Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
Arabic dialect
The varieties (or dialects or vernacular languages) of Arabic, a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family originating in the Arabian Peninsula, are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. There are considerable variatio ...
in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
. It is part of the
Afro-Asiatic language family, and originated in the
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...
in
Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, ...
. The ca. 100 million Egyptians speak a
continuum of dialects, among which Cairene is the most prominent. It is also understood across most of the
Arabic-speaking countries
Arabic and its different dialects are spoken by around 422 million speakers (native and non-native) in the Arab world as well as in the Arab diaspora making it one of the five most spoken languages in the world. Currently, 22 countries are membe ...
due to broad Egyptian influence in the region, including through
Egyptian cinema
The cinema of Egypt refers to the flourishing film industry based in Cairo, sometimes also referred to as Hollywood on the Nile. Since 1976, the capital has held the annual Cairo International Film Festival, which has been accredited by the Intern ...
and
Egyptian music
Music has been an integral part of culture of Egypt, Egyptian culture since antiquity in Egypt. Egyptians, Egyptian music had a significant impact on the development of ancient Greek music, and via the Greeks it was important to early European m ...
. These factors help to make it the most widely spoken and by far the most widely studied
variety of Arabic
The varieties (or dialects or vernacular languages) of Arabic, a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family originating in the Arabian Peninsula, are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. There are considerable variatio ...
.
While it is primarily a spoken language, the written form is used in novels, plays and poems (
vernacular literature
Vernacular literature is literature written in the vernacular—the speech of the "common people".
In the European tradition, this effectively means literature not written in Latin nor Koine Greek. In this context, vernacular literature appeared ...
), as well as in comics, advertising, some newspapers and transcriptions of popular songs. In most other written media and in radio and television news reporting,
literary Arabic is used. Literary Arabic is a standardized language based on the language of the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
, i.e.
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic ( ar, links=no, ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ, al-ʿarabīyah al-fuṣḥā) or Quranic Arabic is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notab ...
. The Egyptian
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
is almost universally written in the
Arabic alphabet for local consumption, although it is commonly transcribed into
Latin letters
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...
or in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
in
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
text and textbooks aimed at teaching non-native learners. The dialect's phonetics, grammatical structure, and vocabulary are influenced by the
Coptic language
Coptic (Bohairic Coptic: , ) is a language family of closely related dialects, representing the most recent developments of the Egyptian language, and historically spoken by the Copts, starting from the third-century AD in Roman Egypt. Coptic ...
; its rich vocabulary is also influenced by
European languages
Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. Within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Rom ...
such as
French,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
.
Naming
Egyptians
Egyptians ( arz, المَصرِيُون, translit=al-Maṣriyyūn, ; arz, المَصرِيِين, translit=al-Maṣriyyīn, ; cop, ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, remenkhēmi) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian ...
generally call their vernacular "Arabic" ( , ) when juxtaposed with non-Arabic languages; "Colloquial Egyptian" (, ) or simply "
''Aamiyya''" (, ''colloquial'') when juxtaposed with
Standard Arabic
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA), terms used mostly by linguists, is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; occasionally, it also refe ...
and the Egyptian dialect (, ) or simply ''Masri'' (, , ''Egyptian'') when juxtaposed with other
vernacular Arabic dialects.
[Islam online on Mahmoud Timor](_blank)
Sometimes it is also called Modern Egyptian language
[Present Culture in Egypt](_blank)
and (PDF) by Bayoumi Andil
Bayoumi Andil ( ar, بيومي قنديل) (31 July 19428 October 2009)[Rosaonline](_blank)
was an Egyptian ...
. (,
).
The term Egyptian Arabic is usually used synonymously with "''Cairene Arabic''", which is technically a dialect of Egyptian Arabic. The country's native name, , is often used locally to refer to Cairo itself. As is the case with Parisian
French, Cairene Arabic is by far the most prevalent dialect in the country.
Geographic distribution
Among the spoken
varieties of Arabic
The varieties (or dialects or vernacular languages) of Arabic, a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family originating in the Arabian Peninsula, are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. There are considerable variati ...
