Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic

Arabic variety of Western Egypt

Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic

Sahil Maryut Bedouin Arabic
Sulaimitian Arabic
Native to| Egypt
Region| Alexandria, Beheira, Matrouh, Beni Suef, Cairo, Egypt–Libya border
Speakers| 470,000 (2021)[1]

Language family

Afro-Asiatic

* Semitic
* West Semitic
* Central Semitic
* Arabic
* Maghrebi Arabic
* Libyan Arabic[2]
* Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic

Writing system

| Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3| `ayl` included in Libyan Arabic [ayl][2]
Glottolog| `west2774`

Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic, also known as Sahil Maryut Bedouin Arabic,[3][4] is a group of Bedouin Arabic dialects spoken in Western Egypt along the Mediterranean coast, west to the Egypt–Libya border.[2][5] Ethnologue and Glottolog classify Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic as a Libyan Arabic dialect.[6][2]

This variety is spoken by the Awlad Ali tribe,[7][8] who settled in the edges of Lake Maryut and west of Bihera beginning in the 17th century from the region of Jebel Akhdar (Libya).[9] It is also spoken in Wadi El Natrun.[10] Their dialect is phonologically, morphophonemically and morphologically closer to the Peninsular Bedouin dialects than to the adjacent Egyptian dialects.[11] Egyptian Arabic speakers from other parts of Egypt do not understand the Awlad Ali dialect.[12]

Western Bedouin dialects influenced the dialects of southern Upper Egypt between Asyut and Idfu, and those of the Bahariyya Oasis and Bihera.[9]

## Classification

[edit]

The dialects spoken in Matruh province as well as in eastern Libya have been traditionally classified as belonging to the Sulaymi Bedouin dialects, characterized by a /g/ reflex of Qāf, the gahawa-syndrome, and feminine plural conjugations and pronouns.[13] However, the classification of North African Bedouin dialects into Hilalian, Sulaimitian, and Ma’qilian groups is not uncontroversial, and is based primarily on socio-historical and geographical considerations.[14][15] While the dialects of Tripolitania represent a continuation of Tunisian dialects, the dialects of Cyrenaica show affinities with Eastern Bedouin dialects, especially with regards to the gahawa-syndrome and syllable structure.[14]

## Phonology

[edit]

Consonants[9] | Labial | Interdental | Dental/Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Pharyngeal | Glottal

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

plain  | emph. | plain  | emph.
Nasal | m |  |  | n |  |  |  |  |
Stop | voiceless |  |  |  | t | tˤʔ |  | k |  |
voiced | b |  |  | d |  |  | ɡ |  |
Fricative | voiceless | f | θ |  | s | sˤ | ʃ | x | ħ | h
voiced |  | ð | ðˤ | z |  | ʒ | ɣ | ʕ |
Tap/Trill |  |  |  | r |  |  |  |  |
Approximant |  |  |  | l |  | j | w |  |

Notes:

* /ṭ/ is glottalized as in Upper Egyptian Arabic: [tˤʔ]

Vowels  | Front | Central | Back

|
|
|

Close | i iː |  | uː
Mid |  | ə |
Open |  | a aː |

## Grammar

[edit]

### Pronouns

[edit]

Contrary to MSA, Western Egyptian Bedawi uses the plural pronouns for dual pronouns:

Independent personal pronouns[9] | Singular  | Plural

|
|

1st person (m/f)  | nā, nābīdi | iḥna, niḥna
2nd person  | m  | init | intu
f  | inti | intan
3rd person  | m  | hū | həm
f  | hī | hin

The following direct object pronominal suffixes are attached to verbs:

Direct object pronominal suffixes[9] | Singular  | Plural

|
|

1st person (m/f)  | -ni | -na
2nd person  | m  | -ak | -kam
f  | -ik | -kan
3rd person  | m  | -ih, -ah (near emphatics)  | -həm ~ -ham
f  | -ha | -hin ~ -hən

The following demonstrative pronouns are used. The form hāḏ̣ayīəhi is also used with the suffix -yīəhi:

Demonstrative pronouns[9] | Singular  | Plural

|
|

Proximal

(this, these)

| m  | hāḏ̣a | hāḏowl
f  | hāḏi | hāḏeyn
Distal

(that, those)

| m  | hāḏ̣āk | hāḏ̣alówk
f  | hāḏīk | hāḏ̣alák

The following interrogative pronouns are used:

Interrogative pronouns[9] Arabic  | English

|

eyš | what
leyš | why
eymítta | when
weyn | where
keyf, eyšinhū, eyšinhī | how

### Verbs

[edit]

#### Perfect

[edit]

There are two types of strong perfect stems, CiCáC (a-type) and CCiC (i-type). Examples of a-type perfects are misák, nizál, ṭiláʿ, fihám. Examples of i-type perfects are šrib, rkib, zʿil, smiʿ, ʿrif, gdir, kbir, kṯir, tʿib, lbis, ybis.[9]

