Editing Shilha language (section)

{{Short description|Berber language of southwestern Morocco}}
{{About|the Berber language of western Morocco exclusively|other languages or dialects|Shilha (disambiguation){{!}}Shilha}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Shilha
| pronunciation    = {{IPAc-en|'|t|æ|ʃ|ə|l|h|ɪ|t}}
| altname          = Tachelhit; Tashelhiyt
| nativename       = Taclḥiyt - {{Script|Tfng|ⵜⴰⵛⵍⵃⵉⵢⵜ}} - {{Lang|ar|تاشلحيت}}
| states           = [[Morocco]]
| region           = [[Souss-Massa]], [[Guelmim-Oued Noun]], [[Drâa-Tafilalet]], [[Marrakech-Safi]], [[Béni Mellal-Khénifra]], [[Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra]] and [[Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab]]
| ethnicity        = [[Shilha people|Shilha]], [[Berber Jews]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|5.827000|2}} million
| date             = 2020
| ref              = e26
| familycolor      = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2             = [[Berber languages|Berber]]
| fam3             = [[Northern Berber languages|Northern]]
| dia1              = [[Judeo-Berber language|Judeo-Berber]]
| script           = [[Berber Arabic alphabet|Arabic]], [[Berber Latin alphabet|Latin]], [[Tifinagh]]
| iso3             = shi
| map              = Tachelhit.png
| mapcaption       = {{legend|#F00000|Tashelhit language area}}
| glotto           = tach1250
| glottorefname    = Tachelhit
| notice           = IPA
| fam4             = [[Atlas languages|Atlas]]
}}
{{Infobox NC name
|''Aclḥiy'' (male)<br />''Taclḥiyt'' (female)|''Iclḥiyn'' (male)<br />''Ticlḥiyin'' (female)|''Taclḥiyt''}}{{More citations needed section|date=June 2022}}[[File:WIKITONGUES- Abderrahman speaking Tachelhit.webm|thumb|Young man speaking Tachelhit, recorded in [[Cuba]].]]
<span lang="shi" dir="ltr">'''Shilha'''</span> ({{IPAc-en|'|ʃ|ɪ|l|h|ə}} {{respell|SHIL|hə}}; from its name in [[Moroccan Arabic]], {{Transliteration|ary|Šəlḥa}}), now more commonly known as '''Tashelhiyt''' or '''Tachelhit''' ({{IPAc-en|'|t|æ|ʃ|ə|l|h|ɪ|t}} {{respell|TASH|əl|hit}}; from the [[Endonym and exonym|endonym]] {{Lang|shi-latn|Taclḥiyt}}, {{IPA|ber|tæʃlħijt|IPA}}),{{efn|In this article, the graphs {{angbr|c}} and {{angbr|j}} are used to represent {{IPA|/ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/ʒ/}} respectively, as is usual in the [[Berber Latin alphabet]]; also, {{angbr|°}} is used to indicate labialization (IPA {{IPA|/ʷ/}}), and {{angbr|ɛ}} is {{IPA|/ʢ/}}.}} is a [[Berber language]] spoken in southwestern [[Morocco]]. When referring to the language, anthropologists and historians prefer the name ''Shilha'', which is in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] (OED). Linguists writing in English prefer ''Tashelhit'' (or a variant spelling). In French sources the language is called {{Lang|fr|tachelhit}}, {{Lang|fr|chelha}} or {{Lang|fr|chleuh}}.

Shilha is spoken in an area covering around 100,000 square kilometres. The area comprises the western part of the [[High Atlas]] mountains and the regions to the south up to the [[Draa River]], including the [[Anti-Atlas]] and the alluvial basin of the [[Sous River]]. The largest urban centres in the area are the coastal city of [[Agadir]] (population over 400,000) and the towns of [[Guelmim]], [[Taroudant]], [[Oulad Teima]], [[Tiznit]] and [[Ouarzazate]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">Adnor, Abdellah (2004). [[iarchive:dictionnaire-electronique-chleuh-these-d-etat-1|An Electronic Tashlhit-English Dictionary (Prototype)]] (PhD thesis). Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco. p. 13-14.</ref>{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

In the north and to the south, Shilha borders [[Arabic]]-speaking areas. In the northeast, roughly along the line [[Demnate]]-[[Zagora, Morocco|Zagora]], there is a [[dialect continuum]] with [[Central Atlas Tamazight]]. Within the Shilha-speaking area, there are several Arabic-speaking enclaves, notably the town of Taroudant and its surroundings. Substantial Shilha-speaking migrant communities are found in most of the larger towns and cities of northern [[Morocco]] and outside Morocco in [[Belgium]], [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Canada]], the [[United States]] and [[Israel]].<ref name=":5" />{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

Shilha possesses a distinct and substantial literary tradition that can be traced back several centuries before the [[French protectorate in Morocco|protectorate era]]. Many texts, written in Arabic script and dating from the late 16th century to the present, are preserved in manuscripts. A modern printed literature in Shilha has developed since the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite conference |title=La littérature amazighe: oralité et écriture, spécificités et perspectives |chapter=La littérature écrite et la question de l'aménagement linguistique de l'amazigh |conference=Colloque international sur la littérature amazighe |last=El Mountassir |first=Abdallah |url=https://ircam.biblio.ma/uploads/publications/48.pdf |pages=139–140 |isbn=995443903X |publisher =l'Institut royal de la culture amazighe |year= 2004}}</ref>