Central Asian Arabic

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Central Asian Arabic
Jugari Arabic
Native to	Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
Speakers	(16,000 cited 1992–2023)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Central Asian Arabic
Dialects	Bakhtiari Bukharian Kashkadarian Khorasani
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: abh – Tajiki Arabic auz – Uzbeki Arabic
Glottolog	cent2410
Enclaves in Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan where Central Asian Arabic is still spoken. In brackets, after the name of each region, is the number of villages with Arabic-speaking inhabitants.

Central Asian Arabic or Jugari Arabic (in Arabic: العربية الآسيوية الوسطى) refers to a set of four closely-related varieties of Arabic currently facing extinction and spoken predominantly by Arab communities living in portions of Central Asia. These varieties are Bactrian (or Bakhtiari) Arabic, Bukhara (or Buxara) Arabic,^[2] Qashqa Darya (or Kashkadarya) Arabic,^[3] and Khorasani Arabic.

The Central Asian Arabic varieties are markedly different from all other Arabic language varieties, especially in their syntax and to a lesser extent, morphology, which have been heavily influenced by the surrounding Western Iranian and Turkic languages.^[2][3] They are, however, relatively conservative in their lexicon and phonology.^[2] While they bear certain similarities with North Mesopotamian Arabic, they constitute an independent linguistic branch of Arabic, the Central Asian family.

Along with Maltese, the Central Asian Arabic varieties are exceptional among Arabic-speaking communities in not being characterized by diglossia with Modern Standard Arabic, except in religious contexts; rather, Uzbek or Persian (including Dari and Tajik) function as the high prestige lect and literary language for these communities.^[3][4] Essentially all speakers are reported to be bilingual, with essentially no Jugari Arabic monolinguals remaining. Many, if not most self-identified ethnic Arabs in these communities do not speak the language at a native level, and report other languages as their mother tongues.^[4]

These varieties are estimated to be spoken by an estimated 6,000 people total in Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, but declining in number; in all four of these countries, Arabic is not an official language.^[4]