languages of Lebanon

According to Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025),Lebanon, in {{Ethnologue28}} these languages have the most users in Lebanon:

1. Levantine Arabic – {{Sigfig|5,415,000|3}}
2. Modern Standard Arabic – {{Sigfig|4,780,000|3}}
3. English – {{Sigfig|2,107,750|3}}
4. French – {{Sigfig|1,994,500|3}}
5. Western Armenian – {{Sigfig|259,000|3}}
6. Turkish – {{Sigfig|188,900|3}}

Lebanon—and the Arab world in general—exists in a state of diglossia:{{Cite book |last1=Qwaider |first1=Chatrine |url=https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/71096 |title=Resources and Applications for Dialectal Arabic: the Case of Levantine |last2=Abu Kwaik |first2=Kathrein |publisher=University of Gothenburg |year=2022 |isbn=978-91-8009-803-8 |pages=136, 139}} the language used in literature, formal writing, or other specific settings is very divergent from that used in conversations. Lebanon's official language, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA),{{sfn|Al-Wer|2006|p=1917}} has no native speakers in or outside Lebanon.Arabic, Standard, 24th Edition, Ethnologue It is almost never used in conversations{{Cite news |date=16 June 2010 |title=Campaign to save the Arabic language in Lebanon |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/10316914 |access-date=7 September 2023 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} and is learned through formal instruction rather than transmission from parent to child.{{sfn|Al-Wer|Jong|2017|p=525}} MSA is the language of literature, official documents, and formal written media (newspapers, instruction leaflets, school books),{{sfn|Al-Wer|Jong|2017|p=525}} and in spoken form, it is mostly used when reading from a scripted text (e.g., news bulletins) and for prayer and sermons in the mosque or church.{{sfn|Al-Wer|Jong|2017|p=525}} Levantine, conversely, is spoken natively and used in conversations, TV shows, films, and advertisements.{{Cite magazine |last=Muhanna |first=Elias |date=30 May 2014 |title=Translating "Frozen" Into Arabic |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/translating-frozen-into-arabic |access-date=30 September 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}} This diglossia has been compared to the use of Latin as the sole written, official, liturgical, and literary language in Europe during the medieval period, while Romance languages were the spoken languages.{{sfn|Versteegh|2014|p=241}}{{Cite journal |last=Kamusella |first=Tomasz Dominik |year=2017 |title=The Arabic Language: A Latin of Modernity? |journal=Journal of Nationalism, Memory and Language Politics |publisher=De Gruyter |volume=11 |page=117 |doi=10.1515/jnmlp-2017-0006 |issn=2570-5857 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |number=2 |hdl=10023/12443}} Levantine—specifically its Palestinian dialect—is the closest Arabic variety to MSA,Harrat S., Meftouh K., Abbas M., Jamoussi S., Saad M., Smaili K., (2015), Cross-Dialectal Arabic Processing. In: Gelbukh A. (eds), Computational Linguistics and Intelligent Text Processing. CICLing 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 9041. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18111-0_47, [https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261598/document PDF].Conference Proceedings, Arabic Dialect Identification in the Context of Bivalency and Code-Switching, El-Haj, Mahmoud, Rayson, Paul, Aboelezz, Mariam, Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2018), 2018, European Language Resources Association (ELRA), Miyazaki, Japan, el-haj-etal-2018-arabic, https://aclanthology.org/L18-1573Kathrein Abu Kwaik, Motaz Saad, Stergios Chatzikyriakidis, Simon Dobnika, A Lexical Distance Study of Arabic Dialects, Procedia Computer Science, Volume 142, 2018, Pages 2–13, {{ISSN|1877-0509}}, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2018.10.456 but Levantine and MSA are not mutually intelligible.{{Cite book |last=al-Sharkawi |first=Muhammad |title=History and Development of the Arabic Language |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-317-58863-4 |page=xvi |oclc=965157532}} They differ significantly in their phonology, morphology, lexicon and syntax,{{sfn|Cowell|1964|pp=vii–x}} and exposure to MSA in the early childhood of native speakers of an Arabic variety results in a linguistic system that behaves like that of bilinguals.{{Cite journal |last1=Eviatar |first1=Zohar |last2=Ibrahim |first2=Raphiq |date=1 December 2000 |title=Bilingual Is as Bilingual Does: Metalinguistic Abilities of Arabic-Speaking Children |url=https://eds.s.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=6014b3f3-6eb5-4dea-9b75-22cf6421385e@redis&bdata=Jmxhbmc9ZW4tZ2Imc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=EJ621568&db=eric |journal=Applied Psycholinguistics |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=451–471 |doi=10.1017/S0142716400004021 |issn=0142-7164 |s2cid=145218828|url-access=subscription }}

