Professor Khalid Ansar works as a researcher at the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) in Rabat, Morocco.  The central thrust of his work is to undertake research in the domain of linguistics with a special focus on language standardization, lexicology, phonology, and computational linguistics.  Within the different centers of IRCAM, Professor Ansar works at the Language Planning Center.  His mission with the rest of the team in the Language Planning Center is to standardize the Amazigh language and to work hand in hand with computer scientists to ease Amazigh’s computational processing.  He has been involved in providing training on standard Amazigh to university teachers, students, and primary school teachers.  He has also been involved in preparing several publications on standard Amazigh.

Abstract of Khalid Ansar's Presentation

The Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture and the Standardization of Amazigh and Its Writing System

This presentation will offer an overview of the Amazigh language, its writing system (Tifinaghe) and the experience of Amazigh standardization and normalization in Morocco.  A brief retrospective will be offered about the Amazigh language, its geolinguistic and sociolinguistic contexts in Morocco, and the relationship between Amazigh and other languages in Morocco.  The Amazigh writing system will be addressed, with a special focus on the different versions of Tifinaghe in use in North Africa, along with their history. The presentation will discuss the relationship between ancient versions of Tifinaghe, the various versions of Neo-Tifinaghe in use today, and the particular form of Neo-Tifinaghe adopted by the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM).  Also covered will be IRCAM's strategies in standardizing Tifinaghe and all of the important steps in that process.