Judeo-Yemeni Arabic (also known as Judeo-Yemeni and Yemenite Judeo-Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Yemen. The language is quite different from mainstream Yemeni Arabic,[citation needed] and is written in the Hebrew alphabet. The cities of Sana'a, Aden, al-Bayda, and Habban District and the villages in their districts each have (or had) their own dialect.[2]
| Judeo-Yemeni Arabic | |
|---|---|
| Yemenite Judeo-Arabic | |
| Native to | Israel, Yemen |
| Ethnicity | Yemenite Jews |
Native speakers | 38,000 (2010–2018)[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
| Hebrew alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | jye |
| Glottolog | jude1267 |
| ELP | Judeo-Yemeni Arabic |
The vast majority of Yemenite Jews have relocated to Israel and have shifted to Modern Hebrew as their first language. In 1995, Israel was home to 50,000 speakers of Judeo-Yemeni in 1995, while 1,000 remained in Yemen.[2] According to Yemeni rabbi al-Marhabi, most of these have since left for the United States. In 2010, fewer than 300 Jews were believed to remain in Yemen.[3] As of 2022[update], only one Jew is believed to remain in Yemen.[4]
See also
References
Further reading
- Khan, G. (Ed.). (2013, January 1). Hebrew as a secret Language in Yemenite Judeo-Arabic (EHLL). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from https://www.academia.edu/6421917/Hebrew_as_a_secret_Language_in_Yemenite_Judeo-Arabic_EHLL_
- Wexler, P. (n.d.). Jewish Interlinguistics: Facts and Conceptual Framework. Retrieved February 13, 2015, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/414288
- Piamenta, Moshe. 1990–1991. A dictionary of post-classical Yemeni Arabic. Leiden: Brill. (Includes bibliographical references (v. 1, p. xv-xxiv)).
- Goitein, Shelomo D. 1960. The language of al-gades: The main characteristics of an Arabic dialect spoken in Lower Yemen. Le Muséon 73. 351–394.
