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)[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]

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]

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

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

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

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]

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]

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• 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.

• 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.
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