Khuzestani Arabic

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Khuzestani Arabic
Native toIran
Afro-Asiatic
  • Creole Arabic
    • Khuzestani Arabic
Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone

Khuzestani Arabic is a

Khuzestan Province of Iran. Whilst being a southern Mesopotamian Arabic dialect, it has many similarities with Gulf Arabic in neighbouring Kuwait. It has subsequently had a long history of contact with the Persian language, leading to several changes.[1] The main changes are in word order, noun–noun and noun–adjective attribution constructions, definiteness marking, complement clauses, and discourse markers and connectors.[1][2]

Khuzestani Arabic is only used in informal situations. It is not taught in school, not even as an optional course, although Modern Standard Arabic is taught at a basic level for religious purposes.[1] Almost all Khuzestani Arabic speakers are bilingual in Arabic and Persian (the official language of Iran).[3] Khuzestani Arabic speakers are shifting to Persian; if the existing shift continues into the next generations, according to Bahrani & Gavami in Journal of the International Phonetic Association, the dialect will be nearly extinct in the near future.[3]

Distribution

Khuzestani Arabic is spoken in

Martinica and Bawi.[3]

Contact and lexis

The Khuzestani Arabic dialect is in contact with Bakhtiari Lurish, Persian and Mesopotamian Arabic.[3] Although the lexis of the dialect is primarily composed of Arabic words, it also has Persian, English, French and Turkish loanwords.[3] In the northern and eastern cities of Khuzestan, Luri is spoken in addition to Persian, and the Arabic of the Kamari Arabs of this region is "remarkably influenced" by Luri.[3] In cities in Khuzestan such as Abadan, some of the new generations, especially females, often mainly speak Persian.[3] A number of Khuzestani Arabic speakers furthermore only converse in Persian at home with their children.[3]

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Even in the most formal of conventions, pronunciation depends upon a speaker's background.

ف⟩ respectively depending on the speaker.[5][6]

Khuzestani Arabic consonant phonemes
Labial Dental Denti-alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
plain emphatic1
Nasal
 m
n
Stop
voiceless
 (p)
t
 		tˤ k ʔ
voiced
 b
d
 		dˤ g
Fricative
voiceless
 f θ
s
 		sˤ ʃ x ~ χ ħ h
voiced
 (v) ð
z
 		ðˤ ɣ ~ ʁ ʕ
Affricate
voiceless
 tʃ
voiced
 d͡ʒ
Tap
 ɾ
Approximant
l
 		(
ɫ
) 		j w

Phonetic notes:

  • /p/ and /v/ occur mostly in borrowings from Persian, and may be assimilated to /b/ or /f/ in some speakers.
  • /ɡ/ is pronunciation of /q/ in Khuzestani Arabic and the rest of southern Mesopotamian dialects.
  • The gemination of the flap /ɾ/ results in a trill [r].

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Khuzestani Arabic: a case of convergence
  2. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.529368
    .
  3. ^
    S2CID 235915108
    .
  4. ^ Holes (2004:58)
  5. ^ Teach Yourself Arabic, by Jack Smart (Author), Frances Altorfer (Author)
  6. Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
    (transl. of Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart, 1952)

Sources

  • Holes, Clive (2004). Modern Arabic : structures, functions, and varieties. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
    ISBN 978-1-58901-022-2
    .
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