Para los seminaristas, estudian hebreo, ect.

Arabic Language

  (Redirected from Arabic)

"Arabic" redirects here. For other uses, see Arabic (disambiguation).

This article is about the language. For the literary standard, see Modern Standard Arabic. For vernaculars, see varieties of Arabic. For others, see Arabic languages.

Arabic (العربية al-ʻarabiyyah [alʕaraˈbijja] ( listen) or عربي ,عربى ʻarabī [ˈʕarabi] ( listen)) is a name for what are traditionally considered the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century. This includes both the literary language and varieties of Arabic spoken in a wide arc of territory, stretching across Western Asia (aka the Middle East), North Africa, and East Africa (aka the Horn of Africa). Arabic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family.
The literary language is called Modern Standard Arabic or Literary Arabic, which is a pluricentric, fusional language. It is currently the only official form of Arabic, used in most written documents as well as in formal spoken occasions, such as lectures and news broadcasts. However, this varies from one country to the other. Moroccan Arabic was official in Morocco for some time, before Morocco joined the Arab League.
Arabic languages are Central Semitic languages, most closely related to Aramaic, Hebrew, Ugaritic and Phoenician. The standardized written Arabic is distinct from and more conservative than all of the spoken varieties, and the two exist in a state known as diglossia, used side-by-side for different societal functions.
Some of the spoken varieties are mutually unintelligible, both written and orally, and the varieties as a whole constitute a sociolinguistic language. This means that on purely linguistic grounds they would likely be considered to constitute more than one language, but are commonly grouped together as a single language for political and/or religious reasons (see below). If considered multiple languages, it is unclear how many languages there would be, as the spoken varieties form a dialect chain with no clear boundaries. If Arabic is considered a single language, it perhaps is spoken by as many as 420 million speakers (native and non-native) in the Arab world, making it one of the half dozen most populous languages in the world. If considered separate languages, the most-spoken variety would most likely be Egyptian Arabic, with 54 million native speakers—still greater than any other Semitic language. Arabic also is a liturgical language of 1
.6 billion Muslim speakers. It is one of six official languages of the United Nations.

T he modern written language (Modern Standard Arabic) is derived from the language of the Quran      (known as
Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic). It is widely taught in schools, universities and used to varying degrees in workplaces, g
o

القر                                                                                                                         اءة                                         كث                                                                                                                        ي              را	عندما ذهبت إلى       المكتبة	لم أجد هذا الكتا    ب القديم	أردت أن أقرأ كتابا عن تاريخ المرأة في فرنسا

