LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY IN EGYPT: LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY IN EGYPT: REFUGEE LANGUAGES IN CAIROREFUGEE LANGUAGES IN CAIRO

Robert S. WilliamsCairo Refugee Language ProjectThe American University in Cairo

rwilliams@aucegypt.edu

PowerPoint available at: www.aucegypt.edu/faculty/rwilliams/downloads.htm

Language DiversityLanguage Diversity

linguistic diversity

linguistic diversity in Egypt: indigenous languages

linguistic diversity in Egypt: refugee languages

Language DiversityLanguage Diversity

How many languages are there in the world today?

Between 5,000 and 6,000

Languages aren’t evenly distributed among the world’s geographic areas.

China,which has a large land mass (over 9 million sq km) , has relatively few languages at 235

Papua New Guinea, which is 18 times smaller in land area (around 450, 000 sq km), has more than three times as many languages at 820

Language Diversity:Language Diversity:EgyptEgypt

Egypt has nearly 1 million sq km in land area.

How many languages are spoken at home by Egyptian citizens?

9

Heritage (First) Languages of EgyptHeritage (First) Languages of Egypt

Modern Standard ArabicModern Standard Arabic

Use in Egypt: Modern Standard Arabic is the

official language of Egypt, and as such is the

language of government, education, etc.

However, it is not a first language.

Areas of use outside of Egypt: Everywhere in

the Arab world

Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central,

South, Arabic

Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Spoken Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Spoken ArabicArabic

Number of Speakers in Egypt: 780,000 (1996).

Areas of Use in Egypt: Bedouin regions in Sinai and

along parts of the Red Sea coast, most of the way

to the southern border, along the whole east

bank until it reaches the Bedawi language

Number of Speakers in all countries: 1,610,000

Areas of use outside of Egypt: Also spoken in Israel,

Jordan, Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, Syria.

Alternate names: Bedawi, Levantine Bedawi Arabic.

Dialects: Northeast Egyptian Bedawi Arabic, South

Levantine Bedawi Arabic, North Levantine

Bedawi Arabic. Similar to some Hijazi dialects in

northwestern Saudi Arabia.

Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South,

Arabic

Egyptian Spoken ArabicEgyptian Spoken Arabic

Number of speakers in Egypt: 44,406,000 (1998).

Areas of use in Egypt: Cairo and Delta

Number of speakers outside of Egypt: 46,321,000

Areas of use outside of Egypt: Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

Alternate names: none

Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic

Other information: a normal Egyptian Spoken Arabic, established the by the Egyptian media, is used in Arabic-language media produced in Egypt. It is based on Cairene Arabic.

Egyptian Spoken ArabicEgyptian Spoken Arabic

Dialects: North Delta Arabic, South Central Delta Arabic, Cairene Arabic.

Cairene is the most widely understood dialect used for non print media, both in Egypt and throughout the secondary Arab world.

It is an amalgam of Delta Arabic and Middle Egypt Arabic, with borrowings from literary Arabic.

Western Egyptian Bedawi Spoken Western Egyptian Bedawi Spoken ArabicArabic

Number of speakers in Egypt: 300,000 (1996).

Areas of use in Egypt: Bedouin regions from the edge of Alexandria west to the Libyan border. Some in western oases.

Number of speakers outside of Egypt: 0

Areas of use outside of Egypt: none

Alternate names: Bedawi, Libyan Spoken Arabic, Sulaimitian Arabic, Maghrebi Arabic.

Dialects: Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic, Tripolitanian Arabic, Southern Libyan Arabic, Eastern Libyan Arabic.

Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic

Sa’idi Spoken ArabicSa’idi Spoken Arabic

Number of speakers in Egypt: 18,900,000 (1996)

Areas of use in Egypt: Southern Egypt from the edge

of Cairo to the Sudan border.

Alternate names: Sa`idi, Upper Egypt Arabic.

Dialects: Middle Egypt Arabic, Upper Egypt Arabic.

The Middle Egypt dialect is in Bani Sweef,

Fayyuum, and Gizeh. Upper Egypt dialect is

from Asyuut to Edfu and south. Some might be

in Libya or the Gulf.

Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South,

Arabic

CopticCoptic

Use in Egypt: Coptic is considered an extinct

language, meaning that no people speak it as a first

language. However, the Bohairic dialect of Coptic is

still the liturgical language of the Coptic Church.It

probably became extinct in the 16th century.

Alternate names: Neo-Egyptian

Dialects: Bohairic, Sahidic.

Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Egyptian

SiwiSiwi

Number of Speakers in Egypt: 5,000 (1995)

Areas of Use in Egypt: Northwestern

desert, Siwa Oasis, several isolated

villages in the western oasis

Number of Speakers in all countries: 0

Areas of use outside of Egypt: none

Alternate names: Siwa, Sioua, Oasis

Berber, Zenati

Dialects: Not closely related to other

Berber languages

Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Berber,

Eastern, Siwa

Nobiin and Kenuzi-DongolaNobiin and Kenuzi-Dongola

Number of Speakers in Egypt: Nobiin (200,000:1996),

Kenuzi Dongola (100,000:1996)

Areas of Use in Egypt:. 40% in the Upper Nile Valley,

mainly near Kom Ombo; the rest in various

cities

Number of Speakers in all countries: Nobiin (495,000),

Kenuzi-Dongola (280,000)

Areas of use outside of Egypt: Sudan: Northern

Province of Sudan

Classification of Nobiin: Nilo-Saharan, Eastern

Sudanic, Eastern, Nubian, Northern

Classification of Kenuzi-Dongola: Nilo-Saharan,

Eastern Sudanic, Eastern, Nubian, Central,

Dongolawi

DomariDomariNumber of Speakers in Egypt: ??

Areas of Use in Egypt: mainly in Dakahlia

Governorate, north of Cairo

Number of Speakers in all countries: 1,876, 116

Areas of use outside of Egypt: Afghanistan, India,

Iran, Iraq, Isreal, Jordan, Libya, Palestine

West Bank & Gaza, Russia (Caucasus

Mountains), Uzbekistan, Sudan, Syria, Turkey.

Alternate names: Middle Eastern Romani, Tsigene,

Gypsy, Luti, Mehtar

Dialects: Nawar (Ghagar), Helebi

Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-

Aryan, Central zone, Dom

Other information: The ethnic

group, known as Ghagar,, are

Mulsim. There are estimated

to be over a million strong in

Egypt.

Greek and ArmenianGreek and Armenian

Number of Greek Speakers in Egypt: 42,000

(2004)

Areas of Use in Egypt: Alexandria

Classification: Indo-European, Greek, Attic

_________________________________

Number of Armenian Speakers in Egypt: 6,000

Areas of Use in Egypt: mainly Cairo

Classification: Indo-European, Armenian

Non-Indigenous Languages in EgyptNon-Indigenous Languages in Egypt

Of course Cairo is extremely cosmopolitan. People from all over the world live in Cairo, so

many languages are spoken here.

As you would expect, these languages include, besides every know dialect of Arabic, all of

the world’s major languages: Spanish, English, French, German, Chinese, Portuguese,

Russian, etc.

Refugee Languages in EgyptRefugee Languages in Egypt

In addition, there are probably over

100 ‘smaller’ languages spoken by

refugees from Cairo.

Cairo has a good sampling of

languages from Sudan, Eritrea,

Ethiopia, Chad, Somalia, and

languages from many other African

countries.

Many of these languages are

considered endangered.

Refugee Languages in EgyptRefugee Languages in Egypt

In addition, there are probably over 100 ‘smaller’

languages spoken by refugees from Cairo.

Cairo has a good sampling of languages from Sudan,

Eritrea, Ethiopia, Chad, Somalia, and languages

from many other African countries.

Though there are probably a million or so speakers

of refugee languages, most of these languages are

considered endangered.

Refugee Languages in Egypt: AjangRefugee Languages in Egypt: Ajang

Ajang, spoken in the Nuba Mountains area of the Sudanese

state of South Kordofan by around 10,000 people, is

represented in the Cairo refugee community.

There is a small Ajang speech community here, and Ajang is

used in homes and in social gatherings.

The refugee situation helps make Ajang an endangered

language, since it:

– is only used in two domains

– is no longer the home language for Ajang speakers who

are married to refugees who speak other languages

Abdelbagi Daida Ajang Researcher

The Cairo Refugee Language ProjectThe Cairo Refugee Language Project

The CRLP was founded in 2005 as a research support project

We are a small group working with AUC’s Forced Migration and Refugee Studies program

We are working to:– offer access to basic facts and statistics

about refugees and language in Cairo

– provide a site for storage and dissemination of scholarship on these issues

– assist scholars in contacting and working with speakers of various languages among the refugee population in Cairo

– provide any assistance possible to scholars conducting research in Cairo

AUC’s Main Campus, downtown Cairo

CRLPCRLPOngoing ProjectsOngoing Projects

At present, CRLP-based scholars are working on

– the Cairo Community Interpreters Project

– basic fact gathering on refugee language issues

– the Intercontinental Dictionary Series

– endangered language documentation

– Refugee schools faculty developmentSudanese refugees

at AUC’s FMRS Center

ReferencesReferences

Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.

Comrie, B., Matthew, S., & Polinsky, M. Eds. (2002). The Atlas of Languages. Revised Edition. New York: Facts on File

Comrie, B. (Ed.). 1990. The World’s Major Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Torrosian, M. (2007). Personal communication.