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'''Egyptian Arabic''' ('''Ma{{unicode|ṣ}}rī''', '''مصري''') is part of the ] branch of the ], descended mainly from a medieval dialect of ]. It originated in the ] region (Lower Egypt) around its urban centers, ] and ]. Today, it is the ] of ] and the ] of more than 78 million people. It also serves as a ] in many countries across the ] '''Egyptian Arabic''' ('''Ma{{unicode|ṣ}}rī''', '''مصري''') is a collective term that refers to the group of ] spoken in ] descended mainly from a medieval dialect of ]. The most dominant among them is the Cairine dialect, which originated in the ] region (Lower Egypt) around its urban centers, ] and ]. Today, it is the ] of ] and the ] of more than 78 million people. It also serves as a ] in many countries across the ]


While Egyptian Arabic is mainly spoken, it is written occasionally in novels, plays, poems (]) as well as in comics, advertising, some newspapers, and transcriptions of popular songs. In most other written media and in TV news reporting, ] is used. Like other ], with the exception of ], the Egyptian ] is written in the ]. While Egyptian Arabic is mainly spoken, it is written occasionally in novels, plays, poems (]) as well as in comics, advertising, some newspapers, and transcriptions of popular songs. In most other written media and in TV news reporting, ] is used. Like other Arabic Dialects, with the exception of ], the Egyptian ] is written in the ].


==History== ==History==
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Two of the main proponents of Egyptian linguistic reform were ], who also wrote the first Egyptian feminist treatise, and former president of the ], ]. They adopted a modernist, ] approach and disagreed with the Islamic assumption that Arabic was an immutable language because of its association with the ]. For a while, Egyptian Arabic enjoyed a period of rich literary output until the movement was halted with the continuing rise of ] and ] in Egypt and the ], particularly with ]'s assumption of power in 1954. The first modern Egyptian novel to be written in the vernacular was ]'s ''''']''''' in 1913. Other notable novelists such as Ihsan Abdel Quddous and ], and poets such as ] and Ahmed Fu'ad Negm (Fagumi), helped solidify vernacular literature as a distinct literary genre. Two of the main proponents of Egyptian linguistic reform were ], who also wrote the first Egyptian feminist treatise, and former president of the ], ]. They adopted a modernist, ] approach and disagreed with the Islamic assumption that Arabic was an immutable language because of its association with the ]. For a while, Egyptian Arabic enjoyed a period of rich literary output until the movement was halted with the continuing rise of ] and ] in Egypt and the ], particularly with ]'s assumption of power in 1954. The first modern Egyptian novel to be written in the vernacular was ]'s ''''']''''' in 1913. Other notable novelists such as Ihsan Abdel Quddous and ], and poets such as ] and Ahmed Fu'ad Negm (Fagumi), helped solidify vernacular literature as a distinct literary genre.


Nasser undertook an Arabization campaign in Egypt's education system and government administration, which stoutly relegated Egyptian Arabic. In the last fifty years, educated Egyptian as a result became heavily influenced by Standard Arabic. Following Nasser's death, interest in the Egyptian dialect was rekindled by vernacular authors, and calls for making Egyptian Arabic an official language and the language of education reappeared. In the ], a movement known as ] was started by a group of secular activists promoting political reform in ], and calling for the official recognition of both Egyptian Arabic and indigenous ] ('the languages of Egypt'). To date, it is not represented in the ] as it is awaiting license. Some of its views continue to be a source of controversy among Egyptians, particularly with religious establishments such as ] and the currently outlawed ]. Nasser undertook an Arabization campaign in Egypt's education system and government administration, which stoutly relegated Egyptian Arabic. In the last fifty years, educated Egyptian as a result became heavily influenced by Standard Arabic. Following Nasser's death, interest in the Egyptian dialect was rekindled by vernacular authors, and calls for making Egyptian Arabic an official language and the language of education reappeared, for decades there has been some sort of balance between powers promoting the local ] (see ],]) on contrast to powers promoting adoption of ] (see ], ]).


