Towards an Electronic Dictionary of Tamajaq Language in Niger

We present the Tamajaq language and the dictionary we used as main linguistic resource in the two first parts. The third part details the complex morphology of this language. In the part 4 we describe the conversion of the dictionary into electronic form, the inflectional rules we wrote and their implementation in the Nooj software. Finally we present a plan for our future work. 1. The Tamajaq language 1.1 Socio-linguistic situation In Niger, the official language is French and there are eleven national languages. Five are taught in a experimental schools: Fulfulde, Hausa, Kanuri, Tamajaq and Soŋay-Zarma. According to the last census in 1998, the Tamajaq language is spoken by 8,4% of the 13.5 million people who live in Niger. This language is also spoken in Mali, Burkina-Faso, Algeria and Libya. It is estimated there are around 5 millions Tamajaq-speakers around the world. The Tamacheq language belongs to the group of Berber languages. 1.2 Tamajaq alphabet The Tamajaq alphabet used in Niger (Republic of Niger, 1999) uses 41 characters, 14 with diacritical marks that all figure in the Unicode standard (See appendix A). There are 12 vowels: a, â, ă, ə, e, ê, i, î, o, ô, u, û. 1.3 Articulary phonetics Consonants Voiceless Voiced Bilabial Plosive b Nasal m Trill r Semivowel w Labiodental Fricative f Dental Plosive t d Fricative s z Nasal n Lateral l Pharyngeal Plosive ṭ ḍ Fricative ṣ ẓ Lateral ḷ Palatal Plosive c ǰ Fricative š j Semivowel y Velar Plosive k g, ğ Fricative ɣ x Nasal ŋ Glottal Plosive q Fricative h Table 1a: Articulary phonetics of Tamajaq consonants