Iraqi Arabic

Iraqi Arabic is a dialect of Arabic spoken in Iraq . Whenever "standard Iraqi Arabic" is mentioned, the Baghdad dialect is almost always meant.

However, Iraqi Arabic is also heterogeneous within its distribution area, as is the sub-dialect of the Maslawi from Mosul . For example, the standard-Iraqi Arabic word for "dog" ( standard Arabic كلب, DMG calf , Iraqi-Arabicچلب, [ ˈT͡ʃalæb ]), whereas a Maslawi would pronounce it [ ˈkalæb ]. Maslawi also has old words likeشمسية, DMG šimsiyye 'watermelon', while the standard Iraqi wordرقّي, DMG raǧǧī is, as in most other Mashrek Arabic dialects.

Typical of the Iraqi dialect is that the letter Kaf كa Čāf چ( t͡ʃ ) has become, in the written language the letterچused. Another example is the question “How are you?” (Mashrek Arabic شلونَك, DMG šlūnak orشلونِك, DMG šlūnik ), which in Iraqi-Arabicشلونچ[ ˈƩlunat͡ʃ ] / [ ˈʃlunət͡ʃ ] is spelled or written. However, not all Iraqi words that begin or end with the letter Kaf are pronounced or spelled like t͡ʃ .

The Baghdad dialect of Arabic can also be divided into a “Muslim” ( gilit ) and a “Jewish” ( qəltu ) branch. The Muslim dialect is Bedouin, the Jewish resident origin, which is evident from the different pronunciation of the q.

literature

Jon Van Ess: The Spoken Arabic of Iraq . 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, 1938.