Languages of Jordan

Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, al Mamlaka al Urduniya al Hashemiyah. National or official language: Standard Arabic. 6,304,000 (1998 UN). Literacy rate 71% to 80%. Also includes Egyptian Spoken Arabic 10,000, Mesopotamian Spoken Arabic 500,000, North Mesopotamian Spoken Arabic 200,000, South Azerbaijani 4,000, Greek, Kurmanji 4,000, people from Pakistan, Philippines 5,000 (1995). Information mainly from T. Sebeok 1963; T.M. Johnstone 1967; W. Fischer and O. Jastrow 1980; B. Ingham 1982. Sunni Muslim, Christian, secular. Blind population 9,000 (1982 WCE). Deaf population 240,155. Deaf institutions: 2. Data accuracy estimate: B. The number of languages listed for Jordan is 9. Of those, all are living languages. Diversity index 0.48.

Spoken living languages

ADYGHE

[ADY] 44,280 in Jordan, 1.2% of the population (1986). Alternate names: WEST CIRCASSIAN, ADYGEY. Classification: North Caucasian, Northwest, Circassian.
 

ARABIC, LEVANTINE BEDAWI SPOKEN

[AVL] 700,000 in Jordan. Throughout Jordan, but especially in the east. Alternate names: BEDAWI. Dialects: SOUTH LEVANTINE BEDAWI ARABIC, NORTH LEVANTINE BEDAWI ARABIC, EASTERN EGYPTIAN BEDAWI ARABIC. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic.
 

ARABIC, NAJDI SPOKEN

[ARS] 50,000 in Jordan. Far eastern Jordan. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic.
 

ARABIC, SOUTH LEVANTINE SPOKEN

[AJP] 3,500,000 in Jordan (1996). Population total all countries 6,155,000. Alternate names: LEVANTINE ARABIC, SOUTH LEVANTINE ARABIC, PALESTINIAN-JORDANIAN ARABIC. Dialects: MADANI, FELLAHI. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic.
 

ARABIC, STANDARD

[ABV] Middle East, North Africa. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic.
 

ARMENIAN

[ARM] 8,000 in Jordan (1971 The Armenian Review). Dialects: WESTERN ARMENIAN. Classification: Indo-European, Armenian.
 

CHECHEN

[CJC] 3,000 in Jordan (1993 Johnstone). In 2 or 3 villages mixed among Adygey and Arabic speakers. Classification: North Caucasian, North Central, Chechen-Ingush.
 

DOMARI

[RMT] Alternate names: MIDDLE EASTERN ROMANI, TSIGENE, GYPSY. Dialects: NAWAR, KURBAT, BARAKE. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Northwestern zone, Dom.
 

Deaf sign languages

JORDANIAN SIGN LANGUAGE

[JOS] Classification: Deaf sign language.

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