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Tashelhiyt Berber is spoken in the High Atlas, the Anti Atlas, the Souss plains, and in major cities (Casablanca, Rabat) of Morocco). It has some 8-9 million speakers, which makes it the the world's largest Berber language.
Click here for a map of the Moroccan Berber languages.
In the Netherlands the estimated number of speakers of Tashelhiyt-Berber is 20.000 to 30.000 out of a total of 300.000 Dutch citizens of Moroccan origin.
Tashelhiyt Berber is known for its rich oral literature and for its rich traditional material culture.
A course of Tashelhiyt Berber is offered at Leiden University, by Prof. dr. Harry Stroomer. Ph. D. proposals on Tashelhiyt Berber can be submitted to him.
Tashelhiyt text example:
Source: Stroomer, H. Tashehiyt Berber Folktales from Tazerwalt (South Morocco). Kön: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.