Linguistic Variation in the Middle East

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Linguistic Variation in the Middle East

• Kevin Flowers and Jason Gabriel

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Countries that compose the Middle East

• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• Gaza/West Bank
• Iran
• Iraq
• Israel
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon

• Libya
• Morocco
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Sudan
• Syria
• Tunisia
• Turkey
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

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• Middle East as a cultural term rather than a
  geographical term, North Africa
  
• Morocco, Sudan
• Linguistic diversity and dialect differences
  relative to individual regions
  
• MSA as a fundamental communication medium
  literary Arabic and diglossia, never a native
  tongue, 220 million speakers
  

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Major languages spoken in Middle Eastern countries

• Algeria Arabic (official), French, Berber
  dialects
  
• Bahrain Arabic, English is widely spoken,
  Farsi, Urdu
  
• Djibouti - French (official), Arabic (official),
  Somali, Afar
  
• Egypt Arabic, English, French
• Gaza/West Bank (Palestine) Arabic, English is
  widely spoken, and Hebrew in East Jerusalem
  
• Iran - Farsi and Persian dialects, Turkic and
  Turkic dialects, Kurdish, Luri, Balochi, Arabic,
  Turkish
  
• Iraq - Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish
  regions), Assyrian, Armenian
  
• Israel - Hebrew (official), Arabic used
  officially for Arab minority, English most
  commonly used foreign language
  
• Jordan Arabic, English
• Kuwait Arabic, English
• Lebanon - Arabic (official), French, English,
  Armenian widely understood
  

• Libya - Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely
  understood in the major cities
  
• Morocco Arabic, Berber, and French
• Oman - Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu,
  Indian dialects
  
• Qatar - Arabic English is widely used
• Saudi Arabia Arabic, English
• Sudan - Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie,
  diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic,
  Sudanic languages
  
• Syria - Arabic (official) Kurdish, Armenian,
  Aramaic, Circassian widely understood French,
  English somewhat understood
  
• Tunisia - Arabic (official and one of the
  languages of commerce), French (commerce)
  
• Turkey - Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic,
  Armenian, Greek
  
• United Arab Emirates - Arabic (official),
  Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu
  
• Yemen - Arabic

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The Evolution of Middle Eastern Languages
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While it is universally written, read, and
understood in its standard (MSA) form, spoken
Arabic has undergone regional and dialectical
variations. Colloquial Arabic is diverse from
region to region. For instance, the diversity
within the family of dialects spoken in the
Levantine (Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Lebanon)
resembles the diversity between British and
American English. The same can be said of the
family of dialects spoken in Iraq and the Gulf
countries.
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Spoken dialects of Arabic

• ARABIC, ALGERIAN SAHARAN SPOKENARABIC, ALGERIAN
  SPOKENARABIC, BABALIA CREOLEARABIC, BAHARNA
  SPOKENARABIC, CHADIAN SPOKENARABIC, CYPRIOT
  SPOKENARABIC, DHOFARI SPOKENARABIC, EASTERN
  EGYPTIAN BEDAWI SPOKENARABIC, EGYPTIAN
  SPOKENARABIC, GULF SPOKENARABIC, HADRAMI
  SPOKENARABIC, HASANYAARABIC, HASSANIYYAARABIC,
  HIJAZI SPOKENARABIC, JUDEO-IRAQIARABIC,
  JUDEO-MOROCCANARABIC, JUDEO-TRIPOLITANIANARABIC,
  JUDEO-TUNISIANARABIC, JUDEO-YEMENIARABIC,
  LEVANTINE BEDAWI SPOKEN

• ARABIC, LIBYAN SPOKENARABIC, MESOPOTAMIAN
  SPOKENARABIC, MOROCCAN SPOKENARABIC, NAJDI
  SPOKENARABIC, NORTH LEVANTINE SPOKENARABIC,
  NORTH MESOPOTAMIAN SPOKENARABIC, OMANI
  SPOKENARABIC, SASPOKENARABIC, SHIHHI SPOKENARABIC,
  SHUWAARABIC, SOUTH LEVANTINE SPOKENARABIC,
  STANDARDARABIC, SUDANESE CREOLEARABIC, SUDANESE
  SPOKENARABIC, TA'IZZI-ADENIARABIC,
  TA'IZZI-ADENI SPOKENARABIC, TAJIKI
  SPOKENARABIC, TUNISIAN SPOKENARABIC, UZBEKI
  SPOKENARABIC, WESTERN EGYPTIAN

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Classical Arabic the language of the Quran

• MSA and its function in different countries
  standard language of the media across national
  boundaries
  
• History of Arabic spread of Islam 7th, 8th
  centuries, Arabic was standardized in the 9th
  century
  
• Language of the Quran strictly preserved as
  Islam spread, gave rise to MSA
  

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The role of Arabic in the modern world

• Adaptability and neologisms, ease due to the
  grammatical structure and consonantal root
  system
  
• No change in alphabet, spellings, or the majority
  of the vocabulary for over 4000 years
  
• MSAs role in unification

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The fact that Islam and the Arabic language are
so closely tied together means that citizens of
the Middle East feel strongly about the
preservation of both. This duality has allowed
for the creation of distinct and diverse dialects
throughout the region.