Bahraini Gulf Arabic
Bahraini Gulf Arabic | |
---|---|
Bahraini Sunni Arabic | |
Native to | Bahrain |
Native speakers | 70,000 (2019)[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Official status | |
Official language in | Not official in any country |
Regulated by | Not recognised as a language |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | none |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | bahr1247 |
Bahraini Gulf Arabic (Arabic: لهجة بحرينية, romanized: Lahjat Baḥraynīyah) is a Gulf Arabic dialect spoken in Bahrain. It is spoken by Bahraini Sunnis (Arabs and Ajams) and is a dialect which is most similar to the dialect spoken in Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.
An sociolinguistic feature of Bahrain is the existence of three distinct dialects: Bahrani Arabic (a dialect primarily spoken by Baharna in Shia villages and some parts of Manama), Sunni and Ajami Arabic.[2]
In Bahrain, the Sunni muslims form a minority of the population, but the ruling family is Sunni. Therefore, the Arabic dialect represented on TV is almost invariably that of the Sunni population. Therefore, power, prestige and financial control are associated with the Sunni Arabs. This is having a major effect on the direction of language change in Bahrain.[3]
As with all Bahraini dialects, it is heavily influenced by the Persian language.[4][5][6]
References
[edit]- ^ Arabic, Gulf Spoken at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Bassiouney, Reem (2009). "5". Arabic Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 105–107.
- ^ Holes, C. (1984). Bahraini dialects: sectarian differences exemplified through texts.' Zeitschrift fur arabische Linguistik 10. pp.433–457.
- ^ "The Bahraini Dialect". Archived from the original on 2024-04-20. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
- ^ "What Languages Are Spoken in Bahrain?". WorldAtlas. 2019-09-05. Archived from the original on 2024-06-09. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
- ^ Bahador Alast (2020-07-29). Similarities Between Persian and Bahraini Dialect of Arabic. Retrieved 2024-09-07 – via YouTube.