Arabic dialects

The varieties (or dialects or vernacular languages) of Arabic, a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family originating in the Arabian Peninsula, are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. There are considerable variations from region to region, with degrees of mutual intelligibility that are often related to geographical distance and some that are mutually unintelligible. Many aspects of the variability attested to in these modern variants can be found in the ancient Arabic dialects in the peninsula. Likewise, many of the features that characterize (or distinguish) the various modern variants can be attributed to the original settler dialects. Some organizations, such as SIL International, consider these approximately 30 different varieties to be different languages, while others, such as the Library of Congress, consider them all to be dialects of Arabic.

In terms of sociolinguistics, a major distinction exists between the formal standardized language, found mostly in writing or in prepared speech, and the widely diverging vernaculars, used for everyday speaking situations. The latter vary from country to country, from speaker to speaker (according to personal preferences, education and culture), and depending on the topic and situation. In other words, Arabic in its natural environment usually occurs in a situation of diglossia, which means that its native speakers often learn and use two linguistic forms substantially different from each other, the Modern Standard Arabic (often called MSA in English) as the official language and a local colloquial variety (called , ' in many Arab countries, meaning " slang" or "colloquial"; or called , ', meaning "common or everyday language" in the Maghreb), in different aspects of their lives.

This situation is often compared in Western literature to the Latin language, which maintained a cultured variant and several vernacular versions for centuries, until it disappeared as a spoken language, while derived Romance languages became new languages, such as Italian, Catalan, French, Castilian, Portuguese and Romanian. The regionally prevalent variety is learned as the speaker's first language whilst the formal language is subsequently learned in school. Though Arabic speakers typically do not make this distinction, the modern iteration of the formal language itself, Modern Standard Arabic, differs from the Classical Arabic that serves as its basis. While vernacular varieties differ substantially, ''Fus'ha'' (), the formal register, is standardized and universally understood by those literate in Arabic. Western scholars make a distinction between "Classical Arabic" and " Modern Standard Arabic," while speakers of Arabic generally do not consider CA and MSA to be different languages.

The largest differences between the classical/standard and the colloquial Arabic are the loss of grammatical case; a different and strict word order; the loss of the previous system of grammatical mood, along with the evolution of a new system; the loss of the inflected passive voice, except in a few relic varieties; restriction in the use of the dual number and (for most varieties) the loss of the distinctive conjugation and agreement for feminine plurals. Many Arabic dialects, Maghrebi Arabic in particular, also have significant vowel shifts and unusual consonant clusters. Unlike other dialect groups, in the Maghrebi Arabic group, first-person singular verbs begin with a n- (). Further substantial differences exist between Bedouin and sedentary speech, the countryside and major cities, ethnic groups, religious groups, social classes, men and women, and the young and the old. These differences are to some degree bridgeable. Often, Arabic speakers can adjust their speech in a variety of ways according to the context and to their intentions—for example, to speak with people from different regions, to demonstrate their level of education or to draw on the authority of the spoken language.

In terms of typological classification, Arabic dialectologists distinguish between two basic norms: Bedouin and Sedentary. This is based on a set of phonological, morphological, and syntactic characteristics that distinguish between these two norms. However, it is not really possible to keep this classification, partly because the modern dialects, especially urban variants, typically amalgamate features from both norms. Geographically, modern Arabic varieties are classified into six groups: Maghrebi, Sudanese, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Levantine and Peninsular Arabic. Speakers from distant areas, across national borders, within countries and even between cities and villages, can struggle to understand each other's dialects.

Classification

Regional varieties

The greatest variations between kinds of Arabic are those between regional language groups. Arabic dialectologists formerly distinguished between just two groups: the Mashriqi (eastern) dialects, east of Libya which includes the dialects of Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia, Levant, Egypt, Sudan, and the Maghrebi (western) dialects which includes the dialects of North Africa ( Maghreb) west of Egypt. The mutual intelligibility is high within each of those two groups, while the intelligibility between the two groups is asymmetric: Maghrebi speakers are more likely to understand Mashriqi than vice versa.

Arab dialectologists have now adopted a more detailed classification for modern variants of the language, which is divided into six major groups: Peninsular; Mesopotamian; Levantine; Egyptian; Sudanese; and Maghrebi.

These large regional groups do not correspond to borders of modern states. In the western parts of the Arab world, varieties are referred to as الدارجة ''ad-dārija'', and in the eastern parts, as العامية ''al-ʿāmmiyya''. Nearby varieties of Arabic are mostly mutually intelligible, but faraway varieties tend not to be. Varieties west of Egypt are particularly disparate, with Egyptian Arabic speakers claiming difficulty in understanding North African Arabic speakers, while North African Arabic speakers' ability to understand other Arabic speakers is mostly due to the widespread popularity of Egyptian Standard and to a lesser extent, the Levantine popular media, for example Syrian or Lebanese TV shows (this phenomenon is called asymmetric intelligibility). One factor in the differentiation of the varieties is the influence from other languages previously spoken or still presently spoken in the regions, such as Coptic, Greek and English in Egypt; French, Ottoman Turkish, Italian, Spanish, Berber, Punic or Phoenician in North Africa and the Levant; Himyaritic, Modern South Arabian and Old South Arabian in Yemen; and Syriac Aramaic, Akkadian, Babylonian and Sumerian in Mesopotamia ( Iraq).

