| Western Algerian | |
| Also Known As: | Northwestern Algerian Arabic Oranese Arabic Oranian Arabic |
| States: | Algeria |
| Date: | 2020 |
| Familycolor: | Afro-Asiatic |
| Fam2: | Semitic |
| Fam3: | Central Semitic |
| Fam4: | Arabic |
| Fam5: | Maghrebi Arabic |
| Script: | Arabic script |
| Glottorefname: | Western Algerian |
| Region: | Central Maghreb |
| Ethnicity: | Algerian Arab-Berbers and Haratins |
| Fam6: | Algerian Arabic |
| Ietf: | arq-u-sd-dz31 |
| Glotto: | oran1236 |
Western Algerian Arabic (also known as Northwestern Algerian Arabic, Oranese Arabic or Oranian Arabic; in Arabic: الوهرانية, romanized: al-wahrāniya) is a dialectal continuum of Algerian dialects Arabic, mainly spoken in Oran, Algeria.[1]
It the western regional dialect of Algerian Arabic, belongs to the Maghrebi Arabic family, and marked by a Berber and Spanish substrates.[2] As well it shares a rich vocabulary common with as the Maltese and the Tunisian Arabic. It has become known outside of Algeria, notably thanks to the Algerian folk music Raï since the 1980s.