The Sanhaji Amazigh language...a language that documents the heritage, culture, traditions and rituals of an important part of the Al Hoceima region
The Sanhaji Amazigh language, known as “Shalha”, is a fertile and ancient language that documents the heritage, culture, traditions and rituals of an important part of the Al Hoceima region.
The Sanhaji Amazigh language, which has deep roots and is endemic in several regions of the Al Hoceima region, is an ancient human heritage. A wide aspect of the cultural heritage of a part of the north of the Kingdom of Morocco.
Regarding the geography of the Sanhaja Amazigh, the head of the Sanhaja Berber Association of the Rif, Sharif Dardak, pointed out to the MAP, that “Shalha” is spoken by the residents of the southwest of the Al Hoceima region, while the residents of the northwest of the region speak a hybrid dialect of Shalaha and Arabic, pointing out that many of the tribes of the region circulate the Sanhaji Amazigh language. Among them, for example, but not limited to, Banu Sadath, Banu Bounassar, Zurqat, Taghazout, Ait Ahmed, Ait Khanous, Banu Bousheibt, Kuthama, and some of the Banu Jamil settlements.
In a related context, the speaker highlighted that the Al Hoceima region in particular, and the Rif region in general, is characterized by a unique Amazigh linguistic diversity. , and the Amazigh Sanhaji, and a hybrid dialect of Amazigh and Arabic, which circulates in separate areas distributed along the geography of the field.
The head of the Sanhaja Amazigh Association considered that the Sanhaji Amazigh language is “a language threatened with extinction,” due to the decrease in the number of its speakers for several objective social reasons and for various factors such as migration to different cities from the Kingdom or abroad, as well as because of mixed marriage.
For his part, the researcher in the Amazigh Studies Division of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Oujda, Djamel Abernous, expressed his fear of the dangers of the extinction of this language and the loss of an important Moroccan-Amazigh cultural heritage, oral texts and repertoires and related forms of cultural expression, indicating that part of the region's specificity and history and forms of their contribution to the formulation of its history and the history of Morocco are preserved in its various verbal expressions.
He continued that revealing the cultural heritage carried by the Amazigh-Sanhaji language requires deep and continuous scientific research, highlighting that the decrease in the number of speakers of this linguistic diversity leads to “historical voids and cultural waste”, which was also referred to in the report of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council issued in 2016 on the subject. “Cultural Economics”, which touches on what Morocco stores of cultural richness that may be threatened by “loss” in the event that it is not valued and taken care of.
Researcher Abernos believes that the adoption of a scientific project will enable the protection of this language from the danger of extinction, as well as encourage artistic expressions that speak of this linguistic diversification, provide support for various creative Sanhajis, and establish a local research center entrusted with documenting the linguistic and cultural material Sanhaji and creating educational and awareness activities that foster a sense of care for this language. With her family and the university scientific community as well.
The researcher, Abernos, stated that the written expression of “the Amazigh Sanhaji” does not go beyond the limits of now a single collection of poetry. Others contribute to preserving this authentic Moroccan cultural heritage.
The researcher called on civil activities in the Sanhaja region to follow the example of the Sanhaja Amazigh Association of the Rif, which spares no effort to highlight the specifics of the Amazigh culture in the region and “institutional advocacy, scientific and cultural activation, and networking of relations between the competencies of the region in order to preserve the linguistic and oral heritage and introduce the linguistic and cultural heritage of the Sanhaji in the Moroccan countryside.” And documenting an important part of the collective memory of the region.”
The intensification and concerted efforts of the various educational interventions, the discreet scientific initiatives, and the contribution of civil society and members of society, each in his position, would ensure the preservation of this linguistic and cultural heritage, which enriches Moroccan diversity and its many tributaries with socio-cultural specificities.
Source: websites