What is Egyptian Arabic?

Egyptian Arabic مصري Maṣri
Pronunciation:	[mɑsˁɾɨ]
Spoken in:	Egypt and a few other countries
Total speakers:	76,000,000 + [1]
Language family:	Semitic   West Semitic    Central Semitic     South-Central Semitic      Arabic       Egyptian Arabic
Writing system:	Arabic alphabet
Official status
Official language of:	none
Regulated by:	none
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	arz
ISO 639-3:	arz

Egyptian Arabic (Maṣrī مصري) is a variety of the Arabic macrolanguage^[2] 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,^[3][4][5] and later by other languages such as Turkish. Egyptian Arabic is spoken by more than 76 million people in Egypt. It is also understood across the Middle East 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, Maṣr, 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

Egyptian Arabic is spoken by more than 77 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 other parts of the Arabic-speaking world for two main reasons^[6][7]: 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.

In Yemen, for example, foreign 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 kuwayyis 'well, good') and occasionally Egyptian morphology.^[8] Similar occurrences to varying degrees can be found in Sudan, the Levant (particularly Palestine) and in Libya.^[9] 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^[10], 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 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, Ahmad Lutfy el-Sayyed, and noted intellectual Salama Moussa. 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. 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 religious establishments such as Al-Azhar and the currently banned Muslim Brotherhood.

"Language" vs. "dialect"

As the status of Egyptian Arabic vis-à-vis Classical Arabic (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 the Arabic language of the early Islamic Empire, some students of Arabic and linguists may find Egyptian Arabic sufficiently different to be considered an independent language (see Dialect: "Dialect" or "language" and Ethnologue's language identifiers). In general, however, Egyptian Arabic is considered to be one of the many lects which, despite possibly being languages on abstand grounds, are united in a single language by a common dachsprache (Modern Standard Arabic).

To be sure, Classical/Standard Arabic tends to be more conservative in its vocabulary and grammar, while Egyptian Arabic has been more open to influence by other languages, including Egyptian/Coptic (in the main), Greek, Turkish, Persian, Italian and French. There are, however, words peculiar to the Egyptian dialect, as opposed to other varieties of Arabic, that are still ultimately derived from Arabic.

Examples of loanwords:

• Egyptian/Coptic: ادي /iddi/ "give"
• Italian: جمبري /gamˈbari/ "shrimp" (IT gamberi)
• Greek: برتقان /burtuˈʔaːn/ "orange" (GK πορτοκαλί)
• Turkish: أوضة /ˈʔoːdˤɑ/ "room" (TK oda)
• French: چیبة /ˈʒiːba/ "skirt" (FR jupe)
• English: يفاول - فاول /ˈfawwil/ - /jiˈfawwil/ "to foul (in football/soccer)"

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 Egypt cluster. Despite these differences, there are features distinguishing all Egyptian Arabic dialects from any other Arabic variety, including the postposition of demonstratives and interrogatives, the modal meaning of the imperfect, and the integration of the participle.

The dialect of western Alexandria is different from all other 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

The Egyptian Arabic vocalic system has changed relatively little from the Classical system:

4 short vowels: /a/, /i/, /u/ and /ɑ/

6 long vowels: /aː/, /iː/, /uː/, /ɑː/; /eː/ and /oː/ come from the former Classical diphthongs /ai/ and /au/.

Where Egyptian Arabic differs considerably is in vowel reduction due to changes in syllable shape. The distinction between short and long vowels is still phonemic, but only stressed vowels can remain long. Unstressed long vowels are shortened, and stressed short vowels lengthened.

