South Levantine Arabic (Arabic: اللهجة الشامية الجنوبية) was previously identified in the ISO 639-3 international standard for language codes as a distinct Arabic variety, designated by the code “ajp.” It was spoken in the Southern Levant, including the Palestinian Territories (the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip), Israel, and most of Jordan (including the ‘Ajlun, Al Balqa’, Al Karak, Al Mafraq, ‘Amman, Irbid, Jarash, and Madaba governorates).

In 2023, South Levantine Arabic and North Levantine Arabic were consolidated into a single category known as Levantine Arabic. This decision was made due to the high mutual intelligibility between Arabic varieties spoken by settled populations across the Levant and the absence of clear distinctions between variants along national borders.

 

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