Languages of Syria

Syrian Arabic is spoken in Syria Arabic vernacular.

The Syrian dialect is closely allied with the Lebanese, Palestinian and Jordanian dialect, so that these dialects are in the Levant often combined into a single dialect, the Levantine.

Like all Arabic dialects the Syrian- Arab is usually only spoken for correspondence, the high- Arab is generally used. However, it can have a tendency actually for the dialect find, such as in some Internet forums where many users in the Arabic dialect (though often in the Latin alphabet ) write.

Syrian Arabic is not to be confused with the actual, but today almost completely displaced Syrian language, which belongs to the Aramaic.

Importance of the Syrian Arab

The music industry and the increasing spread of satellite television have helped Syrian Arabic is understood almost everywhere in the Arabian Peninsula. While pop music in general and greater understanding of the Levantine Arab in the Arab world, there are Syrian in the television television productions, with the spread series and telenovelas understanding of the Syrian dialect in particular. In this case, the success of the broadcast to Ramadan series Bab al - Hara and similar television plays a special role.

Differences in the phonetics

The high- Arabic interdental spirant ث th and ذ that are spoken in the dialect of residents in the west of the country, such as t and d, respectively, in a few words as well as see The same applies to the emphatic ظ that spoken by the residents as ز ( voiced s ) will. The letter ج, in the high- Arab [ dʒ ] spoken ( dsch as in the jungle ), the Damascene dialect sounds a bit softer, namely [ ʒ ] ( as g in floor). In many parts of the country however, it is pronounced as in the high- Arab. Instead of Kehl text ق q a fixed voting paragraph ( Hamza ) is spoken in the urban characteristics of the Syrian Arab usually. Add words and expressions of religious or non secular areas of life, however, outweigh the handle to speak near the letter over and the high-level language. Bedouin speak of this sound usually velarized strongly than [ g]. In some dialects of the North will anlautendes q to k very widespread among the Bedouin is the pronunciation of k as [ tʃ ] ( ch). The diphthongs ai and au are drawn together often long e and long o. In most syllables unstressed short vowels become a schwa sound reduced or omitted. This happens in varying degrees and includes the speaker -dependent, partly very large deviations. An example is the north of the country dialects of the Syrian Arab, who maintains the auslautende, short u Konjugantion of the verbs in the perfect tense of the high-level language in the first person themselves (eg: qultu or cultural rather than expecting ʿ ILT).

Differences in grammar

As in all spoken Arabic dialects, the grammar is also in the Syrian Arabic easier than in the high- Arab. The most important differences:

• In contrast to the high-level language there are no different cases ( nominative, genitive, accusative ). The case endings and thus the nunation fall away.
• Subjunctive and Apokopat ( jussive ) do not exist.
• The negation of verbal sentences carried out both in the presence and past through the particle ما mā ( standard Arabic laa لا لم lam for the present and for the past), nominal rates are negated with مو mu ( high Arabic: ليس Laysa with accusative ).
• The commonly used in high- Arab female Pluralverbformen not be used, just as the verb forms of the dual.

Differences in vocabulary

There are differences in vocabulary between the Syrian dialect of Arabic and high-level language. In the case of structure words, these differences are very clear. Partly, only the phonetics another, but partly also completely different words than in high- Arab to be used. The list is intended to give a short overview. It contains some structural words of Damascene dialect, and the Pendant typically used in high- Arab.

Example sentence

The effect of the above differences mentioned that a formulated on a standard Arabic sentence in the Syrian dialect completely different can be:

. أريد أن أذهب إلي الجامعة غدا urīdu to aḏhaba ila l - ʿ ati ǧāmi Gadan ( Modern Standard Arabic )

. بدي روح عل جامعة بكرة Biddi Ruh ʿ al - ʿ ǧām a bukra ( Damascene dialect)

( German: I want tomorrow to go to university. )

• Culture ( Syria)
• Arabic dialect