Palestinian & Emirati Dialects
Greetings everyone, today I will be talking about an interesting topic which is the differences between
Palestinian and Emirati Dialects.
My outline consists of 3 main things which sums up my whole presentation;
1. Arabic Varieties (I’m going to talk briefly about it, since we have already covered it up during
class with Dr. Najib)
2. Why do we have different dialects? (Historical, geographical and trading reasons)
3. How do dialects differ? (In terms of Phonology, Vocabulary and syntax)
Arabic Varieties:
There are three varieties of Arabic as we all know:
1. Classical Arabic (CA)
2. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), [AlfuSHaa]
3. Colloquial Arabic, [Aammiyya]
According to new research by Abdulkafi Albirini the author of “Modern Arabic
Sociolinguistics book”, Stated that; Standard Arabic (SA) refers to the variety that is officially
recognized across the Arab region and is often associated with education and literary. It covers both
Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA).
Classical Arabic (CA) is often identified in the literature as the pre-renaissance formal and literary
language, which is most closely related to the Qur’an and the medieval and pre-Islamic literary
tradition.
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the official language of Arab governments, education, and print
publications. It is more or less the same throughout the Arab World with minor variations mainly in
lexical choice and phonological features due to the influence of the local dialects.
Colloquial Arabic (QA) refers to several regional dialects that are spoken/acquired natively and used
by Arabic speakers in everyday conversations and other informal communicative exchanges: sports,
music, film, and some TV show broadcasts.
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Why do we have different dialects?
There are 3 main reasons behind dialect variations:
1. Historical
2. Geographical
3. Trading
1. Historical
The division of a language into several dialects may be due to several factors, One of these factors is
the Historical;
As Gulf news Associate Editor (Al Serkal and Al Hammadi) point out, “The UAE has a long
history of interacting with other cultures, dating back to the early 16th century when the Portuguese
Empire spread its wings across the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Gulf. As the years went by, the
Dutch and the British also played a significant part in the region as they each explored the Gulf and
the Musandam peninsula, which were used as a major trade route between India and Europe”. The
UAE is situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula, bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia. It
occupies the perfect strategic location along with the southern approaches to the Strait of Hormuz,
one of the world’s most important trade routes. When tribes from the east, west and south of the
Arabian Peninsula met and settled in the UAE for trading purposes, their dialects mixed, resulting in a
number of abbreviations and variations of words. This is when the Emirati dialect was greatly
affected.
According to the industry of Arabic website: Palestine is situated at a strategic location between
Egypt, Syria and Arabia, and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity, the region has a long and
tumultuous history as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. The region has been
controlled by numerous peoples, including Ancient Egyptians, Canaanites, Israelites, Assyrians,
Babylonians, Achaemenids, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Parthians, Sasanians, Byzantines, the Arab
Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates, Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mamluks, Mongols,
Ottomans, the British, and modern Israelis and Palestinians.
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2. Geographical
The other factor is the geographical environment of which people are living; Residents‟ appearances and
habits, as well as their way of speaking are affected by their environment, causing for different dialects to
appear.
Geographically, the uae and all the countries of the Arabian Gulf are located in a region that have
long ago witnessed the evolution of civilizations and human races. The strategic status of these
countries made it subject to foreign colonization starting with the Portuguese, then the British,
followed by Dutch, French and finally the British, who controlled the scene in (1766), until the
Arabian forces completely took hold of their own lands in (1903) as stated by Wilson.
As Al-MaTTri indicated that: It is the geographical location of the Eastern Province that makes it a
passing bridge for people from different nations, races, historical and cultural backgrounds who
greatly influence the speech community
Mohammed Majid Acknowledges that: Palestine is a small region of land that has played a
prominent role in the ancient and modern history of the Middle East. The history of Palestine has
been marked by frequent political conflict and violent land seizures because of its importance to
several major world religions, and because Palestine sits at a valuable geographic crossroads between
Africa and Asia. Palestine has been ruled by numerous groups, including the Assyrians, Babylonians,
Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians and Mamelukes.
From about 1517 to 1917, the Ottoman Empire ruled much of the region. When World War I ended in
1918, the British took control of Palestine. The League of Nations issued a British mandate for
Palestine—a document that gave Britain administrative control over the region and included
provisions for establishing a Jewish national homeland in Palestine—which played a significant role
in the dialect.
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3. Trading
The third factor is the way in which people communicate via and interact with language to exchange
benefits such as business interaction or trade; People move to other places to gain better lives and job
opportunities. This contact can cause people to expand their knowledge of different languages and
dialects, which can affect their own language and thus causing more dialects to appear.