Maghrebi group

Western varieties are influenced by the Berber languages, Punic and by Romance languages.
* Koines
** Moroccan Arabic (الدارجة/مغربية - maḡribiyya/dārija) - (ISO 639-3
ary

** Algerian Arabic (الدارجة/دزايري - dzayri/dārja) - (ISO 639-3
arq

** Tunisian Arabic (الدارجة/تونسي - tūnsi/dērja) - (ISO 639-3
aeb

** Libyan Arabic (ليبي/الدارجة - dārja/lībi) - (ISO 639-3
ayl

* Pre-Hilalian
** Jebli Arabic
** Jijel Arabic
** Siculo-Arabic (صقلي - sīqīlli, extinct in Sicily) - (ISO 639-3
sqr

*** Maltese - (ISO 639-3
mlt

* Bedouin
** Algerian Saharan Arabic - (ISO 639-3
aao

** Hassaniya Arabic - (ISO 639-3
mey

* Andalusian Arabic (أندلسي - andalūsi, extinct in Iberia, surviving among Andalusi communities in Morocco and Algeria) - (ISO 639-3
xaa

Sudanese group

Sudanese varieties are influenced by the Nubian language.
* Sudanese Arabic (سوداني - sūdāni) - (ISO 639-3
apd

** Juba Arabic - (ISO 639-3
pga

* Chadian Arabic (Baggara, Shuwa Arabic) - (ISO 639-3
shu

** Turku Arabic, pidgin

Egyptian group

Egyptian varieties are influenced by the Coptic language.
* Egyptian Arabic (مصرى - maṣri) - (ISO 639-3
arz

* Sa'idi Arabic (صعيدى - ṣaʿīdi) - (ISO 639-3
aec

Mesopotamian group

Mesopotamian varieties are influenced by the Mesopotamian languages (Sumerian, Akkadian, Mandaic, Eastern Aramaic), Turkish language, and Iranian languages.

* North Mesopotamian (''qeltu'' varieties)
** North Mesopotamian Arabic or Moslawi (موصلية - mūsuliyya) - (ISO 639-3: ayp)
** Cypriot Maronite Arabic - (ISO 639-3: acy)
** Judeo-Iraqi Arabic - (ISO 639-3: yhd)
*** Baghdad Jewish Arabic
** Anatolian Arabic
* Baghdadi Arabic (''gelet'' varieties) - (ISO 639-3: acm)
* South Mesopotamian
** South Mesopotamian Arabic
** Khuzestani Arabic

Levantine group

Levantine varieties are influenced by the Canaanite languages,
Western Aramaic languages, and to a lesser extent, the Turkish language and Greek and Persian and ancient Egyptian language.
* South Levantine Arabic - (ISO 639-3
ajp

** Palestinian Arabic (الفلسطينية)
** Jordanian Arabic (الأردنية)
* North Levantine Arabic - (ISO 639-3
apc

** Syrian Arabic (السورية)
***Damascene Arabic (الدمشقية)
** Lebanese Arabic (اللبنانية)
** Çukurova Arabic (القيليقية)
* Bedawi Arabic (البدوية- badawi/bdiwi) - (ISO 639-3
avl

Peninsular group

Some peninsular varieties are influenced by South Arabian Languages.
* Najdi Arabic (نجدي - najdi) - (ISO 639-3
ars

* Gulf Arabic (خليجي - ḵalīji) - (ISO 639-3
afb

* Bahrani Arabic (بحراني - baḥrāni) - (ISO 639-3
abv

* Hejazi Arabic (حجازي - ḥijāzi) - (ISO 639-3
acw

* Yemeni Arabic (يمني - yamani)
** Hadhrami Arabic (حضرمي - ḥaḍrami) - (ISO 639-3
ayh

** Sanʽani Arabic - (ISO 639-3
ayn

** Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic - (ISO 639-3
acq

** Tihamiyya Arabic
* Omani Arabic (عماني - ʿumāni) - (ISO 639-3
acx

* Dhofari Arabic - (ISO 639-3
adf

* Shihhi Arabic (شحّي - šiḥḥi) - (ISO 639-3
ssh

* Bareqi Arabic

Peripheries

* Central Asian Arabic
** Tajiki Arabic - (ISO 639-3
abh

** Uzbeki Arabic - (ISO 639-3
auz

* Shirvani Arabic (extinct)
* Khorasani Arabic

Jewish varieties

Jewish varieties are influenced by the Hebrew and Aramaic languages. Though they have features similar to each other, they are not a homogeneous unit and still belong philologically to the same family groupings as their non-Judeo counterpart varieties.
* Judeo-Arabic (ISO 639-
jrb

** Judeo-Iraqi Arabic (ISO 639-
yhd

*** Judeo-Baghdadi Arabic
** Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (ISO 639-
aju

** Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic (ISO 639-
yud

** Judeo-Tunisian Arabic
** Judeo-Yemeni Arabic (ISO 639-
jye

Creoles

* Nubi

Pidgins

* Maridi Arabic

Diglossic variety

* Modern Standard Arabic - (ISO 639-3
arb

Language mixing and change

Arabic is characterized by a wide number of varieties; however, Arabic speakers are often able to manipulate the way they speak based on the circumstances. There can be a number of motives for changing one's speech: the formality of a situation, the need to communicate with people with different dialects, to get social approval, to differentiate oneself from the listener, when citing a written text to differentiate between personal and professional or general matters, to clarify a point, and to shift to a new topic.

