Levantine Arabic - language without a future?

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QueenBee
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Levantine Arabic - language without a future?

Postby QueenBee » Sat Oct 09, 2021 7:40 am

I recently learned that Syria used to be a popular destination for student and language exchanges. Suffice it say that after years of war, that is no longer case. More recently, Lebanon has been falling apart with severe economic problems and shortages of (almost?) everything.

Syria may eventually recover from its years of war. I'm not convinced Lebanon will (recover).

This isn't meant to be a political post, but basically, I'm wondering if Levantine Arabic still has a future. At this point, somebody learning it can only travel to Jordan or Israel (or talk to Lebanese/Syrian immigrants abroad, most of whom probably won't be speaking Arabic in a few generations). It's not even clear if Lebanon will be able to keep contributing to Arabic-speaking music and film, the way they have in the past.

What do people think? I'd be really curious to hear from people learning (or speaking) Arabic on how they perceive the situation.
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Re: Levantine Arabic - language without a future?

Postby iguanamon » Sat Oct 09, 2021 2:16 pm

Everything runs in cycles. What goes up, goes down. What goes down, goes up... and back again. The Middle East has seen many empires and rulers rise and fall, and new ones take their place. Dictators rise and fall. New ones take their place. The OP is correct, the Levant is in a downward spiral right now. Eventually, it will rise again. It's a matter of time, but it may take a long time.

The Ottoman Empire was a a big stabilizing factor for hundreds of years in the Middle East and the Levant- until it started to decay. World War I saw its end. The British and French picked up the pieces in the Levant and then came a very messy independence, more war, sectarian violence, civil war. Maybe modern Turkey may return to fill the role its Ottoman predecessors once filled, again- perhaps in a few decades. Seems logical.

It wasn't too long ago that Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain- which is gone now. Not too many years ago, Colombia was racked with violence, and now Medellín (once the center for Pablo Escobar) is a trendy tourist destination... but cycles can be quite slow to turn.
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Re: Levantine Arabic - language without a future?

Postby AllSubNoDub » Sat Oct 09, 2021 3:22 pm

Well, we did already lose Syriac. My brother-in-law is from Bethlehem and my nephew's generation has already lost the language. But I do agree with Iguanamon. And so many other languages and dialects have defied the odds.

On the other hand, due to the Syrian civil war there's been a "Levantinization" of many surrounding countries. My friend from Oman went back home to visit not long ago and he said his town has been transformed into "little Syria" with Syrian shopkeepers and restaurants on every corner (and that's supposedly not even a country of high immigration). I've heard this about a lot of other Arabic speaking countries as well.

I have to assume this will leave an indelible imprint on other dialects if these communities can't return to their motherland, thus allowing LA to "live on" through other dialects. If they're already mutually intelligible with the dialect of the host country in that sprachraum there might be a mixing, especially since all spoken Arabic dialects suffer from diglossia as it is; if they're not mutually intelligible maybe it will lead to an increase in more formal speech or MSA in certain areas.
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Re: Levantine Arabic - language without a future?

Postby Deinonysus » Sat Oct 09, 2021 4:33 pm

Sure, Syria and Lebanon are no longer the tourist destinations and media powerhouses that they once were, but there are plenty of other reasons to learn a language. There are people on this forum who are studying Haitian Creole and Persian, those aren't exactly spoken in major tourist destinations either but there are still many compelling reasons to learn them. I have personally spent some time studying Inuktitut even though I'll probably never be able to visit Nunavut because it's hard to get there.

Arabic is a major world language, official UN language, official language of a couple dozen countries, and spoken by 270 million people. But Modern Standard Arabic is a classical, academic language with no native speakers, so it is considered important for any Arabic learner to learn so least one colloquial dialect. Levantine Arabic has 38 million native speakers. Due to the Levant's historical political and media influence, Levantine Arabic is one of the two most widely understood colloquial dialects, the other being Egyptian. The two most popular Arabic textbook series for English speakers, Al-Kitaab and Ahlan wa Sahlan, both give at least some instruction in both Levantine and Egyptian Arabic in addition to MSA.

I am currently learning MSA only, but I plan on making Levantine Arabic my main dialect, for a few reason:
  • Pimsleur is one of my favorite language learning ressources and their Levantine course is three times as long as their Egyptian course, and they have no courses for other colloquial dialects.
  • Tons of Levantine shows and movies available on Netflix, even more than in Egyptian Arabic I think.
  • Family connection to the region. My parents both lived in Israel for a long time and my father picked up a bit of spoken Arabic there.
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Re: Levantine Arabic - language without a future?

Postby cito » Sat Oct 09, 2021 6:25 pm

QueenBee wrote:I'm wondering if Levantine Arabic still has a future.


I understand the concern, but I also think that this video from Professor Arguelles is very important to keep in mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcc-eE7OrXU

As I more deeply and deeply look into Arabic, both MSA and dialectical forms, it becomes abundantly more clear that the language is very fluid, yet unified, and that speakers of the language know how to understand each other by switching into what they refer to as the "White Language." It's worth learning any dialect along with MSA (especially Levantine/Egyptian, due to their abundance of films that Arabic speakers all over the world enjoy), as they can still understand each other, and they know how to communicate.

Rest assured, it's worth it to learn.
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