===="Language" vs. "dialect"==== ===="Language" vs. "dialect"====


As the status of Egyptian Arabic vis-à-vis the ] language (the language of the ]) has political and religious implications in ], many Egyptians consider Egyptian Arabic only a dialect. But even though Egyptian Arabic is descended from the ], some students of Arabic and ]s may find Egyptian Arabic sufficiently different as to be an independent language (see ]). Some native speakers of Egyptian Arabic, however, point out that the richness of Arabic vocabulary may lead to confusion regarding the ] of some of its words, which may simply be variations of the same word in vernacular Arabic. To be sure, ] tends to be more conservative while Egyptian Arabic has been more influenced by other languages, including ]/], ], ], ], and ]. There are, however, words peculiar to the Egyptian dialect, as opposed to other ], that are still ultimately derived from Arabic. As the status of Egyptian Arabic vis-à-vis the ] language (the language of the ]) has political and religious implications in ], many Egyptians consider Egyptian Arabic only a dialect. But even though Egyptian Arabic is descended from ], some students of Arabic and ]s may find Egyptian Arabic sufficiently different as to be an independent language (see ]). Some native speakers of Egyptian Arabic, however, point out that the richness of Arabic vocabulary may lead to confusion regarding the ] of some of its words, which may simply be variations of the same word in vernacular Arabic. To be sure, ] tends to be more conservative while Egyptian Arabic has been more influenced by other languages, including ]/], ], ]. There are, however, words peculiar to the Egyptian dialect, as opposed to other ], that are still ultimately derived from Arabic.


==Geographic distribution== ==Geographic distribution==
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Egyptian Arabic has retained a significant ] ] in its ], ], and ]. Some features that Egyptian Arabic shares with ancient ] include certain prefix and suffix verbal conjugations, certain emphatic and glottalized consonants, as well as a large number of biliteral and triliteral lexical correspondences. Egyptian Arabic has retained a significant ] ] in its ], ], and ]. Some features that Egyptian Arabic shares with ancient ] include certain prefix and suffix verbal conjugations, certain emphatic and glottalized consonants, as well as a large number of biliteral and triliteral lexical correspondences.


Two syntactic features that are particular to Egyptian Arabic (inherited from Coptic) are postposed demonstratives (i.e. "this" and "that" are placed ''after'' the noun) and in-situ '''wh''' words (i.e. "who", "when", "why" remain in their "logical" positions in a sentence rather than being preposed, or moved to the front of the sentence, as in Standard Arabic and English). Examples of the former: '''{{IPA|ʔ}}ir-rāgil da''' "this man" (Standard Arabic ''hāðā-r-rajul'') and '''{{IPA|ʔ}}il-bint<sup>i</sup> di''' "this girl" (Standard Arabic ''hāðihi-l-bint''). Two syntactic features that are particular to Egyptian Arabic (inherited from Coptic) are postposed demonstratives (i.e. "this" and "that" are placed ''after'' the noun) and in-situ '''wh''' words (i.e. "who", "when", "why" remain in their "logical" positions in a sentence rather than being preposed, or moved to the front of the sentence, as in Standard Arabic and English). Examples of the former: '''{{IPA|ʔ}}ir-rāgil da''' "الراجل دا" "this man" (Standard Arabic ''hāðā-r-rajul'' هذا الرجل) and '''{{IPA|ʔ}}il-bint<sup>i</sup> di''' "this girl" "البنت دي" (Standard Arabic ''hāðihi-l-bint'' هذه البنت ).


