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See Arabic languages for the historical family of dialects. The Arabic language family consists of The Arabic macrolanguage ( ISO 639-3 ara including the living Varieties of Arabic

The Arabic language is a Semitic language with many varieties that diverge widely from one another -— both from country to country and within a single country. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language The Semitic languages are a Language family whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, This entry looks at these varieties of Arabic, distinguishing them from Classical/Standard Arabic and from each other. Classical Arabic (CA also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad Literary Arabic (ar اللغة العربية الفصحى "the Eloquent Arabic language" or Standard Arabic is the literary and standard variety In sociolinguistic terms, Arabic in its native environment typically occurs in a "diglossic" situation, meaning that native speakers learn and use two substantially different language forms in different aspects of their lives. In Linguistics, diglossia is a situation where in a given society there are two (often closely-related languages one of high prestige, which is generally used In the case of Arabic, the regionally prevalent variety is learned as a speaker's mother tongue and is used for nearly all everyday speaking situations throughout life, including most films and plays, and (rarely) in some literature. A first language (also mother tongue, native language, arterial language, or L1) is the language a human being learns from birth A second, quite different variety, Standard Arabic, is learned in school and is used for most printed material, TV news reporting and interviews, sermons and other formal situations. The extent to which the local vernacular tends to interplay with the Standard variety in formal situations varies from country to country. Vernacular refers to the Native language of a country or a locality

Contents

Overview

Descended from Old North Arabian dialects of pre-Islamic Arabia, early Arabic had noticeable dialect distinctions — in particular between Qahtanite, Adnan, and Himyar. Ancient North Arabian is known from fragmentary inscriptions in Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, dating to between roughly the 6th century The history of Pre- Islamic Arabia before the rise of Islam in the 630s is not known in great detail Qahtani (قحطان transliterated: Qahtan refers to al Aribah' or the Semites who inhabited Yemen. The Himyarite Kingdom or Himyar (in Arabic مملكة حِمْيَر) anciently called Homerite Kingdom by the Greeks and the Romans With the spread of Islam in the 7th century, Qur'anic Arabic became the most prevalent dialect. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. Classical Arabic (CA also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad

In modern times, the spoken languages or dialects of people throughout the Arab world differ radically from the Literary Arabic and from each other. Literary Arabic (ar اللغة العربية الفصحى "the Eloquent Arabic language" or Standard Arabic is the literary and standard variety For some of these, the question of "language" versus "dialect" can be highly politicized; to avoid that, the neutral term "variety" will be used here.

General varieties

The main division between varieties of spoken Arabic is between the Maghrebi (North African) varieties (characterized by a first person singular in n- and use of "sh" at the end of a verb for negation) and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary varieties and the much more conservative Bedouin varieties. Maghrebi Arabic is a cover term for the varieties of Arabic spoken in the Maghreb, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. The Bedouin, (from the Arabic (ar بدوي pl badū) are a desert-dwelling Arab Nomadic pastoralist, or previously "Peripheral" varieties located in countries where Arabic is not a dominant language (e. g. , Turkey, Iran, Cyprus, Chad, and Nigeria) are particularly divergent in some respects, especially vocabulary, being less influenced by classical Arabic; however, historically they fall within the same dialect classifications as better-known varieties. Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. Cyprus (Κύπρος transliterated: Kýpros,; Kıbrıs officially the Republic of Cyprus (Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía Chad (Tchad تشاد Tshād) officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a Landlocked country in Central Africa. Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal In some areas, different religious communities spoke slightly different varieties — thus in Baghdad the Christians and Jews spoke a qeltu-variety while the Muslims spoke a gilit-variety. Baghdad (بغداد) is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous Baghdad Jewish Arabic is the Arabic dialect spoken by the Jews of Baghdad and other towns of Southern Iraq. Baghdad Arabic or the Baghdadi Arabic is the Arabic variety spoken in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. (Both words mean "I said". For further discussion, see Judeo-Arabic languages. The Judæo-Arabic languages are a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in the Arab world; the term also refers to )

Maltese, while descended from Arabic, uses a Latin-based alphabet and has developed into a fully separate language. Maltese (Maltese Malti is the National language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English, Probably the most divergent of non-creole Arabic varieties is Cypriot Maronite Arabic, a nearly extinct variety heavily influenced by Greek. A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable Language that originates seemingly as a nativized Pidgin. Cypriot Maronite Arabic (also known as Cypriot Arabic Maronite Sanna is one of the most divergent of Arabic varieties, spoken by Maronites in Cyprus Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Some of these varieties are mutually unintelligible from other forms of Arabic. Middle Eastern and North African varieties (excluding those spoken in Egypt which are closer to the Middle Eastern forms) are particularly disparate with the speakers of the former only being capable to comprehend the latter due to the popularity of Egyptian films and other media.

