Andalusi Arabic

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Andalusi Arabic
Spoken in:	Al-Andalus
Region:	Iberian Peninsula
Language extinction:	After the expulsion of the Moriscos from Iberia. Some dialects are still spoken in some cities in Morocco and Algeria
Language family:	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Andalusi Arabic
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`to be added`
ISO/FDIS 639-3:	—
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

Andalusi Arabic was a dialect of the Arabic language spoken in Al-Andalus, the regions of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) under Muslim rule. It became an extinct language in Iberia after the expulsion of the Moriscos following the Christian Reconquest (Reconquista), though it is still used in Andalusi music and has significantly influenced the dialects of such towns as Tetouan, Fez, Rabat, Tangiers and Cherchell.

It also exerted some influence on Mozarabic, Castilian (Spanish), Catalan, Portuguese and the Moroccan Arabic dialect.

Andalusi Arabic appears to have spread rapidly and been the general oral use in most parts of Al-Andalus between the 9th and 15th centuries. It reached its highest peak of users, which can be roughly estimated at 5-7 million, during the 11th and 12th centuries. It then dwindled as a consequence of the gradual but relentless takeover by the Christians, although it remained in use in certain areas already under Christian political control until the final expulsion of the Muslims at the beginning of the 17th century. ^[1]

As in every other Arabic-speaking land, the Andalusi people were diglossic i.e. spoke their local dialect in all low-register situations, but only Classical Arabic was resorted to when a high register was required and for written purposes as well.

Andalusi Arabic belongs to Early Western Neo-Arabic, which does not allow for any separation between Bedouin, urban, or rural dialects, nor does it show any detectable difference between communal dialects, such as Muslim, Christian and Jewish.

The oldest evidence of Andalusi Arabic utterances can be dated from the 10th and 11th century, in isolated quotes, both in prose and stanzaic Classical Andalusi poems (muwashahat), and then, form the 11th century on, in stanzaic dialectal poems (zajal) and dialectal proverb collections, while its last documents are a few business records and one letter written at the beginning of the 17th century in Valencia.^[2]