MSA

E82098

MSA is the standardized, literary form of Arabic used in formal writing, media, education, and official communication across the Arab world.

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Statements (51)

Predicate Object
instanceOf standardized form of Arabic
variety of Arabic
alternativeName Fus’ha
Modern Standard Arabic
Modern Standard Arabic
surface form: Standard Arabic

Modern Standard Arabic
surface form: al-ʿArabiyya al-Fuṣḥā
basedOn Classical Arabic
derivedFrom Classical Arabic
surface form: Quranic Arabic
differsFrom Arabic colloquial dialects
Classical Arabic
domain government documents
legal texts
educationRole medium of instruction for many subjects in Arab schools
fullName Modern Standard Arabic
function lingua franca among Arabic speakers of different dialects
grammar largely based on Classical Arabic grammar
ISO639-1Code ar
ISO639-3Code arb
languageBranch Semitic languages
languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
surface form: Afro-Asiatic languages
lexicon includes loanwords
includes modern technical vocabulary
mutualIntelligibility largely mutually intelligible across Arab countries in written form
officialStatus de facto standard written Arabic in Arab countries
orthography uses Arabic abjad with optional diacritics
phonology simplified compared to Classical Arabic in many contexts
register formal register
literary register
regulatedBy language academies in Arab countries
scriptDirection right-to-left
standardizedIn 20th century
style more conservative than spoken dialects
subBranch Arabic language continuum
Central Semitic languages
taughtAs standard Arabic in schools
usageTrend dominant in written communication in the Arab world
increasingly used in formal spoken contexts such as TV news
usedIn academic publications
broadcast media
education
formal speeches
formal writing
news reporting
official communication
pan-Arab communication
printed media
religious sermons
usedInRegion Arab world
Middle East
North Africa
writingSystem Arabic script

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.