Siwi | |
---|---|
Žlan n Isiwan | |
Spoken in | Egypt |
Region | Siwa Oasis, Gara Oasis |
Native speakers | 15,000[1] to 30,000[2] (date missing) |
Language family | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | siz |
Siwi is a Berber language of Egypt, spoken by about 15,000 to 30,000 people[1][2] in the oases of Siwa and Gara, near the Libyan border. The language has been heavily influenced by Egyptian Arabic, to a greater degree than most Berber languages.[3] It continues to be the first language of Siwi children.
Ethnologue[2] places Siwi in an Eastern Berber group with the Awjila–Sokna languages of central and eastern Libya. Kossmann (1999)[4] links it with Sokna and the Nafusi dialect cluster of western Libya and Tunisia, but not with Awjila.
Ongoing research on Siwi:
|