Levantine Arabic

Levantine Arabic
Syro-Palestinian Arabic
شامي (Shami)
Native toSyria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Turkey
RegionLevant[a][1][2]
Ethnicity
Primarily Arabs
SpeakersL1: 51 million (2001–2023)[4]
L2: 2.3 million (2022–2023)[4]
Total: 54 million[4]
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3apc
Glottolognort3139
Linguasphere"Syro-Palestinian" 12-AAC-eh "Syro-Palestinian"
IETFapc
Modern distribution of Levantine
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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 54 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.

  1. ^ a b Stowasser 2004, p. xiii.
  2. ^ a b Cowell 1964, pp. vii–x.
  3. ^ Al-Wer 2006, pp. 1920–1921.
  4. ^ a b c Levantine Arabic at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Levantine Arabic". Glottolog. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Abu-Liel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference BIANCHI pp. 89–100 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Płonka 2006, pp. 465–466.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cengiz2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Shachmon & Mack 2019, p. 347.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference AbuElhija was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Shachmon 2017, p. 89.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gaash was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference ShachmonMack2016p223–224 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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