Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic, also known as Sahil Maryut Bedouin Arabic, is a group of Bedouin Arabic dialects spoken in Western Egypt along the Mediterranean coast, west to the EgyptâÂÂLibya border. Ethnologue and Glottolog classify Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic as a Libyan Arabic dialect.
This variety is spoken by the Awlad Ali tribe, who settled in the edges of Lake Maryut and west of Bihera beginning in the 17th century from the region of Jebel Akhdar (Libya). It is also spoken in Wadi El Natrun. Their dialect is phonologically, morphophonemically and morphologically closer to the Peninsular Bedouin dialects than to the adjacent Egyptian dialects. Egyptian Arabic speakers from other parts of Egypt do not understand the Awlad Ali dialect.
Western Bedouin dialects influenced the dialects of southern Upper Egypt between Asyut and Idfu, and those of the Bahariyya Oasis and Bihera.
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 QÃÂf, the gahawa-syndrome, and feminine plural conjugations and pronouns. However, the classification of North African Bedouin dialects into Hilalian, Sulaimitian, and MaâÂÂqilian groups is not uncontroversial, and is based primarily on socio-historical and geographical considerations. 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.
Notes:
Contrary to MSA, Western Egyptian Bedawi uses the plural pronouns for dual pronouns:
The following direct object pronominal suffixes are attached to verbs:
The following demonstrative pronouns are used. The form hÃÂá¸ÂãayëÃÂhi is also used with the suffix -yëÃÂhi:
The following interrogative pronouns are used:
There are two types of strong perfect stems, CiCáC (a-type) and CCiC (i-type). Examples of a-type perfects are misák, nizál, á¹Âiláÿ, fihám. Examples of i-type perfects are à ¡rib, rkib, zÿil, smiÿ, ÿrif, gdir, kbir, kṯir, tÿib, lbis, ybis.
Some perfect conjugations are shown below:
There are three types of strong imperfect stems, CCiC (i-type), CCÃÂC (ÃÂ-type), and CCaC (a-type). The vowel of the conjugation prefix harmonizes with the vowel of the stem: yiktib, yÃÂrgÃÂd, yaà ¡á¹Âab. The conjugation of the 1st person follows the niktib-nÃÂkitbu paradigm.
The pronunciation [ÃÂ] for çëm occurs in the west of the Bihera, were Awlad Ali settled. Metathesized forms such as maà ¡zid âÂÂmosqueâ may be a result of the influence of their dialect.