One factor in the differentiation of the varieties is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all Thus Iraqi aku, Levantine and Egyptian fiih, and Maghrebi kayen all mean "there is", and come from Arabic yakuun, fiihi, kaa'in respectively. Iraqi Arabic (also known as Mesopotamian Arabic 639-3 Mesopotamian Qeltu Arabic Mesopotamian Gelet Arabic Baghdadi Arabic Furati 'Arabi Arabi North Syrian Arabic is a Maghrebi Arabic is a cover term for the varieties of Arabic spoken in the Maghreb, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria,

The spoken varieties of Arabic have occasionally been written, usually in the Arabic alphabet. The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa such as Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. Notably, many plays and poems, as well as a few other works (even translations of Plato) exist in Lebanese Arabic and Egyptian Arabic; books of poetry, at least, exist for most varieties. Lebanese or Lebanese Arabic is the colloquial form of Arabic spoken in Lebanon. In Algeria, colloquial Maghrebi Arabic was taught as a separate subject under French colonization, and some textbooks exist. Algeria ( ar [[Arabic]] الجزائر, Al Jaza'ir ælʤæˈzæːʔir Amazigh: ⴷⵥⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer) officially the People's Maghrebi Arabic is a cover term for the varieties of Arabic spoken in the Maghreb, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mizrahi Jews throughout the Arab world who spoke Judeo-Arabic dialects rendered newspapers, letters, accounts, stories, and translations of some parts of their liturgy in the Hebrew alphabet, adding diacritics and other conventions for letters that exist in Judeo-Arabic but not Hebrew. Mizrahi Jews or Mizrahim, ( also referred to as Edot HaMizrach (Communities of the East are Jews descended The Judæo-Arabic languages are a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in the Arab world; the term also refers to The Hebrew alphabet (אָלֶף-בֵּית עִבְרִי alephbet ’ivri) consists of 22 letters used for writing the Hebrew language. The Latin alphabet was advocated for Lebanese Arabic by Said Aql, whose supporters published several books in his transcription. Lebanese or Lebanese Arabic is the colloquial form of Arabic spoken in Lebanon. Later, in 1994, Abdelaziz Pasha Fahmi, a member of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Egypt proposed the replacement of the Arabic alphabet with the Latin alphabet. The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa such as Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. His proposal was discussed in two sessions in the communion but was rejected, and was faced with strong opposition in cultural circles.

Arabic-based pidgins, with a small largely Arabic vocabulary lacking most Arabic morphological features, are or have been widespread along the southern edge of the Sahara; the medieval geographer al-Bakri records a text in one (in a place probably corresponding to modern Mauritania) in the 11th century. A pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common in situations such as Trade In some areas, especially around the southern Sudan, these have creolized; see the list below. A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable Language that originates seemingly as a nativized Pidgin.

Classification of varieties

Classification of varieties, with some info from Versteegh [1]:

Pre-Islamic or pre-Arab Expansion

Post-Islamic or post-Arab Expansion

Western varieties:

Central varieties:

Northern varieties:

Southern varieties:

Peripheries:

Sectarian varieties:

Diglossic variety:

Creoles:

Country-based dialects:

