Iraqi Arabic (عراقي ʕiraqi; formally: اللغة العربية العراقية al-luɣa al-ʕarabiyya al-ʕiraqiyya in Arabic, also known as Mesopotamian Arabic [ISO 639-3] or Furati, i.e. Euphrates Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Mesopotamian basin of Iraq, from Baghdad south, as well as in neighboring Iran and eastern Syria. A distinction is recognised between Mesopotamian Qeltu Arabic and Mesopotamian Gelet Arabic, the apellations deriving from the form of the word for "I said".
The best-known form is Baghdadi Arabic, within the Gelet group; dialect clusters include the Anatolian cluster, the Tigris Cluster, and the Euphrates cluster. There are also Jewish and Christian sectarian dialects (such as Baghdad Jewish Arabic), falling within the Qeltu group, as well as Bedouin dialects.
This variety of Arabic is not generally regarded as including North Mesopotamian Arabic, which has some affinities with the Qeltu group but is also close to Syrian Arabic.[1]
Notes
- ^ Raymond G. Gordon, Jr, ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
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