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Egyptian Arabic
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Egyptian Arabic (???? Mari; formally: ??? ????? ????? Logha Miriyya AAmeyya & logha mâreyya Ameya in Egyptian Arabic) is a variety of the Arabic language of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It originated in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt around the capital Cairo. Descended from the spoken Arabic brought to Egypt during the AD seventh-century Muslim conquest, its development was influenced mainly by the indigenous Copto-Egyptian language of pre-Islamic Egypt, and later by other languages such as Turkish, French and English.
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Encyclopedia
Egyptian Arabic (???? Mari; formally: ??? ????? ????? Logha Miriyya AAmeyya & logha mâreyya Ameya in Egyptian Arabic) is a variety of the Arabic language of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It originated in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt around the capital Cairo. Descended from the spoken Arabic brought to Egypt during the AD seventh-century Muslim conquest, its development was influenced mainly by the indigenous Copto-Egyptian language of pre-Islamic Egypt, and later by other languages such as Turkish, French and English. The 76 million Egyptians speak a continuum of dialects, among which Cairene is the most prominent. It is also understood across most of the Arab World due to the predominance of Egyptian media, making it the most widely spoken and one of the most widely studied varieties of Arabic.
The terms Egyptian Arabic and Masri are usually used synonymously with "Cairene Arabic", the dialect of the Egyptian capital. The country's native name, Mar, is used locally to refer to the capital Cairo itself. Similar to the role played by Parisian French, Masri is by far the most dominant in all areas of national life. While it is essentially a spoken language, it is encountered in written form 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, a standard register of Classical Arabic is used. The Egyptian vernacular is normally written in the Arabic alphabet for local consumption, although it is commonly transcribed into Latin letters or in the International Phonetic Alphabet in linguistics text and textbooks aimed at teaching non-native learners.
Geographic distribution
A continuum of varieties of Arabic is spoken by more than 77 million Egyptians in Egypt as well as by immigrant Egyptian communities in the Middle East, Europe, North America, Australia and South East Asia. Accents of all regions of Egypt have been increasingly adapting idioms. This has accelerated with the proliferation of education and central, government-controlled radio and TV during the past 30 years.
Among the spoken varieties of Arabic, Egyptian Cairene is the only one to have become a lingua franca in other parts of the Arabic-speaking world, in addition to within Egypt, 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 countries in the Arabian Peninsula and who also taught there and in other countries such as Algeria and Libya.
Similar occurrences to varying degrees can be found in elsewhere in Arabia, 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 choose to sing in Egyptian as well as Lebanese.
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 ('The Removal of the Burden from the Language of the People of Egypt') by . 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 Magribi, 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
Egyptian Masri had no official status, and 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' (tamir) by abandoning the so-called Standard Arabic in favor of Masri or Egyptian Arabic.
Proponents of language reform in Egypt included Qasim Amin, who also wrote the first Egyptian feminist treatise, former president of the Egyptian University, Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, and noted intellectual Salama Moussa. They adopted a modernist, secular approach and disagreed with the 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 Gamal Abdel 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 Salah Jaheen, Abnudi and Fagoumi, 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 the official language - 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, after it did when Egypt's independence was recognized by the United Kingdom in 1922. In the 21st century, the Liberal Egyptian Party was founded by a group of secular activists promoting political reform in Egypt, and calling for the official recognition of both Egyptian Arabic and indigenous Egyptian ('the languages of Egypt'). Some of its views continue to be a source of controversy among Egyptians, particularly with organizations such as the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
As the status of Egyptian Arabic vis-à-vis Classical Arabic can have such political and religious implications in Egypt, the question of whether Egyptian Arabic should be considered a "dialect" or "language" can be a source of debate. In sociolinguistics, Egyptian Arabic can be seen as one of many distinct lects which, despite arguably being languages on abstand grounds, are united by a common dachsprache in Literary Arabic (MSA).
Dialects
The Egyptian variants spoken in central and southern Egypt, referred to collectively as Sa'idi Arabic (Upper Egyptian) and given a separate identity in and , 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 bita, 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 baarwa and to those of the south as aayda. 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 Egypt cluster. Despite these differences, there are features distinguishing all the Egyptian Arabic dialects of the Nile Valley from any other Arabic variety. Such features include reduction of long vowels in open and unstressed syllables, the postposition of demonstratives and interrogatives, the modal meaning of the imperfect, and the integration of the participle.
The dialect of the western desert is different from all forms of Egyptian, as linguistically it forms part of the Maghrebi group of dialects. The same was formerly true of the Egyptian form of Judaeo-Arabic.
Phonology
Vowels
(See the discussion on the ).
The Egyptian Arabic vocalic system has changed relatively little from the Classical system:
4 short vowels: [æ], or , and ;
Egyptian Arabic (especially Cairene) usually pronounces short vowels; as ? ~, as ? ~.
