what is essay in arabic

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Four Simple Tips to Improve Your Essay Writing Skills in Arabic

root: ق-و-ل / noun / plural: مَقالات /definition: essay, article

So, you’ve studied Arabic for a while now. Simple sentences are old news (i.e. you’re silently pleading for your teacher not to go over jumlah ismiyyah yet again) and you’ve got a decent collection of relevant words all memorised. So you’re all set when your teacher asks you to write an essay about the topic in Arabic…right?

“Wrong!” says the fear in your eyes when you see the word count, as minuscule as it may be; a few hundred words in your native language definitely doesn’t seem as daunting as this .

It’s almost as if writing an essay in our target language makes us forget everything we’ve ever learnt about essays. And writing, unfortunately.

But there’s no need for stress—here’s four easy tips to simplify the process:

1 Think In Arabic

Often, when we’re writing in our target language, we tend to think of the exact sentence we want to produce in our native language then essentially try to translate it as pen hits paper. That’s where the problem comes in.

Trying to write via the process of translation is much more difficult and will most likely make your writing sound unnatural.

Instead, focus on what idea you want to convey and use the Arabic words and structures that you already know to express it. Much easier.

2 Learn “Copy and Paste” Phrases

One effective way to make your writing sound more sophisticated (and, well, to use up more of the word count) is to learn phrases that you can slot into pretty much any essay.

For example, here’s two simple phrases that I found whilst reading through Arabic articles: مهّد/يُمهِّد الطريق لِـ (“to pave the way for”) and على حافة الاِنهِيار (“on the verge of collapse”).

These phrases really came in handy during my writing tasks and exams at university since I could use them in the context of various topics. (A lot of things are on the verge of collapse, apparently).

3 Punctuate !

Okay, so maybe this was just me, but while my essays in English would be full of a plethora of punctuation, my Arabic essays would be lucky to get a comma thrown in. I think it probably took me three years to even get a bracket down on paper.

So throw those commas in! And the semicolons, colons, dashes, etc…

4 Remember What You Know About Essays

Think structure, connectives, varying sentence lengths, creating interest, clarity of expression.

There may be slight differences in certain aspects of writing style between English and Arabic, but don’t forget what you already know about writing essays in general. And definitely try to use Arabic texts as a source from which you can replicate structures and styles.

And, finally, remember that improvement takes practice —so keep writing .

If you have any other tips for writing Arabic essays, or any phrases that you yourself like to use, please do share them in the comments!

Edit: the book How to Write in Arabic (which I talked in the post Arabic Books on My Bookshelf ) has great guidelines for writing different types of text in Arabic—including a section for those “copy and paste” phrases!

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The Simplest Way To Improve Your Arabic Writing

If you are serious in your Arabic learning, you obviously need to follow a plan focused around your learning goals.

Just like with reading and speaking skills, you will need to follow a structured method to improve your Arabic writing skills.

I tried here to avoid the general writing advice that applies to writing in all foreign languages, focusing on the specifics of Arabic language composition.

I will share with you the practical tips you can use to practice writing in Modern Standard Arabic.

Please note that what I am sharing with you here does not apply to the colloquial dialects of Arabic.

I will also show you how to use the Arabic keyboard, develop your writing strategy, request writing assignments from your instructor if you have one, and spell correctly without looking it up online in addition to other tips you can incorporate in your learning.

Table of Contents

1.Read.. a lot!

Reading Arabic content is a prerequisite to good Arabic writing. To be able to generate output (write), you will need to be exposed to a good amount and quality of Arabic reading (input) at a regular frequency .

Picking up a routine of reading Arabic content that is within your level or slightly above it will enrich your vocabulary.

A suitable reading material is any content you can read and understand 80% of it. Anything less than that is a little too advanced for you at the current stage. To develop a Arabic reading skills, make sure you read this article .

It is important that you are intentional in your reading. That is to say you have to selectively read material that will help you with your language expression needs.

For instance, if you are a beginner, try to read content that will help you write about yourself, your family and personal interests to equip yourself with the writing vocabulary and tools to meet your written expression needs as a beginner.

As you progress, try to vary your reading content to cover different types of themes and styles such as comparative, argumentative, narration, instructions , to name a few, so that you can emulate them when you write.

2.Add the Arabic keyboard on your devices

In addition to practicing writing on a notepad the traditional way, it is equally important to add an Arabic keyboard on your phone and electronic devices.

If you have not done it yet, use this detailed tutorial to add the Arabic keyboard to your iphone and other devices.

While handwriting will give you a kinetic experience in learning how to connect the letters together, the Arabic keyboard will provide you with a convenient way to practice Arabic composition.

You can use your phone Arabic keyboard to type a casual short text message or a newly encountered term or type up a small paragraph during your daily commute or lunch break.

By incorporating this small adjustment in your daily routine, you are turning the new skill of Arabic typing into a second nature, further enhancing your Arabic writing ability.

3. Mimic writings you like.

There is a huge lack of tested strategies in teaching Arabic writing. In the Arab world, dictation or orthography was almost the only writing exercise taught in grade schools in the Arab world.

Composition was never drilled as methodologically as it is in French or English, except for the traditional breakdown of the introduction , body and conclusion .

This means you will have to be proactive in learning how to write in Arabic. You will need to select your favorite writing style or author(s) and try to emulate it and hone that skillset as you go.

Certain Arabic news sites, like Doha-based Aljazeera TV and London-based Saudi daily As-Sharq al-Awsat , adopt modern writing styles. You can visit one or both websites for your daily dose of Arabic news and observe their writing style and word choice.

Unlike traditional Arab writers, the two above-mentioned sites use a linear informative style with a minimal editorial touch due to their worldwide audiences.

As you progress and build up your proficiency, you can move up to reading literature if you desire.

4. Adopt the multiple drafts approach.

If you are learning Arabic in a classroom setting and you are not being challenged to write in Arabic, you should raise the issue with your instructor and politely ask for the opportunity to produce writing essays.

Ideally the teacher will adopt the multiple drafts method . You submit your first draft, and the instructor would return it to you with comments on points that need improvement or more elaboration until you submit your third and final draft.

This method prevents you from procrastinating and allows you to display your early thinking and analysis, which could disappear if you wait until the last minute to submit a rushed write-up.

Early thinking allows the instructor to guide your writing attempts early on in the process before the pressure of deadlines starts piling up.

Also, by starting early, you focus on delivering good content, which makes for a more enjoyable experience in writing what you have to write. It also provides you with opportunities to self-critique , improve your paper and re-submit.

This process will consequently help you hone your Arabic writing skills because it forces you to apply your analytical thinking on your own writing.

5. Incorporate the terminology and rules you learned.

Take everything you learn about Arabic as parts of a whole, and always think of the larger picture which eventually revolves around communicating effectively in Arabic.

As you learn new grammar rules and memorize new vocabulary from reading and listening to Arabic content, make a deliberate effort to put everything you learn into practice.

Incorporate in your writing a nice phrase or idiom you picked up recently and recall the grammatical and spelling rules you have been learning.

In the Arabic language, there is a rule for everything. If you can’t recall the rule, look it up. For instance, if you have to use a word that contains the hamza (ء), see the rule that determines its placement such as its vowel ( harakat ) and that of the letter that precedes it instead of just looking up online how it is spelled.

As a general rule, if you try to memorize word spellings, you will keep looking them up online; if you grasp the rule that governs the spelling, you will rarely have to look up a word. All you have to do is recall the spelling rule.

For instance, if you have to write the hamza (ء) with a sukun vowel ْ , the rule says that if it’s preceded by a kassra vowel it should be spelled as ئ as in بِئْر ( a well).

By grasping this rule, you will never have to look up how to write hamza with a sukun vowel when preceded by a kassra vowel.

6. Consider your audience.

One thing about the Arab culture is that formalities and hierarchy are important, and the use of Arabic language in communication mirrors that. Therefore, it is very important to consider your audience as you attempt to write a letter, an email or even a text message.

If you are writing a formal letter or communique, you want to make sure you refer to the person you are addressing in the second person plural. Not only it shows that you respect the other party, but also demonstrates that you know enough about the culture to use the proper form.

You also want to use a bit of flowery and deferential style as you address government employees and highly placed people.

For example, use صاحب السعادة or جنابكم الموقر — which roughly translates to “Your respected excellency” — in official communication with Arab recipients.

This may sound unreasonable, or even laughable, in your native language, but this is the right register to use in formal communication and official letters.

The Arab culture ranks high in the Power Distance Index (PDI) , a measure used by some sociologists. This means that Arabs respect and accept the hierarchical order that is set in their societies. As a learner of Arabic, you may want to show that you understand that.

Similarly, if you are writing to someone with a PhD, you should address the person as Doctor So & So (الدكتور); if you are writing to an engineer, you address him as Engineer So & So (المهندس).

7. Write regularly and solicit feedback.

Long-term consistency beats short-term intensity. Bruce Lee

The ideal frequency of writing practice is to do a little bit everyday over a long period of time instead of intense irregular sessions.

Three or four short writing sessions a week are more effective than a three-hour session once a week.

Make sure you ask for feedback on your Arabic speaking proficiency from qualified individuals, such as your instructor, educated native speakers, and even supportive peers who are familiar with your learning track.

Asking for feedback also means that you should take it as an opportunity to develop and improve without dwelling on your shortcomings.

Proceed with caution though. What you need is constructive criticism that can help you improve your speaking. Avoid asking negative or unqualified individuals who may demotivate you.

8. Build a repertoire of useful verbs, descriptions, and conjunctions

You may find that you have a tendency to selectively pick your vocabulary based on what you find easy, difficult or cool or even fun to the ear.

Although this is not a very bad habit, you want to make sure you are intentional in collecting the vocabulary that will help with your conversational needs.

Make an effort to be deliberate in picking up functional verbs, phrases, adjectives and linking words that will help you with telling a story, describing a person, comparing ideas or making a conclusion.

If you are lucky and have a good instructor, you may participate in guided conversational sessions built around specific themes and situations in accordance with your speaking abilities and objectives.

A good use of vocabulary will not only leave a positive impression on your interlocutors but will also show what kind of an Arabic learner you are.

9. Plan ahead and use and outline

For writing structure and planning, you can use the traditional writing methods. Start with general ideas and work your way into the small details.

Jot down your main ideas and start with your subheadings first. This will help you remain organized and focused on your topic.

Remember that language is just a tool to convey meanings and ideas. Once you establish an outline to organize your main points and subheadings, you start using your vocabulary and own style to translate the ideas into words.

Since your purpose is to improve your written expression, don’t give too much attention to the ideas at the expense of form.

The whole point is to practice the grammar and spelling rules you have been learning to come up with a coherent and easy to follow essay.

10. Don’t be afraid of writing

Finally, enjoy your status as a foreign language student and write without fear or anxiety of being judged. Expectations from you as a language student are not as high as what’s expected of you in your native language.

Be bold and borrow a thick skin if you don’t have one. Try to write using your own style while you maintain good grammar, spelling and proper form.

You will of course make mistakes, but what’s the big deal? Mistakes create the best learning opportunities in learning Arabic or any foreign language.

Just like in other languages, your writing will only become better with regular practice over time.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Happy writing!

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Am an English speaker, would like to learn Arabic writing and speaking.