Sedentary vs. Ancient North Arabian is known from fragmentary inscriptions in Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, dating to between roughly the 6th century Classical Arabic (CA also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad al-Hejaz (also Hijaz, Hedjaz; الحجاز al-Ḥiǧāz, literally "the barrier" is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia Maghrebi Arabic is a cover term for the varieties of Arabic spoken in the Maghreb, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, In Linguistics, a koiné language ( common language) is a Standard language or Dialect, that has arisen as a result of contact between two Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco Algerian Arabic is the variety or varieties of Arabic spoken in Algeria. Tunisian Arabic is a Maghrebi Dialect of the Arabic language, spoken by some 11 million people Libyan Arabic (Lībi ليبي also known as Sulaimitian Arabic) is a collective term for the closely related Varieties of Arabic spoken in Libya. Siculo Arabic (or Sicilian Arabic) was a variety of Arabic spoken in Sicily and Malta between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries Maltese (Maltese Malti is the National language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English, Algerian Saharan Arabic (also known as Saharan Arabic Tamanrasset Arabic Tamanghasset Arabic is a structurally distinct variety of Arabic spoken by an estimated Andalusian Arabic (also known as Andalusi Arabic, Spanish Arabic, or Moorish Arabic) was a variety of the Arabic language spoken in Sa`idi Arabic (also known as Saidi Arabic is the variety of Egyptian Arabic spoken by Sa'idis south of Cairo to the border of Sudan. Sudanese Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken throughout northern Sudan. North Mesopotamian Arabic (also known as Moslawi is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Mespotamian basin north of Baghdad in Iraq, in far eastern Levantine Arabic (Arabic شامي (Shami and sometimes called Eastern Arabic) is a group of Arabic varieties spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean Levantine Arabic (Arabic شامي (Shami and sometimes called Eastern Arabic) is a group of Arabic varieties spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean North Syrian Arabic ( اللهجة السورية الشمالية) is the variety of Arabic spoken in Northern Syria. Lebanese or Lebanese Arabic is the colloquial form of Arabic spoken in Lebanon. Syrian Arabic ( اللهجة السورية) is a Levantine Variety of Arabic spoken in Syria. Palestinian Arabic is a Levantine Arabic dialect subgroup spoken by Palestinians and Arab Israelis. Bedawi Arabic (also known as Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic 639-3 Bedawi Levantine Bedawi Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken by Bedouins mostly in eastern Cypriot Maronite Arabic (also known as Cypriot Arabic Maronite Sanna is one of the most divergent of Arabic varieties, spoken by Maronites in Cyprus Iraqi Arabic (also known as Mesopotamian Arabic 639-3 Mesopotamian Qeltu Arabic Mesopotamian Gelet Arabic Baghdadi Arabic Furati 'Arabi Arabi North Syrian Arabic is a Baghdad Jewish Arabic is the Arabic dialect spoken by the Jews of Baghdad and other towns of Southern Iraq. Baghdad Arabic or the Baghdadi Arabic is the Arabic variety spoken in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. Gulf Arabic (also known as Khaliji al-lahjat al-khalijiya اللهجة الخليجية is a variety of the Arabic language spoken around both shores of the Najdi Arabic ( اللهجة النجدية) is a variety of the Arabic language spoken in the desert regions of central and eastern Saudi Arabia Hejazi Arabic (also known as Hijazi Arabic 639-3 West Arabian Arabic is a variety of the Arabic language spoken in the western region of Saudi Arabia Yemeni Arabic is the name of a cluster of Arabic varieties spoken in Yemen and northern Somalia. Hadhrami Arabic (also known as Hadrami Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken by the people living in the Ḥaḍramawt region of Yemen. Sanaani Arabic (also known as North Yemeni Arabic is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in north Yemen. Ta'izzi-Adeni Arabic (also known as South Yemeni Arabic is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in south Yemen and Djibouti. Dhofari Arabic (also known as Dhofari Zofari is a variety of Arabic spoken in Salalah, Oman and the surrounding coastal regions ( Omani Arabic (also known as Omani Hadari Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Hajar Mountains of Oman and in a few neighboring coastal regions Shihhi Arabic (also known as Shihu Shihuh Al-Shihuh is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Musandam Peninsula of Oman. Central Asian Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and currently facing extinction Tajiki Arabic (also known as Jugari Bukhara Arabic Buxara Arabic Tajiji Arabic Balkh Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken by a few thousand people in Uzbeki Arabic (also known as Jugari Kashkadarya Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken by a few hundred people in the Bukhara province of Uzbekistan Khuzestani Arabic is a Dialect of Arabic spoken in the Iranian province of Khuzestan. Shirvani Arabic was a dialect of Arabic that was once spoken in what is now central and northwestern Azerbaijan (historically known as Shirvan) and Chadian Arabic or Shuwa Arabic (also known as Arabe Choa Shua Arabic Shua Chowa Chad Arabic Suwa L'arabe du Tchad Chadic Arabic Baggara is the Variety of Arabic Nigerian Arabic is a Variety of Arabic spoken in the furthest northeastern part of Nigeria. The Judæo-Arabic languages are a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in the Arab world; the term also refers to Judeo-Iraqi Arabic (also known as Iraqi Judeo-Arabic Arabi Yahudic is a variety of Arabic spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Iraq Judeo-Moroccan Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Morocco. Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic (also known as Tripolitanian Judeo-Arabic Jewish Tripolitanian-Libyan Arabic Tripolita'it Yudi is a variety of Arabic spoken by Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Tunisia. Judeo-Yemeni Arabic (also known as Judeo-Yemeni Yemenite Judeo-Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Yemen Literary Arabic (ar اللغة العربية الفصحى "the Eloquent Arabic language" or Standard Arabic is the literary and standard variety The Nubi language (also called Ki-Nubi) is a Sudanese Arabic -based Creole language spoken in Uganda around Bombo, and in Juba Arabic is a Lingua franca spoken mainly in Equatoria Province in Southern Sudan, and derives its name from the town of Juba Sudan. Algerian Arabic is the variety or varieties of Arabic spoken in Algeria. Chadian Arabic or Shuwa Arabic (also known as Arabe Choa Shua Arabic Shua Chowa Chad Arabic Suwa L'arabe du Tchad Chadic Arabic Baggara is the Variety of Arabic Iraqi Arabic (also known as Mesopotamian Arabic 639-3 Mesopotamian Qeltu Arabic Mesopotamian Gelet Arabic Baghdadi Arabic Furati 'Arabi Arabi North Syrian Arabic is a Kuwaiti Arabic is a Dialect of Arabic used in Kuwait closely related to other Gulf Arabic dialects Lebanese or Lebanese Arabic is the colloquial form of Arabic spoken in Lebanon. Libyan Arabic (Lībi ليبي also known as Sulaimitian Arabic) is a collective term for the closely related Varieties of Arabic spoken in Libya. Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco Nigerian Arabic is a Variety of Arabic spoken in the furthest northeastern part of Nigeria. Omani Arabic (also known as Omani Hadari Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Hajar Mountains of Oman and in a few neighboring coastal regions Palestinian Arabic is a Levantine Arabic dialect subgroup spoken by Palestinians and Arab Israelis. Arabian Arabic is a term used to refer to several Arabic dialects and dialect-groups spoken in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Sudanese Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken throughout northern Sudan. Syrian Arabic ( اللهجة السورية) is a Levantine Variety of Arabic spoken in Syria. Tunisian Arabic is a Maghrebi Dialect of the Arabic language, spoken by some 11 million people Yemeni Arabic is the name of a cluster of Arabic varieties spoken in Yemen and northern Somalia. Bedouin

