Damascus Arabic

DA, like other Levantine dialects, is influenced by Aramaic.{{cite book |last1=Versteegh |first1=Kees |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004144730 |page=v4. p.403}}

DA is one of the most represented and researched Arabic dialects; It has been researched or discussed by Grotzfeld,{{cite book |last1=Grotzfeld |first1=Heinz |title=Syrisch-arabische grammatik: dialekt von damaskus |year=2006 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=3447006919}} Ambros (1977),{{cite book |last1=Ambros |first1=Arne |title=Damascus Arabic |year=1977 |publisher=Undena Publications |isbn=9780890030097 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HsVkjgEACAAJ}}, Cowell, Cantineau and Helbaoui (1953),{{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.fr/Manuel-%C3%A9l%C3%A9mentaire-darabe-oriental-Cantineau/dp/B001820C8O|title=Manuel élémentaire d'arabe oriental : Parler de Damas|last1=Helbaoui|first1=Youssef|last2=Cantineau|first2=Jean|date=1953|asin=B001820C8O}} Kuhnt (1958),{{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.de/Syrisch-arabischer-Sprachf%C3%BChrer-Eberhard-Kuhnt/dp/B0000BKLAS|title=Syrisch-arabischer Sprachführer|last1=Kuhnt|first1=Eberhard|date=1958|asin=B0000BKLAS}} Kassab (1970),{{cite book |last1=Kassab |first1=Jean |title=Manuel du parler arabe moderne au Moyen-Orient. Tome premier, Cours élémentaire |date=2006 |publisher=P. Geuthner |isbn=270530455X |edition=2e éd}} Ferguson (1961),{{cite book |last1=Ferguson |first1=Charles |display-authors=et al |title=Damascus Arabic |publisher=Centre for Applied Linguistics |location=1974 |isbn=0872810240 }} Bloch (1964){{cite book |last1=Grotzfeld |first1=Heinz |last2=Bloch |first2=Ariel |title=Damaszenisch-arabische Texte: Mit Übersetzung, Anmerkungen und Glossar |date=1964 |isbn=978-3447049429 }} and (1965),{{cite book|title=Die Hypotaxe im Damaszenisch-Arabischen mit Vergleichen zur Hypotaxe im Klassisch-Arabischen|last1=Bloch|first1=Ariel|isbn=978-3935556040}} Bergsträsser (1924),{{cite book |last1=Bergsträsser |first1=Gotthelf |title=Zum arabischen Dialekt von Damaskus. I. Phonetik |date=1924 |publisher=Georg Olm Verlagsbuchhandlung, Hildesheim}} which also contains around fifty-pages worth of transcribed DA, and the twelve-volume course written by the US Defense Language Institute (1983).{{cite book |title=Arabic Syrian Course |date=1983 |publisher=Defense language institute: Foreign Language Center}}{{Cite book |last=Klimiuk |first=Maciej |title=Phonetics and Phonology of Damascus Arabic |publisher=Katedra Arabistyki i Islamistyki, Uniwersytet Warszawski |year=2013 |isbn=9788390318851 |publication-place=Warsaw |publication-date=2013 |pages=65–72 |chapter=Vowels |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TbZFEAAAQBAJ}}

Of its dictionaries which focus on the old varieties of DA, there are Strowasser's (English-DA Arabic),{{cite book |last1=Stowasser |first1=Karl |last2=Moukhtar |first2=Ani |title=A dictionary of Syrian Arabic : English-Arabic |date=1964 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |isbn=1589011058}} Ṭīb al-Kalām (Arabic-DA Arabic){{cite book |last1=al-Zaʿīm |first1=Wafīq |title=Ṭīb al-kalām : [bi-lahjat ahl al-Shām : muʿjam] |publisher=Dār al-Fikr |isbn=978-9933-10-217-3 |edition=1st}} and the long-awaited Salamé and Lentin's (French-DA Arabic).{{cite book |last1=Versteegh |first1=Kees |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004144730 |page=vol 1–546}} A dictionary of idioms has been released by Borhan Ahmad.{{cite book |last1=Ahmad |first1=Borhan |title=The Dictionary of Levantine Idioms: +300 Idioms of Everyday Syrian Dialect |date=2018 |url=https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Levantine-Idioms-Everyday-Dialect-ebook/dp/B07GJN38ZB |asin=B07GJN38ZB}}

DA most influential position is in media, where it is the de facto official Syrian dialect/accent in the media when MSA is not used and is the most influential dialect in Arabic drama. It has been said that DA is taking the traditional place of Egyptian Arabic there.{{cite web |last1=Uthman |first1=Ahmad |title=Ahmad Maher: Damascus Arabic is a real threat to Egyptian drama |url=https://www.eremnews.com/entertainment/arts-celebrities/935281 |website=www.eremnews.com |access-date=23 November 2018 |language=ar-AR}}

