| Bahrani Arabic | |
|---|---|
| العربية البحرانية | |
| Spoken in | Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia |
| Native speakers | about 310,000 (date missing) |
| Language family |
Afro-Asiatic
|
| Writing system | Arabic alphabet |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | abv |
Baharna Arabic also known as Baharnah and Bahrani Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken by the Bahranis of Bahrain and some parts of Saudi Eastern Province, and also in Oman.
In Bahrain, the dialect is spoken in the capital, Manama, and in some Bahraini villages. Others speak a Gulf dialect which is more similar to those spoken in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
In Saudi Arabia, the dialect is spoken in and around Qatif.
The differences between Bahrani Arabic and neighboring 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 Hindi or English.
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Bahrani dialect has borrowed some vocabulary from Persian, Hindi and more recently from English.
Bahrani Arabic (called Baħrāni by its speakers) has the main features of gulf Arabic dialects (e.g. Kuwait, UAE, Qatar) in addition to its own unique features. General features include the Standard Arabic q becoming g (qamar vs gamar 'moon'), k becoming ch in some positions (kalb vs chalb 'dog'). J becoming y in some villages (jiħħe vs yiħħe 'watermelon'). Final Standard Arabic -ah becomes -e in some positions. Unique features include changing "th" and "dh" into "f" and "d".Many younger speakers avoid such pronunciations, however.
Bahrani grammar is similar to other Gulf dialects but includes the distinctive 'ee' sound that is used at the end of sentences to indicate a tag question it means yes , e.g.:
In general the Shi'ah Arab portion of the population pronounce the "jeem" as a "j" rather than a "y". That characteristic is identified with the Sunni Arab speakers. The exception to that rule, however, are the inhabitants of Juffair and Ras Rummaan. In Juffair, the word for 'leg' is 'ryuul.' Ryuuli ta'warni --'My leg hurts." the transliteration of 'ryuuli' here would rhyme with the name "Reilly" in English. The middle 'i' drops out in practice, though it would be enunciated if the word were being dictated or written down. In Malchiyyah village, the Baharinah inhabitants are known for NOT changing the "k" into a "ch." (They pronounced the name of their village as "Malkiyyah.")
Still, it would not be difficult to distinguish native Bahraini Sunni Arab speakers because of their trademark tendency to elongate the long "a" sound. It sounds like the "aw" in the English word "law." If such a speaker were to say "Not me!" it would sound like "moobbawneh!" A Baharinah speaker from Juffair or elsewhere would say "Moo aneh!" regardless of his neighborhood. The Sunni Arabs are also noted for their tendency to change the "qah" into a "gh" so that the word for couch , "Qanafeh" becomes "ghinafeh." The native Sunni Arab Bahrainis are also noted for changed the "qaf" into "j". The word "qariib" (Near) becomes "jariib" ("ii" sounding like a long e, as in 'seem'). A Baharinah speaker will immediately connect such aspects of speech with the native Sunni Arab section of the population. In as far as these characteristics are concerned, the native Sunni Arab poplulation shares a number of linguistic traits with those of Hadhar (non-bedouin) Arabic speakers of Kuwait (whose dialect is not divided along sectarian lines, but on the basis of whether someone is from hadhar or tribal descent). This is a fact revealing an astonishing degree of linguistic continuity because the al-Khalifah ruling family and its allies actually migrated from Kuwait in the 1730s.
There are some prepositions used by native Sunni Arab speakers such as "yam" (next to) but not used by the Baharinah. They would say "soob" or "jamb", i.e jambak (next to you). The Sunni Arab would say "yemmik" (note the alteration too between the final "i" and "a" with the "i" being another similarity to Kuwaiti).
I noticed that some Baharinah vendors using Sunni characteristics in the speech in Sunni areas such as Suug al-Magaasiis (the big flea market in Isa Town). This habit follows a trend throughout the Arab speaking countries. Arabs always inflect their speech with Egyptianisms when dealing with Egyptians. Likewise, the people from Iraqi provinces inflect their speech with Baghdadi traits when dealing with those from the capital. And so Baharinah vendors, and perhaps other Baharinah, inflect their speech with local Arab Sunni cahracteristics because they are speaking up to another group, which has a better position on the island socially and economically. In addition, those Baharinah residing and growing up in predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhoods such as Rifaa' might also speak the Arabic Sunni dialect. It is unlikely, however, to find native Sunni Arabs speaking the Baharinah dialect.
The above observations contrast the Baharinah speech, on the one hand, against the native Bahraini Sunni Arab speech on the other. However, Baharinah speech comprises of some dialects and accents. Most frequently cited is the "slower" and more clearly enunciated speech of the inhabitants of Muharraq versus the "quick" and "unintelligble" speech of Sitra inhabitants, Sitra and Muharraq both comprising large areas of the Manama urban area (Manama proper is situated in the environs of Bab al-Bahrain though it is really one big urban comglomeration on the map. A peculiar usage in Bahrain is the reference to various neighborhoods as "villages" (qura , singluar "qaryah). These places were actual villages when Manama was nothing compared to what it is now, but today they are merely sections of Manama. However, these designations still retain linguistic significance, with 'villages' such as Juffayr and Ghurayfah retaining distinguish accents and even vocabulary. Juffair, for its part, is a large neighborhood with apartment buildings and modern restaurants built along streets laid out on a grid pattern. The area called "Juffayr village" however is several blocks of alleyways ('dawaa3iis' in the local dialect, sing. 'daa3uus'). Ghurayfah and Juffair are separated by just a four lane road, but Juffayr has its own accent and Ghurayfah has another. These 'villages' are disappearing, however, as their inhabitants move to modern subsidized housing in places such as Hamad Town. Incidentally, these 'villages' remain (in 2011) the hotbed of anti-government agitation, with their twisting alleyways, whose entrances are often blocked on Thursdays and Fridays with wood boards, cinder blocks and debris to prevent the entrance of police vehicles. The 'villages' are already heavily infilled with South Asian workers who often live four to a room paying 20 dinars a month each for rent. In time it seems that the minute differences between village accents will disappear as their native inhabitants move out into bigger suburbs and become assimilated into a larger and different society than where they came from.
There is a widely understood pidgin Arabic famously used to communicate with the South Asians. "Fiih kalaam arabi?" is a phrase which means "Do you speak Arabic?" "Yabbi" means "Do you want?" or "You need to" 'Yebbi tishtari.." Do you want to buy? "Yebbi truuh" You have to go.
The causeway to the Arabian peninsula and the free and easy access to the island by visitors from Najd are having an influence on Bahrani speech too. Not unlike Americans living in disparate places such as the Midwest who feign speech habits adopted from listening to Texas country music and cowboy singers, one can find Baharinah youth imitating speech habits of their Najdi neighbors. They are affecting to be bedouin in their speech although their ancestry is agricultural and in pearl diving. In both processes, there is the additional motivation of real or imagined cultural myth and prestige. Such speakers downplay or minimize their distinctive Baharinah accent. It is said that the best speakers of the Baharinah dialect are very old men. However, when someone says that, he means simply that the idiom and vocabulary of the older generations is much richer and varied than today's dialect, the latter which is still very distinctive. Radio, television, and other media play a role in the homogenization of speech throughout the world, but in the Arab world this modernity merely means that new generations are ignorant of oral lore and songs that their fore bearers once depended upon for entertainment and passing the time. This heritage was rich in a varied vocabulary and idiom.
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