Arabic, Najdi Spoken

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A language of Saudi Arabia

ISO 639-3
ars
Alternate Names
Najdi
Autonym
نجدي‎ (Najdi)
User Population

14,600,000 in Saudi Arabia (2018), based on ethnicity. Total users in all countries: 18,153,010.

Location

Widespread, especially interior areas; includes Al Hudud ash Shamaliyah, Al Jawf, Al Qasim, and Ha’il provinces; Al Madinah al Munawwarah province: Ta’if area and east; Ash Sharqiyah province north; Ar Riyad province: all but southeast; ’Asir and Najran provinces: south and west; Jizan province: small border area; Tabuk province: northeast.

Language Maps
Language Status

3 (Wider communication). De facto national working language.

Classification
Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic
Dialects

North Najdi (Bani Khaalid, Dafiir, Shammari), Central Najdi (’Ajmaan, ’Awaazim, ’Utaiba, Al-Qasiim, Biishah, Haayil, Hofuf, Mutair, Najraan, Rashaayda, Riyadh, Rwala, Sudair, Wild ’Ali), South Najdi (Aal Murrah, Najran). Some dialects spoken by Bedouins. A member of macrolanguage Arabic [ara].

Typology

SVO.

Language Development

Grammar. Bible portions: 2013.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Arabic, Najdi Spoken
Writing

Arabic script, Naskh variant [Arab].

Other Comments

Muslim.

Also spoken in:

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