Modern Standard Arabic information

Modern Standard Arabic
Modern Standard Arabic
العربية الفصحى ; al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā
	al-ʻArabīyah written in Arabic (Naskh script)
Pronunciation	/al ʕaraˈbijja lˈfusˤħaː/, see variations
Region	Arab world; Middle East and North Africa;
Users	L1: 0 (2022); L2: 330 million (2023)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Modern Standard Arabic; ; ; ; ;
Early forms	Proto-Afroasiatic Proto-Semitic Proto-Arabic Old Arabic Pre-classical Arabic Classical Arabic ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Arabic alphabet
Official status
Official language in	27 states: Algeria ; Bahrain ; Chad ; Comoros ; Djibouti ; Egypt ; Iraq ; Jordan ; Kuwait ; Lebanon ; Libya ; Mali ; Mauritania ; Morocco ; Oman ; Palestine ; Qatar ; Saudi Arabia ; Somalia ; Somaliland ; Sudan ; Syria ; Tunisia ; United Arab Emirates ; Yemen ; Zanzibar (Tanzania) ; Western Sahara (disputed territory) ; International Organizations: African Union ; Arab League ; Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ; United Nations ;
Recognised minority; language in	List Israel ;
Regulated by	List Supreme Council of the Arabic language in Algeria; Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo; Iraqi Academy of Sciences; Academy of the Arabic Language in Israel; Jordan Academy of Arabic; Academy of the Arabic Language in Libya; Academy of the Arabic Language in Rabat; Arab Academy of Damascus; Bayt al-Hikma Foundation; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	arb
Linguist List	arb-mod
Glottolog	stan1318
	Sole official language Co-official language, majority Arabophone Co-official language, minority Arabophone
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA)^[3] is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,^[4]^[5] and in some usages also the variety of spoken Arabic that approximates this written standard.^[6] MSA is the language used in literature, academia, print and mass media, law and legislation, though it is generally not spoken as a first language, similar to Contemporary Latin.^[5] It is a pluricentric standard language taught throughout the Arab world in formal education, differing significantly from many vernacular varieties of Arabic that are commonly spoken as mother tongues in the area; these are only partially mutually intelligible with both MSA and with each other depending on their proximity in the Arabic dialect continuum.

Many linguists consider MSA to be distinct from Classical Arabic (CA; اللغة العربية الفصحى التراثية al-Lughah al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā at-Turāthīyah) – the written language prior to the mid-19th century – although there is no agreed moment at which CA turned into MSA.^[7] There are also no agreed set of linguistic criteria which distinguish CA from MSA;^[7] however, MSA differs most markedly in that it either synthesizes words from Arabic roots (such as سيارة car or باخرة steamship) or adapts words from foreign languages (such as ورشة workshop or إنترنت Internet) to describe industrial and post-industrial life.

Native speakers of Arabic generally do not distinguish between "Modern Standard Arabic" and "Classical Arabic" as separate languages; they refer to both as al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā (العربية الفصحى) meaning "the eloquent Arabic".^[8] They consider the two forms to be two historical periods of one language. When the distinction is made, they are referred to as فصحى العصر Fuṣḥā al-ʻAṣr (MSA) and فصحى التراث Fuṣḥā at-Turāth (CA).^[8]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

^ ^a ^b ^c Modern Standard Arabic at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
^ "Basic Law: Israel - The Nation State of the Jewish People" (PDF). Knesset. 19 July 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
^ Gully, Adrian; Carter, Mike; Badawi, Elsaid (29 July 2015). Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar (2 ed.). Routledge. p. 2. ISBN 978-0415667494.
^ Giolfo and, Manuela E.B.; Sinatora, Francesco L. (27 April 2018), Keskin, Tugrul (ed.), "Orientalism and Neo-Orientalism: Arabic Representations and the Study of Arabic", Middle East Studies after September 11, BRILL, pp. 81–99, doi:10.1163/9789004359901_005, ISBN 978-90-04-28153-0, retrieved 14 June 2023
^ ^a ^b Kamusella, Tomasz (2017). "The Arabic Language: A Latin of Modernity?" (PDF). Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics. 11 (2): 117–145. doi:10.1515/jnmlp-2017-0006. S2CID 158624482.
^ Alhawary, Mohammad. Modern Standard Arabic. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, p. 24.
^ ^a ^b Holes, C.; Allen, R. (2004). Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions, and Varieties. Georgetown classics in Arabic language and linguistics. Georgetown University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-58901-022-2. …there is no chronological point at which CLA turned into MSA, still less any agreed set of linguistic criteria that could differentiate the two. MSA is merely a handy label used in western scholarship to denote the written language from about the middle of the nineteenth century, when concerted efforts began to modernize it lexically and phraseologically. Most western scholars refer to the formal written language before that date, and par excellence before the eclipse of Arab political power in the fifteenth century, as "Classical Arabic".
^ ^a ^b Alaa Elgibali and El-Said M. Badawi. Understanding Arabic: Essays in Contemporary Arabic Linguistics in Honor of El-Said M. Badawi, 1996. Page 105.

[e27-3] Modern Standard Arabic at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)

[israelbasiclaw-5] "Basic Law: Israel - The Nation State of the Jewish People" (PDF). Knesset. 19 July 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.

[6] Gully, Adrian; Carter, Mike; Badawi, Elsaid (29 July 2015). Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar (2 ed.). Routledge. p. 2. ISBN 978-0415667494.

[7] Giolfo and, Manuela E.B.; Sinatora, Francesco L. (27 April 2018), Keskin, Tugrul (ed.), "Orientalism and Neo-Orientalism: Arabic Representations and the Study of Arabic", Middle East Studies after September 11, BRILL, pp. 81–99, doi:10.1163/9789004359901_005, ISBN 978-90-04-28153-0, retrieved 14 June 2023

[:0-8] Kamusella, Tomasz (2017). "The Arabic Language: A Latin of Modernity?" (PDF). Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics. 11 (2): 117–145. doi:10.1515/jnmlp-2017-0006. S2CID 158624482.

[9] Alhawary, Mohammad. Modern Standard Arabic. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, p. 24.

[Holes-10] Holes, C.; Allen, R. (2004). Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions, and Varieties. Georgetown classics in Arabic language and linguistics. Georgetown University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-58901-022-2. …there is no chronological point at which CLA turned into MSA, still less any agreed set of linguistic criteria that could differentiate the two. MSA is merely a handy label used in western scholarship to denote the written language from about the middle of the nineteenth century, when concerted efforts began to modernize it lexically and phraseologically. Most western scholars refer to the formal written language before that date, and par excellence before the eclipse of Arab political power in the fifteenth century, as "Classical Arabic".

[El-Said_M._Badawi_1996._Page_105-11] Alaa Elgibali and El-Said M. Badawi. Understanding Arabic: Essays in Contemporary Arabic Linguistics in Honor of El-Said M. Badawi, 1996. Page 105.

Modern Standard Arabic information

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Modern Standard Arabic
العربية الفصحى al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā^[a]
*al-ʻArabīyah* written in Arabic (Naskh script)
Pronunciation	/al ʕaraˈbijja lˈfusˤħaː/, see variations^[b]
Region	Arab world Middle East and North Africa
Users	L1: 0 (2022)^[1]^[c] L2: 330 million (2023)^[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Modern Standard Arabic
Early forms	Proto-Afroasiatic Proto-Semitic Proto-Arabic Old Arabic Pre-classical Arabic Classical Arabic
Writing system	Arabic alphabet
Official status
Official language in	27 states: Algeria Bahrain Chad Comoros Djibouti Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Mali Mauritania Morocco Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Somalia Somaliland Sudan Syria Tunisia United Arab Emirates Yemen Zanzibar (Tanzania) Western Sahara (disputed territory) International Organizations: African Union Arab League Organisation of Islamic Cooperation United Nations
Recognised minority language in	List Israel^[2]
Regulated by	List Supreme Council of the Arabic language in Algeria Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo Iraqi Academy of Sciences Academy of the Arabic Language in Israel Jordan Academy of Arabic Academy of the Arabic Language in Libya Academy of the Arabic Language in Rabat Arab Academy of Damascus Bayt al-Hikma Foundation
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`arb`
Linguist List	`arb-mod`
Glottolog	`stan1318`
Sole official language Co-official language, majority Arabophone Co-official language, minority Arabophone
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.