Long vowels in closed syllables are reduced to their short version:

• /ʔaːl/ "he said" + -/li/ "to me" (*/ʔaːlli/) → /ʔalli/ "he said to me"

Short vowels (especially /i/ and /u/), if unstressed in certain situations, are deleted (i.e. epenthesis):

• /fiː/ "in" + /kiˈtaːb/ "a book" → /fi-ktaːb/ "in a book"

Both of these tendencies can work simultaneously:

• /ˈsˁɑːħib/ (friend m.) + -/a/ "fem." (*/ˈsˁɑːħiba/) → /ˈsˁɑħbɑ/ (compare with Classical Arabic /sˁɑːħiba/)

Consonants

• The Classical Arabic (CA) letter jīm ج (/dʒ/) denotes /g/ in most Lower Egyptian (i.e. northern) dialects, including the dominant Cairene dialect: e.g. /gabal/ for /dʒabal/ (mountain), /gamiːl/ for /dʒamiːl/ (beautiful), and so forth. To speakers of other varieties of Arabic, the pronunciation of this one sound is considered the quintessential marker of Egyptian Arabic. However, this pronuncation also occurs in certain varieties of Yemeni Arabic, namely the Yafi'i and Adeni dialects. The sound is also attested in ancient Egyptian and is thought to have been the original proto-Semitic pronunciation of the sound - e.g. corresponding to the letter gimel in Hebrew and Aramaic. Some therefore consider the sound in Egyptian Arabic to be a direct retention from ancient Egyptian or proto-Semitic, or it may be a secondary development from a palatal or palatalized /g/ ([ɟ] or [gʲ]), which is the Sa'idi pronunciation of the consonant south of Cairo in the Sa'id, or Upper Egypt.
• The letter qāf ق (CA /q/ denotes a glottal stop /ʔ/ in Cairo and the eastern Delta. However, it denotes /q/ in the western Delta outside of Alexandria, and /g/ in Upper Egypt (the Sa'id), i.e. the consonant /g/ is represented by two separate original Arabic letters in Cairene and Sa'idi Arabic.
• The letter θāʔ ث (CA /θ/) denotes either /t/ in ordinary words (e.g. tāni "second") or /s/ in classicisms (e.g. sanawiyya "secondary (school)")
• The letter gāl ذ (CA /g/) denotes /d/ in ordinary words (e.g. de:l "tail") or /z/ in classicisms (e.g.'' /ʔizaːʕa/ "broadcasting")
• The letter g̣āʔ ظ (CA emphatic /gˤ/) denotes /dˤ/ in ordinary words (e.g. ḍuhr "noon" ) or /zˤ/ in classicisms (e.g. ẓāhira "phenomenon")
• Egyptian Arabic maintains in all positions the early post-Classical distinctions between short /i/ and /u/ which become ktāb, jmāl, and xtār in several other dialects.:
• kitāb "book"
• gumāl "beautiful" (pl.) versus gimāl "camels"
• ʔixtār "he chose", which is actually a contextual realization and the i may not phonemically be part of the word.

Syntax

Negation

One characteristic of Egyptian syntax which it shares with other North African varieties as well as some Levantine dialect areas is in the two-part negative verbal circumfix /ma-...-ʃ(i)/

• Past: /katab/ "he wrote" /ma-katab-ʃ(i)/ "he didn't write"
• Present: /jik-tib/ "he writes" /ma-ji-ktib-ʃ(i)/ "he doesn't write"

This double negation is similar to French "ne... pas."

The negative circumfix surrounds the entire verbal composite including direct and indirect object pronouns:

• /ma-katab-hum-liː-ʃ/ "'he didn't write them to me"

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 arrival of Arabic with Islam in the AD 7th century. 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^[11] are:

• postposed demonstratives "this" and "that" are placed after the noun.
  

Examples: ʔir-rɑɑgil da "this man" (lit. "the man this"; in Standard Arabic haagaa-r-rajul) and ʔil-bintⁱ di "this girl" (lit. "the girl this"; in Standard Arabic haagihi-l-bint).

• 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:

*rɑɑħ mɑṣrⁱ ʔimta ? (راح مصر إمتى؟) "When (ʔimta) did he go to Egypt/Cairo?" (lit. "He went to Egypt/Cairo when?")

*rɑɑħ mɑṣrⁱ leeh ? (راح مصر ليه؟) "Why (leeh) did he go to Egypt/Cairo? (lit. "He went to Egypt/Cairo why?")