Examples of in-situ wh words: Examples of in-situ wh words:
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المادة الأولانية المادة الأولانية


البني أدمين كلهم مولودين حرين ومتساويين في الكرامة والحقوق. البني أدمين كلهم مولودين أحرار ومتساويين في الكرامة والحقوق.
إتوهبلهم العقل والضمير، والمفروض يعاملوا بعض إتوهب لهم العقل والضمير، والمفروض يعاملوا بعض
بروح الأخوية بروح الأخوة


]: ]:
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{{IPA|ʔ}}il-madda {{IPA|ʔ}}il-{{IPA|ʔ}}awwalaniyya {{IPA|ʔ}}il-madda {{IPA|ʔ}}il-{{IPA|ʔ}}awwalaniyya


{{IPA|ʔ}}il-bani{{IPA|ʔ}}admiin kulluhum mawluudiin ħurriin wi mitsawwyiin fil-k{{IPA|ɑ}}r{{IPA|ɑ}}{{IPA|ɑ}}m{{IPA|ɑ}} wil-ħu{{IPA|ʔ}}uu{{IPA|ʔ}}. {{IPA|ʔ}}itwahab-luhum {{IPA|ʔ}}il-{{IPA|ʕ}}{{IPA|ɑ}}{{IPA|ʔ}}l wi{{unicode|ḍ}}-{{unicode|ḍ}}{{IPA|ɑ}}miir wil-m{{IPA|ɑ}}fruu{{unicode|ḍ}} yi{{IPA|ʕ}}amlu {{IPA|ʔ}}il-bani{{IPA|ʔ}}admiin kulluhum mawluudiin {{IPA|ʔ}}ħraar wi mitsawwyiin fil-k{{IPA|ɑ}}r{{IPA|ɑ}}{{IPA|ɑ}}m{{IPA|ɑ}} wil-ħu{{IPA|ʔ}}uu{{IPA|ʔ}}. {{IPA|ʔ}}itwahab-luhum {{IPA|ʔ}}il-{{IPA|ʕ}}{{IPA|ɑ}}{{IPA|ʔ}}l wi{{unicode|ḍ}}-{{unicode|ḍ}}{{IPA|ɑ}}miir wil-m{{IPA|ɑ}}fruu{{unicode|ḍ}} yi{{IPA|ʕ}}amlu
b{{IPA|ɑ}}{{IPA|ʕ}}{{unicode|ḍ}} bi-ruuħ {{IPA|ʔ}}il-{{IPA|ʔ}}uxuwiyya. b{{IPA|ɑ}}{{IPA|ʕ}}{{unicode|ḍ}} bi-ruuħ {{IPA|ʔ}}il-{{IPA|ʔ}}uxuwwa.


==See also== ==See also==
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*] *]
*] *]
*]
*] *]
*] or early Muslim military expansions *] or early Muslim military expansions
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* *
* *
*
* *
* *

Revision as of 17:44, 22 April 2006

Egyptian Arabic
مصري Maṣrī
Pronunciation
Native toEgypt and a few other countries
Native speakers78,000,000 +
Language familyAfro-Asiatic
Writing systemArabic alphabet
Official status
Official language innone
Regulated bynone
Language codes
ISO 639-2arz
ISO 639-3arz

Egyptian Arabic (Maṣrī, مصري) is a collective term that refers to the group of Arabic Dialects spoken in Egypt descended mainly from a medieval dialect of Arabic. The most dominant among them is the Cairine dialect, which originated in the Nile Delta region (Lower Egypt) around its urban centers, Cairo and Alexandria. Today, it is the national language of Egypt and the mother tongue of more than 78 million people. It also serves as a second language in many countries across the Middle East

While Egyptian Arabic is mainly spoken, it is written occasionally in novels, plays, poems (vernacular literature) as well as in comics, advertising, some newspapers, and transcriptions of popular songs. In most other written media and in TV news reporting, Standard Arabic is used. Like other Arabic Dialects, with the exception of Maltese language, the Egyptian dialect is written in the Arabic alphabet.

