Sanʽani Arabic

Sanʽani Arabic
Sanʽani Arabic
Native to	Yemen
Speakers	13 million (2020)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Peninsular Yemeni Sanʽani Arabic; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ayn
Glottolog	sana1295
	Distribution of Sanʽani Arabic according to Ethnologue
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Sanʽani Arabic is an Arabic dialect spoken in north of Yemen in the city of Sana'a.

Phonology

The Sanaani dialect is distinguished among Yemeni dialects by its use of the [ɡ] sound in the place of the /q/ (qāf ق) used in Modern Standard Arabic.

Consonants

		Labial	Interdental		Dental/Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
		Labial	plain	emph.	plain	emph.	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m			n
Stop	voiceless				t	tˤ		k		ʔ
Stop	voiced	b			d		d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ		s	sˤ	ʃ	x	ħ	h
Fricative	voiced		ð	ðˤ	z			ɣ	ʕ
Tap					ɾ
Approximant					l		j	w

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i iː	u uː
Open	a aː

The short vowels /a i u/ can have lax allophones of [æ~ɛ, ʊ, ɪ].^[2]
/aː/ within emphatic environments can be heard as back [ɑː].^[3]

Sanʽani dialect personal pronouns^[4]^: 52
Person	Number	Case
Person	Number	Subject	Object
First	Singular	Anǝ	-nǝ; -nee
First	Plural	Eħnǝ	-na; Eħnǝ
Second	Singular	ant (m.); Anti (f.)	ant, anti; -ak (m.); -eʃ (f.)
Second	Plural	Anto	Anto; -ʊ
Third	Singular	Huː (m.), Hiː (f.)	Ho/-uː (m.), Hiː/ -iː (f.)
Third	Plural	Hom/Om(m.) ; Hen/en(f.)	Hom/Om (m.) ; Hen/en (f.)

Grammar

Along with these phonological similarities to other dialects, Sanʽani Arabic also has several unique features. It uses the classical mā in the meaning of "what", as well as in negations. Unlike the classical usage, this mā is used without distinction in verbal and nominal sentences alike. Sanʽani Arabic represents the future aspect with a complex array of prefixes, depending on the person of the verb. For first-person verbs the prefix (ša-) or (‘ad) is used. The derivation of (ša-) is apparently related to the classical (sa-), and (‘ad) is likely an abbreviation of (ba‘d), meaning "after". For all other persons in Sanʽa proper the simple prefix (‘a-) is used, although many of the villages around Sanʽa extend the use of (ša-) for all persons.

Syntax

Sanʽani syntax differs from other Arabic dialects in a number of ways. It is one of few remaining Arabic dialects to retain the mā af‘al exclamatory sentence type with the meaning "how (adjective)". For instance, mā ajmal, is used to mean "how beautiful", from the adjective jamīl, meaning "beautiful"; a construction it shares with Libyan Arabic and Levantine Arabic.

Vocabulary

The Sanʽani vocabulary is also very distinct and conservative. The classical verb sāra, yasīr is retained with the meaning of "to go" (similar to Moroccan). Shalla, yashill is used to mean "to take/get".^[5]

As an example of its distinctiveness, during an appearance of the would-be parliament speaker of Yemen, Abdullah Alahmar, on Al-Jazeera TV some years ago, viewers and the TV host needed a translation of his Yemeni dialect into Standard Arabic in order to understand what he said.

Loanwords

Ṣanʿānī Arabic	Translation	Etymology	Modern Standard Arabic equivalent
demmeh	domestic cat	Tigrinya: ድሙ dəmmu Amharic: ድመት dəmät	قِطَّة qiṭṭa
bardag; galaṣ	glass (cup)	Turkish: bardak; English	كَأْس kaʾs
edarapp	to drop	English	سَقَطَ saqata
dappeh	bottle	Hindi: डिब्बा ḍibbā 'container'	قَارُورَة qārūra
eskeh	Allow me (informal)	እስኪ əskī 'please'	إِسْمَح لِي ismaḥ lī
nahi	OK	Arabic: نهى 'done'	حسناً ḥasanan
dēmeh	kitchen	ديمة 'cottage'^[6]	مَطْبَخ maṭbaḵ
saykal	bicycle	Hindi: साइकिल sāikil	دَرَّاجَة darrāja

References

^ Sanʽani Arabic at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
^ Watson, Janet C. E. (1996). Ṣbaḥtū! A course in Ṣanʻānī Arabic. Harrassowitz.
^ C. E. Watson, Janet (2009). San'ani Arabic. Encyclopaedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics 4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Börjars, Kersti; Burridge, Kate (2010). Introducing English grammar (2nd ed.). London: Hodder Education. ISBN 978-1444109870.
^ Janet C. E. Watson, Sbahtu! A Course in Sanʽani Arabic. Semitica Viva: Series Didactica, 3. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996. xxvii, 324 pp., glossary, index ISBN 3-447-03755-5
^ Piamenta, Moshe (1990). A Dictionary of Post Classical Yemeni Arabic. Vol. 1: A - Š. Leiden: Brill. p. 163. ISBN 978-9004092617.

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

[2] Watson, Janet C. E. (1996). Ṣbaḥtū! A course in Ṣanʻānī Arabic. Harrassowitz.

[3] C. E. Watson, Janet (2009). San'ani Arabic. Encyclopaedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics 4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[Borjars-4] Börjars, Kersti; Burridge, Kate (2010). Introducing English grammar (2nd ed.). London: Hodder Education. ISBN 978-1444109870.

[5] Janet C. E. Watson, Sbahtu! A Course in Sanʽani Arabic. Semitica Viva: Series Didactica, 3. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996. xxvii, 324 pp., glossary, index ISBN 3-447-03755-5

[Piamenta-6] Piamenta, Moshe (1990). A Dictionary of Post Classical Yemeni Arabic. Vol. 1: A - Š. Leiden: Brill. p. 163. ISBN 978-9004092617.

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