Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic, also known as Sahil Maryut Bedouin Arabic,^[3][4] is a group of Bedouin Arabic dialects spoken in Western Egypt along the Mediterranean coast, west to the Egypt–Libya border.^[2][5] Ethnologue and Glottolog classify Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic as a Libyan Arabic dialect.^[6][2]

This variety is spoken by the Awlad Ali tribe,^[7][8] who settled in the edges of Lake Maryut and west of Bihera beginning in the 17th century from the region of Jebel Akhdar (Libya).^[9] It is also spoken in Wadi El Natrun.^[10] Their dialect is phonologically, morphophonemically and morphologically closer to the Peninsular Bedouin dialects than to the adjacent Egyptian dialects.^[11] Egyptian Arabic speakers from other parts of Egypt do not understand the Awlad Ali dialect.^[12]

Western Bedouin dialects influenced the dialects of southern Upper Egypt between Asyut and Idfu, and those of the Bahariyya Oasis and Bihera.^[9]

The dialects spoken in Matruh province as well as in eastern Libya have been traditionally classified as belonging to the Sulaymi Bedouin dialects, characterized by a /g/ reflex of Qāf, the gahawa-syndrome, and feminine plural conjugations and pronouns.^[13] However, the classification of North African Bedouin dialects into Hilalian, Sulaimitian, and Ma’qilian groups is not uncontroversial, and is based primarily on socio-historical and geographical considerations.^[14][15] While the dialects of Tripolitania represent a continuation of Tunisian dialects, the dialects of Cyrenaica show affinities with Eastern Bedouin dialects, especially with regards to the gahawa-syndrome and syllable structure.^[14]

Notes:

• /ṭ/ is glottalized as in Upper Egyptian Arabic: [tˤʔ]

Contrary to MSA, Western Egyptian Bedawi uses the plural pronouns for dual pronouns:

The following direct object pronominal suffixes are attached to verbs:

The following demonstrative pronouns are used. The form hāḏ̣ayīəhi is also used with the suffix -yīəhi:

The following interrogative pronouns are used:

There are two types of strong perfect stems, CiCáC (a-type) and CCiC (i-type). Examples of a-type perfects are misák, nizál, ṭiláʿ, fihám. Examples of i-type perfects are šrib, rkib, zʿil, smiʿ, ʿrif, gdir, kbir, kṯir, tʿib, lbis, ybis.^[9]

Some perfect conjugations are shown below:

There are three types of strong imperfect stems, CCiC (i-type), CCəC (ə-type), and CCaC (a-type). The vowel of the conjugation prefix harmonizes with the vowel of the stem: yiktib, yərgəd, yašṛab. The conjugation of the 1st person follows the niktib-níkitbu paradigm.^[9]

The pronunciation [ʒ] for ǧīm occurs in the west of the Bihera, were Awlad Ali settled. Metathesized forms such as mašzid “mosque” may be a result of the influence of their dialect.^[16]

• Al‐Wer, Enam; Jong, Rudolf (2017). "Dialects of Arabic". In Boberg, Charles; Nerbonne, John; Watt, Dominic (eds.). The Handbook of Dialectology. Wiley. pp. 523–534. doi:10.1002/9781118827628.ch32. ISBN 978-1-118-82755-0. OCLC 989950951.
• Behnstedt, Peter; Woidich, Manfred (1987). Die ägyptisch-arabischen Dialekte: Texte. Delta-Dialekte (in German). Vol. 3. Reichert. ISBN 978-3-88226-415-9. OCLC 158521055.
• Behnstedt, Peter; Woidich, Manfred (2005). Arabische Dialektgeographie : eine Einführung (in German). Boston: Brill. ISBN 90-04-14130-8. OCLC 182530188.
• Ennaji, Moha (1998). Arabic varieties in North Africa. Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society. Florida Hills: Vivlia. ISBN 1-919799-12-5. OCLC 42746547.
• Holes, Clive, ed. (2018). Arabic Historical Dialectology: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-870137-8. OCLC 1059441655.
• Hüsken, Thomas (2019). "People, Places and a Brief History". Tribal Politics in the Borderland of Egypt and Libya. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 31–59. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-92342-0_3. ISBN 978-3-319-92342-0. OCLC 1059513981. S2CID 165534196.
• Maṭar, ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz (1967). لهجة البدو في اقليم ساحل مريوط: دراسة لغوية [The Bedouin Dialect in Mariut Coast: A Linguistic Study] (in Arabic). دار الكاتب العربي،. OCLC 784347217.
• Maṭar, ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz (1981). لهجة البدو في الساحل الشمالي لجمهورية مصر العربية : دراسة لغوية [Bedouin dialect in the northern coast of the Arab Republic of Egypt: A linguistic study] (in Arabic). Dār al-Maʻārif, [Cairo]. ISBN 9789777334730. OCLC 60506275.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Wilmsen, David; Woidich, Manfred (2011). "Egypt". In Edzard, Lutz; de Jong, Rudolf (eds.). Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Brill. doi:10.1163/1570-6699_eall_EALL_COM_vol2_0001.

• Behnstedt, Peter (1998). "La frontière orientale des parlers maghrébins en Égypte". In Aguadé, Jorge; Cressier, Patrice; Vicente, Ángeles (eds.). Peuplement et arabisation au Maghreb occidental : Dialectologie et histoire (in French). Madrid: Casa de Velázquez. pp. 85–96. ISBN 84-86839-85-8. OCLC 40820286.
• Owens, Jonathan (2003). "Arabic Dialect History and Historical Linguistic Mythology". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 123 (4): 715–740. doi:10.2307/3589965. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 3589965.
• Behnstedt, Peter; Woidich, Manfred (2018-10-18). "Map 3.1: The Egyptian Arabic dialect area today". The formation of the Egyptian Arabic dialect area. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198701378.003.0003.