, Standard Egyptian Arabic (based on the dialect of the Egyptian capital) is the only one to have become a
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
in other parts of the Arabic-speaking world primarily for two reasons: The proliferation and popularity of Egyptian films and other media in the region since the early 20th century as well as the great number of Egyptian teachers and professors who were instrumental in setting up the education systems of various countries in the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...
and also taught there and in other countries such as
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
and
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
. Also, many
Lebanese artists choose to sing in Egyptian.
Standard Egyptian Arabic, when used in documents, broadcast media, prepared speeches and sometimes in liturgical purpose, is heavily influenced by Cairene Arabic with loanwords of Modern Standard Arabic origin or code-switching between Cairene Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic.
History
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
was spoken in parts of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
such as the
Eastern Desert
The Eastern Desert (Archaically known as Arabia or the Arabian Desert) is the part of the Sahara desert that is located east of the Nile river. It spans of North-Eastern Africa and is bordered by the Nile river to the west and the Red Sea and ...
and
Sinai
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
before Islam. However, Nile Valley
Egyptians
Egyptians ( arz, المَصرِيُون, translit=al-Maṣriyyūn, ; arz, المَصرِيِين, translit=al-Maṣriyyīn, ; cop, ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, remenkhēmi) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian ...
slowly adopted Arabic as a
written language
A written language is the representation of a spoken or gestural language by means of a writing system. Written language is an invention in that it must be taught to children, who will pick up spoken language or sign language by exposure even i ...
following the
Muslim conquest of Egypt
The Muslim conquest of Egypt, led by the army of 'Amr ibn al-'As, took place between 639 and 646 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long period of Roman Egypt, Roman reign over Egypt that began in 30 BC. ...
in the seventh century. Until then, they had spoken either
Koine Greek
Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
or
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
in its
Coptic
Coptic may refer to:
Afro-Asia
* Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya
* Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century
* Coptic alphabet ...
form. A period of Coptic-Arabic bilingualism in
Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, ...
lasted for more than three centuries. The period would last much longer in the south. Arabic had been already familiar to Valley Egyptians since Arabic had been spoken throughout the
Eastern Desert
The Eastern Desert (Archaically known as Arabia or the Arabian Desert) is the part of the Sahara desert that is located east of the Nile river. It spans of North-Eastern Africa and is bordered by the Nile river to the west and the Red Sea and ...
and
Sinai
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
. Arabic was also a minority language of some residents of the Nile Valley such as
Qift
Qift ( arz, قفط ; cop, Ⲕⲉϥⲧ, link=no ''Keft'' or ''Kebto''; Egyptian Gebtu; grc, Κόπτος, link=no ''Coptos'' / ''Koptos''; Roman Justinianopolis) is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about north of Luxor, situated und ...
in Upper Egypt through pre-Islamic trade with
Nabateans
The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic language, Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabian Pe ...
in the
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a l ...
and the easternmost part of the
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...
. Egyptian Arabic seems to have begun taking shape in
Fustat
Fusṭāṭ ( ar, الفُسطاط ''al-Fusṭāṭ''), also Al-Fusṭāṭ and Fosṭāṭ, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, and the historical centre of modern Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by ...
, the first Islamic capital of Egypt, now part of
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
.
One of the earliest linguistic sketches of Cairene Arabic is a 16th-century document entitled ' (, "The Removal of the Burden from the Language of the People of Cairo") by
Yusuf al-Maghribi (Arabic: يوسف المغربي) was a 17th-century traveler and lexicographer active in Cairo. He is the first author to treat Egyptian Arabic as a dialect distinct from Classical Arabic, compiling an Egyptian Arabic word list, the ' (i.e. "apo ...
(). With Misr here meaning Cairo. It contains key information on early Cairene Arabic and the language situation in
Egypt in the Middle Ages
Following the Islamic conquest in 639, Lower Egypt was ruled at first by governors acting in the name of the Rashidun Caliphs and then the Umayyad Caliphs in Damascus, but in 747 the Umayyads were overthrown. Throughout Islamic rule, Askar w ...
