primary_name: "Siirti Arabic, Spoken Arabic of Siirt",
alternate_names: "Siirti speakers often call their language "sēn-na" (language_ours; lit. "our language").
In the last few decades, ever since the concept of Arabic entered the city (after a long period of total rejection of any non-Turkish language), Siirti people also call it by the more general "ˁarabi", as all other Arabs do (meaning "Arabic").",
lang_description: "The spoken Arabic of Siirt, a city situated in South-Eastern Turkey, has been mentioned for the first time by Otto Jastrow (1978, "Die mesopotamisch-arabischen qəltu-Dialekte") and has been designated as a "qəltu" Arabic , i.e. pertaining to a branch of Arabic varieties with a specific perfective conjugation, that distinguish them from other varieties of Arabic.
Siirti Arabic has three grammatical numbers (singular, dual - for some nouns - and plural), two grammatical genres (feminine and masculine) that present a dichotomy only in the singular number, being neutralized in the plural, a very innovative construct state (accepting even adjectives as second terms), a very rich verbal morpho-syntax (the verbs, having only two conjugations, possess a multitude of preverbal particles for introducing various tenses and moods). On top of that, Siirti Arabic has many Kurdish and Turkish borrowings, some totally integrated in the Arabic structures, some being retained as such from the source languages.",
classification: "Afro-Asiatic; Semitic; Arabic",
dialect_varieties: "As previously mentioned, Siirt Arabic is a dialect in itself, a part of the wider North-Mesopotamian Arabic, which in itself is a part of the wider Spoken Arabic.",
public_comment: "",
private_comment: null,
source_id: null,
speakers: [
],
language: {
code_id:10443,
featured: 0,
cached_documentation_score:-1,
google_group_url: "",
simplified_level: null,
coordinates: "37.927 41.945",
updated_at: "2015-08-25 23:42:39",
speaker_attitude: "Some speakers feel that speaking Arabic is more or less unuseful, since the de-facto language is Turkish and the language used in schools, administration, politics, etc. is Turkish. Therefore, when speaking among each other, they use Arabic, but outside their micro-communities, they always use Turkish.
Some (very few) other speakers feel proud to still be able to speak Siirti Arabic, as they are becoming more and more aware of the fact that it is a dying language and that they might be its preservers.
As such, people aged 60+ still speak it almost fluently, people aged 40-60 use many Turkish expressions in their Arabic speech, people aged 20-40 make use of code-switching and code-mixing, while people aged 0-20 have from no knowledge of Siirti Arabic to only the basic vocabulary, using Turkish most of the time.",
government_support: "The University of Siirt is planning to open the Institute for Living Languages, where the Arabic of Siirt shall be discussed and taught.
Up until a decade ago, the use of any other language except Turkish was strictly forbidden.",
institutional_support: "",
_other_languages_used: null,
domains_of_use: "In households, at work (depending on the field of work, mostly smithery and crafts) or when meeting in a "Çayhane" (tea houses).
",
speakers_worldwide: "The number of fluent native speakers might vary between 20.000 and 30.000, according to the speakers estimations. The total population of Siirt is around 130.000. ",
second_language_speakers: "",
semi_speakers: "5.000 to 10.000 (the new generations of children of the fluent speakers, which do not require to speak Arabic anymore and mix it up with Turkish to the extent of using only Turkish in most situations)",
children: "5%<",
young_adults: "~25%",
older_adults: "~40%",
elders: "~30%",
ethnic_population: "",
speakers_worldwide_year: null,
bibliography_of_vitality: "",
bibliography_of_context: "",
bibliography_of_locations: "",
user_submission: "It is outstandingly different from all other known varieties of Arabic in general and even from all North-Mesopotamian Arabic varieties, in particular, having characteristics due to which one might be led to consider it to be a language on its own (nonetheless, the Arabic structure, syntax and morphology of the North-Mesopotamian area are clearly distinguishable within this variety).
It is currently spoken only in the town of Siirt, South-Eastern Turkey, by not more than roughly 20.000 people, by local speakers estimations. I haven't been able to find a general survey in order to offer the exact number, nor has there ever been a speakers number officially distributed and disclosed.",