Emirati Arabic
Gulf Arabic
اللهجة الإماراتية
Native to	United Arab Emirates
Region	Arabia
Ethnicity	Arabs Arab Emiratis
Native speakers	3.7 million (2020)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Peninsular Gulf Emirati Arabic
Dialects	Dhabyaniya (ar: اللهجة الظبيانية)[2][3] Quwainiya (ar: القيوينية)[2] Hadhr al-Sahel al-Gharbi (ar: حضر الساحل الغربي)[2] Hadhr al-Dhafra (ar: حضر الظفرة)[2] Hadhr al-Sahel al-Sharqi (ar: حضر الساحل الشرقي)[2] Hadhr Ras al-Khaimah (ar: حضر راس الخيمة)[2] Emirati Bedouin Arabic (ar: لهجة بدو الإمارات)[2] Jibaliya (ar: لهجة المناطق الجبلية)[2] Lahjat Dibba (ar: لهجة دبا)[2] Emirati Pidgin Arabic (ar: العربي المبسط الاماراتي)[4]
Writing system	Arabic alphabet,Arabic chat alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	afb

EmiratiArabic (Arabic:اللهجة الإماراتية,romanized: al-Lahjah al-Imārātīyah), also known asAl Ramsa (Arabic:الرمسة,romanized: al-Ramsa),^[5] refers to a group ofArabic dialectal varieties spoken by theEmiratis native to theUnited Arab Emirates that share core characteristics with specific phonological, lexical, andmorphosyntactic features and a certain degree of intra-dialectal variation, which is mostly geographically defined. It incorporates grammatical properties of smaller varieties within the UAE, generally of tribal nature, which can be roughly divided into a couple of broader sub-varieties: the first spoken in the Northern Emirates ofDubai,Sharjah,Ajman,Umm al-Quwain, and the western part ofRas al-Khaimah; the second in the eastern part of the country, mainly inFujeirah,Dibba,Khor Fakkan,Hatta,Kalba, and the eastern part of Ras al-Khaimah; the third inAbu Dhabi including the oasis city ofAl Ain, the dialect is also seen in theOmani region ofAl-Buraimi.^[6] Emirati Arabic varieties can also be distinguished based on environmental factors, including variations associated withBedouin communities, coastal, agricultural, and mountainous regions.^[7]

Additionally, apidgin form of Emirati Arabic exists, predominantly utilized by blue-collar workers in the UAE. This linguistic variant, which is closely related to other variants ofGulf Pidgin Arabic, amalgamates elements of Emirati Arabic with other languages likeEnglish,Farsi,Hindi,Urdu, andTagalog. Serving as a simplified means of communication, Emirati Pidgin Arabic facilitates basic interactions in workplaces, construction sites, and similar environments where multilingual communication is necessary.^[4][8]

Speakers of Emirati Arabic identify themselves as speakers of a distinct variety (as compared withother neighbouringdialects such asQatari orKuwaiti Arabic), based on severalphonological,morphological, andsyntactic properties that distinguish Emirati Arabic from otherGulf Arabic varieties.^[6]

Emirati Arabic dialects are believed to have evolved from the linguistic variations spoken by ancient pre-Islamic Arabian tribes in the region, particularly theAzd,Qays, andTamim, as noted by Emirati linguist and historian, Ahmed Obaid.^[9]

Due to the coexistence of theModern Standard Arabic (high language) and thedialect (low language), it is possible to speak aboutdiglossia of the Arabic language.^[10]

The UAE, extending over a total area of about 83,000 km² and hosting more than 200 different nationalities, represent one of the nations with the largest aggregation of ethnic groups in the world.Archaeological excavations have shown that in this area several Semitic races were established. It follows that the spoken language, the Emiratidialect, includes some different dialectal shades. It represents the communication tool used by the overwhelming majority of the population, although people of good cultural level are able to express themselves in official Arabic. Notwithstanding the recent filling up ofurban areas to the detriment ofrural ones has led to a growing decrease in local dialectal variations, we can still identify three main areas of different shades of the Emirate dialect:Abu Dhabi (includingAl Ain, thewestern region and islands), Dubai and the Northern Emirates (includingSharjah,Ajman,Umm al-Quwain and part ofRas al-Khaimah) and the east coast (includingFujairah,Khor Fakkan, and the remainder ofRas al-Khaimah). To give a practical example, the word "mob (مب)" a negation which simply translates to "Not" should be mentioned with its variations: "mesh (مش)" inAbu Dhabi, "mob (مب)" in the Northern Emirates and "ma (ما)" in the East Coast.^[6][11]

Furthermore, the unification of the UAE has contributed to making changes to the locally spokendialect. Due to globalisation, it has been necessary to identify a more standard method ofcommunication to interact with foreigners. As a result, the Emirati dialect has received influences from other Arabic dialects and foreign languages. Words from the technical language have often anEnglish origin and have arrived in thePersian Gulf through interchanges with theEnglish andIndian population, and then have been adapted to an Arabic pronunciation.

Moreover, in the spoken Emirati language it is common to substitute some letters with others of similar sound: the [d͡ʒ] can become [j]; the [k] can become [t͡ʃ]; the [q] can become [g] or [d͡ʒ].^[12]

There is also a guide book for the Arabicdialect of the Emirates,Spoken Emirati, and anItalian version,Dialetto Emiratino, edited by Nico de Corato together with Hanan Al Fardan and Abdulla Al Kaabi, authors of the original English version.^[13]

Some examples of loanwords in Emirati Arabic:

• Emirati Dialect Conversation Manual (in Italian)

• Culture of the United Arab Emirates
• Gulf Arabic

• Language articles citing Ethnologue 27
• CS1 Arabic-language sources (ar)
• Articles with short description
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