. The main purpose of the document was to show that while the Cairenes' vernacular contained many critical "errors" vis-à-vis Classical Arabic, according to al-Maghribi, it was also related to Arabic in other respects. With few waves of immigration from the Arabian peninsula such as the
Banu Hilal
The Banu Hilal ( ar, بنو هلال, translit=Banū Hilāl) was a confederation of Arabian tribes from the Hejaz and Najd regions of the Arabian Peninsula that emigrated to North Africa in the 11th century. Masters of the vast plateaux of th ...
exodus, who later left Egypt and were settled in Morocco and Tunisia, together with the ongoing
Islamization
Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occur ...
and
Arabization
Arabization or Arabisation ( ar, تعريب, ') describes both the process of growing Arab influence on non-Arab populations, causing a language shift by the latter's gradual adoption of the Arabic language and incorporation of Arab culture, aft ...
of the country, multiple Arabic varieties, one of which is Egyptian Arabic, slowly supplanted spoken Coptic. Local chroniclers mention the continued use of Coptic as a spoken language until the 17th century by peasant women in
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient ...
. Coptic is still the
liturgical language
A sacred language, holy language or liturgical language is any language that is cultivated and used primarily in church service or for other religious reasons by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives.
Concept
A sacre ...
of the
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي ...
.
Status
Egyptian Arabic has no official status and is not officially recognized as a language (even though it has its own ISO language code).
Standard Arabic
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA), terms used mostly by linguists, is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; occasionally, it also refe ...
is the official language of the state as per constitutional law with the name , lit. "Arabic language". Interest in the local
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
began in the 1800s (in opposition to the language of the ruling class, Turkish), as the Egyptian national movement for
self-determination
The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...
was taking shape. For many decades to follow, questions about the reform and the modernization of Arabic were hotly debated in Egyptian intellectual circles. Proposals ranged from developing
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
s to replace archaic terminology in Modern Standard Arabic to the simplification of syntactical and morphological rules and the introduction of
colloquialism
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...
s to even complete "Egyptianization" (, ) by abandoning the so-called Modern Standard Arabic in favor of Masri or Egyptian Arabic.
Proponents of language reform in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
included
Qasim Amin
Qasim Amin (, arz, قاسم أمين; 1 December 1863, in AlexandriaPolitical and diplomatic history of the Arab world, 1900-1967, Menahem Mansoor – April 22, 1908 in Cairo) was an Egyptian jurist, Islamic Modernist and one of the founders ...
, who also wrote the first Egyptian feminist treatise, former President of the
Egyptian University,
Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, and noted intellectual
Salama Moussa
Salama Moussa (or Musa; 1887 – 4 August 1958) ( ar, سلامه موسى , ) was an Egyptian journalist, writer and political theorist. Salama Moussa was an avowed secularist, he introduced the writings of Darwin, Nietzsche, and Freud to ...
. They adopted a modernist,
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
approach and disagreed with the assumption that Arabic was an immutable language because of its association with the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
. The first modern Egyptian novel in which the dialogue was written in the vernacular was
Muhammad Husayn Haykal
Mohammed Hussein Heikal ( ar, محمد حسين هيكل ; August 20, 1888 – December 8, 1956) was an Egyptian writer, journalist, politician. He held several cabinet posts, including minister of education.
Life
Haekal was born in Kafr Ghan ...
's ''
Zaynab'' in 1913. It was only in 1966 that
Mustafa Musharafa's ''Kantara Who Disbelieved'' was released, the first novel to be written entirely in Egyptian Arabic. Other notable novelists, such as
Ihsan Abdel Quddous
Ihsan Abdel Quddous ( arz, إحسان عبد القدوس ', ) (1 January 1919 – 12 January 1990) was an Egyptian writer, novelist, and journalist and editor in Egypt's '' Al Akhbar'' and '' Al-Ahram'' newspapers. He wrote many novels tha ...
and
Yusuf Idris
Yusuf Idris, also Yusif Idris ( ar, يوسف إدريس) (May 19, 1927 – August 1, 1991) was an Egyptian writer of plays, short stories, and novels.
Biography
Idris was born in Faqous. He originally trained to be a doctor, studying at the ...
, and poets, such as
Salah Jahin
Muhammad Salah Eldin Bahgat Ahmad Helmy (, ), known as "Salah Jaheen" or "Salah Jahin" ( ar, صلاح جاهين, ; December 25, 1930 – April 21, 1986) was a leading Egyptian poet, lyricist, playwright and cartoonist.
Life and career
Jah ...
