Palestinian Arabic
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Palestinian Arabic (also known as simply Palestinian) is part of a
dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
comprising various mutually intelligible varieties of
Levantine Arabic Levantine Arabic, also called Shami (Endonym and exonym, autonym: or ), is an Varieties of Arabic, Arabic variety spoken in the Levant, namely in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and southern Turkey (historically only in Adana Prov ...
spoken by
Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...
in
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
, which includes the
State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
,
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, and the Palestinian diaspora. The Arabic dialects spoken in the region of Palestine and Transjordan do not form a homogeneous linguistic unit; rather, they encompass a diverse range of dialects influenced by geographical, historical, and socioeconomic factors. Comparative studies of Arabic dialects indicate that Palestinian Arabic is among the closest dialects to
Modern Standard Arabic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA) is the variety of Standard language, standardized, Literary language, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in some usages al ...
, particularly the dialect spoken in the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
. Additional distinctions can be made within Palestinian Arabic, such as the dialects spoken in the northern
West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
and the
Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...
area, which exhibit similarities to those spoken by descendants of Palestinian refugees. Palestinian Arabic dialects reflect a historical layering of languages previously spoken in the region, including Canaanite, Ancient Hebrew (both
Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
and Mishnaic),
Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
(especially Western Aramaic), Persian,
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
, and
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
. Furthermore, during the early modern period, these dialects were influenced by Turkish and various
European languages There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. The three larges ...
. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, Palestinian Arabic has also been shaped by
Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew (, or ), also known as Israeli Hebrew or simply Hebrew, is the Standard language, standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. It is the only surviving Canaanite language, as well as one of the List of languages by first w ...
influences.


History

Prior to their adoption of the Arabic language from the seventh century onwards, most of the inhabitants of Palestine spoke varieties of Palestinian Aramaic (
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
,
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
, Samaritan) as a native language.
Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...
was used among the Hellenized elite and aristocracy, and Mishanic Hebrew for liturgical purposes. The
Negev desert The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...
was under the rule of the Nabatean Kingdom for the greater part of
Classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...
, and included settlements such as Mahoza and Ein-Gedi where
Judea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the pres ...
n and Nabatean populations lived in alongside each other, as documented by the Babatha archive which dates to the second century. The earliest
Old Arabic Old Arabic is the name for any Arabic language or dialect continuum before Islam. Various forms of Old Arabic are attested in scripts like Safaitic, Hismaic, Nabataean alphabet, Nabatean, and even Greek alphabet, Greek. Alternatively, the term ha ...
inscription most resembling of
Classical Arabic Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic () is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notably in Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid literary texts such as poetry, e ...
is found in Ayn Avadat, being a poem dedicated to King Obodas I, known for defeating the Hasmonean
Alexander Jannaeus Alexander Jannaeus ( , English: "Alexander Jannaios", usually Latinised to "Alexander Jannaeus"; ''Yannaʾy''; born Jonathan ) was the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled over an expanding kingdom of Judaea from 103 to 76 BCE. ...
. Its date is estimated between 79 and 120 CE, but no later than 150 CE at most. The Nabataeans tended to adopt Aramaic as a written language as shown in the Nabataean language texts of
Petra Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, P ...
, as well as a
Lingua Franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...
. Nabatean and Palestinian Aramaic dialects would both have been thought of as “Aramaic”, and almost certainly have been mutually comprehensible. Additionally, occasional Arabic
loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
s can be found in the Jewish Aramaic documents of the
Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...
. The adoption of Arabic among the local population occurred most probably in several waves. After the Early Muslim Arabians took control of the area, so as to maintain their regular activity, the upper classes had to quickly become fluent in the language of the new rulers who most probably were only few. The prevalence of Northern Levantine features in the urban dialects until the early 20th century, as well as in the dialect of
Samaritans Samaritans (; ; ; ), are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah that ...
in
Nablus Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...
(with systematic imala of /a:/) tends to show that a first layer of Arabization of urban upper classes could have led to what is now urban Levantine. Then, the main phenomenon could have been the slow countryside shift of Aramaic-speaking villages to Arabic under the influence of Arabized elites, leading to the emergence of the rural Palestinian dialects. This scenario is consistent with several facts. * The rural forms can be correlated with features also observed in the few Syrian villages where use of Aramaic has been retained up to this day. Palatalisation of /k/ (but of /t/ too), pronunciation ˤof /q/ for instance. Note that the first also exists in
Najdi Arabic Najdi Arabic (, Najdi Arabic: , ) is the group of Arabic varieties originating from the Najd region of Saudi Arabia. Outside of Saudi Arabia, it is also the main Arabic variety spoken in the Syrian Desert of Iraq, Jordan, and Syria (with the exc ...
and
Gulf Arabic Gulf Arabic or Khaleeji ( ' local pronunciation: or ', local pronunciation: ) is a variety of the Arabic language spoken in Eastern Arabia around the coasts of the Persian Gulf in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, southern Iraq, ...
, but is limited to palatal contexts (/k/ followed by i or a). Moreover, those Eastern dialects have or ʒfor /q/ . * The less-evolutive urban forms can be explained by a limitation owed to the contacts urban trader classes had to maintain with Arabic speakers of other towns in Syria or Egypt. * The Negev Bedouin dialect shares a number of features with Bedouin Hejazi dialects (unlike Urban Hejazi).