Levantine speakers often call their language {{wikt-lang|ajp|العامية}} {{transliteration|apc|al-ʿāmmiyya}}, 'slang', 'dialect', or 'colloquial' ({{literal translation|the language of common people}}), to contrast it to Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Classical Arabic ({{wikt-lang|ar|الفصحى}} {{transliteration|ar|al-fuṣḥā}}, {{literal translation|the eloquent}}).{{efn|Native speakers of Arabic generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Classical Arabic and refer to both as {{lang|arb|العربية الفصحى}} {{transliteration|arb|ALA|al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā}}, {{literal translation|the eloquent Arabic}}.{{cite book | last=Badawi |first= El-Said M.| title=Understanding Arabic: Essays in Contemporary Arabic Linguistics in Honor of El-Said Badawi | publisher=American University in Cairo Press | year=1996 | isbn=977-424-372-2 | oclc=35163083 | page=105}}|name=CAvsMSA}}{{Cite journal |last=Shendy |first=Riham |year=2019 |title=The Limitations of Reading to Young Children in Literary Arabic: The Unspoken Struggle with Arabic Diglossia |journal=Theory and Practice in Language Studies |publisher=Academy Publication |volume=9 |issue=2 |page=123 |doi=10.17507/tpls.0902.01 |s2cid=150474487 |doi-access=free}}{{cite book |last1=Eisele |first1=John C. |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |editor1-last=Edzard |editor1-first=Lutz |chapter=Slang |doi=10.1163/1570-6699_eall_eall_com_0310 |editor2-last=de Jong |editor2-first=Rudolf}}{{sfn|Liddicoat|Lennane|Abdul Rahim|2018|p=I}} They also call their spoken language {{wikt-lang|ajp|عربي}} {{transliteration|apc|ʿarabiyy}}, 'Arabic'.{{Cite book |last=al-Sharkawi |first=Muhammad |title=The Ecology of Arabic – A Study of Arabicization |publisher=Brill |year=2010 |isbn=978-90-04-19174-7 |page=32 |oclc=741613187}} Alternatively, they identify their language by the name of their country, such as {{wikt-lang|apc|لبناني}} {{transliteration|apc|libnāni}}, 'Lebanese'.{{sfn|Shachmon|Mack|2019|p=362}} {{wikt-lang|apc|شامي}} {{transliteration|apc|šāmi}} can refer to Damascus Arabic, Syrian Arabic, or Levantine as a whole.{{Cite book |last=Shoup |first=John Austin |url= |title=Culture and Customs of Syria |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-313-34456-5 |pages=156 |oclc=183179547}} Lebanese literary figure Said Akl led a movement to recognize the "Lebanese language" as a prestigious language instead of MSA.{{sfn|Płonka|2006|p=433}} Most people consider Arabic to be a single language.{{Cite news |title=A language with too many armies and navies? |url=https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/06/21/a-language-with-too-many-armies-and-navies |access-date=2024-03-29 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}} The ISO 639-3 standard, however, classifies Arabic as a macrolanguage and Levantine as one of its languages, giving it the language code "apc".{{Cite web |title=apc {{!}} ISO 639-3 |url=https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/apc |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=iso639-3.sil.org}}

File:Maya_Diab_interview_in_Morocco_-_Oct_28,_2017.webm code-switches to English from Lebanese Levantine mid-sentence]]

Code-switching (alternating between languages in a single conversation) between Levantine, MSA, French, and English is very common in Lebanon, often being done in both casual situations and formal situations like TV interviews.{{cite book |last1=Behnstedt |first1=Peter |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |editor1-last=Edzard |editor1-first=Lutz |chapter=Syria |doi=10.1163/1570-6699_eall_EALL_COM_0330 |editor2-last=de Jong |editor2-first=Rudolf}}{{Cite journal |last1=Bahous |first1=Rima N. |last2=Nabhani |first2=Mona Baroud |last3=Bacha |first3=Nahla Nola |date=2 October 2014 |title=Code-switching in higher education in a multilingual environment: a Lebanese exploratory study |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09658416.2013.828735 |journal=Language Awareness |language=en |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=353–368 |doi=10.1080/09658416.2013.828735 |issn=0965-8416 |s2cid=144596902|url-access=subscription }} This prevalence of code-switching has led to phrases that naturally embed multiple linguistic codes being used in daily sentence, like the typical greeting "hi, {{lang|apc|كيفك؟}}{{Efn|group=lower-alpha|Transliterated as {{Transliteration|apc|kīfak}} (when asked to a male) or {{Transliteration|apc|kīfik}} (when asked to a female)}} {{lang|fr|Ça va ?}}{{-"}}, which combines English, Levantine and French.{{Cite journal |last=Bizri |first=Fida |date=November 2013 |title=Linguistic Green Lines in Lebanon |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13629395.2013.834568 |journal=Mediterranean Politics |language=en |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=444–459 |doi=10.1080/13629395.2013.834568 |issn=1362-9395 |s2cid=143346947|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite web |date=27 March 2015 |title=In polyglot Lebanon, some fear Arabic language is losing ground |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/in-polyglot-lebanon-some-fear-arabic-language-is-losing-ground |access-date=28 August 2023 |website=Associated Press |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2 March 2010 |title=In polyglot Lebanon, one language falls behind: Arabic |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/property/house-and-home/in-polyglot-lebanon-one-language-falls-behind-arabic-1914649.html |access-date=28 August 2023 |website=The Independent |language=en}} Code-switching also happens in politics. For instance, not all politicians master MSA, so they rely on the Lebanese dialect of Levantine.{{cite book |last1=Wardini |first1=Elie |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |editor1-last=Edzard |editor1-first=Lutz |chapter=Lebanon |doi=10.1163/1570-6699_eall_SIM_001001 |editor2-last=de Jong |editor2-first=Rudolf}}

