The Arabic Dialect of Qift (Upper Egypt): Grammar and Classified Vocabulary.

• Author: Kaye, Alan S.

Nishio is no stranger to Arabic dialect studies. His 1992 book on the Bedouin Jbali dialect of southern Sinai is a major contribution (see my review, JAOS 114 [1994]: 471-72). There have not been many recent linguistic investigations of colloquial Sa idi (Upper) Egyptian Arabic. Among the more important researchers who have preceded Nishio have been M. Doss, A. A. Khalafallah, P. Behnstedt, and M. Woidich. As one looks through this impressive collection of new material based on the author's fieldwork in Qift (the Arabicized form of Old Egyptian gbtyw, Greek koptus), 25 kilometers south of Qena, it is immediately apparent that there are many similarities between Upper Egyptian and Sudanese Arabic dialects. One of the most pronounced of phonological correspondences between both of these macrodialects is the /d/ realization of Classical Arabic jim, Cairene gim. Consider the reported damal 'camel' and radil 'man' (p. 28), yet it should be kept in mind that many Sudanese dialects use a voiced palatal stop [J] for the jim (see Alan S. Kaye, Chadian and Sudanese Arabic in the Light of Comparative Arabic Dialectology [1976], 57). Qifti Arabic has, as another of its allophones [[g.sup.y]] before /l/, but this rule is not consistent for all native speakers (some Sudanese dialects also have [[g.sup.y]]; see further Kaye [ibid., 35]).

Another isogloss many Upper Egyptian dialects share with their Sudanese counterparts is the preservation of fatha in the fa il pattern and elsewhere, such as kabir 'big' (p. 37). In this respect, these dialects are conservative, agreeing with Classical Arabic as opposed to Cairene (kibir).

The section on phonetics and phonology (pp. 27-42) amply illustrates devoicing assimilation (simiht for simi t 'I heard'), voicing assimilation (uzbu 'week' for usbu), sibilant assimilation or dissimilation (sajara ~ sadara 'tree' for sajara, which I consider a major isogloss of the Darfurian-Chadian-Cameroonian-Nigerian Arabic speech continuum), and degemination (sinhe 'her teeth' for *sinnhe, and anhum 'about them' for * annhum). While all these data seem to be accurately described, I question the author's thesis, which follows the opinion of A. A. Khalafallah (pp. 25-26), that the emphatic /t/ "is sometimes realized with glottalization" (p. 29). Having travelled through much of this area during the summer of 1994, I did not encounter a glottalized /t'/ from any Sa idi speaker. I therefore believe further investigation of this...