Maghrebi Arabic | |
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Darija, Western Arabic North African Arabic | |
اللهجات المغاربية | |
Region | Maghreb |
Ethnicity | Maghrebi Arabs, also used as a second language by other ethnic groups in the Maghreb |
Native speakers | 88 million (2020–2022)[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Dialects |
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Arabic alphabet | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Variously:arq – Algerian Arabicxaa – Andalusi Arabicmey – Hassaniya Arabicayl – Libyan Arabicmlt – Malteseary – Moroccan Arabicaao – Saharan Arabicsqr – Siculo-Arabicaeb – Tunisian Arabic |
Glottolog | nort3191 |
Maghrebi Arabic (Arabic: الْلهجَة الْمَغاربِيَة, romanized: al-lahja l-maghāribiyya, lit. 'Western Arabic' as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic), often known as ad-Dārija[a] (Arabic: الدارجة, meaning 'common/everyday [dialect]')[2] to differentiate it from Literary Arabic,[3] is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb. It includes the Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Libyan, Hassaniya and Saharan Arabic dialects. Maghrebi Arabic has a predominantly Semitic and Arabic vocabulary,[4][5] although it contains a significant amount of Berber loanwords, which represent 2–3% of the vocabulary of Libyan Arabic, 8–9% of Algerian and Tunisian Arabic, and 10–15% of Moroccan Arabic.[6] Maghrebi Arabic was formerly spoken in Al-Andalus and Sicily until the 17th and 13th centuries, respectively, in the extinct forms of Andalusi Arabic and Siculo-Arabic. The Maltese language is believed to have its source in a language spoken in Muslim Sicily that ultimately originates from Tunisia, as it contains some typical Maghrebi Arabic areal characteristics.[7]
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