Palestinian Arabic
Encyclopedia
Palestinian Arabic is a Levantine Arabic
dialect subgroup spoken by Palestinians and the majority of Arab-Israelis
. Rural varieties of this dialect exhibit several distinctive features; particularly the pronunciation of qaf as kaf, which distinguish them from other Arabic varieties. Palestinian urban dialects more closely resemble northern Levantine Arabic dialects, that is, the colloquial variants of Syria
and Lebanon
.
There are noticeable differences between Palestinian Arabic and other forms of Levantine Arabic such as Syrian Arabic
and Lebanese Arabic
. However, none of these is invariable, given the differences of dialect within Palestinian Arabic itself.
One typical feature of Palestinian dialects is the pronunciation of hamzated verbs with an 'o'-like vowel in the imperfect. For example, in the imperfect of اكل akala 'eat' is آكل ākulu: the common equivalent in Palestinian dialect is بوكل bōkel. (The b prefix marks a present indicative meaning.) Thus, in the Galilee, the colloquial for the verbal expression, "I am eating" or "I eat" is ana bōkel, rather than ana bākəl used in Syrian dialect. However, ana bākul is used by the Bedouin in the south.
Palestinian Arabic also shares some features with Egyptian
, distinguishing it from the northern Levantine dialects:
In grammar: the Palestinian dialects (except for the dialect of Palestinian Bedouins), like Egyptian, typically suffix (ش -sh, IPA: /ʃ/) to form the negative of verbs and pseudo-verbal prepositional pronouns.
Of these, the urban dialect is the closest to northern Levantine Arabic of Syria and Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Bedouin dialect is nearer to varieties of Arabic spoken in Arabia itself, the Bedouins being more certainly known to be Arab
s not only in culture, language and customs but also by descent
traceable outside Palestine/Israel (as opposed to being locals whose ethnic identity - Aramaic, Jewish, Greek - had shifted to an Arab ethnic identity following the process of cultural and linguistic Arabization
over the centuries).
Notable differences in the varieties of Palestinian Arabic are as follows:
In general, the rural dialects are somewhat stigmatised and urban pronunciations are gaining ground, as is the case in other Arabic dialect groups. In contrast, Bedouin dialect use remains quite common, even among university educated Bedouins. While stigmatized by other Arab Israelis, the basic characteristics of the Bedouin dialect (e.g. the qāf pronounced as a g) are used very widely in all informal contexts by Bedouin speakers, including those who are university-educated. Thus, a phenomenon similar to the disappearance of the /tʃ/ for the kāf - as seen in the "triangle" - has yet to be witnessed in the Negev. This is not the case, however, with Bedouin from the Negev who moved to Lod and Ramle in the 1960s and show more of a tendency to adopt a standard urban dialect.
Arabization of the population occurred most probably in several waves. After the Arabs took control of the area, so as to maintain their regular activity, the upper classes had quickly to get fluency in the language of the new masters who most probably were only few. The main phenomenon could have been the slow shift of Aramaic-speaking villages to Arabic under the influence of Arabicized elites.
This scenario is consistent with several facts.
This scenario may also be consistent with the fact that the rural dialects of Palestinian Arabic contain features that appear to resemble their classical Hebrew counterparts.
have adopted Hebrew loanwords now commonly understood amongst the region (note: they do not replace the Arabic terms, but rather are used in places such as checkpoints) :
For example:
('barrier' used widely to refer to Israeli military checkpoints throughout the West Bank
) (traffic light) (or pronounced "belefon") (cellphone) (sour cream) (air-conditioner) (O.K, alright) (computer) (dormitories)
Such borrowings are often "Arabized" to reflect not only Arabic phonology
but the phonology of Hebrew as spoken by Arabs. For example, the second consonant of would be pronounced as a voiced pharyngeal fricative
[meʕoˈnoːt] rather than the hiatus
me.oˈnot used by the vast majority of Israeli Jews.
The 2009 film Ajami
is mostly spoken in Palestinian-Hebrew Arabic.
