Omani Arabic (Arabic:اللهجة العمانية,romanized: al-Lahjah al-ʻUmānīyah; also known asOmani Hadari Arabic) is avariety ofArabic spoken in theAl Hajar Mountains ofOman and in a few neighboring coastal regions. It is the easternmost traditional Arabic dialect. It was formerly spoken by colonists inKenya andTanzania, but these days, it mainly remains spoken on the island ofZanzibar.
| Omani Arabic | |
|---|---|
| اللهجة العمانية | |
| Native to | Oman,United Arab Emirates |
| Region | Hajar mountains and a few coastal towns |
| Ethnicity | Omanis |
| Speakers | 3.2 million (2020)[1] |
| Arabic alphabet,Arabic chat alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | acx |
| Glottolog | oman1239 |
 Areas where Omani Arabic is spoken (in dark blue those areas where it is more widely spoken). | |
Phonology
editConsonants
edit- Velar fricatives/x,ɣ/ can be heard as uvular sounds[χ,ʁ], in the Muscat dialect.
- /k,ɡ/ can also be heard as palatalized sounds[kʲ,ɡʲ] among the Muscat dialect.
- [ɫ] can be heard as an allophone of/l/, but is rarely phonemic.[2]
- As for most [Omani] dialects, Standard Arabic[d͡ʒ] is replaced with the velar stop/g/⟨ج⟩, while[d͡ʒ] is available in some Omani dialects, mainly Bedouin.[3]
- The speakers ofMuscat,Salalah and someBatina varieties (e.g. the center ofSohar city), as well as other sedentary dialect speakers, pronounce/q/⟨ق⟩ as[q], while the Bedouin dialect speakers pronounce/q/ as[g].[4] and this variable/q/ has been a hallmark for distinguishing Bedouin and Hadari (urban) Arabs for centuries.[5]
Vowels
edit| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | iiː | uuː |
| Mid | eː | oː |
| Open | aaː | |
- /a/ can be heard as[æ] when preceding/j/ or any non-emphatic consonant. It is heard as back[ɑ] after emphatic sounds, and can then be heard as[ʌ] when shortened. Its long equivalent/aː/, is heard as[ɑː] after emphatic sounds.[6]
- /i/ can be heard as[ɪ] in medial position and as[ɨ] in shortened positions.
- Sounds/u,uː/ are often realized as near-close back sounds[ʊ,ʊː]./u/ can sometimes be heard as[ɔ] or[o] after emphatics.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Omani Arabic atEthnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^Glover, Bonnie C. (1988).The morphophonology of Muscat Arabic. University of California at Los Angeles.
- ^Al-Balushi, Rashid (2017)."Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect"(PDF).Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect:89–90.
- ^Al-Balushi, Rashid (2017)."Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect"(PDF).Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect: 89.
- ^Al Nabhani, H (2011)."Language and Identity in Oman through the Voice of Local Radio Broadcasters"(PDF).Language and Identity in Oman through the Voice of Local Radio Broadcasters. The University of Edinburgh.
- ^Grünbichler, Elisabeth (2015).Grammatik und Lexik des arabischen Dialekts von Buraimi (Oman). Universität Wien.
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