What is the coptic language?
It’s the final stage of the ancient Egyptian language but written with Koine Greek alphabets with 7 letters borrowed from the dometic writing system which was an older writing system that was used after the hieroglyphics.
The coptic language was the mothertongue of all Egyptians till the Arab Islamic conquest took place and the Arabization process started happening to the Copts (Egyptians).
Arabic started replacing Coptic as a language after the language and culture of Egypt became stigmatized by some Arab leaders such as Al Hakim bi Amr Allah, who made speaking the language prohibited and punishble by cutting off tongues and even death.
The language officially died in the 17th century, however some individuals tried reviving such language such the Coptic church pope Kyrillos the 4th, and the Egyptologist Klaudios Labib.
There are several dialects of the Coptic language such as the Sahidic, Bohairic, Akhmemic, Bashmuric, Faiyumic and Mesokemetic dialects. There are many dialects out there but the ones mentioned above are the main ones.
The dialect that was revived in a way lately was the Bohairic dialect, and it is used in praying in Egyptian churches.
This is the list of alphabets of the coptic language and their pronunciation.
Hint: there are 3 pronunciations of the bohairic dialect nowadays; the ecclesiastical pronunciation, the Emilian pronunciation and the acedamic pronunciation. Personally, I am biased towards the academic pronunciation since the ecclesiastical pronunciation has a little greek phonological effect in it, and the Emilian pronunciation has a strong Arabic influence on it, while the academic pronunciation is the recommended pronunciation used by Egyptologists in universities all around the world, it’s also referred as the classical pronunciation.
Bohairic coptic alphabets pronunciation:-
Ⲁ (Alpha, it sounds like “a” in the word ban or the word park)
Ⲃ (Beta, it sounds like “b” in the word ball or a weak “v”, not as strong as the English “v”)
Ⲅ (gamma, it sounds like “g” in the word guy)
Ⲇ (Delta, it sounds like “d” in the word dog)
Ⲉ (Ei, it sounds like “e” in the word pen)
Ⲍ (Zeta, it sounds like “z” in the word zebra)
Ⲏ (Eta, it sounds like “a” in the word sane and sometimes like a “ee” in the word seen)
Ⲑ (Teta, it sounds like an aspirated “t” like the american pronunciation of the word toy)
Ⲓ (Iota, it sounds like “i” in the word pin or like “ee” in the word seen)
Ⲕ (Kappa, it sounds like “k” in the word kite)
Ⲗ (Lawla, it sounds like “l” in the word lamb)
Ⲙ (Mi, it sounds like “m” in the word monkey)
Ⲛ (Ni, it sounds like “n” in the word new)
ⲝ (Eksi, it sounds like “k” followed by “s”, and this letter is only found in Greek words)
Ⲟ (O kouji, it sounds like “o” in the word on)
ⲫ (Fi, it sounds like an aspirated “p” like the American pronunciation of the word pay or like “ph” in Greek words like in the word elephant)
Ⲭ (Ki, it sounds like an aspirated “k” like the American pronunciation of the word kite)
Ⲯ (Psi, it sounds like “p” followed by “s” like in the greek word psalmos)
Ⲱ (O nishti, it sounds like “o” in the word bone)
Ϣ (Shai, it sounds like “sh” in the word sheep)
Ϥ (Fai, it sounds like “f” in the word fear)
Ϧ (Khai, it sounds like the Arabic “kh” in the name Khaled)
Ϩ (Hori, it sounds like “h” in the word house)
Ϫ (Janja, it sounds like “g” in the name George)
Ϭ (Chima, it sounds like “ch” in the word child)
Ϯ (Ti, it sounds like “t” followed by “i” like “ty” in the word sixty)