If long is shortened, it becomes ? ~. If long is shortened, it becomes ? ~, but, this is usually restricted to those vowels when appearing in the middle or beginning of words.
6 long vowels: , , , ;
Classical Arabic diphthongs and became realized as and respectively; for some Cairene speakers, these monophthongs are allophonically shortened in closed syllables; in addition to loanwords from Standard Arabic with diphthongs—with minimal pairs like ('carrying' f.s.) vs ('burden') and, among educated speakers, ('cheese') vs ('our pocket')- can also exist as a result of shortening of unstressed long vowels as in || ?~ ('consultation').
The distinction between short and long vowels (/e:/ /o:/) is still phonemic, but only stressed vowels can remain long. Unstressed long vowels (/a:/ /?:/ /u:/ /i:/ ?) are shortened (? /a/ /?/ /o~?/ /i~e/), and stressed short vowels are usually lengthened; example: ???-???? /'r?gul/ ? /'r?:gel/
Long vowels in closed syllables are reduced to their short version:
"he said" + - "to me" (*) ? "he said to me"
Short vowels (especially or and ), if unstressed in certain situations, are deleted (i.e. syncope):
"in" + "a book" ? "in a book"
Both of these tendencies can work simultaneously:
(friend m.) + -/ "fem." (*) ? (compare with Classical Arabic )
Consonants
- , , , , //, , , //, might be pronounced, depending on the speaker.
- // occurs rarely and only in the South; instead of /g/.
Traditionally the interdental consonants corresponded to the . This is a feature common to all North African Arabic varieties, and is attested in pre-modern words:
???? (fox) as opposed to (and never ). Likewise: ??? (ice); (price); (three); ????? (female); ????? (plough); ????? (tripped/found)
??? (tail) as opposed to and never . Likewise ??? (male); ????? (lied); ??? (wolf)
??? as opposed to ???? (nail) and never . Likewise ???? (darkness)
Unlike other North African varieties, Egyptian Arabic also shows another feature where correspond to sibilant consonants . This has been specially the result of modernisation and the increase of literacy, and the classicisation practice in official media, as well as a tendency to imperfectly imitate the pronunciation of the Levant and Arabia as it is commonly perceived more suitable for Islamic religious preaching, and as a trait of Egyptian diaspora. But also due to historical influence by Levantine dialects which constitute the eastern influx of the continuum.
????? (revolution) as opposed to
????? (broadcasting) as opposed to
??? (clitoris) as opposed to
Classical Arabic reflex ? is realized velar in Cairene in the same way as it is in some southern Arabic dialects since antiquity and still present in Yemen and Oman. So that ?????? ('mountain') is pronounced rather than .
Other consonants are more marginal. appears mostly in loanwords from European languages, such as ('parachutte'), and native words with guttural vowels, such as ('my cows'). Labial emphatics and also come from loanwords; minimal pairs include ('pope/pontiff/patriarch') vs ('Paopi'). Classical Arabic became in Cairo and the eastern Delta (a feature shared with Lebanese and other forms of Levantine Arabic), but is retained natively in some dialects of the western Delta outside of Alexandria, and has been reintroduced as a marginal phoneme from Standard Arabic in other dialects. , , and also appear in loanwords, though only the latter is not restricted to more educated speakers, ('jacket'). ~
Egyptian Arabic maintains in all positions the early post-Classical distinctions between short and (This is becoming obsolete)The sentence isn't understood! which become , , and in several other dialects.:
('book')
, ('beautiful' pl.) versus ('camels')
Syntax
Negation
One characteristic of Egyptian syntax which it shares with other North African varieties as well as some southern Levantine dialect areas is in the two-part negative verbal circumfix
- Past: "he wrote" "he didn't write" ???????
- Present: "he writes" "he doesn't write" ?????????
The "ma.." parts are not a double negation (unlike the French "ne...pas"), but rather a 'softening' of the verb-negating ma ?? ??????? before the verb, and the noun shai (thing) ???, which is variably pronounced in Arabic dialects as shi and shai. The previous example would be classicized as "ma katab shai('an)" ?? ??? ????.
The structure can end in a consonant or in a vowel (i) according to individual variances, probably reflecting regional influence. Stopping at the consonant tends to increase, with the vowel-ending considered pastoral/unfashionable. The vowel ending was more common in the past (among older people) and could be attested in old films.
The negative circumfix often surrounds the entire verbal composite including direct and indirect object pronouns:
"'he didn't write them to me"
Interrogative sentences can be formed by adding the negation clitic "me?" before the verb:
- Past: "he wrote"; "didn't he write?"
- Present: "he writes"; "doesn't he write?"
- Future: "he will write"; "won't he write?"
