Classification of Arabic languages

The Arabic language family is divided into several categories: Old Arabic, the literary varieties, and the modern vernaculars.

The genealogical position of Arabic within the group of the Semitic languages has long been a problem.

Views on Arabic classification

Semitic languages were confined in a relatively small geographic area (Greater Syria, Mesopotamia and the Arabian desert) and often spoken in contiguous regions. Permanent contacts between the speakers of these languages facilitated borrowing between them. Borrowing disrupts historical processes of change and makes it difficult to reconstruct the genealogy of languages.

In the traditional classification of the Semitic languages, Arabic was in the Southwest Semitic group, based on some affinities with Modern South Arabian and Geʽez.

Most scholars reject the Southwest Semitic subgrouping because it is not supported by any innovations and because shared features with South Arabian and Ethiopian were only due to areal diffusion.

In 1976, linguist Robert Hetzron classified Arabic languages as a Central Semitic language:

John Huehnergard, Aaron D. Rubin, and other scholars suggested subsequent modifications to Hetzron's model:

However, several scholars, such as Giovanni Garbini, consider that the historical–genetic interpretation is not a satisfactory way of representing the development of the Semitic languages (contrary to Indo-European languages, which spread over a wide area and were usually isolated from each other). Edward Ullendorff even thinks it is impossible to establish any genetic hierarchy between Semitic languages. These scholars prefer a purely typological–geographical approach without any claim to a historical derivation.

For instance, in Garbini's view, the Syrian Desert was the core area of the Semitic languages where innovations came from. This region had contacts between sedentary settlements—on the desert fringe—and nomads from the desert. Some nomads joined settlements, while some settlers became isolated nomads (" Bedouinisation"). According to Garbini, this constant alternation explains how innovations spread from Syria into other areas. Isolated nomads progressively spread southwards and reached South Arabia, where the South Arabian language was spoken. They established linguistic contacts back and forth between Syria and South Arabia and their languages. That is why Garbini considers that Arabic does not belong exclusively to either the Northwest Semitic languages (Aramaic, Phoenician, Hebrew, etc.) or the South Semitic languages (Modern South Arabian, Geʽez, etc.) but that it was affected by innovations in both groups.

There is still no consensus regarding the exact position of Arabic within Semitic languages. The only consensus among scholars is that Arabic varieties exhibit common features with both the South (South Arabian, Ethiopic) and the North ( Canaanite, Aramaic) Semitic languages, and that it also contains unique innovations.

There is no consensus among scholars whether Arabic diglossia (between Classical Arabic, also called "Old Arabic" and Arabic vernaculars, also called "New Arabic" or "Neo-Arabic") was the result of the Islamic conquests and due to the influence of non-Arabic languages or whether it was already the natural state in 7th-century Arabia (which means that both types coexisted in the pre-Islamic period).

Arabic varieties

* Old Arabic, the language of southern Levant and northwestern Arabia in the pre-Islamic period and its varieties:
** Nabataean Arabic
** Old Hejazi
** Hismaic
** Safaitic
* Classical Arabic, the liturgical language of Islam, which emerged in the 7th century AD
* Neo-Arabic, the descendants of spoken Old Arabic, including:
**Colloquial Arabic
*** Maghrebi Arabic, also called Western Arabic
**** Pre-Hilalian Arabic dialects
**** Koinés
*****Algerian Arabic
*****Moroccan Arabic
*****Tunisian Arabic
*****Libyan Arabic
***** Algerian Saharan Arabic
*****Andalusian Arabic (extinct)
*****Siculo-Arabic (extinct)
******Maltese
****Western Bedouin
*****Hassaniya Arabic
***** Algerian Saharan Arabic
*** Northern Arabic
****Levantine Arabic
***** North Levantine Arabic
****** Syrian Arabic
****** Lebanese Arabic
****** Çukurova Arabic
***** South Levantine Arabic
****** Jordanian Arabic
****** Palestinian Arabic
***** Cypriot Arabic
***** Levantine Bedawi Arabic
**** Egyptian Arabic
**** Saʽidi Arabic
**** Mesopotamian Arabic
***** Gelet
****** Tigris dialect cluster
******* Baghdadi Arabic
****** Euphrates dialect cluster
****** Khuzestani Arabic
***** Qeltu
*** Peninsular Arabic, also called Southern Arabic
**** Gulf Arabic
***** Kuwaiti Arabic
***** varieties from Qatar and the UAE
**** Shihhi Arabic
**** Omani Arabic
**** Dhofari Arabic
**** Najdi Arabic
**** Hejazi Arabic
***** Rashaida
**** Bahraini Arabic
**** Yemeni Arabic
***** Hadhrami Arabic
***** Sanʽani Arabic
***** Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic
***** Tihamiyya Arabic
***** Somali Arabic
***** Bareqi Arabic
*** Central Arabic
**** Sudanese Arabic
***** Nubi Arabic (Sudanese Arabic-based creole)
***** Juba Arabic (Sudanese Arabic-based creole)
* Modern Standard Arabic, the standardized variety of the general Arabic language used since the 19th century and modernized version of the liturgical language of Islam

See also

* Arab (disambiguation)
* Etymology of Arab

References

Sources

*
* Cantineau, Jean (1955). "La dialectologie arabe", ''Orbis'' 4:149–169.
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*
* Kaye, Alan S., & Judith Rosenhouse (1997). "Arabic Dialects and Maltese", ''The Semitic Languages''. Ed. Robert Hetzron. New York: Routledge. Pages 263–311.
*
*
* Scagliarini, F., (1999). "The Dedanitic inscriptions from Jabal 'Ikma in north-western Hejaz" ''Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies'' 29, 143–150
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Central Semitic languages
Arabic