Sanʽani Arabic

San'ani Arabic
San'ani Arabic
Native to	Yemen
Native speakers	11.1 million (2015)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Peninsular Yemeni San'ani Arabic; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ayn
Glottolog	sana1295
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San'ani Arabic is an Arabic dialect spoken in Yemen.

Phonology

The Sanaani dialect is distinguished among Yemeni dialects by its use of the [ɡ] sound in the place of the classical Arabic /q/ (ق qāf ), as well as its preservation of the classical Arabic palatal pronunciation of /ɟ/ (ج ǧim ).

San'ani dialect personal pronouns^[2]^: 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, San'ani 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. San'ani 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 San'a proper the simple prefix (‘a-) is used, although many of the villages around San'a extend the use of (ša-) for all persons.

Syntax

San'ani 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 San'ani 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".^[3]

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	Amharic: ድመት dəmät id.	قطة qiṭṭah
bardag; galaṣ	glass (cup)	Turkish: bardak; English	كأس kaʾs
edarapp	to drop	English	قطرة qutra
dappeh	bottle	Unknown	زجاجة zujāja
eskeh	Allow me (informal)	እስኪ əskī "please"	اسمح لي ismaḥ lī
nahi	OK	Arabic: نهى "done"	حسناً ḥasanan
dēmeh	Kitchen	ديمة "cottage"^[4]	مطبخ maṭbax
saykal	Bicycle	Hindi: साइकिल sāikil	دراجة darrājah

References

^ "Arabic, Sanaani Spoken - Ethnologue". Ethnologue. Simons, Gary F. and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2018. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 21st edition. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
^ Börjars, Kersti; Burridge, Kate (2010). Introducing English grammar (2nd ed.). London: Hodder Education. ISBN 978-1444109870.
^ Janet C. E. Watson, Sbahtu! A Course in San'ani 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, Volume 1: A - Š. Leiden [u.a.]: Brill. p. 163. ISBN 978-9004092617.

[1] "Arabic, Sanaani Spoken - Ethnologue". Ethnologue. Simons, Gary F. and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2018. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 21st edition. Retrieved 1 May 2018.

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

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

[Piamenta-4] Piamenta, Moshe (1990). A Dictionary of Post Classical Yemeni Arabic, Volume 1: A - Š. Leiden [u.a.]: Brill. p. 163. ISBN 978-9004092617.

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