Classical Arabic (liturgical or poetic only)	ʔanaː ʔuħibbu l-qiraːʔata kaθiːran	ʕindamaː ðahabtu ʔilaː l-maktabati	lam ʔaɡʲid haːðaː l-kitaːba l-qadiːma	kuntu ʔuriːdu ʔan ʔaqraʔa kitaːban ʕan taːriːxi l-marʔati fiː faransaː
Modern Standard Arabic	ʔana(ː) ʔuħibb al-qiraːʔa kaθiːran	ʕindama(ː) ðahabtu ʔilaː l-maktaba	lam ʔaɡʲid haːða(ː) l-kitaːb al-qadiːm	ʔaradtu ʔan ʔaqraʔ kitaːb ʕan taːriːx al-marʔa fiː fara(ː)nsa(ː)
Yemeni Arabic (Sanaa)	ˈʔana bajn aˈħibb el-geˈraːje ˈgawi	ˈlaw ma ˈsert saˈla: el-ˈmaktabe	ma leˈge:t-ʃ ˈðajje al-keˈtaːb el-gaˈdiːm	kont ˈaʃti ˈʔagra keˈtaːb ʕan taˈriːx al-ˈmare wastˤ faˈraːnsa
Gulf Arabic (Kuwait)	ʔaːna waːyed aħibb aɡraː	lamman reħt al-maktaba	ma liɡeːt hal ketaːb al-ɡadiːm	kent abiː aɡra ketaːb an tariːx el-ħariːm eb fransa
Gilit Mesopotamian (Baghdad?)	ˈaːni aˈħibb el-qˈraːja ˈkulliʃ	ˈlamman ˈreħit lel-maktaba	ma liˈɡeːt haːða l-ketaːb al-qadiːm	redet aqra ketaːb ʕan tariːx al-niswan eb-fransa
Hijazi Arabic (Makka?)	ˈana aˈħubb al-ɡiraːja kaθiːr	ˈlamma ruħt al-ˈmaktaba	ma laɡeːt haːða l-kitaːb al-ɡadiːm	kunt abɣa aɡra ktaːb ʕan tariːx al-ħariːm fi faransa
Western Syrian Arabic (Damascus)	ʔana ktiːr b'ħəbb lᵊ-ʔraːje	ˈlamma ˈrəħt ʕal-ˈmaktabe	ma laʔeːt ha-l-ᵊkˈtaːb lᵊ-ʔˈdiːm	kaːn ˈbaddi ʔra ktaːb ʕan taˈriːx ᵊl-ˈmara bᵊ-ˈfraːnsa
Lebanese Arabic (Beyrut?)	ktiːr bħibb il-ʔiˈreːje	ˈlamma ˈreħit ʕal-ˈmaktabe	ma lʔeːt ha-l-ikˈteːb le-ʔˈdiːm	keːn ˈbaddi ʔra kteːb ʕan teˈriːx il-ˈmara bi-ˈfraːnsa
Urban Palestinian (Jerusalem).	'ʔana ba'ħebb l-ᵊʔ'raːje ktiːr	ˈlamma ˈruħᵊt ʕal-ˈmaktabe	ma laˈʔeːtᵊʃ ha-l-ᵊkˈtaːb ᵊl-ʔaˈdiːm	kaːn ˈbeddi ˈʔɑʔrɑ ktaːb ʕan taˈriːx ᵊl-ˈmɑrɑ fi fˈransa
Rural Palestinian (West Bank).	'ʔana ba'ħebb l-ᵊk'raːje kθiːr	ˈlamma ˈruħᵊt ʕal-ˈmatʃtabe	ma laˈkeːtᵊʃ ha-l-ᵊtʃˈtaːb ᵊl-kaˈdiːm	kaːn ˈbeddi ˈʔɑkrɑ tʃtaːb ʕan taˈriːx ᵊl-ˈmɑrɑ fi fˈransa
Egyptian (Cairo)	ana baħebb el-ʔeraːja ʔawi	ˈlamma ˈroħt el-makˈtaba	ma-lˈʔet-ʃ l-keˈtaːb el-ʔaˈdiːm da	ˈana ˈkont-e ˈʕawz-ˈaʔra kˈtaːb ʕan taˈriːx el-setˈtaːt fe faˈransa
Libyan Arabic (Tripoli?)	ana nħəb il-ɡraːja wajəd	lamma mʃeːt lil-maktba	malɡeːtiʃ ha-li-ktaːb lə-ɡdiːm	kunt nibi naɡra ktaːb ʔleː tariːx ə-nsawiːn fi fraːnsa
Tunisian (Tunis?)	eːne nħibb il-qreːje barʃa	waqtelli mʃiːt l il-maktba	ma-lqiːt-ʃ keːn ha l-kteːb l-qdiːm	kunt nħibb naqra kteːb ʕala tariːx l-mra fi fraːnsa
Algerian (Algiers?)	eːne nħibb il-qreːje bezzaf	waqtelli ruht l il-maktaba	ma-lqiːt-ʃ keːn ha l-kteːb l-qdiːm	kunt ħaːb naqra kteːb ʕala tariːx l-mra fi fraːnsa
Moroccan (Rabat?)	ana ʕziz ʕlija bzzaf nqra	melli mʃit l-lmaktaba	ma-lqiːt-ʃ had l-ktab l-qdim	kent baɣi nqra ktab ʕla tarix l-mra f-fransa

Koine[edit]

According to Charles A. Ferguson, the following are some of the characteristic features of the koine that underlies all of the modern dialects outside the Arabian peninsula. Although many other features are common to most or all of these varieties, Ferguson believes that these features in particular are unlikely to have evolved independently more than once or twice and together suggest the existence of the koine:

• Loss of the dual (grammatical number) except on nouns, with consistent plural agreement (cf. feminine singular agreement in plural inanimates).
• Change of a to i in many affixes (e.g., non-past-tense prefixes ti- yi- ni-; wi- 'and'; il- 'the'; feminine -it in the construct state).
• Loss of third-weak verbs ending in w (which merge with verbs ending in y).
• Reformation of geminate verbs, e.g., ḥalaltu 'I untied' → ḥalēt(u).
• Conversion of separate words lī 'to me', laka 'to you', etc. into indirect-object clitic suffixes.
• Certain changes in the cardinal number system, e.g., khamsat ayyām 'five days' → kham(a)s tiyyām, where certain words have a special plural with prefixed t.
• Loss of the feminine elative (comparative).
• Adjective plurals of the form kibār 'big' → kubār.
• Change of nisba suffix -iyy > i.
• Certain lexical items, e.g., jāb 'bring' < jāʼa bi- 'come with'; shāf 'see'; ēsh 'what' (or similar) < ayyu shayʼ 'which thing'; illi (relative pronoun).
• Merger of /ɮˤ/ and /ðˤ/.