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Additionally, many words used in the Lebanese dialect of Levantine have been borrowed from French, such as {{Transliteration|apc|telfizyōn|}} {{Pronunciation|LL-Q55633582 (ajp)-Muhammad (AdrianAbdulBaha)-تلفزيون.wav|listen}}(French: {{Lang|fr|télévision}} {{Pronunciation|Fr-télévision.ogg|listen}}, meaning 'television'), {{Transliteration|apc|balkōn|}} {{Pronunciation|LL-Q55633582 (ajp)-Muhammad (AdrianAbdulBaha)-بلكون.wav|listen}}(French: {{Lang|fr|balcon}} {{Pronunciation|Fr-balcon.ogg|listen}}, meaning 'balcony') and {{Transliteration|apc|doktōr|}} {{Pronunciation|LL-Q55633582 (ajp)-Muhammad (AdrianAbdulBaha)-دكتور.wav|listen}} (French: {{Lang|fr|docteur}} {{Pronunciation|Fr-docteur.ogg|listen}}, meaning 'doctor'),{{Cite thesis |title=A Discussion of Issues from French Loans in Lebanese |url=http://www.gsakr.com/research/dissertations/sakr_2018.pdf |date=2018 |degree=MSc Linguistics |first=Georges |last=Sakr |publisher=University of Edinburgh}} and from English, such as {{Transliteration|apc|CD}}, {{Transliteration|apc|crispy}}, {{Transliteration|apc|hot dog}}, and {{Transliteration|apc|keyboard}},{{Cite journal |last=Esseili |first=Fatima |date=2017 |title=A sociolinguistic profile of English in Lebanon |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/weng.12262 |journal=World Englishes |language=en |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=684–704 |doi=10.1111/weng.12262 |issn=1467-971X |s2cid=148739564|url-access=subscription }} with some phrases and verbs being altered to follow the syntax of Levantine Arabic, instead of English. For example, {{Transliteration|apc|shayyik}} comes from the English word 'check', and {{Transliteration|apc|sayyiv}} comes from the English word 'save'.

Lebanon's native language, Levantine Arabic, is the main language used in conversations. MSA, despite being Lebanon's second language by number of users, is almost never used in conversations, while English and French{{Cite journal |last1=Bahous |first1=Rima |last2=Bacha |first2=Nahla Nola |last3=Nabhani |first3=Mona |date=9 December 2011 |title=Multilingual educational trends and practices in Lebanon: A case study |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11159-011-9250-8 |journal=International Review of Education |volume=57 |issue=5–6 |pages=5 |doi=10.1007/s11159-011-9250-8 |bibcode=2011IREdu..57..737B |issn=0020-8566|url-access=subscription }} are, even between some native speakers of Levantine. Western Armenian and Kurdish are used by their communities in Lebanon, and different sign languages are used among the Deaf community.

File:MTV Lebanon - Teleprompter.jpg

Many public and formal speeches and most political talk shows are in Lebanese, not MSA. In the Arab world, most films and songs are in vernacular Arabic.{{Cite journal |last=Shendy |first=Riham |year=2019 |title=The Limitations of Reading to Young Children in Literary Arabic: The Unspoken Struggle with Arabic Diglossia |journal=Theory and Practice in Language Studies |publisher=Academy Publication |volume=9 |issue=2 |page=123 |doi=10.17507/tpls.0902.01 |s2cid=150474487 |doi-access=free}} Egypt was the most influential center of Arab media productions (movies, drama, TV series) during the 20th century,{{cite journal |last=Hachimi |first=Atiqa |year=2013 |title=The Maghreb-Mashreq language ideology and the politics of identity in a globalized Arab world |journal=Journal of Sociolinguistics |publisher=Wiley |volume=17 |issue=3 |page=275 |doi=10.1111/josl.12037 |doi-access=free}} but Levantine is now competing with Egyptian.{{cite news |last1=Uthman |first1=Ahmad |date=2 August 2017 |title=Ahmad Maher: Damascus Arabic is a real threat to Egyptian drama |url=https://www.eremnews.com/entertainment/arts-celebrities/935281 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419102751/https://www.eremnews.com/entertainment/arts-celebrities/935281 |archive-date=19 April 2019 |access-date=23 November 2018 |newspaper=Erem News |language=ar-AR}} As of 2013, about 40% of all music production in the Arab world was in Lebanese. Lebanese television is the oldest and largest private Arab broadcast industry.{{Cite book |last1=Khazaal |first1=Natalie |title=Routledge Handbook on Arab Media |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-429-76290-1 |editor1-last=Miladi |editor1-first=Noureddine |page=175 |chapter=Lebanese broadcasting: Small country, influential media |doi=10.4324/9780429427084 |hdl=10576/26105 |oclc=1164821650 |access-date=17 December 2021 |editor2-last=Mellor |editor2-first=Noha |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429427084-22/lebanese-broadcasting-natalie-khazaal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211217221639/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429427084-22/lebanese-broadcasting-natalie-khazaal |archive-date=17 December 2021 |url-status=live |s2cid=225023449}} Most big-budget pan-Arab entertainment shows are filmed in the Lebanese dialect in the studios of Beirut. Moreover, the Syrian dialect dominates in Syrian TV series (such as Bab al-Hara) and in the dubbing of Turkish television dramas, which are both aired in Lebanon.{{cite journal |last=Jabbour |first=Jana |year=2015 |title=An illusionary power of seduction? |url=https://journals.openedition.org/ejts/5234 |url-status=live |journal=European Journal of Turkish Studies |publisher=Association pour la Recherche sur le Moyen-Orient |issue=21 |doi=10.4000/ejts.5234 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414124508/https://journals.openedition.org/ejts/5234 |archive-date=14 April 2022 |access-date=14 April 2022 |doi-access=free}} With the release of Secret of the Wings in 2012, Disney began re-dubbing and dubbing its films in MSA, instead of Egyptian,{{Cite journal |last=Di Giovanni |first=Elena |date=2016-02-18 |title=Dubbing and Redubbing Animation: Disney in the Arab World |url=http://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/article/view/6850 |journal=Altre Modernità |language=en |pages=92–106 Pages |doi=10.13130/2035-7680/6850}}{{Cite web |last=Vivarelli |first=Nick |date=2013-03-11 |title=Disney Content to Air on Al Jazeera Kids' Channel |url=https://variety.com/2013/tv/news/disney-content-to-air-on-al-jazeera-kids-channel-1200006822/ |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} and in March 2013, Disney and pan-Arab television network Al Jazeera made a deal allowing the latter to distribute some of Disney's MSA-dubbed shows and films.{{Cite web |date=4 April 2022 |title=Disney to dub new film Encanto in Egyptian Arabic after 10-year hiatus – Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East |url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/03/disney-dub-new-film-encanto-egyptian-arabic-after-10-year-hiatus |access-date=29 September 2023 |website=Al-Monitor |language=en}} The release of Frozen with an MSA dub and without an Egyptian one caused a controversy in the Arab world.

