Bedawi (Beja - Bedja) - بداوية

1. Classification / Classification

Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, North (Ethnologue)

2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique

Mainly in coastal Sudan, into northern Eritrea and perhaps southeastern Egypt.

3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs

According to Ethnologue:

• 951,000 in Sudan (1982 SIL)
• 150,000 in Eritrea (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk)
• (no figures for Egypt)

The Wikipedia article cites a figure of 2 million.

4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte

According to Ethnologue: Hadendoa (Hadendowa, Hadendiwa)

• Hadareb (Hadaareb)
• Bisharin (Bisarin, Bisariab)
• Beni-Amir
• Ababda
• Amara

5. Usage / Utilisation

6. Orthography / Orthographe

6.1 Status / Statut

Written in Arabic script, apparently with some modified characters (verify).

6.2 Sample Alphabet / Alphabet exemple

7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC

7.1 Fonts / Polices

Arabic fonts with extended characters (?) include the necessary characters (verify).

7.2 Keyboard layouts / Dispositions de clavier

7.3 Content on computers & internet / Contenu en informatique et sur l'Internet

"U Sakanah" online newspaper at http://www.sakanab.wtcsites.com/

7.4 Localized software / Logiciels localisés

None known of.

7.5 Language codes / Codes de langue

Beja, Bedja

• ISO 639-1: -
• ISO 639-2: bej
• ISO 639-3: bej

7.6 Locales / Paramètres régionaux

7.7 Other / Autre

8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation

8.1 Individuals (experts) / Individuelles (experts)

8.2 Institutions / Institutions

8.3 On the internet / Sur la toile

Rosetta Project http://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/bej/view?searchterm=Bedawi

Virtual keyboard/character pickers:

• Lexilogos clavier arabe http://www.lexilogos.com/clavier/araby.htm
• Arabic block character picker http://people.w3.org/rishida/scripts/pickers/arabic-block/

9. Comments / Remarques

10. References / Références

SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Bedawi," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bej

SIL International, "ISO 639 Code Tables," http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp

U.S. Library of Congress, "ISO 639.2: Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages: Alpha-3 codes arranged alphabetically by the English name of language," http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php

Wikipedia, "Beja language," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beja_language

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