Bahrani Arabic

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Bahrani Arabic
Baharna Arabic
Bahrani Shīʿite Arabic
العربية البحرانية
Native to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia [1]
Ethnicity Baharna
Native speakers
730,000 (2019) [1]
Dialects
  • Qatifi
Arabic alphabet, Arabic chat alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3 abv
Glottolog baha1259
Arabe bareini.png

Bahrani Arabic (also known as Bahrani or Baharna Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken by the Baharna in Eastern Arabia and Oman. [2] In Bahrain, the dialect is primarily spoken in Shia villages and some parts of Manama. In Saudi Arabia, the dialect is spoken in the governorate of Qatif. In Oman, it is spoken in the governorates of Al Dhahirah and Al Batinah.

Contents

The Bahrani Arabic dialect has been significantly influenced by the ancient Aramaic, Syriac, and Akkadian languages. [3] [4]

In Bahrain, Bahrani is more typical of the mostly-Shia and mostly-rural Baharna, who make up the older population group of Bahrain, and it exists alongside Gulf Arabic, which is mostly spoken by Sunni Arabs, who started arriving in the late 18th century. The Gulf Arabic of the Sunni Arabs, who are concentrated in the cities of Bahrain, and importantly include the royal family, became the prestige language of the country, leading to Baharna Arabic becoming influenced by it. [5]

The Persian language has debatably had the most foreign linguistic influence on all Bahraini dialects. [6] The differences between Bahrani Arabic and other Bahraini dialects suggest differing historical origins. The main differences between Bahrani and non-Bahrani dialects are evident in certain grammatical forms and pronunciation. Most of the vocabulary, however, is shared between dialects, or is distinctly Bahraini, arising from a shared modern history. [5]

Examples of words borrowed from other languages

Like Gulf Arabic, Bahrani Arabic has borrowed some vocabulary from Persian, Urdu, Ottoman Turkish, and more recently from English.

Features

Researcher Clive Holes divided the sedentary dialects of the Gulf to two types:

  1. Type A, which includes the dialects of Sunni tribes that settled in Eastern Arabia between the 17th and 19th century, and the Huwala. This group includes the standard Gulf Arabic dialects of Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and UAE.
  2. Type B, which includes the dialects of Omani Ibadis and Eastern Arabian Shia (the Baharna).

Bahrani Arabic (called Baħrāni by its speakers) shares many features with surrounding Type A dialects (e.g. Kuwait, UAE, Qatar). Some general features:

Phonology

Bahrani Arabic consonants [10]
Labial Dental Denti-alveolar Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
plain emphatic plain emphatic
Nasal m n
Plosive voiceless t tˤ tʃ k q ʔ
voiced b d dˤ dʒ ɡ
Fricative voiceless f θ s sˤ ʃ x ħ h
voiced ð z ɣ ʕ
Trill r
Approximant l j w
Bahrani Arabic vowels [10]
Front Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid ( e ) eː ( o ) oː
Open a aː ɑ ɑː

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Common in various Indo-Iranian languages, said to have roots in Sanskrit
  2. ↑ Dareecheh means "small door" or "trap door" or "vent", in Turkish they say Pancere/Panjereh like Persian, but Darecheh is exclusively a loanword from Persian meaning little door

References

  1. 1 2 Bahrani Arabic at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. ↑ "Arabic, Baharna Spoken". Ethnologue . Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  3. ↑ Jastrow, Otto (2002). Non-Arabic Semitic elements in the Arabic dialects of eastern Arabia. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 270–279. ISBN   9783447044912.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  4. ↑ Holes, Clive (2001). Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary. BRILL. pp. XXIX–XXX. ISBN   9004107630.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. 1 2 Bassiouney, Reem (2009). "5". Arabic Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 105–107.
  6. ↑ Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary. Clive Holes. 2001. Page xxx. ISBN   90-04-10763-0
  7. 1 2 Al-Tajer, Mahdi Abdulla (1982). Language & Linguistic Origins In Bahrain. Taylor & Francis. pp. 134, 135. ISBN   9780710300249.
  8. ↑ "Persian: Dareesha دریچه". WordReference Forums. 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  9. ↑ "دریچه - معنی در دیکشنری آبادیس". abadis.ir. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  10. 1 2 Al-Tajir, Mahdi Abdalla (1982). Language and linguistic origins in Baḥrain : the Baḥārnah dialect of Arabic. London: K. Paul International. ISBN   0-7103-0024-7.

Further reading

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