Lebanese zajal and other forms of oral poetry are often in Levantine.{{cite journal |last1=Kazarian |first1=Shahe S. |year=2011 |title=Humor in the collectivist Arab Middle East: The case of Lebanon |journal=Humor |publisher=De Gruyter |volume=24 |issue=3 |page=340 |doi=10.1515/humr.2011.020 |s2cid=44537443}} Typically, news bulletins are in MSA. On the popular television network LBCI, Arab and international news bulletins are in MSA, while the Lebanese national news broadcast is in a mix of MSA and Lebanese Arabic. Lebanese TV station OTV and some radio stations that cover news of the Armenian diaspora in Lebanon broadcast daily news bulletins in Armenian.{{Cite web |last=Kadi |first=Samar |date=18 March 2016 |title=Armenians, Kurds in Lebanon hold on to their languages |url=https://thearabweekly.com/armenians-kurds-lebanon-hold-their-languages |website=The Arab Weekly}}

Lebanon used to have two francophone television stations, but they were shut down in the mid-1990s. Show hosts on television networks that are traditionally affiliated with Christians, such as MTV and LBCI, tend to use more English and French words than hosts in networks owned by Muslims, such as Future TV, Al-Manar, and NBN.

{{See also|Levantine Arabic#Orthography and writing systems}}

Unlike Levantine,{{Cite journal |last1=Abu Kwaik |first1=Kathrein |last2=Saad |first2=Motaz |last3=Chatzikyriakidis |first3=Stergios |last4=Dobnik |first4=Simon |date=May 2018 |title=Shami: A Corpus of Levantine Arabic Dialects |url=https://aclanthology.org/L18-1576 |journal=Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2018) |location=Miyazaki, Japan |publisher=European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}} Modern Standard Arabic has a standardized spelling in the Arabic script{{Cite journal |last=Al-Kahtany |first=Abdallah Hady |date=1997 |title=The 'Problem' of Diglossia in the Arab World: An Attitudinal Study of Modern Standard Arabic and the Arabic Dialects |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43192773 |journal=Al-'Arabiyya |volume=30 |pages=1–30 |issn=0889-8731 |jstor=43192773}} and is typically used in literature, official documents, newspapers, school books, and instruction leaflets.{{sfn|Al-Wer|Jong|2017|p=525}} In formal media, Levantine is seldom written, except for some novels, plays, and humorous writings.{{cite book |last1=Mejdell |first1=Gunvor |title=The Politics of Written Language in the Arab World: Writing Change |publisher=Brill |year=2017 |isbn=978-90-04-34617-8 |editor1-last=Høigilt |editor1-first=Jacob |page=81 |chapter=Changing Norms, Concepts and Practices of Written Arabic: A 'Long Distance' Perspective |doi=10.1163/9789004346178_005 |jstor=10.1163/j.ctt1w76vkk |oclc=992798713 |editor2-last=Mejdell |editor2-first=Gunvor |doi-access=free}}{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Humphrey T. |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |editor1-last=Edzard |editor1-first=Lutz |chapter=Dialect Literature |doi=10.1163/1570-6699_eall_EALL_COM_0086 |editor2-last=de Jong |editor2-first=Rudolf}} Subtitles are usually in MSA,{{Cite journal |last1=Abu-Rayyash |first1=Hussein |last2=Haider |first2=Ahmad S. |last3=Al-Adwan |first3=Amer |date=30 January 2023 |title=Strategies of translating swear words into Arabic: a case study of a parallel corpus of Netflix English-Arabic movie subtitles |journal=Humanities and Social Sciences Communications |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1057/s41599-023-01506-3 |issn=2662-9992 |s2cid=256362270 |doi-access=free}} sometimes translating Arabic dialects to MSA.{{Cite journal |last1=Al-Abbas |first1=Linda S. |last2=Haider |first2=Ahmad S. |date=1 January 2021 |editor-last=Sanchez Ramos |editor-first=Maria del Mar and |title=Using Modern Standard Arabic in subtitling Egyptian comedy movies for the deaf/ hard of hearing |journal=Cogent Arts & Humanities |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/23311983.2021.1993597 |issn=2331-1983 |s2cid=240142296 |doi-access=free}}File:Said_Akl_Statue_in_Beirut.JPG's campus, Beirut|alt=refer to caption]]Most Arabs struggle to write MSA correctly. On social media and when texting, they use their native variety, either in the Arabic script or Arabizi. Arabizi combines the Latin alphabet with Western Arabic numerals to make up for sounds unavailable with the Latin alphabet alone.{{Cite news |last=Laughlin |first=Alex Sujong |date=10 October 2022 |title=The Imperfect Art of Romanization |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/10/crosswords/romanization-languages-korean.html |access-date=20 September 2023 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} The numbers are visually similar to the Arabic character they represent. For example, 3 represents "{{Script|Arab|ع}}".