Peninsular Arabic

Peninsular Arabic
Arabian Arabic
RegionArabian Peninsula
Native speakers
77 million (2018–2023)
Dialects
Arabic script
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
abv  Bahrani Arabic
adf  Dhofari Arabic
avl  Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic
afb  Gulf Arabic
ayh  Hadhrami Arabic
acw  Hejazi Arabic
ars  Najdi Arabic
acx  Omani Arabic
ayn  Sanʽani Arabic
ssh  Shihhi Arabic
acq  Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic
Glottologarab1393

Peninsular Arabic are the varieties of Arabic spoken throughout the Arabian Peninsula. This includes the countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Southern Iran, Southern Iraq and Jordan.

The modern dialects spoken in the Arabian Peninsula are closer to Classical Arabic than elsewhere in the Arab world. Some of the local dialects have retained many archaic features lost in other dialects, such as the conservation of nunation for indeterminate nouns. They retain most Classical syntax and vocabulary but still have some differences from Classical Arabic like the other dialects.