The Arabic language family is divided into several categories:
Old Arabic
Old Arabic is the name for the pre-Islamic Arabic language or dialect continuum. Various forms of Old Arabic are attested in many scripts like Safaitic, Hismaic, Nabatean, and even Greek.
Classification
Old Arabic and its descendants are class ...
, 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
Syria (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 ''Sura/i''; gr, Συρία) or Sham ( ar, ٱلشَّام, ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other s ...
,
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
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
The Modern South Arabian languages (MSALs), also known as Eastern South Semitic languages, are a group of endangered languages spoken by small populations inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula, in Yemen and Oman, and Socotra Island. Together with the m ...
and
Geʽez
Geez (; ' , and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient Ethiopian Semitic language. The language originates from what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Today, Geez is used as the main liturgi ...
.
Most scholars reject the Southwest Semitic subgrouping because it is not supported by any
innovations
Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entit ...
and because shared features with South Arabian and Ethiopian were only due to
areal diffusion.
In 1976, linguist
Robert Hetzron
Robert Hetzron, born Herzog (31 December 1937, Budapest – 12 August 1997, Santa Barbara, California), was a Hungarian-born linguist known for his work on the comparative study of Afro-Asiatic languages, as well as for his study of Cushitic ...
classified Arabic languages as a
Central Semitic language
Central Semitic languages are one of the three groups of West Semitic languages, alongside Modern South Arabian languages and Ethiopian Semitic languages.
Central Semitic can itself be further divided into two groups: Arabic and Northwest Semit ...
:
John Huehnergard
John Huehnergard (born March 16, 1952) is a Canadian-American specialist in Semitic languages, notable for his work on categorization, etymology, and historical linguistics.
Early life and education
Huehnergard was born in Kitchener, Ontario, Can ...
,
Aaron D. Rubin, and other scholars suggested subsequent modifications to Hetzron's model:
However, several scholars, such as
Giovanni Garbini
Giovanni Garbini (8 October 19312 January 2017) was an Italian Orientalist and Semitist. His biblical studies revealed historical omissions and helped scholars to interpret the biblical narrative in the larger context of the history of the ancien ...
, 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 overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
, which spread over a wide area and were usually isolated from each other).
Edward Ullendorff
Edward Ullendorff (1920–2011) was a British scholar and historian. He was a prominent figure in Ethiopian Studies and also contributed work on the Semitic languages.
Biography
Born on 25 January 1920 in Zurich, Switzerland, Ullendorff was e ...
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
The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''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 of the Middle East, including parts of sou ...
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 nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
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 () is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it has also historically included Najran, Jizan, Al-Bahah, and 'Asi ...
, where the
South Arabian language
The Modern South Arabian languages (MSALs), also known as Eastern South Semitic languages, are a group of endangered languages spoken by small populations inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula, in Yemen and Oman, and Socotra Island. Together with the ...
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 language, Proto-Semitic in the Early Bronze Age. It is first attested in proper names identified as Amorite ...
(
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
,
Phoenician,
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, etc.) or the
South Semitic languages
South Semitic is a putative branch of the Semitic languages, which form a branch of the larger Afro-Asiatic language family, found in (North and East) Africa and Western Asia.
History
The "homeland" of the South Semitic languages is widely d ...
(
Modern South Arabian
The Modern South Arabian languages (MSALs), also known as Eastern South Semitic languages, are a group of endangered languages spoken by small populations inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula, in Yemen and Oman, and Socotra Island. Together with the m ...
,
Geʽez
Geez (; ' , and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient Ethiopian Semitic language. The language originates from what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Today, Geez is used as the main liturgi ...
, 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 a situation in which 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 " ...
(between Classical Arabic, also called "Old Arabic" and Arabic vernaculars, also called "New Arabic" or "Neo-Arabic") was the result of the
Islamic conquests
The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He estab ...
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
Old Arabic is the name for the pre-Islamic Arabic language or dialect continuum. Various forms of Old Arabic are attested in many scripts like Safaitic, Hismaic, Nabatean, and even Greek.
Classification
Old Arabic and its descendants are class ...
, the language of southern Levant and northwestern Arabia in the pre-Islamic period and its varieties:
**
Nabataean Arabic
Nabataean Arabic was the dialect of Arabic spoken by the Nabataeans in antiquity.