{{Cite journal |last=Haghegh |first=Mariam |date=2021-05-15 |title=Arabizi across Three Different Generations of Arab Users Living Abroad: A Case Study |url=https://awej-tls.org/arabizi-across-three-different-generations-of-arab-users-living-abroad-a-case-study/ |journal=Arab World English Journal for Translation and Literary Studies |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=156–173 |doi=10.24093/awejtls/vol5no2.12|url-access=subscription }} Especially among younger generations, Arabizi is commonly used on social media and discussion forums, SMS messaging, and online chat.{{cite conference |last1=Bies |first1=Ann |last2=Song |first2=Zhiyi |last3=Maamouri |first3=Mohamed |last4=Grimes |first4=Stephen |last5=Lee |first5=Haejoong |last6=Wright |first6=Jonathan |last7=Strassel |first7=Stephanie |last8=Habash |first8=Nizar |last9=Eskander |first9=Ramy |year=2014 |title=Transliteration of Arabizi into Arabic Orthography: Developing a Parallel Annotated Arabizi-Arabic Script SMS/Chat Corpus |conference=EMNLP |location=Doha |publisher=Association for Computational Linguistics |page=93 |citeseerx=10.1.1.676.4146 |doi=10.3115/v1/w14-3612 |last10=Rambow |first10=Owen |book-title=Proceedings of the EMNLP 2014 Workshop on Arabic Natural Language Processing (ANLP)}} Arabizi initially evolved because of the lack of digital support for Arabic letters, but it is now used to save time switching keyboards and, for typists who are not proficient in an Arabic keyboard, save time typing.{{Cite journal |last=Haghegh |first=Mariam |date=2021-05-15 |title=Arabizi across Three Different Generations of Arab Users Living Abroad: A Case Study |url=https://awej-tls.org/arabizi-across-three-different-generations-of-arab-users-living-abroad-a-case-study/ |journal=Arab World English Journal for Translation and Literary Studies |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=156–173 |doi=10.24093/awejtls/vol5no2.12|url-access=subscription }} A 2012 study found that, when writing in Levantine on Facebook, Arabizi is more common than the Arabic script in Lebanon, while the Arabic script is more common in Syria.{{cite journal |last=Abu Elhija |first=Dua'a |year=2014 |title=A new writing system? Developing orthographies for writing Arabic dialects in electronic media |journal=Writing Systems Research |publisher=Informa |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=193, 208 |doi=10.1080/17586801.2013.868334 |s2cid=219568845}} Several studies have reported that the complexity of Arabic orthography slows down the word identification process, but Arabizi is not always read faster than the Arabic script, depending on vowelization, the reader's gender, and other factors.

In the 1960s, Lebanese poet Said Akl—inspired by the Maltese and Turkish alphabets—{{sfn|Płonka|2006|pp=425–426, 457}} designed a new Latin alphabet for Lebanese and promoted the official use of Lebanese instead of MSA,{{sfn|Płonka|2006|pp=425–426, 430}} but this movement was unsuccessful.{{sfn|Płonka|2006|pp=423, 463–464}}{{sfn|Abu Elhija|2019|pp=23–24}}

Between 1994 and 1997, the Council of Ministers passed a new National Language Curriculum that required schools to use either English or French in natural sciences and mathematics.{{Cite web |title=Lebanon – Educational System—overview |url=https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/827/Lebanon-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html |access-date=28 August 2023 |website=education.stateuniversity.com |language=en}} In general, school students are exposed to two or three languages: MSA and either French, English or both. Students' native language, Levantine, is not taught in schools, although teachers commonly code-switch to Levantine.

The number of students learning in English is increasing, while those learning in French is decreasing: In 2019, 50% of school students studied in French, compared to 70% twenty years prior to that, and 55% of French-educated students chose to go to English-medium universities.{{Cite news |date=4 April 2019 |title=In Lebanon, English overtakes French in universities |url=https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1164851/in-lebanon-english-overtakes-french-in-universities.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718173328/https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1164851/in-lebanon-english-overtakes-french-in-universities.html |archive-date=18 July 2021 |access-date=18 July 2021 |newspaper=L'Orient Today}}{{Cite web |date=8 September 2022 |title=English Is The New French: The Case Of Lebanon |url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/2022/09/08/english-is-the-new-french-the-case-of-lebanon/ |access-date=30 August 2023 |website=The Friday Times |language=en}} Lebanon's job market is weak. Foreign language proficiency, therefore, is highly beneficial to Lebanese graduates, as it helps them find jobs abroad.

