Varieties of Arabic
There are many varieties of Arabic (also called dialects of Arabic or vernacular languages) in existence. Arabic is a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. It is classified as a macrolanguage comprising 30 modern varieties, including its standard form. The largest divisions occur between the spoken languages of different regions. Some varieties of Arabic in North Africa, for example, are not easily comprehensible to an Arabic speaker from the Levant or the Persian Gulf. Within these broad regions further and considerable geographic distinctions exist, within countries, across country borders, even between cities and villages.
Monophthongization
Classical Arabic has two diphthongs, ~ and ~. In the majority of modern Arabic dialects, these diphthongs are realised as the long vowels and , respectively. These monophothongized mid vowels developed further into and , respectively, in Urban North African dialects. Some notable exceptions to this monophthongization are some rural Lebanese dialects, which partially preserves the original pronunciations of these diphthongs. Other Urban Lebanese dialects (i.e. Beitruti) uses the mid vowels and , another exception is the Sfax dialect of Tunisian Arabic which is known mostly for its conservation of the Classical Arabic diphthongs and .