BRIEF NOTES ON THE CONCEPTS OF LISĀN AND LUGHA WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE MEDIEVAL BERBER LANGAUGE THROUGH SOME EXAMPLES

This study seeks to subject to scrutiny a range of data concerning some regional variants of the Berber language in medieval Maghreb. Offering information taken from different types of Arabic sources, we examine concepts of “language” possibly embodied in the term lisān (plural alsina, alsun), and of “dialect(s)” illustrated by the use of the word lugha (plural lughāt). The content presented enables an exploration of the ideas that Arabic writers used the language as an instrument for transmitting facts, and thereby establishing the outlines of debate as to whether the Berber language occupied a privileged position in medieval Maghrebian society.