Damascus Arabic

Classification DA, like other Levantine dialects, is influenced by Aramaic. Studies DA is one of the most represented and researched Arabic dialects; Ambros (1977), Cowell, Kuhnt (1958), Kassab (1970), Ferguson (1961), Bloch (1964) and (1965), Bergsträsser (1924), which also contains around fifty-pages worth of transcribed DA, and the twelve-volume course written by the US Defense Language Institute (1983). Of its dictionaries which focus on the old varieties of DA, there are Strowasser's (English-DA Arabic), Ṭīb al-Kalām (Arabic-DA Arabic) and the long-awaited Salamé and Lentin's (French-DA Arabic). A dictionary of idioms has been released by Borhan Ahmad. == Modern usage ==

Media DA most influential position is in media, where it is the de facto official Syrian dialect/accent in the media when MSA is not used and is the most influential dialect in Arabic drama. It has been said that DA is taking the traditional place of Egyptian Arabic there. The most influential Syrian series that is used almost only in DA, Bab Al-Hara, acquired a staggering 50 million view per episode in its peaks and the success of some Turkish shows in the Arab world has been attributed to dubs in DA. Literature It is not common for DA to be written in literature, as MSA is usually used in this genre instead. It has however made its way to ''al-turath al-sha'bi'' in several pieces of literature, like Siham Turjuman's Yā māl al-Shām (only dialogues), Munīr Kayāl's Ḥikāyāt dimašqiyya (only dialogues) and Institut Francais du Proche-Orient's fifteen-volume Sirat Al-Malik Al-Zahir Baibars Hsab Al-Riwaya Al-Shamiyya (scattered). == Phonology ==

Consonants • The phonemes appear mainly in borrowings and loanwords. A rare /tʃ/ has been reported in Turkish loanwords but it is usually articulated as //. • is not generally replaceable by , as in kɔmpyūtər 'computer'; although unaspirated [p] is a frequent allophone of /b/ before voiceless obstruents /f, k, x, ħ, q, s, ʃ, sˤ, t, tˤ/ and at the end of phrases. • All of have emphatic (velarised) equivalents but a standard method of writing them in the Arabic script does not exist. e.g. Minimal pairs typically exist in Mayy for (a female name) while /mˤ/ in ṃayy for (water), /b/ in bab[h]a (her door) and two /bˤ/ in ḅaḅa (dad), two /l/ in '' 'all[h]a (he told her) and two /lˤ/ in aḷḷa[h]'' (Allah). • [dʒ] is used in the Aleppo region, and in more rural parts of Greater Syria, instead of /ʒ/. [tʃ] only occurs in certain words of the Aleppo region, and in certain rural dialects elsewhere, in place of /k/ in certain positions. Vowels DA typically contains at most eleven different phonemic vowels with six of them (including schwa) being short vowels Intonation One of the most distinctive features of typical DA, which is most pronounced in the old quarters, is the lengthening of the last vowel of interrogative and exclamative sentences. The actor of 'Moataz' in Bab al-Hara is quite famous for this during fights. This is frequently parodied by non-DA speakers. == Variation ==

MSA influence Due to Syria's education in MSA and global communication, DA is experiencing changes towards classicalism, pseudo-classicalism, neologisms and journalese; local characteristics are rapidly being abandoned in favour of such uses. Religion Velarisation tends to be more pronounced in Christian quarters. Jews in Iskenderun and Antakya used to speak with dialects quite close to Damascus and Aleppo urban dialects due to their interaction with the Jews there, which differentiated them from people living there. Syrian Jews also used to pronounce Hebrew loanwords containing with their biblical Hebrew and Arabic equivalents. Traditional and new quarters Velarisation tends to be more pronounced in old quarters, like in al-Mīdān. == References ==