A basic dialectal distinction that cuts across the entire geography of the Arabic-speaking world is between sedentary and Bedouin varieties. The Bedouin, (from the Arabic (ar بدوي pl badū) are a desert-dwelling Arab Nomadic pastoralist, or previously Across the Levant and North Africa (i. See also Names of the Levant The Levant (lə'vænt is a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia, roughly bounded on the north by the e. the areas of post-Islamic settlement), this is mostly reflected as an urban (sedentary) vs. rural (Bedouin) split, but the situation is more complicated in Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) The distinction stems from the settlement patterns in the wake of the Arab conquests. As regions were conquered, army camps were set up that eventually grew into cities, and settlement of the rural areas by Bedouins gradually followed thereafter.

The most obvious phonetic difference between the two dialect groups is the pronunciation of the letter ق qaaf, which is voiced in the Bedouin dialects (usually /g/, but sometimes a palatalized variation /ʤ/ or /ʒ/), but voiceless in the sedentary dialects (/q/ or /ʔ/). Palatalization or palatalisation (ˌpælətəlɨˈzeɪʃən generally refers to two phenomena As a process or the result of a process The other major phonetic difference is that the Bedouin dialects preserve the Classical Arabic (CA) interdentals /θ/ ث and /ð/ ذ, and merge the CA emphatic sounds /dˤ/ ض and /ðˤ/ ظ into /ðˤ/ rather than sedentary /dˤ/. Classical Arabic (CA also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad Interdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the Tongue against the upper Incisors This differs from a Dental consonant in that the

However, the most significant differences are in syntax. The sedentary dialects, in particular, share a number of common innovations from CA. This has led to the suggestion, first articulated by Charles Ferguson, that a simplified koine developed in the army staging camps in Iraq, from where the remaining parts of the modern Arab world were conquered. Charles Ferguson may refer to Charles A Ferguson (1921&ndash1998 Stanford University linguist Charles H Koine Greek (Κοινὴ Ἑλληνική, "common Greek" or, ciˈni ðiˈale̞kto̞s "the common dialect" is the popular form of Greek which emerged in

In general, the Bedouin dialects are more conservative than the sedentary dialects, and the Bedouin dialects within the Arabic peninsula are even more conservative than those elsewhere. Within the sedentary dialects, the western varieties (particularly, Moroccan Arabic) are less conservative than the eastern varieties. Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco

Morphological and syntactic variation

All dialects, sedentary and Bedouin, differ in the following ways from Classical Arabic (CA):

