Iberian language | European language | Britannica (original) (raw)

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association with Amazigh languages

• In Berber languages
  …member is the language called Iberian, after whose speakers the Iberian Peninsula is named. An old consonantal alphabet (tifinagh) has survived among the Tuareg. It relates to the early Libyan inscriptions and the Phoenician quasi-alphabet.
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relationship to Basque

• 
  In Basque language: Origins and classification
  …a genetic connection between Basque, Iberian (the long-extinct language of the ancient inscriptions of eastern Spain and of the Mediterranean coast of France), and the Afro-Asiatic languages. Despite amazing coincidences in phonology, Basque has so far contributed little to the understanding of the Iberian texts. This suggests that the similarity…
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use by Iberians

• In Iberian
  The Iberian language, a non-Indo-European tongue, continued to be spoken into early Roman times. Along the east coast it was written in Iberian script, a system of 28 syllabic and alphabetic characters, some derived from Greek and Phoenician systems but most of unknown origin. Many inscriptions…
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