Andalusi Arabic

Andalusi Arabic or Andalusian Arabic (Arabic: اللهجة العربية الأندلسية, romanized: al-lahja l-ʿarabiyya l-ʾandalusiyya) was a variety or varieties of Arabic spoken mainly from the 9th to the 15th century in Al-Andalus, the regions of the Iberian Peninsula, respectively modern Spain until the late-15th century, and modern Portugal until the mid-13th century^[2] under Muslim rule. It became an extinct language in Iberia after the expulsion of the Moriscos, which took place over a century after the Granada War by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. Once widely spoken in Iberia, the expulsions and persecutions of Arabic speakers caused an abrupt end to the language's use on the peninsula. It continued to be spoken to some degree in North Africa after the expulsion, although Andalusi speakers rapidly assimilated into the Maghrebi communities to which they fled.

Arabic in al-Andalus existed largely in a situation of bilingualism with Andalusi Romance (known popularly as Mozarabic) until the 13th century. It was also characterized by diglossia: in addition to standard written Arabic, spoken varieties could be subdivided into an urban, educated idiolect and a register of the less-privileged masses.

Spoken Andalusi Arabic had distinct features. It is unique among colloquial dialects in retaining from Standard Arabic the internal passive voice through vocalization. Through contact with Romance, spoken Andalusi Arabic adopted the phonemes /p/ and /tʃ/. Like the other Iberian languages, Andalusi lacked vowel length but had stress instead (e.g. Andalusí in place of Andalusī). A feature shared with Maghrebi Arabic was that the first-person imperfect was marked with the prefix n- (نلعب nalʿab 'I play') like the plural in Standard Arabic, necessitating an analogical imperfect first-person plural, constructed with the suffix -ū (نلعبوا nalʿabū 'we play'). A feature characteristic of it was the extensive imala that transformed alif into an /e/ or /i/ (e.g. al-kirā ("rent") > al-kirē > Spanish "alquiler").