*miin [ʔilli] rɑɑħ mɑṣr ? (مين [اللي] راح مصر؟) "Who (miin) 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:

*mata gahaba ʔila miṣr ?

*limaaga gahaba ʔila miṣr ?

*man gahaba ʔila miṣr ?

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 (Arabic script):

الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسان، المادة الأولاني?

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

Egyptian (phonetic transcription):

ʔil-madda ʔil-ʔawwalaniyya

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

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.

Characteristic words and sentences in Egyptian Arabic

• إزيك - ʔizzayyak? ("How are you [m.]")
• إزيك - ʔizzayyik? ("How are you [f.]")
• إزيكو - ʔizzayyuku? ("How are you [pl.]")
• إيه ده - ʔeeh da? ("What's all this?", "What's the point", "What's this?" - expression of annoyance)
• Ex.: (ʔinta) bitʔulluhum ʕalayya kida leeh, ʔeeh da? "Why are you telling them such things about me, what's all this?"
• خلاص - xɑlɑɑṣ: several meanings, often adverbial
• "Stop it!" Ex.: zihiʔt, xɑlɑɑṣ! "I'm annoyed, stop it!"
• "It's over!", "finally, eventually" Ex.: ʔummi kaanit ʕayyaana wi-maatit, xɑlɑɑṣ. "My mother was ill and died finally." [or "...and it's over now."]
• "Ok, then!" Ex.: "خلاص، أشوفك بكرة" "xɑlɑɑṣ, ʔaʃuufak bukrɑ" meaning "I'll see you tomorrow then"
• خالص - xɑɑliṣ "at all"
• maʕandinaʃ ħaaga nakulha xɑɑliṣ "We have nothing at all to eat."
• كفاية - kifaaya! ("It's enough!" or "That's enough")
• يعني - yaʕni ("that's to say" or "meaning" or "y'know")
• As answer to إنت عامل إيه؟ ʔinta ʕaamil ʔeeh? ("How do you do [m.]?") (as an answer: "I am so so" or "half half" = "not perfect"): يعني إيه؟ yaʕni ʔeeh? ("What does that mean?")
  إمتى هتخلص يعني؟** ʔimta hatxɑllɑṣ yaʕni? ("When are you finishing exactly, then?)
• بقى - baʔa (particle of enforcement --> "just" in imperative clauses and "well,...then?" in questions)
• .هاته بقى haatu baʔa! "Just give it to me!"
  عمل إيه بقى؟ ʕamal ʔeeh baʔa? "Well, what did he do then?"

See also

• Arabic language
• Varieties of Arabic
• Egyptian language
• Coptic language
• Egypt
• Futuh or early Muslim military expansions
• Liberal Egyptian Party
• UCLA Language Materials Project

Notes

References

• Abdel-Massih, Ernest T.; A. Fathy Bahig (1978). Comprehensive Study of Egyptian Arabic: Conversation Texts, Folk Literature, Cultural Ethnological and Socio Linguistic Notes. Ann Arbor: Univ of Michigan. ISBN 0-932098-11-8. 
• Haeri, Niloofar (2003). Sacred Language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas of Culture and Politics in Egypt. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-23897-5. 
• Hinds, Martin; El-Said Badawi (1987). A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic. French & European Pubns. ISBN 0-8288-0434-6. 
• Presse, Karl G.; Katrine Blanford, Elisabeth A. Moestrup, Iman El-Shoubary (2000). 5 Egyptian-Arabic One Act Plays: A First Reader, Bilingual edition, Museum Tusculanum. ISBN 87-7289-612-4. 
• Youssef, Ahmad Abdel-Hamid (2003). From Pharaoh's Lips: Ancient Egyptian Language in the Arabic of Today. American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 977-424-708-6. 

