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- Hassaniya (mey)

Hassaniya Arabic is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic spoken by the Mauritanian Arab-Berbers and the Sahrawi people mainly in Algeria and in Mauritania, and also in Western Sahara, southern Morocco, Senegal, northwestern Mali, Libya and northern Niger. There are about 9.5 million speakers of Hassaniya Arabic, including 4.8 million in Algeria, mainly in Tindouf province in the west of the country,Mauritania (3.5 million), Western Sahara (424,000), Morocco (282,000), Senegal (196,000), and Mali (123,000). Hassaniya Arabic dates as far back as 15th century, spoken by Beni Ḥassān Bedouin tribes of Yemeni origin.

Hassaniya Arabic is also known as Hasanya, Hasanya Arabic, Hassani, Hassania, Hassaniya, Hassaniyya Arabic, Klem El Bithan, Maure or Moor. It is not intelligible with other varieties of Arabic. In Mauritania it is a statutory language of national identity, and is used along with French, Standard Arabic and English. The language has completely replaced the Berber languages that were originally spoken in this region. Although clearly a western dialect, Hassānīya is relatively distant from other Maghrebi variants of Arabic. Its geographical location exposed it to influence from Zenaga-Berber and Wolof.

There are ways to write Hassaniya Arabic with the Arabic script, and also with the Latin alphabet. The Latin alphabet has been used in Senegal since 2005, while the Arabic alphabet is used elsewhere. Hassaniya Arabicis used in literature and in the media, to some extent.

Sources: Wikipedia
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