**Arabic consonant phonemes**

Arabic language Arabic (العربية) is a Semitic languages, closely related to Hebrew language and Aramaic. It is spoken throughout the Arab world and is widely known throughout the Islamic world. Arabic has been a literary language since at least the 6th century, and is the liturgical language of Islam. The expression "Arabic" may refer either to literary Arabic or to the many varieties of Arabic; Arabs consider literary Arabic as the standard language and tend to view everything else as mere dialects. Literary Arabic, al-luġatu-l-ʿarabīyatu-l-fuṣḥā (Literally: ''the most eloquent Arabic language''—اللغة العربية الفصحى) refers both to the language of present-day media across North Africa and the Middle East (from Morocco to Iraq) and to the language of the Qur'an. (The expression ''media'' here includes most television and radio, and all written matter, including all books, newspapers, magazines, documents of every kind, and reading primers for small children.) "Colloquial" or "dialectal" Arabic refers to the many national or regional varieties of Arabic, spoken daily across North Africa and the Middle East, which constitute the everyday spoken language. These sometimes differ enough to be mutually incomprehensible. These dialects are not frequently written, although a certain amount of literature (particularly plays and poetry) exists in many of them, notably Egypt and Lebanon. They are often used to varying degrees in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and chat shows. Since the written Arabic of today differs substantially from the written Arabic of the Qur'anic era, it has become customary in western scholarship to refer to the language of the Qur'an as Classical Arabic and the modern language of the media and of formal speeches as Modern Standard Arabic. Arabs, on the other hand, often use the term Fuṣḥa to refer to both forms, thus placing greater emphasis on the similarities between the two. It is sometimes difficult to translate Islamic concepts, and concepts specific to Arab culture, without using the original Arabic terminology. The Qur'an is expressed in Arabic and traditionally Muslims deem it impossible to translate in a way that would adequately reflect its exact meaning—indeed, until recently, some schools of thought maintained that it should not be translated at all. A list of Islamic terms in Arabic covers those terms which are too specific to translate in one phrase. While Arabic is strongly associated with Islam (and is the language of salah), it is also spoken by Arab Christianitys, Oriental Jews, and indeed Iraqi Mandaeans; and, of course, the vast majority of the world's Muslims do not actually speak it; they only know some fixed phrases of Arabic, as used in Islamic prayer. Quite a few English words are ultimately derived from Arabic, often through other European languages, among them every-day vocabulary like ''sugar'', ''cotton'' or ''magazine''. More recognizable are words like ''algorithm'', ''algebra'', ''alchemy'', ''alcohol'', ''azimuth'', ''nadir'', and ''zenith'' (See List of English words of Arabic origin). The Maltese language is the only surviving European language to derive primarily from Arabic, though it contains a large number of Italian and English borrowings. ==Dialects== ''See Varieties of Arabic for a fuller overview.'' "Colloquial Arabic" is a collective term for the spoken languages or dialects of people throughout the Arab world, which, as mentioned, differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the Maghreb dialects and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary dialects and the much more conservative Bedouin dialects. Maltese language, though descended from Arabic, is considered a separate language. Speakers of some of these dialects are unable to converse with speakers of another dialect of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners can generally understand one another, they often have trouble understanding Maghrebis (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Middle Eastern—especially Egyptian—films and other media). One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi ''aku'', Levantine ''fiih'', and North African ''kayen'' all mean "there is", and all come from Arabic (''yakuun'', ''fiihi'', ''kaa'in'' respectively), but now sound very different. The major groups are: *Egyptian Arabic (Egypt) Considered the most widely understood and used "second dialect" *Maghreb Arabic (Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan, and western Libyan) *Hassaniya Arabic (in Mauritania and Western Sahara) *Andalusi Arabic (extinct, but important role in literary history) *Maltese language *Sudanese Arabic (with a dialect continuum into Chad) *Levantine Arabic (Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, and western Jordanian) *Iraqi Arabic (Iraqi,Syrian,Kuwaiti,Saudi Arabain) *Gulf Arabic (Gulf coast from Iraq to Oman, and minorities on the other side) *Hijazi Arabic (West Cost of Saudi Arabia, Northern Saudi Arabia, eastern Jordan, Western Iraq) *Najdi Arabic (Najd region of central Saudi Arabia) *Yemeni Arabic (Yemen to southern Saudi Arabia) == Grammar == ''See Arabic grammar'' === Phonology === Standard Arabic has only three vowels, in long and short variants, namely /i, a, u/. Naturally, considerable allophone occurs. {\| BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=0 STYLE="text-align:center"