External links

• Coptic Words in Egyptian Arabic (Arabic)
• Description of Egyptian Arabic from UCLA's Language Materials Project
• Book on Egyptian roots of Egyptian Arabic (Arabic)
• Free Arabic and Egyptian lessons
• Il Loğa-l Masri-g Gidiida - a Latin-based alphabet for the Egyptian language
• Egyptian Spoken Arabic at Ethnologue
• Liberal Egyptian Party Blog (Arabic)
• Newspaper article in partial Egyptian Arabic (Arabic)

•  • [ e] Varieties of Arabic
Pre-Muslim conquests	Ancient North Arabian† (Safaitic†, Lihyanitic†, Thamudic†, Hasaitic†) Classical Arabic
Modern Standard Variety	Literary Arabic
Maghrebi Arabic	Moroccan Arabic Algerian Arabic Tunisian Arabic Andalusian Arabic† Libyan Arabic Jebli Arabic Jijel Arabic Saharan Arabic Hassānīya Maltese language Siculo-Arabic
Levantine Arabic	Lebanese Arabic Syrian Arabic North Syrian Arabic Palestinian Arabic Cypriot Maronite Arabic
Arabian Arabic	Gulf Arabic Bahrani Arabic Najdi Arabic Hejazi Arabic Shargi Arabic Yemeni Arabic (Hadhrami Arabic)
Iraqi Arabic	Baghdad Arabic
Egyptian Arabic	Cairene Arabic Sa'idi Arabic
Sudanese Arabic	Sudanese Arabic Baggara Arabic
Peripheries	Khuzestani Arabic Shirvani Arabic† Central Asian Arabic Chadian Arabic Nigerian Arabic
Judeo-Arabic	Judeo-Moroccan Judeo-Yemenite Baghdad Arabic (Jewish)
Creoles	Nubi language Babalia Creole Arabic Juba Arabic language

•  • [ e] Semitic languages
East Semitic	Akkadian Eblaite
West/Central Semitic	Northwest: Amorite Ugaritic Canaanite: Ammonite Moabite Edomite Hebrew: Biblical Mishnaic Medieval Mizrahi Yemenite Sephardi Ashkenazi Samaritan Modern Hebrew Phoenician: Punic Aramaic: Western: Nabataean Western Neo-Aramaic Western Middle: Jewish Middle Palestinian Samaritan Christian Palestinian Eastern: Biblical Hatran Syriac Jewish Middle Babylonian Chaldean Neo-Aramaic Assyrian Neo-Aramaic Senaya Koy Sanjaq Surat Hrtevin Turoyo Mlahs Mandaic Judeo-Aramaic Arabic languages: Ancient North Arabian Arabic: Literary: Classical - Middle Arabic - Modern Standard Arabic Arabic dialects: Eastern Arabic dialects: Sudanese Arabian Peninsular dialects: Dhofari Hejazi Najdi Omani Yemeni Judeo-Yemenite Bedouin/Bedawi: Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic Peninsular Bedawi Arabic Central Asian dialects: Central Asian Arabic Khuzestani Arabic Shirvani Egyptian Arabic: Saidi Arabic Gulf dialects: Baharna Gulf Shihhi Levantine Arabic: Cypriot Maronite Arabic Lebanese Palestinian Iraqi Arabic: Judeo-Iraqi Arabic Maghrebi: Algerian Saharan Shuwa Hassānīya Andalusian Libyan Arabic: Judeo-Tripolitanian Siculo-Arabic: Maltese Moroccan Arabic: Judeo-Moroccan Tunisian Arabic: Judeo-Tunisian
South Semitic	Western: Old South Arabian: Sabaean Minaean Qatabanian Hadhramautic Ethiopian: North: Ge'ez Tigrinya Tigre Dahlik South: Transversal: Amharic-Argobba: Amharic Argobba Harari-East Gurage: Harari East Gurage: Silt'e Zay Ulbare Wolane Inneqor Outer: n-group: Gafat Soddo tt-group: Mesmes Muher West Gurage: Masqan: CPWG Central Western Gurage: Ezha Chaha Gura Gumer Peripheral Western Gurage: Gyeto Ennemor Endegen Eastern: Bathari Harsusi Hobyot Jibbali Mehri Soqotri