Language
Arabic (Khuzestani and Gulf Arabic)
Khuzestan and the Gulf coast of Iran; written in Modern Standard Arabic
عربي
01The language
- Codes
- ISO 639-3: acm, afb · Glottocode: meso1252, gulf1241 · page code: ar-IR
- Family
- Afro-Asiatic › Semitic › West Semitic › Central Semitic › Arabian › Arabic › Eastern Arabic
- Script
- Arab, right to left
- Interface
- Main site, native review pending
- Platform phase
- At launch
- Technology support
- Well supported
- Shown with
- Vazirmatn
Sources Hammarström, Forkel, Haspelmath and Bank. Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (2025) Verified; ISO 639-3 code tables. SIL International, registration authority. (2025) To verify
02Names and perspectives
Where names, classification or identity are debated, each view is shown with its sources. The platform takes no side.
- عربي ‘arabī
Varieties
Arabic in Khuzestan belongs to Mesopotamian Arabic. Arabic on the Gulf coast belongs to Gulf Arabic. Both are written in Modern Standard Arabic.
Sources Hammarström, Forkel, Haspelmath and Bank. Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (2025) Verified
03Where it is spoken, and by how many
Khuzestan and the Gulf coast of Iran; written in Modern Standard Arabic
Unknown
Speakers: No speaker figure has been verified for this platform yet. It stays unknown until a census or survey figure is checked with its measure, year and source.
04Status
The UNESCO World Atlas of Languages is the United Nations source; its status is shown first and stays to verify until the Atlas can be read. Beside it, the Agglomerated Endangerment Status in Glottolog brings together the Catalogue of Endangered Languages, the UNESCO Atlas and Ethnologue. Ethnologue appears only as a secondary source.
| Entry | Status | Basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNESCO World Atlas of Languages | To verify | UNESCO. World Atlas of Languages. (2025) To verify | |
| Gilit Mesopotamian Arabic | Not endangered | 3 (Wider communication) | Eberhard, Simons and Fennig (eds.). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 28th edition. SIL International. (2025) Secondary source via Glottolog |
| Gulf Arabic | Not endangered | 3 (Wider communication) | Eberhard, Simons and Fennig (eds.). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 28th edition. SIL International. (2025) Secondary source via Glottolog |
05Legal status
What constitutions say about the language. Quoted from the English translations of the Constitute Project.
The Constitution of Iran (Article 16) requires Arabic, the language of the Quran, to be taught after the elementary level in all classes of secondary school.
Sources Constitute Project. Constitutions of the world, English translations. (2025) Verified
06Varieties and dialects
Dialect groups as Glottolog records them. Names stay as published.
Gilit Mesopotamian Arabic
4 dialects recorded
- Anatolian Cluster
- Euphrates Cluster
- Kawliya
- Tigris Cluster
Gulf Arabic
8 dialects recorded
- Al-Hasaa
- Al-Hasâ
- Bahraini Gulf Arabic
- Khamseh
- Kuwaiti Hadari Arabic
- North Qatari Arabic
- South Qatari Arabic
- Zubair-Faau Arabic
Sources Hammarström, Forkel, Haspelmath and Bank. Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (2025) Verified
07This language’s pages
-
Writing
Scripts, the alphabet chart, romanisation, numerals, keyboards and fonts.
-
Learn
A pathway from first steps to fluency, courses, exams and heritage-language programmes.
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Resources and preservation
Dictionaries, corpora, libraries and media; endangerment and documentation; how to contribute.
08How to help
- Native reviewers: read the Arabic (Khuzestani and Gulf Arabic) pages and mark them reviewed.
- Teachers and authors: help write the first Arabic (Khuzestani and Gulf Arabic) course.
- Sources: point the research team to openly licensed dictionaries, corpora and recordings. Each enters the sources register for review.
- Fonts and keyboards: report any letter that does not display or type correctly.
09Sources
Verified CC BY 4.0 Classification, dialect groups and the Agglomerated Endangerment Status (AES), read 2026-10-23.
UNESCO. World Atlas of Languages. 2025
To verify Not reachable when checked on 2026-10-23. Its status for each language is to verify.
Eberhard, Simons and Fennig (eds.). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 28th edition. SIL International. 2025
Secondary source Cited only as Glottolog reports it (its AES source). Ethnologue itself was not read.
