Jordanian Arabic is a dialect continuum of mutually intelligible varieties of Arabic spoken in Jordan.
Jordanian Arabic can be divided into sedentary and Bedouin varieties. Sedentary varieties belong to the Levantine Arabic dialect continuum. Bedouin varieties are further divided into two groups, Northwest Arabian Arabic varieties of the south, and Najdi Arabic and Shawi Arabic varieties of the north. Jordan Arabic incorporates vocabulary and expressions influenced by neighboring dialects, including those from Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Saudi arabia.
Arabic is a member of the Semitic language family. Jordanian Arabic varieties are spoken by more than 8.5 million people, and understood throughout the Levant and, to various extents, in other Arabic-speaking regions. As in all Arab countries, language use in Jordan is characterized by diglossia; Modern Standard Arabic is the official language used in most written documents and the media, while daily conversation is conducted in the local colloquial varieties.
Regional Jordanian Arabic varieties Although there is a common Jordanian dialect mutually understood by most Jordanians, the daily language spoken throughout the country varies significantly through regions. These variants impact altogether pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
Jordanian Arabic can primarily be divided into sedentary and Bedouin varieties, each of which can be further divided into distinct subgroups:
Sedentary varieties
Hybrid variety (Modern Jordanian)/Ammani: It is the most current spoken language among Jordanians. This variety was born after the designation of Amman as capital of the Jordanian kingdom early in the 20th century. It is the result of the merger of the language of populations who moved from northern Jordan, southern Jordan, Saudi Arabia and later from Palestine. For this reason, it mixes features of the Arabic varieties spoken by these populations. The emergence of the language occurred under the strong influence of the northern Jordanian dialect. As in many countries English is used to substitute many technical words, even though these words have Arabic counterparts in modern standard Arabic. Balgawi-Horani: Mostly spoken in the area from Amman to Irbid in the far north. As in all sedentary areas, local variations are many. The pronunciation has /q/ pronounced [g] and /k/ mostly ([tʃ]). This dialect is part of the southern dialect of the Levantine Arabic language. Southern/Moab: Spoken in the area south of Amman, in cities such as Karak, Tafilah, Ma'an, Shoubak and their countrysides, it is replete with city-to-city and village-to-village differences. In this dialect, the pronunciation of the final vowel (æ~a~ə) commonly written with tāʾ marbūtah (ة) is raised to [e]. For example, Maktaba (Fuṣḥa) becomes Maktabe (Moab), Maktabeh (North) and Mektaba (Bedawi). Named after the ancient Moab kingdom that was located in southern Jordan, this dialect belongs to the outer southern dialect of the Levantine Arabic language. Aqaba variety
Bedouin varieties
Northwest Arabian Arabic: Spoken by the Hwetat, Bani Atiya, the Bdul of Petra, and N'emat tribes in Southern Jordan. According to Palva, the dialects spoken in Jordan belong to the Eastern group of NWA dialects. Nevertheless, the dialects of the Bdul and N'emat share features with the Western group of NWA dialects spoken in the Negev. In addition, the dialect of the Zawaida tribe is argued to be closely related to Negev Arabic. North Arabian dialects: Spoken by the Sirhan, Bani Saxar, and Bani Khalid tribes. They are further divided into Anazi-type dialects which are related to Central Najdi Arabic, and Shammari-type dialects which are related to Northern Najdi Arabic. Syro-Mesopotamian Bedouin dialects: These dialects show many similarities with Iraqi “gelet”-dialects and with Gulf Arabic. Herin divides this group into a Central “ygulu” and Northern “ygulun” Shawi Arabic, both types being identical except for the presence of /n/ in the plural imperfect of the latter group. The Central “ygulu” dialects are spoken by the Ajarma, Adwan, and Ababid tribes.
Social dynamics In addition to geographic differences, social variables such as gender correlate with variation in Jordanian Arabic. Research on public and social media contexts reports higher rates of politeness markers and indirect requests among women, and higher rates of direct forms among men. The size and direction of these differences vary by audience, topic, and platform.