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من البيان والتبيين الى البتاع والتبتيع أحمد فؤاد نجم، البلاغة، والرأسمال الثقافي

عيش البورجوازية عيش قلق، تتفجّر فيه الفتن والفورات، تطغى عليه العيون الحاسدة والعوارض الفاسدة، تتصارع طوائفه ليس صراع الثيران: بل صراع الأرانب والأسود (وهي بدورها أصناف وطبقات: الغضنفر، اللبوة، الشبل، السبع، وأخيراً وليس آخراً الفصل السوري..). إلا أنه عيش قد تطورت فيه آليات الكبت، الى جانب أجهزة الحكم والصمت، علّه يواظب على رتابته الرزينة، وكبائره المشينة الحزينة. لم نجئ الى هنا اليوم من أجل مقاومة هذه الجرائم، لم نأتي كي نتصدّى لها في القرى كما في العواصم. كما أننا ليس قصدنا أن ننصّب الحاج أحمد قائدنا العظيم، بطلنا الحكيم، في مواجهتنا المظالم المعروفة والمصاعب المعهودة، المتفق عليها.. إنما وجدنا في بعض ما كتبه، ليس باباً بل أكرة باب، وليس مفتاحاً بل بطاقة مالية توافي بالمهمة، وقول يا مسهّل! - يا مسهّل! وقد يعرف العارف فينا، أننا لسنا واقفين أمام الباب المذكور، بل وراءه، فما مادّية الأكرة والبطاقة إلا لعبة بايخة فرضناها على أنفسنا: والأنكى والأهم، أن لوازم العلم والمعرفة والنور والغذاء ما هي بموجودة أمام الباب، إنما وراءه حيث نحن واقفون. وعلى هذا الأساس، فيتحتّم علينا أن نعترف بأننا لا نسعى وراء كشف حقيقة مخبّأة، أو فضح علاقة مقنّعة، بقدر ما نبتغي الانتباه، والتيقّظ، عسى أن نجرّب طرق الفرار، وتواتينا فرصة الهروب والخلاص.. - يا مسهّل! ولأن هذه الألفاظ المجازية لن تدوم طويلاً، ولن نستدلّ بها - في نهاية المطاف - على شيء، اذن يجب أن نضعها في أكياس بلاستيكية، ونعلّقها عالحيطة في وشّ الأسانسير، علشان القطط ماتاكلش منها. وننساها، ونعود الى أوراقنا موصدين الباب بإحكام. نتنحنح، ونقول: البتاع. كلمة تدلّ على لا شيء، وعلى كلّ شيء. وهي مركز أبحاث شعبية كثيرة، تتعجّب من غرابتها والقومية المصرية الخاصة التي تعكسها، الى جانب الشيء الكثير من العفوية وحلاوة الروح. نعم، نحن قرأنا وسمعنا وعرفنا كل هذا. لكنه محلّ اهتمامنا اليوم لأسباب غير تلك الأسباب. كذلك، فإننا لعاقدون عزمنا على أن نتجاوز قضية الفصحى والعامية، وثنائية النخبة والرعاع، التي كثيراً ما ينحو نحوها الحديث عن الكلمة المذكورة. وفوق هذا كله، لسنا بصدد تفسير معاني "البتاع" كما تأتي في قصيدة الحاج أحمد فؤاد نجم، ولا التحذلق والتفذلك في الألغاز والأسرار المكنونة. هذا البتاع - أم هذه البتاع؟ - يثيرنا للإمكانيات التي يفتحها لنا، والألعاب الجديدة التي يصوغها لأجلنا، ومنها: 1) طرح أسئلة حول البلاغة، والرأسمال الثقافي، ثم 2) أن نأكل من ثمرته، ثم أن نضعه مثله مثل الألفاظ الأخرى في كأس من البلاستيك نعلّقه عالحيطة قدام الأسانسير. علشان أمّ حسنية ماتزعلش. على الصعيد العالمي (وليس فقط السياق العربي-المصري المحدود)، توافق الناس وتواضعوا على أن تنشأ للبلاغة قيمة، يحتفظ بها المحظوظون والمختارون، يبيعونها مقابل حصولهم على المكانة الاجتماعية المحترمة ومنها ممارسة الجنس والتكاثر في نوعهم الخ. ومعنى ذلك أن يتمّ نبذ من يتّسم كلامه بالتهتهة، والهلضمة، والصعوبة في التواصل مع الآخرين بشكل عام. إلا أن الطرق أمام البؤساء كانت وما زالت مسدودة، وذلك لحصرها على طرق معينة ومحدودة جدا اختارها ومهّدها أهل الحلّ والربط. أمّا أهل التلجلج والتلعثم، فقد أتقنوا وأجادوا طرق غير تلك الطرق، ألا وهي طرق البذاءة والإفاضة والتبلبل والبتاع. أي أنّهم ظلّوا في البادية، وضيق عليهم الحبس لما كانوا عليه من انحراف وشذوذ. وتجمّدوا في أماكنهم، نظراً لما مورس عليهم من " إرهاب لغوي " كما تسمّيه الأستاذة كرستن بروستاد. وهنا يأتي البتاع - أو تأتي البتاع إنْ شئتم - رافعاً/رافعةً راية التحرير والخلاص، فقد أمدّها أحد الشعراء من ذلك الحيّ بقدر كبير من التعبير والبلاغة، ناصرها فكانت نصرتها نصرتهم. وهكذا تكون الرواية المثالية الطوباوية للأحداث. لكن السؤال الذي نطرحه: كيف يتم إنشاء هذه الطرق أصلاً، وكيف يتم الحفاظ عليها وتشييدها يوماً بعد يوم؟ أي كيف يسود الإرهاب اللغوي، الذي ينبذ ويسكت ويخوّف ويبلبل، في كافة أنحاء العالم، حتى في عصر أوباما؟؟

Rationale for Rating

This text is an illustrative example of several of the features that characterize writing in Arabic at the Distinguished level. The topic (language rhetoric) is academic in nature. In an attempt to persuade the readers of a specific thesis, the author clearly focuses on a targeted audience (those who are interested in the role and nature of language in understanding political dialogue). The writing is representational because the author does not advocate a thesis of his own (the author conveys various points of views about the topic in a balanced fashion). Additionally, the author delivers the message in an authentic manner which is reflected in a number of textual attributes that include: implicit and explicit cultural references (Najm, Balagha, etc.) reference to traditional concepts (Ahl al-Hal wal-Rabt), and deliberate infusion of colloquial elements for stylistic effect (Bita', Tahriir and KhalaaS). Moreover, the writing is fairly dense and complex and the author demonstrates control a myriad of complex lexical and syntactic elements (embedded sentences, explicit use of connectors such as wahakaDha and al wahiyya). Finally, the writing and argumentation are tightly structured and highly organized.

تعليق على "حكاية الأشياء" من ناشونال جيوغرافك انفعلت مع هذا الفيديو على مستويين، أولهما تركيز المذيعة على الدور الذي يلعبه الإنسان في نظام الاقتصاد الاستهلاكي والذي عادة لا يُذكر في التفسيرات الاقتصادية أو علم الاقتصاد بشكل عام. فتخبرنا المذيعة بأن علماء الاقتصاد قد رسموا صورة منظمة وبسيطة ليفسروا هذا النظام الاقتصادي الاستهلاكي بشكل مبسط وكأنه نظام متكافئ بدون سلبيات أو مشاكل. ولكن بالطبع هذا النظام له تأثير لا يستهان به على حياة الانسان. وثانيهما، المذيعة تحاول أن تغير المفهوم الشائع لهذا النظام، فتركيزها الأول ليس على رحلة "الأشياء" والإنسان الذي لولاه لما كان النظام موجود قط. الإنسان، حسب هذه المذيعة، يلعب الدور الأساسي في هذا النظام، فهو موجود في كل مرحلة من النظام، من الاستخراج إلى الرمي. في مرحلة الاستخراج... المذيعة تخبرنا بأننا في الوقت الراهن أصبحنا نستهلك مواردنا الطبيعية إلى الدرجة أن الكوكب لم يعد يقدر على الاستيعاب. وعندما يستنفد بلدان "العالم الأول" كل ما عندها من موارد طبيعية، لا تحاول أن تتوقف عن الاستخراج مستهدفةً الاستهلاك الاقتصادي بل تأخذ تستخرج الموارد الطبيعية المطلوبة من بلدان "العالم الثالث" كأنها ممتلكاتها هي، بغض النظر عن وضع الناس في هذه البلدان "غير المتقدمة" وحقهم لهذه الموارد الطبيعية. وأكثر ما لفت نظري في هذا الجزء، هو أن علماء الاقتصاد يتكلمون عن نظام الاقتصاد الاستهلاكي كأنه وضع طبيعي فيتجاهلون طرقات المعيشة التي كانت موجودة قبله وقد لا تزال أكثر تكافؤاً بيئياً. وبالأحرى، الناس على كوكب الأرض في كل البلدان كانوا يعيشون بطريقة لا تضر بالبيئة لمدة قرون، جيلا وراء جيل. لماذا؟ لأنها لا تشتري ولا تستهلك على الدرجة المطلوبة من قبل النظام الاستهلاكي. هذا ما اندهشني أكثر في هذا البرنامج: أدركت أننا نعيش في نظام لا يحترم الإنسان كرامته وشرفه وحتى إنسانيته، بل يسعي في إهانتها - من خلال الإعلانات الكثيفة الموجودة في كل مكان وخصوصاً على التلفيزيون—حتى تشتغل أكثر لكي تكسب أكثر لكي تضيع هذا النقود بشراء أشياء أكثر، كل هذا لكي يدعم نظام لا يحترمه ولايرحمه. وبالأحرى، كأننا نشتري "الأي بود" أو أي سلع على حساب انسانيتنا. فالمذيعة تجعلنا نتساءل: هل السلع تقابل انسانيتنا؟ وركزت المذيعة كثيرا على هذه النقطة: من المفروض أن تكون أول مسؤلية لأي نظام اقتصادي أو سياسي أن يدعم ويساعد ويحمي. لكن للأسف، نظامنا الاقتصادي الحالي يبيع روحنا من أجل الاستهلاك الدائم والأرباح اللانهائية

أولا على الأرجح هناك مرشحان رئيسيان الا وهما مرشح من الحزب الديموقرطي ومرشح من الحرب الجمهوري. ولكن من الجدير بالذكر ان هناك مرشحين مختلفين من أحزاب متنوعة والى حد ما هذا التنوع يمثل عبارة عن روح الديموقراطية وفي لب وجوف وقلب الروح هذه نجد التعددية. ولكن في الوقت نفسه الروح والواقع على الأرض شيئان مختلفان أو بالأحرى يسيطر الحرب الديموقراطي والحزب الجمهوري على الانتخابات بشكل كبير. من خلال الفترة ما قبل الانتخابات نجد منافسة شديدة وحتى شرسة بين المرشحين ومن خلال هذه المنافسة التي تسقط في شباك "إن كنت ريحا فقد لقيت إعصارا".

تطرق الفيلم الوثائقي "النكبة" لأنتاج الجزيرة من نقاط جيدة وبحث عميق ورؤى مهمة، وذلك مع إغفاله لبعض نواحي القضية. فمن نقاط قوة الوثائقي توضيح حقيقة النكبة بأنها لم تكن مسألة تجاوزات عشوائية من طرف بعض الكتائب المنفصلة عن بعض بل كانت مسألة اضطهاد وتهجير وترحيل ممنهجة قصدها تطهير البلاد من أغلبيتها العربية. ولكن مع هذا العمق والدقة نجد ما يتطلب التعديل مثل تبسيط الموقف الانجليز من خلال هذه الفترة، فلم يكون الانجليز مع اليهود على الدوام بل لعبوا على الجانبين ووعدوا لكل طرف أن يمكنوه من تولي البلد فحاولوا أن يمنعوا الهجرة اليهودية من حين لآخر.

