Editing Shilha language (section)

== Research ==
The first attempt at a grammatical description of Shilha is the work of the German linguist [[Hans Stumme]] (1864–1936), who in 1899 published his {{Lang|de|Handbuch des Schilḥischen von Tazerwalt}}. Stumme's grammar remained the richest source of grammatical information on Shilha for half a century. A problem with the work is its use of an over-elaborate, phonetic transcription which, while designed to be precise, generally fails to provide a transparent representation of spoken forms. Stumme also published a collection of Shilha fairy tales (1895, re-edited in Stroomer 2002).

The next author to grapple with Shilha is [[Saïd Cid Kaoui]] (Saʿīd al-Sidqāwī, 1859-1910), a native speaker of [[Kabyle language|Kabyle]] from Algeria. Having published a dictionary of [[Tamahaq language|Tuareg]] (1894), he then turned his attention to the Berber languages of Morocco. His {{Lang|fr|Dictionnaire français-tachelh’it et tamazir’t}} (1907) contains extensive vocabularies in both Shilha and Central Atlas Tamazight, in addition to some 20 pages of useful phrases. The work seems to have been put together in some haste and must be consulted with caution.

On the eve of the First World War there appeared a small, practical booklet composed by Captain (later Colonel) [[:fr:Léopold Justinard|Léopold Justinard]] (1878–1959), entitled {{Lang|fr|Manuel de berbère marocain (dialecte chleuh)}}. It contains a short grammatical sketch, a collection of stories, poems and songs, and some interesting dialogues, all with translations. The work was written while the author was overseeing military operations in the region of [[Fez, Morocco|Fès]], shortly after the imposition of the French protectorate (1912). Justinard also wrote several works on the history of the Souss.

[[:fr:Emile Laoust|Emile Laoust]] (1876–1952), prolific author of books and articles about Berber languages, in 1921 published his {{Lang|fr|Cours de berbère marocain}} (2nd enlarged edition 1936), a teaching grammar with graded lessons and thematic vocabularies, some good ethnographic texts (without translations) and a wordlist.

[[Edmond Destaing]] (1872–1940) greatly advanced knowledge of the Shilha lexicon with his {{Lang|fr|Etude sur la tachelḥît du Soûs. Vocabulaire français-berbère}} (1920) and his {{Lang|fr|Textes berbères en parler des Chleuhs du Sous (Maroc)}} (1940, with copious lexical notes). Destaing also planned a grammar which was to complete the trilogy, but this was never published.

Lieutenant-interpreter (later Commander) Robert Aspinion is the author of {{Lang|fr|Apprenons le berbère: initiation aux dialectes chleuhs}} (1953), an informative though somewhat disorganized teaching grammar. Aspinion's simple but accurate transcriptions did away with earlier phonetic and French-based systems.

The first attempted description in English is ''Outline of the Structure of Shilha'' (1958) by American linguist [[Joseph R. Applegate|Joseph Applegate]] (1925–2003). Based on work with native speakers from Ifni, the work is written in a dense, inaccessible style, without a single clearly presented paradigm. Transcriptions, apart from being unconventional, are unreliable throughout.

The only available accessible grammatical sketch written in a modern linguistic frame is "{{Lang|fr|Le Berbère|italic=no}}" (1988) by [[:fr:Lionel Galand|Lionel Galand]] (1920–2017), a French linguist and berberologist. The sketch is mainly based on the speech of the Ighchan ethnic group of the Anti-Atlas, with comparative notes on [[Kabyle language|Kabyle]] of Algeria and [[Air Tamajeq language|Tuareg]] of Niger.

More recent, book-length studies include Jouad (1995, on metrics), Dell & Elmedlaoui (2002 and 2008, on syllables and metrics), El Mountassir (2009, a teaching grammar), Roettger (2017, on stress and intonation) and the many text editions by Stroomer (see also {{section link| |Cited works and further reading}}).