| Population |
250,000 in Mali (1991). Population total all countries: 281,200. |
| Region |
Central, Timbuktu area, and northeast Mali. Also in Algeria, Burkina Faso. |
| Language map |
Mali, Enlarged Area
|
| Alternate names |
Kidal, Kidal Tamasheq, Tamashekin, Timbuktu, Tomacheck, “Tuareg” |
| Dialects |
Timbuktu (Tombouctou, Tanaslamt), Tadhaq (Kidal). May be 2 separate languages. |
| Classification |
Afro-Asiatic, Berber, Tamasheq, Southern
A member of macrolanguage Tamashek [tmh] (Mali). |
| Language use |
National language. |
| Language development |
The government is actively promoting the language through adult literacy classes. Taught in primary schools. NT: 2003. |
| Writing system |
Latin script. Tifinagh (Berber) script. |
| Comments |
The people are called ‘Kel Tamasheq’. The Bellah were formerly under the Tuareg economically. Pastoralists: cattle, goats, camels, donkeys. Muslim. |
