.A modern derivate of the traditional script, known as Neo-Tifinagh, was introduced in the 20th century...
. The Malian national literacy program DNAFLA has established a standard for the Latin alphabet, which is used with modifications in Prasse's Lexique and the government literacy program in Burkina, while in Niger a different system was used. There is also some variation in Tifinagh and in the Arabic script.
The Arabic script is mostly in use by tribes more involved in Islamic learning, and little is known about its conventions.
Tifinagh usage is restricted mainly to writing magical formulae, writing on palms when silence is required, and recently letter-writing.
| DNAFLA | Tifinagh | Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| b |  |
ب |
| d | د | |
| ḍ |  |
ض |
| f | ف | |
| g | ݣ | |
| j | ﭺ | |
| ɣ |  |
ﻍ |
| h |  |
ﻩ |
| k |  |
ک |
| l | ﻝ | |
| m |  |
ﻡ |
| n |  |
ن |
| q |  |
ﻕ |
| r |  |
ﺭ |
| s |  |
ﺱ |
| ṣ | |
ﺹ |
| š | ﺵ | |
| t | ﺕ | |
| ṭ | ﻁ | |
| w | ﻭ | |
| x | ﺥ | |
| y | ﻱ | |
| z |  or |
ﺯ |
| ẓ | or  |
ﻅ |
| ž | or |
ﺝ |
| (ḥ) | ﺡ | |
| (ç) | ﻉ |
The DNAFLA system is a somewhat morphophonemic orthography, not indicating initial vowel shortening, always writing the directional particle as < dd>, and not indication all assimilations (e.g.
In Burkina Faso the emphatics are denoted by "hooked" letters, as in Fula
Fula language
The Fula or Fulani language is a language of West Africa. It is spoken as a first language by the and related groups from Senegambia and Guinea to Cameroon and Sudan...
, e.g. <ɗ ƭ>.
Vowels
The vowel system includes 5 long vowels, /a, e, i, o, u/, "emphatic" versions of /e, o/, and two short vowels, /ə, ă/. Karl Prasse argues that /e/ and /o/ generally derive from /i/ and /u/, while comparative evidence shows that /ə/ derives from a merger of proto-BerberProto-Berber language
Proto-Berber is the reconstructed proto-language from which the modern Berber languages stem. Proto-Berber was an Afroasiatic language, and its descendants are sisters to the Egyptian language, Cushitic languages, Semitic languages, Chadic languages, and the Omotic languages.-History:Proto-Berber...
*/ĭ/ and */ŭ/.
Sudlow classes the "semivowels" /w, j/ with the vowels, and notes the following possible diphthongs: /əw/ (>[u]), /ăw/, /aw/, /ew/, /iw/, /ow/, /uw/, /əj/ (>[i]), /ăj/, /aj/, /ej/, /ij/, /oj/, /uj/.
Before emphatics, vowels lower, turning /ə/ into [ă], /e, i/ into "emphatic" [e], and /u, o/ into "emphatic" [o], with some dialectal variation (with the realizations of /i, u/ "less open" than /e, o/).
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | b | t tˤ d dˤ | ɟ | k g | q | ||
| Fricative | f | s sˤ z zˤ ʃ ʒ | x ɣ | (ħ ʕ) | h (ʔ) | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| Lateral | l (lˤ) | ||||||
The consonant inventory largely resembles Arabic: differentiated voicing; uvulars, pharyngeals (traditionally referred to as emphatics) /tˤ/, /lˤ/, /sˤ/, /dˤ/, /zˤ/; requiring the pharynx muscles to contract and influencing the pronunciation of the following vowel (although /lˤ, sˤ/ only occur in Arabic loans and /lˤ/ only in the name of Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
).
/ŋ/ is rare, /ʒ/ is rare in Tadraq, and /ħ, ʕ/ are only used in Arabic words in the Tanəsləmt dialect (most Tamasheq replace them with /x, ɣ/ respectively).