The most influential Syrian series that is used almost only in DA, Bab Al-Hara, acquired a staggering 50 million view per episode in its peaks{{cite web |title=Does Syrian star Jihad Abdo turned pizza delivery boy still have a shot at Hollywood fame? |url=https://www.albawaba.com/entertainment/does-syrian-star-jihad-abdo-turned-pizza-delivery-boy-still-have-shot-hollywood-fame-9 |website=www.albawaba.com |access-date=23 November 2018 |language=en |date=5 January 2017}} and the success of some Turkish shows in the Arab world has been attributed to dubs in DA.{{cite web |last1=Rizvi |first1=Anam |title=Arab viewers get taste of different cultures with translated TV shows in the UAE |url=https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/arab-viewers-get-taste-of-different-cultures-with-translated-tv-shows-in-the-uae-1.676810 |website=The National |access-date=15 December 2018 |language=en}}

It is not common for DA to be written in literature, as MSA is usually used in this genre instead. It has however made its way to al-turath al-sha'bi in several pieces of literature, like Siham Turjuman's Yā māl al-Shām (only dialogues), Munīr Kayāl's Ḥikāyāt dimašqiyya (only dialogues) and Institut Francais du Proche-Orient's fifteen-volume Sirat Al-Malik Al-Zahir Baibars Hsab Al-Riwaya Al-Shamiyya (scattered).{{cite book |last1=Bohas |first1=Georges|author-link1=Georges Bohas|last2=Hassan |first2=Iyas |title=Sīrat al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Baybarṣ : ḥasab al-riwāyah al-Shāmīyah |publisher=Institut Français du Proche-Orient |isbn=978-2-901315-59-9 |edition=11}}

• The phonemes {{IPA|/p, v, g, q/}} appear mainly in borrowings and loanwords. A rare /tʃ/ has been reported in Turkish loanwords but it is usually articulated as /{{IPA link|ʃ}}/.
• {{IPA|/p/}} is not generally replaceable by {{IPA|/b/}}, as in kɔmpyūtər 'computer'; although unaspirated [p] is a frequent allophone of /b/ before voiceless obstruents /f, k, x, ħ, q, s, ʃ, sˤ, t, tˤ/ and at the end of phrases.
• Uvular {{IPA|/q/}} is frequent in borrowings from Classical Arabic and sometimes alternates freely with {{IPA|/ʔ/}}; but always using /q/ instead of the dialectal /ʔ/ (as used in some rural dialects) is not prestigious in DA, where it could be mocked.{{cite book |last1=Versteegh |first1=Kees |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004144730 |page=v1. p.548}}
• While they are used more in rural dialects than in the urban DA, voiceless /{{IPA link|θ}}/ is an educated variant of /{{IPA link|s}}/ and /{{IPA link|t}}/ in words with /{{IPA link|θ}}/ in MSA. Similarly, its voiced variant /{{IPA link|ð}}/ is an educated variant of /{{IPA link|z}}/ and /{{IPA link|d}}/ in words with /{{IPA link|ð}}/ in MSA. These two variants are mainly noticeable from educated men whose professions require the frequent usage of MSA in its written form and is considered a literary, educated and a religious usage.{{cite book |last1=Omar |first1=Margaret |title=Levantine & Egyptian Arabic : comparative study |date=1976 |publisher=University of California Libraries |isbn=978-1125382011 }}{{cite book |last1=Albirini |first1=Abdulkafi |title=Modern Arabic sociolinguistics : diglossia, variation, codeswitching, attitudes and identity |date=September 11, 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415707473 |page=196 |edition=1}}
• All of {{IPA|/m, b, l/}} have emphatic (velarised) equivalents but a standard method of writing them in the Arabic script does not exist. e.g. Minimal pairs typically exist in Mayy for (a female name) while /mˤ/ in ṃayy for (water), /b/ in bab[h]a (her door) and two /bˤ/ in ḅaḅa (dad), two /l/ in 'all[h]a (he told her) and two /lˤ/ in aḷḷa[h] (Allah).
• [dʒ] is used in the Aleppo region, and in more rural parts of Greater Syria, instead of /ʒ/. [tʃ] only occurs in certain words of the Aleppo region, and in certain rural dialects elsewhere, in place of /k/ in certain positions.
• While Lentin argues that /r/ contrasts with /rˤ/ as in [i]nhār (he broke down) and nhāṛ (daytime), Cowell denies that an /r/ and /rˤ/ distinction exists in DA.
• DA makes frequent use of doubled (long) consonants and the difference is phonemic. e.g. katab (wrote) and kattab (made someone write), ġani (rich) and ġanni (sing!).
• Usually, the velarisation of one consonant velarises adjacent consonants in a word or even the whole word, but /e/, /i/ and /ə/ can restrain it.{{cite book |last1=Versteegh |first1=Kees |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004144730 |page=548 v.1}}

