| Also Known As: Nafusi Language,Jebel Nefusi,Nefusi,Jbel Nafusi,Jabal Nafusi,Nafusi,Djerbi,Tunisian Berber,Shilha
Description:
Nafusi is a Berber language from Libya and Tunisia. It is also known as Djerbi, Nefusi, Jabal Nafusi, Jebel Nefusi, Jbel Nafusi, Tunisian Berber, and Shilha. The Nafusi people are very proud of their language, speaking it amongst themselves in Nafusi villages and at home. There are preschool-age children monolingual in Nafusi.
Nafusi is from the large Afro-Asiatic family, consisting of about 375 languages. It is further classified as a Berber language.
Nafusi is spoken by 141,000 people in Libya in the areas of Tripolitania, western Libya, the isolated area around the towns of Nalut and Yafran, in the Jabal Nafusah region, the coastal area around Zuara, and west of Tripoli. In Tunisia, it is known as Shilha, which is a blanket term for all Berber languages. It is spoken by 61,000 people in Tunisia in the southeast, on the Mediterranean islands (auch as Jerba/Djerba), in some isolated villages south of Jerba, Pacha, old Medina, and Bab Souika streets in Tunis, in Tamezret village near Zeraoua and Taoujjout, and to the south of Gabès .
There are several dialects of Nafusi, in both Libya and Tunisia. The Libyan dialects are Zuara, also known as Zouara, Zuwarah, Zwara, and Zuraa,..... full article at Wikipedia |
