Arabic dialects (general article)

This article sketches the historical documentation of Arabic dialects within the different regions. It considers the relationship between ancient and modern Arabic and examinesfeatures of modern Arabic dialects as universal tendencies and as the outcome of grammaticalisation. From the evidence it argues for a polygenetic explanation of the development of modern Arabic dialects. The article then considers different classifications of Arabic dialects and finally presents the linguistic typology of Arabic dialects in terms of phonological, morphological and syntactic features