The Shawiya people call their language
Tacawit (
Thashawith) ( or ). Estimates of number of speakers range from 1.4 to 3 million speakers. The
French spelling of
Chaouïa is commonly seen, due to the influence of French conventions on Algeria. Other spellings are "Chaoui", "Shawia", "Tachawit", "Thachawith", "Tachaouith" and "Thchèwith". In Shawiya, the leading – pronounced in that phonetic environment – is often reduced to an , so the native name is often heard as
Hašawiθ. Shawiya Berber was, until recently, an unwritten language and rarely taught at school. As the Shawiya people were predominantly rural and secluded, they often
code-switch to
Algerian Arabic, French or even
English to discuss non-traditional technology and sociological concerns. Recently, the Shawiya language, together with the
Kabyle language, has begun to achieve some cultural and media prominence thanks to the Berber cultural and political movements in Algeria and to the introduction of Berber language education in some public schools. ==Phonology==