Coptic substratum
Egyptian Arabic appears to have retained a significant Coptic substratum in its lexicon, phonology, and syntax. Coptic was the latest stage of the indigenous Egyptian language spoken until the mid-17th century when it was finally completely supplanted by Arabic. Some features that Egyptian Arabic shares with the original ancient Egyptian language 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 "this" and "that" are placed after the noun.
- Examples:
er-rgel da "this man" (lit. "the man this"; in Standard Arabic hağa-r-ragul) and el-bente di "this girl" (lit. "the girl this"; in Standard Arabic hağihi-l-bint).
It should be noted, however, that this order is correct with regard to Standard Arabic - classic and modern - in is in use by other dialects, like beduin (????? ??).
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:
rh mre emta ? (??? ??? ?????) "When (emta) did he go to Egypt/Cairo?" (lit. "He went to Egypt/Cairo when?") rh mre leh ? (??? ??? ????) "Why (leh) did he go to Egypt/Cairo? (lit. "He went to Egypt/Cairo why?") min [elli] rh mr ? (??? [????] ??? ????) "Who (min) went to Egypt/Cairo? (literally - same order)
The same sentences in Standard Arabic (with all the question words (wh-words) in the beginning of the sentence) would be:
??? ??? ??? ???? mata ğahaba ila mir? ???? ??? ??? ???? lima ğahaba ila mir? ?? ??? ??? ???? man ğahaba ila mir?
Also since Coptic, like other North African languages, lacked interdental consonants it could possibly have influenced the manifestation of their occurrences in Classical Arabic /? ğ ğ?/ as their dental counterparts /t d/ and the emphatic dental /d?/ respectively. (see consonants)
Studying Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic has been a subject of study by scholars and laypersons in the past and the present for many reasons, including personal interest, egyptomania, business, news reporting, and diplomatic and political interactions. Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) is now a field of study in both graduate and undergraduate levels in many higher education institutions and universities in the world. When added to academic instruction, Arabic language schools and university programs provide Egyptian Arabic courses in a classroom fashion, while others facilitate classes for online study.
Text example
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Egyptian/Masri (Arabic script):
?? ??????? ????? ???????? ?????? ?????????
????? ????? ???? ??????? ???? ????????? ?? ??????? ???????. ???????? ????? ???????, ???????? ??????? ??? ???? ???????.
yptian (phonetic transcription):
el-elan el-alami le-hou el-ensan, el-madda el-awwalaneyya
el-baniadmin kollohom mawludin horrin we-metsawwyin fel-krm wel-hou. etwahab-lohom el-l we-mir wel-mfru yeamlu b be-roh el-axaweyya.
Egyptian/Masri - (Arabic Chat Alphabet):
??????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?????? ?????????
el e3lan el 3alami le 72u2 el ensan, el madda el awalaneya
el bani2admin kollohom mawludin 7orrin we metsawyin fel karama w el 7o2u2. Etwahablohom el 3a2l wel damir, w el mafrud ye3amlo ba3d be ro7 el akhaweya.
English:
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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.
Characteristic words and sentences in Egyptian Arabic
ezzayyak? ("How are you [m.]") ???? - ezzayyek? ("How are you [f.]") ????? - ezzayyoko (ezzayyoku)? ("How are you [pl.]") ??? ?? - eh da? ("What's all this?", "What's the point", "What's this?" - expression of annoyance)enta) betollohom alayya keda leh, eh da? "Why are you telling them such things about me, what's all this?" ???? - xl: several meanings, often adverbialzehet, xl! "I'm annoyed, stop it!" "It's over!", "finally, eventually" Ex.: ommi kanet ayyana we-matet, xl. "My mother was ill and died finally." [or "...and it's over now."] "Ok, then!" Ex.: "????? ????? ????" "xl, auufak bokr" meaning "I'll see you tomorrow then" ???? - xle "at all"maandena haga nakolha xle "We have nothing at all to eat." ????? - kefaya! ("It's enough!" or "That's enough") ???? - yani ("that's to say" or "meaning" or "y'know")- As answer to ??? ???? ????
enta amel eh? ("How do you do [m.]?") (as an answer: "I am so so" or "half half" = "not perfect") ???? ???? yani eh? ("What does that mean?") ???? ????? ?????** emta hatxll yani? ("When are you finishing exactly, then?) ??? - baa (particle of enforcement --> "just" in imperative clauses and "well,...then?" in questions)hatu~o baa! "Just give it to me!"
??? ??? ???? amal eh baa? "Well, what did he do then?"
See also
External links
- , an Egyptian Wikipedia.
- , a proposal for an Egyptian Wiktionary.
- - Article at Study-Arabic.info
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- - a Latin-based alphabet for the Egyptian language
- Using a highly visual approach to learning with color-coded text, up to 6,000 audio clips, videos, and podcasts.
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