Arabic language (or العربية, pronounced [al araˈbijja] is the common name of all the varieties of Classical Arabic language descended both in literary and spoken forms since the 6th century, when the earliest Arabic inscriptions date back to. Arabic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family and is closely related to Aramaic, Hebrew, Ugaritic and Phoenician. It is written from right-to-left with the Arabic alphabet, which is an abjad script – each symbol stands for a consonant, leaving the reader to supply the appropriate vowel. Writing system: Arabic alphabet Official language in: 27 states among which Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Morroco, Qatar, United Arab Emirates