Omani Arabic

Omani Arabic
Omani Arabic
اللهجة العمانية
Native to	Oman, United Arab Emirates
Region	Hajar mountains and a few coastal towns
Ethnicity	Omanis
Speakers	3.2 million (2020)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Peninsular Omani Arabic; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Arabic alphabet, Arabic chat alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	acx
Glottolog	oman1239
	Areas where Omani Arabic is spoken (in dark blue those areas where it is more widely spoken).

Omani Arabic (Arabic: اللهجة العمانية, romanized: al-Lahjah al-ʻUmānīyah; also known as Omani Hadari Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Al Hajar Mountains of Oman and in a few neighboring coastal regions. It is the easternmost traditional Arabic dialect. It was formerly spoken by colonists in Kenya and Tanzania, but these days, it mainly remains spoken on the island of Zanzibar.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Interdental		Dental/Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
		Labial	plain	emph.	plain	emph.	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m			n
Stop	voiceless				t	tˤ	t͡ʃ	k	q		ʔ
Stop	voiced	b			d		(d͡ʒ)	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ		s	sˤ	ʃ	x ~ χ		ħ	h
Fricative	voiced		ð	ðˤ	z			ɣ ~ ʁ		ʕ
Trill					r	rˤ
Approximant					l	(ɫ)	j	w

Velar fricatives /x, ɣ/ can be heard as uvular sounds [χ, ʁ], in the Muscat dialect.
/k, ɡ/ can also be heard as palatalized sounds [kʲ, ɡʲ] among the Muscat dialect.
[ɫ] can be heard as an allophone of /l/, but is rarely phonemic.^[2]
As for most [Omani] dialects, Standard Arabic [d͡ʒ] is replaced with the velar stop /g/ ⟨ج⟩, while [d͡ʒ] is available in some Omani dialects, mainly Bedouin.^[3]
The speakers of Muscat, Salalah and some Batina varieties (e.g. the center of Sohar city), as well as other sedentary dialect speakers, pronounce /q/ ⟨ق⟩ as [q], while the Bedouin dialect speakers pronounce /q/ as [g].^[4] and this variable /q/ has been a hallmark for distinguishing Bedouin and Hadari (urban) Arabs for centuries.^[5]

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i iː	u uː
Mid	eː	oː
Open	a aː

/a/ can be heard as [æ] when preceding /j/ or any non-emphatic consonant. It is heard as back [ɑ] after emphatic sounds, and can then be heard as [ʌ] when shortened. Its long equivalent /aː/, is heard as [ɑː] after emphatic sounds.^[6]
/i/ can be heard as [ɪ] in medial position and as [ɨ] in shortened positions.
Sounds /u, uː/ are often realized as near-close back sounds [ʊ, ʊː]. /u/ can sometimes be heard as [ɔ] or [o] after emphatics.

References

^ Omani Arabic at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
^ Glover, Bonnie C. (1988). The morphophonology of Muscat Arabic. University of California at Los Angeles.
^ Al-Balushi, Rashid (2017). "Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect" (PDF). Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect: 89–90.
^ Al-Balushi, Rashid (2017). "Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect" (PDF). Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect: 89.
^ Al Nabhani, H (2011). "Language and Identity in Oman through the Voice of Local Radio Broadcasters" (PDF). Language and Identity in Oman through the Voice of Local Radio Broadcasters. The University of Edinburgh.
^ Grünbichler, Elisabeth (2015). Grammatik und Lexik des arabischen Dialekts von Buraimi (Oman). Universität Wien.

This Oman-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article related to the Arabic language is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[e27-1] Omani Arabic at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)

[2] Glover, Bonnie C. (1988). The morphophonology of Muscat Arabic. University of California at Los Angeles.

[3] Al-Balushi, Rashid (2017). "Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect" (PDF). Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect: 89–90.

[4] Al-Balushi, Rashid (2017). "Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect" (PDF). Omani Arabic: More than a Dialect: 89.

[5] Al Nabhani, H (2011). "Language and Identity in Oman through the Voice of Local Radio Broadcasters" (PDF). Language and Identity in Oman through the Voice of Local Radio Broadcasters. The University of Edinburgh.

[6] Grünbichler, Elisabeth (2015). Grammatik und Lexik des arabischen Dialekts von Buraimi (Oman). Universität Wien.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Languages of Oman
Official language	Arabic	Oman portal
Main foreign language	English
Minority languages	Balochi Baṭḥari Ḥarsusi Hobyót Kumzari Luwati Mehri Shehri Swahili
Varieties of Arabic	Bahrani Arabic Omani Arabic Dhofari Shihhi
Sign languages	Omani Sign Language

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

See also

References