The glottal stop is non-phonemic. It occurs at the beginning of vowel-initial words to fill the place of the initial consonant in the syllable structure (see below), although if the words is preceded by a word ending in a consonant, it makes a liaison
Sandhi
Sandhi is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries . Examples include the fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of sounds due to neighboring sounds or due to the grammatical function of adjacent words...
instead. Phrase-final /a/ is also followed by a phonetic glottal stop.
Gemination is contrastive. Normally /ɣɣ/ becomes [qː], /ww/ becomes [ɡː], and /dˤdˤ/ becomes [tˤː]. /q/ and /tˤ/ are, with a few exceptions, always geminate. In addition, in Tadraq /ɡ/ is usually geminate, but in Tudalt singleton /ɡ/ may occur.
Voicing assimilation occurs, with the first consonant taking the voicing of the second (e.g. /edˤkăr/ > [etˤkăr]).
Cluster reduction
Cluster reduction
In phonology and historical linguistics, cluster reduction is the simplification of consonant clusters in certain environments or over time.In some dialects of English such as AAVE certain historical consonant clusters reduce to single consonants at the ends of words: friend rhymes with Ben, and...
turns word/morpheme-final /-ɣt, -ɣk/ into [-qː] and /-kt, -ɟt, -ɡt/ into [-kː] (e.g. /tămaʃăɣt/ > [tămaʃăq] 'Tamasheq').
Dialectal differences
Different dialects have slightly different consonant inventories. Some of these differences can be diachronically accounted for. For example, Proto-Berber *h is mostly lost in Ayer Tuareg, while it is maintained in almost every position in Mali Tuareg. The Iwellemmeden and Ahaggar Tuareg dialects are midway between these positions. The Proto-Berber consonant *z comes out differently in different dialects, a development that is to some degree reflected in the dialect names. It is realized as h in Tamahaq (Tahaggart), as š in Tamasheq and as simple z in the Tamajaq dialects Tawallammat and Tayart. In the latter two, *z is realised as ž before palatal vowels, explaining the form Tamajaq. In Tawallammat and especially Tayart, this kind of palatalization actually does not confine itself to z. In these dialects, dentals in general are palatalized before /i/ and /j/. For example, tidət is pronounced [tidʲət] in Tayart.Other differences can easily be traced back to borrowing. For example, the Arabic pharyngeals ħ and ''ʻ have been borrowed along with Arabic loanwords by dialects specialized in Islamic (Maraboutic) learning. Other dialects substitute ħ and ''ʻ respectively with x and ɣ.
Grammar
The basic word order in Tuareg is verb–subject–object. Verbs can be grouped into 19 morphological classes; some of these classes can be defined semantically. Verbs carry information on the subject of the sentence in the form of pronominal marking. No simple adjectives exist in the Tuareg languages; adjectival concepts are expressed using a relative verb form traditionally called 'participle'. The Tuareg languages have very heavily influenced Northern Songhay languagesSonghay languages
The Songhay, Songhai, or Songai languages are a group of closely related languages/dialects centered on the middle stretches of the Niger River in the west African states of Mali, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria. They have been widely used as a lingua franca in that region ever since the...
such as Tasawaq
Tasawaq language
Tasawaq language, sometimes also called Ingelshi, is a northern Songhay language spoken by the Issawaghan a community surrounding Ingal in Niger. A closely related variety called Emghedeshie was spoken at Agadez, but is now extinct.Like other Northern Songhay languages, it has been strongly...
, whose speakers are culturally Tuareg but speak Songhay varieties; this influence includes points of phonology and sometimes grammar as well as extensive loanwords.
Syntax
Tamasheq prefers VSO order; however it contains topic–comment structure (like in Japanese), allowing the emphasized concept to be placed first, be it the subject or object, the latter giving an effect somewhat like the English passive. Sudlow uses the following examples, all expressing the concept “Men don’t cook porridge” (e denotes Sudlow’s schwa):| meddăn wăr sekediwăn ăsink | SVO |
| wăr sekediwăn meddăn ăsink | VSO |
| ăsinkwăr ti-sekediwăn meddăn | ‘Porridge, men don’t cook it.’ |
| wădde meddăn a isakădawăn ăsink | ‘It isn’t men who cook porridge.’ |
| meddăn a wăren isekediw ăsink | ‘Men are not those who cook porridge.’ |
Again like Japanese, the “pronoun/particle ‘a’ is used with a following relative clause to bring a noun in a phrase to the beginning for emphasis,” a structure which can be used to emphasize even objects of prepositions. Sudlow’s example (s denotes voiceless palato-alveolar fricative):
| essensăɣ enăle | ‘I bought millet.’ |
| enăle a essensăɣ | ‘It was millet that I bought.’ |
The indirect object marker takes the form i/y in Tudalt and e/y in Tadraq.
