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|name=Egyptian Arabic |nativename=مصري Marī |pronunciation= {Link without Title} |familycolor=Afro-Asiatic |states= Egypt and a few other countries |speakers=78,000,000 + |fam2= Semitic |fam3= West Semitic |fam4= Central Semitic |fam5=South-Central Semitic |fam6= Arabic |script= Arabic Alphabet |nation=''none'' |agency=''none'' |iso2=arz|iso3=arz}} Egyptian Arabic ('''Marī''', '''مصري''') is part of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic Language Family , descended mainly from a medieval dialect of Arabic . It originated in the Nile Delta region (Lower Egypt) around its urban centers, Cairo and Alexandria . Today, it is the National Language of Egypt and the Mother Tongue of more than 78 million people. It also serves as a Second Language in many countries across the Middle East While Egyptian Arabic is mainly spoken, it is written occasionally 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, Standard Arabic is used. Like other Varieties Of Arabic , with the exception of Maltese , the Egyptian Dialect is written in the Arabic Alphabet . 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 ''Daf al-ir an kalām ahl Mir'' ('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 Neologism s to replace archaic terminology in Standard Arabic ; to the simplification of syntactical and morphological rules and the introduction of Colloquialism s; to complete 'Egyptianization' (''tamīr'') by abandoning 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 , a movement known as Masr El Um was started 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'). To date, it is not represented in the Egyptian Parliament as it is awaiting license. Some of its views continue to be a source of controversy among Egyptians, particularly with religious establishments such as Al-Azhar and the currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood . "Language" vs. "dialect" As the status of Egyptian Arabic vis-à-vis the Classical language (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 , some students of Arabic and Linguist s may find Egyptian Arabic sufficiently different as to be an independent language (see Dialect#"Dialect" Or "language" ). Some native speakers of Egyptian Arabic, however, point out that the richness of Arabic vocabulary may lead to confusion regarding the Etymology of some of its words, which may simply be variations of the same word in vernacular Arabic. To be sure, Standard Arabic tends to be more conservative while Egyptian Arabic has been more influenced by other languages, including Egyptian / Coptic , Greek , Turkish , Persian , 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. Geographic distribution Egyptian Arabic is spoken by more than 78 million Egyptians in ; and the great number of Egyptian teachers and professors who were instrumental in setting up the education systems of various Arabia n countries, and who also taught there. In Yemen , for example, non-Yemenite 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 ''kida'' 'like this'; ''kuwayyis'' 'well, good') and occasionally Egyptian morphology. The same is true to varying degrees in 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 sing in Egyptian Arabic. 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 ''bitā'', 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 Egyptian cluster. Despite these differences, there are features distinguishing all Egyptian Arabic dialects from any other Arabic language, including the postposition of demonstratives and interrogatives, the modal meaning of the imperfect, and the integration of the participle. Sounds The Egyptian dialect's distinctive phonology appears in part from its peculiar realization of certain Classical Arabic consonants:
Substratum Egyptian Arabic has retained a significant Coptic Substratum in its Lexicon , Phonology , and Syntax . Some features that Egyptian Arabic shares with ancient Egyptian 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 (i.e. "this" and "that" are placed ''after'' the noun) and 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 of the former: '''ir-rgil da''' "this man" (Standard Arabic ''haaðaa-r-rjul'') and '''il-binti di''' "this girl" (Standard Arabic ''haaðihi-l-bint''). Examples of in-situ wh words:
The same sentences in Standard Arabic (with all wh words in the beginning of the sentence) would be:
Text example Article 1 of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights Egyptian Arabic: المادة الأولانية البني أدمين كلهم مولودين حرين ومتساويين في الكرامة والحقوق. إتوهبلهم العقل والضمير، والمفروض يعاملوا بعض بروح الأخوية 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. Transcription: il-madda il-awwalaniyya il-baniadmiin kulluhum mawluudiin ħurriin wi mitsawwyiin fil-krm wil-ħuuu. itwahab-luhum il-l wi-miir wil-mfruu yiamlu b bi-ruuħ il-uxuwiyya. See also
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