  • In CA, there was no number agreement between subject and verb when the subject was third-person and the subject followed the verb.
  • The dialects differ in how exactly the new indicative was developed from the old forms. The sedentary dialects adopted the old subjunctive forms (feminine /ī/, masculine plural /ū/), while many of the Bedouin dialects adopted the old indicative forms (feminine /īna/, masculine plural /ūna/).
  • The sedentary dialects developed new mood distinctions; see below.
  • A frozen dual persists as the regular plural marking of a small number of words that normally come in pairs (e. g. eyes, hands, parents).
  • In addition, a productive dual marking on nouns exists in most dialects. (Tunisian and Moroccan Arabic are exceptions. Tunisian Arabic is a Maghrebi Dialect of the Arabic language, spoken by some 11 million people Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco ) This dual marking differs syntactically from the frozen dual in that it cannot take possessive suffixes. In addition, it differs morphologically from the frozen dual in various dialects, such as Levantine Arabic. Levantine Arabic (Arabic شامي (Shami and sometimes called Eastern Arabic) is a group of Arabic varieties spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean
  • The productive dual differs from CA in that its use is optional and factitive, whereas the use of the CA dual was mandatory even in cases of implicitly dual reference. A causative form in Linguistics, is an expression of an agent causing or forcing a patient to perform an action (or to be in a certain condition
  • The CA dual was marked not only on nouns by also on verbs, adjectives, pronouns and demonstratives.
  • Compare the similar development of shel in Modern Hebrew.
  • The Bedouin dialects make the least use of the analytic genitive. Moroccan Arabic makes the most use of it, to the extent that the constructed genitive is no longer productive, and used only in certain relatively frozen constructions. Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco
  • Hence, second singular /-ak/ and /-ik/ rather than /-ka/ and /-ki/; third singular masculine /-uh/ rather than /-hu/.
  • Similarly, the feminine plural verbal marker /-na/ became /-an/.
  • Because of the absolute prohibition in all Arabic dialects against having two vowels in hiatus, the above changes occurred only when a consonant preceded the ending. When a vowel preceded, the forms either remained as-is or lost the final vowel, becoming /-k/, /-ki/, /-h/ and /-n/, respectively. Combined with other phonetic changes, this resulted in multiple forms for each clitic (up to three), depending on the phonetic environment.
  • The verbal markers /-tu/ (first singular) and /-ta/ (second singular masculine) both became /-t/, while second singular feminine /-ti/ remained.
  • In the dialect of southern Nejd (including Riyadh), the second singular masculine /-ta/ has been retained, but takes the form of a long vowel rather than a short one as in Classical Arabic. Nejd or Najd (literally "highland" نجد) is the central region of the Arabian Peninsula. Riyadh ( الرياض Ar-Riyāḍ) is the Capital of Saudi Arabia and its largest city
  • The forms given here were the original forms, and have often suffered various changes in the modern dialects.
  • All of these changes were triggered by the loss of final short vowels (see below).
  • Third-weak verbs with radical /w/ and radical /y/ have merged in the form I perfect tense. (They had already merged in CA, except in form I. )
  • Form I perfect faʕula verbs have disappeared, often merging with faʕila.
  • Doubled verbs now have the same endings as third-weak verbs.
  • Some endings of third-weak verbs have been replaced by those of the strong verbs (or vice-versa, in some dialects).

All dialects except some Bedouin dialects of the Arabian peninsula share the following innovations from CA:

  • New passives have often been developed by co-opting the original reflexive formations in CA, particularly verb forms V, VI and VII. (In CA these were derivational, not inflectional, as neither their existence nor exact meaning could be depended upon; however, they have often been incorporated into the inflectional system, especially in more innovative sedentary dialects. )
  • Hassaniya Arabic contains a newly developed inflected passive that looks somewhat like the old CA passive.
  • Najdi Arabic has retained the inflected passive up to the modern era, though this feature is on its way to extinction as a result of the influence of other dialects. Najdi Arabic ( اللهجة النجدية) is a variety of the Arabic language spoken in the desert regions of central and eastern Saudi Arabia
  • When this marker still appears, it is variously /an/, /in/, or /en/.
  • In some Bedouin dialects it still marks indefiniteness on any noun, although this is optional and often used only in oral poetry.
  • In other dialects it marks indefiniteness on post-modified nouns (by adjectives or relative clauses).
  • All Arabic dialects preserve a form of the CA adverbial accusative /an/ suffix, which was originally a tanwiin marker.
  • Verb form II sometimes gives causatives, but it is not productive.
  • CA had /u/ before form II, III and IV active, and before all passives, and /a/ elsewhere.
  • Some Bedouin dialects in the Arabian peninsula have uniform /a/.
  • Najdi Arabic has /a/ when the following vowel is /i/, and /i/ when the following vowel is /a/. Najdi Arabic ( اللهجة النجدية) is a variety of the Arabic language spoken in the desert regions of central and eastern Saudi Arabia

All sedentary dialects share the following additional innovations:

  • The indicative is marked by a prefix, while the subjunctive lacks this.
  • The prefix is /b/ or /bi/ in Egyptian Arabic and Levantine Arabic, but /ka/ or /ta/ in Moroccan Arabic. Levantine Arabic (Arabic شامي (Shami and sometimes called Eastern Arabic) is a group of Arabic varieties spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco It is not infrequent to encounter /ħa/ as an indicative prefix in some gulf states; and, in South Arabian Arabic (viz. Yemen), /ʕa/ is used in the north around the San'aa region, and /sha/ is used in the southwest region of Ta'iz.
  • Tunisian Arabic lacks an indicative prefix, and therefore does not have this distinction, along with Maltese and at least some varieties of Algerian and Libyan Arabic. Tunisian Arabic is a Maghrebi Dialect of the Arabic language, spoken by some 11 million people Maltese (Maltese Malti is the National language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English, Algerian Arabic is the variety or varieties of Arabic spoken in Algeria. Libyan Arabic (Lībi ليبي also known as Sulaimitian Arabic) is a collective term for the closely related Varieties of Arabic spoken in Libya.
  • The form is usually /u/ or /o/ in sedentary dialects, but /ah/ or /ih/ in Bedouin dialects.
  • After a vowel, the bare form /h/ is used, but in many sedentary dialects the /h/ is lost here as well. In Egyptian Arabic, for example, this pronoun is marked in this case only by lengthening of the final vowel and concomitant stress shift onto it, but the "h" reappears when followed by another suffix.
  • ramâ "he threw it"
  • maramahûsh "he didn't throw it"