Features

The dialects spoken Arabic-speakers in the
Eastern Mediterranean The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...
, form a group of dialects known as
Levantine Arabic Levantine Arabic, also called Shami (Endonym and exonym, autonym: or ), is an Varieties of Arabic, Arabic variety spoken in the Levant, namely in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and southern Turkey (historically only in Adana Prov ...
. Arabic manuals for the "Syrian dialect" were produced in the early 20th century, and in 1909 a specific "Palestinian Arabic" manual was published in Jerusalem for Western travelers. Palestinian Arabic is a variant of Levantine Arabic because its dialects display characteristic Levantine features: * A conservative stress pattern, closer to Classical Arabic than anywhere else in the Arab world. * The indicative imperfect with a b- prefix * A very frequent
Imāla (also ; ) is a phenomenon in Arabic comprising the fronting and raising of Old Arabic toward or , and the old short toward . and the factors conditioning its occurrence were described for the first time by Sibawayh. According to as-Sirafi a ...
of the feminine ending in front consonant context (names in -eh). * A realisation of /q/ in the cities, and a realisation of /q/ by the
Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...
, and more variants (including in the countryside. * A shared lexicon The noticeable differences between southern and northern forms of Levantine Arabic, such as Syrian Arabic and
Lebanese Arabic Lebanese Arabic ( ; autonym: ), or simply Lebanese ( ; autonym: ), is a Varieties of Arabic, variety of Levantine Arabic, indigenous to and primarily Languages of Lebanon, spoken in Lebanon, with significant linguistic influences borrowed from ...
, are stronger in non-urban dialects. The main differences between Palestinian and northern Levantine Arabic are as follows: * Phonetically, Palestinian dialects differ from Lebanese regarding the classical diphthongs /aj/ and /aw/, which have simplified to ːand ːin Palestinian dialects as in Western Syrian, while in Lebanese they have retained a diphthongal pronunciation: ɪand ʊ * Palestinian dialects differ from Western Syrian as far as short stressed /i/ and /u/ are concerned: in Palestinian they keep a more or less open and pronunciation, and are not neutralised to as in Syrian. * The Lebanese and Syrian dialects are more prone to
imāla (also ; ) is a phenomenon in Arabic comprising the fronting and raising of Old Arabic toward or , and the old short toward . and the factors conditioning its occurrence were described for the first time by Sibawayh. According to as-Sirafi a ...
of /aː/ than the Palestinian dialects are. For instance شتا 'winter' is ʃɪtain Palestinian but ʃətein Lebanese and Western Syrian. Some Palestinian dialects ignore imāla totally (e.g. Gaza). Those dialects that prominently demonstrate imāla of /aː/ (e.g. Nablus) are distinct among Palestinian dialects. * In morphology, the plural personal pronouns are إحنا ɪħna'we', همه hʊmmealso hunne نه'they', كو uكم- kʊm'you', هم- hʊmهني ennethem' in Palestinian, while they are in Syria/Lebanon نحنا nɪħna'we', هنه hʊnne'they', كن- kʊn'you', هن- hʊn'them'. The variants كو 'you', ـهن hen'them', and هنه inne'they' are used in Northern Palestinian. * The conjugation of the imperfect 1st and 3rd person masculine has different prefix vowels. Palestinians say بَكتب baktʊb'I write' بَشوف aʃuːf'I see' where Lebanese and Syrians say بِكتب bəktʊband بْشوف ʃuːf In the 3rd person masculine, Palestinians say بِكتب bɪktʊb'He writes' where Lebanese and Western Syrians say بيَكتب bjəktʊb * Hamza-initial verbs commonly have an ːprefix sound in the imperfect in Palestinian. For example, Classical Arabic has اكل /akala/ 'to eat' in the perfect tense, and آكل /aːkulu/ with ːsound in the first person singular imperfect. The common equivalent in Palestinian Arabic is اكل /akal/ in the perfect, with imperfect 1st person singular بوكل /boːkel/ (with the indicative b- prefix.) Thus, in the Galilee and Northern West Bank, the colloquial for the verbal expression, "I am eating" or "I eat" is commonly boːkel/ boːtʃel rather than baːkʊlused in the Western Syrian dialect. Note however that baːkelor even baːkʊlare used in the South of Palestine. * The conjugation of the imperative is different too. 'Write!' is اكتب ʊktʊbin Palestinian, but كتوب toːb with different stress and vowel and length, in Lebanese and Western Syrian. * For the
