Levantine Arabic

Levantine Arabic ( (Shami) and sometimes called Eastern Arabic ) is a group of Arabic varieties spoken in the 100 km-wide eastern-Mediterranean coastal strip known as the Levant , i.e. in western Syria , Lebanon , Cyprus , Palestine , Israel , and western Jordan . This corresponds to the western wing of the Fertile Crescent , which clearly appears green on satellite photos. To the East, in the Desert, the North Arabian Beduinic dialects are found. In the North, between Aleppo and the Euphrates valley, there may be a transition zone towards North Mesopotamian qeltu dialects (to be confirmed, since the Raqqah dialect in the Syrian Euphrates valley still seems to be quite close to South Iraqi and Beduinic dialects.) Levantine Arabic can be divided into two major branches: North Levantine (Syria and Lebanon) South Levantine (Palestine and some ares in Jordan) Product of / aː / in the modern Levant South Levantine shows closer relationship with Egyptian Arabic (derived primarily from classical Yemeni Arabic), whereas North Levantine, though also rooted in classical Yemeni Arabic, shows more relations with classical Najdi Arabic. Northern Levantine can be sub-divided into the following branches: North Syrian ( Aleppo ) West (coastal) Syrian ( Latakia to Tripoli ) Central Syrian ( Hama to Damascus ) The main difference between these three branches is the product of the standard long A vowel. It is predominantly / eː / in North Syrian ( Najdi shift ), / oː / in West Syrian ( Canaanite shift ), and / aː / in Central Syrian. There is a clear urban vs. rural contrast with regard to vowels in North Levantine. Rural dialects preserve the vowels and diphthongs of Classical Arabic unchanged; whereas urban dialects use vowels similar to those of the other modern varieties of Arabic. South Levantine can be sub-divided as follows: Lebanese ( Mount Lebanon and Beirut ) Urban Palestinian ( South Lebanon , Haifa , Nablus , Jaffa , Nazareth , Hebron , Jerusalem , ...) Rural Palestinian ( Israel down to Bethlehem ), west Jordan . Bedouin Palestinian dialects in the southern Margins ( Israel , Jordan ) South Levantine sub-dialects differ in the following: Product of / aː / (/ eː / common in Lebanese) Products of short vowles (classical short vowles predominantly preserved in Lebanese and Urban Palestinian) Products of classical diphthongs (/ aj / and / aw / preserved in Lebanese) Realizations of the feminine ending -ah ( -ih/-eh in Lebanese and Urban Palestinian) Realizations of ﻙ / k /, ﻕ / q /, and ﺝ / ʤ /. Conservation of interdentals ﺙ / θ /, ﺫ / ð /, and ﻅ / ðˁ /; Vocalism and consonnatism of suffix pronouns -at , -kum and -kunna The form of independent pronouns, huwa , hiya , hum and hunna Differences between North and South Levantine: The use of ش / ʃ / for negation (in South Levantine) The vowel following the second radical in verbal forms (often a in South Levantine, like in Egyptian) The common form of the active praticiple ( fa ʕ l aː n common in North Levantine) The realization of ق / ʔ / (more pharyngealized in North Levantine) The length of vowels in ultimate syllables (lengthened in North Levantine, but often shortened in South Levantine like in Egyptian). Lebanese tm e n a -w-tl e tīn for "thirty-eight." Lexical differences (e.g. the possessive pronoun tā ʕ in most of Lebanon and Palestine vs. taba ʕ in Syria).

Levantine Arabic ( , al-lahjah aš-šāmiyyah ), is a broad dialect of Arabic spoken in the 100 to 200 km-wide Eastern Mediterranean coastal strip. It is considered one of the five major varieties of Arabic. In the frame of the general diglossia status of the Arab world, Levantine Arabic is used for daily spoken use, while most of the written and official documents and media use Modern Standard Arabic . It is part of Eastern Arabic that includes Mesopotamian Arabic and peninsular Arabic along with Levantine.

Levantine Arabic (autonym: il-lahje š-šāmiyye , šāmi , , ʾal-lahǧatu š-šāmiyyah ) is a sprachbund of modern spoken Arabic in the Levant . With numerous dialects and over 30 million native speakers worldwide, it is considered one of the five major varieties of Arabic. In the frame of the general diglossia status of the Arab world , Levantine Arabic is used for daily spoken use, while most of the written and official documents and media use Modern Standard Arabic .

