Berber languages Guanches, likely belonged to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. The Berber letter "c" is pronounced (like the English "sh"). The Berber letter "x" is pronounced (like the Spanish "j" or the German "ch" (Ach-Laut)). The Berber letter "ɣ" is pronounced (like the French or German "r"). Berber languages The Berber languages, also known as Berber or the Amazigh languages (Berber name: , ; Neo-Tifinagh: ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ, Tuareg Tifinagh: ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵗⵜ, ⵝⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵗⵝ, , ), are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related dialects spoken by the Berbers, who are indigenous to North Africa. The
Berber languages European languages distinguish between the words "Berber" and "barbarian", while Arabic has the same word "al-Barbari" for both meanings. Some other Berber writers, especially in Morocco, prefer to refer to Berber with "Amazigh" when writing about it in French or English. Traditionally, the term "Tamazight" (in various forms: "Thamazighth", "Tamasheq", "Tamajaq", "Tamahaq") was used by many Berber groups to refer to the language they spoke, including the Middle Atlas, the Riffians, the Sened in Tunisia and the Tuareg. However, other terms were used by other groups; for instance, some Berber populations of Algeria called their language "Taznatit" (Zenati) or "Shelha",