Jump to content

User:Yasmeen el/sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Siwi Language

Recent discoveries have found that the Siwi language, unlike most other Berber languages, have two phonemic mid vowels in their inherited vocabulary, including e and o. In every other environment the contrast between i and e has been neutralized.[1]

Although the native language Siwa is a Berber dialect, it is not closely related to any other Berber language at all. [2]

Location and Culture[edit]

The oasis of Siwa is in the Libyan desert. Sita speakers come from Libya and Egypt. The majority of Siwanis learn to speak Arabic as a second language. The dialect is closest to Bedouin Arabic, and is sometimes considered a different dialect of Arabic. 

  1. ^ Souag, Lameen. "The Origins of Mid Vowels in Siwi". Studies in African Linguistics. 45: 1.
  2. ^ Walker, W. Seymour (2010). "The Siwi language : a short grammar of the Siwi language". Lincom grammatica.