Iraq (Jews and Christians only) Euphrates Qeltu Khawetna (Syria, Iraq, Turkey) Deir ez-Zor Anah and Abu Kamal Hit, Iraq Kurdistan group (Jews only) Northern Kurdistan: Sandur, Iraq, Akre, Erbil, Šoš Southern Kurdistan: Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu, Khanaqin Baghdadi Arabic is Iraq's de facto national vernacular, as about half of population speaks it as a mother tongue, and most other Iraqis understand it. It is spreading to northern cities as well. Moslawi and Baghdadi are as different as Glaswegian and Cockney: barely intelligible to one another. Other Arabic speakers cannot easily understand Moslawi and Baghdadi. Substrate Mesopotamian Arabic has a Syriac-Aramaic substrate, and also shares significant influences from ancient Mesopotamian languages of Sumerian and Akkadian, as well as influences from Persian, Turkish, and Greek. Mesopotamian Arabic is said to be the most Syriac-Aramaic influenced dialect of Arabic, due to Syriac-Aramaic having originated in Mesopotamia, and spread throughout the Fertile Crescent during the Neo-Assyrian period, eventually becoming the lingua franca of the entire region before the Islamic invasions. References Further reading