Morphology
As a root-and-pattern, or templatic language, triliteral roots (three-consonant bases) are the most common in Tamasheq. Niels and Regula Christiansen use the root k-t-b (to write) to demonstrate past completed aspect conjugation:| Person | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | ektabaɣ ‘I wrote’ | nektab ‘We wrote’ | |
| 2nd | (m) | tektabad ‘You (2s) wrote’ | tektabam ‘You (2p/m) wrote’ |
| (f) | tektabmat ‘You (2p/f) wrote’ | ||
| 3rd | (m) | iktab ‘He wrote’ | ektaban ‘They (3p/m) wrote’ |
| (f) | tektab ‘She wrote’ | ektabnat ‘They (3/p/f) wrote’ | |
The verbal correspondence with Japanese continues with the use of aspect; Tamasheq uses four, as delineated by Sudlow:
- Perfective: complete actions
- Stative: "lasting states as the ongoing results of a completed action."
- Imperfective: future or possible actions, "often used following a verb expressing emotion, decision or thought," it can be marked with "'ad'" (shortened to "'a-'" with prepositions).
- Cursive: ongoing actions, often habitual ones.
| Verb | Perfective/simple perfect | Stative/intensive perfect | Imperfective/simple perfect | Cursive/intensive imperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| z-g-r | izgăr | izgăr | ||
| 'He went out' | 'He has gone out' | |||
| b-d-d | ibdăd | ibdăd | ||
| 'He stood up' | 'He stood up (and so he is standing up)' | |||
| ekkeɣ hebu | ekkêɣ hebu | |||
| 'I went to market' | 'I am going to market' | |||
| l-m-d | ad elmedăɣ Tămasăq | lammădăɣ Tămasăq | ||
| 'I will learn Tamasheq' | 'I am learning Tamasheq' | |||
| a-dd-as asekka | ||||
| 'He will arrive (here) tomorrow' | ||||
| iwan tattănăt alemmoZ | ||||
| 'Cows eat straw' | ||||
| ăru tasăɣalăɣ siha | ||||
| 'I used to work over there' |
Commands are expressed in the imperative mood, which tends to be a form of the imperfective aspect, unless the action is to be repeated or continued, in which case the cursive aspect is preferred.
Bibliographies
- Bougchiche, Lamara. (1997) Langues et litteratures berberes des origines a nos jours. Bibliographie internationale et sytematique. Paris: Ibis Press.
- Chaker, Salem, ed. (1988) Etudes touaregues. Bilan des recherches en sciences sociales. Travaux et Documents de i.R.E.M.A.M. no. 5. Aix-en-Provence: IREMAM / LAPMO.
- Leupen, A.H.A. (1978) Bibliographie des populations touaregues: Sahara et Soudan centraux. Leiden: Afrika StudiecentrumAfrika-Studiecentrum, LeidenThe African Studies Centre is an independent scientific institute in the Netherlands that undertakes social-science research on Africa with the aim of promoting a better understanding of historical, current and future social developments in Sub-Saharan Africa. The present director is Ton Dietz...
.
Dictionaries
- Charles de FoucauldCharles de FoucauldCharles Eugène de Foucauld was a French Catholic religious and priest living among the Tuareg in the Sahara in Algeria. He was assassinated in 1916 outside the door of the fort he built for protection of the Tuareg and is considered by the Catholic Church to be a martyr...
(1951–1952) Dictionnaire touareg–francais. 4 vol. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale de France. [posthumous facsimile publication (author dec. 1916); dialect of Hoggar, southern Algeria] - Jeffrey Heath (2006) Dictionnaire tamachek–anglais–français. Paris: Karthala. [covers dialects of northern Mali]
- Motylinski, A. (1908). Grammaire, dialogues et dictionnaire touaregs. Alger: P. Fontana.