Although all language teachers face difficulties, especially in low socio-economic schools, MSA teachers' teaching resources are inferior to those of English and French, focusing mostly on classical books, as other resources are rare. Additionally, MSA teachers do not typically have the knowledge and skills in MSA to be comfortable using it as a medium of instruction. They often teach in a mix of MSA and Levantine with, for instance, the lesson read out in MSA and explained in Levantine.{{sfn|Al-Wer|2006|p=1917}}File:Syrian students are back in class in Beirut, Lebanon.jpg

Lebanese children grow up hearing Levantine and have very limited exposure to MSA before they enter school—especially since parents in the Arab world are less likely to read to their children. As soon as they enter school, children are expected to learn to read and write MSA.{{Cite journal |date=2021 |title=LOUD AND CLEAR: Effective Language of Instruction Policies For Learning |url=https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/517851626203470278/pdf/Effective-Language-of-Instruction-Policies-for-Learning.pdf |journal=The World Bank |pages=76–78}} Many young Arabs struggle with basic MSA reading and writing skills, and Arab students frequently dislike learning MSA. Additionally, Syrian refugees in Lebanon transitioning from the MSA-centric Syrian education system to the English- and French-centric Lebanese system struggle with English and French and are therefore often placed several grade levels below their age level, causing negative consequences on their psychosocial well-being.{{Cite journal |last1=Garbern |first1=Stephanie Chow |last2=Helal |first2=Shaimaa |last3=Michael |first3=Saja |last4=Turgeon |first4=Nikkole J. |last5=Bartels |first5=Susan |date=25 April 2020 |title='It will be a weapon in my hand': The Protective Potential of Education for Adolescent Syrian Refugee Girls in Lebanon |url=https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/40609 |journal=Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=3–13 |doi=10.25071/1920-7336.40609 |issn=1920-7336 |s2cid=219649139 |doi-access=free}} Children learn best in the language they speak at home, according to the World Bank. "When confronted by an unfamiliar language in the classroom, progress becomes next to impossible."{{Cite web |last1=Saavedra |first1=Jaime |last2=Crawford |first2=Michael |last3=Venegas Marin |first3=Sergio |date=5 August 2021 |title=To improve learning, teach in the language students use and understand best |url=https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/education/improve-learning-teach-language-students-use-and-understand-best}}{{Cite web |title=Teaching young children in the language they speak at home is essential to eliminate Learning Poverty |url=https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/07/14/teaching-young-children-in-the-language-they-speak-at-home-is-essential-to-eliminate-learning-poverty |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=World Bank |language=en}}

File:256277 the sound side kids-chorus-singing-lebanese-national-anthem.ogg

A member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, Lebanon's official languages used to be French and MSA. However, after Lebanon's independence in 1943, French was no longer designated as an official language but as a recognized one.{{Cite news |last=Kadi |first=Samar |date=27 November 2016 |title=French alive in Lebanon but not the 'in language' anymore |url=https://thearabweekly.com/french-alive-lebanon-not-language-anymore |access-date=27 October 2024 |work=The Arab Weekly}} Lebanon's national anthem and all government-related announcements, documents, and publications are in MSA.{{Cite web |title=National anthem – The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/national-anthem |access-date=26 November 2023 |website=www.cia.gov}} French is also used, alongside MSA, on road signs, the Lebanese lira, and public buildings.

{{Gallery|Bienvenue a Rechmaya.jpg|Town sign in Modern Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of Rechmaya, Lebanon|Lebanon 1000 lira 2006 reverse.jpg|The Lebanese lira is in Modern Standard Arabic on one side and French on the other|File:Had to take this one..jpg|French-language inscription "Banque du Liban" on the headquarters of the Bank of Lebanon|alt1=Sign reads: "رشميّا ترحب بكم" "Bienvenue à Rechmaya"|alt2=Obverse and reverse sides of 1,000-lira notes|alt3=Refer to caption}}The Lebanese dialect of Levantine is used in courtrooms, but in order to record court proceedings, the judge restates in MSA what the suspect has said, and the court recorder handwrites the judge's translation.{{Cite journal |date=2003 |title=Lebanon: Legal and Judicial Sector Assessment |url=https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/478751468056940276/pdf/321440LE0Legal010judicial0.pdf |journal=World Bank |pages=25}} This process, according to a report funded and led by the World Bank, "risks an edit or an omission in the restatement by the judge."{{Cite journal |last=Khachan |first=Victor |date=August 2010 |title=Arabic–Arabic Courtroom Translation in Lebanon |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249692525 |journal=Social & Legal Studies |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=183–196 |doi=10.1177/0964663909351437 |s2cid=143827696}}{{Cite journal |date=2003 |title=Lebanon: Legal and Judicial Sector Assessment |url=https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/478751468056940276/pdf/321440LE0Legal010judicial0.pdf |journal=World Bank |pages=25}}

File:Bourj_Hammoud_Multilinguisme.jpg]]

Email communication and announcements in professional job settings are mostly through English. Of Lebanon's 34 radio stations, 11 have either French or English names. Using photographs from 2015, a 2018 study of the linguistic landscape of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, found that the Arabic script is only used in 20% of storefront's primary text (store's name) and 9% of secondary text (other information, such as opening hours). The Armenian script was absent.{{Cite journal |last1=Karam |first1=Fares J. |last2=Warren |first2=Amber |last3=Kibler |first3=Amanda K. |last4=Shweiry |first4=Zinnia |date=2020-04-02 |title=Beiruti linguistic landscape: an analysis of private store fronts |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14790718.2018.1529178 |journal=International Journal of Multilingualism |language=en |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=196–214 |doi=10.1080/14790718.2018.1529178 |issn=1479-0718|url-access=subscription }}

