Celebrating World Arabic Language Day: A Linguistic Marvel
The historical depth of the language underscores Arabic's pivotal role in connecting past civilizations. From its roots in the Arabian Peninsula, Arabic has grown into a global linguistic powerhouse.
World Arabic Language Day, celebrated annually on December 18, honors the profound cultural, scientific, and historical contributions of the Arabic language. Established by UNESCO in 2010, the date commemorates the day in 1973 when Arabic was adopted as one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
Spoken by over 400 million people and cherished as the liturgical language of Islam, Arabic has shaped centuries of cultural, scientific, and literary achievements. On World Arabic Language Day, experts highlight the language’s evolution and global significance.
Arabic starts being attested well before the Christian era
“Arabic starts being attested well before the Christian era,” explained Luca D’Anna, a professor of Arabic dialectology at the University of Naples “L’Orientale.”
“Around the eighth or ninth century BCE, we have the first attestations of Arabic words, and by the sixth century BCE, plentiful attestations. This was long before the revelation of the Quran.”
Arabic’s historical depth underscores its role in bridging past civilizations. Originating in the Arabian Peninsula, the language expanded to become a global linguistic force. “Arabic spread from the Arabic or Persian Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean,” D’Anna said, noting its influence on cultures, trade, and science worldwide.
Listen below for a brief tour of the Arabic language, featuring Luca D’Anna, a professor of Arabic dialectology at the University of Naples “L’Orientale, and examples of a variety of Arabic dialects.
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A defining feature of Arabic is its diglossic nature, where classical and spoken forms coexist. “Throughout its history, Arabic has been diglossic,” D’Anna noted. “It is characterized by two varieties: a written, higher variety, which we started calling Fusha, the most eloquent language, and the spoken dialects of Arabic.”
We have undeniable evidence that the dialects have always existed alongside the Fusha and that they are actually older
Contrary to earlier beliefs, the relationship between classical Arabic and its dialects is not linear. “Scholars have had the impression, and it is the wrong one, that the spoken dialects were descendants of classical Arabic,” clarified D’Anna. “We have undeniable evidence that the dialects have always existed alongside the Fusha and that they are actually older.”
Modern Arabic reflects a complex sociolinguistic landscape. While regional dialects differ greatly, common threads unite them. “The dialects are so different from each other that we could compare them to the situation of Germanic languages,” D’Anna explained. “A speaker of Moroccan Arabic engaging in a conversation with one of Iraqi Arabic would represent a situation not so different from a speaker of German communicating with a speaker of Norwegian or Swedish.”
Technology and media have helped bridge these linguistic divides. “While Standard Arabic used to be a language only learned in schools, nowadays, cartoons, television, and social media expose younger Arabs to their standard variety from birth,” observed Samira Abdellati, a doctoral student in Arabic dialectology at the University of Naples “L’Orientale.”
Even traditionally challenging dialects, such as Moroccan Darija, are gaining recognition. “Moroccan Darija, which has been considered the most difficult and least comprehensible variety of Arabic, starts being understood because there are famous rappers or cool social phenomena that happen to use this dialect,” D’Anna noted.
“As a person who speaks the Moroccan dialect, I happen to use ‘linguistic accommodations’ in front of an Arab who speaks a different dialect than mine. I do that by conveying my message with words that are commonly used in other dialects, mostly from Egyptian and Levantine Arabic, instead of using the standard form, which is unlikely to be used for informal conversations,” Abdellati added.
On this World Arabic Language Day, The Media Line celebrates Arabic’s history and dynamism. Accompanying this article is audio of various Arab speakers introducing a sentence from English in their own dialects.
Arabic is not merely a language—it is a testament to humanity’s shared heritage and boundless creativity
From ancient poetry to modern rap, and from sacred texts to social media, Arabic continues to inspire and connect people globally. As D’Anna aptly put it: “Arabic is not merely a language—it is a testament to humanity’s shared heritage and boundless creativity.”