As in the Emirati region, for example, there are several job opportunities for Arabs from other parts of
the Arab world to apply for. Universities and colleges have many Indian and Pakistani teachers. Also,
there are many Egyptian teachers in Arab the country as well.
According to TRADING ECONOMICS website: Palestine reports chronic trade deficits due to the
territories' inability to access key resources and because of the mobility restrictions imposed by Israel.
Palestine mainly exports cement, base metals, iron and steel, food and beverages, furniture, plastics
and dairy products. And imports oil, food, vegetables, machinery, metals, vehicles, chemicals,
livestock, beverages and salt. Israel is by the far the largest trading partner of Palestine, both for
imports (more than 50%) and exports (more than 80%). Other trading partners include China,
Turkey, Germany, Italy and France. Palestine is open to foreign trade, the country imports nearly all
of its electricity from Israel along with gas and oil, which also go through Israeli customs. Arab
countries, namely Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are among other top destinations
for Palestinian exports. Turkey is the second supplier of goods, followed by China, Germany and
Jordan.
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How do dialects differ?
Dialects differ in terms of:
1. Phonology (Some sounds are dropped, and others are added, in both Palestinian and Emirati
dialects).
2. Vocabulary (There are a lot of non-Arabic words added to Palestinian and Emirati dialects).
3. Syntax (There is a few differences in grammar).
1. Phonology
There are some differences in the pronunciation of some consonants between Emirati and Palestinian
Dialects. Among them are the following:
According to Al Ramsa Institution: In the spoken Emirati dialect, it is common to replace some
letters, such as:
The sound /dʒ/ in standard Arabic is pronounced differently in most Arab varieties.
In Emirati dialect: Emirates do not use the sound /j/ in all words that contain /dʒ/ sound. For instance,
[The word “Dejaj”, in modern standard Arabic, which means chicken consists of “J” and its replaced to
“Y” as in “Deyay”]. Whereas in Palestinian dialect: The sound /ʒ/ is the same sound that is used by the
French. For instance, /dʒ/ (j as in judge) is commonly realized as [ʒ] (as in measure).
Other example of different Arabic pronunciation of a specific sound is the voiced dental fricative [ð]
as in the English word this → /ðɪs/ is pronounced differently in both Emirati and Palestinian dialects.
Both varieties drop some Arabic alphabet.
In the Emirati dialect, they use the sound /ðˤ/ ‫ ظ‬to refer to both sounds, whereas in the Palestinian
dialect, the interdental consonants /θ ‫ث‬, ð ‫ذ‬/ (th of thing and th of this) are lost, and it is pronounced as a
voiced alveolar stop [d], and they use it to refer to both sounds. What we can understand is that the sound
/dˤ/ and /ðˤ/ do not occur in the same environment.
An additional example can be found in Qaaf (‫)ق‬, /q/. In MSA, it has one sound regardless of its position
in a phrase or sentence. However, this phoneme has a number of allophones in different dialects of
Arabic.
In the Palestinian dialect, the /q/ is pronounced as Hamza (‫)ء‬, and demonstrated as [ʔ], which is
a voiceless, glottal stop. An example of a word containing this glottal stop is said; /ʔult/. Also,
/q/ in the Palestinian dialect is pronounced as [g], a voiced, velar stop, “As in Galt”
As for the Emirati dialect, the Qaaf (‫ )ق‬/q/ has two allophones: the first is similar to the MSA
pronunciation, which is a voiceless, uvular stop [q], As in “qahwa” while the other sound is a
voiced, velar stop [g]. As in “Gahwa”
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2. Vocabulary
According to Khaleej times: An interesting fact that many people might not be aware of today is
that long before the UAE dirham even existed, the currency that was used in the UAE was the Gulf
rupee. "Before the story of oil, there was no currency system in the UAE like there was in other
developed nations," says Ramkumar, founder of Numisbing. "A lot of different currencies were
used in the Trucial States before the dirham was born." He explains how, during the alliance with the
British, the Trucial States used the currency of the largest nation nearest to them. This happened to be
India, which was under the rule of the British during the time. It was not uncommon for many
countries to use the Indian rupee as their currency. So, the word “bezat” refers to money, is a Hindi
word “bisah”.
According to Wikipedia: Palestine was an integral part of the Ottoman Empire and therefore used its
currency, which is the Ottoman lira. During 1917 and 1918, Palestine was occupied by the British
army, who set up a military administration. The official currency was the Egyptian pound, which had
been first introduced into Egypt in 1834, but several other currencies were legal tender at fixed
exchange rates that were vigorously enforced. The word “Masˤari” came from the word “Masˤr”
because of economic reason. Which happened in the early 20th century, when British troops entered
the Levant, General Edmund Allenby limited the use of banknotes in the region to cash issued by the
National Bank of Egypt — which was controlled by the Brits at the time. So, people in these
countries started referring to money as [masare] and continue to do so.
