The Muslim Arabic Dialect of ʿĀna in a Comparative Perspective

Abstract The present study compares the current Muslim Arabic dialect of ʿĀna with previous research conducted on the Jewish Arabic once spoken in this historically multireligious town on the Euphrates River. Throughout the last century, the town of ʿĀna has experienced significant demographic changes that have later profoundly reshaped its sociolinguistic landscape, particularly due to the sectarian incidents in the middle of the last century and the destruction of its old neighbourhoods by the flood of the Euphrates in the late 1980s. It will be demonstrated throughout this study that the Muslim Arabic dialect of ʿĀna aligns most closely with its Jewish counterpart, and, to a lesser extent, with related varieties spoken in other urban centers along the Euphrates River.