Nasser University dialect continuum

From JSC Archives
(Redirected from Macro dialect (Arabic))
Jump to navigationJump to search

The Arabic language, as the national language of the Arab Union, consists of multiple regional and subregional varieties (dialects), which are formally categorised using a two-tiered dialect continuum (استمرار اللهجات istimrār al-lahajāt). The upper tier consists of five macro dialects (اللهجات الكلية al-lahajāt al-kullīyah): Levantine, Maghrebi, Mesopotamian, Nilotic and Peninsular; Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the official form for educational and administrative purposes, is not counted as a macro dialect, as it is not a regional variety but rather an elevated register. The lower tier consists of 40 micro dialects (اللهجات المصغرة al-lahjāt al-muṣaggharah), each of which belongs to one of two regions within a particular macro dialect.

The micro–macro continuum, designed by Gamal Abdel Nasser University's Faculty of Arabic and adopted as official by the Ministry of Education, is used for administrative, mainly census and related statistical purposes, with its relationship to actual spoken varieties approximate at best—each micro dialect in fact constitutes several subregional spoken varieties, many of which geographically overlap with designated boundaries as well as each other, as spoken Arabic can vary city to city, town to town and community to community, and even amongst classes within an individual community.

List[edit | edit source]