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Lebanese or Lebanese Arabic is a variety of Levantine Arabic, indigenous to and spoken primarily in Lebanon, with significant linguistic influences borrowed from other Middle Eastern and European languages, and is in some ways unique from other varieties of Arabic. Due to natural multiculturalism and multilingualism within Lebanon, it is not uncommon for Lebanese people to usually mix French, English, and other languages into their daily spoken Arabic, a phenomenon similarly exhibited within Maghreb Arab countries as well.

Differences from Standard Arabic

Lebanese Arabic (also sometimes referred to as the "Lebanese language") shares many features with other so-called modern varieties of Arabic. Lebanese, like many other spoken Levantine varieties, exhibits a very different syllable structure from Modern Standard Arabic. While Standard Arabic can have only one consonant at the beginning of a syllable, after which a vowel must follow, Lebanese commonly has two consonants in the onset.

• Syntax: simpler, without any mood and case markings.
• Number: verbal agreement regarding number and gender is required for all subjects, whether already mentioned or not.
• Gender: plural inanimate nouns are treated as feminine.
• Vocabulary: significant borrowings from other languages, most prominently Ottoman Turkish, Greek, and French, as well as, less significantly, Armenian, English, and Persian.

Examples

• The following example demonstrates two differences between Standard Arabic (Literary Arabic) and Spoken Lebanese: Coffee (قهوة), Literary Arabic: /ˈqahwa/; Lebanese: . The voiceless uvular plosive /q/ corresponds to a glottal stop , and the final vowel () commonly written with tāʾ marbūtah (ة) is raised to [e].
• As a general rule of thumb, the Voiceless uvular plosive /q/ is dropped from the words in which it appears, and is replaced instead with glottal stop , e.g., /daqiːqa/ "minute" becomes . Dropping of /q/ is a feature shared with Syrian Arabic and most dialects of Egyptian Arabic.
• The exception for this general rule is the Druze of Lebanon who, like the Druze of Syria and Israel, have retained the pronunciation of /q/ in the centre of direct neighbours who have substituted the /q/ for the [ʔ] (example: "Heart" is /qalb/ in Literary Arabic, becomes or , which is similar in Syrian, Palestinian and Egyptian. The use of /q/ by Druze is particularly prominent in the mountains and less so in urban areas.
• Unlike most other varieties of Arabic, Lebanese has retained the classical diphthongs and (/aj/ & /aw/), which were monophthongised into [eː] and [oː] elsewhere. This has changed over time, and, today, in everyday conversation, [eː] has replaced the /aj/ and sometimes medial /aː/, also [e] replaced final /i/. The [oː] has replaced the /aw/; [o] replaced the short /u/. In singing, the /aj/, /aw/ and medial /aː/ are maintained for artistic values.

Regional Lebanese Arabic dialects

Although there is a common Lebanese dialect mutually understood by most Lebanese, there are regional distinct variations in various parts of the country with at times unique pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.

Widely used regional dialects include:

• Beiruti dialects, further distributed according to various neighborhoods, the notable ones being Achrafieh dialect, Basta dialect, Ras Beirut dialect, etc.
• Northern dialects, further distributed regionally, the most notable ones being Tripoli dialect, Zgharta dialect, Bsharri dialect, Koura dialect, Akkar dialect
• Southern dialects
• Beqaa dialects, further divided into various dialects, the notable ones being Zahlé dialect, Baalbek-Hermel dialect
• Mount Lebanon dialects, further divided into various regional dialects like the Keserwan dialect, the Druze dialect, etc.

Spelling reform

Lebanese is rarely written, except in novels where a dialect is implied or in some types of poetry that do not use classical Arabic at all. Lebanese is also utilized in many Lebanese songs, theatrical pieces, local television and radio productions, and very prominently in zajal.

The Lebanese language has been popularized throughout the Arab World, in particular through Lebanese pan-Arab singers including Fairuz, Sabah, Wadih El Safi, Nancy Ajram, and many others.

Formal publications in Lebanon, such as newspapers, are typically written in Modern Standard Arabic, French, or English.

While Arabic script is usually employed, informal usage such as online chat may mix and match Latin letter transliterations. The Lebanese poet Saïd Akl proposed the use of the Latin alphabet but did not gain wide acceptance. Whereas some works, such as Romeo and Juliet and Plato's Dialogues have been transliterated using such systems, they have not gained widespread acceptance. Yet, now, most Arabic web users, when short of an Arabic keyboard, transliterate the Lebanese words in the Latin alphabet in a pattern similar to the Said Akl alphabet, the only difference being the use of digits to render the Arabic letters with no obvious equivalent in the Latin alphabet.

In 2010, The Lebanese Language Institute has released a Lebanese keyboard layout and made it easier to write Lebanese in a Latin script, using unicode-compatible symbols to substitute for missing sounds. For example: Marḣaba, kiifak? : Hello, how are you? Ana ismi Ḱaliil. Inta chu ismak? : My name is Khalil, what is your name?

References

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• Spoken Lebanese. Maksoud N. Feghali, Appalachian State University. Parkway Publishers, 1999 (ISBN 978-1-887905-14-5)
• Michel T. Feghali, Syntaxe des parlers arabes actuels du Liban, Geuthner, Paris, 1928.
• Elie Kallas, 'Atabi Lebnaaniyyi. Un livello soglia per l'apprendimento del neoarabo libanese, Cafoscarina, Venice, 1995.
• Angela Daiana Langone, Btesem ente lebneni. Commedia in dialetto libanese di Yahya Jaber, Università degli Studi La Sapienza, Rome, 2004.
• Jérome Lentin, "Classification et typologie des dialectes du Bilad al-Sham", in Matériaux Arabes et Sudarabiques n. 6, 1994, 11-43.
• Plonka Arkadiusz, L’idée de langue libanaise d’après Sa‘īd ‘Aql, Paris, Geuthner, 2004, ISBN 978-2-7053-3739-1
• Plonka Arkadiusz, "Le nationalisme linguistique au Liban autour de Sa‘īd ‘Aql et l’idée de langue libanaise dans la revue «Lebnaan» en nouvel alphabet", Arabica, 53 (4), 2006, 423-471.

External links

• Lebanese Language Institute
• Lebanese alphabet
• Manual with grammar of South Lebanese Arabic for the Dutch UNIFIL detachment
• Manual with grammar of South Lebanese Arabic Spoken samples part 1
• Manual with grammar of South Lebanese Arabic Spoken samples part 2

• Arabic languages
• Lebanese culture
• Syriac Christianity
• Languages of Lebanon
• Fertile Crescent