Beja alphabet, pronunciation and language (original) (raw)
Beja (Bidhaawyeet / Tubdhaawi / بڈاويێت / تُبڈاوِ)
Beja is spoken by about 1.2 million people in parts of Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea. Beja is also known as Bedawi, Bedauye or To Bedawie. It is generally classified as a North Cushitic language, although some scholars believe it belongs to its own branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family.
There is a method of writing Beja with the Latin alphabet used in Eritrea and taught in schools there. It was developed by a Mr and Mrs Wedekind, linguistics from SIL, in cooperation with the Eritrean authorities. A method of writing Beja with the Arabic alphabet is used to some extent in Sudan, though has no official recognition.
Arabic alphabet for Beja
Latin alphabet for Beja
Notes
- Long vowels are written with doubled letters, but as e and o are always long they are written ee and oo.
- A single e is used to distinguish between dh /ɖ/ (dh) and /dh/, which is written deh. Similarly, keh is /kh/, teh is /th/ and seh is /sh/.
Download alphabet charts for Beja (Excel)
Information about the Beja alphabet and pronunciation compiled by Wolfram Siegel, with additions by Michael Peter Füstumum and Bob Offer-Westort.
Sample videos in Beja
Information about Beja | Numbers
Links
Information about the Beja language and people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beja_language
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedscha_%28Sprache%29
http://llacan.vjf.cnrs.fr/fichiers/Vanhove/Beja_Bergen.pdf
http://bejaculture.org/ZABORSKI.html
http://orvillejenkins.com/profiles/beja.html
Cushitic languages
Afaan-Oromo,Afar,Awngi, Beja,Blin,Daasanach, Gawwada,Hadiyya,Iraqw,Maay Maay,Sidama,Somali,Southern Oromo,Waata,Xamtanga
Languages written with the Ethiopic (Ge'ez) script
Aari,Amharic, Argobba, Awngi,Bench,Blin, Chaha, Dizin, Ge'ez,Gumuz,Hamer(-Banna),Harari, Inor, Sidama,Silt'e, Tigre, Tigrinya, Xamtanga
Page last modified: 09.06.21
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