Arabic - Arabe - العربية
< Anyi, Baule | Major Languages | Bamileke >
Categories: Languages, Egypt, Algeria, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti,
Eritrea, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan,
Tunisia, Northern Mali, Parts of Kenya
On this page... (hide)
- 1. Classification / Classification
- 2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique
- 3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs
- 4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte
- 5. Usage / Utilisation
- 6. Orthography / Orthographe
- 7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC
- 8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation
- 9. Comments / Remarques
- 10. References / Références
Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia.
1. Classification / Classification
Arabic is a Semitic language within Afro-Asiatic... (Webbook)
Ethnologue lists the classification as: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic
2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique
It is found not only in the northern third of Africa, where it is generally the de jure national language, but also throughout the entire continent via its daily use in Islamic life as well as a medium of instruction in Islamic schools. (Webbook)
3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs
Ethnologue indicates there are 206 million first language speakers of all dialects, and 246 million second language speakers.
4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte
There are many varieties of Arabic. Formal, literary (Egyptian) is often considered the standard; so is Modern Standard (based on Cairene Arabic). (Webbook)
According to UCLA-LMP:
"Arabic itself is commonly subclassified as Classical Arabic, Eastern Arabic, Western Arabic, and Maltese. ... Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is a modernized form of Classical Arabic.
"Western Arabic encompasses the Arabic spoken colloquially in the region of northern Africa—often referred to as the Maghrib—from Morocco to western Libya and in adjacent African countries to the immediate south. ...
"Eastern Arabic, sometimes referred to as Mesopotamian Arabic, includes the Arabic dialects spoken in a large region encompassing North Africa (Egypt and Sudan), the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula), and Arabic speaking communities in Asia (Bateson 1967). ..."
Dialects of Arabic in Africa as listed in Ethnologue (Mauritania is added):
- Algeria / Algérie
- Arabic, Algerian Saharan Spoken
- Arabic, Algerian Spoken
- Cameroon
- (small number of Shuwa Arabic speakers)
- Chad / Tchad
- Arabic, Babalia Creole
- Arabic, Chadian Spoken
- Djibouti
- Arabic, Ta'izzi-Adeni Spoken
- Egypt
- Arabic, Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Spoken
- Arabic, Egyptian Spoken
- Arabic, Sa
- Arabic, Western Egyptian Bedawi Spoken
- Libya
- Arabic, Libyan
- Mali
- Hassaniyya
- Mauritania / Mauritanie
- Hassaniyya
- Morocco / Maroc
- Arabic, Hassaniyya
- Arabic, Judeo-Moroccan
- Arabic, Moroccan Spoken
- Niger
- (small numbers of Hassaniyya, Libyan Arabic, and Shuwa)
- Nigeria
- Arabic, Shuwa
- Sudan
- Arabic, Sudanese Creole
- Arabic, Sudanese Spoken
- Tanzania
- Arabic, Omani Spoken
- Tunisia
- Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
5. Usage / Utilisation
Arabic is a major world language with standard and classical forms, as well as vernacular forms spoken by majority or minority communities in many countries including over a dozen in Africa (especially the north). It is the language of scripture and religious learning for Muslims. In some places and circumstances it also serves as a lingua franca.
Arabic is the or an official language? in the following African countries: Algeria, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, and Tunisia.
6. Orthography / Orthographe
6.1 Status / Statut
Arabic has a standard orthography and established alternate forms (at least in the Maghreb). See also Arabic Script.
6.2 Sample Alphabet / Alphabet exemple
See Arabic Script ("Standard Arabic alphabet").
See also:
- Omniglot page http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arabic.htm
- Geonames "Unicode test page...: Arabic abjad - الأبجدية العربية (al-abǧadiyyâtu l-ʿarabiyyâ)" http://www.geonames.de/alphab.html#ara
- Mimer "Arabic Collation Chart," http://developer.mimer.com/charts/arabic.htm
- Wikipedia pages (see 10. References, below)
7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC
7.1 Fonts / Polices
There are many fonts for the Arabic alphabet used in Arabic, some in Unicode, some in ISO-8859-6 or Windows 1256?.
7.2 Keyboard layouts / Dispositions de clavier
There exists at least one established computer keyboard arrangement for Arabic [verify if there are variants]
Lexilogos has an online keyboard/character picker for "arabe العربية" at http://www.lexilogos.com/clavier/araby.htm
7.3 Content on computers & internet / Contenu en informatique et sur l'Internet
There is significant computer use and internet content in Standard Arabic.
There is a Wikipedia edition in Arabic at http://ar.wikipedia.org/
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has an Arabic version: حاسوب محمول لكل طف http://laptop.org/index.ar.html
7.4 Localized software / Logiciels localisés
Major proprietary software is localized to Standard Arabic.
