Syria
PrintPrimary tabs
Map: Hauran
In the current map ( https://www.ethnologue.com/sites/default/files/styles/original/public/ma... ), the Hauran region ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauran ) is displayed as speaking Levantine Bedawi Arabic [avl] only.
But in addition to Bedouin speakers from the Hauran, the rural Horani dialect is considered a Palestinian (so "South Levantine") variety by Behnstedt 1997 Sprachatlas von Syrien (pp. 1030-1031).
Other sources confirm that the Horani dialect is a South Levantine variety:
Al‐Wer, Enam; Jong, Rudolf (2017). "Dialects of Arabic". In Boberg, Charles; Nerbonne, John; Watt, Dominic (eds.). The Handbook of Dialectology. Wiley. pp. 523–534. doi:10.1002/9781118827628.ch32. ISBN 978-1-118-82755-0. OCLC 989950951.
"At a general level, the Levant can be subdivided into three main dialect groups (Versteegh 1997): Lebanon and central Syria (including those of Beirut and Damascus); Northern Syria (including that of Aleppo); Palestine and Jordan (including the Horan region)."
----------
Versteegh, C. H. M. (2014). The Arabic Language. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-4528-2. OCLC 872980196.
"11.2 Syro-Lebanese dialects [...] Usually, all sedentary dialects in the area covering Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine are assigned to this group, the Bedouin dialects of the Syrian desert belonging to the dialects of the Arabian peninsula. [...] The usual classification distinguishes three groups: • Lebanese/Central Syrian dialects, consisting of Lebanese (e.g., the dialect of Beirut) and Central Syrian (e.g., the dialect of Damascus); the latter group also includes the dialect of the Druzes; the Maronite Arabic of Cyprus (cf. below, Chapter 15, pp. 279–81) is usually assigned to the Lebanese dialects. • North Syrian dialects (e.g.,the dialect of Aleppo). • Palestinian/Jordanian dialects, consisting of the Palestinian town dialects, the Central Palestinian village dialects and the South Palestinian/Jordanian dialects (including the dialects of the Ḥōrān).
----------
See also: Cantineau, Jean (1946). Les parlers arabes du Ḥōrān (in French). Klincksieck. OCLC 1222340236.
----------
The following map could be used as a guide: Map 1. Syria: Languages and dialects in Behnstedt, Peter (2011). "Syria". In Edzard, Lutz; de Jong, Rudolf (eds.). Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Brill. doi:10.1163/1570-6699_eall_EALL_COM_0330.
We will add Horani as a dialect name in both Jordan and Syria, for inclusion in the next edition of the Ethnologue.
Languages population in Syria
According to the current edition: the total population was 17,070,000 (2019 UNDESA)
According to the UN, the 2022 population is 19.4 million people: https://www.unfpa.org/data/world-population/SY
So I think all population figures could be increased proportionally based on the overall population increase. For instance for apc (North Levantine): (13,600,000/17,070,000) * 19,400,000 = 15.5 million speakers
We will update the country population for Syria and, along with it, the L1 speaker population for North Levantine Spoken Arabic [apc] (based on a percentage of the total population), for inclusion in the next edition of the Ethnologue.
Turkish language in Syria
- https://npasyria.com/en/56648/ "Since early 2017, the Turkish language has become compulsory in schools in Turkish-occupied northern Syria, with many of the textbooks and teaching materials changed to the Turkish language as part of Turkey’s policy of Turkification and demographic change."
- https://www.orsam.org.tr/d_hbanaliz/27ing.pdf "With their size of 1,5 million Turkish speaking and some other 2 million who have lost their language, the Syrian Turkmens have a considerable population in the country. The Syrian Turkmens speak a Turkish dialect very close to the contemporary standard Turkish of Turkey." [...] "12- Syrian Turkmens demand that the political, cultural, economic and social rights of the Turkmens, including the use of Turkish language, be guaranteed, based on the principle of supremacy of the Constitution and the international agreements."
- https://minorityrights.org/country/syria/ Main languages: Arabic (official), Kurdish (Kirmanji dialect), Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, Turkish
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Turkmen#Language