Advances in Amazigh Language Technologies: A Comprehensive Survey Across Processing Domains

The Amazigh language, spoken by millions across North Africa, presents unique computational challenges due to its complex morphological system, dialectal variation, and multiple writing systems. This survey examines technological advances over the past decade across four key domains: natural languag...

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Main Authors: Oussama Akallouch, Mohammed Akallouch, Khalid Fardousse
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Information
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/16/7/600
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author Oussama Akallouch
Mohammed Akallouch
Khalid Fardousse
author_facet Oussama Akallouch
Mohammed Akallouch
Khalid Fardousse
author_sort Oussama Akallouch
collection DOAJ
description The Amazigh language, spoken by millions across North Africa, presents unique computational challenges due to its complex morphological system, dialectal variation, and multiple writing systems. This survey examines technological advances over the past decade across four key domains: natural language processing, speech recognition, optical character recognition, and machine translation. We analyze the evolution from rule-based systems to advanced neural models, demonstrating how researchers have addressed resource constraints through innovative approaches that blend linguistic knowledge with machine learning. Our analysis reveals uneven progress across domains, with optical character recognition reaching high maturity levels while machine translation remains constrained by limited parallel data. Beyond technical metrics, we explore applications in education, cultural preservation, and digital accessibility, showing how these technologies enable Amazigh speakers to participate in the digital age. This work illustrates that advancing language technology for marginalized languages requires fundamentally different approaches that respect linguistic diversity while ensuring digital equity.
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spelling doaj-art-7ea8bd22faee432ea77f3b10db8ca9002025-08-20T03:58:31ZengMDPI AGInformation2078-24892025-07-0116760010.3390/info16070600Advances in Amazigh Language Technologies: A Comprehensive Survey Across Processing DomainsOussama Akallouch0Mohammed Akallouch1Khalid Fardousse2Faculty of Sciences Dhar EL Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30050, MoroccoCollege of Computing, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir 43150, MoroccoFaculty of Sciences Dhar EL Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30050, MoroccoThe Amazigh language, spoken by millions across North Africa, presents unique computational challenges due to its complex morphological system, dialectal variation, and multiple writing systems. This survey examines technological advances over the past decade across four key domains: natural language processing, speech recognition, optical character recognition, and machine translation. We analyze the evolution from rule-based systems to advanced neural models, demonstrating how researchers have addressed resource constraints through innovative approaches that blend linguistic knowledge with machine learning. Our analysis reveals uneven progress across domains, with optical character recognition reaching high maturity levels while machine translation remains constrained by limited parallel data. Beyond technical metrics, we explore applications in education, cultural preservation, and digital accessibility, showing how these technologies enable Amazigh speakers to participate in the digital age. This work illustrates that advancing language technology for marginalized languages requires fundamentally different approaches that respect linguistic diversity while ensuring digital equity.https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/16/7/600Amazigh language processingcomputational linguisticslow-resource language technologiesTifinagh OCRspeech recognitionNatural Language Processing
spellingShingle Oussama Akallouch
Mohammed Akallouch
Khalid Fardousse
Advances in Amazigh Language Technologies: A Comprehensive Survey Across Processing Domains
Information
Amazigh language processing
computational linguistics
low-resource language technologies
Tifinagh OCR
speech recognition
Natural Language Processing
title Advances in Amazigh Language Technologies: A Comprehensive Survey Across Processing Domains
title_full Advances in Amazigh Language Technologies: A Comprehensive Survey Across Processing Domains
title_fullStr Advances in Amazigh Language Technologies: A Comprehensive Survey Across Processing Domains
title_full_unstemmed Advances in Amazigh Language Technologies: A Comprehensive Survey Across Processing Domains
title_short Advances in Amazigh Language Technologies: A Comprehensive Survey Across Processing Domains
title_sort advances in amazigh language technologies a comprehensive survey across processing domains
topic Amazigh language processing
computational linguistics
low-resource language technologies
Tifinagh OCR
speech recognition
Natural Language Processing
url https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/16/7/600
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AT mohammedakallouch advancesinamazighlanguagetechnologiesacomprehensivesurveyacrossprocessingdomains
AT khalidfardousse advancesinamazighlanguagetechnologiesacomprehensivesurveyacrossprocessingdomains