Arabic languages - Citizendia

Arabic
Geographic distribution:	Arabia, Arab world
Genetic classification:	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Central Arabic
Subdivisions:	Ancient North Arabian Arabic language

The Arabic language family consists of

The Arabic macrolanguage (ISO 639-3 ara), including
- the living varieties of Arabic,
- Classical Arabic and Standard Arabic,
- The various Judeo-Arabic languages. The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a Language family with about 375 languages ( SIL estimate and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa The Semitic languages are a Language family whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, The West Semitic languages are a proposed major sub-grouping of Semitic languages. The Central Semitic languages are an intermediate group of Semitic languages, comprising Arabic and Northwest Semitic (including Canaanite Ancient North Arabian is known from fragmentary inscriptions in Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, dating to between roughly the 6th century Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages See Arabic languages for the historical family of dialects The Arabic language is a Semitic language with many varieties Classical Arabic (CA also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad Literary Arabic (ar اللغة العربية الفصحى "the Eloquent Arabic language" or Standard Arabic is the literary and standard variety The Judæo-Arabic languages are a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in the Arab world; the term also refers to
a number of closely related extinct dialects of pre-Islamic Arabia, summarized as Ancient or Old North Arabian (ISO 639-3 xna), including
- Safaitic,
- Dedanitic/Lihyanitic (Dedanite/Lihyanite),
- Thamudic,
- Hasaitic. The history of Pre- Islamic Arabia before the rise of Islam in the 630s is not known in great detail Ancient North Arabian is known from fragmentary inscriptions in Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, dating to between roughly the 6th century ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages Safaitic is the name given to an Old North Arabian dialect preserved in the form of inscriptions which are written in a type of South Semitic script. Lihyan ( Arabic: لحيان) was an ancient Arab kingdom It was located northwestern Arabia and it is known for its Old North Arabian inscriptions Thamudic is an Old North Arabian dialect known from pre-Islamic inscriptions scattered across the Arabian desert and the Sinai. Hasaitic is an Old North Arabian dialect attested in inscriptions in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia at Thaj Hinna Qatif, Ras Tanura

SIL Ethnologue unites Canaanite and Arabic in a South Central Semitic group together with Aramaic forming Central Semitic, but it is more common to unite Aramaic and Canaanite as Northwest Semitic. Ethnologue Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics a Christian The Canaanite languages or Hebraic languages are a subfamily of the Semitic languages, which were spoken by the ancient peoples of the Canaan region Aramaic is a Semitic language with The Central Semitic languages are an intermediate group of Semitic languages, comprising Arabic and Northwest Semitic (including Canaanite The Northwest Semitic languages form a medium-level division of the Semitic language family.

Literature

Cantineau, Jean (1955). "Le dialectologie arabe," Orbis 4:149-169.
Fischer, Wolfdietrich, & Otto Jastrow (ed) (1980). Handbuch der arabischen Dialekte. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz.
Kaye, Alan S. , & Judith Rosenhouse (1997). "Arabic Dialects and Maltese," The Semitic Languages. Ed. Robert Hetzron. New York: Routledge. Pages 263-311.
Lozachmeur, H. , (ed. ), (1995) Presence arabe dans le croissant fertile avant l'Hegire (Actes de la table ronde internationale Paris, 13 Novembre 1993) Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations. ISBN 286538 2540
Macdonald, M. C. A. , (2000) "Reflections on the linguistic map of pre-Islamic Arabia" Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 11(1), 28–79
Scagliarini, F. , (1999) "The Dedanitic inscriptions from Jabal 'Ikma in north-western Hejaz" Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 29, 143-150 ISBN 2-503-50829-4
Sobelman, H. , (ed. ) (1962). Arabic Dialect Studies. Washington, D. C. : Center for Applied Linguistics and the Middle East Institute.
Winnett, F. V. and Reed, W. L. , (1970) Ancient Records from North Arabia (Toronto: University of Toronto)

Literature

See also