In the 1st century AD, the Nabataeans wrote their inscriptions, such as the legal texts carved on the façades of the monumental tombs at Mada'in Salih, ancient ...
**
Old Hejazi
**
Hismaic
**
Safaitic
Safaitic ( ''Al-Ṣafāʾiyyah'') is a variety of the South Semitic scripts used by the nomads of the basalt desert of southern Syria and northern Jordan, the so-called Ḥarrah, to carve rock inscriptions in various dialects of Old Arabic and A ...
*
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic ( ar, links=no, ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ, al-ʿarabīyah al-fuṣḥā) or Quranic Arabic is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notab ...
, the liturgical language of Islam, which emerged in the 7th century AD
* Neo-Arabic, the descendants of spoken Old Arabic, including:
**
Colloquial Arabic
The variety (linguistics), varieties (or dialects or vernacular languages) of Arabic, a Semitic languages, Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic family originating in the Arabian Peninsula, are the linguistic systems tha ...
***
Maghrebi Arabic
Maghrebi Arabic (, Western Arabic; as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. It includes Moroccan, Alger ...
, also called Western Arabic
****
Pre-Hilalian Arabic dialects
**** Koinés
*****
Algerian Arabic
Algerian Arabic (natively known as Dziria) is a dialect derived from the form of Arabic spoken in northern Algeria. It belongs to the Maghrebi Arabic language continuum and is partially mutually intelligible with Tunisian and Moroccan.
Like ...
*****
Moroccan Arabic
Moroccan Arabic ( ar, العربية المغربية الدارجة, translit=al-ʻArabīya al-Maghribīya ad-Dārija ), also known as Darija (), is the dialectal, vernacular form or forms of Arabic spoken in Morocco. It is part of the Maghrebi ...
*****
Tunisian Arabic
Tunisian Arabic, or simply Tunisian, is a set of dialects of Maghrebi Arabic spoken in Tunisia. It is known among its over 11 million speakers aeb, translit=Tounsi/Tounsiy, label=as, تونسي , "Tunisian" or "Everyday Language" to distingu ...
*****
Libyan Arabic
Libyan Arabic ( ar, ليبي, Lībī) is a variety of Arabic spoken mainly in Libya, and neighboring countries. It can be divided into two major dialect areas; the eastern centred in Benghazi and Bayda, and the western centred in Tripoli and M ...
*****
Algerian Saharan Arabic
Algerian Saharan Arabic (also known as Saharan Arabic, Tamanrasset Arabic, Tamanghasset Arabic) is a variety of Arabic indigenous to and spoken predominantly in the Algerian Sahara. Its ISO 639-3 language code is "aao," and it belongs to Maghrebi ...
*****
Andalusian Arabic
Andalusi Arabic (), also known as Andalusian Arabic, was a variety or varieties of Arabic spoken mainly from the 9th to the 17th century in Al-Andalus, the regions of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) once under Muslim rule. It ...
(extinct)
*****
Siculo-Arabic
Siculo-Arabic ( ar, الْلهجَة الْعَرَبِيَة الْصَقلِيَة), also known as Sicilian Arabic, is the term used for varieties of Arabic that were spoken in the Emirate of Sicily (which included Malta) from the 9th century, ...
(extinct)
******
Maltese
****Western Bedouin
*****
Hassaniya Arabic
Hassānīya ( ar, حسانية '; also known as , , , , and ''Maure'') is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic spoken by Mauritanian Arabs and the Sahrawi. It was spoken by the Beni Ḥassān Bedouin tribes, who extended their authority over most of M ...
*****
Algerian Saharan Arabic
Algerian Saharan Arabic (also known as Saharan Arabic, Tamanrasset Arabic, Tamanghasset Arabic) is a variety of Arabic indigenous to and spoken predominantly in the Algerian Sahara. Its ISO 639-3 language code is "aao," and it belongs to Maghrebi ...
*** Northern Arabic
****
Levantine Arabic
Levantine Arabic, also called Shami (autonym: or ), is a group of mutually intelligible vernacular Arabic varieties spoken in the Levant, in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Turkey (historically in Adana, Mersin and Hatay on ...
