Modern Palestinian Judeo-Arabic

Modern Palestinian Judeo-Arabic (MPJA) is a variety of Arabic that was spoken by some Jews in Ottoman Palestine, and currently by some Israeli Jews in Israel.

Modern Palestinian Judeo-Arabic
Native to	Israel, Palestine, Lebanon
Region	North and Central Israel, Southern Lebanon
Ethnicity	Old Yishuv and Israeli-Jewish Descendants
Native speakers	≤5
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Central Arabic Maghrebi and Levantine Pre-Hilalian and South Levantine Judeo-Moroccan and Palestinian Modern Palestinian Judeo-Arabic
Dialects	Galilee Jerusalem
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

It was once spoken by around 10,000 speakers in the 20th century. Today it is nearly extinct with only 5 speakers remaining in Northern Israel.

MJPA's decline is attributed to the revival of Hebrew and the proliferation of the Hebrew among the Yishuv.

History

Origins

Maghrebi Jews began arriving in Ottoman Palestine in the 16th century, settling especially in the cities of Jerusalem, Safed, and Tiberias. Over time, MPJA formed out of a conglomerate of Maghrebi Jewish dialects and Palestinian non-Jewish dialects. In addition to the Jewish communities of Ottoman Palestine, many Jews of coastal Lebanese cities, with whom they maintained strong relations, adopted a version of MJPA.

Modern History

Presumably, the number of MPJA speakers in the first third of the 20th century reached several thousand and possibly more than ten thousand at its peak. However, as Hebrew became the dominant language of the Yishuv, and later, the State of Israel, the population sharply declined. the number of MPJA speakers at the end of the 20th century was still more than one hundred in its Galilean and Jerusalem branches. However, as of 2016, there is estimated to be only 5 speakers remaining in the Galilee.

Dialects

MPJA is divided into two subgroups based on where it was spoken: Galilean MPJA and Jerusalem MPJA. The Galilean has two subdialects in the cities of Safed and Tiberias.

Lexicon

MPJA lexicon contains several influences from its Maghrebi origins as well as Hebrew, Ladino, and Aramaic terms for several specifically jewish terms. starting in 1936 as Hebrew became ever more prevalent among the Old Yishuv Hebrew loanwords became more prevalent and older Hebrew loanwords phonetically reverted to their original Hebrew pronunciation. By 1948 Hebrew loanwords had completely reverted and Hebrew loans became more prevalent.