Editing Shilha language (section)

== Dialects ==
Dialect differentiation within Shilha, such as it is, has not been the subject of any targeted research, but several scholars have noted that all varieties of Shilha are mutually intelligible. The first was Stumme, who observed that all speakers can understand each other, "because the individual dialects of their language are not very different."<ref>Stumme (1899:4).</ref> This was later confirmed by Ahmed Boukous, a Moroccan linguist and himself a native speaker of Shilha, who stated: "Shilha is endowed with a profound unity which permits the Shluh to communicate without problem, from the Ihahan in the northwest to the Aït Baamran in the southwest, from the Achtouken in the west to the Iznagen in the east, and from Aqqa in the desert to Tassaout in the plain of Marrakesh."<ref>Boukous (1977:126).</ref>

There exists no sharply defined boundary between Shilha dialects and the dialects of [[Central Atlas Tamazight]] (CAT). The dividing line is generally put somewhere along the line Marrakesh-Zagora, with the speech of the Ighoujdamen, Iglioua and Aït Ouaouzguite ethnic groups{{efn|Shilha ethnic names are quoted here in a conventional French orthography, as is usual in berberological literature. These names are also often given in an Arabicized form, for example Ghoujdama, Glaoua, Fetouaka, etc.}} belonging to Shilha, and that of the neighboring Inoultan, Infedouak and Imeghran ethnic groups counted as CAT.