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Sudanese Arabic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sudanese Arabic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | northern Sudan | |
| Total speakers: | — | |
| Language family: | Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic South-Central Semitic Arabic Sudanese Arabic |
|
| Writing system: | Arabic alphabet | |
| Official status | ||
| Official language of: | none | |
| Regulated by: | none | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | — | |
| ISO 639-3: | apd | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
Sudanese Arabic, as spoken throughout much of northern Sudan, is the result of a mixing of Egyptian Arabic and Arabic from the Arabian peninsula with local languages (El Rutana). This has resulted in a variety of Arabic that is unique to Sudan, reflecting the way in which the country has been influenced by both African and Arabian cultures.
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In contrast to northern Egyptian Arabic, the letter (ج) in Sudanese Arabic (and as in standard Arabic) is pronounced similar to the English letter "j" and not like "g". Hence the Sudanese Arabic "jellabiyya" (the traditional garb worn by men in Egypt and Sudan) is used as opposed to "gellabiyya" in Egypt. The word is ultimately derived from Egyptian galba. Similarly, the common Egyptian word for camel (gamal), in Sudanese Arabic is pronounced jamal. Sudanese Arabic tends to pronounce the 'jim' somewhat further back in the mouth than English 'J' and does not pronounce it as a diconsonantal affricate.
Sudanese Arabic pronounces the qaf as "g" while Egyptian renders it as ʔ
In addition to differences in pronunciation, Sudanese Arabic also uses different words when compared to Egyptian Arabic. For example, the word for water in Sudan is moya (or moyah), rather than mai with a silent a. In addition, Sudanese do not commonly use the words ma', meiah → meh, alma
In northern and central parts of Sudan, Sudanese colloquial Arabic has been influenced by the Nubian language, which in ancient times was the dominant language in Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan. Many of the agricultural and farming terms in Sudanese Arabic were adopted from Nubian.
- Sudanese Arabic: angareb < Nobiin: àngàréé "wooden bed"
- Sudanese Arabic: kadēsa < Nobiin: kàdíís "cat". The Arabic word for cat is qitt.
Because of the varying influence of local languages in different parts of Sudan, there is considerable regional variation in Arabic spoken throughout the country. Sudanese Arabic typically refers to Arabic spoken mostly in northern parts of Sudan. The other most commonly mentioned derviate of Arabic in Sudan is Juba Arabic, a pidgin of Arabic, which is much more heavily influenced by other local languages.
In northern Sudan, greetings are typically extended, and involve multiple questions about the other persons health, their family etc. When greeting someone you know, it is common to begin with the word oh, followed by the person's first name, as in Oh... Babiker....or alternatively, Oh...kef ya Babiker (see below)
Formal greetings often begin with the universal Assalaamu Alaikum / Wa Alaikum Assalaam (Peace to you / and to you) exchange common to Muslims everywhere. However, other greetings typical to Sudan include: Izzeeyak / Izzeeyik (m/f) (How are you), Inta / Inti shadiid(a)? (Are you well?), the response to which is usually Al-hamdu lillah (Praise be to God), assuming you are indeed feeling well, ma batal (not bad) or nos-nos (literally half-half) if feeling only ok (nos-nos being slightly worse), or perhaps ta'ban shwaiyya (a little tired) if not so well.
Other everyday greetings include kwaiyis(a) (Literally "Good"—it can be a question or an answer, kef al usra? (how is the family) or kef al awlaad? (literally how are the children, though it generally refers to both wife and children). For friends, the question kef? can also be formed using the person's first name, pre-fixed by ya, for example; kef ya Yousef? (How are you Joseph?). Another standard response in addition to Al hamdu lilla is Allai barik fique (God's blessing upon you).
Additional greetings are appropriate for particular times—either times of the day, such as Sabah el kheir / Sabah el Nur and Mesa el Kheir / Mesa el Nur (call and response for mornings and evenings respectively) or particular times of the year, such as Ramadan Kareem (A Generous Ramadan) during Ramadan, Kullu senna wa inta (inti) taiyib(a) (May you be well every year) at the beginning of the year, and Nye-man to a (male) friend who had a new haircut.
Sudanese that know each other well will often use many of these greetings together, sometimes repeating themselves. It is also common to shake hands on first meeting, sometimes simultaneously slapping or tapping each other on the left shoulder before the handshake (particularly for good friends). Handshakes in Sudan can often last as long as greetings.
The Sudanese Arabic word for yes is typically Aye, pronounced similarly to the Scots-English word meaning the same thing, though Aiwa or Na'am are also sometimes used. Some people (often those from southern Sudan) will also click their tongue when assenting (sometimes more than once) to something rather than using a particular word. Clicking, depending on the tone, can also be used when expressing sympathy with some (usually minor) problem a person has.
In English
- Victoria Bernal, 1991, Cultivating Workers, Peasants and Capitalism in a Sudanese Village, New York: Colombia University Press, see glossary of Sudanese Arabic words pp 203-206.
- Abdel-Hadi Mohammed Omer, 1984, Arabic in the Sudanese setting: A Sociolinguistic study (Language Planning, Diglossia, Standardisation), Unpublished dissertation, Indiana University (available on Proquest).
- Andrew and Janet Persson with Ahmad Hussein, 1979, Sudanese Colloquial Arabic for beginners, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Horsleys Green, High Wycombe, United Kingdom: This book is a good introduction to Sudanese colloquial Arabic as spoken in Khartoum. Text is in both Arabic and Latin scripts, making it accessible to those that do not read Arabic but want basic conversational skills.
- Alan S. Kaye, 1976, Chadian and Sudanese Arabic in the light of comparative Arabic dialectology, Mouton: The Hague, ISBN 90-279-3324-3.
- El Rashid Abubakr, 1970, The noun phrase in the spoken Arabic of Sudan, Unpublished dissertation, University of London, UK.
- J. Spenser Trimmingham, 1946, Sudan Colloquial Arabic, London, Oxford University Press, G. Cumberlege.
- Vincent Llewllyn Grifiths & Abdel Rahman Ali Taha, 1936, Sudan courtesy customs; a foreigner's guide to polite phrases in common use among sophisticated Arabic speaking population of Northern Sudan, Khartoum, published by the Sudan Government.
- S. Hillelson, 1935, Sudan Arabic texts, Cambridge, UK: The University Press.
In French
- Michel Baumer, 1968, Les noms vernaculaires soudanais utiles a l'ecologiste, Unpublished dissertation, Universite de Montpelier, France.
In English and French
- Arlette Roth, 1969-1972, Lexique des parlers arabes tchado-soudanais. An Arabic-English-French lexicon of dialects spoken in the Chad-Sudan area compiled by Arlette Roth-Laly, Paris: Editions du Centre Nationale de la recherche scientifique.
In German
- Randolph Galla, 1997, Kauderwelsch, Sudanesisch-Arabisch Wort für Wort, Reise Know How Verlag, Bielefeld, 1. Auflage, 1997, ISBN 3-89416-302-X
- Stefan Reichmuth, 1983, Der arabische Dialekt der Sukriyya in Ostsudan, Hildsheim, New York: G. Olms (originally authors thesis Freie Universitat, Berlin), ISBN 3-487-07457-5.