Aleph
Volume 13, Numéro 4, Pages 299-313
2026-09-20
From Learned Borrowing To Endogenous Conceptualization: Scientific Terminology And Amazigh As A Language Of Knowledge
Authors : Afulki Aznat . Musa Imaḥrazen .
Abstract
Institutional recognition alone cannot make Amazigh a fully operational language for the production and circulation of scientific knowledge. This study examines the conditions required to move from adapting terminologies developed in dominant languages to a genuine capacity for endogenous conceptualization. It analyses the relationships among learned borrowing, controlled calquing, morphological and semantic neology, definitional reformulation, and language-internal term formation. Using a qualitative terminological approach, the article examines six humanities concepts—stereotype, pragmatics, subjectivation, imaginary, symbolic heritage, and critical anamnesis—according to five criteria: conceptual precision, intelligibility, morphological productivity, cross-variety stability, and discursive integration. The analysis shows that no single terminological procedure can, on its own, generate a stable scientific lexicon: borrowing supports international intelligibility, whereas neology and definitional reformulation activate language-internal resources. The article therefore proposes a pluricentric model based on terminological documentation, attested use, corpus testing, and coordination among institutions, researchers, scholarly journals, teachers, and digital tools. Scientific terminology thus emerges not as a simple inventory of labels, but as an infrastructure for conceptualization, knowledge circulation, and epistemic sovereignty.
Keywords
Amazigh; scientific terminology, endogenous conceptualization, neology, learned borrowing, pluricentric standardization, epistemic sovereignty
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