Palestinian Arabic is a Levantine Arabic dialect subgroup spoken by Palestinians, most Jordanians and 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 spoken forms of Arabic of Syria and Lebanon.
Differences from other forms of Levantine Arabic
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 Fuṣḥa 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 vocabulary: 'like' (prep.) is زي zayy for some regions in Palestine as it is in Egypt. However, مثل mitl, as found in Syrian and Lebanese Arabic, is also used by Palestinians in other regions.
- 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.
Sub-dialects of Palestinian Arabic
Palestinian Arabic falls into three groups:
- Urban Palestinian,
- Rural Palestinian
- Bedouin Palestinian.
Of these, the urban dialect is the closest to northern Levantine Arabic of Syria and Lebanon, less so the rural. Meanwhile, the Bedouin dialect is nearer to varieties of Arabic spoken in Arabia itself, the Bedouins being more certainly known to be Arabs not only in culture, language and customs but also by descent traceable outside Palestine/Israel (as opposed to being locals whose ethnic identity 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:
- The pronunciation of qāf serves as a shibboleth to distinguish the three main Palestinian dialects: it becomes a glottal stop 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 Bedouin speakers. In a number of villages in the Galilee (e.g. Maghār), especially but not only among the Druze, the qāf is actually pronounced qāf as in Classical Arabic.
- In dialects where qāf is pronounced as k, a true kāf is often pronounced /tʃ/, as in some dialects of Gulf Arabic. This is generally a feature of more conservative idiolects. This pronunciation of kāf also happens in the northern West Bank and adjacent Palestinian populated areas in Israel, known as "the triangle". This pronunciation is often stigmatised by urban Palestinians and some villagers who refrain from that pronunciation.
- In addition, a feminine suffix -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".
- 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.
In addition, there are families of Lebanese or Syrian origin living in Israel that still speak in their dialect of origin, or in an idiolect that partially assimilates to Palestinian Arabic while retaining some features of the dialect of origin.
Other Differences from Modern Standard/Classical Arabic
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
Marking Indirect Object
The particle li- has fused with the preceding stem as an indicator of an indirect object. Thus MSA qultu lahû is expressed as 'ultillo, qultillo or kultillo and MSA Katabtu lahâ is translated in Palestinian Arabic as Katabtilha.
Interrogatives
| MSA |
Palestinian Arabic |
Translation |
| لماذا Limāðā |
ليش Layš |
Why |
| ماذا māðā |
ايش ayš, شو šū |
What |
| كيف Kayfa |
كيف Kīf, چيف ĉīf, كنف kinf |
How |
| متى matā |
إيمتى īmtā, إيمتين īmtīn |
When |
| اين ayna |
وين wayn |
Where |
| من man |
مين mīn |
Who |
Influence of other languages
Palestinian Arabic, like all forms of Levantine Arabic, is strongly influenced by Aramaic; which was spoken in the Levant before the arrival of Arabic.
In addition 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) resembles Hebrew hēm as against Classical Arabic hum, Aramaic hon and general Levantine Arabic henne. Similarly the suffix -kem (you or your) resembles Hebrew -khem as against Classical Arabic -kum and Aramaic 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 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.
Israeli Arabic
Arab citizens of Israel also tend to borrow from modern Israeli Hebrew. The resulting language is usually referred to as Israeli Arabic. for example:
- makhsom מַחְסוֹם ('barrier' – used widely to refer to Israeli military checkpoints throughout the West Bank)
- ramzor רַמְזוֹר (traffic light)
- pelefon (pronounced "belefon" by Arabs) פֶּלֶאפוֹן (cellphone)
- shamenet שַׁמֶּנֶת (sour cream)
- mazgan מַזְגָן (air-conditioner)
- beseder בְּסֵדֶר (O.K, alright)
- makhshev מַחְשֵׁב (computer)
- me'onot מעונות (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 מעונות would be pronounced as a voiced pharyngeal fricative rather than the glottal stop traditionally used by the vast majority of Israeli Jews.
The 2009 film Ajami is mostly spoken in Israeli Arabic.
See also
References
- 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 Hebrew. 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". Gottingen: 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)
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