Arabic Dialects and Mutual Intelligibility: Levantine Speech and Maghreban Arabic

Abstract

The current research aims at describing the linguistic situation occurring between Maghreban and Levantine dialects at the level of use, comprehension, and components. Therefore, a case study was conducted with Levantines and Maghrebans. Thus, two instruments were implemented; two interviews directed for each community, and a questionnaire of attitudes concerning dialects. The collected data revealed that Maghrebans find Levantine dialects easy, understandable, and pleasant to hear. In the contrary, Levantines face some difficulties in comprehension due to lack of interaction and code switching.