History

The Egyptians slowly adopted the Arabic language following the Arab-Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century AD. Up till then, they were speaking Egyptian in its Coptic form. For more than three centuries, there existed a period of Coptic-Arabic bilingualism in Lower Egypt. This trend would last for many more centuries in the south. Arabic may have been already familiar to Egyptians through pre-Islamic trade with Bedouin Arab tribes in the Sinai and the easternmost part of the Nile Delta. Egyptian Arabic seems to have begun taking shape in Fustat, the first Islamic capital of Egypt, and now part of modern-day Cairo. The variety of Arabic spoken by the Muslim military troops stationed in Fustat was already different from Classical Arabic, which in part accounts for some of the unique characteristics of the Egyptian dialect.

One of the earliest linguistic sketches of Egyptian Arabic is a 16th century document entitled Dafʻ al-ʼiṣr ʻan kalām ʼahl Miṣr ('The Removal of the Burden from the Language of the People of Egypt') by Yūsuf al-Maġribi. It contains key information on early Egyptian Arabic and the language situation in medieval Egypt. The main purpose of the document was to show that while the Egyptians' vernacular contained many critical "errors" vis-à-vis Classical Arabic, according to Maġribi, it was also related to Arabic in other respects. With the ongoing Islamization and Arabization of the country, Egyptian Arabic slowly supplanted spoken Egyptian. Local chroniclers mention the continued use of Coptic Egyptian as a spoken language until the 17th century AD by peasant women in Upper Egypt. Coptic is still the liturgical language of the Egyptian Coptic Church.

Official status

In the 20th century, Egyptian Arabic was regarded as the national language of Egypt, though to date it is not officially recognized. Standard Arabic, a modernized form of Classical Arabic, is the official language of Egypt (see diglossia.) Interest in the local vernacular began in the 19th century as the Egyptian national movement for independence was taking shape. Questions about the reform and modernization of Arabic came to fore, and for many decades to follow they were hotly debated in Egyptian intellectual circles. Proposals ranged from developing neologisms to replace archaic terminology in Standard Arabic; to the simplification of syntactical and morphological rules and the introduction of colloquialisms; to complete 'Egyptianization' (tamṣīr) by abandoning Arabic in favor of Masri or Egyptian Arabic.

Two of the main proponents of Egyptian linguistic reform were Qasim Amin, who also wrote the first Egyptian feminist treatise, and former president of the Egyptian University, Ahmad Lutfy es-Sayyed. They adopted a modernist, secular approach and disagreed with the Islamic assumption that Arabic was an immutable language because of its association with the Qur'an. For a while, Egyptian Arabic enjoyed a period of rich literary output until the movement was halted with the continuing rise of Islamism and Arab nationalism in Egypt and the Middle East, particularly with Nasser's assumption of power in 1954. The first modern Egyptian novel to be written in the vernacular was Muhammad Husayn Haykal's Zaynab in 1913. Other notable novelists such as Ihsan Abdel Quddous and Yusuf Idris, and poets such as Abnudi and Ahmed Fu'ad Negm (Fagumi), helped solidify vernacular literature as a distinct literary genre.

Nasser undertook an Arabization campaign in Egypt's education system and government administration, which stoutly relegated Egyptian Arabic. In the last fifty years, educated Egyptian as a result became heavily influenced by Standard Arabic. Following Nasser's death, interest in the Egyptian dialect was rekindled by vernacular authors, and calls for making Egyptian Arabic an official language and the language of education reappeared, for decades there has been some sort of balance between powers promoting the local Vernacular (see Ahmad Lutfy es-Sayyed,Masr_el_Um) on contrast to powers promoting adoption of Standard Arabic (see Al_Azhar, Muslim_Brotherhood).

"Language" vs. "dialect"

As the status of Egyptian Arabic vis-à-vis the Classical language (the language of the Qur'an) has political and religious implications in Egypt, many Egyptians consider Egyptian Arabic only a dialect. But even though Egyptian Arabic is descended from Arabic, some students of Arabic and linguists may find Egyptian Arabic sufficiently different as to be an independent language (see Dialect#"Dialect" or "language"). Some native speakers of Egyptian Arabic, however, point out that the richness of Arabic vocabulary may lead to confusion regarding the etymology of some of its words, which may simply be variations of the same word in vernacular Arabic. To be sure, Standard Arabic tends to be more conservative while Egyptian Arabic has been more influenced by other languages, including Egyptian/Coptic, Greek, Turkish. There are, however, words peculiar to the Egyptian dialect, as opposed to other varieties of Arabic, that are still ultimately derived from Arabic.