negation In logic, negation, also called the logical not or logical complement, is an operation (mathematics), operation that takes a Proposition (mathematics), proposition P to another proposition "not P", written \neg P, \mathord P, P^\prime or \over ...
of verbs and prepositional pseudo-verbs, Palestinian, like Egyptian, typically suffixes ش on top of using the preverb negation /ma/, e.g. 'I don't write' is مابكتبش a bak'tʊbʃin Palestinian, but مابكتب a 'bəktʊbin Northern Levantine (although some areas in southern Lebanon utilise the ش suffix). However, unlike Egyptian, Palestinian allows for ش without the preverb negation /ma/ in the present tense, e.g. بكتبش ak'tubɪʃ * In vocabulary, Palestinian is closer to Lebanese than to Western Syrian, e.g. 'is not' is مش əʃin both Lebanese and Palestinian (although in a few villages مهوش ahuʃand مهيش ahiʃ which are found in Maltese and North African dialects, are used) while it is مو uin Syrian; 'How?' is كيف iːfin Lebanese and Palestinian while it is شلون loːnin Syrian (though كيف is also used) . However, Palestinian also shares items with
Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian, or simply as Masri, is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic variety in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and originated in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt. The esti ...
, e.g. 'like' (prep.) is زي ejjin Palestinian in addition to مثل ɪtl as found in Syrian and Lebanese Arabic. There are also typical Palestinian words that are
shibboleth A shibboleth ( ; ) is any custom or tradition—usually a choice of phrasing or single word—that distinguishes one group of people from another. Historically, shibboleths have been used as passwords, ways of self-identification, signals of l ...
s compared to other
Levantine Arabic Levantine Arabic, also called Shami (Endonym and exonym, autonym: or ), is an Varieties of Arabic, Arabic variety spoken in the Levant, namely in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and southern Turkey (historically only in Adana Prov ...
dialects : * The usage of إشي ɪʃi'thing, something', as opposed to شي iin Lebanon and Syria as an indefinite pronoun. * Besides common Levantine هلق hallaʔ'now', Central Rural dialects around Jerusalem and Ramallah use هالقيت alkeːt(although alʔeːtis used in some cities such as Tulkarm, Hebron, and Nablus alongside هلق allaʔ(both from هالوقت /halwaqt/ ) and northern Palestinians use إسا ɪssɑ إساع ɪssɑʕ and هسة assɑfrom الساعة/ɪsːɑːʕɑ/). Villagers in the southern West Bank also use هالحين alaħinor هالحينة alħina(both from هذا الحين aːða ‘alħin *Some villagers use بقى
aqa AQA Education, trading as AQA (formerly the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance), is an awarding body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds Test (assessment), examinations in various subjects at Genera ...
(meaning 'remained' in MSA) as a verb to be alongside the standard كان aːn( aːnain MSA)


Social and geographic dialect structuration

As is very common in Arabic-speaking countries, the Arabic dialect spoken by a person depends on both the region of origin, and socio-economic class. The hikaye, a form of women's oral literature inscribed to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Palestine, is recited in both the urban and rural dialects of Palestinian Arabic.