Western Armenian is used between the Armenians in Lebanon,{{Cite web |last=Erchoff |first=Sami |date=5 October 2021 |title=As Lebanon collapses, its Armenian community disappears |url=https://www.newarab.com/features/lebanon-collapses-its-armenian-community-disappears |access-date=14 October 2023 |website=The New Arab |language=en}} who fled to Lebanon between 1895 and 1939 for multiple reasons, most notably the Armenian genocide.{{Efn|group=lower-alpha|According to Minority Rights Group,{{Cite web |date=19 June 2015 |title=Lebanon – World Directory of Minorities & Indigenous Peoples |url=https://minorityrights.org/country/lebanon/ |access-date=8 September 2023 |website=Minority Rights Group |language=en-GB}} Cilician Catholics seeking refuge from the Armenian Orthodox Church's persecution initially came to Lebanon in the 18th century. Subsequent and bigger immigration waves arrived due to massacres by the Turks in 1895–1896 and the Armenian genocide of 1915. More arrived when France's attempt to establish an Armenian entity in Cilicia failed in 1920–1921. The last influx resulted from France ceding Alexandretta to Turkey in 1939.}}{{Cite web |title=Lebanon |url=http://diaspora.gov.am/en/pages/2/lebanon |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=diaspora.gov.am |language=en}} In 2015, Armenians made up around 4% of Lebanon's population.{{Cite web |date=19 June 2015 |title=Lebanon – World Directory of Minorities & Indigenous Peoples |url=https://minorityrights.org/country/lebanon/ |access-date=8 September 2023 |website=Minority Rights Group |language=en-GB}} Their mother tongue remains widespread, and some Armenians in Lebanon can also speak Turkish, more than a century after their ancestors left Turkey.

Some Kurds fled to Lebanon from violence and poverty in Turkey, but they are now dispersed in Lebanon and have largely abandoned Kurdish. Kurds in Lebanon were estimated at 70,000 in 2020, and Kurmanji's users at 23,000.

Aramaic (Syriac) dialects are also spoken as a first language in some Lebanese communities such as Syriac Catholics, Syriac Orthodox and Lebanese Assyrians.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} Classical Syriac is also used in liturgies in other communities such as Maronite Catholics.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

There is no unified consensus on a specific Lebanese Sign Language used among educational establishment.{{Cite web |date=2024-05-18 |title=Tele Liban launches news bulletin in sign language |url=https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1414282/tele-liban-launches-news-bulletin-in-sign-language.html |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=L'Orient Today |language=en}} Furthermore, the sign languages in the Arab world are significantly different from each other.{{cite web |last1=Al-Fityani |first1=Kinda |last2=Padden |first2=Carol |title=Sign Language Geography in the Arab World |url=http://sandlersignlab.haifa.ac.il/pdf/geography.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090731040821/http://sandlersignlab.haifa.ac.il/pdf/geography.pdf |archive-date=31 July 2009 |access-date=12 May 2024 |website=University of Haifa}} A "unified Arabic Sign Language" was artificially created by the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs (CAMSA), a committee within the Arab League. It aims "to meet the needs of integration of deaf persons into society" by giving them a similar language situation to that of hearing people. The language is used by Al Jazeera Arabic's simultaneous interpreters. Arab Deaf signers, however, negatively view the unified language, because they cannot understand it from mutual intelligibility alone,{{Cite journal |last=Hendriks |first=Bernadet |date=2008 |title=Jordanian Sign Language: Aspects of grammar from a cross-linguistic perspective |url=https://www.lotpublications.nl/Documents/193_fulltext.pdf |journal=LOT |isbn=978-90-78328-67-4}} and if it replaces the Arab Deaf community's sign languages, unified Arabic sign could bound the expression of their identity. Lebanon's deaf population is estimated at 12,000.

Domari is spoken by the Dom minority in Lebanon.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&pg=PA295|title=Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World}}

{{Further info|Levantine Arabic#History}}

File:Flag of Lebanon (1920-1943).svg (1920–1943)]]

From the mid of the 2nd millennium BCE to the first half of the 1st millennium BCE, Phoenician was used as the indigenous language in Lebanon and Egyptian and Akkadian were used in diplomacy.