,
Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi
Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi ( ar , عبد الرحمن الأبنودي , translit=ʻAbd il-Raḥmān Abnūdī , translit-std=ALA, 11 April 1938 – 21 April 2015) was a popular Egyptian poet, and later a children's books writer. He was one of a gener ...
and
Ahmed Fouad Negm
Ahmed Fouad Negm ( ar, أحمد فؤاد نجم, ; 22 May 1929 – 3 December 2013), popularly known as el-Fagommi الفاجومي (), was an Egyptians, Egyptian vernacular poetry, poet. Negm is well known for his work with Egyptian composer Shei ...
, helped solidify vernacular literature as a distinct literary genre.
Amongst certain groups within Egypt's elite, Egyptian Arabic enjoyed a brief period of rich literary output. That dwindled with the rise of
Pan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism ( ar, الوحدة العربية or ) is an ideology that espouses the unification of the countries of North Africa and Western Asia from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea, which is referred to as the Arab world. It is closely c ...
, which had gained popularity in Egypt by the second half of the twentieth century, as demonstrated by Egypt's involvement in the
1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
under King
Farouk of Egypt
Farouk I (; ar, فاروق الأول ''Fārūq al-Awwal''; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 193 ...
. The
Egyptian revolution of 1952, led by
Mohammed Naguib and
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...
, further enhanced the significance of Pan-Arabism, making it a central element of Egyptian state policy. The importance of Modern Standard Arabic was reemphasised in the public sphere by the revolutionary government, and efforts to accord any formal language status to the Egyptian vernacular were ignored. Egyptian Arabic was identified as a mere dialect, one that was not spoken even in all of Egypt, as almost all of
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient ...
speaks
Sa'idi Arabic
A Ṣa‘īdī (, Coptic: ⲣⲉⲙⲣⲏⲥ ''Remris'') is a person from Upper Egypt (, Coptic: ⲙⲁⲣⲏⲥ ''Maris'').
Etymology
The word literally means "from Ṣa‘īd" (i.e. Upper Egypt), and can also refer to a form of music orig ...
. Though the revolutionary government heavily sponsored the use of the Egyptian vernacular in films, plays, television programmes, and music, the prerevolutionary use of Modern Standard Arabic in official publications was retained.
Linguistic commentators have noted the multi-faceted approach of the Egyptian revolutionaries towards the Arabic language. Whereas Egypt's first
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
, Mohammed Naguib exhibited a preference for using Modern Standard Arabic in his public speeches, his successor,
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...
was renowned for using the vernacular and for punctuating his speeches with traditional Egyptian words and expressions. Conversely, Modern Standard Arabic was the norm for state news outlets, including newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. That was especially true of Egypt's national broadcasting company, the
Arab Radio and Television Union, which was established with the intent of providing content for the entire
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
, not merely Egypt, hence the need to broadcast in the standard, rather than the vernacular, language. The
Voice of the Arabs radio station, in particular, had an audience from across the region, and the use of anything other than Modern Standard Arabic was viewed as eminently incongruous.
In a study of three Egyptian newspapers (
Al-Ahram
''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...
,
Al-Masry Al-Youm
''Al-Masry Al-Youm'' ( ar, المصري اليوم ', , meaning ''The Egyptian Today'') is an Egyptian privately owned Daily paper, daily newspaper that was first published in June 2004. It is published in Modern Standard Arabic, Arabic as is it ...
, and
Al-Dustour) Zeinab Ibrahim concluded that the total number of headlines in Egyptian Arabic in each newspaper varied. Al-Ahram did not include any. Al-Masry Al-Youm had an average of 5% of headlines in Egyptian, while Al-Dustour averaged 11%.
As the status of Egyptian Arabic as opposed to
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic ( ar, links=no, ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ, al-ʿarabīyah al-fuṣḥā) or Quranic Arabic is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notab ...
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
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural Norm (sociology), norms, expectations, and context (language use), context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on languag ...
, Egyptian Arabic can be seen as one of many distinct
varieties
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
that, despite arguably being languages on grounds, are united by a common in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA).
Publications
During the early 1900s many portions of the Bible were published in Egyptian Arabic. These were published by the Nile Mission Press. By 1932 the whole New Testament and some books of the Old Testament had been published in Egyptian Arabic in Arabic script.
