Siwi language
| Siwa | |
|---|---|
| Siwi | |
| Žlan n Isiwan | |
| Native to | Egypt |
| Region | Siwa Oasis, Gara Oasis |
|
Native speakers
|
15,000 (2010) to 20,000 (2013) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | siwi1239 |
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. Although the native language Siwa is a Berber dialect, it is not closely related to any other Berber language at all.
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.
A preliminary inventory of the Siwa language shows a total of 42 distinctive segments, 38 consonants and 4 vowels.
The Siwa language contains 38 consonants and 38 long counterparts of these consonants.
In Siwa, there are 4 vowels and 1 or 2 diphthongs: /a, i, u, ə/; /ai/ [e:] and /au/ [o:].
Recent discoveries have found that the Siwi language, unlike most other Berber languages, have two phonemic mid vowels in their inherited vocabulary, including e and o. In every other environment the contrast between i and e has been neutralized.
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.
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Wikipedia