Arabic variety spoken in the Levant This article contains Levantine written in Arabic characters . Without proper rendering support , you may see احنا‎ and احنا‎ appearing as two different characters. If so, apply this custom style in your user settings : [ lang = apc ] { font-family : 'Segoe UI' , Tahoma ; } . This article includes inline links to audio files. If you have trouble playing the files, see Wikipedia Media help . Levantine Arabic , also called Shami ( autonym : ‏ شامي ‎ šāmi or اللهجة الشامية il-lahje š-šāmiyye ), is an Arabic variety spoken in the Levant : in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and southern Turkey (historically in Adana , Mersin and Hatay only). With over 44 million speakers, Levantine is, alongside Egyptian , one of the two prestige varieties of spoken Arabic comprehensible all over the Arab world . Levantine is not officially recognized in any state or territory. Although it is the majority language in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, it is predominantly used as a spoken vernacular in daily communication, whereas most written and official documents and media in these countries use the official Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), a form of literary Arabic only acquired through formal education that does not function as a native language . In Israel and Turkey, Levantine is a minority language . The Palestinian dialect is the closest vernacular Arabic variety to MSA, with about 50% of common words. Nevertheless, Levantine and MSA are not mutually intelligible. Levantine speakers therefore often call their language ‏ العامية ‎ al-ʿāmmiyya listen , ' slang ', 'dialect', or 'colloquial'. However, with the emergence of social media, attitudes toward Levantine have improved. The amount of written Levantine has significantly increased, especially online, where Levantine is written using Arabic , Latin , or Hebrew characters . Levantine pronunciation varies greatly along social, ethnic, and geographical lines. Its grammar is similar to that shared by most vernacular varieties of Arabic. Its lexicon is overwhelmingly Arabic, with a significant Aramaic influence. The lack of written sources in Levantine makes it impossible to determine its history before the modern period . Aramaic was the dominant language in the Levant starting in the 1st millennium BCE; it coexisted with other languages, including many Arabic dialects spoken by various Arab tribes. With the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century, new Arabic speakers from the Arabian Peninsula settled in the area, and a lengthy language shift from Aramaic to vernacular Arabic occurred. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).

Arabic variety spoken in the Levant This article contains Levantine written in Arabic characters . Without proper rendering support , you may see احنا‎ and احنا‎ appearing as two different characters. If so, apply this custom style in your user settings : [ lang = apc ] { font-family : 'Segoe UI' , Tahoma ; } . This article includes inline links to audio files. If you have trouble playing the files, see Wikipedia Media help . Levantine Arabic , also called Shami ( autonym : شامي , šāmi or اللهجة الشامية , el-lahje š-šāmiyye ), is an Arabic variety spoken in the Levant , namely in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and southern Turkey (historically only in Adana , Mersin and Hatay provinces). With over 60 million speakers, Levantine is, alongside Egyptian , one of the two prestige varieties of spoken Arabic comprehensible all over the Arab world . Levantine is not officially recognized in any state or territory. Although it is the majority language in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, it is predominantly used as a spoken vernacular in daily communication, whereas most written and official documents and media in these countries use the official Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), a form of literary Arabic only acquired through formal education that does not function as a native language . In Israel and Turkey, Levantine is a minority language . The Palestinian dialect is lexically the closest vernacular Arabic variety to MSA, with about 50% of common words. Nevertheless, Levantine and MSA are not mutually intelligible. Levantine speakers therefore often call their language ‏ العامية ‎ al-ʿāmmiyya listen , ' slang ', 'dialect', or 'colloquial'. With the emergence of social media, attitudes toward Levantine have improved. The amount of written Levantine has significantly increased, especially online, where Levantine is written using Arabic , Latin , or Hebrew characters . Levantine pronunciation varies greatly along social, ethnic, and geographical lines. Its grammar is similar to that shared by most vernacular varieties of Arabic. Its lexicon is overwhelmingly Arabic, with a significant Aramaic influence. The lack of written sources in Levantine makes it impossible to determine its history before the modern period . Aramaic was the dominant language in the Levant starting in the 1st millennium BCE; it coexisted with other languages, including many Arabic dialects spoken by various Arab tribes . With the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century, new Arabic speakers from the Arabian Peninsula settled in the area , and a lengthy language shift from Aramaic to vernacular Arabic occurred. Levantine Arabic at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025) "Levantine Arabic" . There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).