Editing Kabyle language (section)

==Status and usage==
{{main|Standard Algerian Berber}}
[[File:Ansuf Yiswen.jpg|thumb|Entrance arch in [[Taourga]] with welcome sign (''Ansuf yiswen'') in Kabyle]]

=== Multilingualism and language shift ===
Almost all Berber speakers are multilingual, in Arabic and often also in French.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Souag |first=Lameen |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02945922 |title=Berber |date=2020-05-20 |publisher=Language Science Press |isbn=978-3-96110-251-8 |language=en |page=406 |access-date=2022-12-23 |archive-date=2022-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223174618/https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02945922 |url-status=live }}</ref> Kabyle is still strong in villages but urban Kabyles in Algeria are increasingly [[Language shift|shifting]] to Arabic and diaspora Kabyles to the surrounding language. A 2013 study found that 54% of Kabyles living in [[Oran]] spoke Arabic to their siblings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Souag |first=Lameen |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02945922 |title=Berber |date=2020-05-20 |publisher=Language Science Press |isbn=978-3-96110-251-8 |language=en |page=404 |access-date=2022-12-23 |archive-date=2022-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223174618/https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02945922 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Official status ===

After the 2001–02 widespread Kabyle protests known as the [[Black Spring (Algeria)|Black Spring]], the Berber (Amazigh) language (with all its Algerian dialects and varieties) was recognized as a 'national language' in the 2002 Algerian Constitution, but not as an 'official language' until 2016 after a long campaign by activists.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35515769 |title=Algeria reinstates term limit and recognises Berber language |work=BBC News |date=7 February 2016 |access-date=11 December 2017 |archive-date=31 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331213039/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35515769 |url-status=live }}</ref> French is not recognized in any legal document of Algeria but enjoys a ''de facto'' position of an official language as it is used in every Algerian official administration or institution, at all levels of the government, sometimes much more than Arabic.

The Berber (Amazigh) language faces an unfavourable environment, despite a public radio in Algeria (Channel II, which dates back to 1925<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aïtel |first=Fazia |date=2013 |title=Between Algeria and France: The origins of the Berber movement |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0957155812464150 |journal=French Cultural Studies |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=70 |via=SageJournals |access-date=2024-02-26 |archive-date=2024-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226200006/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0957155812464150 |url-status=live }}</ref>), as well as a public TV channel in Morocco (Channel IV or Tamazight TV). Since private ownership of TV channels is illegal in Algeria, Kabyles have launched a private Kabyle speaking TV channel, called ''Berbère Television'', that broadcasts from France.<ref name=LavalDroitsLinguistiques/> There is no Kabyle newspaper. Some Algerian newspapers such as {{ill|La Dépêche de Kabylie|fr}} offer a small Kabyle section.<ref name=LavalDroitsLinguistiques/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tamazight |url=https://www.depechedekabylie.com/ddk-tamazight/ |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=La Dépêche de Kabylie |language=fr-FR |archive-date=2023-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226091658/https://www.depechedekabylie.com/ddk-tamazight/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1994, Kabyle pupils and students boycotted Algerian schools for a year, demanding the officialization of Berber, leading to the symbolic creation of the "[[Haut commissariat à l'amazighité]]" (HCA) in 1995. Berber was subsequently taught as a non-compulsory language in Berber speaking areas. The course being optional, few people attend.<ref name=LavalDroitsLinguistiques>{{cite web|url=https://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/afrique/algerie-4Berberes_ling.htm|first1=Jacques|last1=Leclerc|first2=Lionel|last2=Jean|publisher=Université Laval|title=Algérie: Les droits linguistiques des berbérophones|date=2021-07-27|access-date=2023-02-26|archive-date=2022-08-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812175130/https://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/afrique/algerie-4Berberes_ling.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The Kabyle school boycott also resulted in the first recognition of Amazigh as a national language in November 1996.

President [[Abdelaziz Bouteflika|Bouteflika]] has frequently stated that "Amazigh (the Berber language) will never be an official language, and if it has to be a national language, it must be submitted to a referendum".<ref name="boutefliqa">{{cite web| title = Boutefliqa et l'amazighophobie| publisher = Amazigh World| date = n.d.| url = http://www.amazighworld.org/history/amazighophobia/algeria/boutefliqa/boutef.php| access-date = 2010-03-19| language = fr| archive-date = 2023-06-04| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230604044018/http://www.amazighworld.org/history/amazighophobia/algeria/boutefliqa/boutef.php| url-status = usurped}}</ref> In 2005, President Bouteflika, stated that "there is no country in the world with two official languages" and "this will never be the case of Algeria".<ref name="benchabane">{{Harvcoltxt|Benchabane|2005}}</ref> Nevertheless, after four decades of pacific struggle, riots, strikes, and social mobilization, including the Berber spring (1980, riots and strikes in the Kabylie region of Tizi Ouzou, Bouira and Bejaïa, as well as Algiers) and the [[Black Spring (Kabylie)|Black Spring]] in 2001, President Bouteflika and his government recognized Amazigh (Berber) as a "national language" for the second time through a 2002 constitutional amendment.

In February 2016, the Algerian constitution passed a resolution that made Berber an official language alongside Arabic.<ref name="Constitution of Algeria">{{Cite book|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Algeria|title=Constitution of Algeria|access-date=2021-04-21|archive-date=2021-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421195005/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Algeria|url-status=live}}</ref>