Sa'idi Arabic

Ṣa‘īdi Arabic (Sa'idi Arabic: صعيدى‎, [sˤɑˈʕiːdi], [sˤeˈʕiːdi]; also known as Saidi Arabic and Upper Egypt Arabic) is the variety of Arabic spoken by Ṣa‘īdis south of Cairo, Egypt to the border of Sudan. It shares linguistic features both with Egyptian Arabic, as well as Sudanese Arabic. Dialects include Middle and Upper Egyptian Arabic. Speakers of Egyptian Arabic do not always understand more conservative varieties of Ṣa‘īdi Arabic.

Ṣa‘īdi Arabic carries little prestige nationally though it continues to be widely spoken, including in the north by rural migrants who have partially adapted to Egyptian Arabic. For example, the Ṣa‘īdi genitive exponent is usually replaced with Egyptian bitāʿ, but the realization of /q/ as [ɡ] is retained (normally realized in Egyptian Arabic as [ʔ]). Second and third-generation Ṣa‘īdi migrants are monolingual in Egyptian Arabic, but maintain cultural and family ties to the south.