Native speakers 400,000 (2004) ISO 639-3 abv | Dialects Ajami
Bahrani
Sunni | |
Native to Bahrain, Oman, Qatif, Al Ahsa Language family Afro-Asiatic
Semitic
Central Semitic
Arabic
Peninsular
Bahrani Arabic Writing system Arabic alphabet, Arabic chat alphabet | ||
Bahrani Arabic (also known as Bahrani and Baharna Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken in Eastern Arabia and Oman. In Bahrain, the dialect is primarily spoken in Shia villages and some parts of Manama.
Contents
The Bahrani Arabic dialect has been significantly influenced by the ancient Aramaic, Syriac and Akkadian languages.
An interesting sociolinguistic feature of Bahrain is the existence of three distinct dialects: Bahrani, Sunni and Ajami Arabic. Sunni Bahrainis speak a dialect which is most similar to urban dialect spoken in Qatar.
The Persian language has the most foreign linguistic influence on all the Bahraini dialects. 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. Many Bahrani words have also been borrowed from Hindi, Turkish, or English.
Examples of words borrowed from other languages
Bahrani dialect has borrowed some vocabulary from Persian, Hindi, Turkish, and more recently from English.
Features
Bahrani Arabic (called Baħrāni by its speakers) has the main features of Gulf Arabic dialects (e.g. Kuwait, UAE, Qatar) in addition to its own unique features. General features include the Standard Arabic q becoming g (qamar vs gamar 'moon'), k becoming ch in some positions (kalb vs chalb 'dog'). J becoming y in some villages (jiħħe vs yiħħe 'watermelon'). Final Standard Arabic -ah becomes -eh in some positions. Unique features include changing "th" and "dh" into "t" and "d". Many younger speakers avoid such pronunciations, however.