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

Beja alphabet and pronunciation

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,Dirasha,Gawwada,Hadiyya,Iraqw,Maay Maay,Rendille,Saho,Sidama,Somali,Southern Oromo,Waata,Xamtanga,Yaaku

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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