Key facts
- Native to
- Egypt , Libya
- Region
- Siwa Oasis , Qara Oasis , Al Jaghbub Oasis
- Ethnicity
- Siwi
- Native speakers
- 21,000 (2013–2023)
- Language family
- Afro-Asiatic Berber Eastern Siwi
- Iso 639 3
- siz
- Glottolog
- siwi1239
- Elp
- Siwi
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Article
Siwi (also known as Siwan or Siwa Berber; endonym: Jlan n isiwan) is the easternmost Berber language, spoken in the western Egyptian desert by an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people in the oases of Siwa and Gara, near the Libyan border.
Siwi is the normal language of daily communication among the Egyptian Berbers of Siwa and Gara, but because it is not taught at local schools, used in the media nor recognised by the Egyptian government, its long-term survival may be threatened by contacts with outsiders and by the use of Egyptian Arabic in mixed marriages; nearly all Siwis today learn to speak Egyptian Arabic as a second language from an early age.
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voiced alveolar lateral approximant
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