... الطالب الذي يردرس اللغة العربية في الجامعة قال لي إنّه كان يقود إلى صفه الإمتحان في الساعة الثامنة صباحا، وثم ثلاثة كلاب جئت إلى الشارع أمام سيارتك. ومع أنّ الطالِب لم يضرب الكلاب فإنّه كان من اللازم أن يترك الشارع. بعد ذلك السيارة ضربت شجرة بجانب الشارع. وفوق هذا كله فإنّ رأس الطالب ضربَ وكسرَ الشباك. هو بخير الآن، ولكن بعد الكلام مع الشرطي كان من اللازم أن يتكلم مع دكتور في منطقة الجامعة. يشعر الناس في المدينة بالسعادة لأن الطالب بخير، ولكنهم يريدون حكومة المدينة أن تساعد في المستقبل. بالنسبة لهم، الكلاب يجب أن تبقى في بيوتها أو مع أصحابها. هكذا فحكومة المدينة ستتحدث عن حادث السيارة والكلاب بعد أسبوع. في بلدي يسأل الرجل امرأة أن تتزوجه عندما يحبها ويريد أنْ يحبها كل أيام حياته بقية. اذن تقول "نام" ماستعدّ لالعرس. يوفر أب العروس فلوس لالتكاليف الازم عادةً. يتم عقد النكاح قبل العرس. وترسل الأسرتان دعوات الى الاقارب والاصدقاء قبل العرس بايام كثيرةً وبسنة أحياناً. في يوم العرس، يجتمع كل الضيوف في الكنيسة وتمشي العروس إلى العريس ويتكلم رجل الدين ويقبل العروس والعريس وثم يصفران الى مكان العطلة وبعد ذلك يعيشان سعيداً كل ايام حياتين

أول سنة قضيتها في هذه الجامعة كانت سنة صعبة لي لأنني لم أجدْ معظم محاضراتي ولم أحب المحاضراتي التي أجدتهم. لم يحبني استاذ من اللغاويات. وهذا الموضوع التي أنا متخصصة! واساتذتي لم يقولوا انا كيف نفعل الواجب واصدقائي لم يذهبوا إلى نفس الجامعة ورميلتي في الغرفة لم تنظفْ الغرفة ...

Topic: First year in school, negative experiences

Function: Narrating a personal experience, common events

Lexical complexity: Suitable lexicon for writing about school experiences محاضرات – أستاذ – اساتذة – لغويات – متخصصة -

Structural complexity:

Basic sentences. Good trials to use negation in the past: لم أجد , لم يقولوا , لم يذهبوا , لم تنظف
Expected grammatical mistakes like defining the noun by both الـ and إضافة الضمير for example: المحاضراتي
Good use of relative clause once أول سنة قضيتها , and then in another, the effect of English is obvious: هذا الموضوع التي أنا متخصصة
Inaccuracy in using few verbs such as: و – لأن

Discourse: Limited cohesive devises are displayed: و – لأن

Timeframe: Mostly past tense

مرحبا يا نادية. ما خبرك؟ أنا أسكن في مدينة "سان برنادينو" في ولاية "كاليفورنيا". "سان بارنادينو مدينة صغيرة ولكن عندها ثلاث "مول" ومطار والناس كثيرا. أعيش مع صديقتي واسمها "جيسيكا" ونسكن في شقة بجنب جامية ولية "كاليفورنا". عندنا غرفتين وحمامين وغرفة عيش ومطبخ. نسكن في مطبق عربة.

Topic: Personal experience, simple description of the city and the house

Function: Writing a letter to a friend telling about self

Lexical complexity:

Basic verb forms are displayed. Examples: أسكن – أعيش – نسكن
Everyday vocabulary is displayed: مرحبا – مدينة صغيرة – مطار – شقة – غرفة
Few spelling mistakes are displayed

Structural complexity: There is evidence of control over structure and grammar of simple short sentences.

Basic sentences
A collection of separate sentences strung together

Timeframe: Mostly in the present tense

Topic: Writer produces simple isolated sentences about self

Function: Basic information about self

Writer strictly depends on learned vocabulary
Good control of basic vocabulary about self (name, age, home town)
Although sentences produced are still short, there is clearer control of sentence structure (compared to the previous levels)
Errors in the most basic syntactic structures

Discourse: Short text made of simple unconnected sentences

Timeframe: None

Stylistic Features: None

Function: A letter that contains simple greetings and basic information about self

Limited vocabulary but writer attempts to use it creatively to express ideas
Capable of shaping and connecting letters with relative success using Naskh script to form word
Simple short sentences which are almost telegraphic in nature
Writing produced indicates that writer is only aware of the semantic value of words but not grammatical function

Discourse: None

Topic: Writer combines learned words to write a sentence about a picture.

Function: None.

Writer strictly depends on learned vocabulary.
Limited vocabulary but writer attempts to recombine to form a two-word sentence.
Capable of shaping and connecting letters with relative success using Naskh script to form targeted word.
Simple two-word sentences which are almost telegraphic in nature.
Errors in the most basic syntactic structures.
Sentence structure is clearly affected by L1

Discourse: None.

Timeframe: None.

Stylistic Features: None.

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(Translation of essay from the Cambridge English-Arabic Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

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null and void

having no legal force

Sitting on the fence (Newspaper idioms)

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Arabic Language and Islam

Introduction.

Pre-Islamic Arabic and the Semitic Nexus
Encyclopedias
Textbooks on Arabic Grammar and Script
Dictionaries
History of Arabic Linguistic Thought
Morphology, Phonology, and Phonetics
Lexicography
Rhetoric and Literary Related Issues
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Arabic Language and Islam by Mustafa Shah LAST MODIFIED: 29 November 2011 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195390155-0009

The Arabic language, which is the mother tongue of over 250 million people across the Middle East and North Africa, serves not only as a powerful symbol of Arab national identity, but is also the sacrosanct language of the scripture of Islam. Its fortunes have been decisively influenced by its close association with the faith. Indeed, the attempts to explicate and preserve scripture ultimately engendered the sciences of learning that became synonymous with the tradition of Arabic linguistic thought; and, for many centuries, Arabic served as the linguistic vehicle through which many of Islamic civilization’s religious, cultural, and intellectual achievements were articulated and refined. This bibliography will introduce some of the key critical surveys of the language and its historical development, covering early, medieval, and modern periods, while also listing those studies which have focused on the various theoretical and historical features of the Arabic linguistic sciences within the context of the traditional Arabic grammarians’ approach to the study of language. Special attention will be directed toward research which has sought to accentuate the pivotal role that linguistic thought played in the synthesis of theological, legal, rhetorical, and exegetical constructs, allowing insight into the somewhat intricate interplay which informs the conceptual compasses of faith and language in the Islamic context.

General Overviews

A fine introduction to the modern language is provided by Beeston 2006 ; this should be consulted in conjunction with Holes 2004 , which is both comprehensive and authoritative. Versteegh’s definitive study of the Arabic language covers pre-Islamic, classical, and Modern Arabic across a range of modern linguistic topics ( Versteegh 2001 ). Owens 2006 is essentially an attempt to reconstruct proto-Arabic using historical-comparative linguistic models. It deals with issues germane to the history of the esteemed literary koine of Arabic and colloquial vernaculars. On a parallel theoretical theme, Zwettler 1978 attempts to apply a modified version of Milman Parry and Albert Lord’s theory of oral-formulaic composition to pre- and early Islamic poetry, discussing the preeminence of the literary koine; he also deals with the argument as to whether declensional endings were features of the classical Arabic idiom. It is worth noting that Fück 1950 discusses many of these issues, and the author’s work is still deemed significant. In the context of the debate concerning distinctions between the elevated form of classical Arabic and colloquial vernaculars in common usage among the early Arabs, Blau 2002 reviews the features of the literary diction defined as Middle Arabic. Stylistic and literary discussions germane to the modern language are discussed in Stetkevych 2006 . In Shah 2008 , aspects of the historical and religious importance of the language are broached.

Beeston, A. F. L. The Arabic Language Today . Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2006.

Originally published in 1970, this remains a highly respected survey of the Arabic language by a late scholar who was considered to be one of the outstanding authorities in the field of south Arabian studies.

Blau, Joshau. A Handbook of Early Middle Arabic . Jerusalem: Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2002.

The term Middle Arabic refers to a type of literary Arabic which deviates from the classical idiom; this work reviews some of its principal features.

Fück, Johann. Arabiya: Untersuchungen zur arabischen Sprach-und Stilgeschichte . Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1950.

This work provides a survey of the classical language and its features and is presented in essay format.

Holes, Clive. Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions, and Varieties . Rev. ed. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2004.

This provides a description of the structure of Modern Arabic in terms of its written and spoken expressions. It also gauges the interplay among levels and varieties of usage within the modern context. It is an excellent work.

Owens, Jonathan. A Linguistic History of Arabic . Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

This history adopts an innovative approach to mapping out the origins and development of proto-Arabic, offering some intriguing suggestions on the subject of the origin of Arabic dialects.

Shah, Mustafa. “The Arabic Language.” In The Islamic World . Edited by Andrew Rippin, 261–277. London and New York: Routledge, 2008.

The theological import of discussions germane to the inimitability of the Qur’an and the primacy of the Meccan dialects is assessed in this survey along with the broader historical emergence of the language.

Stetkevych, Jaroslav. The Modern Arabic Literary Language: Lexical and Stylistic Developments . Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Some of the more classical features of the language are explored in terms of their modern literary expression. The discussion of the modern use of etymology, neologisms, and analogy is particularly insightful. Originally published in 1970.

Versteegh, Kees. The Arabic Language . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2001.

The range of topics covered in this text is impressive, and it boasts an extensive bibliography. Its author is one of the leading authorities in the field of Arabic linguistics and is keenly sensitive to the various debates and arguments in the field.

Zwettler, Michael. The Oral Tradition of Classical Arabic Poetry: Its Character and Implications . Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1978.

This is an attempt to apply a modified version of Milman Parry and Albert Lord’s theory of oral-formulaic composition to the extensive corpus of pre- and early Islamic poetry. The declensional endings in Arabic are also discussed in the context of the esteemed poetic koine.

Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login .

Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here .

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The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics

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19 What Is Arabic?

Jan Retsö, Department of Languages and Literatures, University of Göteburg

Published: 16 December 2013
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This article addresses what we mean today by the term Arabic: the whole complex of spoken languages from Oman to Morocco, from southern Turkey to Chad, including almost the entire Arabian Peninsula. Which are the purely linguistic criteria on which our modern use of the term is based? Which are the isoglosses that set it apart from other Semitic languages? The modern concept of Arabic, which argues that it encompasses both Arabiyya and modern vernaculars, is not meaningful as a pure linguistic concept. Searching through the phonology and morphology of the complex we call Arabic today, it seems impossible to find anything that delimits the group from other Semitic languages in a meaningful way. From a purely linguistic viewpoint, the Arabic complex is dissolved into a large variety of languages that in varying degrees have elements in common with each other as well as with other Semitic languages.

19.1 Introduction

These sentences from Jastrow (2007: 7) all mean the same: “What do you want now?”

wiš taba ḏaḥḥīn

šū bəddak hallaʔ

š-ítrīd hassa

ʕāwiz ēh dilwaʔti

āš bġēt s dāba

māḏā turīdu l- ʔān

At first glance they do not seem to have much in common except one thing: they are said to be Arabic. They represent different varieties within the Arabic linguistic complex: (1) Riyadh; (2) Damascus; (3) Baghdad; (4) Cairo; (5) Rabat. Even if the elements making up the words and sentences often can be found in most varieties of Arabic, idiomacy and pragmatics create a wide difference between many varieties that make them more or less mutually incomprehensible. At the same time, the existence of many of the elements (morphemes, words) in most varieties makes it possible that linguistically conscious speakers often can make their way and understand each other in spite of the differences.

To this is added the role of the language represented by the last example (6), the fuṣḥā or the Arabiyya, a variety that has not been spoken as a first language for centuries or even millennia but that is the official language of all the Arab countries and is taught in schools from the first day of the first grade in its modernized variant Modern Standard Arabic [Suleiman, “Folk Linguistics”; Al-Wer, “Sociolinguistics”]. Some regional varieties, such as Cairene and, nowadays probably also Syro-Lebanese, are at least passively understood by a large audience in the entire Arab world, listening to songs and watching films and TV soap operas produced in Egypt and the Levant [Holes, “Orality”]. But the fact remains that the linguistic differentiation in the Arab world is considerable. If we then take the epigraphically documented languages of Central and North Arabia from the pre-Islamic period into account, which traditionally is included in the Arabic complex, the Arabic language appears as an extremely variegated phenomenon ( Lipiński 1997 : 70–77). The Arabiyya has a special position, not only by being a second language for everyone but also because of its typlogical features, many of which set it apart not only from all the modern spoken varieties but also from the epigraphic languages.