Geographic distribution

Egyptian Arabic is spoken by more than 78 million Egyptians in Egypt as well as by immigrant Egyptian communities in the Middle East, Europe and North America. Among the spoken varieties of Arabic, Egyptian is the only one to have become a lingua franca in the Arabic-speaking world. It is considered by many as one of the most widely understood vernaculars throughout the Middle East for two main reasons: the proliferation and popularity of Egyptian films and other media in the region since the early 20th century; and the great number of Egyptian teachers and professors who were instrumental in setting up the education systems of various Arabian countries, and who also taught there.

In Yemen, for example, non-Yemenite Arabic speakers are often automatically seen as "Egyptians" and many Yemenites have adapted their everyday speech to Egyptian Arabic by borrowing Egyptian words (such as kida 'like this'; kuwayyis 'well, good') and occasionally Egyptian morphology. The same is true to varying degrees in Sudan, the Levant (particularly Palestine) and in Libya. This trend may now be shifting with the recent ascendancy of Lebanese media in the region, though many Lebanese artists sing in Egyptian Arabic.

Dialects

The Egyptian variants spoken in central and southern Egypt, referred to collectively as Sa'idi (Upper Egyptian), are mainly descended from the northern Egyptian dialect but are distinct from the Cairene sociolect in their phonology due to early contacts with Bedouin Arab dialects. They carry little prestige nationally though continue to be widely spoken, including in the north by rural migrants who have adapted partially to Lower Egyptian dialect. For example, the Sa'idi genitive exponent is usually replaced with Lower Egyptian bitāʕ, but the realization of /q/ as /g/ is retained. Second and third-generation southern Egyptian migrants are monolingual in Cairene Arabic, but maintain cultural and familial ties to the south.

The traditional division between Lower and Upper Egypt and their respective dialectal differences go back to ancient times. Egyptians today commonly refer to the people of the north as baḥarwa and to those of the south as ṣaʻayda. The dialectal differences throughout Egypt, however, are more wide ranging and do not neatly correspond to this simple division. There is a linguistic shift from the eastern to the western parts of the delta, and the dialects spoken from Gizah to el Minya are further grouped into a Middle Egyptian cluster. Despite these differences, there are features distinguishing all Egyptian Arabic dialects from any other Arabic language, including the postposition of demonstratives and interrogatives, the modal meaning of the imperfect, and the integration of the participle.

Sounds

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between , / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Egyptian dialect's distinctive phonology appears in part from its peculiar realization of certain Classical Arabic consonants:

  • The letter jīm ج is pronounced as a (hard) in most Egyptian local dialects, apart from those of Upper Egypt (the Sa'id), e.g. for (mountain), for (beautiful), and so forth. This pronunciation is considered "typically" Egyptian Arabic. It is attested in ancient Egyptian but may have also been the original Semitic pronunciation of the sound - corresponding to the letter gimel in Hebrew and Aramaic. The sound therefore may be a direct retention from ancient Egyptian, or Semitic, or it may be a secondary development from a palatal or palatalized g ( or ).
  • The letter qāf ق is pronounced as a glottal stop in Cairo and the eastern delta, a vocalized /q/ in the western delta, and as a /g/ in Upper Egypt (the Sa'id).
  • Classical θāʔ ث /θ/ becomes either /t/ in ordinary words (e.g. tāni "second") or /s/ in classicisms (e.g. sanawiyya "secondary (school)")
  • Classical ðāl ذ /ð/ becomes /d/ in ordinary words (e.g. danab "tail") or /z/ in classicisms (e.g. ʔizāʕa "broadcasting")
  • Classical ð̣āʔ ظ /ð̣/ emphatic /ð/, becomes /ḍ/ in ordinary words (e.g. ḍuhr "noon" ) or /ẓ/ in classicisms (e.g. ẓāhira "phenomenon")
  • Egyptian Arabic is unusual among Arabic languages and dialects in maintaining in all positions the early post-Classical distinctions between short /i/ and /u/, distinguishing kitāb "book", gumāl "beautiful" (pl.), and ʔixtār "he chose" -- which become ktāb, jmāl, and xtār in most other dialects.

