ThePre-Hilalian Urban Arabic dialects are acontinuum ofArabic dialects native toNorth Africa. They constitute, along with thePre-Hilalian dialects, the largerMaghrebi Arabic family, and result from the first phase ofArabization in thearea - before the 12th century - as well as from the establishment of communities of refugees fromAl-Andalus, whose languages were close to it.^[1]

These dialects are to be distinguished from modern urbankoinés, the majority in cities, resulting from the establishment of populations of rural origin in the city and whose characteristics are mainlyHilalian.

Like allPre-Hilalian dialects, the Pre-Hilalian Urban dialects belong to two distinct groups: a first group is related to Eastern Pre-Hilalian dialects (Constantine,Tunisia andLibya), characterized by the preservation of three long vowels, while that the second group is related to Western dialects (Algiers,Oran andMorocco), characterized by the existence of two long vowels and having developed an indefinite article by combining the Arabic numeral waḥed (one) and the definite article el- (example : waḥed el-mra - "a woman", lit. "one the woman").^[2]

• Pre-Hilalian Arabic dialects

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