The dialogs in the following novels are partly in Egyptian Arabic, partly in Standard Arabic:
Mahmud Tahir Haqqi's ''Adhra' Dinshuway'' ( ar , عذراء دنشواي; 1906),
Yaqub Sarruf
Yaqub Sarruf (, 1852–1927) was a pioneering Lebanese writer, publisher, and translator. Sarruf was born in Al-Hadath, Lebanon. His father sent him to the American School in Abey, then to the Syrian Protestant College where he obtained a bache ...
's ''Fatat Misr'' ( ar , فتاة مصر , Fatāt Miṣr , translit-std=ALA; first published in
Al-Muqtataf 1905–1906), and
Mohammed Hussein Heikal
Mohammed Hussein Heikal ( ar, محمد حسين هيكل ; August 20, 1888 – December 8, 1956) was an Egyptian writer, journalist, politician. He held several cabinet posts, including minister of education.
Life
Haekal was born in Kafr Ghan ...
's ''
Zaynab'' (1914).
Early stage plays written in Egyptian Arabic were translated from or influenced by European playwrights.
Muhammad 'Uthman Jalal translated plays by Molière, Racine and Goldoni to Egyptian Arabic and adapted them as well as ten fables by
Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Euro ...
.
Yaqub Sanu
Yaqub ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim (Arabic: يَعْقُوب ابْنُ إِسْحَٰق ابْنُ إِبْرَاهِيم, literally: "''Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham''" ar, يَعْقُوب , translit=Yaqub; also later ''Israil'', Arabic: إ ...
translated to and wrote plays on himself in Egyptian Arabic.
Many plays were written in Standard Arabic, but performed in colloquial Arabic.
Tawfiq al-Hakim
Tawfiq al-Hakim or Tawfik el-Hakim ( arz, توفيق الحكيم, ; October 9, 1898 – July 26, 1987) was a prominent Egyptian writer and visionary. He is one of the pioneers of the Arabic novel and drama. The triumphs and failures that ar ...
took this a step further and provided for his Standard Arabic plays versions in colloquial Arabic for the performances.
Mahmud Taymur
Mahmud Taymur (16 June 1894–25 August 1973) was a Fiction, fiction writer. He contributed to several publications.
Biography
He was born in Cairo on 16 June 1894. into a family famous for literature. His father, Ahmed Taymour (1871-1930) was a ...
has published some of his plays in two versions, one in Standard, one in colloquial Arabic, among them: ''Kidb fi Kidb'' ( ar , كذب في كذب , lit=All lies, 1951 or ca. 1952) and ''Al-Muzayyifun'' ( ar , المزيفون , Al-Muzayyifūn , translit-std=ALA , lit=The Forgers, ca. 1953).
The writers of stage plays in Egyptian Arabic after the
Egyptian Revolution of 1952 include
No'man Ashour
No'man Ashour (January 1918 – 5 April 1987) was an Egyptian poet and playwright, born in Mit Ghamr, Dakahlia Governorate. He is most known for the foundation of realism in the Egyptian drama. Moreover he considered comedy
Comedy is a genre ...
,
Alfred Farag
Alfred Farag (14 June 1929 – 4 December 2005 ) was an Egyptian playwright. He was one of the eminent
Egyptian playwrights of the post-1952 Revolution period. He obtained his BA in English Literature from the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria U ...
, ,
Rashad Roushdy Rashad is a given name which may refer to:
Surname:
*Ahmad Rashad (born 1949), American football player and sportcaster
*Ali Akbar Rashad (born 1955), Iranian philosopher and Islamic scholar
*Isaiah Rashad (born 1991), American rapper
*Phylicia Ras ...
, and
Yusuf Idris
Yusuf Idris, also Yusif Idris ( ar, يوسف إدريس) (May 19, 1927 – August 1, 1991) was an Egyptian writer of plays, short stories, and novels.
Biography
Idris was born in Faqous. He originally trained to be a doctor, studying at the ...
. Thereafter the use of colloquial Egyptian Arabic in theater is stable and common. Later writers of plays in colloquial Egyptian include
Ali Salem
Ali Salem, also transliterated Ali Salim, ( ar, على سالم, ; 24 February 1936 – 22 September 2015) was an Egyptian playwright, author, and political commentator known for controversially endorsing cooperation with Israel. The ''Los ...