The word Arabic itself as a linguistic term originates primarily from the Quran. In 11 passages in the Holy Book, an ʕarabī-language is mentioned ( Retsö 2010 ). All passages are found in texts that, according to traditional opinion, were revealed before the year 622 CE. The Quranic word “ʕarabī” undoubtedly refers to the language of the Holy Book. In that text we also encounter another linguistic term: ʔaʕğamī , as it seems opposed to the word ʕarabī (Q 26:195, 198; 41:44). The traditional opinion is that this word means “non Arabic-speaker,” that is, speakers of Persian or perhaps Greek. This is undoubtedly the meaning it acquired during the Islamic Middle Ages. There is, however, clear evidence that the word originally designates a kind of Arabic, a variety that deviates from some kind of norm. In the Lisān al-ʕarab it is said that an ʔaʕğamī is someone who does not speak correctly even if he is an Arab, a remark that is found already in al-Khalīl’s Kitāb al-ʕayn . The Lisān opposes ʔaʕğam ( ī ) to faṣīḥ and the ʕuğm are those whose language is not faṣīḥ ( Retsö 2002 : 139–140). A similar use of the root ʕGM is found in a non-Arabic, pre-Islamic source. In the Jewish midrash Ba-Midbar Rabbah (Chapter 10 ) it is said about a drunken person that his tongue is ʕagum so that he cannot speak clearly. The root obviously means “crooked.”

It thus seems that Arabic in the Quran has a quite narrow linguistic definition, and, consequently, there were many dialects and languages in Arabia at the time of the Prophet that we today probably would call Arabic but that are referred to in the contemporary sources as ʔaʕğamī , that is, “non-ʕarabī.”

It is worthwhile to take a look at the earliest use of the adjective “Arabic” as a linguistic term ( Retsö 2002 : 140–141). The earliest attestation is in a text by Agatharchides of Cnidus, written ca. 140 BCE, in which the word arabistí characterizes the name of a plant growing in the Red Sea area. In Acts 2:11 the meaning is that people from Arabia (i.e., Nabataea) heard the Christian message in their own language. In the Periplus Maris Erythraei , written more or less at the same time as Acts, we read about holy men on the island of Sarapis off the coast of Oman who use hē arabikē glōssa . In a fragment of Uranius’ Arabiká , probably written shortly after 300 CE, we read that the place-name Motho, a site in the Provincia Arabia (i.e., Nabataea), in hē arábōn phonē means “death.” In the same century Epiphanius writes that a festival was celebrated in Elousa in the Negev in arabikē diálektos in which the local goddess was called by an Arabic ( arabistí ) name. The Bible translator Hieronymus refers to Arabicus sermo or Arabica lingua when discussing linguistic peculiarities in the Biblical texts. Hieronymus lived in Judaea, and his possible knowledge of an “Arabic” language is likely to have come from the (then former) Provincia Arabia.

To this evidence from Greek and Latin sources are added the remarks on Arabic language in the rabbinical literature. We find around 35 words that are characterized as “Arabic” or coming from Arabia by which most likely is meant the region of Nabataea or Provincia Arabia ( Krauss 1916 : 338–349; Cohen 1912 –1913). This corpus is as close as we can get to what could be called “Arabic” in Late Antiquity. It should be underlined that we are dealing with linguistic material that in contemporary sources are explicitly characterized as “Arabic,” not what in our modern handbooks is classified as Arabic.

From this evidence it is possible to draw some preliminary conclusions:

The concrete linguistic material characterized as Arabic in the ancient sources does not exhibit any immediate identity with the lisān ʕarabī of the Quran. The list of words found in the rabbinical sources contains a few specimens that might be called Arabic even today; rather, most of them look more like Aramaic or general Semitic. Most of the evidence seems to come from Nabataea. In the Nabataean kingdom Aramaic was the language used at least for writing, probably also widely spoken, even if there is interference from something that looks more Arabic than Aramaic. But the possible “Arabic language” that we catch a glimpse of in the Nabataean inscriptions may not be identical with the Arabiyya of the Quran either (feminine suffix always - t , case suffixes - ū , - ī , and - ā in a different distribution, no trace of tanwīn ; cf. Cantineau 1931 : 171–172; Müller 1982b ; O’Connor 1986 ; Healey 1993 : 59–63).

“Arabic language” does not seem to have been a general designation of the language(s) of the Peninsula. The majority of data comes from northwestern Arabia. Only one instance refers to a completely different part of the peninsula. The Isle of Sarapis in the Periplus most probably refers to the island of Masīra off the coast of Oman. The statement about Arabic there is remarkable. The impression is that Arabic was in use by these “holy men” on that island and nowhere else.

Many of the notices about an Arabic language refer to religious contexts. The Periplus and Epiphanius are quite explicit, but also the notice in Acts could belong to this category. One could in this connection refer to the passage in Herodotus (3.8) where he mentions two gods of Arabia, Alilat and Orotalt, both of which seem to have good Arabic names. The first one is the earliest certain documentation of the definite article (a)l: al-ʔilāt . The other one is probably identical with the god whose name is written Ru-ul-da-a-ú in cuneiform text from the 7th century BCE, representing the Arabic word ruḍā n . The two deities mentioned by Herodotus were worshipped more or less in the same area where Epiphanius mentions the Arabophone cult in the 4th century CE.

Taking the purely linguistic evidence into account one could conclude that the concept “Arabic language” from the beginning does not refer to any linguistically definable phenomenon. It seems rather to be a functional designation. The Quranic evidence indicates that the concept of lisān ʕarabī in the Holy Book is of a similar kind. It has been suggested that the mentioning of a ʕarabī language in the Quran is part of the argumentation about its authenticity as divine speech or at least speech sanctioned by a nonhuman authority. The fact that the Quran is in lisān ʕarabī is adduced as proof that it has a nonhuman origin. Its language is the language used by the divine world. The consequence would be that it is not a language spoken in the everyday life of humans ( Retsö 2010 ). The term ʔaʕğamī most likely refers to a language or languages we would today call Arabic and, probably, the languages actually spoken in Arabia in the days of the Prophet.

This raises the question of what we today mean by the term Arabic. Our definition of the term is obviously much wider than the one we find in the Quran and also more extensive than the use of the concept in antiquity. We use the term Arabic as a designation for the whole complex of spoken languages from Oman to Morocco, from southern Turkey to Chad, including almost the entire Arabian peninsula. Which are the purely linguistic criteria upon which our modern use of the term is based? Which are the isoglosses that set the vast complex labeled Arabic apart from the other Semitic languages?

The use of the word Arabic as a linguistic term in the Middle Ages demands a special investigation that will not be undertaken here. In this essay “Arabic” will be used in its modern sense when nothing else is indicated. It seems that an immediate underlying argument for the present-day usage is the historical fact that the spoken varieties, just like the Arabiyya with its variants, “Classical” Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, have their origins on the Arabian Peninsula. Languages and dialects from the peninsula were spread outside the area by successive waves of conquest and migration that established them as mother tongues of people who otherwise had no connection with Arabia. The overwhelming majority of present-day speakers of Arabic have no historical links with the peninsula, just as very few of the speakers of Indo-European languages in India have any genealogical links to the Arian invaders of the subcontinent more than 3000 years ago.

19.2 Can Linguistic Criteria Define Arabic?

But which are the linguistic criteria for defining Arabic as a language? The textbooks are full of descriptions of grammatical features of the Arabiyya as well as the vernaculars, but none of them takes the comparative aspect into consideration except en passant ( Hecker 1982 ; Fischer 1997 ; Holes 1995 : 7; Kaye and Rosenhouse 1997 ; Versteegh 1997: 9–22). In fact, a linguistic definition of Arabic is never given. To give a linguistically tenable characterization of Arabic according to the present-day use of the term, one must also define the borders between this language/language complex and the other Semitic languages.

It is not possible to make an exhaustive investigation of the problem here. Suffice it to take a handful of phenomena from phonology and morphology, sketch their structure within the Arabic complex as a whole, and compare them to Semitic in general. A good start is the list of 10 features given by Mascitelli (2006: 19) that are claimed to distinguish Arabic from other Semitic languages. Of these, seven are worth discussing here: the preservation of initial w ; the reflex of the sibilants s 1 , s 2 , and s 3 ; the existence of emphatics and interdentals; the broken plurals; the definite article [’] al (should actually be [ʔ a ] l -); the causative verbs with the ʔv- prefix; and the particles fī, fa -, and ʔinna . To this list will be added a few more cases.

The preservation of initial w distinguishes all forms of Arabic from Northwest Semitic. But this feature is also found in Akkadian and in all the other languages on the peninsula as well as in Ethio-Semitic. It is thus not functional as a specific characteristic of Arabic.

In Arabic the Semitic phoneme s 1 appears as [s] and is thus identical to the appearance of s 3 whereas s 2 appears as [š]. This sets Arabic apart from North Semitic (Ugaritic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Akkadian) and at least partially Modern South Arabian where we find s 1 as [š] and s 2 appears as [š] or [s] ( Simeone-Senelle 1997 : 382). But it seems that the other ancient languages on the peninsula as well as Geez treated the sibilants in the same manner as Arabic since s 1 in the south Semitic alphabet (used for Ancient South Arabian and Geez) is written with a sign derived from the original sign for s 3 , whereas s 2 is written by the sign 〈š〉. Most remarkable is, of course, that the Quranic orthography uses one sign only, 〈š〉 “shīn,” for all three sibilants. The documentation of sibilants in the epigraphic languages of ancient Arabia is complicated ( Knauf 2010 : 207–208, 212), but the evidence from the languages mentioned seems clear enough. Consequently, the treatment of sibilants in Arabic is not specific but is a feature shared with non-Arabic languages originating on the Peninsula.

The so-called emphatic consonants in most spoken varieties of Arabic in reality indicate backing of consonants and vowels ([Embarki, “Phonetics”]; [Hellmuth, “Phonology”]) a feature that as a rule extends across several segments and syllables in a word: synharmony ( Reichmuth 1983 : 63–67; Mitchell 1990 : 30; Kaye 1997 : 193–219; cf. Watson 2002 : 267–286). In other Semitic languages (Ethio-Semitic, partly Modern South Arabian), these phonemes have at least ample traces of an ejective articulation ( Johnstone 1975 : 6–7; Lonnet and Simeone-Senelle 1997 : 348–349; Watson 2009 : 5–10; but cf. Watson and Bellem forthcoming). This was most likely the pronunciation in Ancient Hebrew or Canaanite in general as well as in Akkadian ( Steiner 1982 ). The (basically Aramaic) orthography of the Arabiyya reflects ejective articulation, not synharmony. Whether this was also the actual articulation of the “Arabic” language first written with this orthography or if it was just orthographic convention taken over from the Aramaic script cannot be substantiated. It is also uncertain when, if Aramaic originally had ejectives (which is indicated by the orthography), these phonemes disappeared, and the system of synharmony arose that is found in the Neo-Aramaic languages today. If one accepts the description of emphasis given here, that is, that “emphasis” is a case of phonetic synharmony, it can be observed that similar systems are found not only in spoken Arabic but also in the Neo-Aramaic languages ( Younansardaroud 2001 : 19–63; Kaye 1997 ; Kästner 1981 : 33–36; Watson 2002 : 267; Davis 2009 ). Ejective articulation is found also in some Yemeni Arabic in a similar distribution as in some variants of Mehri ( Prochazka 1987 : 58–59; Watson and Bellem 2011 ). There are also indications of ejective articulation of the “emphatics” in early medieval Arabic ( Steiner 1982 : 75–81). But in the end it has to be stated that “emphasis,” or synharmony, is not a specific feature for the Arabic complex.

The presence of phonemic interdentals, basically /ṯ/ and /ḏ/, is not limited to Arabic but was also found at least in Ugaritic and Ancient South Arabian as well as in Modern South Arabian ( Johnstone 1975 : 4; Lonnet and Simeone-Senelle 1997 : 346; Watson 2009 : 4). At the same time interdentals are absent in many modern varieties of Arabic, which means that neither from a synchronic nor a diachronic viewpoint can the interdentals be said to be a distinctive feature of Arabic.

