Gassasinian Language

Gassasinian
Flag of the State of Gassasinia
Native to	Gassasinia
Native speakers	14 million L2: 5 million 2015 Census (National Statistics Agency, 2015)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Levantine Arabic Classical Gassasinian-Marigic Arabic Gassasinian
Dialects	• Bedouin Gassasinian • Southern Gassasinian • Judaeo-Gassasinian • Western Gassasinian • Northern Gassasinian • Druze Gassasinian
Writing system	Arabic Script Hebrew Script (Judaeo-Arabic) Latin Alphabet (Romanised Gassasinian) Syriac Script (Garshuni) Arabic Braille
Signed forms	Gassasinian Sign Language
Official status
Official language in	Gassasinia
Recognised minority language in	Argwan Island
Regulated by	National Language Commission (Gassasinian Language Council)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	GA
ISO 639-2	GAS
ISO 639-3	GAS

Gassasinian, also known as Gassasinian Arabic, is a Semitic language spoken in Gassasinia, and is recognised as one of the two official languages of the State of Gassasinia, alongside Gassasinian Standard English. Although considered a separate de-jure language for political reasons, Gassasinian is often considered by linguists to be a unique standardised variety of the Arabic language. Because a vast majority of Gassasinian-speakers are bilingual in English, it is not uncommon for Gassasinians to code-switch between Gassasinian and English.

Although English is considered the standard language of business and government, Gassasinian is the most common language in Gassasinia for every-day communications and family relations. Despite differences in vocabulary and accent, the common every-day vernacular Gassasinian language is highly mutually intelligible with the Levantine Arabic dialect spoken in Qui Latine, which the Gassasinian language is considered to be a distant relative of. As with dialects of Arabic, the Gassasinian language's formal form - heavily derived from and mutually intelligible with Modern Standard Arabic despite notable differences - is generally used in literature, business and government.

The Gassasinian language is considered to be the result of a language shift encouraged by the Islamic Arab empires which in some varying capacity controlled Gassasinia from the 7th century all the way through to the mid 16th century. The Gassasinian language retains a strong substrate from the dialect of Aramaic spoke prior to the Islamic conquest of modern day Gassasinia, along with strong adstrate influences from the English languages which uniquely set the Gassasinian language apart from dialects of the Arabic language.

Although considered by some Gassasinians to be a colonial language, there is evidence strongly suggesting that dialects of Arabic have been spoken in areas of modern-day Gassasinia since at least the fourth century BCE by the various pre-Islamic Arab tribes, who strongly integrated with ancient Marigics through trade, culture, religion and marriage.