Bahrani Arabic Explained

Bahrani Arabic
Also Known As:	Baharna Arabic Bahrani Shīʿite Arabic
Nativename:	Arabic: العربية البحرانية
Map:	Árabe bareiní.png
States:	Bahrain, Saudi Arabia
Ethnicity:	Baharna
Ref:	e25
Date:	2019
Familycolor:	Afro-Asiatic
Fam2:	Semitic
Fam3:	Central Semitic
Fam4:	Arabic
Fam5:	Peninsular
Dia1:	Qatifi
Script:	Arabic alphabet, Arabic chat alphabet
Iso3:	abv
Glotto:	baha1259
Glottorefname:	Baharna Arabic

Bahrani Arabic (also known as Bahrani or Baharna Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken by the Baharna in Eastern Arabia and Oman.^[1] 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.

The Bahrani Arabic dialect has been significantly influenced by the ancient Aramaic, Syriac, and Akkadian languages.^{[2] [3]}

An interesting sociolinguistic feature of Bahrain is the existence of two main dialects: Bahrani and Sunni Arabic.^[4] 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.^[5] 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 Persian
• sōmān 'equipment' from Urdu.
• lētar 'lighter' from English.
• wīl 'wheel' from English
• tēm 'time' from English
• dareesha 'window' from Ottoman Turkish
• dowshag 'mattress' from Persian
• 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

! rowspan="2"

Labial	Dental	Denti-alveolar		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
plain		emphatic	plain	emphatic
Nasal		pronounced as /link/				pronounced as /link/
Plosive	voiceless			pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
	voiced	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Fricative	voiceless	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
	voiced		pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Trill						pronounced as /link/
Approximant						pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/

Bahrani Arabic vowels!!Front!Back

Close	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Mid	(pronounced as /link/) pronounced as /link/	(pronounced as /link/) pronounced as /link/
Open	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/

See also

• Varieties of Arabic
• Peninsular Arabic

Further reading

• Mahdi Abdalla Al-Tajir. 1983. Language and Linguistic Origins in Bahrain: The Bahrani Dialect of Arabic.
• 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.
• Clive Holes. 2001. Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary.
• 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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Arabic, Baharna Spoken. . 2013-07-29.
2. Book: Non-Arabic Semitic elements in the Arabic dialects of eastern Arabia. Clive Holes. 270–279. 2002. 9783447044912. Jastrow. Otto. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag .
3. Book: Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary. Clive Holes. 2001. XXIX-XXX. 9004107630. Holes. Clive. BRILL .
4. Book: Bassiouney, Reem . Arabic Sociolinguistics. 2009. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh. 105–107. 5.
5. https://books.google.com/books?id=bJLjAKH7-rIC&pg=PR30 Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary