Your online resource for Tamajaq language & culture
It is clear that both Nigeria and Niger get their names from the Niger River that flows through them. But what is not so clear how the river got its name. Some speculate that the name has its origin in the Latin word nigreos for black, others claim that the river’s name is rooted […]
Tamashek is the name given to the macrolanguage comprised of the four closely related languages spoken by the various Tuareg peoples. More particularly, it is the name for the macrolanguage specified by the ISO-639-2 and ISO-639-3 standard code tmh. You could say without reservation that Tamashek is the language of the Tuareg people. However, you could also very
Tamajaq Proverb: Aman iman, ax issudar. English translation: Water is life (essential), milk is nourishment (supplemental). Similar English Proverb: You have to put first things first.
Aman Iman, Ax Issudar Read More »
In 2005, SIL’s Ethnologue project working with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed a new set of three-letter codes to standardize the identification of the languages of the world. The new standard has been labelled ISO-639-3. This standard will enable the creation of three-letter codes for all the languages of the world. An earlier
SIL’s Ethnologue and ISO Cooperate to Create a New Standard for Language Codes Read More »
There is no single word used by all the Tuaregs to refer to their language. Instead each of the four major linguistic groups of Tuaregs have their own word for the language of all the Tuareg people. Tamajaq is the word used by the Tawallammat speaking Tuaregs to refer to the language of all the Tuareg.
Tamajaq, Tamajeq, Tamasheq, Tamahaq: Which is it? Read More »
First, foremost, and most simply Tamajaq is a word! As a word, it is subject to various uses by various people to refer to various subjects. The two primary ways in which the word Tamajaq is used are: Tamajaq is a word in the English language used by linguists to name the language referred to by the code ttq in the ISO 639-3 language