Bahrani Arabic


Bahrani Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken in Eastern Arabia and Oman. In Bahrain, the dialect is primarily spoken in Shia villages and some parts of Manama.
The Bahrani Arabic dialect has been significantly influenced by the ancient Aramaic, Syriac, and Akkadian languages.
An interesting sociolinguistic feature of Bahrain is the existence of three distinct dialects: Bahrani, Sunni and Ajami Arabic. Sunni Bahrainis speak a dialect which is most similar to urban dialect spoken in Qatar.
The Persian language has the most foreign linguistic influence on all the Bahraini dialects. The differences between Bahrani Arabic and other Bahraini dialects suggest differing historical origins. The main differences between Bahrani and non-Bahrani dialects are evident in certain grammatical forms and pronunciation. Most of the vocabulary, however, is shared between dialects, or is distinctly Bahraini, arising from a shared modern history. Many Bahrani words have also been borrowed from Hindi, Turkish, or English.

Examples of words borrowed from other languages

Bahrani dialect has borrowed some vocabulary from Persian, Hindi, Turkish, and more recently from English.

Features

Bahrani Arabic shares many features with Gulf Arabic dialects of which it is not considered part by most linguists. General features include the Standard Arabic q becoming g, k becoming ch in some positions, and J becoming y in some villages. Final Standard Arabic -eh becomes -ah in some positions.
Unique features include changing "th" and "dh" into "t" and "d". Many younger speakers avoid such pronunciations, however.