Modern Palestinian Judeo-Arabic | |
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Native to | Israel, Palestine, Lebanon |
Region | North and Central Israel, Southern Lebanon |
Ethnicity | Old Yishuv and Israeli-Jewish Descendants |
Native speakers | ≤5 [lower-alpha 1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Dialects | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Modern Palestinian Judeo-Arabic (MPJA) is a variety of Arabic that was spoken by some Jews in Ottoman Palestine, and currently by some Israeli Jews in Israel.
It was once spoken by around 10,000 speakers in the 20th century. [1] Today it is nearly extinct with only 5 speakers remaining in Northern Israel.
MJPA's decline is attributed to the revival of Hebrew and the proliferation of the Hebrew among the Yishuv. [2]
Maghrebi Jews began arriving in Ottoman Palestine in the 16th century, settling especially in the cities of Jerusalem, Safed, and Tiberias. Over time, MPJA formed out of a conglomerate of Maghrebi Jewish dialects and Palestinian non-Jewish dialects. In addition to the Jewish communities of Ottoman Palestine, many Jews of coastal Lebanese cities, with whom they maintained strong relations, adopted a version of MJPA. [2]
Presumably, the number of MPJA speakers in the first third of the 20th century reached several thousand and possibly more than ten thousand at its peak. However, as Hebrew became the dominant language of the Yishuv, and later, the State of Israel, the population sharply declined. the number of MPJA speakers at the end of the 20th century was still more than one hundred in its Galilean and Jerusalem branches. [2] However, as of 2016, there is estimated to be only 5 speakers remaining in the Galilee. [1]
MPJA is divided into two subgroups based on where it was spoken: Galilean MPJA and Jerusalem MPJA. The Galilean has two subdialects in the cities of Safed and Tiberias. [2]
MPJA lexicon contains several influences from its Maghrebi origins as well as Hebrew, Ladino, and Aramaic terms for several specifically jewish terms. starting in 1936 as Hebrew became ever more prevalent among the Old Yishuv Hebrew loanwords became more prevalent and older Hebrew loanwords phonetically reverted to their original Hebrew pronunciation. By 1948 Hebrew loanwords had completely reverted and Hebrew loans became more prevalent. [2]
The Yishuv, HaYishuv HaIvri, or HaYishuv HaYehudi Be'Eretz Yisra'el were the Jewish residents in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The term came into use in the 1880s, when there were about 25,000 Jews living in that region, and continued to be used until 1948, by which time there were some 630,000 Jews there. The term is still in use to denote the pre-1948 Jewish residents in Palestine, corresponding to the southern part of Ottoman Syria until 1918, OETA South in 1917–1920, and Mandatory Palestine in 1920–1948.
Modern Hebrew, also called Israeli Hebrew or simply Hebrew, is the standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. Developed as part of Hebrew's revival in the late 19th century and early 20th century, it is the official language of the State of Israel, and the world's only Canaanite language in use. Coinciding with the creation of the state of Israel, where it is the national language, Modern Hebrew is the only successful instance of a complete language revival.
Jewish languages are the various languages and dialects that developed in Jewish communities in the diaspora. The original Jewish language is Hebrew, supplanted as the primary vernacular by Aramaic following the Babylonian exile. Jewish languages feature a syncretism of Hebrew and Judeo-Aramaic with the languages of the local non-Jewish population.
Judeo-Arabic dialects are ethnolects formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arab world. Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes, Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb, encompassing four languages: Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (aju), Judeo-Yemeni Arabic (jye), Judeo-Egyptian Arabic (yhd), and Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic (yud).
Judeo-Berber also known as Judeo-Amazigh, Judeo-Tamazigh, and Jewish Amazigh is any of several hybrid Berber dialects traditionally spoken as a second language in Berber Jewish communities of central and southern Morocco, and perhaps earlier in Algeria. Judeo-Berber is a contact language; the first language of speakers was Judeo-Arabic. Speakers immigrated to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s. While mutually comprehensible with the Tamazight spoken by most inhabitants of the area, these varieties are distinguished by the use of Hebrew loanwords and the pronunciation of š as s as seen in Judeo-Moroccan Arabic.
Judaeo-Aramaic languages represent a group of Hebrew-influenced Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic languages.
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Palestinian Jews or Jewish Palestinians were the Jewish inhabitants of the Palestine region prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
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The Old Yishuv were the Jewish communities of the region of Palestine during the Ottoman period, up to the onset of Zionist aliyah waves, and the consolidation of the New Yishuv by the end of World War I. Unlike the New Yishuv, characterized by secular and Zionist ideologies promoting labor and self-sufficiency, the Old Yishuv primarily consisted of religious Jews who relied on external donations (halukka) for support.
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Levantine Arabic vocabulary is the vocabulary of Levantine Arabic, the variety of Arabic spoken in the Levant.