Judeo-Tunisian Arabic, also known as Judeo-Tunisian, is a variety of Tunisian Arabic mainly spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Tunisia.^[6] Speakers are older adults, and the younger generation has only a passive knowledge of the language.^[1]

The vast majority of Tunisian Jews have relocated to Israel and have shifted to Hebrew as their home language.^[3][7] Those in France typically use French as their primary language, while the few still left in Tunisia tend to use either French or Tunisian Arabic in their everyday lives.^[3][7]

Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is one of the Judeo-Arabic languages, a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in the Arab world.^[6]

Like all other Judeo-Arabic languages, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic does not seem to be very different from the Arabic dialect from which it derives, Tunisian Arabic.^{[3][6][23][24][25]}

• Phonology: There are three main differences between Tunisian Arabic phonology and Judeo-Tunisian Arabic phonology:
  • Substitution of phonemes: Unlike most dialects of Tunisian Arabic, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic has merged Tunisian Arabic's glottal [ʔ] and [h] into [∅],^[3][8] Interdental [ð] and [θ] have respectively been merged with [d] and [t],^[3][8] Ḍah and Ḍād have been merged as [dˤ] and not as [ðˤ],^[3][8] Prehilalian /aw/ and /ay/ diphthongs have been kept^[3][8] (except in Gabes^[26]), and [χ] and [ʁ] have been respectively substituted by [x] and [ɣ].^[3][8] This is mainly explained by the difference between the language contact submitted by Jewish communities in Tunisia and the one submitted by other Tunisian people.^[8]
  • Sibilant conversion:
    • [ʃ] and [ʒ] are realized as [sˤ] and [zˤ] if there is an emphatic consonant or [q] later in the word (however in Gabes this change takes effect if [ʃ] and [ʒ] are either before or after an emphatic consonant or [q]).^[4] For example, راجل rājil (meaning man) is pronounced in Gabes dialect of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic as /rˤa:zˤel/ and حجرة ḥajra (meaning stone) is pronounced in all Judeo-Tunisian dialects as /ħazˤrˤa/.^[4]
    • [ʃ] and [ʒ] are realized as [s] and [z] if there is an [r] later in the word (Not applicable to the dialect of Gabes).^[4] For example, جربة jirba (meaning Djerba) is pronounced in all Judeo-Tunisian dialects except the one of Gabes as /zerba/.^[4]
  • Chibilant conversion: Unlike in the other Judeo-Arabic languages of the Maghreb,^[27] [sˤ], [s] and [z] are realized as [ʃ], [ʃ] and [ʒ] in several situations.^[4]
    • [sˤ] is realized as [ʃ] if there is not another emphatic consonant or a [q] within the word (only applicable to Gabes dialect) or if this [sˤ] is directly followed by a [d].^[26] For example, صدر ṣdir (meaning chest) is pronounced as /ʃder/^[26] and صف ṣaff (meaning queue) is pronounced in Gabes dialect of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic as /ʃaff/.
    • [s] and [z] are respectively realized as [ʃ] and [ʒ] if there is no emphatic consonant, no [q] and no [r] later in the word (In Gabes, this change takes effect if there is no [q] and no emphatic consonant within the word). For example, زبدة zibda (meaning butter) is pronounced as /ʒebda/.^[4]
  • Emphasis of [s] and [z]: Further than the possible conversion of [s] and [z] by [sˤ] and [zˤ] due to the phenomenon of the assimilation of adjacent consonants (also existing in Tunisian Arabic),^[23] [s] and [z] are also realized as [sˤ] and [zˤ] if there is an emphatic consonant or [q] later in the word (however in Gabes this change takes effect if [ʃ] and [ʒ] are either before or after an emphatic consonant or [q]).^[4] For example, سوق sūq (meaning market) is pronounced in Judeo-Tunisian Arabic as /sˤu:q/.^[4]
  • [q] and [g] phonemes: Unlike the Northwestern, Southeastern and Southwestern dialects of Tunisian Arabic, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic does not systematically substitute Classical Arabic [q] by [g].^[27] Also, the [g] phoneme existing in Tunis, Sahil and Sfax dialects of Tunisian Arabic is rarely maintained^[28] and is mostly substituted by a [q] in Judeo-Tunisian.^[3] For example, بقرة (cow) is pronounced as /bagra/ in Tunis, Sahil and Sfax dialects of Tunisian Arabic and as /baqra/ in Judeo-Tunisian.^[3]
• Morphology: The morphology is quite the same as the one of Tunisian Arabic.^[3][6][23] However:
  • Judeo-Tunisian Arabic sometimes uses some particular morphological structures such as typical clitics like qa- that is used to denote the progressivity of a given action.^[3][29] For example, qayākil means he is eating.
  • Unlike Tunisian Arabic, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is characterized by its extensive use of the passive form.^[3][10]
  • The informal lack of subject-verb agreement found in Tunisian and in Modern Standard Arabic does not exist in Judeo-Tunisian Arabic. For example, we say ed-dyār tebnēu الديار تبناوا and not ed-dyār tebnēt الديار تبنات (The houses were built).^[30]
• Vocabulary: There are some differences between the vocabulary of Tunisian Arabic and the one of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic. Effectively:
  • Unlike Tunisian Arabic, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic has a Hebrew adstratum.^[2][6][31] In fact, Cohen said that almost 5 percent of the Judeo-Tunisian words are from Hebrew origin.^[27] Furthermore, Judeo-Tunisian has acquired several specific words that do not exist in Tunisian like Ladino from language contact with Judaeo-Romance languages.^[27][32]
  • Unlike most of the Tunisian Arabic dialect and as it is Pre-Hilalian, Judeo-Tunisian kept Pre-Hilalian vocabulary usage patterns.^[33] For example, rā را is used instead of šūf شوف (commonly used in Tunisian) to mean "to see".^[33]
  • Unlike the Tunis dialect of Tunisian Arabic,^[11] Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is also known for the profusion of diminutives.^[11] For example:
    • qṭayṭas قطيطس (little or friendly cat) for qaṭṭūs قطّوس (cat).^[11]
    • klayib كليب (little or friendly dog) for kalb كلب (dog).^[11]