Languages of Egypt

Languages of Egypt
Multilingual sign at an Egyptian hotel; Egypt attracts tourists from all over the world.
OfficialStandard Arabic
VernacularEgyptian Arabic (66.7%)
(de facto lingua franca)
MinoritySa'idi Arabic (24.1%)
Sudanese Arabic (1.8%)
Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic (1.2%)
Domari (0.3%)
Nobiin (0.4%)
Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic (0.4%)
Beja (0.08%)
Kenzi (0.03%)
Siwi (0.02%)
Coptic[1][2] (mostly liturgical)
ImmigrantGreek
Armenian
Italian[3]
Russian
ForeignEnglish (39.98%)[4]
French[5] (3.02%)[6][7]
SignedEgyptian Sign Language
Keyboard layout
Historical language(s)Ancient Egyptian
Meroitic[9][10][11][12]
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Egyptians speak a continuum of dialects. The predominant dialect in Egypt is Egyptian Colloquial Arabic or Masri/Masry (مصرى Egyptian), which is the vernacular language.[13] Literary Arabic is the official language[14] and the most widely written. The Coptic language is used primarily by Egyptian Copts and it is the liturgical language of Coptic Christianity.

  1. ^ "Egypt". Ethnologue. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  2. ^ "StackPath". 10 December 2005.
  3. ^ Perugi, Rossella (30 June 2023). "Italiano in Egitto. Fra storia e attualità" (in Italian). Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  4. ^ "The Benefits of the English Language for Individuals and Societies: Quantitative Indicators from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen" (PDF). Britishcouncil.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  5. ^ "Egypt", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 11 January 2023, retrieved 25 January 2023
  6. ^ Estimation des populations francophones dans le monde en 2022 (PDF) (in French). Observatoire démographique et statistique de l’espace francophone. 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Portail de l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF)".
  8. ^ "A List of Local Keyboard Layout in 24 Countries/Regions. (updated in September 2013) - brightmeasurement". sites.google.com. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  9. ^ Claude Rilly (2011). Recent Research on Meroitic, the Ancient Language of Sudan. http://www.ityopis.org/Issues-1_files/ITYOPIS-I-Rilly.pdf. Under the sub-heading - The original cradle of Proto-NES: chronological and palaeoclimatic issues. p. 18
  10. ^ Claude Rilly (2007). La langue du royaume de Méroé, Un panorama de la plus ancienne culture écrite d’Afrique subsaharienne, Paris: Champion (Bibliothèque de l’École pratique des hautes études, Sciences historiques et philologiques, t. 344)
  11. ^ Claude Rilly (2004). THE LINGUISTIC POSITION OF MEROITIC. http://www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/projets/clhass/PageWeb/ressources/Isolats/Meroitic%20Rilly%202004.pdf Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine. p. 1
  12. ^ Ahmed Abuelgasim Elhassan. Religious Motifs in Meroitic Painted and Stamped Pottery. Oxford, England: John and Erica Hedges Ltd., 2004. xii, 176 p. BAR international series. p.1.
  13. ^ "The rise and fall of Egyptian Arabic". The Economist. 31 January 2018. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Provisional was invoked but never defined (see the help page).