Amazigh Language Terminology in Morocco or Management of a “Multidimensional” Variation

Abstract

The present communication brings to the fore the work undertaken at the Royal Institute of the Amazigh Culture (IRCAM, henceforth) within the Language Planning Center known as “Centre de l’Aménagement Linguistique” (CAL) within the framework of the language planning of Amazigh, particularly on the side of terminology. The focus will be on the concept of “variation” that affects different levels in the course of standardizing a language: orthography, spelling, grammar and lexis. Thus, after a brief survey of the main features of the Amazigh (Berber) language in general, the missions and the projects far achieved by CAL will be presented, particularly the objectives that relate to the work on the multiply varied corpus-based terminology. It appears that eliciting the pertinent information, for the most part, requires a whole amount of work on the re-writing of corpora so that the latter become exploitable in the standardization process. It should be pointed out that this stage of data homogenization, seemingly unwieldy for optimal exploitation, cannot be undertaken Amazighist linguists being involved in theoretical and methodological presuppositions that are at the root of this variation.

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