Hassaniya Arabic
| Hassaniya | |
|---|---|
| Mauritanian Arabic | |
| حسانية (Ḥassānīya) | |
| Native to | Southwestern Algeria, Northwestern Mali, Mauritania, southern Morocco, Northern Niger, Western Sahara |
| Ethnicity | |
| Speakers | 5.6 million (2021–2023) |
| Dialects | |
| Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet (in Senegal) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Mali |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mey |
| Glottolog | hass1238 |
Current distribution of the Hassaniya language. | |
Hassaniya Arabic (Arabic: حسانية, romanized: Ḥassānīya; also known as Hassaniyya, Klam El Bithan, Hassani, Hassaniya, and Maure) is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic spoken by Mauritanian Arabs, Malian Arabs and the Sahrawis. It was spoken by the Beni Ḥassān Bedouin tribes of Yemeni origin who extended their authority over most of Mauritania and Western Sahara between the 15th and 17th centuries. Hassaniya Arabic was the language spoken in the pre-modern region around Chinguetti.
The language has completely replaced the Berber languages that were originally spoken in this region. Although clearly a western dialect, Hassānīya is relatively distant from other Maghrebi variants of Arabic. Its geographical location exposed it to influence from Zenaga-Berber and Pulaar. There are several dialects of Hassaniya, which differ primarily phonetically. There are still traces of South Arabian in Hassaniya Arabic spoken between Rio de Oro and Timbuktu, according to G. S. Colin.
Today, Hassaniya Arabic is spoken in Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal and the Western Sahara.