Levantine Arabic
Levantine Arabic is a broad variety of Arabic spoken in the 100 to 200 km-wide Eastern Mediterranean coastal strip...
dialect subgroup spoken by Palestinians and the majority of Arab-Israelis
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
. Rural varieties of this dialect exhibit several distinctive features; particularly the pronunciation of qaf as kaf, which distinguish them from other Arabic varieties. Palestinian urban dialects more closely resemble northern Levantine Arabic dialects, that is, the colloquial variants of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
.
Differences from other forms of Levantine Arabic
Until relatively recently the Arabic spoken in the Ottoman sanjak of Syria was considered a single Syrian dialect, as for example advised by F. E. Crow in his 1901 Arabic manual: a colloquial handbook in the Syrian dialect, for the use of visitors to Syria and Palestine, containing a simplified grammar, a comprehensive English and Arabic vocabulary and dialogues. printed in London by Luzac & co.There are noticeable differences between Palestinian Arabic and other forms of Levantine Arabic such as Syrian Arabic
Syrian Arabic
Syrian Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken in Syria.-History:Syrian Arabic proper is a form of Levantine Arabic, and may be divided into South Syrian Arabic, spoken in the cities of Damascus, Homs and Hama, and North Syrian Arabic, spoken in the region of Aleppo. Allied dialects are spoken in...
and Lebanese Arabic
Lebanese Arabic
Lebanese or Lebanese Arabic is a variety of Levantine Arabic, indigenous to and spoken primarily in Lebanon, with significant linguistic influences borrowed from other Middle Eastern and European languages, and is in some ways unique from other varieties of Arabic...
. However, none of these is invariable, given the differences of dialect within Palestinian Arabic itself.
One typical feature of Palestinian dialects is the pronunciation of hamzated verbs with an 'o'-like vowel in the imperfect. For example, in the imperfect of اكل akala 'eat' is آكل ākulu: the common equivalent in Palestinian dialect is بوكل bōkel. (The b prefix marks a present indicative meaning.) Thus, in the Galilee, the colloquial for the verbal expression, "I am eating" or "I eat" is ana bōkel, rather than ana bākəl used in Syrian dialect. However, ana bākul is used by the Bedouin in the south.
Palestinian Arabic also shares some features with Egyptian
Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic is the language spoken by contemporary Egyptians.It is more commonly known locally as the Egyptian colloquial language or Egyptian dialect ....
, distinguishing it from the northern Levantine dialects:
- In vocabulary: 'like' (prep.) is زي
Sub-dialects of Palestinian Arabic
Palestinian Arabic falls into three groups:- Urban Palestinian,
- Rural Palestinian
- BedouinBedouinThe Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
Palestinian.
Of these, the urban dialect is the closest to northern Levantine Arabic of Syria and Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Bedouin dialect is nearer to varieties of Arabic spoken in Arabia itself, the Bedouins being more certainly known to be Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s not only in culture, language and customs but also by descent
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
traceable outside Palestine/Israel (as opposed to being locals whose ethnic identity - Aramaic, Jewish, Greek - had shifted to an Arab ethnic identity following the process of cultural and linguistic Arabization
Arabization
Arabization or Arabisation describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or incorporates Arab culture...
over the centuries).
Notable differences in the varieties of Palestinian Arabic are as follows:
- The pronunciation of qāf serves as a shibbolethShibbolethA shibboleth is a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important...
to distinguish the three main Palestinian dialects: it becomes a glottal stopGlottal stopThe glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
in most cities, a pharyngealized k in smaller villages and the countryside, in some areas a (non-pharyngealized) k, and g in the far south and among BedouinBedouinThe Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
speakers. In a number of villages in the Galilee (e.g. Maghār), especially but not only among the DruzeDruzeThe Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
, the qāf is actually pronounced qāf as in Classical Arabic and other previous semitic languages of the area. - In dialects where qāf is pronounced as k, a true kāf is often pronounced /tʃ/, as in some dialects of Gulf ArabicGulf ArabicGulf Arabic is a variety of the Arabic language spoken around the shore of the Persian Gulf such as in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman...
