Gulf Arabic

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Gulf Arabicis the term used to refer to a number of related dialects which are spoken along the Gulf shore from northern Kuwait to Oman in the south-eastern corner of the Arabian peninsula. The people who live in this area are linked to each other by trading and seafaring traditions which go back many centuries, as well as by the complex tribal structure of Arabia. With the development of education since the second world war, and increasingly close social, political, and developmental ties between Gulf states, a form of dialectical Arabic has evolved which is not closely associated with any one particular state, and which exhibits features common to them all. It is still unmistakably 'Gulf' in its basic pronunciation and morphology, as well as in its basic lexical stock, but its syntax and to some extent lexicon have been influenced by standard Arabic and other Arabic dialects. Clive Holes provides an in-depth description of this educated, pan-Gulf dialect.