*****
North Levantine Arabic
North Levantine Arabic ( ar, اللهجة الشامية الشمالية, al-lahja š-šāmiyya š-šamāliyya, North Levantine Arabic: ) is a subdivision of Levantine Arabic, a variety of Arabic.
It stems from the north in Turkey, specificall ...
******
Syrian Arabic
Syrian Arabic refers to any of the Arabic varieties spoken in Syria, or specifically to Levantine Arabic.
Aleppo, Idlib, and Coastal dialects
Aleppo and surroundings
Characterized by the imperfect with ''a''-: ''ašṛab'' ‘I drink’, ...
******
Lebanese Arabic
Lebanese Arabic ( ar, عَرَبِيّ لُبْنَانِيّ ; autonym: ), or simply Lebanese ( ar, لُبْنَانِيّ ; autonym: ), is a Varieties of Arabic, variety of North Levantine Arabic, indigenous to and spoken primarily in Lebano ...
******
Çukurova Arabic
*****
South Levantine Arabic
South Levantine Arabic ( ar, اللهجة الشامية الجنوبية), a subdivision of Levantine Arabic, is spoken in the Southern Levant, mostly the Palestinian Territories (the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip) and ...
******
Jordanian Arabic
Jordanian Arabic is a dialect continuum of mutually intelligible varieties of Arabic spoken by the population of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Jordanian Arabic can be divided into sedentary and Bedouin varieties. Sedentary varieties belong ...
******
Palestinian Arabic
Palestinian Arabic is a dialect continuum of mutually intelligible varieties of Levantine Arabic spoken by most Palestinians in Palestine, Israel and in the Palestinian diaspora. Together with Jordanian Arabic, it has the ISO 639-3 language code ...
*****
Cypriot Arabic
Cypriot Arabic ( ar, العربية القبرصية), also known as Cypriot Maronite Arabic or Sanna, is a moribund variety of Arabic spoken by the Maronite community of Cyprus. Formerly speakers were mostly situated in Kormakitis, but followin ...
*****
Levantine Bedawi Arabic
Northwest Arabian Arabic (also called Levantine Bedawi Arabic or Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic) is a proposed subfamily of Arabic encompassing the traditional Bedouin dialects of the Sinai Peninsula, the Negev, southern Jordan, and the northw ...
****
Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and o ...
****
Saʽidi Arabic
Ṣaʽīdi Arabic (autonym: , ), or Upper Egyptian Arabic, is a variety of Arabic spoken by the Upper Egyptians in the area that is South/Upper Egypt, a strip of land on both sides of the Nile that extends from Aswan and downriver (northwards) ...
****
Mesopotamian Arabic
Mesopotamian Arabic, ( ar, لهجة بلاد ما بين النهرين) also known as Iraqi Arabic ( ar, اللهجة العراقية), or Gilit Mesopotamian Arabic (as opposed to Qeltu Mesopotamian Arabic) is a continuum of mutually intelligib ...
***** Gelet
****** Tigris dialect cluster
*******
Baghdadi Arabic
Baghdadi Arabic is the Arabic dialect spoken in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. During the last century, Baghdadi Arabic has become the lingua franca of Iraq, and the language of commerce and education. It is considered a subset of Iraqi Arabic.
P ...
****** Euphrates dialect cluster
******
Khuzestani Arabic
Khuzestani Arabic is a dialect of Gelet (Southern) Mesopotamian Arabic spoken by the Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan Province of Iran. Whilst being a southern Mesopotamian Arabic dialect, it has many similarities with Gulf Arabic in neighbouring Kuwa ...
*****
Qeltu
***
Peninsular Arabic
Peninsular Arabic are the varieties of Arabic spoken throughout the Arabian Peninsula. This includes the countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Southern Iran, and Southern Iraq.
The modern dialects s ...
, also called Southern Arabic
****
Gulf Arabic
Gulf Arabic ( ' 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, eastern Saud ...
*****
Kuwaiti Arabic
Kuwaiti (in Kuwaiti accent , ) is a Gulf Arabic dialect spoken in Kuwait. Kuwaiti Arabic shares many phonetic features unique to Gulf dialects spoken in the Arabian Peninsula. Due to Kuwait's soap opera industry, knowledge of Kuwaiti Arabic ha ...
