aeb ISO 639
Derja, تونسي (Tounsi) Autonyms
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
Visualizations
A language of Tunisia
- ISO 639
- aeb
- Alternate Names
- Tunisian, Tunisian Arabic, Tunisian Darija
- Autonym
- Derja, تونسي (Tounsi)
- Population
- 10,800,000 in Tunisia (2014 census). Total users in all countries: 11,709,020.
- Location
- Widespread.
- Language Maps
- Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara
- Language Status
- 3 (Wider communication). De facto national working language. Gained vitality in the 17th century with the use of Arabic script in literature. Used in everyday communications in Tunisia and Libya. Widely used in education after Tunisian independence in 1956.
- Classification
- Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic
- Dialects
- Tunis, Sahil, Sfax, North-Western Tunisian, South-Western Tunisian, South-Eastern Tunisian, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic (Djerbian Arabic). Reportedly similar to Eastern Algerian Arabic [arq], but clearly distinct. Tunis dialect used in media and language textbooks for foreigners. Southern dialects structurally similar to those in Libya. Only older adults still use Judeo-Tunisian Arabic. Lexical similarity (based on percentage of common words): 38% with Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) [arb] (Harrat et al 2015). A member of macrolanguage Arabic [ara].
- Language Development
- Dictionary. Grammar. Texts. NT: 1847–2011.
- Writing
- Arabic script, Naskh variant [Arab]. Latin script [Latn], informal use on social media (Akin 2014).
- Other Comments
- Muslim.
- Language Resources
- OLAC resources in and about Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
Also Spoken in
- Language Status
- Unestablished
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of Belgium
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
20,900 in Belgium (2020 census), based on nationality.
- Language Status
- Unestablished
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of Canada
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
15,400 in Canada (2016). Total Arabic speakers in Canada: 420,000 (2016 census).
- Language Status
- Unestablished
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of Germany
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
38,400 in Germany (2020 census), based on nationality.
- Language Status
- Unestablished
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of Spain
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
2,900 in Spain (2020 census), based on nationality.
- Language Status
- Unestablished
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of France
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
447,000 in France (2008 census).
- Location
- Jerusalem district: Beit Shemesh.
- Dialects
- Judeo-Tunisian Arabic. Medium intelligibility with Judeo-Moroccan Arabic [aju] and Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic [yud], but none with Judeo-Iraqi Arabic [yhd]. A lexicon of 5,000 words in 1950 had 79% words of Arabic origin, 15% Romance loanwords, 5% Hebrew loanwords, 2% others (Cohen 1985).
- Language Status
- 9 (Dormant)
- Language Use
- Shifted to Hebrew [heb].
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of Israel
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
No known L1 speakers in Israel. Ethnic population: 10,000 (Leclerc 2018a).
- Language Status
- Unestablished
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of Italy
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
73,400 in Italy (2012 census).
- Language Status
- Unestablished
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of Libya
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
213,000 in Libya (2020).
- Language Status
- Unestablished
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of Netherlands
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
86,100 in Netherlands (2019).
- Language Status
- Unestablished
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of Sweden
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
1,720 in Sweden (2020 census), based on nationality.
- Language Status
- Unestablished
- Other Comments
- Non-indigenous. View other languages of United States
Language Name
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
User Population
10,200 in United States (2015). Total Arabic speakers in the United States: 924,000 (2015 census).