, and
Naguib Surur.
Novels in Egyptian Arabic after the 1940s and before the 1990s are rare. There are by ''Qantarah Alladhi Kafar'' ( ar , قنطرة الذي كفر , Qanṭarah Alladhī Kafar , translit-std=ALA , lit=Qantara Who Disbelieved , lable=none, Cairo, 1965) and Uthman Sabri's ( ar , عثمان صبري , ʻUthmān Ṣabrī , translit-std=ALA; 1896–1986) ''Journey on the Nile'' ( arz , رحلة في النيل , Riḥlah fī il-Nīl , translit-std=ALA, 1965) (and his ''Bet Sirri'' ( arz , بيت سري , Bēt Sirri , translit-std=ALA , lit=A Brothel , label=none, 1981) that apparently uses a mix of Standard Arabic and Egyptian Arabic).
Prose published in Egyptian Arabic since the 1990s include the following novels:
Yusuf al-Qa'id's ''Laban il-Asfur'' ( arz , لبن العصفور , Laban il-ʿAṣfūr , translit-std=ALA , lit=The Milk of the Bird , label=none; 1994),
Baha' Awwad's ( ar , بهاء عواد , Bahāʾ ʿAwwād , translit-std=ALA) ''Shams il-Asil'' ( arz , شمس الاصيل , Shams il-ʿAṣīl , translit-std=ALA , lit=Late Afternoon Sun , label=none; 1998),
Safa Abdel Al Moneim's ''Min Halawit il-Ruh'' ( arz , من حلاوة الروح , Min Ḥalāwit il-Rōḥ , translit-std=ALA , lit=Zest for Life , label=none, 1998),
Samih Faraj's ( ar , سامح فرج , Sāmiḥ Faraj , translit-std=ALA) ''Banhuf Ishtirasa'' ( arz , بانهوف اشتراسا , Bānhūf Ishtirāsā , translit-std=ALA , lit=Bahnhof Strasse , label=none, 1999);
autobiographies include the one by
Ahmed Fouad Negm
Ahmed Fouad Negm ( ar, أحمد فؤاد نجم, ; 22 May 1929 – 3 December 2013), popularly known as el-Fagommi الفاجومي (), was an Egyptians, Egyptian vernacular poetry, poet. Negm is well known for his work with Egyptian composer Shei ...
,
by ''Ula Awwil'' ( arz , اولى أول , Ūlá Awwil , translit-std=ALA , lit=First Class Primary School , label=none),
and
Fathia al-Assal's ''Hudn il-Umr'' ( arz , حضن العمر , Ḥuḍn il-ʿUmr , translit-std=ALA , lit=The Embrace of a Lifetime , label=none).
The
epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...
''Jawabat Haraji il-Gutt'' ( aec , جوابات حراجى القط , Jawābāt Ḥarājī il-Guṭṭ , translit-std=ALA , lit=Letters of Haraji the Cat, 2001) by
Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi
Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi ( ar , عبد الرحمن الأبنودي , translit=ʻAbd il-Raḥmān Abnūdī , translit-std=ALA, 11 April 1938 – 21 April 2015) was a popular Egyptian poet, and later a children's books writer. He was one of a gener ...
is exceptional in its use of
Saʽidi Arabic
Ṣaʽīdi Arabic (autonym: , ), or Upper Egyptian Arabic, is a variety of Arabic spoken by the Upper Egyptians in the area that is South/Upper Egypt, a strip of land on both sides of the Nile that extends from Aswan and downriver (northwards) ...
.
21th-century journals publishing in Egyptian Arabic include ''Bārti'' (from at least 2002), the weekly magazine ''Idhak lil-Dunya'' ( ar , اضحك للدنيا , Iḍḥak lil-Dunyā , translit-std=ALA , lit=Smile for the World , label=none, from 2005), and the monthly magazine ( arz , احنا , Iḥna , translit-std=ALA , lit=We , label=none, from 2005).
Spoken varieties
Sa'īdi Arabic is a different variety than Egyptian Arabic in Ethnologue.com and ISO 639-3 and in other sources, and the two varieties have limited
mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...