Urban varieties

The Urban ('madani') dialects resemble closely northern Levantine Arabic dialects, that is, the colloquial variants of western
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
and
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
. This fact, that makes the urban dialects of the Levant remarkably homogeneous, is probably due to the trading network among cities in
Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria () is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Ara ...
, or to an older Arabic dialect layer closer to the
North Mesopotamian Arabic North Mesopotamian Arabic, also known as Moslawi (meaning 'of Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghda ...
(the 'qeltu dialects"). Urban dialects are characterised by the (
hamza The hamza ( ') () is an Arabic script character that, in the Arabic alphabet, denotes a glottal stop and, in non-Arabic languages, indicates a diphthong, vowel, or other features, depending on the language. Derived from the letter '' ʿayn'' ( ...
) pronunciation of qaf, the simplification of interdentals as dentals plosives, i.e. as as and both and as ˤ In borrowings from
Modern Standard Arabic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA) is the variety of Standard language, standardized, Literary language, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in some usages al ...
, these interdental consonants are realised as dental sibilants, i.e. as as and ظ as ˤbut is kept as ˤ The Druzes have a dialect that may be classified with the Urban ones, with the difference that they keep the uvular pronunciation of qaf as The urban dialects also ignore the difference between masculine and feminine in the plural pronouns انتو ɪntuis both 'you' (masc. plur.) and 'you' (fem. plur.), and hʊmmeis both 'they' (masc.) and 'they' (fem.)


Sephardi variety

As
Sephardic Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
were expelled after the conclusion of the
Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...
, they established
communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...
in Ottoman Palestine in Jerusalem and Galilee under the invitation of Sultan
Bayezid II Bayezid II (; ; 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, Bayezid consolidated the Ottoman Empire, thwarted a pro-Safavid dynasty, Safavid rebellion and finally abdicated his throne ...
. Their Maghrebi
Judeo-Arabic Judeo-Arabic (; ; ) sometimes referred as Sharh, are a group of different ethnolects within the branches of the Arabic language used by jewish communities. Although Jewish use of Arabic, which predates Islam, has been in some ways distinct ...
dialect mixed with Palestinian Arabic. It peaked at 10,000 speakers and thrived alongside
Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
among Ashkenazis until the widespread adoption of
Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew (, or ), also known as Israeli Hebrew or simply Hebrew, is the Standard language, standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. It is the only surviving Canaanite language, as well as one of the List of languages by first w ...
among the
Yishuv The Yishuv (), HaYishuv Ha'ivri (), or HaYishuv HaYehudi Be'Eretz Yisra'el () was the community of Jews residing in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The term came into use in the 1880s, when there were about 2 ...
following its revival in the late 19th century. Today it is nearly extinct, with only 5 speakers remaining in the Galilee. It contained influence from Judeo-Moroccan Arabic and influence Judeo-Lebanese Arabic and Judeo-Syrian Arabic.


Rural varieties

Rural (' fallahi') variety is retaining the interdental consonants, and is closely related with rural dialects in Southern Lebanon and the sedentary population east of the
Jordan river The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...
. They keep the distinction between masculine and feminine plural pronouns, e.g. انتو ɪntuis 'you' (masc.) while انتن ɪntɪnis 'you' (fem.), and همه hʊmmeis 'they' (masc.) while هنه hɪnneis 'they' (fem.). The three rural groups in the region are the following: * North Galilean rural dialect – does not feature the k > tʃ palatalization, and many of them have kept the realisation of ق (e.g. Maghār, Tirat Carmel). In the very north, they announce dialect thats is more closely to the Northern Levantine dialects with n-ending pronouns such as كن- kʊn'you', هن- hʊn'them' (Tarshiha, etc.). * Central rural Palestinian (From Nazareth to Bethlehem, including Jaffa countryside) exhibits a very distinctive feature with pronunciation of ك 'kaf' as ʃ'tshaf' (e.g. كفية 'keffieh' as ʃʊ'fijje and ق 'qaf' as pharyngealised /k/ i.e. ˤ'kaf' (e.g. قمح 'wheat' as ˤɑmᵊħ. This k > tʃ sound change is not conditioned by the surrounding sounds in Central Palestinian. This combination is unique in the whole Arab world, but could be related to the 'qof' transition to 'kof' in the Aramaic dialect spoken in Ma'loula, north of
Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
. * Southern outer rural Levantine Arabic (to the south of an Isdud/
Ashdod Ashdod (, ; , , or ; Philistine language, Philistine: , romanized: *''ʾašdūd'') is the List of Israeli cities, sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District (Israel), Southern District, it lies on the Mediterranean ...
-
Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...
line) has k > tʃ only in presence of front vowels (ديك 'rooster' is i:tʃin the singular but the plural ديوك 'roosters' is ju:kbecause u prevents /k/ from changing to ʃ. In this dialect ق is not pronounced as but instead as This dialect is actually very similar to northern Jordanian (
Ajloun Ajloun (, ''‘Ajlūn''), also spelled Ajlun, is the capital town of the Ajloun Governorate, a hilly town in the north of Jordan, located 76 kilometers (around 47 miles) north west of Amman. It is noted for its impressive ruins of the 12th-centur ...
,
Irbid Irbid (), known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela (Άρβηλα in Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek), is the capital and largest city of Irbid Governorate. It has the second-largest metropolitan population in Jordan after Amman, with a ...
) and the dialects of Syrian
Hauran The Hauran (; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, to the northeast by the al-Safa field, to the east and south by the Harrat ...
. In Southern rural Palestinian, the feminine ending often remains


