Arabic as an under-documented language: Distinctions between neighboring Arabic dialects

Abstract

This paper focuses on Arabic dialects from Israel and Jordan, which belong to the Levant Arabic dialects group. Levant dialects, as part of Arabic, are rather well studied. However, studies still usually consider them following the language situation in the area before the end of World War I (1918). Then, the Ottoman Empire collapsed and the area of (current) Israel and Jordan came to be under the British mandate rule. Later, each of them won independence as separate states. These processes widened inter-dialect linguistic differences, but modern communication media and devices, and increased literacy, have drawn various dialects closer to one another. These processes have added new linguistic features, which have in various cases completely integrated in the borrowing dialects. As a result, these features cannot be distinctive dialect markers any more. Such developments are mostly under-documented. Phonetic features of vowels and consonants in some Israeli and Jordanian Arabic dialects will demonstrate this phenomenon of under-documentation. In this context, we also discuss the forensic linguistics field of dialect identification and verification of asylum seekers' mother tongue. Our conclusions suggest that these undocumented changes require new investigations.