Some perfect conjugations are shown below:

| Base  | w/ Object Suffixes

|
|

3rd person sg.  | m  | misák |
f  | msíkat | msikīət-ih, msikát-ta
3rd person pl.  | m  | msíkaw |
f  | msíkan | msikánn-ih

#### Imperfect

[edit]

There are three types of strong imperfect stems, CCiC (i-type), CCəC (ə-type), and CCaC (a-type). The vowel of the conjugation prefix harmonizes with the vowel of the stem: yiktib, yərgəd, yašṛab. The conjugation of the 1st person follows the niktib-níkitbu paradigm.[9]

## Influence

[edit]

### Bihera

[edit]

The pronunciation [ʒ] for ǧīm occurs in the west of the Bihera, were Awlad Ali settled. Metathesized forms such as mašzid “mosque” may be a result of the influence of their dialect.[16]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
2. ^ a b c d Arabic, Libyan Spoken at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
3. ^ Maṭar 1967.
4. ^ Maṭar 1981.
5. ^ Ennaji 1998, p. 7.
6. ^ "Glottolog 4.7 - Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
7. ^ Al‐Wer & Jong 2017, p. 529.
8. ^ Hüsken 2019, p. 39.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Behnstedt & Woidich 1987, p. 244-251.
10. ^ Wilmsen & Woidich 2011, p. 2.
11. ^ Behnstedt & Woidich 2005, p. 39.
12. ^ Hüsken 2019, p. 54.
13. ^ Souag, Lameen (2009). "Siwa and its significance for Arabic dialectology". Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik (51): 51–75. ISSN 0170-026X. JSTOR 43525858.
14. ^ a b Taine-Cheikh, Catherine (2017). "La classification des parlers bédouins du Maghreb : revisiter le classement traditionnel". Tunisian and Libyan Arabic Dialects: Common Trends - Recent Developments - Diachronic Aspects (in French).
15. ^ Benkato, Adam (2019-12-13). "From Medieval Tribes to Modern Dialects: on the Afterlives of Colonial Knowledge in Arabic Dialectology". Philological Encounters. 4 (1–2): 2–25. doi:10.1163/24519197-12340061. ISSN 2451-9197. S2CID 213987414.
16. ^ Holes 2018, p. 80.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Al‐Wer, Enam; Jong, Rudolf (2017). "Dialects of Arabic". In Boberg, Charles; Nerbonne, John; Watt, Dominic (eds.). The Handbook of Dialectology. Wiley. pp. 523–534. doi:10.1002/9781118827628.ch32. ISBN 978-1-118-82755-0. OCLC 989950951.
* Behnstedt, Peter; Woidich, Manfred (1987). Die ägyptisch-arabischen Dialekte: Texte. Delta-Dialekte (in German). Vol. 3\. Reichert. ISBN 978-3-88226-415-9. OCLC 158521055.
* Behnstedt, Peter; Woidich, Manfred (2005). Arabische Dialektgeographie : eine Einführung (in German). Boston: Brill. ISBN 90-04-14130-8. OCLC 182530188.
* Ennaji, Moha (1998). Arabic varieties in North Africa. Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society. Florida Hills: Vivlia. ISBN 1-919799-12-5. OCLC 42746547.
* Holes, Clive, ed. (2018). Arabic Historical Dialectology: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-870137-8. OCLC 1059441655.
* Hüsken, Thomas (2019). "People, Places and a Brief History". Tribal Politics in the Borderland of Egypt and Libya. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 31–59. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-92342-0_3. ISBN 978-3-319-92342-0. OCLC 1059513981. S2CID 165534196.
* Maṭar, ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz (1967). لهجة البدو في اقليم ساحل مريوط: دراسة لغوية [The Bedouin Dialect in Mariut Coast: A Linguistic Study] (in Arabic). دار الكاتب العربي،. OCLC 784347217.
* Maṭar, ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz (1981). لهجة البدو في الساحل الشمالي لجمهورية مصر العربية : دراسة لغوية [Bedouin dialect in the northern coast of the Arab Republic of Egypt: A linguistic study] (in Arabic). Dār al-Maʻārif, [Cairo]. ISBN 9789777334730. OCLC 60506275.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
* Wilmsen, David; Woidich, Manfred (2011). "Egypt". In Edzard, Lutz; de Jong, Rudolf (eds.). Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Brill. doi:10.1163/1570-6699_eall_EALL_COM_vol2_0001.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Behnstedt, Peter (1998). "La frontière orientale des parlers maghrébins en Égypte". In Aguadé, Jorge; Cressier, Patrice; Vicente, Ángeles (eds.). Peuplement et arabisation au Maghreb occidental : Dialectologie et histoire (in French). Madrid: Casa de Velázquez. pp. 85–96. ISBN 84-86839-85-8. OCLC 40820286.
* Owens, Jonathan (2003). "Arabic Dialect History and Historical Linguistic Mythology". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 123 (4): 715–740. doi:10.2307/3589965. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 3589965.
* Behnstedt, Peter; Woidich, Manfred (2018-10-18). "Map 3.1: The Egyptian Arabic dialect area today". The formation of the Egyptian Arabic dialect area. Vol. 1\. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198701378.003.0003.

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