There is an OpenOffice project under the "Native Language Confederation" program: http://ar.openoffice.org/
There is a project to translate Debian (Linux) Installer in Arabic: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/edgy/+source/debian-installer/+pots/debian-installer
Need information on other software in Arabic (see also 8.3, below)
7.5 Language codes / Codes de langue
Arabic
- ISO 639-1: ar
- ISO 639-2: ara
- ISO 639-3: ara
Arabic, Standard
- ISO 639-3: arb
Arabic, Algerian Saharan Spoken
- ISO 639-3: aao
Arabic, Algerian Spoken
- ISO 639-3: arq
Arabic, Babalia Creole
- ISO 639-3: bbz
Arabic, Chadian Spoken / Shuwa
- ISO 639-3: shu
Arabic, Ta'izzi-Adeni Spoken
- ISO 639-3: acq
Arabic, Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Spoken
- ISO 639-3: avl
Arabic, Egyptian Spoken
- ISO 639-3: arz
Arabic, Sa
- ISO 639-3: aec
Arabic, Libyan / Western Egyptian Bedawi Spoken
- ISO 639-3: ayl
Arabic, Hassaniyya
- ISO 639-3: mey
Arabic, Judeo-Moroccan
- ISO 639-3: aju
Arabic, Moroccan Spoken
- ISO 639-3: ary
Arabic, Sudanese Creole
- ISO 639-3: pga
Arabic, Sudanese Spoken
- ISO 639-3: apd
Arabic, Omani Spoken
- ISO 639-3: acx
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
- ISO 639-3: aeb
7.6 Locales / Paramètres régionaux
7.7 Other / Autre
Cell phone commands are localized in Arabic.
Google has a version localized in Arabic: http://www.google.com/intl/ar/
8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation
8.1 Individuals (experts) / Individuelles (experts)
Manal Amin, CEO, Arabize
8.2 Institutions / Institutions
Arabize Computer Services, Ltd. http://www.arabize.com.eg
Arabeyes Project [FOSS] http://www.arabeyes.org/
8.3 On the internet / Sur la toile
The Arabeyes site has information and links to FOSS projects http://www.arabeyes.org/
Virtual keyboard/character pickers
- Lexilogos clavier arabe http://www.lexilogos.com/clavier/araby.htm
- Arabic block character picker http://people.w3.org/rishida/scripts/pickers/arabic-block/
"Arabic computing information" (TLT, Penn State Univ.) http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/bylanguage/arabic.html
Open-Tran.eu supports Arabic http://ar.open-tran.eu
9. Comments / Remarques
What are the outstanding issues in terms of handling Arabic script that need to be addressed to facilitate FOSS localisation?
10. References / Références
Dwyer, David (1997), Webbook of African Languages, http://africa.isp.msu.edu/afrlang/hiermenu.html (page on "Arabic," http://africa.isp.msu.edu/afrlang/Arabic-root.html )
Omniglot, "Arabic script," http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arabic.htm
SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Arabic, Standard," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/arb
______, "Arabic, Algerian Saharan Spoken," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/aao
______, "Arabic, Algerian Spoken," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/arq
______, "Arabic, Babalia Creole," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/bbz
______, "Arabic, Chadian Spoken / Shuwa," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/shu
______, "Arabic, Ta'izzi-Adeni Spoken," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/acq
______, "Arabic, Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Spoken," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/avl
______, "Arabic, Egyptian Spoken," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/arz
______, "Arabic, Sa ," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/aec
______, "Arabic, Libyan / Western Egyptian Bedawi Spoken," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/ayl
______, "Arabic, Hassaniyya," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/mey
______, "Arabic, Judeo-Moroccan," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/aju
______, "Arabic, Moroccan Spoken," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/ary
______, "Arabic, Sudanese Creole," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/pga
______, "Arabic, Sudanese Spoken," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/apd
______, "Arabic, Omani Spoken," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/acx
______, "Arabic, Tunisian Spoken," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/aeb
SIL International, "ISO 639 Code Tables," http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp
______, "ISO 639-3 Macrolangauge Mappings," http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/macrolanguages.asp
U.S. Library of Congress, "ISO 639.2: Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages: Alpha-3 codes arranged alphabetically by the English name of language," http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php
UCLA, Language Materials Project, "Arabic (profile)," http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=210&menu=004
Wikipedia, "Alfabeto árabe," https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabeto_%C3%A1rabe
______, "Alphabet arabe," https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_arabe
______, "Arabe," https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabe
______, "Arabic alphabet," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet
______, "Arabic language," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language
______, "Língua árabe," https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%ADngua_Arabe
______, "أبجدية عربي" https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/أبجدية_عربية
______, "لغة عربية" https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/لغة_عربية
< Anyi, Baule | Major Languages | Bamileke >
Categories: Languages, Egypt, Algeria, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Northern Mali, Parts of Kenya