Bedouin variety

The Bedouins of Southern Levant use two different (' badawi') dialects in
Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...
and the
Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...
. The Negev desert Bedouins, who are also present in
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
and
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
use a dialect closely related to those spoken in the Hijaz, and in the Sinai. Unlike them, the Bedouins of Galilee speak a dialect related to those of the
Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe, covering about of West Asia, including parts of northern Saudi Arabia, ea ...
and
Najd Najd is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes most of the central region of Saudi Arabia. It is roughly bounded by the Hejaz region to the west, the Nafud desert in Al-Jawf Province, al-Jawf to the north, ...
, which indicates their arrival to the region is relatively recent. The Negev Bedouins, who ended up around Hebron and Jerusalem after the 1948 Palestine War have a specific vocabulary, where they maintain the interdental consonants, do not use the ش- ʃnegative suffix, always realise ك /k/ as and ق /q/ as and distinguish plural masculine from plural feminine pronouns, but with different forms as the rural speakers.


Current evolutions

On the urban dialects side, the current trend is to have urban dialects getting closer to their rural neighbours, thus introducing some variability among cities in the Levant. For instance, Jerusalem used to say as Damascus nɪħna("we") and hʊnne("they") at the beginning of the 20th century, and this has moved to the more rural ɪħnaand hʊmmenowadays. This trend was probably initiated by the partition of the Levant of several states in the course of the 20th century. The Rural description given above is moving nowadays with two opposite trends. On the one hand, urbanisation gives a strong influence power to urban dialects. As a result, villagers may adopt them at least in part, and Beduin maintain a two-dialect practice. On the other hand, the individualisation that comes with urbanisation make people feel more free to choose the way they speak than before, and in the same way as some will use typical Egyptian or Lebanese features as e:for e:ʃ others may use typical rural features such as the rural realisation ˤof ق as a pride reaction against the stigmatisation of this pronunciation.


Phonology


Consonants

* Sounds are mainly heard in both the rural and Bedouin dialects. Sounds and / are mainly heard in the urban dialects. is heard in the rural dialects. * is heard in the Bedouin dialects, and may also be heard as a uvular . * mainly occurs as a palatalization of , and is only heard in a few words as phonemic. In some rural dialects has replaced as a phoneme. * may de-pharyngealize as in certain phonetic environments. * can also be heard as velar among some rural dialects. * can be heard as within devoiced positions.


Vowels

* The short vowel is typically heard as , when in unstressed form. * are heard as when following and preceding a pharyngealized consonant. The short vowel as , can also be raised as in lax form within closed syllables. * can be lowered to when in lax form, or within the position of a post-velar consonant.


Vocabulary

As Palestinian Arabic originated in the heartland of the Semitic languages, it has kept many regular Semitic words. For this reason, it is simple to speculate how
Modern Standard Arabic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA) is the variety of Standard language, standardized, Literary language, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in some usages al ...
words map onto Palestinian Arabic Words. The ''Swadesh'' list of basic words of Palestinian Arabic available on the Wiktionary (see ''external links'' below) may be used for this. However, some words are not transparent mappings from MSA, and deserve a description. This is due either to meaning changes in Arabic along the centuries – while MSA keeps the
Classical Arabic Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic () is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notably in Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid literary texts such as poetry, e ...
meanings – or to the adoption of non-Arabic words (see below). Note that this section focuses on Urban Palestinian unless otherwise specified.


