BEDAWI: a language of Sudan

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It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005).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: BEI

ISO 639-2: bej

Population	951,000 in Sudan (1982 SIL) including 30,000 Hadendoa, 15,000 Bisharin (1992). Population total all countries 1,148,000.
Region	Northeastern Sudan along the Red Sea coast. Also spoken in Egypt, Eritrea.
Alternate names	BEJA, BEDAWIYE, BEDAUYE, TO-BEDAWIE, BEDJA
Dialects	HADENDOA (HADENDOWA, HADENDIWA), HADAREB (HADAAREB), BISHARIN (BISARIAB), BENI-AMIR.
Classification	Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, North.
Comments	Little vocabulary in common with other Cushitic languages, but a great deal of the verbal morphology is similar. Bilingualism in Arabic, Tigre. 'Bedàwie' is their name for their language. Halenga and Arteiga are ethnic groups. Investigation needed: intelligibility with dialects. Dictionary. Grammar. Desert, coastal. Pastoralists. Sunni Muslim.

Also spoken in:

Eritrea

Language name	BEDAWI
Population	120,000 in Eritrea (1993 Johnstone), including 20,000 Hadendoa (1970 Bendor).
Alternate names	BEDÀWIE, BEJA, BEDAWIYE, BEDAWYE, BEDAUYE, BEDWI, BEDYA, BEDJA, LOBAT
Dialects	HADAREB (HADAAREB), BISHARIN (BISARIN, BISARIAB), HADENDOA (HADENDOWA), BENI-AMIR, ABABDA, AMARA.
Comments	The Beja people call their language 'Bedàwie.' SOV, postpositions, causatives, reciprocals, reflexives, subject suffixes distinguish person, number, gender. Muslim. See main entry under Sudan.