33 Facts About Levantine Arabic

Levantine Arabic, called Shami, 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 only).

Levantine Arabic is not officially recognized in any state or territory.

The amount of written Levantine has significantly increased, especially online, where Levantine is written using Arabic, Latin, or Hebrew characters.

Lack of written sources in Levantine Arabic makes it impossible to determine its history before the modern period.

Scholars use "Levantine Arabic" to describe the continuum of mutually intelligible dialects spoken across the Levant.

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Term "Levantine Arabic" is not indigenous and, according to linguists Kristen Brustad and Emilie Zuniga, "it is likely that many speakers would resist the grouping on the basis that the rich phonological, morphological and lexical variation within the Levant carries important social meanings and distinctions.

Thus, Levantine Arabic vernaculars are not a modified version of the Classical language, which is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor.

Levantine Arabic is spoken in the fertile strip on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

Levantine Arabic writes that distinctions between these groups are unclear, and isoglosses cannot determine the exact boundary.

North Levantine Arabic extends from Turkey in the north to Lebanon, passing through the Mediterranean coastal regions of Syria (Latakia and Tartus governorates) as well as the areas surrounding Aleppo and Damascus.

South Levantine Arabic is spoken in Palestine, the Hauran in Syria and Jordan, the rest of western Jordan, and Israel.

Levantine Arabic was spoken natively by most Jews in Jerusalem, but the community shifted to Modern Hebrew after the establishment of Israel.

Levantine Arabic is the second language of Dom people across the Levant, Circassians in Israel, Armenians in Lebanon, Chechens in Jordan, Assyrians in Syria and Lebanon, and most Kurds in Syria.

Old Levantine Arabic was a dialect continuum stretching from the southern Levant to the northern Hijaz, in the Arabian Peninsula, where Old Hijazi was spoken.

Levantine Arabic became the language of trade and public life in cities, while Aramaic continued to be spoken at home and in the countryside.

The language shift from Aramaic to vernacular Levantine Arabic was a long process over several generations, with an extended period of bilingualism, especially among non-Muslims.

Levantine Arabic is the usual medium of communication in all other domains.

Traditionally in the Arab world, colloquial varieties, such as Levantine Arabic, have been regarded as corrupt forms of MSA, less eloquent and not fit for literature, and thus looked upon with disdain.

Language attitudes are shifting, and using Levantine Arabic became de-ideologized for most speakers by the late 2010s.

Levantine Arabic is regarded in a more positive light, and its use in informal modes of writing is acknowledged, thanks to its recent widespread use online, in both written and spoken forms.

Palestinian Levantine Arabic is a compulsory subject in Jewish elementary schools in the Northern District; otherwise, Jewish schools teach MSA.

Levantine Arabic is seldom written, except for some novels, plays, and humorous writings.

Levantine Arabic is commonly used in zajal and other forms of oral poetry.

Levantine Arabic phonology is characterized by rich socio-phonetic variations along socio-cultural and geographical lines.

Arabizi initially developed because the Levantine Arabic script was not available or not easy to use on most computers and smartphones; its usage declined after Levantine Arabic software became widespread.

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Levantine Arabic alphabet is always cursive, and letters vary in shape depending on their position within a word.

When Levantine is written with the Arabic script, the short vowels are usually not indicated unless a word is ambiguous.

Levantine Arabic lacks an indefinite article; nouns are marked indefinite by the absence of the definite article.

Levantine Arabic verb has only two tenses: past and present ( called imperfect, b-imperfect, or bi-imperfect).

Lexicon of Levantine is overwhelmingly Arabic, and a large number of Levantine words are shared with at least another vernacular Arabic variety outside the Levant, especially with Egyptian.

Levantine Arabic includes layers of ancient languages: Aramaic, Canaanite, classical Hebrew (Biblical and Mishnaic), Persian, Greek, and Latin.

Since the early modern period, Levantine Arabic has borrowed from Turkish and European languages, mainly English, French (especially in Lebanese due to the French Mandate), German, and Italian.

Levantine Arabic-speaking minorities in Turkey are still influenced by Turkish.