Arabic

Arabic (اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ, al-ʿarabiyyah [al ʕaraˈbijːa] (listen); عَرَبِيّ, ʿarabī [ˈʕarabiː] (listen) or [ʕaraˈbij]) (sometimes arguably, the Arabic languages) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.[12] Having emerged in the 1st century, it is named after the Arab people; the term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula, as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece.[13]

This article needs attention from an expert in linguistics. The specific problem is: There seems to be some confusion surrounding the chronology of Arabic's origination, including notably in the paragraph on Qaryat Al-Faw (also discussed on talk). There are major sourcing gaps from "Literary Arabic" onwards. (August 2022)

Arabic
اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ‎ al-ʿarabiyyah
al-ʿarabiyyah in written Arabic (Naskh script)
Pronunciation	/ˈʕarabiː/, /alʕaraˈbijːa/
Native to	Countries of the Arab League, minorities in neighboring countries and some parts of Asia, Africa, Europe
Ethnicity	Arabs and several peoples of the MENA region (as a result of language shift)
Speakers	360 million native speakers of all varieties (2022)[1] 270 million L2 users of Modern Standard Arabic (2022)[2]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic North Arabian Arabic
Early form	Proto-Arabic Old Arabic Old Hijazi Classical Arabic
Standard forms	Modern Standard Arabic
Dialects	Western (Maghrebi) Northern (Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Levantine) Southern (Peninsular, Gulf, Bahrani, Hejazi, Najdi and Yemeni) Shirvani Arabic †
Writing system	Arabic alphabet Latin script (Arabizi, Said Akl's alphabet, Hassaniya alphabet, Maltese alphabet) Hebrew alphabet (in Israel for Levantine)[3]
Signed forms	Signed Arabic (different national forms)
Official status
Official language in	27 states Algeria Bahrain Chad Comoros Djibouti Egypt Eritrea[4] Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Mauritania Morocco Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Somalia Somaliland Sudan Syria Tunisia United Arab Emirates Yemen Zanzibar (Tanzania) Western Sahara (disputed territory) International Organizations African Union Arab League Organisation of Islamic Cooperation United Nations
Recognised minority language in	List Cyprus[5] Israel[6] Mali[7] Niger[8] Philippines[9] Senegal[10] South Africa[11]
Regulated by	List Algeria: Supreme Council of the Arabic language in Algeria Egypt: Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo Israel: Academy of the Arabic Language in Israel Iraq: Iraqi Academy of Sciences Jordan: Jordan Academy of Arabic Libya: Academy of the Arabic Language in Jamahiriya Morocco: Academy of the Arabic Language in Rabat Saudi Arabia: Academy of the Arabic Language in Riyadh Somalia: Academy of the Arabic Language in Mogadishu Sudan: Academy of the Arabic Language in Khartoum Syria: Arab Academy of Damascus (the oldest) Tunisia: Beit Al-Hikma Foundation
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ar
ISO 639-2	ara
ISO 639-3	ara – inclusive code Individual codes: arq – Algerian Arabic aao – Algerian Saharan Arabic xaa – Andalusian Arabic bbz – Babalia Creole Arabic abv – Baharna Arabic shu – Chadian Arabic acy – Cypriot Arabic adf – Dhofari Arabic avl – Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic arz – Egyptian Arabic afb – Gulf Arabic ayh – Hadrami Arabic mey – Hassaniya Arabic acw – Hijazi Arabic ayl – Libyan Arabic acm – Mesopotamian Arabic ary – Moroccan Arabic ars – Najdi Arabic apc – Levantine Arabic ayp – North Mesopotamian Arabic acx – Omani Arabic aec – Saidi Arabic ayn – Sanaani Arabic ssh – Shihhi Arabic sqr – Siculo Arabic arb – Standard Arabic apd – Sudanese Arabic pga – Sudanese Creole Arabic acq – Taizzi-Adeni Arabic abh – Tajiki Arabic
Glottolog	arab1395
Linguasphere	12-AAC
majority language (dark blue); minority language (light blue)
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Since the 7th century, Arabic has been characterized by diglossia, with an opposition between a standard prestige language—i.e., Literary Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Classical Arabic[lower-alpha 1]—and diverse vernacular varieties, which serve as mother tongues.[15] Colloquial dialects vary significantly from MSA, impeding mutual intelligibility.[16][17][18] MSA is only acquired through formal education and is not spoken natively. It is the language of literature, official documents, and formal written media. In spoken form, MSA is used in formal contexts, news bulletins and for prayers.[19] This variety is the lingua franca of the Arab world and the liturgical language of Islam.[20] It is an official language of 26 states and 1 disputed territory, the third most after English and French.[21] It is also one of six official languages of the United Nations.[22]

Spoken varieties are the usual medium of communication in all other domains. They are not standardized and vary significantly, some of them being mutually unintelligible.[23] The International Organization for Standardization assigns language codes to 33 varieties of Arabic, including MSA.[24][25] Arabic vernaculars do not descend from MSA or Classical Arabic.[26][27] Combined, Arabic dialects have 362 million native speakers,[1] while MSA is spoken by 274 million L2 speakers,[2] making it the sixth most spoken language in the world.[28]

Arabic is traditionally written with the Arabic alphabet, a right-to-left abjad. This alphabet is the official script for MSA. Colloquial varieties were traditionally not written; however, with the emergence of social media, the amount of written dialects has significantly increased online. Besides the Arabic alphabet, dialects are also often written in Latin from left to right or in Hebrew characters (in Israel)[3] with no standardized orthography. Maltese and Hassaniya are the only varieties officially written in a Latin alphabet.[29][lower-alpha 2]