Omani Arabic(Arabic:اللهجة العمانية,romanized:al-Lahjah al-ʻUmānīyah;also known asOmani Hadari Arabic) is avarietyofArabicspoken in theAl Hajar MountainsofOmanand in a few neighboring coastal regions. It is the easternmost traditional Arabic dialect. It was formerly spoken by colonists inKenyaandTanzania,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| Labial | Interdental | Dental/Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | emph. | plain | emph. | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||||
| Stop | voiceless | t | tˤ | t͡ʃ | k | q | ʔ | ||||
| voiced | b | d | (d͡ʒ) | ɡ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | sˤ | ʃ | x~χ | ħ | h | ||
| voiced | ð | ðˤ | z | ɣ~ʁ | ʕ | ||||||
| Trill | r | rˤ | |||||||||
| Approximant | l | (ɫ) | j | w | |||||||
- 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,Salalahand someBatinavarieties (e.g. the center ofSoharcity), 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 ArabicatEthnologue(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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