Phonology Consonants Labial Interdental Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar Pharyngeal Glottal plain emph. plain emph. Nasal Stop voiceless () voiced Fricative voiceless voiced () Tap/Trill ~ Approximant
is realized as a voiced fricative , across different speakers and dialects. /t͡ʃ/ is a lexically distributed alternant of /k/ in sedentary Horani/Balqawi dialects. [t͡ʃ] is historically also an allophone of /k/ in the Syro-Mesopotamian Bedouin dialects.
Vowels FrontCentralBackClose Mid() () Open
/e/ and /i/ are only contrastive word-finally as shown by the minimal pair kalbe “dog (f.)” and kalbi “my dog”. /o/ and /u/ are only contrastive word-finally as shown by the minimal pair katabo “he wrote it” vs. katabu “they wrote”. can be heard as in lax form. can occur as a back mostly after , an open-front before , and as in word-final positions, except after velarized, emphatic, back or pharyngeal sounds. is heard within the position or as a long back or front among speakers. Among people who are first generation, Palestinian-dialect speakers, it can also be heard as . A central can be epenthetic within some long vowel sounds like as .
Stress One syllable of every Jordanian word has more stress than the other syllables of that word. Some meaning is communicated in Jordanian by the location of the stress of the vowel. So, changing the stress position changes the meaning (e.g. ['katabu] means they wrote while [kata'bu] means they wrote it). This means one has to listen and pronounce the stress carefully.
Grammar Nominal morphology
Definiteness /il-/ is used in most words that don't start with a vowel. It is affixed onto the following word. Il-bāb meaning the door. /iC-/ is used in words that start with a consonant produced by the blade of the tongue (t, ṭ, d, ḍ, r, z, ẓ, ž, s, ṣ, š, n. Sometimes [l] and [j] as well depending on the dialect). This causes a doubling of the consonant. This e is pronounced as in a rounded short backward vowel or as in an e followed by the first letter of the word that follows the article. For example: ed-desk meaning the desk, ej-jakét meaning the jacket, es-seks meaning the sex or hāda' et-téléfón meaning that is the telephone.
Pronouns Contrary to MSA, dual pronouns do not exist in Jordanian; the plural is used instead. Because conjugated verbs indicate the subject with a prefix or a suffix, independent subject pronouns are usually unnecessary and mainly used for emphasis. Feminine plural forms modifying human females are found primarily in rural and Bedouin areas. +Jordanian Arabic independent personal pronounsAmmanSalt1st person sg. (m/f)anaana ~ ani2nd person sg.mintaint ~ intefintiinti3rd person sg,mhuwwehū ~ huwwefhiyyehī ~ hiyye1st person pl. (m/f) / iḥna2nd person pl.mintuintufintin3rd person pl.mhummehummufhinne Bound pronouns typically attach to nouns, prepositions, verbs andalso to certain adverbs, conjunctions and other discourse markers: +Jordanian Arabic bound pronounsAmmanSaltafter-Cafter-Vafter-Cafter-V1st person sg. (m/f)-i, -ni -y-i, -ni -y(e)2nd person sg.m-ak -k-ak -kf-ik -ki-ič-č3rd person sg,m-o -(h)-o -(h)f-ha -ha1st person pl. (m/f) -na-na2nd person pl.m-kum-kuf-čin3rd person pl.m-hum-humf-hin Indirect object / dative pronouns arise from the merging of l- “for, to”, and the bound pronouns. Note that geminated forms like Ammani after-CC katabt-illo “I wrote for him” are not to be found in Salti, which has katab(ə)t-lo: +Jordanian Arabic indirect object / dative pronounsAmmanSaltafter-Vafter-Cafter-CCafter-Vafter-C1st person sg. (m/f) -li -illi-li2nd person sg.m -lak -illak-lakf -lik -illik-lič3rd person sg,m -lo -illo-lof -lha-ilha -lha -ilha1st person pl. (m/f) -lna -ilna-lna (-nna)-ilna (-inna)2nd person pl.m -lkum-ilkum-lku-ilkuf-lčin-ilčin3rd person pl.m -lhum-ilhum-lhum-ilhumf-lhin-ilhin Demonstratives can appear pre-nominally or post-nominally +Jordanian Arabic demonstrative pronounsAmmanSaltNearsg.mhād(a)hāḏ(a), hāḏ̣(a)fhāy ~ hādihāy(e) ~ hāḏipl.mhadōlhaḏōl(a), haḏ̣ōl(a)fFarsg.mhadākhaḏāk(a), haḏ̣āk(a)fhadīkhaḏīč(e)pl.mhadolākhaḏ(o)lāk(a), haḏ̣(o)lāk(a)f
Verbal morphology
Form I
Strong verbs In Amman, Form I strong verbs usually have perfect CaCaC with imperfect CCuC/CCaC, and perfect CiCiC with imperfect CCaC. In Salt, CaCaC and CiCiC can occur with imperfect CCiC. +Form I Strong (CaCaC/CCuC)AmmanSaltPerfect (CaCaC)1st person sg. (m/f)daras(i)tmaragt2nd person sg.mdaras(i)tmaragtfdarastimaragti3rd person sg,mdarasmaragfdarsatmargat1st person pl. (m/f)darasnamaragna2nd person pl.mdarastumaragtufmaragtin3rd person pl.mdarasumaragufmaraginImperfect (CCuC)1st person sg. (m/f)adrus, badrusamrug, bamrug2nd person sg.mtudrus, btudrustumrug, btumrugftudrusi, btudrusitumurgi, btumurgi3rd person sg,myudrus, b(y)udrusyumrug, bumrugftudrus, btudrustumrug, btumrug1st person pl. (m/f)nudrus, bnudrusnumrug, mnumrug2nd person pl.mtudrusu, btudrusutumurgu, btumurguftumurgin, btumurgin3rd person pl.myudrusu, b(y)udrusuyumurgu, bumurgufyumurgin, bumurgin +Form I Strong (CiCiC/CCaC)AmmanSaltPerfect (CiCiC)1st person sg. (m/f)kbirtgdirt2nd person sg.mkbirtgdirtfkbirtigdirti3rd person sg,mkibirgidirfkibratgidrat1st person pl. (m/f)kbirnagdirna2nd person pl.mkbirtugdirtufgdirtin3rd person pl.mkibrugidrufgidrinImperfect (CCaC)1st person sg. (m/f)akbar, bakbaragdar, bagdar2nd person sg.mtikbar, btikbartigdar, btigdarftikbari, btikbaritigdari, btigdari3rd person sg,myikbar, b(y)ikbaryigdar, bigdarftikbar, btikbartigdar, btigdar1st person pl. (m/f)nikbar, bnikbarnigdar, mnigdar2nd person pl.mtikbaru, btikbarutigdaru, btigdaruftigdarin, btigdarin3rd person pl.myikbaru, b(y)ikbaruyigdaru, bigdarufyigdarin, bigdarin
Geminated verbs Geminate verbs generally have perfect CaCC and imperfect CiCC. In Amman and Salt, the 2nd person singular masculine and the 1st person singular perfect inflect as CaCCēt: ḥassēt, šaddēt. In Amman, the active participle alternates between CāCC and CāCC (ḥāss and ḥāsis). In Salt, only CāCC (ḥāss) is present.
Verbs Iʾ +Form I Weak IʾAmmanSaltPerfect (CaCaC)1st person sg. (m/f)ʾakaltʾakalt2nd person sg.mʾakaltʾakaltfʾakaltiʾakalti3rd person sg,mʾakalʾakalfʾaklatʾaklat1st person pl. (m/f)ʾakalnaʾakalna2nd person pl.mʾakaltuʾakaltufʾakaltin3rd person pl.mʾakaluʾakalufʾakalinImperfect1st person sg. (m/f)ākul, bākulʾōkil, bōkil2nd person sg.mtākul~tōkil, btākul~btōkiltōkil, btōkilftākli~tōkli, btākli~btōklitōkli, btōkli3rd person sg,myākul~yōkil, byākul~b(y)ōkilyōkil, bōkilftākul~tōkil, btākul~btōkiltōkil, btōkil1st person pl. (m/f)nākul~nōkil, bnākul~bnōkilnōkil, mnōkil2nd person pl.mtāklu~tōklu, btāklu~btōklutōklu, btōkluftōklin, btōklin3rd person pl.myāklu~yōklu, byāklu~b(y)ōkluyōklu, bōklufyōklin, bōklin
Verbs Iw/y Note that Salt forms the perfect on a different template than Amman. In any case, the perfect is conjugated as a strong verb: