Afro-Asiatic · ISO 639-3 apc
Levantine Arabic Language اللهجة الشامية
Levantine Arabic is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by about 44 million people in 6 countries.
Where Levantine Arabic is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Levantine Arabic
Language family
- Afro-Asiatic
- Semitic
- West Semitic
- Central Semitic
- Arabian
- Arabic
- Levantine-Cypriot Arabic
- Levantine Arabic
Related languages
About the Levantine Arabic language
Levantine Arabic (اللهجة الشامية) is spoken by about 44 million people, which makes it the 39th most spoken language in the world — just behind Nigerian Pidgin (48 million) and ahead of Hausa (44 million). It belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family and, more precisely, to the Levantine-Cypriot Arabic group within the West Semitic branch.
Where is Levantine Arabic spoken?
Levantine Arabic is used in 6 countries. The largest communities live in Syria (20 million), Jordan (7.4 million), Lebanon (5.4 million), Palestine (4.7 million) and Türkiye (4.4 million). More than half of the population speaks it in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine — the places where travellers will hear it everywhere.
Share of the population that speaks Levantine Arabic: Syria 85% (20 million), Jordan 66% (7.4 million), Lebanon 100% (5.4 million), Palestine 87% (4.7 million), Türkiye 5.2% (4.4 million) and Israel 17% (1.6 million).
Levantine Arabic is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Standard Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Algerian Arabic, Sudanese Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Saidi Arabic and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 apc.
Frequently asked questions about Levantine Arabic
How many people speak Levantine Arabic?
Where is Levantine Arabic spoken?
What language family does Levantine Arabic belong to?
What is Levantine Arabic called in Levantine Arabic?
Is Levantine Arabic an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.