- Prasse, Karl G., Alojaly, Ghoubeid, and Mohamed, Ghabdouane (2003) Dictionnaire touareg–francais (Niger). 2nd edition revised; 2 vol. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen. [1st edition 1998; covers two dialects of the northern Republic of Niger]
Grammars
- Christiansen, Niels, and Regula. "Some verb morphology features of Tadaksahak ." SIL Electronic Working Papers. 2002. SIL International. 2 December 2007
- Hanoteau, A. (1896) Essai de grammaire de la langue tamachek' : renfermant les principes du langage parlé par les Imouchar' ou Touareg. Alger: A. Jourdan.
- Galand, Lionel. (1974) 'Introduction grammaticale'. In: Petites Soeurs de Jesus, Contes touaregs de l'Air (Paris: SELAF), pp. 15–41.
- Heath, Jeffrey. 2005. Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali). (Mouton Grammar Series.) the Hague: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Prasse, Karl G. (1973) Manuel de grammaire touaregue (tahaggart). 4 vol. Copenhagen.
- Sudlow, David. (2001). The Tamasheq of North-East Burkina Faso. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
Texts
- Ag Erless, Mohamed (1999) "Il ný a qu'un soleil sur terre". Contes, proverbes et devinettes des Touaregs Kel-Adagh. Aix-en-Provence: IREMAM.
- Aghali-Zakara, Mohamed & Jeannine Drouin (1979) Traditions touarègues nigériennes. Paris: L'Harmattan.
- Albaka, Moussa & Dominique Casajus (1992) Poésies et chant touaregs de l'Ayr. Tandis qu'ils dorment tous, je dis mon chant d'amour. Paris: L'Harmattan.
- Alojaly, Ghoubeïd (1975) Ǎttarikh ən-Kəl-Dənnəg – Histoire des Kel-Denneg. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag.
- Casajus, Dominique (1985) Peau d'Âne et autres contes touaregs. Paris: L'Harmattan.
- Chaker, Salem & Jélène Claudot & Marceau Gast, eds. (1984) Textes touaregs en prose de Charles de Foucaould et. A. de Calassanto-Motylinski. Aix-en-Provence: Édisud.
- Chants touaregs. Recueillis et traduits par Charles de Foucauld. Paris, Albin Michel, 1997
- Foucauld, Charles de (1925) Poésies touarègues. Dialecte de l'Ahaggar. Paris: Leroux.
- Lettres au marabout. Messages touaregs au Père de Foucauld. Paris, Belin, 1999
- Heath, Jeffrey (2005) Tamashek Texts from Timbuktu and Kidal. Berber Linguistics Series. Cologne: Koeppe Verlag
- Louali-Raynal, Naïma & Nadine Decourt & Ramada Elghamis (1997) Littérature orale touarègue. Contes et proverbes. Paris: L'Harmattan.
- Mohamed, Ghabdouane & Karl-G. Prasse (1989) Poèmes touaréges de l'Ayr. 2 vol. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag.
- Mohamed, Ghabdouane & Karl-G. Prasse (2003) əlqissǎt ən-təməddurt-in – Le récit de ma vie. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.
- Nicolaisen, Johannes, and Ida Nicolaisen. The Pastoral Tuareg: Ecology, Culture, and Society. Vol. 1,2. New York: Thames and Hudson, Inc, 1997. 2 vols.
- Nicolas, Francis (1944) Folklore Twareg. Poésies et Chansons de l'Azawarh. BIFAN VI, 1-4, p. 1-463.
Linguistic topics
- Cohen, David (1993) 'Racines'. In: Drouin & Roth, eds. À la croisée des études libyco-berbères. Mélanges offerts à Paulette Galand-Pernet et Lionel Galand (Paris: Geuthner), 161-175.
- Kossmann, Maarten (1999) Essai sur la phonologie du proto-berbère. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
- Prasse, Karl G. (1969) A propos de l'origine de h touareg (tahaggart). Copenhagen.