The so-called broken plurals, that is, the lexicalization of plurals of nouns and adjectives, is a feature common to the Arabiyya and the dialects and is often presented as one of the most characteristic phenomena of Arabic in general. We still miss, however, a systematic comparison between the plural morphology of the Arabiyya and the modern vernaculars to see to which degree the different variants use the same patterns and which kind of local variation there. This is, in fact, one of the most interesting tasks for young scholars in the field today that would shed much light on the relationship between the vernaculars and the Arabiyya. At the same time it should be pointed out that this phenomenon is not an Arabic specialty either ( Ratcliffe 1998 ). It exists in Geez as well as in Ancient South Arabian ( Tropper 2002 : 71–75; Stein 2010 ). It is found in modern northern Ethio-Semitic (Tigrinya and Tigre; Leslau 1941 : 32–33; Palmer 1962 : 16–34) and in the Modern South Arabian languages ( Johnstone 1975 : 21).

The prefixed l - as a definite article is often seen as a very distinctive feature of Arabic that is not found in other Semitic languages. This might be true, but the fact is that not all varieties within the Arabic complex have it either. In some parts of South Arabia we find a prefixed m - or n - in this function ( Vanhove 2009 : 753, 756), which is also documented for the pre-Islamic dialects in Western Arabia and that of Ṭayyiʔ (Rabin 1951: 34–37, 50, 205; al-Sharkawi 2009 : 692), and in the dialects in Central Asia it is absent altogether ( Zimmermann 2009 : 616). Unless one is prepared to exclude these varieties from the Arabic complex and call them something else (what?) one has to admit that the l - is not a pan-Arabic feature and does not constitute an isogloss distinguishing Arabic in its modern sense from everything else.

The formation of causative verbs with a ʔv – prefix to the perfect (but absent in the imperfect) is a feature that is found not only in the Arabiyya and some modern spoken forms of Arabic but also in Middle Aramaic and Ethio-Semitic. On the other hand, it is absent in many modern Arabic dialects. It can even be argued that it never existed in some of them (Retsö1989: 95–138). But even skeptics about this issue must agree that this causative formation is not a characteristic of Arabic setting it apart from other Semitic languages.

Some particles, like fī, fa -, and ʔinna , are characteristic of the Arabiyya, and traces of them can be found in most dialects. On the other hand, it is evident that at least fa - and ʔinna are not limited to Arabic but appear in other languages as well like Hebrew hinne or Sabaean f ( Nebes 1995 ) or Ugaritic p ( Tropper 2000 : 788).

To this list some more features could be added as potential candidates for a modern linguistic definition of Arabic.

The so-called stem IX of the verb, ifʕall -, is a morphological element that seems to be found only within the Arabic complex. This form, however, is not found everywhere there. In large parts of the Maghrib we instead find fʕāl . Some scholars have been inclined to believe that the latter is a secondary formation derived from ifʕall - or ifʕāll- ( Cohen 1912 : 237; Marçais 1956 : 200–201; Cohen 1975 : 122; Marçais 1977 : 64; Singer 1984 : 392). As so often is the case with suggestions like this one it is difficult or even impossible to prove, and it has a taste of an explanation ad hoc: one has already made up one’s mind how things must have been (“we all know that spoken Arabic comes from the Arabiyya”), which then becomes the explanation. To make this allegation acceptable one would have to come up with some kind of rule that documents the change - v CC 〉 -ῡC/- v ll 〉 ῡl-, showing that this is a regular change in Maghribi. The verbs and elatives from roots III geminatae would be a good example. Unfortunately, these words do not show any traces of this change ( Marçais 1977 : 43). Unless one is hypnotized by the idea that everything must derive from “Classical Arabic” or at least from the Arabiyya, there are other explanations that are at least as likely and even more likely. It has been suggested that the Maghribi fʕāl in fact goes back to a form fuʕāl , well-known from the Arabiyya but also found in Aramaic with meanings similar to those in Maghribi. We would here have one of several features connecting Maghribi Arabic with Aramaic ( Retsö 2000 ).

The dual in the Arabiyya is a well-developed morphological category with marked dual forms not only with nouns but also with adjectives, pronouns (personal, deictic), and finite verbs (second and third person). A similar dual system is found in Ancient South Arabian but not in any known Arabic dialect ( Stein 2003 : 71, 92–94, 134, 169– 172, 177–178, 181). In the latter the system looks quite different with markings of dual only with nouns. At the same time the “dual” suffix also serves as a plural marker with certain classes of nouns. The closest parallel to this is found in biblical Hebrew ( Blanc 1970 ; Retsö 1997 ). This is one of the cases where there indeed is a wide gap between the Arabiyya and the modern vernaculars that cannot be bridged except by drastic and unlikely ad hoc explanations. Both share isoglosses with other Semitic languages, but the Arabiyya goes with the southern neighbors whereas the vernaculars follow the languages in the northwest.

A traditional designation of Arabic is luġat ḍād , “the ḍād -language”. It refers to the sound represented by the 15th letter of the Arabic alphabet that, according to the early medieval grammatical tradition, had some kind of lateral articulation that was apprehended as peculiar ( Steiner 1977 : 57–101; Versteegh 2006). Traces of such an articulation are found in some modern dialects in the southern peninsula ( Vanhove 2009 : 754; Watson et al. 2010 ; Watson and Al-Azraqi 2011 ), but in almost all variants of Arabic that are documentable we find an interdental or a apicodental pharyngealized realization. The traditional term thus has no relevance for present-day Arabic, either the vernaculars or the Arabiyya.

Some traces of the lateral articulation are found far back in pre-Islamic times (see the previous example of Ruḍā) as well as from the Islamic Middle Ages. A well-known example is the Spanish alcalde “mayor,” which is the Arabic al-qāḍī “judge.” If we look at the cognate roots in other Semitic languages containing this phoneme we find contradictory evidence not always easy to analyze. In Old Aramaic the phoneme is written with a 〈q〉 and in later Aramaic it is articulated as a laryngeal voiced fricative [ʕ] and written by the letter ʕayn. The Ancient South Arabian alphabet has a distinctive sign for it, but the phonetic reality behind it escapes us. In the Modern South Arabian languages we find a lateralized and glottalized apico-alveolar consonant that etymologically corresponds to Arabic /ḍ/ ( Steiner 1977 : 12–56; Lonnet and Simeone-Senelle 1997 : 348; Simeone-Senelle 1997 : 382; Watson and Al-Azraqi 2011 ). There seem to be traces of a similar articulation in other ancient Semitic languages as well ( Steiner 1977 ).

It is thus clear that (1) the lateral articulation is not limited to the language complex called Arabic and (2) the lateral articulation is in fact not a specific characteristic of the Arabic complex—if by that we include what we usually call Arabic. On the contrary, it is extremely rare. In fact, there is no real evidence that the present-day realization of the ḍād is secondary and that in all spoken varieties as well as in the Quranic recitation it originates from the lateral variant.

The voiced uvular fricative, ġayn , is a pan-Arabic phoneme shared by the Arabiyya as well as most Arabic dialects although in some areas we find q or g instead ( Jastrow 1980 : 143; Singer 1980 : 252; Owens 1985 : 46; Behnstedt 1997 map 7). It is found also in Modern South Arabian ( Johnstone 1975 : 4; Lonnet and Simeone-Senelle 1997 : 346; Watson 2009 : 4). It also most likely existed in Ugaritic although with a somewhat different distribution ( Tropper 2000 : 125–127). Likewise, the South Arabian alphabet has a sign that most likely represents the same phoneme ( Stein 2003 : 19). It is thus not a characteristic feature of Arabic.

The few examples adduced show the problem clearly. In an overview of the Arabic complex it is very difficult to find linguistic elements that allow us to draw a distinctive line between the Arabic complex and the rest of the Semitic languages. One could, for example, argue that the elative ʔafʕal - pattern, which seems to be found in nearly all documented dialects, is a uniting feature between the Arabiyya and the dialects. But the fact remains that such phenomena are quite few and often uncertain due to the still missing information on many spoken Arabic dialects. A more principal question is whether the existence of a few isoglosses uniting all forms of spoken Arabic with the Arabiyya and, at the same time, distinguishing the two from other Semitic languages, would make it meaningful to proclaim this immense complex as being one language. What would give, for example, the ʔafʕal - form the status that decides and defines an enormous linguistic complex as one language, in spite of the fact that an overwhelming amount of phenomena, on the contrary, do not support such a definition? It seems that a quite arbitrary process of thinking lies behind this. First one decides which languages should be called Arabic, and then one begins to look for linguistic criteria supporting the idea.

The traditionalist argument against this would be that the modern spoken forms after all are historically derived from an Arabiyya-like language. Even if the distinctive features are not preserved in the modern dialects they still form a unity with the Arabiyya since they are developed from it or at least from a close relative.

There are several objections against this statement. The first is, of course, that it confuses synchronic analysis with diachrony. Such a confusion tends to blur distinctions and clear thinking even when the diachronic background for synchronic phenomena is well documented. With this kind of argument we will end up considering, for example, French or Italian, as a variety of Latin. Most diachronic statements about the relationship between the Arabiyya and the modern dialects, however, are just assumptions, not documented processes. When it is claimed that the interdentals have disappeared in many modern madani dialects, that the syllable structure of many dialects deviating from that of the Arabiyya represents a development from that of the Arabiyya, that the “internal” passive conjugation of the verb has disappeared due to phonological developments, that the case and mood distinctions of the Arabiyya have been reduced or disappeared, or that short final vowels have been lost, all these claims are in fact descriptions of existing differences between the dialects and the Arabiyya, nothing more. Why these differences exist is another matter altogether. The attempts that have been made to reconstruct an assumed diachronic process, establishing the line of development from the Arabiyya to modern vernaculars ( Birkeland 1952 ; Garbell 1958 ) are highly speculative and, as it seems, not in harmony with evidence. The evidence shows that the distinction between “Classical Arabic” and languages of the modern vernacular type has been around at least since the 7th century CE, that is, during the entire period from which we have extensive documents. The evidence from before this period about languages in most parts of Arabia is much more fragmentary. It is most likely that the Arabiyya documented by the poetic tradition once upon a time also existed as a spoken idiom. It is quite likely that varieties of the modern vernacular type also existed in the pre-Islamic period although the documentation is almost nonexistent. But this means that the assumed process of transition from an Arabiyya-type of language to an early variant of the modern vernaculars cannot be verified. Further, a comparative perspective shows that, for example, the passive conjugations of the dialects as a rule are identical to the ones found in Aramaic, Geez, and Hebrew, the syllable structure in many dialects is similar to the ones found in Aramaic and Hebrew and so on. The many similarities between the vernaculars and the other Semitic languages, contrasting them to the Arabiyya, put a question mark at the derivation of the modern vernacular type from an Arabiyya-like forebear.

A traditionalist argument explaining the latter point would be that Arabic shows an internal development parallel to the one in Semitic in general. The “simplification” of the phonology and morphology is the result of “drift,” a common tendency present in the entire Semitic (cf. Blau 1969 ) or even Afro-Asiatic (cf. Diakonoff 1988 ) complex. But all these allegations are built upon presumptions that are highly uncertain and in many cases demonstrably wrong. It is without further consideration assumed that (1) there existed a Proto-Semitic language and (2) this language was practically identical with the Arabiyya, at least as far as phonology and morphology are concerned. But this remains a hypothetical assumption since no such Proto-Semitic is documented and on closer inspection its existence turns out to be unlikely. If there ever existed something deserving the name Proto-Semitic, we should assume that it was a heterogeneous phenomenon from the beginning. The variation was there already. From an unprejudiced comparative Semitic viewpoint, the passive conjugation, the formation of causative verbs, the dual marking, as well as at least substantial parts of the case- and mood-marking system in the Arabiyya are most likely to be innovations or later systematizations, which means that the dialects, together with biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Geez, and Akkadian represent an earlier stage of case, number, and diathesis marking ( Retsö 1989 , 1994 , 1995 , 1997 ; cf. Petráček 1981 ; Denz 1982 : 58–59; [Owens, “History”]). The similarities between many phenomena in the modern dialects and other Semitic languages are due to common heritage, not parallel development from an assumed more or less unified proto-Semitic, being suspiciously similar to “Classical” Arabic, which in Semitic–Arabic studies has tended to be seen as a kind of Semitic Sanskrit ( Denz 1982 ).

