Jordanian Arabic

Jordanian Arabic
اللهجة الأردنية
Native to	Jordan
Native speakers	9.9 million (2022)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Central Arabic Levantine Jordanian Arabic
Dialects	Fellahi (rural) Madani (urban)
Writing system	Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	(covered by apc)
Glottolog	sout3123 east2690
IETF	apc-JO
South Levantine   Levantine Bedawi
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Jordanian Arabic is a dialect continuum of mutually intelligible varieties of Arabic spoken in Jordan.

Jordanian Arabic can be divided into sedentary and Bedouin varieties.^[2] Sedentary varieties belong to the Levantine Arabic dialect continuum. Bedouin varieties are further divided into two groups, Northwest Arabian Arabic varieties of the south,^[3] and Najdi Arabic and Shawi Arabic^[4] varieties of the north.^[2] Jordan Arabic incorporates vocabulary and expressions influenced by neighboring dialects, including those from Palestine, Syria, and Iraq.^[5]

Arabic is a member of the Semitic language family. Jordanian Arabic varieties are spoken by more than 8.5 million people, and understood throughout the Levant and, to various extents, in other Arabic-speaking regions. As in all Arab countries, language use in Jordan is characterized by diglossia; Modern Standard Arabic is the official language used in most written documents and the media, while daily conversation is conducted in the local colloquial varieties.^[6]

Although there is a common Jordanian dialect mutually understood by most Jordanians, the daily language spoken throughout the country varies significantly through regions. These variants impact altogether pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.

Jordanian Arabic can primarily be divided into sedentary and Bedouin varieties, each of which can be further divided into distinct subgroups:^[2]

Sedentary varieties

• Hybrid variety (Modern Jordanian)/Ammani: It is the most current spoken language among Jordanians. This variety was born after the designation of Amman as capital of the Jordanian kingdom early in the 20th century. It is the result of the merger of the language of populations who moved from northern Jordan, southern Jordan, Saudi Arabia and later from Palestine. For this reason, it mixes features of the Arabic varieties spoken by these populations. The emergence of the language occurred under the strong influence of the northern Jordanian dialect. As in many countries English is used to substitute many technical words, even though these words have Arabic counterparts in modern standard Arabic.
• Balgawi-Horani:^[7] Mostly spoken in the area from Amman to Irbid in the far north. As in all sedentary areas, local variations are many. The pronunciation has /q/ pronounced [g] and /k/ mostly ([tʃ]). This dialect is part of the southern dialect of the Levantine Arabic language.
• Southern/Moab:^[7] Spoken in the area south of Amman, in cities such as Karak, Tafilah, Ma'an, Shoubak and their countrysides, it is replete with city-to-city and village-to-village differences. In this dialect, the pronunciation of the final vowel (æ~a~ə) commonly written with tāʾ marbūtah (ة) is raised to [e]. For example, Maktaba (Fuṣḥa) becomes Maktabe (Moab), Maktabeh (North) and Mektaba (Bedawi). Named after the ancient Moab kingdom that was located in southern Jordan, this dialect belongs to the outer southern dialect of the Levantine Arabic language.
• Aqaba variety^{[citation needed]}

Bedouin varieties

• Northwest Arabian Arabic:^[3] Spoken by the Hwetat, Bani Atiya, the Bdul of Petra, and N’emat tribes in Southern Jordan. According to Palva, the dialects spoken in Jordan belong to the Eastern group of NWA dialects. Nevertheless, the dialects of the Bdul and N’emat share features with the Western group of NWA dialects spoken in the Negev.^[3] In addition, the dialect of the Zawaida tribe is argued to be closely related to Negev Arabic.^[8]
• North Arabian dialects: Spoken by the Sirhan, Bani Saxar, and Bani Khalid tribes. They are further divided into Anazi-type dialects which are related to Central Najdi Arabic, and Shammari-type dialects which are related to Northern Najdi Arabic.^[2]
• Syro-Mesopotamian Bedouin dialects: These dialects show many similarities with Iraqi “gelet”-dialects and with Gulf Arabic.^[2] Herin divides this group into a Central “ygulu” and Northern “ygulun” Shawi Arabic, both types being identical except for the presence of /n/ in the plural imperfect of the latter group. The Central “ygulu” dialects are spoken by the Ajarma, Adwan, and Ababid tribes.^[7]