***** varieties from Qatar and the UAE
****
Shihhi Arabic
Shihhi Arabic (also known as Shehhi, Shihu, Shihuh, or Al-Shihuh) (Arabic: اللهجة الشحية Al-Lahjah Al-Shihhiyya) is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Musandam Governorate of Oman and Ras al Khaimah emirate of UAE.Raymond G. Gordon Jr. ...
****
Omani Arabic
Omani Arabic (also known as Omani Hadari Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Al Hajar Mountains of Oman and in a few neighboring coastal regions. It is the easternmost Arabic dialect. It was formerly spoken by colonists in Kenya and Tanz ...
****
Dhofari Arabic
Dhofari Arabic, also known as Dhofari or Zofari, is a variety of Arabic spoken around Salalah in Oman's Dhofar Governorate. It has the ISO 639-3 language code "adf".
Nomadic and sedentary communities living in the area speak Dhofari Arabic as a f ...
****
Najdi Arabic
Najdi Arabic ( ar, اللهجة النجدية) is the group of Arabic varieties originating from the Najd region of Saudi Arabia. The group includes the majority of bedouin tribes historically residing in deserts surrounding Najd, and as a result ...
****
Hejazi Arabic
Hejazi Arabic or Hijazi Arabic (HA) ( ar, حجازي, ḥijāzī), also known as West Arabian Arabic, is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Hejaz region in Saudi Arabia. Strictly speaking, there are two main groups of dialects spoken in the Hejaz ...
*****
Rashaida
The Rashaida () is an ethnic group inhabiting the coastal plain from Massawa in Eritrea to the border with eastern Sudan. They are descended from Arabs (descended from Banu Abs) who fled from the Hejaz in present-day Saudi Arabia after tribal warf ...
****
Bahraini Arabic
****
Yemeni Arabic
Yemeni Arabic is a cluster of varieties of Arabic spoken in Yemen, southwestern Saudi Arabia and the Horn of Africa. It is generally considered a very conservative dialect cluster, having many classical features not found across most of the Ara ...
*****
Hadhrami Arabic
Hadhrami Arabic, or Ḥaḍrami Arabic (ḤA), is a variety of Arabic spoken by the Hadhrami people (''Ḥaḍārima'') living in the region of Hadhramaut in southeastern Yemen, western Oman and southern Saudi Arabia. It is also spoken by many em ...
*****
Sanʽani Arabic
*****
Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic
*****
Tihamiyya Arabic
*****
Somali Arabic
Yemeni Arabic is a cluster of varieties of Arabic spoken in Yemen, southwestern Saudi Arabia and the Horn of Africa. It is generally considered a very conservative dialect cluster, having many classical features not found across most of the Arabi ...
*****
Bareqi Arabic
Bareqi Arabic ( ar, لهجة بارقية) is one of the five major varieties of Arabic spoken in Saudi Arabia. It is spoken in many towns and villages in and around Bareq.
Characteristics
Bareqi Arabic has many aspects that differentiate it fro ...
*** Central Arabic
****
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, Ethiopia, and Chad. Sudane ...
*****
Nubi Arabic
The Nubi language (also called Ki-Nubi, ar, كي-نوبي, kī-nūbī) is a Sudanese Arabic-based creole language spoken in Uganda around Bombo, Uganda, Bombo, and in Kenya around Kibera, by the Nubians (Uganda), Ugandan Nubians, many of whom ...
(Sudanese Arabic-based creole)
*****
Juba Arabic
Juba Arabic (, ; ar, عربية جوبا, ‘Arabīyat Jūbā), also known since 2011 as South Sudanese Arabic, is a lingua franca spoken mainly in Equatoria Province in South Sudan, and derives its name from the South Sudanese capital, Juba. I ...
(Sudanese Arabic-based creole)
*
Modern Standard Arabic
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA), terms used mostly by linguists, is the variety of Standard language, standardized, Literary language, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th ...
, the standardized variety of the general
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
language used since the 19th century and modernized version of the liturgical language of Islam
See also
*
Arab (disambiguation)
*
Etymology of Arab
The proper name ''Arab'' or ''Arabian'' (and cognates in other languages) has been used to translate several different but similar-sounding words in ancient and classical texts which do not necessarily have the same meaning or origin. The etymolo ...
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 Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...