While there is no official census conducted in any Amazigh community in North Africa for political reasons, many authors agree that Kabyles represent the second largest Amazigh population in North Africa just behind the Shluh, numbering around 8 million, including the diaspora. Kabylia is a very densely populated region with very little development. The roots of such predicament go back to colonization by the French but also the North African states’ policies that resulted in immigration to countries like France, Canada, and the USA but also to many cities in Algeria.​

The Amazigh languages shared a specific alphabet in antiquity: the Libyan script. This script can be found on rock art and tombstones across all North Africa, from Siwa in Egypt to the Canary Islands. It survived as Tifinagh script among the Tuaregs in Algeria, Mali and Niger. Today, most Amazigh languages including Taqbaylit are written using latin characters with small modifications to accommodate the various sounds, with one notable exception. When the kingdom of Morocco established the Institute for Research on Amazigh Culture it imposed the use of a “neo-Tifinagh” script which most Moroccan Amazigh activists did not agree with.

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While Taqbaylit and most Amazigh languages used to be oral languages, they survived throughout the centuries due to the the independence and isolation of the Amazigh communities. Numerous invasions throughout history and geography have resulted in isolation among the various communities. Many of these communities lived in almost complete autarchy in difficult terrain that is not easily accessible which protected them from invaders. The language was transmitted through poetry and story telling. The French colonization that saw the Amazigh oppose it most fiercely were the first to systematically dismantle all the foundations of Amazigh society and cause the languages and the culture to regress and be placed under the domination of the Arabo-Islamic ideology that France championed.

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Independence from France would only strengthen this trend. Prior to 1980, Kabyle culture was largely kept alive through a vigorous song tradition that thrived around the only Kabyle Amazigh radio station Channel 2 and a very productive and dynamic Kabyle diaspora in France. Poets like Si Muh Umhend and Muhya, singers like Slimane Azem, Cherif Kheddam, Ait Menguellat, Idir and Lounes Matoub, to cite only these few, kept the culture alive and connected the community. 

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In 1980, the Kabyles took to the streets to demand their rights and defend their culture. This would be known as the Amazigh Spring. Since then, Amazigh languages have progressed and flourished under the littlest freedoms allowed by the Arab-Islamic-centric North African States. A vibrant literary tradition is starting to take root in Kabylia with very young authors, both male and female. Other areas in the arts are invested as well: theater and film production, adaptation and dubbing of foreign films, etc. While Taqbaylit is now taught in most Kabyle schools, its reach has been restricted in many ways. It receives very little resources, its teaching is still optional, and covers only a few years of the primary school while the language taught in the first grade is still Arabic. 

Taqbaylit is however developing and advancing despite all odds, thanks to many young and dynamic Kabyles who try to bring it into the digital age and give it all the chances to flourish and endure.

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