A First Description of Baṣra Christian Arabic

Abstract The Christian Arabic spoken in Baṣra, a port city on Šaṭṭ al-ʿArab roughly 500 kilometers south of Baghdad, has so far received only limited scholarly attention in the field of Iraqi Arabic dialectology. Based on field recordings and face-to-face interviews with native speakers, this study offers the first descriptive account of Baṣra Christian Arabic (CBṢ). It will primarily discuss, from a comparative perspective, how closely related CBṢ is to Baghdad Christian Arabic (CB) and Mosul Christian Arabic (CM). The collected data show that CBṢ diverges in certain features from CB and CM, due partly to extensive exposure to gǝlǝt Arabic and partly to inherent features. Despite this, CBṢ shares core qǝltu features with CM, but to a greater extent with the Christian Arabic spoken in Baghdad.