Dialect groups[edit]

• Egyptian Arabic, spoken by around 55 million in Egypt. It is one of the most understood varieties of Arabic, due in large part to the widespread distribution of Egyptian films and television shows throughout the Arabic-speaking world.
• Levantine Arabic includes North Levantine Arabic, South Levantine Arabic and Cypriot Arabic. It is spoken by about 21 million people in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Cyprus and Turkey.
• Maghrebi Arabic, spoken by about 70 million people in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Malta. It is very hard to understand for Arabic speakers from the Mashriq or Mesopotamia, the easiest being Libyan Arabic and the hardest Moroccan Arabic and Maltese language.
• Maltese, spoken on the island of Malta, is the only dialect to have established itself as a fully separate language, with independent literary norms. Sicilian Arabic, spoken on the island of Sicily until the 14th century, developed into Maltese in Malta. In the course of its history the language has adopted numerous loanwords, phonetic and phonological features, and even some grammatical patterns, from Italian, Sicilian and English. It is also the only Semitic language written in the Latin script.
• Mesopotamian Arabic, spoken by about 15 million people in Iraq, eastern Syria and southwestern Iran (Khuzestan).
• Sudanese Arabic is spoken by 17 million people in Sudan and some parts of southern Egypt. Sudanese Arabic is quite distinct from the dialect of its neighbor to the north; rather, the Sudanese have a dialect similar to the Hijazi dialect.
• Gulf Arabic, spoken by around four million people, predominantly in Kuwait, Bahrain, some parts of Oman, eastern Saudi Arabia coastal areas and some parts of UAE and Qatar. Also spoken in Iran's Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces. Although Gulf Arabic is spoken in Qatar, most Qatari citizens speak Najdi Arabic (Bedawi).
• Yemeni Arabic spoken in Yemen, Somalia, Djibouti and southern Saudi Arabia by 15 million people. Similar to Gulf Arabic.
• Najdi Arabic, spoken by around 10 million people, mainly spoken in Najd, central and northern Saudi Arabia. Most Qatari citizens speak Najdi Arabic (Bedawi).
• Hejazi Arabic (6 million speakers), spoken in Hijaz, western Saudi Arabia
• Hassaniya Arabic (3 million speakers), spoken in Mauritania, Western Sahara, some parts of northern Mali, southern Morocco and south-western Algeria.
• Bahrani Arabic (600,000 speakers), spoken by Bahrani Shiʻah in Bahrain and Qatif, the dialect exhibits many big differences from Gulf Arabic. It is also spoken to a lesser extent in Oman.
• Judeo-Arabic dialects
• Central Asian Arabic, spoken in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, is highly endangered
• The Muslim Hui people in China had knowledge of archaic forms of Arabic. The Hui of Yunnan (Burmaese called them Panthays) were reported to be fluent in Arabic. During the Panthay Rebellion, Arabic replaced Chinese as official language of the rebel kingdom. In 1844 "The Chinese repository, Volume 13" was published, including an account of an Englishman who stayed in Ningbo in China. There he visited the local mosque, the Hui running the mosque was from Shandong and he was a descendant of Muslims from the city of Medina. He spoke both Arabic and Chinese, and could read Arabic as well. In Tianjin, Hui could speak an old, archaic form of Arabic, when they met Arab Muslims in recent times, it was found out that Old Arabic and Modern Arabic were very different, so Modern Arabic is now being taught to Hui.
• Samaritan Arabic - spoken by only several hundred in the Nablus region
• Shirvani Arabic, spoken in Azerbaijan and Dagestan until the 1930s, now extinct.
• Andalusian Arabic, spoken in Spain and Portugal until the 16th century.
• Sicilian Arabic, spoken in Sicily until the 14th century, developed into Maltese in Malta.