Mashriqi Arabic
| Mashriqi Arabic | |
|---|---|
| ʿAmmiya, Eastern Arabic | |
| عامية | |
| Region | Mashriq |
| Ethnicity | Used as a first language by Arabs and as a second language by non-Arab minorities |
Native speakers | 300 million (2018–2022) |
| Dialects | |
| Arabic alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:abv – Baharna Arabicadf – Dhofari Arabicavl – Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabicarz – Egyptian Arabicafb – Gulf Arabicayh – Hadhrami Arabicacw – Hijazi Arabicapc – Levantine Arabicacm – Mesopotamian Arabicayp – North Mesopotamian Arabicars – Najdi Arabicacx – Omani Arabicayn – Sanʽani Arabicssh – Shihhi Arabicaec – Saʽidi Arabicapd – Sudanese Arabicacq – Ta'izzi-Adeni Arabic |
| Glottolog | None |
Mashriqi Arabic, Sharqi Arabic or Mashriqi ʿAmmiya, encompasses the varieties of Arabic spoken in the Mashriq, including the countries of Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar. The variety is sometimes referred to as Eastern Arabic, as opposed to Western Arabic (Maghrebi Arabic or Darija) and includes Mesopotamian Arabic and Peninsular Arabic, along with Egyptian Arabic, Sudanese Arabic, and Levantine Arabic. Speakers of Mashriqi call their language ʿAmmiya (عامية), which means 'common' or 'colloquial' in Modern Standard Arabic.
Modern Standard Arabic (الفصحى al-fuṣḥā) is the primary official language used in the government, legislation, and judiciary of countries in the Mashriq region. Mashriqi Arabic is used for almost all spoken communication, as well as in television and advertising in Egypt and Lebanon, but Modern Standard Arabic is used in written communication. In Lebanon, where Mashriqi Arabic was taught as a colloquial language as a separate subject under French colonization, some formal textbooks exist.
The varieties of Mashriqi have a high degree of mutual intelligibility, especially between geographically adjacent ones (such as Lebanese and Syrian or between Iraqi and Kuwaiti). On the contrary, Maghrebi dialects, especially those of Algeria and Morocco, are harder to understand for Arabic-speakers from the Mashriqi ones, as it derives from different substrata.