Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic

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]

Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic
Sahil Maryut Bedouin Arabic
Sulaimitian Arabic
Native toEgypt
Speakers470,000 (2021)[1]
Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3ayl included in Libyan Arabic [ayl][2]
Glottologwest2774

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
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

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
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

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
f msíkat msikīət-ih, msikát-ta
3rd person pl. m msíkaw
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
  1. Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) closed access
  2. Arabic, Libyan Spoken at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  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. 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. 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

Further reading
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