19.3 Stammbaum vs. continuum of isoglosses

The view of the history and identity of Arabic and the Semitic languages in general has until this day been formed by the traditional Stammbaum model of linguistic development launched by Schleicher in 1861. The application of this model to linguistic history has often led to the view of each language as a closed world on its own, living an inner life of developments only occasionally affected by external “influences.” J. Schmidt’s counterattack in 1872, launching the wave model, seems not really to have caught on among Arabists until now. It might be that the Stammbaum model is a plausible model for the Afro-Asiatic phylum as a whole, but its routine application to the Semitic linguistic world leads to serious misunderstandings. It is obvious that the Semitic languages, being as closely related as they are, constitute a continuum of isoglossses rather than a tree with distinct branches ( Rabin 1963 : 114–115). Careful use must also be made of documentary material. The written evidence, which is crucial for the diachrony of Semitic, does not necessarily represent distinct languages. It is not certain that the language of the Hebrew Bible represents a language that was spoken in Palestine with a distinct border against surrounding Aramaic, Phoenician, or Arabic. If we imagine a traveler going from oasis to oasis, from village to village from the Northern Hijaz to the upper Euphrates let us say in the time of Alexander the Great, he would most likely never be aware of passing from “Arabic”-speaking areas into “Hebrew”-speaking ones, then passing the border to the people speaking “Aramaic.” He would instead notice continuous small differences in the speech of the locals on his way. Today, a similar picture would be created by a similar journey from Mauritania to Oman through the Arabophone areas. Within the branches of a linguistic phylum like Semitic in Afro-Asiatic, or Germanic, Romance, or Slavonic in Indo-European, distinct dialectal borders are exceptions, gradual change the rule. Our traveling linguist would get the same picture today making the same journey from Sicily to Vallonia or from the villages around the Vierwaldstättersee to Finnmark. The current model still used by most Arabists describing the linguistic realities is outdated. Notably, the work by the Arabic dialectologists during the 20th century has made this completely clear ( Behnstedt and Woidich 2005 : 83; [Behnstedt and Woidich, “Dialectology”]). The picture of a language consisting of a mosaic of distinct dialects with clearly discernible borders corresponds to reality only in some special cases. When encountering sharp dialectal borders in the Arabophone area today, like the one between badawī and ḥaḍarī dialects, this is the result of migrations, not diverging linguistic developments in the area ( Rabin 1963 : 105–106).

Considering the fact that “Arabic,” defined as the Arabiyya and the modern dialects, has its origin in the Arabian Peninsula one should consider the fact that the documentation clearly shows that there was a considerable linguistic variation in that area from the beginning of the period documented by texts, that is, roughly from 800 BCE until the Islamic conquest. The original view that the languages on the peninsula were dialects of the same language, reflected in the terms South and North Arabic, however, turned out not to be tenable. The southern languages were then called South Arabian, the term (North) Arabic being reserved for the rest. North Arabic thus indicated all pre-Islamic languages documented between Yemen and the Syrian Desert and were considered early stages of Arabic. A development was assumed from Proto-Arabic, that is, the epigraphically documented languages such as Thamudic, Lihyanitic, and Safaitic, to Old or Early Arabic, which in its turn was the basis for “Classical” Arabic and the modern vernaculars ( Rabin 1960 ). This view is still adhered to by many scholars (cf. Knauf 2010 ). Recent research, however, has clearly shown that most of the languages documented epigraphically are not direct predecessors to what we today call Arabic, and the latest suggestion is that we should distinguish between Ancient South Arabian (ASA), Ancient North Arabian (ANA), and Old Arabic ( Müller 1982a ; Macdonald 2000 , 2004 , 2008 ; Knauf 2008 , 2010 ). These entities are represented by the epigraphic documents from at least the 8th century BCE onward. If one takes the entire peninsula into consideration, one should also presume the existence of a complex that is the forebear to the modern South Arabian languages and somewhere also possibly a complex from which Ethio-Semitic ultimately derives. We should not see these labels as representing distinct languages. They are at best continua of linguistic varieties that can be shown to share a few isoglosses, such as different forms of the definite article and the appearance of verbs IIIw/y. It is also worth pointing out that the ASA languages share some important isoglosses with the northern languages, including those of Syria, for example, the tense system opposed to the one found in Modern South Arabian and Ethio-Semitic (and Akkadian).

It thus looks as if even the epigraphically documented “Proto-Arabic” died out without leaving any descendants. The forebears of the Arabiyya as well as the modern vernaculars are to be looked for in the Old Arabic group that was independent from the ANA. Unfortunately, documentation of this Old Arabic is fairly limited, but it should not be assumed without any further consideration that Old Arabic was a more or less unitary phenomenon (cf. Mascitelli 2006 ). Still, most scholars adhere to the idea that the modern vernaculars are the descendants of a more or less Arabiyya-like language (ibid., 49–87). As already mentioned, Retsö(2010) indicates, however, that the chasm between the Arabiyya and the forebears of the vernaculars was much wider than usually assumed and that they are not directly diachronically related (cf. Diem 1978 ). Perhaps the concept Old Arabic should be discarded and replaced by at least two terms, one for the Arabiyya type and one for the modern vernacular type, the ʔaʕğamī of the Quran. Among the latter we should look for the forebears of the modern dialects. There are large parts of the peninsula where we have no documentation of local languages but where one could assume that these dialects thrived. The Arabiyya undoubtedly goes back to a spoken language; however, rather than being the grandfather of modern spoken Arabic, that language seems to have died out without leaving any descendants, like Ugaritic and Akkadian to which it has many resemblances. Instead, other, undocumented languages became dominant in Arabia replacing the ANA languages and, later on, even the ASA ( Diem 1978 : 138). It has been remarked that the linguistic type represented by the modern Arabic vernaculars shows many similarities to Aramaic (Fischer 1982b: 83).

We should not assume that these replacing languages constituted a unitary linguistic complex either. Judging from their modern descendants, one must assume considerable variation even here from the beginning ( Fischer 1995 ). Many isoglosses connected different local varieties with other Semitic languages both in the south and in the north. The Arabic complex in general shares several features with other “South Semitic” languages such as the transition p 〉 f or s 1 〉 s but also others with the languages in the northwest such as the “perfect–imperfect,” qatvl-/yaqtvl - opposition.

There has been a long debate about the position of Arabic within Semitic as a whole. The traditional view that Arabic as a whole belongs to the Southwestern branch of Semitic, thus drawing a distinct border between the languages of Arabia and those of Syria was challenged already in the 1930s by J. Cantineau (1932) and was followed by scholars like G. Garbini (1984) , R. Hetzron (1976, 1977: 9–15), W. Diem (1980) , and R. Voigt (1987) . These scholars pointed out features that Ethio-Semitic and modern South Arabian have in common with Akkadian, thus splitting the South Semitic group in two, of which the northern one, which includes Arabic, has several basic features in common with the languages of Syria. The old Northwestern Semitic group was subsumed together with Arabic by the term Central Semitic [Owens, “Introduction”].

The discussion whether Arabic should be classified as Central Semitic or South Semitic is not very meaningful. We can map isoglosses that show that Arabic has features in common with languages in Syria, Mesopotamia, and South Arabia/Ethiopia. The question of classification is dependent on which phenomena are considered important enough or crucial for the “identity” of a language. Considering the immense variation within the complex called Arabic, it is doubtful if it is possible to make an evaluation of the phenomena. Is the formation of plurals of nouns a more important feature than the morphology of the verbal tenses? Or is the change p 〉 f more important than the treatment of interdentals? Whichever answer is given, none of these distinguishes Arabic in its modern sense from the other languages.

When looking at the linguistic map of pre-Islamic Arabia, one should assume that linguistic variation was there from the beginning. That is the picture that emerges from the evidence we have from the pre-Islamic period. Considerable linguistic variation is found there even today, even within the complex that we label “Arabic” ( Holes 2010 ), and we have no reason whatsoever to assume that at the time of the Prophet everybody in Arabia spoke something like the Arabiyya (Versteegh 1997: 38). That would have been a completely unique situation unparalleled before or after. That the Arabiyya was understood in many areas when heard in poetry or even formal speech ( xuṭba ) is another matter. This is the situation even today, and not only in Arabia but in the entire Arab world.

The Semitic languages, like Germanic, Romance, or Slavonic, are from the beginning a continuum of isoglosses with no definite borders between dialects or languages. It remains unlikely that these branches, including Romance, have developed from a unified proto-language. A Proto-Semitic language did not emerge in full armor like Athena from the head of Zeus. It was from the beginning a variegated complex of dialects or languages ultimately originating in the northeastern part of the African continent. What it inherited from there we do not know yet. The comparative study of Afro-Asiatic is still in its beginnings and is beset with many difficulties. Many of the features usually ascribed to Proto-Semitic are probably innovations that occurred in the linguistic continuum and spread to different degrees. One could, for example, assume that a case system marked by vocalic suffixes, perhaps only in the pronominal system, was present in some parts of the continuum and developed into a more comprehensive declination system in nouns in some areas. In others it did not catch on and the original marking of case even disappeared. The Arabiyya and perhaps Ugaritic would have been a final stage in such a development, whereas Akkadian still represents an earlier stage. The rudimentary case system of Geez could represent an even earlier stage. In other parts on the Semitic continuum, the development did not occur at all. From this part of Semitic arose Hebrew, Aramaic, and most of the forebears of the modern Arabic dialects.

We need not assume that the gap between “proto-Arabiyya” and the forebears of the modern dialects was as wide as it seems from the documentation from the 7th century and onward. It has been suggested, supported by evidence, that there might have been a continuum even between these languages, which actually is what we should expect ( Owens 2006 ). The Arabiyya has been subject to normative cultivation that has cemented its characteristics vis-à-vis the dialects. It is, in fact, possible to define the Arabiyya by using morphological criteria that sets it apart from other Semitic languages, including the dialects. As far as we can see the case system (the full three-case marking even in the construct state, the diptosy), the tanwīn , the mood system of the verb, and the pausal system are all features specific to the Arabiyya and not found in other Semitic languages. Some of these elements are traceable in other languages as well, but the system in the Arabiyya is unique for that language. The traditional view among Arabs about the ʔiʕrāb as the basic characteristic of the Arabiyya is thus not completely off the track (cf. Diem 1991 : 298).

But the modern concept of Arabic as encompassing both the Arabiyya and the modern vernaculars is not meaningful as a pure linguistic concept. Searching through the phonology and morphology of the complex we call Arabic today, it seems impossible to find anything which delimits the group from other Semitic languages in a meaningful way. The modern concept “Arabic” is a cultural and political concept, important as such but not a linguistic entity, even if the majority of the inhabitants in the “Arab world” see themselves as speakers of Arabic, albeit a corrupted or even “wrong” variant of it. We should make a clear distinction between the Arabic complex as a cultural–political phenomenon and the linguistic realities ( Suleiman 2003 ; [Suleiman, “Folk Linguistics”]). From a purely linguistic viewpoint the Arabic complex is dissolved into a large variety of languages that in varying degrees have elements in common with each other as well as with other Semitic languages.

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Cohen, D. 1975 . Le parler arabe des juifs de Tunis. II: etude linguistique . Janua linguarum Series Practica 161. The Hague: Mouton.

Davis, S. 2009 . Velarisation. In Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics , Vol. 4, ed. Kees Versteegh , Associate Editors: Mushira Eid, Alaa Elgibali, Manfred Woidich, Andrzej Zaborski, 636–638. Leiden: Brill.

Denz, A. 1982 . Die Struktur des klassischen Arabisch. Grundriss der arabischen Philologie Bd. I: Sprachwissenschaft ed. W. Fischer 58–82. Wiesbaden:L. Reichert Verlag.