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Arabic language

Arabic (العربية) is a Semitic languages, closely related to Hebrew language and Aramaic. It is spoken throughout the Arab world and is widely known throughout the Islamic world. Arabic has been a literary language since at least the 6th century, and is the liturgical language of Islam. The expression "Arabic" may refer either to literary Arabic or to the many varieties of Arabic; Arabs consider literary Arabic as the standard language and tend to view everything else as mere dialects. Literary Arabic, al-luġatu-l-ʿarabīyatu-l-fuṣḥā (Literally: ''the most eloquent Arabic language''—اللغة العربية الفصحى) refers both to the language of present-day media across North Africa and the Middle East (from Morocco to Iraq) and to the language of the Qur'an. (The expression ''media'' here includes most television and radio, and all written matter, including all books, newspapers, magazines, documents of every kind, and reading primers for small children.) "Colloquial" or "dialectal" Arabic refers to the many national or regional varieties of Arabic, spoken daily across North Africa and the Middle East, which constitute the everyday spoken language. These sometimes differ enough to be mutually incomprehensible. These dialects are not frequently written, although a certain amount of literature (particularly plays and poetry) exists in many of them, notably Egypt and Lebanon. They are often used to varying degrees in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and chat shows. Since the written Arabic of today differs substantially from the written Arabic of the Qur'anic era, it has become customary in western scholarship to refer to the language of the Qur'an as Classical Arabic and the modern language of the media and of formal speeches as Modern Standard Arabic. Arabs, on the other hand, often use the term Fuṣḥa to refer to both forms, thus placing greater emphasis on the similarities between the two. It is sometimes difficult to translate Islamic concepts, and concepts specific to Arab culture, without using the original Arabic terminology. The Qur'an is expressed in Arabic and traditionally Muslims deem it impossible to translate in a way that would adequately reflect its exact meaning—indeed, until recently, some schools of thought maintained that it should not be translated at all. A list of Islamic terms in Arabic covers those terms which are too specific to translate in one phrase. While Arabic is strongly associated with Islam (and is the language of salah), it is also spoken by Arab Christianitys, Oriental Jews, and indeed Iraqi Mandaeans; and, of course, the vast majority of the world's Muslims do not actually speak it; they only know some fixed phrases of Arabic, as used in Islamic prayer. Quite a few English words are ultimately derived from Arabic, often through other European languages, among them every-day vocabulary like ''sugar'', ''cotton'' or ''magazine''. More recognizable are words like ''algorithm'', ''algebra'', ''alchemy'', ''alcohol'', ''azimuth'', ''nadir'', and ''zenith'' (See List of English words of Arabic origin). The Maltese language is the only surviving European language to derive primarily from Arabic, though it contains a large number of Italian and English borrowings. ==Dialects== ''See Varieties of Arabic for a fuller overview.'' "Colloquial Arabic" is a collective term for the spoken languages or dialects of people throughout the Arab world, which, as mentioned, differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the Maghreb dialects and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary dialects and the much more conservative Bedouin dialects. Maltese language, though descended from Arabic, is considered a separate language. Speakers of some of these dialects are unable to converse with speakers of another dialect of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners can generally understand one another, they often have trouble understanding Maghrebis (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Middle Eastern—especially Egyptian—films and other media). One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi ''aku'', Levantine ''fiih'', and North African ''kayen'' all mean "there is", and all come from Arabic (''yakuun'', ''fiihi'', ''kaa'in'' respectively), but now sound very different. The major groups are: *Egyptian Arabic (Egypt) Considered the most widely understood and used "second dialect" *Maghreb Arabic (Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan, and western Libyan) *Hassaniya Arabic (in Mauritania and Western Sahara) *Andalusi Arabic (extinct, but important role in literary history) *Maltese language *Sudanese Arabic (with a dialect continuum into Chad) *Levantine Arabic (Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, and western Jordanian) *Iraqi Arabic (Iraqi,Syrian,Kuwaiti,Saudi Arabain) *Gulf Arabic (Gulf coast from Iraq to Oman, and minorities on the other side) *Hijazi Arabic (West Cost of Saudi Arabia, Northern Saudi Arabia, eastern Jordan, Western Iraq) *Najdi Arabic (Najd region of central Saudi Arabia) *Yemeni Arabic (Yemen to southern Saudi Arabia) == Grammar == ''See Arabic grammar'' === Phonology === Standard Arabic has only three vowels, in long and short variants, namely /i, a, u/. Naturally, considerable allophone occurs. {| BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=0 STYLE="text-align:center"