Varieties of Arabic (or dialects or vernaculars) are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. Arabic is a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family that originated in the Arabian Peninsula. 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 as well as local native languages and dialects. Some organizations, such as SIL International, consider these approximately 30 different varieties to be separate 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 (MSA) 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 maybe compared to the way Latin evolved into many Romance languages, or Sanskrit into many Prakrits and related languages.
The regionally prevalent variety is learned as the speaker's first language whilst the formal language is subsequently learned in school. While vernacular varieties differ substantially, (), the formal register, is standardized and universally understood by those literate in Arabic. Linguists often make a distinction between Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, while speakers of Arabic colloquially do not differentiate CA and MSA as different varieties.
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 maintain this classification, partly because the modern dialects, especially urban variants, typically amalgamate features from both norms. Geographically, modern Arabic varieties are classified into five groups: Maghrebi, Egyptian (including Egyptian and Sudanese), 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 five major groups: Peninsular, Mesopotamian, Levantine, Egypto-Sudanic or Nile Valley (including Egyptian and 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 , and in the eastern parts, as . 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 and 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 (mainly other Afroasiatic languages) previously spoken or still presently spoken in the regions, such as Ancient Egyptian or Coptic in Egypt; Aramaic in the Levant; Aramaic, Akkadian, and Persian in Mesopotamia (Iraq); Berber, Spanish, French, and Italian in the Maghreb; Himyaritic, Modern South Arabian, and Old South Arabian in Yemen.
Maghrebi group
Maghrebi dialects are influenced by the Berber languages, as well as Spanish, French, and Italian due to these countries' long colonization of the region.
Koines Moroccan Arabic (/ – /) – (ISO 639–3: ary) Algerian Arabic (/ – /) – (ISO 639–3: arq) Tunisian Arabic (/ – /) – (ISO 639–3: aeb) Libyan Arabic (/ – /) – (ISO 639–3: ayl) Pre-Hilalian Ceuta Arabic () Jebli Arabic Jijel Arabic Pre-Hilalian Urban Arabic Fessi Arabic Siculo-Arabic ( – , 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 ( – , extinct in Iberia, surviving among Andalusi communities in Morocco and Algeria) – (ISO 639–3: xaa) †
Sudanese group
Sudanese dialects are influenced by the various Nubian languages, and the Beja language.
Sudanese Arabic ( – ) – (ISO 639–3: apd) Juba Arabic – (ISO 639–3: pga) Turku Arabic, pidgin †
Egyptian group
Egyptian dialects are mainly influenced by the Coptic language.
Egyptian Arabic ( – ) – (ISO 639–3: arz) Sa'idi Arabic ( – ) – (ISO 639–3: aec)
Chadian group Chadian dialects are mainly influenced by local languages spoken in Chad and by French to a lesser extent.
Chadian Arabic (ISO 639–3: shu), spoken by nomadic Arab tribes across Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and parts of Sudan.
Mesopotamian group
The two Mesopotamian dialects (spoken in Iraq and north-east Syria) are influenced by the various ancient Mesopotamian languages (mainly Sumerian, Akkadian, and Eastern Aramaic), as well as Persian and Ottoman Turkish.
North Mesopotamian (qeltu varieties — ISO 639–3: acy) Judeo-Iraqi Arabic – (ISO 639–3: yhd) Baghdad Jewish Arabic Anatolian Arabic South Mesopotamian (gilit varieties) Marsh Arabic Baghdadi Arabic – (ISO 639–3: acm) Khuzestani Arabic Shawi Arabic
Levantine group
Levantine varieties (ISO 639–3: apc) are influenced by Aramaic, and, to a lesser extent, Ottoman Turkish, Greek, Persian, and French due to the French mandate:
Cilician Arabic () Jordanian Arabic () Lebanese Arabic () Palestinian Arabic () Fellahi Arabic () Madani Arabic () Syrian Arabic () Damascene Arabic () Aleppo Arabic (الحلبية)
Peninsular group
The varieties of the Arabian peninsula are influenced by the South Arabian languages.
Najdi Arabic ( – ) – (ISO 639–3: ars) Gulf Arabic ( – ) – (ISO 639–3: afb) Bahrani Arabic ( – ) – (ISO 639–3: abv) Hejazi Arabic ( – ) – (ISO 639–3: acw) Yemeni Arabic ( – ) Hadhrami Arabic ( – ) – (ISO 639–3: ayh) Indonesian Arabic ( – ) Mozambican Arabic (or also from the Omani branch) Sanʽani Arabic – (ISO 639–3: ayn) Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic – (ISO 639–3: acq) Tihamiyya Arabic Yāfiʿī Arabic Omani Arabic ( – ) – (ISO 639–3: acx) Dhofari Arabic – (ISO 639–3: adf) Shihhi Arabic ( – ) – (ISO 639–3: ssh) Bareqi Arabic Bedawi Arabic ( – /) – (ISO 639–3: avl)
Peripheries Central Asian Arabic Bactrian Arabic – (ISO 639–3: abh) Uzbeki Arabic – (ISO 639–3: auz) Khorasani Arabic Shirvani 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 639–3: jrb) Judeo-Algerian Judeo-Egyptian Judeo-Iraqi (ISO 639–3: yhd) Judeo-Baghdadi Judeo-Lebanese Judeo-Moroccan (ISO 639–3: aju) Judeo-Syrian Judeo-Tripolitanian (ISO 639–3: yud) Judeo-Tunisian Judeo-Yemeni (ISO 639–3: jye) Modern Palestinian Judeo-Arabic
Creoles and pidgins
There have been a number of Arabic-based pidgins and creoles throughout history, including a number of new ones emerging today. These may be broadly divided into the Sudanic pidgins and creoles, which share a common ancestry, and incipient immigrant pidgins. Creoles Nubi – (ISO 639–3: kcn)
Pidgins Maridi Arabic ( – ) † Bongor 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.Bassiouney, 2009, p. 29.
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.Abdel-Jawad, 1986, p. 58. 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.Bassiouney, 2009, p. 19. 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.Holes, 1983, p. 448.