Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic

Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic
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)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Maghrebi Arabic Libyan Arabic Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ayl included in Libyan Arabic [ayl]
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

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

Consonants^[9]
		Labial	Interdental		Dental/Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
		Labial	plain	emph.	plain	emph.	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m			n
Stop	voiceless				t	tˤʔ		k
Stop	voiced	b			d			ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ		s	sˤ	ʃ	x	ħ	h
Fricative	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

Pronouns

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
2nd person	f	inti	intan
3rd person	m	hū	həm
3rd person	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
2nd person	f	-ik	-kan
3rd person	m	-ih, -ah (near emphatics)	-həm ~ -ham
3rd person	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
Proximal (this, these)	f	hāḏi	hāḏeyn
Distal (that, those)	m	hāḏ̣āk	hāḏ̣alówk
Distal (that, those)	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

Perfect

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

Imperfect

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

Bihera

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

^ Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Arabic, Libyan Spoken at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ Maṭar 1967.
^ Maṭar 1981.
^ Ennaji 1998, p. 7.
^ "Glottolog 4.7 - Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
^ Al‐Wer & Jong 2017, p. 529.
^ Hüsken 2019, p. 39.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Behnstedt & Woidich 1987, p. 244-251.
^ Wilmsen & Woidich 2011, p. 2.
^ Behnstedt & Woidich 2005, p. 39.
^ Hüsken 2019, p. 54.
^ Souag, Lameen (2009). "Siwa and its significance for Arabic dialectology". Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik (51): 51–75. ISSN 0170-026X. JSTOR 43525858.
^ ^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).
^ 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.
^ Holes 2018, p. 80.

Bibliography

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Holes, Clive, ed. (2018). Arabic Historical Dialectology: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-870137-8. OCLC 1059441655.
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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.