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—— 1980 . Die genealogische Stellung des Arabischen in den semitischen Sprache. Ein ungelöstes Problem der Semitistik. Studien aus Arabistik und Semitistik Anton Spitaler zum siebzigsten Geburtstag von seinen Schülern überreicht . ed. W. Diem and S. Wild , 64–85. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

—— 1991 . Vom Altarabischen zum Neuarabischen. Ein neuer Ansatz. Semitic Studies in Honor of Wolf Leslau on the Occasion of his Eighty-fifth Birthday Nov. 14h 1991 , vol. 1, ed. A. S. Kaye , 297–308. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Fischer, Wolfdietrich (ed.). 1982 a. Grundriss der arabischen Philologie Bd. I: Sprachwissenschaft . Wiesbaden: L. Reichert Verlag.

—— 1982 b. Das Neuarabische und seine Dialekte. In Grundriss der arabischen Philologie Bd. I: Sprachwissenschaft , ed. W. Fischer , 83–141. Wiesbaden: L. Reichert Verlag.

—— 1995 . Zum Verhältnis der neuarabischen Dialekte zum Klassisch-Arabischen. In Dialectologia Arabica: A collection of articles in honour of the sixtieth birthday of Professor Hekki Palva , 75–86. Studia Orientalia 75. Helsinki: The Finnish Oriental Society.

—— 1997 . Classical Arabic. The Semitic languages , ed. Robert Hetzron , 187–219. London: Routledge.

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Hetzron, R. 1976 . Two principles of genetic reconstruction. Lingua 38: 89–108.

—— 1977 . The Gunnän-Gurage languages . Napoli: Istituto Orientale di Napoli.

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—— 2010 . The Arabic dialects of Arabia. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 36: 25–34.

Jastrow, O. 1980 . Das mesopotamische Arabisch. Handbuch der arabischen Dialekte .ed. W. Fischer and O. Jastrow , 140–173. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz.

—— 2007. Das Spannungsfeld von Hochsprache und Dialekt im arabischen Raum. Sterben die Dialekte aus? Vorträge am interdisziplinären Zentrum für Dialektforschung an der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg 22.10.-10.12.2007 , ed. H. H. Munske . 〈 http://www.dialektforschung.phil.uni-erlangen.de/sterbendialekte 〉.

Johnstone, T. M. 1975 . The modern South Arabian languages (Afroasiatic Linguistics 1/5).Malibu.

Kästner, H. 1981 . Phonetik und Phonologie des modernen Hocharabisch . Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie.

Kaye, A. S. 1997 . Arabic Phonology. Phonologies of Asia and Africa vol. 1, ed. Alan Kaye , 187–204. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.

Kaye, A. S. and J. Rosenhouse . 1997 . Arabic dialects and Maltese. R. Hetzron (ed.): The Semitic languages , ed. R. Hetzron 263–311. London: Routledge.

Knauf, E. A. Thamudic . 2008 . Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics , Vol. 4, ed. Kees Versteegh , Associate Editors: Mushira Eid, Alaa Elgibali, Manfred Woidich, Andrzej Zaborski, 477–483. Leiden: Brill.

—— 2010 . From ancient Arabic to early Standard Arabic. The Qur’ān in Context. Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qur’ānic Milieu , ed. A. Neuwirth , N. Sinai , M. Marx , 197–254. Leiden: Brill.

Krauss, S. 1916 . Talmudische Nachrichten über Arabien. ZDMG 70: 321–353.

Leslau, W. 1941 . Documents tigrigna (éthiopien septentrional). Grammaire et textes . Paris: Klincksieck.

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Lonnet, A. and M.-C. and M.-C. Simeone-Senelle . 1997 . La phonologie des langues sudarabiques modernes. In Phonologies of Asia and Africa , Vol. 1, ed. A. S. Kaye 337–372. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.

Macdonald M. C. A. 2000 . Reflections on the linguistic map of Pre-Islamic Arabia. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 2: 28–79.

—— 2004 . Ancient North Arabian. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the world’s ancient languages , ed. R. Woodard , 488–533. Cambridge: CUP.

—— 2008 . Old Arabic (Epigraphic). Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics , Vol. 3, ed. Kees Versteegh , Associate Editors: Mushira Eid, Alaa Elgibali, Manfred Woidich, Andrzej Zaborski, 464–477. Leiden: Brill.

Marçais, Ph . 1956 . Le parler arabe de Djidjelli (Nord constantinois, Algérie) . Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve.

—— 1977 . Esquisse grammaticale de l’arabe maghrébin . Paris: Maisonneuve.

Mascitelli, D. 2006 . L’arabo in epoca preislamica. Formazione di una lingua (Arabia antica 4). Roma: L’Erma di Bretschneider.

Mitchell, T. F. 1990 . Pronouncing Arabic 1 . Oxford: OUP.

Müller, W. W. 1982 a. Das Altarabische und das klassische Arabisch, In Grundriss der arabischen Philologie Bd. I: Sprachwissenschaft , ed. W. Fischer , 17–29. Wiesbaden: L. Reichert Verlag.

—— 1982 b. Das Altarabische der Inschriften aus vorislamischer Zeit, In Grundriss der arabischen Philologie Bd. I: Sprachwissenschaft , ed. W. Fischer , 30–36. Wiesbaden: L. Reichert Verlag.

Nebes, N. 1995 . Die Konstruktionen mit fa- im Altsüdarabischen. Syntaktische und epigraphische Untersuchungen . Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

O’Connor, M. 1986 . The Arabic loanwords in Nabatean Aramaic. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 45: 213–229.

Owens, J. 1985 . Arabic dialects of Chad and Nigeria. ZAL 14: 45–61.

—— 2006 . A linguistic history of Arabic . Oxford: OUP.

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Petráček, K. 1981 . Le système de l’arabe dans une perspective diachronique. Arabica 28: 162–177.

Prochazka, Th . 1987 . The spoken Arabic of Zabīd. ZAL 17: 58–69.

Rabin, C. Ancient West Arabian . London: Taylor’s Foreign Press.

—— 1960 . ʿArabiyya. Encyclopaedia of Islam 2nd ed. I: 561–567.

—— 1963 . The origin of the subdivisions of Semitic. Hebrew and Semitic studies presented to G. R. Driver 104–115. Oxford: OUP.

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Reichmuth, Stefan . 1983 . Der arabische Dialekt der Šukriyya im Ostsudan . Hildesheim: Olms.

Retsö, J. 1989 . Diathesis in the Semitic languages: A comparative morphological study . Leiden: Brill.

—— 1994 . ‘iʿrāb in the forebears of modern Arabic dialects. Actes des premières journées internationales de dialectologie arabe de Paris. Colloque tenu à Paris du 27 au 30 janvier 1993 , ed. D. Caubet and M. Vanhove 333–342. Paris: Publications Langues’O.

—— 1995 . Pronominal state in colloquial Arabic. A diachronic attempt. Dialectologia arabica. A collection of Articles in honour of the sixtieth birthday of professor Hekki Palva , 183–192. Helsinki: The Finnish Oriental Society.

—— 1997 . State and plural marking in Semitic. Built on solid rock. Studies in Honour of Professor Ebbe Egede Knudsen on the occasion of his 65th birthday April 11th 1997 , ed. E. Wardini , 268– 282. Oslo: Novus Forlag.

—— 2000 . Kaškaša, t-passives and the dialect geography of ancient Arabia. Oriente Moderno 19/80 N.S. 111–118.

—— 2002 . Das Arabische der vorislamischen Zeit bei klassischen und orientalischen Autoren. Neue Beiträge zur Semitistik. Erstes Arbeitstreffen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Semitistik in der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft vom 11. Bis 13. September 2000 an der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena , ed. N. Nebes . 138–146. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

—— 2010 . Arabs and Arabic in the time of the Prophet. The Qur’ān in context. historical and literary investigations into the Qur’ānic milieu , ed. A. Neuwirth , N. Sinai , M. Marx 281–192. Leiden: Brill.

al-Sharkawi, M. 2009 . Pre-Islamic Arabic. Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics , Vol. 3, ed. Kees Versteegh , Associate Editors: Mushira Eid, Alaa Elgibali, Manfred Woidich, Andrzej Zaborski, 689–699. Leiden: Brill.

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—— 2010 . Die altsüdarabischen Minuskelinschriften auf Holzstäbchen aus der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek in München 1 : Die Inschriften der mittel- und spätsabäischen Periode (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel 5). Tübingen: Wasmuth.

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6 Resources Every IB Arabic B Student Needs To Use

IB Arabic Language B may be challenging because the use of classical Arabic language in our day to day life is uncommon. Coming from a non-native speaker herself, it is definitely not impossible to do well in because the key to proficiency in language is practice and application. I have learnt classical Arabic for 11 years now, and it has been a roller coaster of experience but if I can do well in it so can you!

Here are some resources and tips that I found useful in my IB Arabic learning journey you can use to improve your grammar and vocabularies so that you may use them in your essay writings and improve your Arabic skills:

1. Mawdoo3.com

Mawdoo3.com is a comprehensive online Arabic content publisher that covers various topics that may be useful in essay writings. When used effectively, this tool can expand your vocabulary and prevent you from running out of ideas in your essay writings.

Tip: For IB Arabic B students, before your Paper 1, make a mind map of all the ideas and vocabulary words that cover the 6 IB themes because the topics of the essay questions will be 3 of the 6 themes.

2. Cooljugator.com/AR , Acon.baykal.be , and Qutrub.Arabeyes.org

These three are useful, easy-to-use conjugator websites that ease the process of essay writings. I used a conjugator table so much when I was in my first 6 years of studying Arabic that it became muscle memory to recall the rules. Now, I do not need to put in much effort in remembering and applying conjugation in my sentences.

Tip: memorising the conjugators in a form of a table is convenient to remember!

3. Reverso.net

Reverso.net is a good translator app and website that provides different translations according to different contexts so that you do not use the wrong word for your respective situations. From personal experience, when I am trying to find the meaning of a word, Google Translate is not the best resource, as it may give the wrong definition in the wrong context which is a big no-no! Alternatively, Reverso gives you the words in sentences that may fit best with what you are looking for.

4. Almaany

Almaany provides services for synonyms, antonym, translation for the Arabic language from various languages, (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, Persian, Indonesian and German) translation to English from various language (Dutch, Korean, French, German, Italian, Chinese and Indian) and even translation for Quranic words (since not all Quranic words can be directly translated without thorough study from Islamic scholars).

Tip: Using the synonym service is a great way to avoid repetitive words in your essay.

3safeer.com is an interactive website and app that compiles stories for different age groups to boost grammar and vocabulary. It is similar to an audiobook so it also helps improve Arabic enunciation.

6. BONUS: Arabic Podcast: Arabic in 60 steps podcast.

On this podcast, you’ll find Arabic lessons of all lengths! It’s best suited for those that want to brush up on the Arabic foundation.

Overall, do not be afraid to keep writing and to make mistakes. Ask someone knowledgeable to identify grammar or spelling mistakes so that you can learn from them. Through mistakes, you are able to grow and find the excitement in this beautiful language!

British Council

Five essential works of arabic literature, by tony calderbank, 18 december 2015 - 09:11.

'Tune in to one of the world’s great literary traditions.'

To celebrate UN World Arabic Day, the British Council's Tony Calderbank picks out five works that offer unique insight into the Arab world's culture and heritage.

There’s a lot of news coming out of the Arab world these days, mainly grim stuff in the press or online, painting a depressing and very much one-sided picture of this vast geographical and culturally diverse area. If you want to delve a little deeper into the Arab world and see another side of its rich heritage and culture, it’s well worth taking the time to sample some of the delights of Arabic literature.

Here are five suggestions to give you an idea of what’s on offer. They are all available in English translation, so you don’t have to learn Arabic to read them, though you may be tempted to once you have.

The Epistle of Forgiveness by Abu Al Alaa Al Maarri

This celebrated freethinker, ascetic, humanist and committed vegetarian lived in Syria during the 11th century. The head of his statue in his home town of Ma’arrat al Numan was recently chopped off, possibly because he challenged accepted doctrine with a passion. He was the Voltaire of his time.

