Afro-Asiatic · ISO 639-3 kab
Kabyle Language القبايل
Kabyle is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by about 5.6 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin, Perso-Arabic and Tifinagh scripts.
Where Kabyle is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Kabyle
Language family
- Afro-Asiatic
- Berber
- Kabyle-Atlas Berber
- Kabyle
Writing system
Latin, Perso-Arabic and Tifinagh scripts
Related languages
About the Kabyle language
Kabyle (القبايل) is spoken by about 5.6 million people, which makes it the 171st most spoken language in the world — just behind Ganda (5.6 million) and ahead of Southern Thai (5.5 million). It belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family and, more precisely, to the Kabyle-Atlas Berber group within the Kabyle-Atlas Berber branch.
Where is Kabyle spoken?
Kabyle is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Algeria (3.7 million).
Kabyle is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Kabyle is written in the Latin, Perso-Arabic and Tifinagh scripts. Glottolog classifies it as threatened, meaning fewer children learn it than in the past.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Central Atlas Tamazight and Tachelhit.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 kab.
Frequently asked questions about Kabyle
How many people speak Kabyle?
Where is Kabyle spoken?
What language family does Kabyle belong to?
What is Kabyle called in Kabyle?
Is Kabyle an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.