Prepositional pseudo verbs

The words used in Palestinian to express the basic verbs 'to want', 'to have', 'there is/are' are called prepositional pseudo verbs because they share all the features of verbs but are constructed with a preposition and a suffix pronoun. * ''there is, there are'' is فيه iin the imperfect, and كان فيه a:n fiin the perfect. * To want is formed with bɪdd + suffix pronouns and to have is formed with ʕɪnd + suffix pronouns. In the imperfect they are In the perfect, they are preceded by كان aːn e.g. ''we wanted'' is كان بدنا aːn 'bɪddna


Determiners

Relative clause As in most forms of colloquial Arabic, the relative clause markers of
Classical Arabic Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic () is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notably in Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid literary texts such as poetry, e ...
(الذي، التي، اللذان، اللتان، الذين and اللاتي) have been simplified to a single form إللي ʔɪlli Interrogatives pronouns The main Palestinian interrogative pronouns (with their Modern Standard Arabic counterparts) are the following ones. Note that it is tempting to consider the long ːin مين iːn'who?' as an influence of ancient Hebrew מי on Classical Arabic من an but it could be as well an analogy with the long vowels of the other interrogatives. Marking Indirect Object In Classical Arabic, the indirect object was marked with the particle /li-/ ('for', 'to'). For instance 'I said to him' was قلت له qultu 'lahuand 'I wrote to her' was كتبت لها a'tabtu la'ha: In Palestinian Arabic, the Indirect Object marker is still based on the consonant /l/, but with more complex rules, and two different vocal patterns. The basic form before pronouns is a clitic ll- that always bears the stress, and to which person pronouns are suffixed. The basic form before nouns is a For instance * ... قلت لإمك ʔʊlət la-'ɪmmak ...'I told your mother ...' * ...اعطينا المكتوب لمدير البنك ɑʕtˤeːna l maktuːb la mʊ'diːɾ ɪl baŋk'We gave the letter to the bank manager' * ... قلت إله ʊlt- 'ɪll-o ...'I told him ...' * ... قلت إلها ʊlt- 'ɪl(l)-ha ...'I told her ...' * ... كتبت إلّي atabt- 'ɪll-i ...'You wrote me ...'


Vowel harmony

The most often cited example of
vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is a phonological rule in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – must share certain distinctive features (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, meaning tha ...
in Palestinian Arabic is in the present tense
conjugation Conjugation or conjugate may refer to: Linguistics *Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form *Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language Mathematics *Complex conjugation, the change o ...
s of verbs. If the root vowel is rounded, then the roundness spreads to other high vowels in the
prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Particularly in the study of languages, a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the word to which it is affixed. Prefixes, like other affixes, can b ...
. Vowel harmony in PA is also found in the nominal verbal domain.
Suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
es are immune to rounding harmony, and vowels left of the stressed
syllable A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
do not have vowel harmony. Palestinian Arabic has a regressive vowel harmony for these present tense conjugations: if the verb stem's main vowel is /u/, then the vowel in the prefix is also /u/, else the vowel is /i/. This is compared with standard Arabic (which can be seen as representative of other Arabic dialects), where the vowel in the prefix is consistently /a/. Examples: *‘he understands’: PA ‘''bifham''’ (MSA, or standard Arabic, ‘''yafhamu''’) *‘he studies’: PA ‘''budrus''’ (MSA, ‘''yadrusu''’) *‘she wears’: PA ‘''btilbis''’ (MSA, ‘''talbisu''’) *‘she writes’: PA ‘''btuktub''’ (MSA, ‘''taktubu''’) *‘oven’: PA ‘''furun’ (MSA, ‘''furn''’) *‘wedding’: PA ‘''Urus''’ (MSA,‘'urs'’)


Substratum and Loanwords

The Ancient peoples of Palestine, as well as their
Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
successors, have either retained words from the original languages spoken in the land, or borrowed them from other cultures and various imperial rulers they contacted or interacted with throughout history.


Semitic


= Biblical Hebrew

= * ''sifil'' (bowl, mug) may be a Canaanite/Hebrew substrate. * "arugula" is regionally used in the sense of shrivelled olive. The Hebrew Bible uses it to refer to a grain (berry), while Mishnaic Hebrew used it to refer to both berries and shriveled olives.