Constitute Project. Constitutions of the world, English translations. 2025
Verified Articles on official languages, read 2026-10-23.
Cite this page
- APA
Iranian Diaspora Cooperation & Development Council. (2026). Arabic (Khuzestani and Gulf Arabic). iranians.global. https://iranians.global/language/languages/ar-ir/
- Chicago
Iranian Diaspora Cooperation & Development Council. 2026. “Arabic (Khuzestani and Gulf Arabic).” iranians.global. https://iranians.global/language/languages/ar-ir/.
- BibTeX
@misc{idcdc2026_language_languages_ar_ir, author = {{Iranian Diaspora Cooperation \& Development Council}}, year = {2026}, note = {Licence: CC BY 4.0}, title = {Arabic ({Khuzestani} and {Gulf} {Arabic})}, url = {https://iranians.global/language/languages/ar-ir/}, howpublished = {https://iranians.global/language/languages/ar-ir/}, }- RIS
TY - ELEC AU - Iranian Diaspora Cooperation & Development Council DA - 2026/// PY - 2026 ID - idcdc2026_language_l N1 - Licence: CC BY 4.0 TI - Arabic (Khuzestani and Gulf Arabic) UR - https://iranians.global/language/languages/ar-ir/ ER -
10Research and sources
Recent and relevant work on this page’s subject, from approved open scholarly sources. Metadata and links only. Titles stay as published. Not yet reviewed.
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Nawal Bahrani, Golnaz Modarresi Ghavami · 2019 · Journal of the International Phonetic Association
ArticleOpenAlexCrossrefDataCiteZenodoOpen accessCC-BY-4.0
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General Classification and Internal Subdivisions of Khuzestani Arabic (KhA)
Bettina Leitner · 2022 · Grammar of Khuzestani Arabic
ChapterCrossrefOpenAIRE
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Bettina Leitner · 2022 · BRILL eBooks
BookOpenAlexCrossref
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Numerical Code-Switching in Khuzestani Arabic
Hossein Matoori · 2016 · JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN LINGUISTICS
ArticleOpenAlexCrossrefOpenAIREOpen accessCC-BY
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Linguistic Contact and Tracing Persian Construction onto Khuzestani Arabic Structures
Samad Mirza Suzani, Shohreh Zakerin · 2024 · Middle East Research Journal of Linguistics and Literature
ArticleOpenAlexOpenAIREOpen access
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Conversations Among Women: A Text in the Arabic Dialect of Khuzestan (Southwest Iran)
Bettina Leitner · 2022 · Semitic Dialects and Dialectology
ChapterDataCiteOpen accessCC-BY-NC-SA-4.0
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VOT in Khuzestani Arabic voicing contrast
Nawal Bahrani · 2021 · Unpublished
ArticleDataCiteOpenAIRE
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The polyfunctional lexeme /fard/ in the Arabic dialects of Iraq and Khuzestan
Bettina Leitner, Stephan Procházka · 2021 · Brill s Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics
ArticleOpenAlexOpen accessCC-BY
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Agreement Patterns in Khuzestani Arabic
Simone Bettega, Bettina Leitner · 2019 · Institutional Research Information System University of Turin (University of Turin)
ArticleOpenAlexOpen access
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Bettina Leitner · 2021 · Languages
ArticleOpenAlexOpen accessCC-BY
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NEGATION IN KHUZESTANI ARABIC AND SADAT TAWAHER SIGN LANGUAGE
Seyyed Hatam Tamimi Sa’d · 2023 · Unpublished
ArticleDataCite
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Negation in Khuzestani Arabic & Sadat Tawaher Sign Language
Seyyed Hatam Tamimi Sad · 2024 · Purdue University Graduate School
ThesisDataCiteOpen accessCC-BY-4.0
Sources, licences and fetch dates: Crossref (Metadata facts, any use; abstracts may be publisher-owned and are never shown), 2026-10-23; DataCite (CC0 1.0 (DataCite metadata)), 2026-10-23; OpenAIRE (CC BY 4.0 (OpenAIRE Graph)), 2026-10-23; OpenAlex (CC0-1.0 data; metered API (free key)), 2026-10-23; Zenodo (Metadata CC0 1.0; each record under its own licence), 2026-10-23.