Saʽidi 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) to Lower Egypt.
Saʽidi Arabic is a sub-dialect of Egyptian Arabic spoken primarily in Upper Egypt. It carries little prestige nationally but continues to be widely spoken.
There is no single unified Saʽidi Arabic spoken throughout Upper Egypt. Instead, the region comprises a group of related dialects that vary by locality and governorate. In the provincial capitals and larger urban centers of Upper Egypt, many inhabitants commonly speak Egyptian Arabic, which is often perceived as the prestige or urban variety.
Dialects There is no single unified Saʽidi Arabic spoken throughout Upper Egypt. Instead, it comprises a group of related dialects that vary by region and locality. These differences include pronunciation, vocabulary, and certain grammatical features, and noticeable variation may exist between the dialects of northern and southern Upper Egypt. In the provincial capitals and larger urban centers, many inhabitants speak Egyptian Arabic alongside local Saʽidi varieties, as Egyptian Arabic is more widely associated with and urban life.
Phonology
Consonants Saʽidi Arabic has the following consonants: Bilabial Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal Nasal Plosive/Affricate Fricative () Trill Approximant
may also be realised as or as , when it merges with .
is heard as in the southern Upper Egyptian dialects. An emphatic may also have a glottalized allophone of in complementary distribution.
Vowels Front Central Back High Mid () [] () Low
Sounds /, / appear in the Qifṭi or southern dialects. can also be heard with an allophone of . Vowels may also have pharyngeal (emphatic) allophones as well.
+Vowel allophonesPhonemeAllophonesEmphatic /Vˤ//i/[i], [ɪ][ɨˤ], [ɨ̞ˤ], [ɨ], [ɨ̞]/iː/[iː], [ɪː][ɨ̞ˤː], [ɨ̞ː]/eː/[eː], [ɛː], [e], [ɛ][ɛˤː], [ɛˤ], [ɛ], [ɜ], [ɛː]/a/[ä], [æ][ɑˤ], [ɑ]/aː/[äː], [æː][ɑːˤ], [ɑː]/oː/[oː], [ɔː], [o], [o̞], [ɔ][o̞ˤː], [ɔˤ], [o̞], [ɔ], [o̞ː]/u/[u], [ʊ][ʊˤ], [ʊ]/uː/[uː], [ʊː][ʊˤː], [ʊː]
See also Varieties of Arabic Sa'idi people Copts Nubians Egyptian Arabic
References
Sources
External links