Editing Shilha language (section)

==== Gemination and length ====
Any consonant in Tashlhiyt, in any position within a word, may be simple or geminate. There may be up to two geminates in a stem, and up to three in a word.<ref name=":1" />

The role of gemination varies:<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Elmedlaoui |first=Mohamed |title=Semitic and Afroasiatic: challenges and opportunities |date=2012 |publisher=Harrassowitz |isbn=978-3-447-06695-2 |editor-last=Edzard |editor-first=Lutz |series=Porta linguarum orientalium |location=Wiesbaden |pages=143 |chapter=Berber}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="2" |Word with Simple Consonant
! colspan="2" |Word with Geminate Consonant
! rowspan="2" |Role of Gemination
|-
!Tashlhiyt
!Translation
!Tashlhiyt
!Translation
|-
|''tamda''
|pond
|''tamdda''
|brown buzzard
|lexical difference
|-
|''zdi''
|to stick ([[Perfect (grammar)|perfect]])
|''zddi''
|to stick ([[Imperfective aspect|imperfective]])
|morphology
|}
Gemination also may occur due to phonological assimilation. For example, the following phrase would be realized as [babllfirma]:<ref name=":1" />

{{Interlinear|lang=shi-latn|indent=2
|top= babllfirma
|bab n{{=}}l-firma
|owner of{{=}}farm
|the owner of the farm}}

Some consonants are realized differently during morphological gemination; {{Lang|shi-latn|ḍḍ}} as {{Lang|shi-latn|ṭṭ}}, {{Lang|shi-latn|ww}} as {{Lang|shi-latn|gg°}}, {{Lang|shi-latn|ɣɣ}} as {{Lang|shi-latn|qq}}, and {{Lang|shi-latn|ɣɣ°}} as {{Lang|shi-latn|qq°}}.<ref name=":1" />