Judeo-Moroccan Arabic is a variety

Varieties of Arabic

The Arabic language is a Semitic language characterized by a wide number of linguistic varieties within its five regional forms. The largest divisions occur between the spoken languages of different regions. The Arabic of North Africa, for example, is often incomprehensible to an Arabic speaker...

 of Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

. The vast majority of all current speakers now live in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. The few speakers remaining in Morocco are usually older adults.

Historically

Widely used in the Jewish community during its long history there

History of the Jews in Morocco

Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community. Before the founding of Israel in 1948, there were about 250,000 to 350,000 Jews in the country, but fewer than 7,000 or so remain.-Under the Romans:...

, the Moroccan dialect of Judeo-Arabic has many influences from languages other than Arabic, including Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 (due to the close proximity of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

), Haketia

Haketia

Haketia is an endangered Jewish-Moroccan Romance language, also known as Djudeo Spañol or Ladino Occidental , that was spoken and spread throughout the North of Morocco such as in Tetuan, Tangiers and the Spanish towns of Ceuta and Melilla, in the latter of which it has achieved partial...

 or Moroccan Judeo-Spanish, due to the influx of Sephardic refugees from Spain after the 1492 expulsion, and French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 (due to the period in which Morocco was colonized by France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

), and, of course, the inclusion of many Hebrew loanwords and phrases (a feature of all Jewish languages

Jewish languages

Jewish languages are the various languages and dialects that developed in Jewish communities around the world.Although Hebrew was the daily speech of the Jewish people for centuries, by the fifth century BCE, the closely related Aramaic joined Hebrew as the spoken language in Judea and by the third...

). The dialect has considerable mutual intelligibility

Mutual intelligibility

In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand each other without intentional study or extraordinary effort...

 with Judeo-Tunisian Arabic

Judeo-Tunisian Arabic

Judeo-Tunisian Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Tunisia. 99% of all speakers now live in Israel. Speakers are older adults and the younger generation has only a passive knowledge of the language....

, and some with Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic

Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic

Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken by Jews formerly living in Libya. Most speakers now live in Israel and Italy. Most speakers are over 40...

, but almost none with Judeo-Iraqi Arabic

Judeo-Iraqi Arabic

Judeo-Iraqi Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Iraq. 99% of all speakers now live in Israel. Speakers are older adults....

.

Today

The vast majority of Morocco's 265,000 Jews emigrated to Israel after 1948, with significant emigration to Europe (mainly France) and North America as well. Although more than 8,000 Jews remain in Morocco today, most of the younger generations speak French as their first language, rather than Arabic, and their Arabic is more akin to Moroccan Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Moroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco. For official communications, the government and other public bodies use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries. A mixture of French and Moroccan Arabic is used in business...

 than to Judeo-Arabic. There are estimated to be 8,925 speakers in Morocco, mostly Casablanca

Casablanca

Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...

 and Fes

Fes

Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....

, and 250,000 in Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 (where speakers reported bilingualism with Hebrew). Most speakers, in both countries, are elderly. There is a Judeo-Arabic radio program on Israeli radio.

Daily phrases in Judeo-Moroccan

Hello: שלמה šlāma / שלמה עליכ šlāma

Goodbye: בשלמה bšlāma / בשלמה עליכ bšlāma

Thanks: מרסי mersi

Yes: ייוה ēywa

No: לא lā

How are you?: אשכברכ? āš

Fine, thank you: לבש, מרסי lābaš, mersi

Fine / No problems: לבש lābaš

External links

• Reka Kol Israel radio station broadcasting a daily program in Judeo-Moroccan (Mugrabian)