A Grammar of the Bedouin Dialects pdf download

A Grammar of the Bedouin Dialects of Central and Southern Sinai By Rudolf E. de Jong

A GRAMMAR OF THE BEDOUIN DIALECTS

Book preface

For too long our knowledge of the dialects of the central and southern Sinai had remained scanty, and many questions about the linguistic characteristics of these dialects remained unanswered, or at best guessed after.

After completing A Grammar of Bedouin Dialects of the Northern Sinai Littoral (published in 2000) a logical next step was therefore to research the dialects of Bedouin tribes in the central and southern parts of Sinai as well.

In 2002 I submitted a research proposal to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientifijic Research (in Dutch Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschap-pelijk Onderzoek, abbreviated as N.W.O.) to undertake such investigations. In the following year N.W.O. graciously made funds available for the execution of this linguistic research under their post-doctoral programme named VENI. The research proposal was submitted under the title ‘The Bedouin Dialects of the Bedouin Tribes of Central and Southern Sinai; Testing and Adapting Models of Quantitative Comparison’.

The Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication (abbreviated as A.C.L.C.) at the University of Amsterdam acted as host for my research and provided institutional support. Manfred Woidich again allowed me to profijit from his extraordinary expertise in the fijield of Arabic linguistics and dialectology, as well as to be inspired by his thoughts on a variety of topics. I owe N.W.O., A.C.L.C. and Manfred Woidich my gratitude.

To gather linguistic data I spent 8 periods of between 4 and 7 weeks in the area. I usually rented an apartment in Dahab for my stay. For always taking care of my local needs such as a reasonably priced apartment, for answering any questions local authorities might have about my activities, and for being a good friend, I wish to thank here ?Aliy Mḥammad al-?Āyiš, who is the owner and general manager of Mirage Village in Dahab and who

is himself a member of the Biyyā?̣iyyah in the north of Sinai.1 In the course of time, apart from being a superb host for his guests, which comes naturally to him, he has proven himself a true friend on numerous occasions.

The person without whom my research and interpreting the results would have been impossible—and much less entertaining in any case—and