Some linguistic features of the dialect of Acre and their possible explanation by the history of the city

Abstract

Abstract This paper introduces the main characteristics of a variety of Acre Arabic spoken by local residents in Acre today. The description provided is based on new evidence gathered in 2016–17 through interviews with various people, particularly older people, who grew up in Acre. Throughout the paper I discuss a number of distinctive phonological, morphological and syntactical features and compare them to Palestinian Arabic, especially Galilean Arabic, and also to Old Damascene Arabic and Egyptian Arabic. While some features occur in Palestinian Arabic but under different circumstances, other features do not occur in Palestinian Arabic, but are characteristic of Syrian Arabic and/or Egyptian Arabic dialects. Features of the dialect that are unique to Acre are presented, along with some speculations on how the linguistic evidence reflects the history of the city. Finally, a transcribed and translated text is provided.