Bahrani Arabic

Not to be confused with Bahraini Gulf Arabic.

Bahrani Arabic (also known as Bahrani or Baharna Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken by the Baharna in Eastern Arabia and Oman.^[2] In Bahrain, the dialect is primarily spoken in Shia villages and some parts of Manama. In Saudi Arabia, the dialect is spoken in the governorate of Qatif. In Oman, it is spoken in the governorates of Al Dhahirah and Al Batinah.

Bahrani Arabic
Baharna Arabic Bahrani Shīʿite Arabic
العربية البحرانية
Native to	Bahrain, Saudi Arabia[1]
Ethnicity	Baharna
Native speakers	730,000 (2019)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Peninsular Bahrani Arabic
Dialects	Qatifi
Writing system	Arabic alphabet, Arabic chat alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	abv
Glottolog	baha1259
[image reference needed]

The Bahrani Arabic dialect has been significantly influenced by the ancient Aramaic, Syriac, and Akkadian languages.^[3][4]

An interesting sociolinguistic feature of Bahrain is the existence of two main dialects: Bahrani and Sunni Arabic.^[5] Sunni Bahrainis speak a dialect which is most similar to urban dialect spoken in Qatar.

The Persian language has debatably the most foreign linguistic influence on all the Bahraini dialects.^[6] 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 Urdu, Ottoman Turkish, or English.

Examples of words borrowed from other languages

• bānka 'ceiling fan' from Hindi (पंखा) or Persian 'Pankeh' (پنکه).^{[7]: 137 [note 1]}
• sōmān 'equipment' from Urdu.
• Jooti 'shoe' from Hindi or Urdu 'Joota' (جوتا).^[7]: 134
• lētar 'lighter' from English.
• wīl 'wheel' from English.
• tēm 'time' from English.
• dareesha 'window' from Persian 'Darecheh' (دریچه).^{[8][9][note 2]}
• dowshag 'mattress' from Persian 'Doshak' (دوشک).
• orradi 'already' from English.
• leitāt 'lights' from English.

Bahrani dialect has borrowed some vocabulary from Persian, Urdu, Ottoman Turkish, and more recently from English.

Features

Holes divides the sedentary dialects of the Gulf to two types:

1. Type A, which includes the dialects of Sunni tribes that settled in Eastern Arabia between the 17th and 19th century, and the Huwala. This group includes the standard Gulf Arabic dialects of Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and UAE.
2. Type B, which includes the dialects of Omani Ibadis and Eastern Arabian Shia (the Baharna).

Bahrani Arabic (called Baħrāni by its speakers) shares many features with surrounding Type A dialects (e.g. Kuwait, UAE, Qatar). Some general features:

• Classical Arabic /q/ becomes /g/, for example gamar (moon).
• Classical Arabic /ð/ becomes /d/, for example danab (tail).
• /q/ and /ð/ is preserved for some Classical Arabic borrowings, for example [ðulqaʕdah] (Dhu Al-Qa'dah).
• Affrication of /k/ to /tʃ/ in many words, for example [tʃalb] (dog).
• /θ/ has the free variant /f/, and in some dialects /t/, for example falāfeh or talāteh (three).
• /dʒ/ becomes /j/ in some rural dialects, for example yiħħe (watermelon).
• Usage of -sh suffix (/ʃ/) as a feminine second-person pronoun akin to masculine -k, for example babish (your door).
• Usage of sentence-final particle e (pronounced [ɛː]) to indicate questions, for example 'inzaine (OK?).

Phonology

Bahrani Arabic consonants^[10]

		Labial	Dental	Denti-alveolar		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
				plain	emphatic	plain	emphatic
Nasal		m				n
Plosive	voiceless			t	tˤ			tʃ	k	q		ʔ
	voiced	b		d	dˤ			dʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ			s	sˤ	ʃ	x		ħ	h
	voiced		ð			z			ɣ		ʕ
Trill						r
Approximant						l		j	w

Bahrani Arabic vowels^[10]

	Front	Back
Close	i iː	u uː
Mid	(e) eː	(o) oː
Open	a aː	ɑ ɑː

See also

• Varieties of Arabic
• Peninsular Arabic

References

1. Bahrani Arabic at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. "Arabic, Baharna Spoken". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
3. Jastrow, Otto (2002). Non-Arabic Semitic elements in the Arabic dialects of eastern Arabia. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 270–279. ISBN 9783447044912. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
4. Holes, Clive (2001). Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary. BRILL. pp. XXIX–XXX. ISBN 9004107630. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
5. Bassiouney, Reem (2009). "5". Arabic Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 105–107.
6. Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary. Clive Holes. 2001. Page XXX. ISBN 90-04-10763-0
7. Al-Tajer, Mahdi Abdulla (1982). Language & Linguistic Origins In Bahrain. Taylor & Francis. pp. 134, 135. ISBN 9780710300249.
8. "Persian: Dareesha دریچه". WordReference Forums. 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
9. "دریچه - معنی در دیکشنری آبادیس". abadis.ir. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
10. Al-Tajir, Mahdi Abdalla (1982). Language and linguistic origins in Baḥrain : the Baḥārnah dialect of Arabic. London: K. Paul International. ISBN 0-7103-0024-7.

Further reading

• Mahdi Abdalla Al-Tajir. 1983. Language and Linguistic Origins in Bahrain: The Bahrani Dialect of Arabic. ISBN 0-7103-0024-7
• Clive Holes. 1983. "Bahraini Dialects: Sectarian Differences and the Sedentary/Nomadic Split," Zeitschrift für arabische Linguistik 10:7-38.
• Clive Holes. 1987. Language Variation and Change in a Modernising Arab State: The Case of Bahrain. ISBN 0-7103-0244-4
• Clive Holes. 2001. Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary. ISBN 90-04-10763-0
• Clive Holes, "Dialect and National Identity. The Cultural Politics of Self-Representation in Bahraini Musalsalat", in Paul Dresch and James Piscatori (eds), Monarchies and Nations: Globalisation and Identity in the Arab states of the Gulf, London: I.B. Tauris, 2005, p. 60.

External links

• Baharna Arabic Travel Phrases
• Dialects of the Arabian Peninsula

1. Common in various Indo-Iranian languages, said to have roots in Sanskrit
2. Dareecheh means "small door" or "trap door" or "vent", in Turkish they say Pancere/Panjereh like Persian, but Darecheh is exclusively a loanword from Persian meaning little door