37.160, Books: Language Policy and Planning of Amazigh Languages in Morocco: Bao (2026)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-160. Wed Jan 14 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.160, Books: Language Policy and Planning of Amazigh Languages in Morocco: Bao (2026)

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Date: 12-Jan-2026
From: Jan Martin [lotdissertations-fgw at uva.nl]
Subject: Language Policy and Planning of Amazigh Languages in Morocco: Bao (2026)


Title: Language Policy and Planning of Amazigh Languages in Morocco
Subtitle: A Study of the Language Ideology of the Royal Institute of
Amazigh Culture (IRCAM)
Series Title: LOT Dissertation Series
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke
(LOT)
           http://www.lotpublications.nl/
Book URL: https://dx.medra.org/10.48273/LOT0706

Author(s): Kefan Bao

Paperback
ISBN: 978-94-6093-491-9
Pages: 225
Price: 37,00 euros

Abstract:

This thesis examines how Amazigh (Berber) languages are planned in
Morocco—the largest Amazigh-speaking country by population—and
investigates the considerations underlying these measures through the
ideologies of the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM).
It traces the historical development of the Amazigh cultural movement
from its Kabylian origins in the colonial period to its Moroccan
expression, showing how language planning—through the creation of the
Neo-Tifinagh script and neologisms—became central to Amazigh
nationalism.It highlights Mohamed Chafik, IRCAM’s founding rector,
whose ideology redefined Amazighness as part of a unified Moroccan
national identity rather than as a distinct ethnic identity.Through an
analysis of IRCAM’s early initiatives—the adoption of the
Neo-Tifinagh-IRCAM script and the Tifawin a Tamazight textbooks—the
study shows how the pursuit of a homogeneous standard Moroccan Amazigh
contradicts the linguistic practices of the three main varieties in
Morocco: Tarifiyt, Central Moroccan Amazigh, and Tashelhiyt.
It further examines how IRCAM rector Ahmed Boukous’s ideology of
“revitalization” and “attrition” serves to legitimize the planning of
a homogeneous standard Moroccan Amazigh, and how IRCAM’s selective
application of the “polynomic approach” functions as a mediation
between language ideology and linguistic practice.The thesis concludes
by situating IRCAM’s language planning within Kathryn A. Woolard’s
discussion of sociolinguistic naturalism, proposing that IRCAM’s
ideology constitutes a politically driven post-naturalist “project of
authenticity” that prioritizes a standardized Amazigh shaped by the
state’s agenda over both actually spoken varieties and a pan-Amazigh
language.

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis

Subject Language(s): Central Atlas Tamazight (tzm)
                     Standard Moroccan Tamazight (zgh)
                     Tarifit (rif)

Language Family(ies): Berber




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