It is spoken natively by some 1,200,000[2][3] Rifians, comprising 3.2% of the population,[1] primarily in the Rif provinces of Nador, Al Hoceima and Driouch.

[8] There are also speakers of Riffian in Morocco outside the Rif region, notably in the rest of Moroccan cities where they compose a minority.

Iznasen (Beni Znassen) is counted as a dialect in Kossman (1999), but Blench (2006) classifies it as one of the closely related Mzab–Wargla languages.

Lafkioui (2020) argues that the Berber varieties of the Rif area (North, Northwest, and Northeast Morocco), – including the varieties of the Senhaja (westernmost group) and of the Iznasen (easternmost group) – form a language continuum with 5 stable core aggregates: They cut across the traditionally used groupings of Senhaja, Rif, Iznasen which are in fact ethnonyms and hold no classification value of any kind, neither do they correspond to the sociolinguistic landscape of the Rif area, which shows considerable complexity.

There are only a few phonatactic expeceptions to this, e.g. in verb suffixes before vowel-initial clitics, ṯessfehmeḏḏ-as [θəs:fəɦməð:æs].

A few consonants have divergent geminated counterparts; ḍ (/dˤ/ and /ðˤ/) to ṭṭ (/tˤː/), w (/w/) to kkʷ (/kːʷ/), ɣ (/ʁ/) to qq (/qː/), and ř (/r/) to ǧ (/dʒː/).

This is most common with ww, e.g. acewwaf [æʃəwːæf] 'hair', and rarely occurs with ɣɣ and ḍḍ e.g. iɣɣed [ɪʁːəð] 'ashes', weḍḍaạ [wədˤːɑˤ] 'to be lost'.

This change, characteristic of Zenati Berber varieties, distances Riffian from neighbouring dialects such as Atlas-Tamazight and Shilha.

Unlike the nearby Tashelhit (Shilha), Riffian Berber has little written literature before the twentieth century.

The Berber Latin alphabet continues to be the most used writing system online and in most publications in Morocco and abroad.

From 'An introduction to Tarifiyt Berber (Nador, Morocco)' by Khalid Mourigh and Maarten Kossmann: Sirkuḷasyun (trafic)[29] A:A‍:Ssalamuɛlikum.peace.upon.you(PL)A: Ssalamuɛlikum.A‍: peace.upon.you(PL)A: Hello.B:B‍:Waɛlikumssalam.and.upon.you(PL).peaceB: Waɛlikumssalam.B‍: and.upon.you(PL).peaceB: Hello.A:A‍:Teẓṛidyou(SG).sawlakṣiḍa-nniaccident-thatyewqɛen?happeningA: Teẓṛid lakṣiḍa-nni yewqɛen?A‍: you(SG).saw accident-that happeningA: Did you see the (car) crash that happened?B:B‍:Lla,nosřiɣi.heardxason.itwaha.onlyB: Lla, sřiɣ xas waha.B‍: no i.heard on.it onlyB: No, I only heard about it.A:A‍:Tewqeɛit(F).happeneddeggʷinbridroad(AS)nofWezɣenɣan.zeghanghane(AS)A: Tewqeɛ deggʷ brid n Wezɣenɣan.A‍: it(F).happened in road(AS) of zeghanghane(AS)A: It happened on the Zeghanghane road.B:B‍:Wah,yeslakṣiḍaaccidentdPREDtameqqṛant.big(F:SG:FS)B: Wah, lakṣiḍa d tameqqṛant.B‍: yes accident PRED big(F:SG:FS)B: Yeah, it was a big (car) crash.A:A‍:Abridroad(FS)ibelleɛit.is.closedmaṛṛa.allA: Abrid ibelleɛ maṛṛa.A‍: road(FS) it.is.closed allA: The whole road is closed.B:B‍:Immuthe.dieddintherecasomenofyijjen?one(M:AS)B: Immut din ca n yijjen?B‍: he.died there some of one(M:AS)B: Did anybody die there?A:A‍:Wah,yesyemmuthe.diedijjenonewaayazman(AS)dandmmi-s,son-hismsakin.poor.guysA: Wah, yemmut ijjen waayaz d mmi-s, msakin.A‍: yes he.died one man(AS) and son-his poor.guysA: Yes, one man and his son died, the poor guys.B:B‍:Mamechowtemsaa?it(F).happenedB: Mamec temsaa?B‍: how it(F).happenedB: How did it happen?A:A‍:Yesḥạạqhe.burnedssṭupptraffic.lightucathentudefit(F).entereddaysenin.them(M)ijjenoneṭṭumubin.carA: Yesḥạạq ssṭupp uca tudef daysen ijjen ṭṭumubin.A‍: he.burned traffic.light then it(F).entered in.them(M) one carA: He crossed the red light and then a car hit them.B:B‍:TuɣaPASTitazzeřhe.runsɛini.probablyIwa,wellaADten-yạạḥemthem(M:DO)-he.has.mercysid-ạạbbi.sir-lordB: Tuɣa itazzeř ɛini.