In addition to geographical distinctions, variations in speech patterns are also influenced by social factors, including gender. In Jordanian society, women engaged in public activities and social media platforms typically employ a manner of speech characterized by politeness and indirectness. This contrasts with the more direct and assertive communication style commonly adopted by men. Understanding these nuances is crucial for grasping the full spectrum of language variation in Jordanian Arabic.^[9]

• /d͡ʒ/ is realized as a voiced fricative /ʒ/, across different speakers and dialects.
• /t͡ʃ/ is a lexically-distributed alternant of /k/ in sedentary Horani/Balqawi dialects. [t͡ʃ] is historically also an allophone of /k/ in the Syro-Mesopotamian Bedouin dialects.^[10]

• /e/ and /i/ are only contrastive word-finally as shown by the minimal pair kalbe “dog (f.)” and kalbi “my dog”.
• /o/ and /u/ are only contrastive word-finally as shown by the minimal pair katabo “he wrote it” vs. katabu “they wrote”.
• /i u/ can be heard as [ɪ, ʊ] in lax form.
• /a/ can occur as a back [ɑ] mostly after /r/, an open-front [a] before /r/, and as [ɛ] in word-final positions, except after velarized, emphatic, back or pharyngeal sounds.
• /aː/ is heard within the position or /r/ as a long back [ɑː] or front [æː] among speakers. Among people who are first generation, Palestinian-dialect speakers, it can also be heard as [eː].
• A central [ə] can be epenthetic within some long vowel sounds like /eː/ as [eːə].^[11]

One syllable of every Jordanian word has more stress than the other syllables of that word. Some meaning is communicated in Jordanian by the location of the stress of the vowel. So, changing the stress position changes the meaning (e.g. ['katabu] means they wrote while [kata'bu] means they wrote it). This means one has to listen and pronounce the stress carefully.

/il-/ is used in most words that don't start with a vowel. It is affixed onto the following word. Il-bāb meaning the door. /iC-/ is used in words that start with a consonant produced by the blade of the tongue (t, ṭ, d, ḍ, r, z, ẓ, ž, s, ṣ, š, n. Sometimes [l] and [j] as well depending on the dialect). This causes a doubling of the consonant. This e is pronounced as in a rounded short backward vowel or as in an e followed by the first letter of the word that follows the article. For example: ed-desk meaning the desk, ej-jakét meaning the jacket, es-seks meaning the sex or hāda' et-téléfón meaning that is the telephone.

Contrary to MSA, dual pronouns do not exist in Jordanian; the plural is used instead. Because conjugated verbs indicate the subject with a prefix or a suffix, independent subject pronouns are usually unnecessary and mainly used for emphasis. Feminine plural forms modifying human females are found primarily in rural and Bedouin areas.

Bound pronouns typically attach to nouns, prepositions, verbs andalso to certain adverbs, conjunctions and other discourse markers:

Indirect object / dative pronouns arise from the merging of l- “for, to”, and the bound pronouns. Note that geminated forms like Ammani after-CC katabt-illo “I wrote for him” are not to be found in Salti, which has katab(ə)t-lo:^[13]

Demonstratives can appear pre-nominally or post-nominally

In Amman, Form I strong verbs usually have perfect CaCaC with imperfect CCuC/CCaC, and perfect CiCiC with imperfect CCaC.^[12] In Salt, CaCaC and CiCiC can occur with imperfect CCiC.^[13]

Geminate verbs generally have perfect CaCC and imperfect CiCC. In Amman and Salt, the 2nd person singular masculine and the 1st person singular perfect inflect as CaCCēt: ḥassēt, šaddēt.^[12][13] In Amman, the active participle alternates between CāCC and CāCC (ḥāss and ḥāsis). In Salt, only CāCC (ḥāss) is present.

