and adopted Arabic as an official language, employing the language in public documents and as an intermediary language between the myriad of languages spoken at the time. Under the Sultanate of Sennar, Arabic was also employed in the writing of historical and theological books, most famously The Tabaqat of the Walis, the Righteous, the 'Ulema and the Poets in the Sudan () by Muhammad wad Dayf Allah. While the written Arabic used in these Sultanates more closely resembles the norms of Classical Arabic, Dayf Allah's book features early attestations of some elements of modern Sudanese phonology and syntax. Like other varieties of Arabic outside of Modern Standard Arabic, Sudanese Arabic is typically not used in formal writing or on Sudanese news channels. However, Sudanese Arabic is employed extensively on social media and various genres of Sudanese poetry (such as dobeyt and halamanteesh), as well as in Sudanese cinema and television. History In 1889 the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain claimed that the Arabic spoken in Sudan was "a pure but archaic Arabic". This is related to Sudanese Arabic's realization of the Modern Standard Arabic voiceless uvular plosive [q] as the voiced velar stop [g], as is done in Sa'idi Arabic and other varieties of Sudanic Arabic, as well as Sudanese Arabic's realization of the Modern Standard Arabic voiced alveopalatal fricative [dʒ] as the voiced palatal stop [ɟ]. However, Sudanese Arabic also retains the plethora of innovations on Classical Arabic found in other Egypto-Sudanic varieties, such as the loss of interdental fricatives. Phonology Consonants Consonants of Central Urban Sudanese Arabic As with other Egypto-Sudanic varieties, Modern Standard Arabic interdental fricatives /θ/, /ð/, and /ðˤ/ are substituted by either their fricative or stop counterparts. As is the case in Egyptian Arabic and Levantine Arabic, interdental fricatives are realized as /t/, /d/, and /dˤ/ in inherited words, and as /s/, /z/, and /zˤ/ in loans from Modern Standard Arabic. Similar to Sa'idi Arabic, the voiced velar stop /g/ corresponds to the Modern Standard Arabic voiced uvular plosive /q/ in Sudanese. Gasim also attests to the realization of Modern Standard Arabic /q/ as /ɣ/ in Sudanese, as well. Varieties of Sudanese Arabic spoken by non-Arab groups, such as Darfur Arabic, substitute pharyngeal or emphatic consonants for non-pharyngeal counterparts, i.e. /s/ for Modern Standard Arabic /sˤ/. The consonants /ɲ/, /c/, and /ŋ/ also have a marginal presence in Darfur Arabic and