Baharna Arabic is a dialect of the Arabic language spoken by the Baharna Shia of Bahrain and the Saudi Eastern Province, and also in Oman. Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Map showing the distribution of Afro-Asiatic languages The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a language family with about 240 languages and over 307 million speakers spread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia. ... 14th century BC diplomatic letter in Akkadian, found in Tell Amarna. ... 14th century BC diplomatic letter in Akkadian, found in Tell Amarna. ... 12th century Hebrew Bible script The Semitic languages are a family of languages spoken by more than 250 million people across much of the Middle East, where they originated, and North and East Africa. ... The Arabic language (Arabic: ‎ translit: ), or simply Arabic (Arabic: ‎ translit: ), is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Writing Systems of the World today A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing in the Arabic language. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Arabic language (Arabic: ‎ translit: ), or simply Arabic (Arabic: ‎ translit: ), is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... The Baharna are the indigenous inhabitants of the villages and some of the coastal shores of the archipelago of Bahrain and the cities of Qatif and Al-Hasa on the Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. ... Shiʻa Islam (Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite) makes up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%–35% of all Muslim. ...

In Bahrain, the dialect is spoken in the capital, Manama, and in the Shia villages. The Sunnis speak a Gulf dialect which is more similar to those spoken in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.-1... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ...

In Saudi Arabia, Qatif and neighbouring towns and villages are the main center of the dialect. These are distinct from the dialects of Al-Ahsa, the other major population center in the Eastern Province. Qatif (Arabic: القطيف al-QaTiif) is a historic coastal city and oasis located on the western shore of the Arabian/Persian Gulf in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, some 13km north of the port city of Dammam and southwest of major oil port Ras Tanura. ... The great oasis of al-Ahsa or al-Hassa is located in Ash Sharqiyah, Saudi Arabia, about 60 km from the coast of the Arabian Gulf. ...

The differences between Baharna Arabic and neighboring Sunni dialects suggest differing historical origins. Most of the Sunnis in the region are relatively recent immigrants, many of them originally Bedouin Najdi tribes. These Sunnis now speak Arabian Gulf dialects which are very distinct from Najdi and Bedouin dialects, and which are much more similar to the Bahrani dialects. In Bahrain, the main different between Sunni and Shia speech is related to certain grammatical forms and especially accent. Most of the vocabulary, however, is shared and distinctly Bahraini, arising from a shared modern history. Many Bahraini words were borrowed from Hindi or English (eg from Hindi: bānka 'ceiling fan', also mess, rubble, sōmān 'equipment, stuff. From English lētar 'lighter', wīl 'wheel', tēm 'time: appointment', fanari 'refinery', among oil workers). Some of these words are used more frequently than others. Bedouin resting at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic , a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic pastoralist groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and...

Baharna dialect has borrowed some vocabulary from Farsi, Hindi and more recently from English. Despite commercial and cultural intercourse with Persia in the past, the Persian element is relatively very small and is concerned mainly with novelties introduced from Persia. Farsi may refer to: The name of the the Persian language among native speakers Farsi Island, an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf The Jafari Shia Tajiks of Central Asia Salman al-Farsi, one of the prophet Muhammads companions Al-Farisi (1260-1320), Persian mathematician and physicist Jalaleddin Farsi... Hindi (हिन्दी hind), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in North, Central, and West India, is the official language of the Indian Union. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Features

Baharna Arabic (called Baħrāni by its speakers) has the main features of Arabian Gulf dialects (eg Kuwait, UAE, Qatar) in addition to its own unique features. General features include Standard Arabic q becoming g (qamar vs gamar 'moon'), k becoming ch in some positions (kalb vs chalb 'dog'). J becomes 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. Arabian Gulf or Arab Gulf may refer to: Persian Gulf, a name used by many Arab states starting in the 1960s Red Sea, an older name used by some European nations until the 19th century See also Persian Gulf naming dispute This article consisting of geographical locations is a disambiguation...

Bahrani grammar is similar to other Gulf dialects but includes the distinctive 'eh' sound that is used at the end of sentences to indicate a question, eg ente rāyeħ-eh? are you going?.

Further reading

• Mahdi Abdalla Al-Tajir. 1983. Language and Linguistic Origins in Bahrain: The Baharnah Dialect of Arabic. ISBN 0710300247
• Clive Holes. 1987. Language Variation and Change in a Modernising Arab State: The Case of Bahrain. ISBN 0710302444

External links

• Baharna Arabic Travel Phrases
• Ethnologue: Baharna Arabic
• Dialects of the Arabian Peninsula