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As the FIFA World Cup progresses through the knockout stage, I'd like to take a dive into the dialect of Arabic spoken in the host country, Qatar.
Arabic as a language is a very broad umbrella encompassing a wide array of dialects spoken from the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, etc. -- the term "Maghreb" (الْمَغْرِب) literally means "the west") to the Arabian Peninsula, and from the Horn of Africa to the Levant. Gulf Arabic, the focus of today's profile, is spoken on the western and southern shores of the Persian Gulf, and to a lesser extent, on the northeast shore. According to Glottolog, Gulf Arabic can be classified as part of the North Arabian Bedouin Arabic set of dialects, part of the Peninsular Arabic branch of the Arabic family. Ultimately, it is a Central Semitic language, the same branch of languages that is home to Hebrew, Phoenician, Ugaritic, Aramaic, and a host of other languages originally native to the Middle East.
Gulf Arabic is spoken by about 10.6 million people (both natively and as a second language), mostly in the Gulf region but also in diaspora. Known locally as "Khalījī" (roughly, "of the Gulf"), this dialect has several features that distinguish it from its dialectal neighbors and from Modern Standard Arabic (MSA, or al-Fuṣḥā - the language of most literature, media, and practically anything else across the Arab world besides vernacular, colloquial Arabic).
Before we dive into particulars, let's take a look at the name, "Qatar". A direct borrowing from Arabic "قَطَر" ("qaṭar" transliterated into the Latin script), it's quite often mispronounced* in English-language media. The Gulf Arabic vernacular pronunciation of the nation's name can be represented in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet, a.k.a. one of my favorite things) like so: [ˈɡɪtˤɑr]. For the uninitiated, imagine saying the English word "guitar" with emphasis on the first syllable. In the video at the beginning of >this article<, the host uses more of a Modern Standard pronunciation, as evidenced by the initial consonant and vowel ("qa" as opposed to "gi").
*However, if someone says something and they mispronounce it or it's not technically a word and you're still able to comprehend what they're trying to say, I say leave it be! It's the polite thing to do, after all.
The Arabic language originated perhaps as far back as 800 BCE somewhere in the northwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Some dialect of Arabic (though certainly not as differentiated as today's Khalījī) was already spoken in Qatar by the time Muhammad sent Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami (العلاء بن الحضرمي) to spread the message of Islam to the area in 628 CE (6-7 AH) (note: it is customary within Islam to follow the Prophet Muhammad's name with an honorific, which this website explains a few of). (If anything in this paragraph is incorrect or disrespectful, please let me know!)
As the centuries passed, empires and caliphates rose and fell. Control over the peninsula changed hands several times well into the modern period. Qatar declared independence from - gasp! - Great Britain only on September 3, 1971, and it had previously been under the control of the Ottomans, Saudis, Persians, and many other dominant regional powers.
Owing perhaps to such a tumultuous regional history, Gulf Arabic's phonology has made some notable shifts away from Classical Arabic (the basis for MSA). Due to influence from an influx of foreign workers (particularly from South Asia), a foreign "p" sound has entered the dialect that distinguishes itself from the "b" sound, an expressly non-native phenomenon requiring a modified letter. Remember that "g" sound in "Qatar" from earlier? This is another of the more visible phonological shifts - though depending on the speaker, some may realize this sound like a Persian "q" (something like a "g" but pronounced back by the uvula), a French "r" (you know the one), an English "g" (phew!), or even like a Classical Arabic "q" in some instances.
I have not personally attempted to learn Gulf Arabic, so I can't give my recommendation on any particular learning apparatus over any other, although this website has a few potential paths to proficiency. However, if you find yourself in Qatar for business or pleasure, you may or may not be pleased to find that English is quite commonly spoken among native Qataris, owing to the nation's recent colonial past with Great Britain.
I would also like to make mention of a hidden gem you may have noticed within this World Cup's logo: the "t" in "Qatar" is quite stretched.
This "stretchy letter" phenomenon is known as "kashida", a borrowing of the Persian "kešide" (کشیده), which means "long" or "weighted" (or, in this instance, "extended"). It can be used for various purposes, such as emphasis of pronunciation or meaning, or as an effort by a calligrapher to fill extra blank space. In many stylized calligraphic texts written in Arabic and its descendant scripts, kashida is perhaps one of the more recognizable techniques utilized, even to someone with no knowledge of what is written.
Here's a link to some Gulf Arabic greetings complete with sound files. Even making the effort to learn some of these will go a long way in opening new doors to you!
Here's a playlist of music by Qatari artists! Listen to the sounds of the Gulf.
I understand this post is quite Qatar-centric, but if you're interested in hearing more about the history and culture of the other areas where Gulf Arabic is prominent (Kuwait, UAE, etc.) let me know and I'd be more than happy to talk about them!
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