An important factor in the mixing or changing of Arabic is the concept of a prestige dialect. This refers to the level of respect accorded to a language or dialect within a speech community. The formal Arabic language carries a considerable prestige in most Arabic-speaking communities, depending on the context. This is not the only source of prestige, though. Many studies have shown that for most speakers, there is a prestige variety of vernacular Arabic. In Egypt, for non-Cairenes, the prestige dialect is Cairo Arabic. For Jordanian women from Bedouin or rural background, it may be the urban dialects of the big cities, especially including the capital Amman. Moreover, in certain contexts, a dialect relatively different from formal Arabic may carry more prestige than a dialect closer to the formal language—this is the case in Bahrain, for example.

Language mixes and changes in different ways. Arabic speakers often use more than one variety of Arabic within a conversation or even a sentence. This process is referred to as code-switching. For example, a woman on a TV program could appeal to the authority of the formal language by using elements of it in her speech in order to prevent other speakers from cutting her off. Another process at work is "leveling", the "elimination of very localised dialectical features in favour of more regionally general ones." This can affect all linguistic levels—semantic, syntactic, phonological, etc. The change can be temporary, as when a group of speakers with substantially different Arabics communicate, or it can be permanent, as often happens when people from the countryside move to the city and adopt the more prestigious urban dialect, possibly over a couple of generations.

This process of accommodation sometimes appeals to the formal language, but often does not. For example, villagers in central Palestine may try to use the dialect of Jerusalem rather than their own when speaking with people with substantially different dialects, particularly since they may have a very weak grasp of the formal language. In another example, groups of educated speakers from different regions will often use dialectical forms that represent a middle ground between their dialects rather than trying to use the formal language, to make communication easier and more comprehensible. For example, to express the existential "there is" (as in, "there is a place where..."), Arabic speakers have access to many different words:
* Iraq:
* Egypt, the Levant, and most of the Arabian peninsula
* Tunisia:
* Morocco and Algeria:
* Yemen:
* Modern Standard Arabic:

In this case, is most likely to be used as it is not associated with a particular region and is the closest to a dialectical middle ground for this group of speakers. Moreover, given the prevalence of movies and TV shows in Egyptian Arabic, the speakers are all likely to be familiar with it. Iraqi ''aku'', Levantine ''fīh'' and North African ''kayn'' all evolve from Classical Arabic forms (''yakūn'', ''fīhi'', ''kā'in'' respectively), but now sound very different.

Sometimes a certain dialect may be associated with backwardness and does not carry mainstream prestige—yet it will continue to be used as it carries a kind of covert prestige and serves to differentiate one group from another when necessary.

Typological differences

A basic distinction that cuts across the entire geography of the Arabic-speaking world is between sedentary and nomadic varieties (often misleadingly called Bedouin). 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 nomadic Arabs gradually followed thereafter. In some areas, sedentary dialects are divided further into urban and rural variants.

The most obvious phonetic difference between the two groups is the pronunciation of the letter ق '' qaf'', which is pronounced as a voiced in the urban varieties of the Arabian Peninsula (e.g. the Hejazi dialect in the ancient cities of Mecca and Medina) as well as in the Bedouin dialects across all Arabic-speaking countries, but is voiceless mainly in post- Arabized urban centers as either (with being an allophone in a few words mostly in North African cities) or (merging with ) in the urban centers of Egypt and the Levant. The latter were mostly Arabized after the Islamic Conquests.

The other major phonetic difference is that the rural varieties preserve the Classical Arabic (CA) interdentals ث and ذ, and merge the CA emphatic sounds ض and ظ into rather than sedentary .

The most significant differences between rural Arabic and non-rural Arabic are in syntax. The sedentary varieties in particular share a number of common innovations from CA. This has led to the suggestion, first articulated by Charles Ferguson, that a simplified koiné language developed in the army staging camps in Iraq, whence the remaining parts of the modern Arab world were conquered.

In general the rural varieties are more conservative than the sedentary varieties and the rural varieties within the Arabian peninsula are even more conservative than those elsewhere. Within the sedentary varieties, the western varieties (particularly, Moroccan Arabic) are less conservative than the eastern varieties.

A number of cities in the Arabic world speak a "Bedouin" variety, which acquires prestige in that context.

Examples of major regional differences

The following example illustrates similarities and differences between the literary, standardized varieties, and major urban dialects of Arabic. Maltese, a highly divergent Siculo-Arabic language descended from Maghrebi Arabic is also provided.

''True pronunciations differ; transliterations used approach an approximate demonstration. Also, the pronunciation of Modern Standard Arabic differs significantly from region to region.''