Kabyle (Taqbaylit/ثاقبايليث)

Kabyle is a Berber language with about 3 million speakers, most of whom live in Algeria, mainly in Kabylie in the north of the country. There are also some Kabyle speakers in French, Belgium and a number of other countries.

Before the 20th century was written with the Arabic alphabet, though it wasn't written very often. During the 20th century, the Latin and Tifinagh alphabets were adapted to write Kabyle, with the former being used more often than the latter. There seems to be quite a bit of variation in the various Kabyle spelling systems. The Tifinagh alphabet for Kabyle was developed by the Agraw Amazigh (Académie Berbère) from the Tifinagh script for Tuareg, and is used in a number of periodicals and on political posters.

Kabyle has no official status in Algeria, but there some radio and TV programmes in the language, and it is taught in schools in Kabyle speaking areas.

Kabyle alphabets and pronunciation

Arabic (اڨَمّاي ثاقبايليث)

Arabic alphabet for Kabyle

Latin (agemmay taqbaylit)

Latin alphabet for Kabyle

Tifinagh

Tifinagh alphabet for Kabyle

Sample text in Kabyle

Imdanen, akken ma llan ttlalen d ilelliyen msawan di lhwerma d yizerfan- ghur sen tamsakwit d lâquel u yessefk ad-tili tegmatt gar asen.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Links

Information about the Kabyle language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabyle_language
http://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/kab/

Other languages written with the Arabic or Latin alphabets