Native to Egypt ISO 639-3 siz | Region Siwa Oasis, Gara Oasis Glottolog siwi1239 | |
Native speakers 15,000 (2010) to 20,000 (2013) Language family Afro-Asiatic
Erythrean
North Erythrean
Boreafrasian
Berber
Eastern
Siwa | ||
The Siwa (Sioua) language, Siwi, also known as Oasis Berber or ambiguously as Zenati, is a Berber language of Egypt, spoken by 15,000 to 20,000 people in the oases of Siwa and Gara, near the Libyan border. The language has been heavily influenced by Egyptian Arabic. Its use by the ethnic Siwi population is in decline, as most have shifted to Arabic as their primary language. Some native adult Siwis express a certain distaste for the language, believing it would be better for their children's educational prospects if they spoke Arabic from the start. Overall, the majority of the native population views Arabic in a positive light and nearly all learn to speak Arabic as a second language from an early age.
Contents
Classification
Ethnologue places Siwi in an Eastern Berber group with the Awjila–Sokna languages of central and eastern Libya. Kossmann (1999) links it with Sokna and the Nafusi dialect cluster of western Libya and Tunisia, but not with Awjila. The "Endangered Languages Project" classifies the Siwa language as vulnerable to extinction, listing a 20% certainty based on compiled evidence.
Phonology
A preliminary inventory of the Siwa language shows a total of 42 distinctive segments, 38 consonants and 4 vowels.
Consonants
The Siwa language contains 38 consonants and 38 long counterparts of these consonants.
Vowels
In Siwa, there are 4 vowels and 1 or 2 diphthongs: /a, i, u, ə/; /ai/ [e:] and /au/ [o:].
Writing samples
The thumbnail picture at the following link contains a list of pronouns and typical greetings first written in Siwi, then with the English pronunciation and translation, and ending with a description of the word in Arabic.
Numerical system
The Siwi utilize a numerical system almost entirely borrowed from Arabic, and have only retained two traditional Berber numerals: one and two. This system uses numerals 3-10 both for counting and qualifying nouns. Numbers 11-19 have two separate forms for counting and qualifying nouns.