Arabic Dialect of Jerusalem: Jerusalem Arabic (Northern Levantine)

The spoken variety is Jerusalem Arabic, a sub-dialect of Northern Levantine Arabic (Shami).

Features

• Phonology: Preserves /q/ as [ʔ] (glottal stop) in urban speech; [g] in some rural surroundings.
• Lexicon: Hebrew loanwords (e.g., sabra, shuk), Ottoman/Turkish remnants, English modern borrowings.
• Grammar: Typical Levantine (b- prefix for indicative, suffix conjugation).
• Intelligibility: High with Amman, Damascus, Beirut, West Bank dialects.

Sociolinguistic Context

Diglossia: Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) for formal writing/media; Jerusalem Arabic for daily life. Palestinian urban dialect continuum.