Editing Zenaga language (section)

{{Short description|Moribund Berber language of Mauritania and Senegal}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Zenaga
| nativename       = {{lang|zen|ⵜⵓⵥⵥⵓⵏⴳⵉⵢⵢⴰ}} ({{lang|zen|Tuẓẓungiyya}})
| states           = [[Mauritania]]<ref name=e27/>
| region           = [[Mederdra]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|3,480|2}}
| date             = 2018–2021
| ref              = e27
| script           = [[Tifinagh]]
| familycolor      = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2             = [[Berber languages|Berber]]
| fam3             = [[Western Berber languages|Western]]
| minority         = {{flag|Mauritania}}
| iso2             = zen
| iso3             = zen
| glotto           = zena1248
| glottorefname    = Zenaga
|map2           = Lang Status 40-SE.svg
|mapcaption2    = {{center|{{small|Zenaga is classified as Severely Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''}}}}
|notice         = IPA
}}

'''Zenaga''' (autonym: ''{{Lang|zen|Tuẓẓungiyya}}'' or ''{{lang|zen|āwӓy ən uẓ̄nӓgӓn}}'') is a [[Berber language]] spoken in [[Mauritania]] and northern [[Senegal]] by thousands of people.<ref name=e27/> Zenaga Berber is spoken as a mother tongue from the town of [[Mederdra]] in southwestern [[Mauritania]] to the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast and in northern [[Senegal]]. The language is recognized by the Mauritanian government.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/analysis/2016/07/25/Arab-League-2016-summit-puts-spotlight-on-isolated-Mauritania-.html|title=Arab League 2016 summit puts spotlight on isolated Mauritania|website=english.alarabiya.net|language=en|access-date=2018-06-24}}</ref>

It shares its basic linguistic structure with other Berber idioms in [[Morocco]] and [[Algeria]], but specific features are quite different. In fact, Zenaga is probably the most divergent surviving Berber language, with a significantly different sound system made even more distant by sound changes such as {{IPA|/l/}} > {{IPA|/dj/}} and {{IPA|/x/}} > {{IPA|/k/}}, as well as a profusion of [[glottal stops]] with no correspondents in other Berber varieties that are interpreted as the only segmental survivor of a [[Proto-Berber]] {{IPA|*ʔ}}.<ref>Kossmann (2001b), Taine-Cheikh (2004).</ref>

The name ''Zenaga'' comes from that of a much larger ancient Berber tribe, the Iznagen (Iẓnagen), who are known in Arabic as the [[Sanhaja]]. [[Adrian Room|Adrian Room's]] ''African Placenames''<ref>Room, Adrian, ''African Placenames'', McFarland & Co. Jefferson, North Carolina. 1994.</ref> gives Zenaga derivations for some place-names in Mauritania.