When it comes to the local dialect of the UAE, a great deal of words was introduced by Emiratis who
travelled to countries like India, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey to do business, particularly in the
1960s. Many people continue to use such words up until today, without realising that they are not
inherently Arabic but are actually from the English, Urdu or Persian languages.
As Nasif Kayed, CEO and founder of the Arab Culturist, states that: The Emirati dialect has
received influences from other Arabic dialects and foreign languages. For example, words from the
technical language have often an English origin and have arrived in the Persian Gulf through
interchanges with the Indian population, and then have been adapted to an Arabic pronunciation. For
example, "draywel" is the local declination of the English word "driver" and "motar" derives from the
English word "motor" and means "car". The Emirati dialect has vocabularies from other languages as
well. For example, the word “see-da” came from Urdu, “kha-sho-gah” (spoon) originally came from
Persian, “a-cancel” (I cancel) came from English and “bush-kar” (bashkar) came from Turkish. Along
with Urdu, Indians living and working in the UAE have brought many words of English origin,
integrating them into local language. Baizat (money) and jootay (shoes) are Urdu words that have
also made their way into Emirati dialect.
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According to Aquascript website: Palestinians have borrowed words from the many languages
they have been in contact with throughout history. For example:
o Latin left words in Palestinian Arabic, not only those as [ʔasˤɾ] < castrum 'castle' or
[ʔalam] < calamus which are also known in MSA, but also words such as ‫[ طاولة‬tˤa:wle] <
tabula 'table', which are known in the Arab world.
o from Italian ‫[ بندورة‬ban'do:ra] < pomodoro 'tomato'
o from French ‫'[ كتو‬ketto] < gâteau 'cake'
o from English ‫'[ بنشر‬banʃar] < puncture
Under Ottoman rule, the region acquired many Turkish terms such as ‫( كندرة‬kundara) for shoes and
‫( بوظة‬boza) for ice cream. Another example is the suffix “ji”, which is often added to words to
indicate professions. The word ‫( صابونجي‬sabonji) means soap (‫ )صابون‬maker and the word ‫كبابجي‬
(kababji) means someone who makes kababs. Some examples of terms borrowed from French and
other Arabized French terms include saying ‫( بلكون‬balcon in French) for balcony, and ‫ إشكمان‬for a car
exhaust (échappement in French). Palestine was under British tutelage; English had the larger
linguistic influence and was the language of education in schools. Words such as ‫( جريدة‬jareeda) for
newspaper (from the English word journal) and ‫( سكرتير‬sekreter) for secretary are some examples.
According to linguist Mohammed Omara, of Bar-Ilan University some researchers call the
Arabic spoken by Israeli Arabs Arabrew. The list of words adopted contain:
The word [ram'zo:r] came from Hebrew, which means ' traffic light’
The word [ʃamenet] came from Hebrew, which means' sour cream'
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3. Syntax
According to new research by a “A Guide to Levantine Arabic: Many scholars agree that 50
percent of the grammatical structure of Arabic dialects is due to Syriac influences, a dialect of Middle
Aramaic.
The simple present tense in Emirati Arabic is marked by the addition of the letter or the prefix (a-) at
the beginning of the verb. For example, when someone ask you; “What you are doing?” you say, “I’m
writing”, and the Emirati equivalent would be ‘‫أنا أكتب‬. They use /æ/ before the verb to make it
present.
Whereas The simple present tense in Palestinian Dialect is marked by the addition of the letter or the
prefix (b-) at the beginning of the verb. For example, when someone ask you; “What you are doing?”
you say, “I’m writing”, and the Palestinian equivalent would be ‘.‫ أنا بكتب‬They use /b/ before the verb
to make it present.
When asking someone a question usually, the answer includes a preposition. For instance; Q: where
are you? A: In the home.
Emirates tend to use the Preposition /fe/, however the vowel is dropped to be /f/, as in “flbait”. Whereas
Palestinians use the Preposition /b/, as in “blbait”.
We recognize that both morphs have the same meaning which is “in” and both sounds do not occur in the
same environment.
According to Wikipedia: Palestinian uses the suffixes ‫[ ش‬ʃ] and the present tense for the negation
of verbs and prepositional pseudo-verbs, e.g. 'I don't write' is ‫[ بكتبش‬bak'tʊbʃ], Or they would just use
/ma/ as in ‫[ مابكتب‬ma 'bəktʊb].
Whereas Emirati uses: /ma/ + the present tense, as in ‫[ مابكتب‬ma 'bəktʊb].
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