. This is generally a feature of more conservative idiolectIdiolectIn linguistics, an idiolect is a variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested by patterns of vocabulary or idiom selection , grammar, or pronunciations that are unique to the individual. Every individual's language production is in some sense unique...
s. This pronunciation of kāf also happens in the northern West Bank and adjacent Palestinian populated areas in Israel, known as "the triangleTriangle (Israel)The Triangle , formerly referred to as the Little Triangle, is a concentration of Israeli Arab towns and villages adjacent to the Green Line, located in the eastern Sharon plain among the Samarian foothills; this area is located within the easternmost boundaries of both the Center District and...
". This pronunciation is often stigmatised by urban Palestinians and some villagers who refrain from that pronunciation. - In addition, a feminine suffixSuffixIn linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
-a rather than the more common Levantine -i or -é is fairly widespread, particularly in the south of the area. However, the "-i" or something approximating it is in use in the "triangle" while the Westbank and the Galilee mostly use -é. - Another interesting sub-dialectical marker is the word used for the preposition "here". The urban dialect favours "hōn". The Negev Bedouin, on the other hand, tend to use "hiniyye" or even "hiniyante".
- In the Negev, the -sh form is not used in negating the past or present. Instead, the Bedouin dialect uses only the "mā" particle to negate.
In general, the rural dialects are somewhat stigmatised and urban pronunciations are gaining ground, as is the case in other Arabic dialect groups. In contrast, Bedouin dialect use remains quite common, even among university educated Bedouins. While stigmatized by other Arab Israelis, the basic characteristics of the Bedouin dialect (e.g. the qāf pronounced as a g) are used very widely in all informal contexts by Bedouin speakers, including those who are university-educated. Thus, a phenomenon similar to the disappearance of the /tʃ/ for the kāf - as seen in the "triangle" - has yet to be witnessed in the Negev. This is not the case, however, with Bedouin from the Negev who moved to Lod and Ramle in the 1960s and show more of a tendency to adopt a standard urban dialect.
Restrictive Clause
As in most forms of colloquial Arabic, the clause markers of MSA الذي، التي، اللذان، اللتان، الذين and اللاتي are replaced by the single form إللي /ʔilːi/Marking Indirect Object
The particle li- has fused with the preceding stem as an indicator of an indirect object. Thus MSA qultu lahû /qultu lahuː/ is expressed as ultillo /ʔultilˈlo/, qultillo /qultilˈlo/ or kultillo /kultilˈlo/ and MSA Katabtu lahâ /katabtu lahaː/ is translated in Palestinian Arabic as Katabtilha /katabtilˈha/.Interrogatives
| MSA | Palestinian Arabic | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| لماذا Limāðā | ليش /ˈleʃ/ | Why |
| ماذا māðā | ايش /ˈʔeʃ/ or شو /ˈʃu/ | What |
| كيف Kayfa | كيف Kīf /ˈkif ~ ˈkef/ | How |
| متى matā | إيمتى ēmtā /ˈʔemta ~ ˈʔɛmta/ or وينتى /ˈwenta/ | When |
| اين ayna | وين /ˈwen/ | Where |
| من man | مين /ˈmin/ | Who |
Influence of other languages
The variations between dialects reflect the different historical steps of arabization of the Palestinian. Until the 7th Century, the area used to speak predominantly Aramaic (as witnessed e.g. in the Palestinian Jewish Aramaic and Palestinian Christian Aramaic literature), as well as Greek (probably in upper or trader social classes) and probably some traces of Hebrew. At that time, Arabic speaking people living in the Jordan desert beyond Zarqa, Amman or Karak had no significant influence - on the contrary they tended to adopt Aramaic as a written language as shown in Nabatean texts of Petra or Palmyrenian documents of Tadmor.Arabization of the population occurred most probably in several waves. After the Arabs took control of the area, so as to maintain their regular activity, the upper classes had quickly to get fluency in the language of the new masters who most probably were only few. The main phenomenon could have been the slow shift of Aramaic-speaking villages to Arabic under the influence of Arabicized elites.
