The reason Egypt speaks Arabic but North Africans still speak Berber has more to do with geography than religion or conquest.
April 1, 2026
Original Paper
Funnels and Frontiers: Why Arabic Replaced Coptic but Not Berber
SSRN · 6233998
The Takeaway
Egypt's narrow river corridor allowed the central state to penetrate every village and force a language shift. In contrast, the mountainous 'frontiers' of the Maghreb provided a natural physical shield that allowed local languages to survive for a thousand years.
From the abstract
The disappearance of Coptic as a vernacular language by the late medieval period presents a striking contrast to the long-term survival of Amazigh (Berber) languages in North Africa. While both regions underwent Arab-Muslim conquest and gradual Islamization, only Egypt experienced near-total linguistic replacement. This paper argues that the decline of Coptic was not an inevitable byproduct of religious conversion, but the outcome of a distinct structural convergence unique to the Nile Valley. E