Gulf Arabic

Gulf Arabic
خليجي, Ḵalījī اللهجة الخليجية, il-lahja il-Ḵalījīya
Pronunciation	[χɐˈliːdʒi]
Native to	Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and parts of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Oman, Kuwait
Native speakers	6.8 million (2016)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Peninsular Gulf Arabic
Writing system	Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	afb
Glottolog	gulf1241

Gulf Arabic (خليجي Ḵalījī local pronunciation: [χɐˈliːdʒi] or اللهجة الخليجية il-lahja il-Ḵalījīya, local pronunciation: [(ɪ)lˈlɐhdʒɐ lχɐˈliːdʒiːjɐ]) is a variety of the Arabic language spoken in Eastern Arabia^[2] around the coasts of the Persian Gulf in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, eastern Saudi Arabia, northern Oman, and by some Iranian Arabs.^[3]

1. ↑ Gulf Arabic at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
2. ↑ Holes (2001), pp. xvi–xvii.
3. ↑ Languages of Iran Ethnologue