Yemeni Arabic - Zabidi Dialect

Zabidi Dialect

Of all the dialects of the Tihami tihama region, the dialect of Zabid displays the most innovations. It shares the transformed definite article of (am-) with the rest of the Tihami dialects, but it is unique in retaining certain of the declensional suffixes in the nominative case. Indefinite masculine nouns in nominal sentences as well as the subjects of verbal sentences are suffixed with the sound (-ū), which stems from the classical suffix (-un/-u). Likewise the phonology of the Zabidi sub-dialect is perhaps unique among all Arabic dialects in that it replaces the sound (‘ain) (ع) with the glottal stop ( ’ ) (ء). In terms of vocabulary, the Zabidi dialect shares very little with other Arabic dialects, in many respects it seems to be a different language. Zabidis use the verb bāka, yabūk to mean "to go." The word goh#d and goh#da mean man, and woman, respectively. And the word fīaym to mean "where", hence the phrase: fīaym bāyku? meaning "Where are you going?", which is grammatically parallel to the more familiar: fayn rāyih# of more mainstream dialects.