= Western Aramaic

= Most prominently place names preserved by the inhabitants through the centuries. For instance there are mountains known as جبل الطور ʒabal ɪtˤ tˤuːɾwhere طور ˤuːɾis just the Aramaic טור for 'mountain', as well as agricultural terms.


= Modern Hebrew

= From Hebrew, especially the
Arab citizens of Israel The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...
have adopted many Hebraisms, like ("we did it!" – used as sports cheer) which has no real equivalent in Arabic. According to sociolinguist David Mendelson from Givat Haviva's Jewish-Arab Center for Peace, there is an adoption of words from Hebrew in Arabic spoken in Israel where alternative native terms exist. According to linguist Mohammed Omara, of
Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...
some researchers call the Arabic spoken by Israeli Arabs ''Arabrew'' (in Hebrew, ערברית ''"Aravrit''"). The list of words adopted contain: * رمزور am'zo:rfrom 'traffic light' * شمنيت ʃamenetfrom 'sour cream' * بسدر e'sederfrom 'O.K, alright' * كوخفيت oxa'vi:tfrom 'asterisk' * بلفون ele'fo:nfrom 'cellular phone'. Palestinians in the
Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...
sometimes refer to Israeli Arabs as "the b'seder Arabs" because of their adoption of the Hebrew word בְּסֵדֶר esederfor 'O.K.', (while Arabic is ماشي a:ʃi. However words like 'traffic light' and 'roadblock' have become a part of the general Palestinian vernacular. Interpretations of "Arabrew" are often colored by non-linguistic political and cultural factors, but how contact with Hebrew is realized has been studied, and has been described in linguistic terms and in terms of how it varies. "Arabrew" as spoken by Palestinians and more generally Arab citizens of Israel has been described as classical codeswitching without much structural effect While the codeswitching by the majority of Arab or Palestinian citizens of Israel who are Christian or Muslim from the North or the Triangle is described as limited, more intense codeswitching is seen among Arabs who live in Jewish-majority settlements as well as Bedouin (in the South) who serve in the army, although this variety can still be called codeswitching, and does not involve any significant structural change deviating from the non-Hebrew influenced norm. For the most part among all Christian and Muslim Arabs in Israel, the impact of Hebrew contact on Palestinian Arabic is limited to borrowing of nouns, mostly for specialist vocabulary, plus a few discourse markers. However, this does not apply to the Arabic spoken by the Israeli Druze, which has been documented as manifesting much more intense contact effects, including the mixture of Arabic and Hebrew words within syntactic clauses, such as the use of a Hebrew preposition for an Arabic element and vice versa, and the adherence to gender and number agreement between Arabic and Hebrew elements (i.e. a Hebrew possessive adjective must agree with the gender of the Arabic noun it describes). While Hebrew definite articles can only be used for Hebrew nouns, Arabic definite articles are used for Hebrew nouns and are, in fact, the most common DP structure.


Non-Semitic


= Turkic

= * ''Oda'' (اوضا), from Turkish '' oda'' (Room) *''Kundara'' (كندرة) from Turkish '' kundura'' (Shoe) * ''Dughri'' (دُغْرِيّ) from Turkish '' doğru'' (Straight; forward) * A -ji Suffix (جي-), used to denote professions or characteristics. Examples include ''kahwaji'' (café waiter) from Turkish ''kahveci''. And ''sufraji'', ''sabonji'', etc.


Indo-European

*
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
such as قصر asˤɾ from ''
Castrum ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...
'' (Castle), and قلم alamfrom '' Calamus'' (Reed Pens) which are also known in MSA, but also words such as طاولة ˤa:wlefrom '' Tabula'' (Table), which are known in the Arab world. * Italian such as بندورة an'do:ra from Pomodoro (Tomato). * French such as كتو\غتو atto ''' Gâteau (Cake). * English such as بنشر banʃar a reference to tools used to replace
flat tire A flat tire (British English: flat tyre) is a deflated Tire, pneumatic tire, which can cause the rim of the wheel to ride on the tire tread or the ground potentially resulting in loss of control of the vehicle or irreparable damage to the tire. T ...
s such as tire irons and lug wrenches.


