| − | '''Arabic''' ('''اللغة العربية''' "''al-luġatu l-ʿarabiyyah'', or simply '''عربي''' "''arabī''") is a [[Semitic language]] spoken by some 270 million people worldwide. Having it's origins in [[Saudi Arabia]], Arabic is closely related to [[Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]]. | + | '''Arabic''' ('''اللغة العربية''' "''al-luġatu l-ʿarabiyyah'', or simply '''عربي''' "''arabī''") is a [[Semitic language]] spoken by some 270 million people worldwide. Having its origins in [[Saudi Arabia]], Arabic is closely related to [[Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]]. It is written in the [[Arabic alphabet]]. |
| | Arabic is a macrolanguage, made up of 27 dialects. Arabic is also the liturgical language of [[Islam]]. | | Arabic is a macrolanguage, made up of 27 dialects. Arabic is also the liturgical language of [[Islam]]. |
| − | The Arabic alphabet includes ''ʼalif'', ''bāʼ'', ''tāʼ'', '''''ṯ'''āʼ'', ''ǧīm'', ''ḥāʼ'', ''ḫāʼ'', ''dāl'', ''ḏāl'', ''rāʼ'', ''zāī'', ''sīn'', ''šīn'', ''ṣād'', ''ḍād'', ''ṭāʼ'', ''ẓāʼ'', ''ʿayn'', ''ġayn'', ''fāʼ'', ''qāf'', ''kāf'', ''lām'', ''mīm'', ''nūn'', ''hāʼ'', ''wāw'', and ''yāʼ''. The language also includes the short vowels fatHa, damma, and kasra, as well as symbols to aid pronunciation such as the sukoon and shadda. These characters are not typically written, appearing mostly in poetry and the Qur'an.
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