In addition, the following innovations are characteristic of many or most sedentary dialects:

  • In combination with the fusion of the indirect object and the development of new mood markers, this results in verbal complexes that are approaching polysynthetic languages in their complexity. Polysynthetic languages are highly Synthetic languages ie languages in which words are composed of many Morphemes Definition The degree of
  • An example from Egyptian Arabic is
  • /ma-bi-t-gib-u-ha-lnā-ʃ/
  • [negation]-[indicative]-[2nd. person. subject]-bring-[plural. subject]-her-to. us-[negation]
  • "You (plural) aren't bringing her to us. "
  • (NOTE: Versteegh glosses /bi/ as continuous. )
  • These dialects tend to use form V and VI active participles as the passive participles of forms II and III.

Other notable innovations:

  • The triliteral type encompasses traditional form I verbs (strong: /ktʔ/ "write"; geminate: /ʃəmm/ "smell"; hollow: /biʕ/ "sell", /gul/ "say", /xaf/ "fear"; weak /ʃri/ "buy", /ħbu/ "crawl", /bda/ "begin"; irregular: /kul/-/kla/ "eat", /ddi/ "take away", /ʒi/ "come").
  • The quadriliteral type encompasses strong [CA form II, quadriliteral form I]: /sˤrˤfəq/ "slap", /hrrəs/ "break", /hrnən/ "speak nasally"; hollow-2 [CA form III, non-CA]: /ʕayən/ "wait", /gufəl/ "inflate", /mixəl/ "eat" (slang); hollow-3 [CA form VIII, IX]: /xtˤarˤ/ "choose", /ħmarˤ/ "redden"; weak [CA form II weak, quadriliteral form I weak]: /wrri/ "show", /sˤqsˤi/ "inquire"; hollow-2-weak [CA form III weak, non-CA weak]: /sali/ "end", /ruli/ "roll", /tiri/ "shoot"; irregular: /sˤifətˤ/-/sˤafətˤ/ "send".
  • There are also a certain number of quinquiliteral or longer verbs, of various sorts, e. g. weak: /pidˤali/ "pedal", /blˤani/ "scheme, plan", /fanti/ "dodge, fake"; remnant CA form X: /stəʕməl/ "use", /stahəl/ "deserve"; diminutive: /t-birˤʒəz/ "act bourgeois", /t-biznəs/ "deal in drugs".
  • Note that those types corresponding to CA forms VIII and X are rare and completely unproductive, while some of the non-CA types are productive. At one point, form IX significantly increased its productivity over CA, and there are perhaps 50-100 of these verbs currently, mostly stative but not necessarily referring to colors or bodily defects. However, this type is no longer very productive.
  • Due to the merging of short /a/ and /i/, most of these types show no stem difference between perfect and imperfect, which is probably why the languages has incorporated new types so easily.