Substratum

Egyptian Arabic has retained a significant Coptic substratum in its lexicon, phonology, and syntax. Some features that Egyptian Arabic shares with ancient Egyptian include certain prefix and suffix verbal conjugations, certain emphatic and glottalized consonants, as well as a large number of biliteral and triliteral lexical correspondences.

Two syntactic features that are particular to Egyptian Arabic (inherited from Coptic) are postposed demonstratives (i.e. "this" and "that" are placed after the noun) and in-situ wh words (i.e. "who", "when", "why" remain in their "logical" positions in a sentence rather than being preposed, or moved to the front of the sentence, as in Standard Arabic and English). Examples of the former: ʔir-rāgil da "الراجل دا" "this man" (Standard Arabic hāðā-r-rajul هذا الرجل) and ʔil-bint di "this girl" "البنت دي" (Standard Arabic hāðihi-l-bint هذه البنت ).

Examples of in-situ wh words:

  • rāħ maṣr ʔimta ? (راح مصر إمتى؟) "When (ʔimta) did he go to Egypt/Cairo?" (lit. "He went to Egypt/Cairo when?")
  • rāħ maṣr lēh ? (راح مصر ليه؟) "Why (lēh) did he go to Egypt/Cairo? (lit. "He went to Egypt/Cairo why?")
  • mīn rāħ maṣr ? (مين راح مصر؟) "Who (mīn) went to Egypt/Cairo? (literally - same order)

The same sentences in Standard Arabic (with all wh words in the beginning of the sentence) would be:

  • matā ðahaba ʔilā miṣr ?
  • limāðā ðahaba ʔilā miṣr ?
  • man ðahaba ʔilā miṣr ?

Text example

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Egyptian Arabic:

المادة الأولانية

البني أدمين كلهم مولودين أحرار ومتساويين في الكرامة والحقوق. إتوهب لهم العقل والضمير، والمفروض يعاملوا بعض بروح الأخوة

English:

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in the spirit of brotherhood.

Transcription:

ʔil-madda ʔil-ʔawwalaniyya

ʔil-baniʔadmiin kulluhum mawluudiin ʔħraar wi mitsawwyiin fil-kɑrɑɑmɑ wil-ħuʔuuʔ. ʔitwahab-luhum ʔil-ʕɑʔl wiḍ-ḍɑmiir wil-mɑfruuḍ yiʕamlu bɑʕḍ bi-ruuħ ʔil-ʔuxuwwa.

See also

References

  • Abdel-Massih, Ernest T. (1978). Comprehensive Study of Egyptian Arabic: Conversation Texts, Folk Literature, Cultural Ethnological and Socio Linguistic Notes. Ann Arbor: Univ of Michigan. ISBN 0932098118. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Haeri, Niloofar (2003). Sacred Language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas of Culture and Politics in Egypt. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0312238975.
  • Hinds, Martin (1987). A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic. French & European Pubns. ISBN 0828804346. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Presse, Karl G. (2000). 5 Egyptian-Arabic One Act Plays: A First Reader (Bilingual edition ed.). Museum Tusculanum. ISBN 8772896124. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Youssef, Ahmad Abdel-Hamid (2003). From Pharaoh's Lips: Ancient Egyptian Language in the Arabic of Today. American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 9774247086.

External links

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