. It carries little prestige nationally but continues to be widely spoken, with 19,000,000 speakers.
The traditional division between
Upper and Lower Egypt
In Egyptian history, the Upper and Lower Egypt period (also known as The Two Lands) was the final stage of prehistoric Egypt and directly preceded the unification of the realm. The conception of Egypt as the Two Lands was an example of the dual ...
and their respective differences go back to ancient times. Egyptians today commonly call the people of the north () and those of the south (). The differences throughout Egypt, however, are more wide-ranging and do not neatly correspond to the simple division. The language shifts from the eastern to the western parts of the
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...
, and the varieties spoken from
Giza
Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...
to
Minya are further grouped into a Middle Egypt cluster. Despite the differences, there are features distinguishing all the Egyptian Arabic varieties of the Nile Valley from any other varieties of Arabic. 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
Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic variety of the western desert differs from all other Arabic varieties in Egypt in that it linguistically is part of
Maghrebi Arabic
Maghrebi Arabic (, Western Arabic; as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. It includes Moroccan, Alger ...
.
Northwest Arabian Arabic
Northwest Arabian Arabic (also called Levantine Bedawi Arabic or Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic) is a proposed subfamily of Arabic encompassing the traditional Bedouin dialects of the Sinai Peninsula, the Negev, southern Jordan, and the northwes ...
is also distinct from Egyptian Arabic.
Regional variation
Egyptian Arabic varies regionally across its ''sprachraum'', with certain characteristics being noted as typical of the speech of certain regions.
Alexandria
The dialect of
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
(West Delta) is noted for certain
shibboleth
A shibboleth (; hbo, , šībbōleṯ) is any custom or tradition, usually a choice of phrasing or even a single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many societies as passwor ...
s separating its speech from that of Cairo (South Delta). The ones that are most frequently noted in popular discourse are the use of the word ''
falafel
Falafel (; ar, فلافل, ) is a deep-fried ball or patty-shaped fritter in Middle Eastern cuisine (especially in Levantine and Egyptian cuisines) made from ground chickpeas, broad beans, or both. Nowadays, falafel is often served in a p ...
'' as opposed to ''ṭa`meyya'' for the fava-bean fritters common across the country and the pronunciation of the word for the
Egyptian pound
The pound ( arz, جنيه مصرى '; abbreviation: LE in Latin, in Arabic, historically also £E; ISO code: EGP) is the official currency of Egypt. It is divided into 100 piastres, or ersh ( ; ''plural'' ; abbreviation: PT), or 1,000 mill ...
( ), as , closer to the pronunciation of the origin of the term, the British
guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
).
The speech of the older Alexandrian families is also noted for use of the first-person plural even when they speak in the singular, a feature of
Maghrebi Arabic
Maghrebi Arabic (, Western Arabic; as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. It includes Moroccan, Alger ...
.
The dialects of the western Delta tend to use the perfect with instead of the perfect with , for example for this is instead of .
Port Said
Port Said
Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of 6 ...
's dialect (East Delta) is noted for a "heavier", more guttural sound, compared to other regions of the country.
Rural Nile Delta
The dialect of the
Fellah
A fellah ( ar, فَلَّاح ; feminine ; plural ''fellaheen'' or ''fellahin'', , ) is a peasant, usually a farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa. The word derives from the Arabic word for "ploughman" or "tiller". ...
in Northern Egypt is noted for a distinct accent, replacing the urban pronunciations of (spelled ) and ( ) with and respectively, but that is not true of all rural dialects, a lot of them do not have such replacement. The dialect also has many grammatical differences when contrasted to urban dialects.
Phonology
Egyptian Arabic has a phonology that differs significantly from that of other varieties of Arabic, and has its own inventory of consonants and vowels.
Morphology
Nouns
In contrast to CA and MSA, Egyptian Arabic nouns are not inflected for case and lack
nunation
Nunation ( ar, تَنوِين, ' ), in some Semitic languages such as Literary Arabic, is the addition of one of three vowel diacritics (''ḥarakāt'') to a noun or adjective.
This is used to indicate the word ends in an alveolar nasal without ...
(with the exception of certain fixed phrases in the accusative