This scenario is consistent with several facts.
- The rural forms can be correlated with features also observed in the few Syrian villages where use of Aramaic has been retained up to this day. Palatalization of /k/, pronunciation [kˤ] of /q/ for instance. Note that the first also exists in Najdi and Gulf Arabic, but limited to palatal contexts (k followed by i or e). Moreover those eastern dialects have [g] or [dʒ] for /q/.
- The less-evolutive urban forms can be explained by a limitation owed to the contacts urban trader classes had to maintain with Arabic speakers of other towns in Syria or Egypt.
- The Bedouins dialect shares a number of features with Hijazi dialects.
This scenario may also be consistent with the fact that the rural dialects of Palestinian Arabic contain features that appear to resemble their classical Hebrew counterparts.
- The clearest example is the second and third person plural pronouns. hemme (they masc.) and henne (they fem.) resembles Hebrew hēm / hēn as against Classical Arabic hum/hunna, Aramaic hennōn/hennēn and general Levantine Arabic hunne. Similarly the suffixes -kem (you or your, masc.) and -ken observed in Bīr-Zēt resembles Hebrew -khem / -khen as against Classical Arabic -kum and -kunna and Aramaic -kōn / -kēn and northern Levantine Arabic -kon.
- A less clear example is the transformation of glottal stop followed by long alif (alif madda) into an "o" sound, as in the form Ana bokel (أنا بوكل) noted above. This certainly occurs in the future forms of Hebrew verbs with an aleph as the first consonant of their root. However, it is equally characteristic of Aramaic.
Palestinian-Hebrew Arabic
Arab IsraelisArab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
have adopted Hebrew loanwords now commonly understood amongst the region (note: they do not replace the Arabic terms, but rather are used in places such as checkpoints) :
For example:
('barrier' used widely to refer to Israeli military checkpoints throughout the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
) (traffic light) (or pronounced "belefon") (cellphone) (sour cream) (air-conditioner) (O.K, alright) (computer) (dormitories)
Such borrowings are often "Arabized" to reflect not only Arabic phonology
Arabic phonology
While many languages have numerous dialects that differ in pronunciation, the Arabic language is more properly described as a continuum of varieties. This article deals primarily with Modern Standard Arabic, which is the standard variety shared by educated speakers throughout Arabic-speaking regions...
but the phonology of Hebrew as spoken by Arabs. For example, the second consonant of would be pronounced as a voiced pharyngeal fricative
Voiced pharyngeal fricative
The voiced pharyngeal approximant or fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents it is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ?\....
[meʕoˈnoːt] rather than the hiatus
Hiatus (linguistics)
In phonology, hiatus or diaeresis refers to two vowel sounds occurring in adjacent syllables, with no intervening consonant. When two adjacent vowel sounds occur in the same syllable, the result is instead described as a diphthong....
me.oˈnot used by the vast majority of Israeli Jews.
The 2009 film Ajami
Ajami (film)
Ajami is a 2009 Arab/Jewish collaboration drama film. Its plot is set in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa.-Overview:Written and directed by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani , Ajami explores five different stories set in an actual impoverished Christian-and-Muslim Arab neighborhood of the Tel...
is mostly spoken in Palestinian-Hebrew Arabic.
See also
- PalestinePalestinePalestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
- Varieties of ArabicVarieties of ArabicThe Arabic language is a Semitic language characterized by a wide number of linguistic varieties within its five regional forms. The largest divisions occur between the spoken languages of different regions. The Arabic of North Africa, for example, is often incomprehensible to an Arabic speaker...
- Jordanian ArabicJordanian ArabicJordanian Arabic is a set of dialects of Levantine Arabic that are originated in the Jordanian Kingdom and are spoken by Jordanians. Jordanian Arabic has a Semitic language structure, with lexical influence of English, Turkish and French. It is spoken by more than 6 million people, and understood...
