Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic
| Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic | |
|---|---|
| Sahil Maryut Bedouin Arabic Sulaimitian Arabic | |
| Native to | Egypt |
| Region | Alexandria, Beheira, Matrouh, Beni Suef, Cairo, Egypt–Libya border |
| Speakers | 1 million (2022) |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
| Arabic alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ayl included in Libyan Arabic [ayl] |
| Glottolog | west2774 |
Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic, also known as Sahil Maryut Bedouin Arabic, is a group of Bedouin Arabic dialects spoken in Western Egypt along the Mediterranean coast, west to the Egypt–Libya border. Ethnologue and Glottolog classify Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic as a Libyan Arabic dialect.
This variety is spoken by the Awlad Ali tribe, who settled in the edges of Lake Maryut and west of Bihera beginning in the 17th century from the region of Jebel Akhdar (Libya). It is also spoken in Wadi El Natrun. Their dialect is phonologically, morphophonemically and morphologically closer to the Peninsular Bedouin dialects than to the adjacent Egyptian dialects. Egyptian Arabic speakers from other parts of Egypt do not understand the Awlad Ali dialect.
Western Bedouin dialects influenced the dialects of southern Upper Egypt between Asyut and Idfu, and those of the Bahariyya Oasis and Bihera.