In the 1st millennium BCE, Aramaic became the dominant spoken language and the language of writing and administration in the Levant—{{sfn|Versteegh|2014|pp=10–11}} where Lebanon is. Because there are no written sources, the history of Levantine Arabic before the modern period is unknown.{{sfn|Lentin|2018|pp=204–205}} In the early 1st century CE, a great variety of Arabic dialects were already spoken by various nomadic or semi-nomadic Arabic tribes in the Levant.{{sfn|Lentin|2018|p=171}}{{sfn|Magidow|2013|pp=185–186}} These dialects were local, coming from the Hauran—and not from the Arabian Peninsula—{{sfn|Magidow|2013|p=186}} and related to later Classical Arabic.{{sfn|Versteegh|2014|p=31}} Initially restricted to the steppe, Arabic-speaking nomads started to settle in cities and fertile areas after the Plague of Justinian in 542 CE.{{sfn|Magidow|2013|p=186}} These Arab communities stretched from the southern extremities of the Syrian Desert to central Syria, the Anti-Lebanon mountains, and the Beqaa Valley.{{cite book |last1=Retsö |first1=Jan |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/*-EALL_COM_0020 |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |editor1-last=Edzard |editor1-first=Lutz |chapter=ʿArab |doi=10.1163/1570-6699_eall_eall_com_0020 |access-date=19 December 2021 |editor2-last=de Jong |editor2-first=Rudolf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219192631/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/*-EALL_COM_0020 |archive-date=19 December 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |last1=Retsö |first1=Jan |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/*-EALL_COM_0024 |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |editor1-last=Edzard |editor1-first=Lutz |chapter=Aramaic/Syriac Loanwords |doi=10.1163/1570-6699_eall_eall_com_0024 |access-date=19 December 2021 |editor2-last=de Jong |editor2-first=Rudolf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219192633/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/*-EALL_COM_0024 |archive-date=19 December 2021 |url-status=live}} The Muslim conquest of the Levant (634–640{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Palestine – Roman Palestine |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine/Roman-Palestine |access-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411035412/https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine/Roman-Palestine |archive-date=11 April 2022 |first1=Walid Ahmed |last1=Khalidi |url-status=live}}{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Syria – Hellenistic and Roman periods |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Syria/Hellenistic-and-Roman-periods |access-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407110807/https://www.britannica.com/place/Syria/Hellenistic-and-Roman-periods |archive-date=7 April 2022 |first1=William L. |last1=Ochsenwald |url-status=live}}) brought Arabic speakers from the Arabian Peninsula who settled in the Levant.{{sfn|Al-Wer|Jong|2017|pp=530–531}} Arabic became the language of trade and public life in cities, while Aramaic continued to be spoken at home and in the countryside. The language shift from Aramaic to vernacular Arabic was a long process over several generations, with an extended period of bilingualism, especially among non-Muslims.{{cite book |last1=Neishtadt |first1=Mila |title=Semitic Languages in Contact |publisher=Brill |year=2015 |isbn=978-90-04-30015-6 |editor-last=Butts |editor-first=Aaron |page=281 |chapter=The Lexical Component in the Aramaic Substrate of Palestinian Arabic |doi=10.1163/9789004300156_016 |oclc=1105497638}} Christians continued to speak Syriac for about two centuries, and Syriac remained their literary language until the 14th century.{{sfn|Versteegh|2014|p=127}}{{cite journal |last=Erdman |first=Michael |year=2017 |title=From Language to Patois and Back Again: Syriac Influences on Arabic in Mont Liban during the 16th to 19th Centuries |url=https://syriacpatriarchate.org/st-aphrem-theological-seminary/patriarchal-journal/volume-55-2017/ |url-status=live |journal=Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Journal |publisher=Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East |volume=55 |issue=1 |page=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222155231/https://syriacpatriarchate.org/st-aphrem-theological-seminary/patriarchal-journal/volume-55-2017/ |archive-date=22 December 2021 |access-date=22 December 2021}} In its spoken form, Aramaic nearly disappeared, except for a few Aramaic-speaking villages, but it has left substrate influences on Levantine.

The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century reduced the use of Turkish words due to Arabization and the negative perception of the Ottoman era among Arabs.{{sfn|Brustad|Zuniga|2019|p=425}} Since then Lebanese Arabic has lost Turkish loanwords that were used before.{{cite book |last1=Wardini |first1=Elie |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |editor1-last=Edzard |editor1-first=Lutz |chapter=Lebanon |doi=10.1163/1570-6699_eall_SIM_001001 |editor2-last=de Jong |editor2-first=Rudolf |postscript=none}} gives {{transliteration|apc|tapse}}, 'plate' and {{transliteration|apc|kǝzlok}}, 'eyeglasses' as examples that have been replaced.

With the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (1920–1946),{{cite book |last=Aslanov |first=Cyril |title=Linguistic Ecology and Language Contact |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-107-04135-6 |editor-last=Mühlhäusler |editor-first=Peter |series=Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact |pages=132, 134, 145 |chapter=The Historical Formation of a Macro-ecology: the Case of the Levant |doi=10.1017/9781139649568.006 |oclc=1302490060 |access-date=17 January 2022 |editor2-last=Ludwig |editor2-first=Ralph |editor3-last=Pagel |editor3-first=Steve |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/linguistic-ecology-and-language-contact/historical-formation-of-a-macroecology-the-case-of-the-levant/109FD470232952A700607A644EB61DA8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316224043/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/linguistic-ecology-and-language-contact/historical-formation-of-a-macroecology-the-case-of-the-levant/109FD470232952A700607A644EB61DA8 |archive-date=16 March 2022 |url-status=live |s2cid=150123855}} the British protectorate over Jordan (1921–1946), and the British Mandate for Palestine (1923–1948), French and English words gradually entered Levantine Arabic.{{sfn|Al-Wer|2006|pp=1920–1921}}{{cite thesis |last=Guba |first=Abu |date=August 2016 |title=Phonological Adaptation of English Loanwords in Ammani Arabic |page=7 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Salford |oclc=1063569424 |url=https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/40037/ |access-date=12 July 2021 |archive-date=16 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316224040/https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/40037/ |url-status=live}}

{{Portal|Lebanon

}}

• Outline of Lebanon

{{refbegin|2}}

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• {{cite journal |last1=Shachmon |first1=Ori |last2=Mack |first2=Merav |title=The Lebanese in Israel – Language, Religion and Identity |journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |date=2019 |volume=169 |issue=2 |pages=343–366 |doi=10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.169.2.0343 |jstor=10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.169.2.0343|s2cid=211647029 }}

{{refend}}

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

{{Lebanon topics}}

{{Asia in topic|Languages of}}