South Mesopotamian Arabic

South Mesopotamian Arabic (Arabic: اللهجة العراقية الجنوبية, romanized: al-lahja l-ʿirāqiyya l-janūbiyya) or Marsh Arabic is a variety of Mesopotamian Arabic spoken by Southern Iraqis in Basra, Maysan, Dhi Qar, Wasit and Muthanna.^[1][2] This dialect differs distinctly from other dialects of Iraq and features a strong Aramaic influence.^[3] One of the most noticeable features of South Mesopotamian Arabic is the existence of the sounds [ɡ] (< */q/), [tʃ] (< */k/), [ʒ] (< */dʒ/) and /p/.^[4]

South Mesopotamian Arabic
South Iraqi Arabic Marsh Arabic
Native to	Iraq
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Mesopotamian Gilit South Mesopotamian Arabic
Dialects	Basrawi
Writing system	Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

See also

• Varieties of Arabic
• Mesopotamian Arabic