Phonetic variation

  • Depending on the exact phonetic environment, this either caused reduction of two vowels into a single long vowel or diphthong (when between two vowels), insertion of a homorganic glide /j/ or /w/ (when between two vowels, the first of which was short or long /i/ or /u/ and the second not the same), lengthening of a preceding short vowel (between a short vowel and a following non-vowel), or simple deletion (elsewhere). This resulted initially in a large number of complicated morphophonemic variations in verb paradigms.
  • In CA and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), /ʔ/ is still pronounced. Literary Arabic (ar اللغة العربية الفصحى "the Eloquent Arabic language" or Standard Arabic is the literary and standard variety
  • However, because this change had already happened in Meccan Arabic at the time the Qur'an was written, it is reflected in the orthography of written Arabic, where a diacritic known as hamza is inserted either above an alif, waaw or yaa, or "on the line" (between characters); or in certain cases, a diacritic alif maadda ("lengthened alif") is inserted over an alif. The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran Hamza ( Arabic: ar الهَمْزة ʼal-hamzah) (ar [[wiktء ء]] is a letter in the Arabic alphabet, representing the Glottal stop. (As a result, proper spelling of words involving /ʔ/ is probably the most difficult issues in Arabic orthography. Furthermore, actual usage is inconsistent in many circumstances. )
  • Modern dialects have smoothed out the morphophonemic variations, typically by deleting the associated verbs or moving them into another paradigm (for example, /qaraʔ/ "read" becomes /qara/, a third-weak verb).
  • /ʔ/ has reappeared medially in various words due to borrowing from CA. (In addition, /q/ has become /ʔ/ in many dialects, although the two are marginally distinguishable in Egyptian Arabic, since words beginning with original /ʔ/ can elide this sound, whereas words beginning with original /q/ cannot. )
  • Original final short vowels are mostly deleted.
  • Many Levantine Arabic dialects merge /i/ and /u/ into a phonemic /ə/ except when directly followed by a single consonant; this sound may appear allophonically as /i/ or /u/ in certain phonetic environments. Levantine Arabic (Arabic شامي (Shami and sometimes called Eastern Arabic) is a group of Arabic varieties spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean
  • Maghreb dialects merge /a/ and /i/ into /ə/, which is deleted when unstressed. The Maghreb (المغرب العربي al-Maġrib al-ʿArabī) also rendered Maghrib (or rarely Moghreb) meaning "place of Sunset Tunisian maintains this distinction, but deletes these vowels in non-final open syllables.
  • Moroccan Arabic, under the strong influence of Berber, goes even further. Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco Nomenclature The term Berber has been used in Europe since at least the 17th century and is still used today Short /u/ is converted to labialization of an adjacent velar, or is merged with /ə/. This schwa then deletes everywhere except in certain words ending /-CCəC/.
  • The result is that there is no more distinction between short and long vowels; borrowings from CA have "long" vowels (now pronounced half-long) uniformly substituted for original short and long vowels.
  • This also results in consonant clusters of great length, which are (more or less) syllabified according to a sonority hierarchy. (For some subdialects, in practice, it is very difficult to tell where, if anywhere, there are syllabic peaks in long consonant clusters in a phrase such as /xsˤsˤk tktbi/ "you (fem. ) must write". Other dialects, in the North, make a clear distinction; they say /xəssək təktəb/ "you want to write", but */xəssk ətkətb/ just won't do).
  • In Egyptian Arabic and Levantine Arabic, short /i/ and /u/ (and merged /ə/, when it exists) are elided in various circumstances in unstressed syllables (typically, in open syllables; for example, in Egyptian Arabic, this occurs only in the middle vowel of a VCVCV sequence, ignoring word boundaries). Levantine Arabic (Arabic شامي (Shami and sometimes called Eastern Arabic) is a group of Arabic varieties spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean In these dialects, however, clusters of three consonants are almost never permitted (absolutely never, in Egyptian Arabic). If such a cluster would occur, it is broken up through the insertion of i /ə/ -- between the second and third consonants in Egyptian Arabic, and between the first and second in Levantine Arabic. Levantine Arabic (Arabic شامي (Shami and sometimes called Eastern Arabic) is a group of Arabic varieties spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean
  • Original final long vowels are shortened in all dialects.
  • In Egyptian Arabic and Levantine Arabic, unstressed long vowels are shortened. Levantine Arabic (Arabic شامي (Shami and sometimes called Eastern Arabic) is a group of Arabic varieties spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean
  • Egyptian Arabic also cannot tolerate long vowels followed by two consonants, and shorten them. (Such an occurrence was rare in CA, but often occurs in modern dialects as a result of elision of a short vowel. )
  • Adjacent to an emphatic consonant and to /q/ (but not usually to other sounds derived from this, such as /g/ or /ʔ/), a back variant [ɑ] occurs; elsewhere, a strongly fronted variant [æ] is used.
  • There is a tendency for emphatic consonants to cause non-adjacent low vowels to be backed, as well; this is known as emphasis spreading. The domain of emphasis spreading is potentially unbounded; in Egyptian Arabic, the entire word is usually affected, although in Levantine Arabic and some other varieties, it is blocked by an /i/ or /j/ (and sometimes /ʃ/). Levantine Arabic (Arabic شامي (Shami and sometimes called Eastern Arabic) is a group of Arabic varieties spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean
  • The two allophones are in the process of splitting phonemically in some dialects, as [ɑ] occurs in some words (particularly foreign borrowings) even in the absence of any emphatic consonants anywhere in the word. (Some linguists have postulated additional emphatic phonemes in an attempt to handle these circumstances; in the extreme case, this requires assuming that every phoneme occurs doubled, in emphatic and non-emphatic varieties. Some have attempted to make the vowel allophones autonomous and eliminate the emphatic consonants as phonemes. Others have asserted that emphasis is actually a property of syllables or whole words rather than of individual vowels or consonants. None of these proposals seems particularly tenable, however, given the variable and unpredictable nature of emphasis spreading. )
  • CA /r/ is also in the process of splitting into emphatic and non-emphatic varieties, with the former causing emphasis spreading, just like other emphatic consonants. Originally, non-emphatic [r] occurred before /i/ or between /i/ and a following consonant, while emphatic [rˤ] occurred elsewhere.
  • To a large extent, Eastern Arabic dialects reflect this, while the situation is rather more complicated in Egyptian Arabic. (The allophonic distribution still exists to a large extent, although not in any predictable fashion; nor is one or the other variety used consistently in different words derived from the same root. Furthermore, although derivational suffixes (in particular, relational /-i/ and /-iyya/) affect a preceding /r/ in the expected fashion, inflectional suffixes do not. )
  • In Moroccan Arabic, short /a/ and /i/ have merged, obscuring the original distribution. Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco In this dialect, the two varieties have completely split into separate phonemes, with one or the other used consistently across all words derived from a particular root except in a few situations.
  • In Moroccan Arabic, the allophonic effect of emphatic consonants is more pronounced than elsewhere. Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco
  • Full /a/ is affected as above, but /i/ and /u/ are also affected, and are lowered to [e] and [o], respectively.
  • In some varieties, such as in Marrakesh, the effects are even more extreme (and complex), where both high-mid and low-mid allophones exist ([e] and [ɛ], [o] and [ɔ]), in addition to front-rounded allophones of original /u/ ([y], [ø], [œ]), all depending on adjacent phonemes. Marrakesh or Marrakech ( Amazigh: Murakush, Arabic مراكش Murrakush) known as the "Red City"
  • On the other hand, emphasis spreading in Moroccan Arabic is less pronounced than elsewhere; usually it only spreads to the nearest full vowel on either side, although with some additional complications. Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco
  • Emphasis spreading also pharyngealizes consonants between the source consonant and affected vowels, although the effects are much less noticeable than for vowels, since the rise of emphasis spreading is associated with a concomitant decrease in the amount of pharyngealization of emphatic consonants.
  • Interestingly, emphasis spreading does not affect the affrication of non-emphatic /t/ in Moroccan Arabic, with the result that these two phonemes are always distinguishable regardless of the nearly presence of other emphatic phonemes. Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco
  • Certain other consonants, depending on the dialect, also cause backing of adjacent sounds, although the effect is typically weaker than full emphasis spreading and usually has no effect on more distant vowels.
  • The uvular consonants /x/ and /q/ often cause partial backing of adjacent /a/ (and lowering of /u/ and /i/ in Moroccan Arabic). Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco For Egyptian Arabic and Moroccan Arabic, the effect is sometimes described as half as powerful as an emphatic consonant, as a vowel with uvular consonants on both sides is affected similarly to having an emphatic consonant on one side. Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco
  • Interestingly, the pharyngeal consonants /ħ/ and /ʕ/ cause no emphasis spreading and may have little or no effect on adjacent vowels. In Egyptian Arabic, for example, an /a/ adjacent to either sound is a fully front [æ]. In other dialects, /ʕ/ is more likely to have an effect than /ħ/.
  • In some Gulf Arabic dialects, /w/ and/or /l/ causes backing. Gulf Arabic (also known as Khaliji al-lahjat al-khalijiya اللهجة الخليجية is a variety of the Arabic language spoken around both shores of the
  • In all dialects, the word الله /alˤlˤāh/ Allāh has backed [ɑ]'s and strongly pharyngealized /l/.
  • Most commonly, it falls on the last syllable containing a long vowel, or a short vowel followed by two consonants; but never farther from the end than the third-to-last syllable. This maintains the presumed stress pattern in CA (although there is some disagreement over whether stress could move farther back than the third-to-last syllable), and is also used in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Literary Arabic (ar اللغة العربية الفصحى "the Eloquent Arabic language" or Standard Arabic is the literary and standard variety
  • In CA and MSA, stress cannot occur on a final long vowel; however, this does not result in different stress patterns on any words, because CA final long vowels are shortened in all modern dialects, and any current final long vowels are secondary developments from words containing a long vowel followed by a consonant.
  • In Egyptian Arabic, the rule is similar, but stress falls on the second-to-last syllable in words of the form . . . VCCVCV, as in /makˈtaba/.
  • In Maghrebi Arabic (excluding Maltese), stress is final in words of the (original) form CaCaC, after which the first /a/ is elided. Maghrebi Arabic is a cover term for the varieties of Arabic spoken in the Maghreb, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Maltese (Maltese Malti is the National language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English, Hence جَبَل "mountain" (MSA /ˈʤabal/) becomes /ˈʒbəl/.
  • In Moroccan Arabic, phonetic stress is often not recognizable. Moroccan Arabic (also known as Darija, الدارجة) is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic -speaking areas of Morocco

Further reading

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