Media

The
Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...
was published in Palestinian Arabic in 1940, with the
Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...
and the Letter of James published in 1946.
Films A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of Visual arts, visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are gen ...
which are of Palestinian production often use Palestinian Arabic as the main language.


See also

* Palestinian Music *
Levantine Arabic Levantine Arabic, also called Shami (Endonym and exonym, autonym: or ), is an Varieties of Arabic, Arabic variety spoken in the Levant, namely in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and southern Turkey (historically only in Adana Prov ...
*
Varieties of Arabic Varieties of Arabic (or dialects or vernaculars) are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. Arabic is a Semitic languages, Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic family that originated in the Arabian P ...
* Demographic history of Palestine (region) *
Arabization Arabization or Arabicization () is a sociology, sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Arab society becomes Arabs, Arab, meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Arabic, Arabic language, Arab cultu ...
* Arabic language in Israel ** Academy of the Arabic Language in Israel


References


Further reading

*P. Behnstedt, Wolfdietrich Fischer and Otto Jastrow, ''Handbuch der Arabischen Dialekte''. 2nd ed. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1980 () *Haim Blanc, ''Studies in North Palestinian Arabic: linguistic inquiries among the Druzes of Western Galilee and Mt. Carmel''. Oriental notes and studies, no. 4. Jerusalem: Typ. Central Press 1953. *J. Blau, "Syntax des palästinensischen Bauerndialektes von Bir-Zet: auf Grund der Volkserzahlungen aus Palastina von Hans Schmidt und Paul kahle". Walldorf-Hessen: Verlag fur Orientkunde H. Vorndran 1960. *J. Cantineau, "Remarques sur les parlés de sédentaires syro-libano-palestiniens", in: ''Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris'' 40 (1938), pp. 80–89. *R. L. Cleveland, "Notes on an Arabic Dialect of Southern Palestine", in: ''Bulletin of the American Society of Oriental Research'' 185 (1967), pp. 43–57. *Olivier Durand, ''Grammatica di arabo palestinese: il dialetto di Gerusalemme'', Rome: Università di Roma La Sapienza 1996. *Yohanan Elihai, ''Dictionnaire de l’arabe parlé palestinien: français-arabe''. Jerusalem: Typ. Yanetz 1973. *Yohanan Elihai, ''The olive tree dictionary: a transliterated dictionary of conversational Eastern Arabic (Palestinian)''. Washington, DC: Kidron Pub. 2004 () *Elias N. Haddad, "Manual of Palestinian Arabic". Jerusalem: Syrisches Weisenhaus 1909. *Moin Halloun, ''A Practical Dictionary of the Standard Dialect Spoken in Palestine''. Bethlehem University 2000. *Moin Halloun, ''Lehrbuch ds Palästinensisch-Arabischen''. Heidelberg 2001. *Moin Halloun, ''Spoken Arabic for Foreigners. An Introduction to the Palestinian Dialect''. Vol. 1 & 2. Jerusalem 2003. *Arye Levin, ''A Grammar of the Arabic Dialect of Jerusalem''
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
]. Jerusalem: Magnes Press 1994 () *M. Piamenta, ''Studies in the Syntax of Palestinian Arabic''. Jerusalem 1966. *Frank A. Rice and Majed F. Sa'ed, ''Eastern Arabic: an introduction to the spoken Arabic of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon''. Beirut: Khayat's 1960. *Frank A. Rice, ''Eastern Arabic-English, English-Eastern Arabic: dictionary and phrasebook for the spoken Arabic of Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine/Israel and Syria''. New York: Hippocrene Books 1998 () *H. Schmidt & P. E. Kahle, "Volkserzählungen aus Palaestina, gesammelt bei den Bauern von Bir-Zet". Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1918. * *Kimary N. Shahin, ''Palestinian Rural Arabic (Abu Shusha dialect)''. 2nd ed. University of British Columbia. LINCOM Europa, 2000 ()


External links

*
The Arabic dialect of central Palestine

Arabic in Jordan (Palestinian dialect)
*
Phonological change and variation in Palestinian Arabic as spoken inside Israel
, Dissertation Proposal by Uri Horesh, Philadelphia, December 12, 2003 (
PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...
)
The Corpus of Spoken Palestinian Arabic (CoSPA)
project description by Otto Jastrow. {{Authority control Languages of Palestine Levantine Arabic Languages of Israel