DA typically contains at most eleven different phonemic vowels with six of them (including schwa) being short vowels or at least eight phonemic vowels.{{cite web|url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/99474/1/ICPHS0612.pdf|title=Acoustic analysis of the Syrian Arabic vowel system|last1=Almbark|first1=Rana|last2=Hellmuth|first2=Sam|website=University of York|access-date=5 November 2018}}

• No standard method of writing [e], [o], or [ə] exists in the typical Arabic script. Usually, [e] and [i] are considered both kasrah, [u] and [o] are considered as both dhammah, while [ə] is occasionally represented by both diacritics for DA speakers. Similarly, /e:/ and /i:/ are considered mad bil-ya while /o:/ and /u:/ are considered mad bil-waw. Only six vowels could be written with the standard Arabic script and as such, most speakers of DA can describe them easily in Arabic while this is not the case for the other vowels.
• The phonemic quality of [e], [o] and [ə] is disputed by some researchers who analyse them as allophones; nevertheless, Lentin analyses every non-final syllable /e, i, u, o/ as /ə/ although this /ə/ has different allophones.
• Typically, most diphthongs in Classical Arabic are monophthonged in DA with a fixed pattern: *aw= /o:/, *ay=/e:/, *ey & *əy=/i:/, *əw=/u:/; exceptions to this include: *aww and *ayy are preserved (at the end of syllables they change to *aw and *ay though), morphological constraints occasionally prevent monophthongization and diphthongs could occur as loanwords from Classical Arabic.{{cite book |last1=Versteegh |first1=Kees |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004144730 |page=547 v.1}}

One of the most distinctive features of typical DA, which is most pronounced in the old quarters, is the lengthening of the last vowel of interrogative and exclamative sentences. This peculiar intonation has a 'sing-songy' feeling which leads some to call it as 'singing' rather than speaking when compared to Egyptian Arabic.{{cite web |last1=Kulk |first1=Friso |last2=Odé |first2=Cecilia |last3=Manfred |first3=Woidich |title=The Intonation of Colloquial Damascene Arabic: a pilot study |url=http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/archive/2003/Proc25KulkOdeWoidich.pdf |website=www.fon.hum.uva.nl |publisher=University of Amsterdam, Institute of Phonetic Sciences |access-date=2 January 2019}}

The actor of 'Moataz' in Bab al-Hara is quite famous for this during fights. This is frequently parodied by non-DA speakers.{{cite book |last1=Belnap |first1=Kirk |last2=Haeri |first2=Niloofar |title=Structuralist studies in Arabic linguistics : Charles A. Ferguson's papers, 1954-1994 |date=August 1, 1997 |publisher=E.J. Brill |isbn=9004105115 |page=104}}

Due to Syria's education in MSA and global communication, DA is experiencing changes towards classicalism, pseudo-classicalism, neologisms and journalese; local characteristics are rapidly being abandoned in favour of such uses. For example, the traditional zōzi (my husband) is being replaced by žōzi and the new semi-classical variant zōži emerged. This rapid influence can be considered the main difference between the traditional and contemporary DA versions.{{cite book |last1=Versteegh |first1=Kees |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004144730 |page=v4. 408}}

Velarisation tends to be more pronounced in Christian quarters.{{cite book |last1=Versteegh |first1=Kees |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004144730 |page=v1. p.547}}

Jews in Iskenderun and Antakya used to speak with dialects quite close to Damascus and Aleppo urban dialects due to their interaction with the Jews there, which differentiated them from people living there. Syrian Jews also used to pronounce Hebrew loanwords containing {{Script/Hebrew|ח, ע, צ{{popdf}} and ט}} with their biblical Hebrew and Arabic equivalents.{{cite web |last1=Arnold |first1=Werner |title=Judeo-Arabic, Syria, Hebrew Component in |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-hebrew-language-and-linguistics/judeo-arabic-syria-hebrew-component-in-EHLL_COM_00000031?s.num=8 |website=Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics |access-date=6 January 2019 |language=en |date=24 June 2013}}{{cite book |last1=Kahn |first1=Lily |last2=Rubin |first2=Aaron |title=Handbook of Jewish languages |date=October 30, 2015 |publisher=Brill Academic Pub |isbn=978-9004217331 |page=43}}

Velarisation tends to be more pronounced in old quarters, like in al-Mīdān.

{{Reflist}}

{{Incubator|apc|lang=North Levantine Arabic}}

{{Wikibooks|Levantine Arabic}}

{{Wiktionary cat|category=North Levantine Arabic language}}

{{Levantine Arabic}}

{{Languages of Syria}}

Category:Levantine Arabic

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