Classification of Arabic languages

Classification of Arabic languages
The Arabic language family is divided into several categories which are: Old Arabic, the literary varieties, and the modern vernaculars.
The genealogical position of Arabic within the group of the Semitic languages has long been a problem.
Views on Arabic classification
Semitic languages were confined in a relatively small geographic area (Greater Syria, Mesopotamia and the Arabian desert) and often spoken in contiguous regions. Permanent contacts between the speakers of these languages facilitated borrowing between them. Borrowing disrupts historical processes of change and makes it difficult to reconstruct the genealogy of languages.
In the traditional classification of the Semitic languages, Arabic was in the Southwest Semitic group, based on some affinities with Modern South Arabian and Geʽez.
Most scholars reject the Southwest Semitic subgrouping because it is not supported by any innovations and because shared features with South Arabian and Ethiopic were only due to areal diffusion.
In 1976, linguist Robert Hetzron classified Arabic languages as a Central Semitic language:
John Huehnergard, Aaron D. Rubin, and other scholars suggested subsequent modifications to Hetzron's model:
However, several scholars, such as Giovanni Garbini, consider that the historical–genetic interpretation is not a satisfactory way of representing the development of the Semitic languages (contrary to Indo-European languages, which spread over a wide area and were usually isolated from each other). Edward Ullendorff even thinks it is impossible to establish any genetic hierarchy between Semitic languages. These scholars prefer a purely typological–geographical approach without any claim to a historical derivation.
For instance, in Garbini's view, the Syrian Desert was the core area of the Semitic languages where innovations came from. This region had contacts between sedentary settlements—on the desert fringe—and nomads from the desert. Some nomads joined settlements, while some settlers became isolated nomads ("Bedouinisation"). According to Garbini, this constant alternation explains how innovations spread from Syria into other areas. Isolated nomads progressively spread southwards and reached South Arabia, where the South Arabian language was spoken. They established linguistic contacts back and forth between Syria and South Arabia and their languages. That is why Garbini considers that Arabic does not belong exclusively to either the Northwest Semitic languages (Aramaic, Phoenician, Hebrew, etc.) or the South Semitic languages (Modern South Arabian, Geʽez, etc.) but that it was affected by innovations in both groups.
There is still no consensus regarding the exact position of Arabic within Semitic languages. The only consensus among scholars is that Arabic varieties exhibit common features with both the South (South Arabian, Ethiopic) and the North (Canaanite, Aramaic) Semitic languages, and that it also contains unique innovations.
There is no consensus among scholars whether Arabic diglossia (between Classical Arabic, also called "Old Arabic" and Arabic vernaculars, also called "New Arabic" or "Neo-Arabic") was the result of the Islamic conquests and due to the influence of non-Arabic languages or whether it was already the natural state in 7th-century Arabia (which means that both types coexisted in the pre-Islamic period).
Modern spoken Arabic varieties
According to Dutch linguist Kees Versteegh, modern vernaculars (also called dialects, colloquial varieties or spoken Arabic varieties) are classified as follows:
Peninsular
North-east Arabian:
ʿAnazī: including Kuwaiti Arabic, Bahrain Sunnī Arabic and Gulf Arabic
Šammar: including some Bedouin dialects in Iraq
Syro-Mesopotamian Bedouin: including the Bedouin dialects of North Israel and Jordan, and the Dawāġrah dialect
South(-west) Arabian: Yemeni Arabic (including Sanʽani Arabic, Hadhrami Arabic and Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic), Shiʿite Baḥārna and Omani Arabic
Ḥijāzī (West Arabian): Bedouin dialects of the Hejaz and the Tihamah. Includes Mecca and Medina.
Northwest Arabian: Negev, Sinai, southern Jordan, eastern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba and "some regions in north-western Saudi Arabia"
Syro-Lebanese
Lebanese/Central Syrian: including all Lebanese dialects, Damascus Arabic, Druze Arabic, and Çukurova Arabic. Versteegh notes that Cypriot Arabic is usually included in this group although it also has North Mesopotamian Arabic (qeltu) features.
North Syrian: including Aleppo Arabic
Palestinian/Jordanian:
Palestinian urban (madani)
Central Palestinian rural (fellahi)
South Palestinian rural and Jordanian, including the Hauran
Greater Mesopotamian
qǝltu
Tigris
Jewish Baghdadi and Christian Baghdadi
Euphrates
Anatolian
Central Asian Arabic
Uzbekistan Arabic
gilit
Muslim Baghdadi
Urban Khuzestani
Egyptian–Sudanese
Chad-Sudan
Chadian Arabic
Bagirmi: Nigeria, Cameroon, and part of Chad
Urban dialects of Chad, including N’Djamena and Abbéché
Sudanese Arabic
Juba Arabic
Nubi Arabic
Egyptian proper
Nile Delta
Eastern Delta (Šarqiyya)
Western Delta
Cairene Arabic
Middle Egypt: Giza to Asyut
Upper Egyptian
Between Asyut and Nag Hammadi
Between Nag Hammadi and Qena
Between Qena and Luxor
Between Luxor and Esna
Maghrebi
Pre-Hilālī: all urban
Eastern pre-Hilālī: Libya, Tunisia (including Judeo-Tunisian), eastern Algeria
Western pre-Hilālī: western Algeria and Morocco
Maltese
Andalusian Arabic (extinct)
Hilālī: Bedouin dialects of North Africa
Sulaym: Libyan Arabic and southern Tunisia
Eastern Hilāl: central Tunisia and eastern Algeria
Central Hilāl: south and central Algeria, especially areas bordering the Sahara
Maʿqil: western Algeria and Moroccan plains
Hassaniya
See also
Arab (disambiguation)
Etymology of Arab
Notes
References
Sources
Cantineau, Jean (1955). "La dialectologie arabe", Orbis 4:149–169.
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Kaye, Alan S., & Judith Rosenhouse (1997). "Arabic Dialects and Maltese", The Semitic Languages. Ed. Robert Hetzron. New York: Routledge. Pages 263–311.
Scagliarini, F., (1999). "The Dedanitic inscriptions from Jabal 'Ikma in north-western Hejaz" Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 29, 143–150
Central Semitic languages
Arabic