The Arabic language family is divided into several categories which are:

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 ...

( pre-Islamic Arabic), the literary varieties (

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 ...

and

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 ...

), 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 (the region of Syria,

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

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 Geez ( or ; , and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient South Semitic language. The language originates from what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. Today, Geez is used as the main liturgical langu ...

. Most scholars reject the Southwest Semitic subgrouping because it is not supported by any innovations and because shared features with South Arabian and Ethiopic 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 The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

, 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 ("

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

isation"). According to Garbini, this constant alternation explains how innovations spread from Syria into other areas. Isolated nomads progressively spread southwards and reached

South Arabia South Arabia (), or Greater Yemen, is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it has also historically included Najran, Jazan, ...

, 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 Northwest Semitic is a division of the Semitic languages comprising the indigenous languages of the Levant. It emerged from Proto-Semitic in the Early Bronze Age. It is first attested in proper names identified as Amorite in the Middle Bronze ...

(

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 ...

, Phoenician,

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 ...

, etc.) or the South Semitic languages ( Modern South Arabian,

, 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 In linguistics, diglossia ( , ) is where two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled "L" or "low" v ...

(between Classical 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).

Modern spoken Arabic varieties

According to Dutch linguist Kees Versteegh, modern vernaculars (also called dialects, colloquial varieties or spoken Arabic varieties) are classified as follows: * Arabic ** Peninsular *** North-east Arabian: **** ʿAnazī: including Kuwaiti Arabic, Bahrain Sunnī Arabic 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, ...

**** Šammar: including some Bedouin dialects in Iraq **** Syro-Mesopotamian Bedouin: including the Bedouin dialects of North Israel and Jordan, and the Dawāġrah dialect *** South(-west) Arabian:

Yemeni Arabic Yemeni Arabic () is a cluster of varieties of Arabic spoken in Yemen and southwestern Saudi Arabia. It is generally considered a very conservative dialect cluster, having many classical features not found across most of the Arabic-speaking world ...

(including Sanʽani Arabic, Hadhrami Arabic and Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic), Shiʿite Baḥārna and Omani Arabic *** Ḥijāzī (West Arabian): Bedouin dialects of the

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

and the Tihamah. Includes

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

and

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

. *** Northwest Arabian:

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 ...

, Sinai, southern Jordan, eastern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba and "some regions in north-western Saudi Arabia" ** Syro-Lebanese *** Lebanese/Central Syrian: including all Lebanese dialects, Damascus Arabic, Druze Arabic, and Çukurova Arabic. Versteegh notes that Cypriot Arabic is usually included in this group although it also has

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 ...

(qeltu) features. *** North Syrian: including Aleppo Arabic *** Palestinian/ Jordanian: *** Palestinian urban (madani) *** Central Palestinian rural (fellahi) **** South Palestinian rural and Jordanian, including the Hauran ** Greater Mesopotamian ***

(Mesopotamian Qǝltu Arabic) **** Tigris ***** Jewish Baghdadi and Christian Baghdadi **** Euphrates **** Anatolian **** Central Asian Arabic ***** Uzbekistan Arabic *** Gilit Mesopotamian Arabic **** Muslim Baghdadi **** Urban Khuzestani ** Egyptian–Sudanese *** Chad-Sudan **** Chadian Arabic ***** Bagirmi: Nigeria, Cameroon, and part of Chad **** Urban dialects of Chad, including N’Djamena and Abbéché ****

Sudanese Arabic Sudanese Arabic, also referred to as the Sudanese dialect (, ), Colloquial Sudanese ( ) or locally as Common Sudanese ( ) refers to the various related varieties of Arabic spoken in Sudan as well as parts of Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Sudanese ...

***** Juba Arabic ***** Nubi Arabic *** Egyptian proper ****

Nile Delta The Nile Delta (, or simply , ) is the River delta, delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's larger deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the eas ...

***** Eastern Delta ( Šarqiyya) ***** Western Delta **** Cairene Arabic ****

Middle Egypt Middle Egypt () is the section of land between Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt, stretching upstream from Asyut in the south to Memphis, Egypt, Memphis in the north. At the time, Ancient Egypt was divided into Lower and Upper Egypt, ...

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah, Gizeh, Geeza, Jiza''; , , ' ) is the third-largest city in Egypt by area after Cairo and Alexandria; and fourth-largest city in Africa by population after Kinshasa, Lagos, and Cairo. It is the capital of ...

to Asyut **** Upper Egyptian ***** Between Asyut and

Nag Hammadi Nag Hammadi ( ; ) is a city and Markaz (administrative division), markaz in Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile in the Qena Governorate, about north-west of Luxor. The city had a population of close to 61,737 . History ...

***** Between

and Qena ***** Between Qena and

Luxor Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt. Luxor had a population of 263,109 in 2020, with an area of approximately and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited c ...

***** Between

and Esna ** Maghrebi *** Pre-Hilālī: all urban **** Eastern pre-Hilālī: Libya, Tunisia (including Judeo-Tunisian), eastern Algeria **** Western pre-Hilālī: western Algeria and Morocco **** Maltese **** Andalusian Arabic (extinct) *** Hilālī: Bedouin dialects of North Africa **** Sulaym: Libyan Arabic and southern Tunisia **** Eastern Hilāl: central Tunisia and eastern Algeria **** Central Hilāl: south and central Algeria, especially areas bordering the Sahara **** Western Hilali: Hilali Chaoui confederations in Casablanca-Settat **** Maʿqil: western Algeria and Moroccan plains ***** Hassaniya

Notes

References

Sources

* * Cantineau, Jean (1955). "La dialectologie arabe", ''Orbis'' 4:149–169. * * * 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 * * {{Authority control Central Semitic languages

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Views on Arabic classification

Modern spoken Arabic varieties

See also

Notes

References

Sources