Note that Salt forms the perfect on a different template than Amman. In any case, the perfect is conjugated as a strong verb:

The vowel of the short base of the perfect usually has the same quality as the vowel of the imperfect: gām~ygūm~gumt and gām~ygīm~gimt. An exception is šāf~yšūf~šuft. Verbs with yCāC imperfects usually have CiCt perfects.^[13]

In the perfect, both CaCa and CiCi are found.

Form IV is not productive in the sedentary dialects of Amman or Karak. A conservative feature of the sedentary Balqāwi-Hōrani group is the preservation of Form IV, which is productive in three uses:^[14]

• to create transitive verbs from nouns and adjectives:
  • bʿad—yibʿid “to go away” (from bʿīd “far”)
• to create “weather verbs”:
  • štat—tišti “to rain”
• to derive causative verbs from intransitive verbs with stem CvCvC:
  • gʿad—yigʿid “to wake sth. up” (from gaʿad—yugʿud “to sit down”)

Qdar is the infinitive form of the verb can. Baqdar means I can, I can't is Baqdareş, adding an eş or ış to the end of a verb makes it negative; if the word ends in a vowel then a ş should be enough.

An in-depth example of the negation: Baqdarelhomm figuratively means I can handle them, Baqdarelhommeş means I cannot handle them, the same statement meaning can be achieved by Baqdareş l'ıl homm

Jordanian Arabic is not regarded as the official language even though it has diverged significantly from Classic Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA).^[15][16][17] A large number of Jordanians, however, call their language "Arabic", while referring to the original Arabic language as Fusħa. This is common in many countries that speak languages or dialects derived from Arabic and can prove to be quite confusing^{[to whom?]}. Whenever a book is published, it is usually published in English, French, or in MSA and not in Levantine.^[15][16][17]

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There are many ways of representing Levantine Arabic in writing. The most common is the scholastic Jordanian Latin alphabet (JLA) system which uses many accents to distinguish between the sounds (this system is used within this article). Other Levantine countries, however, use their own alphabets and transliterations, making cross-border communication inconvenient.^[18]

There are some phonemes of the Jordanian language that are easily pronounced by English speakers; others are completely foreign to English, making these sounds difficult to pronounce.

Contrasting with the rich consonant inventory, Jordanian Arabic has much fewer vowels than English. Yet, as in English, vowel duration is relevant (compare /i/ in bin and bean).

Social factors have a noticeable impact on the Jordanian language,^[19] especially in how people classify everyday items like fruits and vegetables. In Amman, for instance, these factors influence whether individuals prefer idiomatic or neutral terms for these foods. Research shows that older men and those with less formal education often favor idiomatic expressions, which may reflect traditional values and a lower social status.^[20] This reveals how language choices can mirror broader societal norms and the connections between age, education, and cultural identity. Understanding these preferences offers valuable insights into the local culture and its dynamics.^[21]

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Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is spoken in formal TV programs, and in Modern Standard Arabic classes, as well as to quote poetry and historical phrases. It is also the language used to write and read in formal situations if English is not being used. However, MSA is not spoken during regular conversations. MSA is taught in most schools and a large number of Jordanian citizens are proficient in reading and writing formal Arabic. However, foreigners residing in Jordan who learn the Levantine language generally find it difficult to comprehend formal MSA, particularly if they did not attend a school that teaches it.

Other influences include English, French, Turkish, and Persian. Many loan words from these languages can be found in the Jordanian dialects, particularly English. However, students also have the option of learning French in schools. Currently, there is a small society of French speakers called Francophone and it is quite notable in the country. The language is also spoken by people who are interested in the cultural and commercial features of France.

• English-based creole language
• Jordan Academy of Arabic

• Doughan, Yazan (2017). "Imaginaries of Space and Language: A historical view of the scalar enregisterment of Jordanian Arabic". International Journal of Arabic Linguistics. 3 (2): 77–109. ISSN 2421-9835.

Levantine Arabic test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Levantine Arabic

For a list of words relating to Jordanian Arabic, see the South Levantine Arabic language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Jordanian Arabic.