Baghdad Arabic

Baghdad Arabic or the Muslim Baghdadi Arabic is the Arabic variety spoken in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. During the last century, Baghdad Arabic has become the lingua franca of Iraq, and the language of commerce and education.

An interesting sociolinguistic feature of Baghdad is the existence of three distinct dialects: Muslim, Jewish and Christian Baghdadi Arabic. Muslim Baghdadi belongs to a group called gilit dialects, while Jewish Baghdadi (as well as Christian Baghdadi) belongs to qeltu dialects.

Baghdadi gilit Arabic, which is considered the standard Baghdadi Arabic, shares many features with Gulf Arabic and with varieties spoken in some parts of eastern Syria. Gilit Arabic is of Bedouin provenance, unlike Christian and Jewish Baghdadi, which is believed to be descendant of Medieval Iraqi Arabic. Until the 1950s Baghdad Arabic contained a large inventory of borrowings from English, Turkish or Persian through Turkish.

During the first decades of the 20th century, when the population of Baghdad was less than a million, some inner city quarters had their own distinctive speech characteristics, maintained for generations. From about the 1960s, with the population movement within the city, and the influx of large numbers of people hailing mainly from the south, Baghdad Arabic has become more standardized, and has come to incorporate some rural and Bedouin features.

Distinct features of muslim Baghdadi Arabic is the use of 'ani' as opposed to the fusha 'ana' meaning 'I am'. Also, they add 'ich' when directing females; 'ani giltich' meaning 'I told you' whereas maslawis would say: 'ana qiltoki'.

References

• Kees Versteegh, et al. Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, BRILL, 2006.

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