- Syrian ArabicSyrian ArabicSyrian Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken in Syria.-History:Syrian Arabic proper is a form of Levantine Arabic, and may be divided into South Syrian Arabic, spoken in the cities of Damascus, Homs and Hama, and North Syrian Arabic, spoken in the region of Aleppo. Allied dialects are spoken in...
- Egyptian ArabicEgyptian ArabicEgyptian Arabic is the language spoken by contemporary Egyptians.It is more commonly known locally as the Egyptian colloquial language or Egyptian dialect ....
- Music of Palestine
Recommended readings
- P. Behnstedt, Wolfdietrich Fischer and Otto Jastrow, Handbuch der Arabischen Dialekte. 2nd ed. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1980 (ISBN 3-447-02039-3)
- Haim Blanc, Studies in North Palestinian Arabic: linguistic inquiries among the Druzes of Western Galilee and Mt. Carmel. Oriental notes and studies, no. 4. Jerusalem: Typ. Central Press 1953.
- J. Blau, "Syntax des palästinensischen Bauerndialektes von Bir-Zet: auf Grund der Volkserzahlungen aus Palastina von Hans Schmidt und Paul kahle". Walldorf-Hessen: Verlag fur Orientkunde H. Vorndran 1960.
- J. Cantineau, "Remarques sur les parlés de sédentaires syro-libano-palestiniens", in: Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 40 (1938), pp. 80–89.
- R. L. Cleveland, "Notes on an Arabic Dialect of Southern Palestine", in: Bulletin of the American Society of Oriental Research 185 (1967), pp. 43–57.
- Olivier Durand, Grammatica di arabo palestinese: il dialetto di Gerusalemme, Rome: Università di Roma La Sapienza 1996.
- Yohanan Elihai, Dictionnaire de l’arabe parle palestinien: francais-arabe. Jerusalem: Typ. Yanetz 1973.
- Yohanan Elihai, The olive tree dictionary: a transliterated dictionary of conversational Eastern Arabic (Palestinian). Washington, DC: Kidron Pub. 2004 (ISBN 0-9759726-0-X)
- Elias N. Haddad, "Manual of Palestinian Arabic". Jerusalem: Syrisches Weisenhaus 1909.
- Moin Halloun, A Practical Dictionary of the Standard Dialect Spoken in Palestine. Bethlehem University 2000.
- Moin Halloun, Spoken Arabic for Foreigners. An Introduction to the Palestinian Dialect. Vol. 1 & 2. Jerusalem 2003.
- Arye Levin, A Grammar of the Arabic Dialect of Jerusalem [in HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
]. Jerusalem: Magnes Press 1994 (ISBN 965-223-878-3) - M. Piamenta, Studies in the Syntax of Palestinian Arabic. Jerusalem 1966.
- Frank A. Rice and Majed F. Sa'ed, Eastern Arabic: an introduction to the spoken Arabic of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. Beirut: Khayat's 1960.
- Frank A. Rice, Eastern Arabic-English, English-Eastern Arabic: dictionary and phrasebook for the spoken Arabic of Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine/Israel and Syria. New York: Hippocrene Books 1998 (ISBN 0-7818-0685-2)
- H. Schmidt & P. E. Kahle, "Volkserzählungen aus Palaestina, gesammelt bei den Bauern von Bir-Zet". Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1918.
- Kimary N. Shahin, Palestinian Rural Arabic (Abu Shusha dialect). 2nd ed. University of British Columbia. LINCOM Europa, 2000 (ISBN 3-89586-960-0)
External links
- The Arabic dialect of central Palestine
- Arabic in Jordan (Palestinian dialect)
- "Phonological change and variation in Palestinian Arabic as spoken inside Israel", Dissertation Proposal by Uri Horesh, Philadelphia, December 12, 2003 (PDF)
- The Corpus of Spoken Palestinian Arabic (CoSPA), project description by Otto Jastrow.
- Palestinian Arabic Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix)