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Baghdad Jewish Arabic (Arabic: عربية يهودية بغدادية, עַרָבִּיָּה יְהוּדִיַּה בַּגדָאדִיַּה) or autonym haki mal yihud (Jewish Speech) or el-haki malna (our speech)[1] is the Arabic dialect spoken by the Jews of Baghdad and other towns of Southern Iraq. This dialect differs from the dialect spoken by the Jews in Northern Iraq, such as Mosul and 'Ana. The Baghdadi and Northern dialects may be regarded as subvarieties of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic. As with most Judeo-Arab communities, there are likely to be few, if any, speakers of the Judeo-Iraqi Arabic dialects who still reside within Iraq. Rather these dialects have been maintained or are facing critical endangerment within respective Judeo-Iraqi diasporas, namely those of Israel and the United States. In 2014, the film Farewell Baghdad (Arabic: مطير الحمام; Hebrew: מפריח היונים, lit. "The Dove Flyer"), which is performed mostly in Jewish Baghdadi Arabic dialect, became the first film to be almost completely performed in Judeo-Iraqi Arabic.
Baghdad Jewish Arabic (and Baghdadi Christian Arabic) resemble the dialect of Northern Iraq, and more distantly that of Syria, rather than the Baghdad Arabic spoken by the Muslims. The Muslim dialect is classified as a gilit dialect (from their pronunciation of the Arabic word for "I said") while the others are qeltu dialects. Another resemblance between Baghdad Jewish Arabic and North Mesopotamian Arabic is the pronunciation of ra as a uvular. This peculiarity goes back centuries: in medieval Iraqi Judaeo-Arabic manuscripts the letters ra and ghayn are frequently interchanged.[2] It is thought that the qeltu dialects represent the older Arabic dialect of Mesopotamia while the gilit dialect is of Bedouin origin. Another factor may be the northern origins of the Jewish community of Baghdad after 1258 (see below under History). Like Northern Mesopotamian and Syrian Arabic, Jewish Baghdadi Arabic shows some signs of an Aramaic substrate. Violette Shamosh[3] records that, at the Passover Seder, she could understand some of the passages in Aramaic but none of the passages in Hebrew.
History
The Mongol invasion wiped out most of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia. Later, the original qeltu Baghdadi dialect became extinct as a result of massive Bedouin immigrations to Lower Mesopotamia and was replaced by the Bedouin influenced gilit dialect. The Jews of Baghdad are a largely indigenous population and they also preserve the pre-Mongol invasion dialect of Baghdad in its Jewish form, which is similar but a bit different from the general pre-Mongol Baghdadi dialect due to the linguistic influences of Hebrew and Judeo-Babylonian Aramaic, instead of the general Babylonian Aramaic that existed before the Islamic invasion.
As with other respective religious and ethnic communities coexisting in Baghdad, the Jewish community had almost exclusively spoken as well as written in their distinctive dialect, largely drawing their linguistic influences from Hebrew and Judeo-Aramaic and even non-linguistic influences from languages such as Sumerian, Akkadian, Persian and Turkish. Simultaneous fluency and literacy in the Arabic used by the dominant Muslim communities had also been commonplace.
With waves of persecution and thus emigration, the dialect has been carried to and until recently used within respective Judeo-Iraqi diaspora communities, spanning Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Manchester and numerous other international urban hubs. After the mass emigration of Jews from Iraq to Israel between the 1940s and 1960s, Israel came to hold the single largest linguistic community of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic speakers. With successive generations being born and raised in Israel, it is mainly the older people who still actively or passively speak Judeo-Baghdadi and other forms of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic. Israelis of Iraqi descent in turn are largely unilingual Israeli Hebrew speakers.
Orthography
The Jews of Baghdad also have a written Judeo-Arabic that differs from the spoken language and uses Hebrew characters.[4] There is a sizeable published religious literature in the language, including several Bible translations and the Qanūn an-nisā' (قانون النساء of the hakhamYosef Hayyim.
The following method of describing the letters of the Hebrew alphabet was used by teachers in Baghdad until quite recently:[5]
JB is relatively conservative in preserving Classical Arabic phonemes. Classical Arabic /q/ has remained as an uvular (or post-velar) stop,[a] like Christian Baghdad Arabic, but unlike in Muslim Baghdad Arabic where it is pronounced as [ɡ]. /k/ is retained as [k], like in Christian Baghdadi, but unlike the Muslim dialect where it is sometimes [tʃ]. Classical Arabic interdental /ð, θ, ðˠ/ are preserved, like in Muslim Baghdadi Arabic (Christian Baghdadi Arabic merges them into /d, t, dˤ/). /dˤ/ has merged into /ðˠ/.[7]
There are a few rare minimal pairs with /lˠ, bˠ/ (e.g. wáḷḷa 'by God! (an oath)' vs. wálla 'he went away', ḅāḅa 'father, dad' vs. bāba 'her door'). In other words, there are velarized segments which cannot be demonstrated to be phonemic, but which cannot be substituted, e.g. ṃāṃa 'mother, mummy'.[8] There is a certain degree of velarization harmony.
/r/ is one of the primary distinguishing features of Jewish (as opposed to Muslim, but not Christian) Baghdadi Arabic. Older Arabic /r/ has shifted to /ɣ/ (as in Christian, but not Muslim, Baghdadi Arabic). However /r/ has been re-introduced in non-Arabic loans (e.g. brāxa 'blessing' < Heb. ברכה, qūri 'teapot' < Pers.qūrī). Modern loan words from other Arabic dialects also have this sound; this sometimes leads to cases where the same word may have two forms depending on context, e.g. ʿáskaġ 'army' vs. ḥākəm ʿáskari 'martial law'. There are many instances where this alternation leads to a subtle change in meaning, e.g. faġġ 'he poured, served foot' vs. farr 'he threw'.[9]
The consonants /p, ɡ, tʃ/ were originally of foreign origin, but have pervaded the language to the extent that native speakers do not perceive or even realize their non-native origin.[10]
^Though in a few phrases it has become [dʒ], e.g. 'īd mən wára w-'īd mən jəddām 'one hand behind and one in front' (said when someone returns emptyhanded).
^Used to specify the indirect object while leaving the direct object unspecified, e.g. jabəlyāk 'he brought it/him/her/them to you (m.s.)'.
References
Citations
^Ella Shohat (2017) The Invention of Judeo-Arabic, Interventions, 19:2, 153-200, doi:10.1080/1369801X.2016.1218785
^Avishur, Studies in Judaeo-Arabic Translations of the Bible.
Blanc, Haim. Communal Dialects in Baghdad: Harvard 1964.
Kees Versteegh, et al. Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics: Brill 2006.
Mansour, Jacob. The Jewish Baghdadi Dialect: Studies and Texts in the Judaeo-Arabic Dialect of Baghdad: The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Centre 1991.
Abū-Haidar, Farīda (1991). Christian Arabic of Baghdad. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN9783447032094.
External links
Jewish Baghdadi recordings
Baghdadi Jewish Arabic-Hebrew dictionary 2020-02-02 at the Wayback Machine (In Hebrew)
March 03, 2023
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This article relies largely or entirely on a single source Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources Find sources Baghdad Jewish Arabic news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2009 Baghdad Jewish Arabic Arabic عربية يهودية بغدادية ע ר ב י ה י הו ד י ה ב גד אד י ה or autonym haki mal yihud Jewish Speech or el haki malna our speech 1 is the Arabic dialect spoken by the Jews of Baghdad and other towns of Southern Iraq This dialect differs from the dialect spoken by the Jews in Northern Iraq such as Mosul and Ana The Baghdadi and Northern dialects may be regarded as subvarieties of Judeo Iraqi Arabic As with most Judeo Arab communities there are likely to be few if any speakers of the Judeo Iraqi Arabic dialects who still reside within Iraq Rather these dialects have been maintained or are facing critical endangerment within respective Judeo Iraqi diasporas namely those of Israel and the United States In 2014 the film Farewell Baghdad Arabic مطير الحمام Hebrew מפריח היונים lit The Dove Flyer which is performed mostly in Jewish Baghdadi Arabic dialect became the first film to be almost completely performed in Judeo Iraqi Arabic Baghdad Jewish ArabicJewish Baghdadi ArabicNative toIsrael IraqLanguage familyAfro Asiatic SemiticCentral SemiticArabicMesopotamian ArabicNorth Mesopotamian ArabicJudeo ArabicJudeo Iraqi ArabicBaghdad Jewish ArabicWriting systemArabic alphabetHebrew alphabetLanguage codesISO 639 3 GlottologNoneThis 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 Contents 1 Classification 2 History 3 Orthography 4 Phonology 4 1 Consonants 4 2 Vowels 4 3 Suprasegmentals 5 Grammar 5 1 Verbs 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 8 1 Citations 8 2 Sources 9 External linksClassification EditBaghdad Jewish Arabic and Baghdadi Christian Arabic resemble the dialect of Northern Iraq and more distantly that of Syria rather than the Baghdad Arabic spoken by the Muslims The Muslim dialect is classified as a gilit dialect from their pronunciation of the Arabic word for I said while the others are qeltu dialects Another resemblance between Baghdad Jewish Arabic and North Mesopotamian Arabic is the pronunciation of ra as a uvular This peculiarity goes back centuries in medieval Iraqi Judaeo Arabic manuscripts the letters ra and ghayn are frequently interchanged 2 It is thought that the qeltu dialects represent the older Arabic dialect of Mesopotamia while the gilit dialect is of Bedouin origin Another factor may be the northern origins of the Jewish community of Baghdad after 1258 see below under History Like Northern Mesopotamian and Syrian Arabic Jewish Baghdadi Arabic shows some signs of an Aramaic substrate Violette Shamosh 3 records that at the Passover Seder she could understand some of the passages in Aramaic but none of the passages in Hebrew History EditThe Mongol invasion wiped out most of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia Later the original qeltu Baghdadi dialect became extinct as a result of massive Bedouin immigrations to Lower Mesopotamia and was replaced by the Bedouin influenced gilit dialect The Jews of Baghdad are a largely indigenous population and they also preserve the pre Mongol invasion dialect of Baghdad in its Jewish form which is similar but a bit different from the general pre Mongol Baghdadi dialect due to the linguistic influences of Hebrew and Judeo Babylonian Aramaic instead of the general Babylonian Aramaic that existed before the Islamic invasion As with other respective religious and ethnic communities coexisting in Baghdad the Jewish community had almost exclusively spoken as well as written in their distinctive dialect largely drawing their linguistic influences from Hebrew and Judeo Aramaic and even non linguistic influences from languages such as Sumerian Akkadian Persian and Turkish Simultaneous fluency and literacy in the Arabic used by the dominant Muslim communities had also been commonplace With waves of persecution and thus emigration the dialect has been carried to and until recently used within respective Judeo Iraqi diaspora communities spanning Bombay Calcutta Singapore Hong Kong Manchester and numerous other international urban hubs After the mass emigration of Jews from Iraq to Israel between the 1940s and 1960s Israel came to hold the single largest linguistic community of Judeo Iraqi Arabic speakers With successive generations being born and raised in Israel it is mainly the older people who still actively or passively speak Judeo Baghdadi and other forms of Judeo Iraqi Arabic Israelis of Iraqi descent in turn are largely unilingual Israeli Hebrew speakers Orthography EditThe Jews of Baghdad also have a written Judeo Arabic that differs from the spoken language and uses Hebrew characters 4 There is a sizeable published religious literature in the language including several Bible translations and the Qanun an nisa قانون النساء of the hakham Yosef Hayyim The following method of describing the letters of the Hebrew alphabet was used by teachers in Baghdad until quite recently 5 Letter Descriptionא abu aġbaʿ ġus alefhas four headsב ġazuna bea nicheג abu jenḥ gimalhas a wingד najaġ dala hatchetה ġe jla meqṭuʿa heits leg is severedו e bġi wawa needleז dembus zana pinח emm ġejelten ṣaġ ḥeṯhas two intact legsט ġe jla b baṭna ṭeṯits leg is in its stomachי e xtak le zġayyġi yōdyour young sisterכ ġazuna mdawwġa kafa round nicheל l jamal lamadthe camelמ ġasa zbibayi mimits head is a raisinנ cengal nuna hookס mdawwaġ semmaxcircularע abu ġasen ʿanhas two headsפ b ṯe mma zbibayi pehas a raisin in its mouthצ ġasen w me ḥni ṣadtwo heads and bentק ġe jlu ṭwili qōfits leg is longר mecrux rōscurvedש abu tlaṯ ġus sinhas three headsת ġe jla meʿġuja taits leg is crookedﭏ salam alef lamadSalaam peace Phonology EditConsonants Edit Jewish Baghdadi consonants 6 Labial Dental Palato dental Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn geal Glottalplain velarized plain velarizedNasal m mˠ n nˠ Plosive voiceless p t tˠ k q ʔvoiced b bˠ d ɡAffricate voiceless t ʃvoiced d ʒFricative voiceless f 8 x ħ hvoiced v d dˠ ɣ ʕApproximant w jLateral l lˠ Trill rJB is relatively conservative in preserving Classical Arabic phonemes Classical Arabic q has remained as an uvular or post velar stop a like Christian Baghdad Arabic but unlike in Muslim Baghdad Arabic where it is pronounced as ɡ k is retained as k like in Christian Baghdadi but unlike the Muslim dialect where it is sometimes tʃ Classical Arabic interdental d 8 dˠ are preserved like in Muslim Baghdadi Arabic Christian Baghdadi Arabic merges them into d t dˤ dˤ has merged into dˠ 7 There are a few rare minimal pairs with lˠ bˠ e g waḷḷa by God an oath vs walla he went away ḅaḅa father dad vs baba her door In other words there are velarized segments which cannot be demonstrated to be phonemic but which cannot be substituted e g ṃaṃa mother mummy 8 There is a certain degree of velarization harmony r is one of the primary distinguishing features of Jewish as opposed to Muslim but not Christian Baghdadi Arabic Older Arabic r has shifted to ɣ as in Christian but not Muslim Baghdadi Arabic However r has been re introduced in non Arabic loans e g braxa blessing lt Heb ברכה quri teapot lt Pers quri Modern loan words from other Arabic dialects also have this sound this sometimes leads to cases where the same word may have two forms depending on context e g ʿaskaġ army vs ḥakem ʿaskari martial law There are many instances where this alternation leads to a subtle change in meaning e g faġġ he poured served foot vs farr he threw 9 The consonants p ɡ tʃ were originally of foreign origin but have pervaded the language to the extent that native speakers do not perceive or even realize their non native origin 10 Vowels Edit Jewish Baghdadi vowels 11 Front Backiː i u uːeeː e o oːa aːSuprasegmentals Edit Stress is usually on the ultimate or penultimate syllable but sometimes on the antipenultimate mostly in loans or compound words 12 Grammar EditVerbs Edit Perfect inflectional suffixes 13 Unstressed Stresseds 1 tu tō tu u 12 m t tf ti te ti i 13 m f et etpl 1 na na2 tem tem3 u ō u u 1 Paradigm of katab to write in perfect alone and with a 3ms indirect object 14 s 1 ktabtu ktebtōlu2 m ktabt ktabtluf ktabti ktebtelu3 m katab ktabluf katbet ketbe tlupl 1 ktabna ktebnalu2 ktabtem ktabte mlu3 katbu ketbōlubefore 3f s direct pronominal suffixImperfect inflectional affixes 15 s 1 a 2 m te f t en3 m ye 1f te pl 1 ne 2 t ōn3 y ōn1 Paradigm of katab to write in imperfect 16 s 1 akteb2 m te ktebf tketben23 m ye ktebf te ktebpl 1 ne kteb2 tketbōn23 yketbōn2may be actualized as i before another consonant e g yqul gt iqul he ll say n is elided when a direct or indirect object pronoun suffix is present e g tketbela you f s will write to her when the 3f s direct object pronoun suffix is present e gt i iy and ō gt u uw e g tketbiha tketbiya you f s will write it f s Direct object pronominal suffixes 17 s 1 ni1 y y i22 m ak3 k4f ek3 ki43 m nu3 u4f ha5 a3 5pl 1 na2 kem3 hem4 em3 Indirect object pronominal suffixes 18 s 1 li2 m lakf lek3 m luf lapl 1 lna2 lkem3 lem Double object pronominal suffixes b 19 s 1 lya lyanu 2 m lyak lkya kelya f lyaki3 m lyanu lya f lyahapl 1 lnya2 lyakem3 lyahemafter verbal forms and rarely particles after nouns and particles after a consonant after a vowel ha and a may both occur after some vowels and in some instances ha may become ya or wa See also EditJudeo Iraqi Arabic Iraqi Arabic Baghdad Arabic Judeo Arabic languages Baghdadi Jews History of the Jews in IraqNotes Edit Though in a few phrases it has become dʒ e g id men wara w id men jeddam one hand behind and one in front said when someone returns emptyhanded Used to specify the indirect object while leaving the direct object unspecified e g jabelyak he brought it him her them to you m s References EditCitations Edit Ella Shohat 2017 The Invention of Judeo Arabic Interventions 19 2 153 200 doi 10 1080 1369801X 2016 1218785 Avishur Studies in Judaeo Arabic Translations of the Bible Memories of Eden A Journey through Baghdad Mansour 1991 p 15 Mansour 1991 pp 190 191 Mansour 1991 p 53 Mansour 1991 pp 26 28 Mansour 1991 p 57 Mansour 1991 pp 29 31 Mansour 1991 p 33 Mansour 1991 p 70 Mansour 1991 pp 87 88 Mansour 1991 p 127 Mansour 1991 p 126 Mansour 1991 pp 128 129 Mansour 1991 p 128 Mansour 1991 pp 169 173 Mansour 1991 p 174 Mansour 1991 pp 176 178 Sources Edit Blanc Haim Communal Dialects in Baghdad Harvard 1964 Kees Versteegh et al Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics Brill 2006 Mansour Jacob The Jewish Baghdadi Dialect Studies and Texts in the Judaeo Arabic Dialect of Baghdad The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Centre 1991 Abu Haidar Farida 1991 Christian Arabic of Baghdad Otto Harrassowitz Verlag ISBN 9783447032094 External links EditJewish Baghdadi recordings Baghdadi Jewish Arabic Hebrew dictionary Archived 2020 02 02 at the Wayback Machine In Hebrew Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Baghdad Jewish Arabic amp oldid 1139581326, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
