Emirati Arabic refers to a group of Arabic dialectal varieties spoken by the Emiratis native to the United Arabic Emirates that share core characteristics with specific phonological, lexical, and morphosyntactic features and a certain degree of intra-dialectal variation, which is mostly geographically defined. It incorporates grammatical properties of smaller varieties within the UAE, generally of tribal nature, which can be roughly divided into a couple of broader sub-varieties: the first spoken in the Northern Emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, and the western part of Ras al-Khaimah; the second in the eastern part of the country, mainly in Fujeirah, Dibba, Khor Fakkan, Hatta, Kalba, and the eastern part of Ras al-Khaimah; the third in Abu Dhabi including the oasis city of Al Ain, the dialect is also seen in the Omani region of Al-Buraimi; and the fourth is the Shihhi dialect spoken in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah which is also spoken in the Omani exclave of Musandam. Speakers of Emirati Arabic identify themselves as speakers of a distinct variety (as compared with neighbouring dialects such as Qatari or Kuwaiti Arabic), based on several phonological, morphological, and synactic properties that distinguish Emirati Arabic from other Gulf Arabic varieties. Arabic language There are different forms of Arabic: Classical Arabic, the language of the Quran and of all the literature of the first centuries of Hijrah (from 622 AD) Modern Standard Arabic (the fuṣḥah, in Arabic: فصحى), the contemporary standard language taught in schools and used in journalistic prose, in written administrative texts, in mass media and in universities. Colloquial Arabic, the set of dialects used in everyday communication, outside the written and formal situations that varies not only from one Arabic country to another but also from one region to another within the individual states. Diglossia and dialectal variety Due to the coexistence of the Modern Standard Arabic (high language) and the dialect (low language), it is possible to speak about diglossia of the Arabic language. The United Arab Emirates, extending over a total area of about 83,000 km² and hosting more than 200 different nationalities, represent one of the nations with the largest aggregation of ethnic groups in the world. Archaeological excavations have shown that in this area several Semitic races were established. It follows that the spoken language, the Emirate dialect, includes some different dialectal shades. It represents the communication tool used by the overwhelming majority of