The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.
SIL code: ARZ
ISO 639-2: sem
| Population | 44,406,000 in Egypt (1998). Population total all countries 46,306,000. |
| Region | Also spoken in Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen. |
| Alternate names | LOWER EGYPT ARABIC, NORMAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC |
| Dialects | NORTH DELTA ARABIC, SOUTH CENTRAL DELTA ARABIC, CAIRENE ARABIC. |
| Classification | Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic. |
| Comments | The media have established a normal Egyptian Spoken Arabic based on Cairo speech. Cairene is the most widely understood dialect used for nonprint media, both in Egypt and throughout the sedentary Arab world. It is an amalgam of Delta Arabic and Middle Egypt Arabic, with borrowings from literary Arabic. Bilingualism in French, English. Used for political speeches. National language. Radio programs, TV. Muslim. NT 1932, out of print. |