‘All religions err’, he says. In fact, there are only two sects in the whole world: 'One, man intelligent without religion, the second, religious without intellect'. In the epistle, al Maarri considers the works and thoughts of some of the great poets and thinkers who preceded him. With his great erudition and mastery of language, coupled with a biting sense of irony, he challenges and refutes their views and is critical of many aspects of accepted orthodox belief. At one point, in what is a clear precursor of Dante’s Divine Comedy , he makes a journey to paradise where he meets the wine-drinking, womanising pagan poets of the pre-Islamic period, and then to hell where he encounters the religious scholars.

Once banned in Algeria and decapitated almost a thousand years after his birth in his home town, Abu Al Alaa Al Maarri is widely read in the Arab world, and many Arabs acknowledge him as one of their greatest literary figures. His influence has been enormous, but so little known in the modern West that we have little idea how far ahead of his time he really was.

The latest English version of The Epistle of Forgiveness has just won the Sheikh Hamad Translation Prize.

The Golden Ode of Imrul Qays

Widely accepted as the finest Arab poet of all, Imrul Qays lived in Najd in the century before the arrival of Islam. His Golden Ode is considered the most brilliant example of the vibrant oral poetry of the desert Arabs – the Arabic at that time unadulterated by outside influence. (For comparison, consider the English of Beowulf in its pagan pre-Christian purity).

Imrul Qays is a master of description, who creates beautiful, precise accounts of the wildlife, mountains, clouds and dark starry nights. He is a master of the technique by which the poet likens the characteristics of one animal to those of another. His horse has 'the loins of a gazelle, the thighs of an ostrich, he gallops like a wolf, canters like a young fox'. He was the first to compare the eyes of his beloved to those of a gazelle.

His ode is also famously erotic. There is a long section devoted to the women he has loved and from whom he has been separated by the nomadic lifestyle and whom he longs to rejoin. In a celebrated passage he recounts an amorous encounter on the back of a sand dune, his lover 'fair in her colour, splendid in her grace, her bosom smoothed as a mirror’s polished face'. (R. A. Nicholson’s translation, 1922).

Not only did these themes, techniques and forms continue to reside in the core of Arabic poetic tradition, they are the precursor of the ode and sonnet we know so well in our own. Celebrated and developed by the Moors in Al Andalus and brought into France by the troubadours, the sonnet was perfected in English by Shakespeare – a thousand-year literary journey that began in the wild deserts of central Arabia.

There are many translations of this poem into English, the first by William Jones in 1782 right up to the very recent translations of Paul Smith and Desmond O’Grady.

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

This work is actually written in English but it is Arabic literature. Gibran, who came from a poor Lebanese-Christian family, moved to the United States in the 19th century. He and his contemporaries formed what became known as the Exile School, and wrote their works in both English and Arabic.

The Prophet is made up of 26 poetic essays on the human condition, spoken by a mystical figure who is about to depart on a journey. A crowd gathers round him on the quay side and asks for insights into the human condition: on love, money, children, work, clothes. His answers form a spiritual, philosophical view of living that has enchanted readers around the world ever since it was first published in 1923. 'Your children are not your children, they are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself', the Prophet says, and though the words are English the idiom is undeniably Arabic. 'Love one another', advises the Prophet, 'but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls'.

These beautiful, gentle, but powerful musings transcend cultural boundaries. The Prophet has been translated into 40 languages and is one of the bestselling works of all time.

Zaat by Sonallah Ibrahim

Sonallah was born in Cairo, became a Marxist in his youth, and spent several years in prison during the 1960s for his views. His novel Zaat tells the tale of modern Egypt though the eyes of its heroine, Zaat, during the periods of the three presidents Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak. It goes from the optimism of the early years following the revolution to the full-blown capitalisation and corruption of Egypt in the 1980s and 1990s of the last century.

Expertly crafted, each of the chapters narrating Zaat’s life, marriage, work and social life is interspersed with a series of newspaper clippings and photograph captions detailing the political and economic events of the day – corruption cases, financial scandals, torture, foreign debt – that graphically lay open the banal thuggery of the rulers and the greed and stupidity of the nouveau-riche.

Poignant, yet darkly hilarious at times, the novel chronicles the struggles of the decent, honest and long-suffering Zaat as she navigates the vicissitudes of contemporary life, modernisation, consumerism and the ever-present mirage of new wealth.

The novel provides a wonderful insight into what happened to the Arab world over the second half of the 20th century, and where all the dreams went. It is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand why the Arab Spring came about and why, in many cases, it soon turned into a dark winter.

The Chronicles of Majnun Layla by Qassim Haddad

Widely acknowledged as the greatest living Gulf poet, Qassim Haddad did not finish secondary school. Born in Bahrain in 1948, he left formal education early to contribute to his family’s income. Like Sonallah Ibrahim, he is a revolutionary as well as a writer, and was jailed for his political beliefs in the 1950s.

Majnun Layla is a legendary figure in Arabic literature and one who is also celebrated in the literature of Persia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The name means 'the man who has gone mad because he loves Layla so much'. The Majnun Layla narrative, with its themes of ill-fated lovers and feuding tribes, has been an essential theme in Arab literature and performance art since the 9th century. It became a favorite theme of the Sufi poets, who saw Majnun’s all-absorbing love for Layla and Layla’s unreachableness as symbolic of the devotee’s quest for the divine. And it influenced Eric Clapton to write a song.

Qassim’s version revives this ancient tale and reworks it free from its tribal context and puritanical background. In his version, the two lovers consummate their longing for one another uncompromised by social constraint or moral code. There is much thrashing of limbs and consuming passion, and both lovers laud the joy of physical uninhibited love to their peers. The text is beautifully written in exquisite classical Arabic and abides by the traditional convention of rhyming prose. Yet at the same time, its themes are unmistakably modern and subversive.

The recent translation of Majnun Layla by Ferial Ghazoul and John Verlenden also includes a selection of Qassim’s poetry: precise, uncompromising, and with a sharp political edge, it too is well worth a read.

Why translation is crucial to cultural understanding

Four of these works, and many others of Arabic literature, are available thanks to the efforts of the translators who carry out the valuable task of bringing literature across language barriers. Translation is the quintessential work of crossculturalism and lies at the very heart of creating deeper understanding between people through the insights it provides and the joy it brings.

If journalism and history relate the day-to-day events of nations – the surface narrative, the waking lives – then it is literature that expresses their dreams and fears. Reading works of literature from another culture reveals how remarkably similar are the urges and drives, the passions and delights, that motivate all of us. Beauty, love and truth: how much John Keats and Imrul Qays have in common.

So get online and fill your trolley, or pop down to your local orientalist bookshop, have a browse and tune in to one of the world’s great literary traditions.

UK primary school teachers, download our education pack and introduce your pupils to Arabic language and culture today.

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Extended Essay

Language b and the extended essay.

Writing an extended essay (EE) in a language of acquisition provides students with an excellent opportunity to explore one aspect of their chosen language in greater depth and to increase their intercultural understanding and international-mindedness. In line with the IB’s focus on approaches to teaching and learning (ATL), the EE in a language of acquisition provides opportunities for students to develop their thinking, research and self-management skills while, at the same time, focusing on an aspect of language that is of particular personal interest and challenge.

Students must select one of the three distinct categories. But,

How do you choose the topic of an extended article?

How do you phrase an extended essay question? What are the characteristics of a good extended essay question?

How do you start an extended article business?

What are the contents of the extended article? And what is he writing in?

How many words are in the extended article? How many words are included in the word count of the article and what is not included in the word count?

What is the reflective model accompanying the extended essay? How many words does it have? And what is he writing in?

What is the role of the student and supervisor in the extended article?

What are the recommended procedures of the International Baccalaureate for writing the extended article?

What are the evaluation criteria for an extended article?

To find out all this and more, Get EE Package Or Join a class EE.

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A Book Found in a Cairo Market Launched a 30-Year Quest: Who Was the Writer?

For Iman Mersal, the slim novel was “life altering.” She narrates her journey in the footsteps of its largely forgotten author in “Traces of Enayat.”

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Iman Mersal poses for a portrait outdoors, on a snowy winter day. She’s wearing a red coat.

By Aida Alami

Reporting from Rabat, Morocco

Crouching over piles of books in a market stall in Cairo one day in the fall of 1993, Iman Mersal stumbled upon a slim volume with a gray cover and a catchy title: “Love and Silence.”

Mersal, who was then a graduate student, thought the author might be related to a novelist and prominent anticolonial figure, Latifa al-Zayyat. She bought the book for one Egyptian pound.

What Mersal found instead was an intimate, introspective novel, an essential but largely forgotten work by a female writer in early contemporary Egypt. The voice, Mersal later wrote, was “modern, strange, limpid and beyond categorization.”

The book moved her, she said, and set her on a nearly 30-year journey to learn what she could about the author, a young Egyptian woman called Enayat al-Zayyat who died by suicide in 1963 after overdosing on pills. All she left was a note by her bed for her son, Abbas, that read: “I do love you, it’s just that life is unbearable. Forgive me.” After her death, her writing fell into oblivion.

In “Traces of Enayat,” translated by Robin Moger and to be published on April 2 in the United States by Transit Books, Mersal revives the story of the late writer. The Arabic version, published in 2019, won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award two years later and was a regional success. A mix of literary genres, the book is a subtle and universal exploration of identity.

“A sense of longing for a place and a self that has left you comes through in the pages,” Adam Levy, the book’s U.S. editor, said.

The book feels like a biography, he said, but it is more ambitious, and more interesting, than that. “As you read,” he added, “you start to feel Iman’s presence in it subtly.”

Mersal, who is now 57 and one of the most consequential Egyptian authors of her generation, grew up in Mit Adlan, a village in the delta of the Nile, in northern Egypt. As a child, she loved language and songs, often shutting herself in her room to listen to music, plays and narrated movies on the radio.

She lost her mother at a young age, and wrote her first poem, a critique of Mother’s Day that started with the phrase “against motherhood,” when she was in fifth grade. She wrote it in anger, she said, and read it out loud during a celebration in the school courtyard.

“One of the toughest teachers cried,” said Mersal, who has two sons. “I call myself a writer since.”

Al-Zayyat came of age during a golden era for Egyptian literature, in the 1950s and 1960s, during Gamal Abdel Nasser ’s government. Many influential writers in that era were driven by the urge to transform society. Mersal, too, socialized with writers who wanted to change the world, and joined a feminist publication, “Bint al Ard,” in 1986. But she wasn’t sure what kind of intellectual she wanted to become.

“The literary scene was controlled by the old guard who believed in Arab nationalism or communism, who believed that literature can change the status quo,” she said. “I was thinking about figuring out my own voice. Expressing my relationship with my father, my relationship with Cairo, my city. It was about individuality.”

In 1992, she visited Baghdad to meet with women affected by the Gulf War in Iraq and the brutality of the regime in their own country. It was then that Mersal started questioning her purpose.

“It was transformative. I faced many questions,” said Mersal during an interview from her work studio in Edmonton, Alberta, where she lives. “What does Arab nationalism mean, what does it mean to be a committed writer?”

New perspectives opened up when she discovered “Love and Silence,” another woman’s honest chronicle of suffering and self-discovery. The book, which came out four years after al-Zayyat’s death, tells the story of Najla, a young woman who is grieving the recent loss of her brother and figuring out her place in a fraught political context. The narrator’s unfiltered voice sketches Najla’s attempts at finding herself, failing brutally each time.

Though al-Zayyat’s book had its flaws, Mersal said, it was life-altering. Mersal had been facing depression and searching for meaning in her life, she said. “This book spoke to me in a way no other female writer spoke to me.”

Mersal moved to the United States in 1998 and later to Canada, where she has lived since as an academic, poet, translator and author. Al-Zayyat grew up in a very different world, among the high society of Cairo.

Over the years, Mersal took her time to carefully navigate al-Zayyat’s world. She includes this journey in her book, taking the reader to places few can access, such as a meeting with al-Zayyat’s childhood friend, the iconic Egyptian actress Nadia Lutfi.

Al-Zayyat grew up in a loving family and was particularly close to her father, but struggled with depression most of her life. She had a passion for drawing and painting but stopped studying before she turned 19 to marry a man from an affluent family. The marriage was agonizing, and soon ended in a bitter divorce.

In Mersal’s book, an entry from al-Zayyat’s journal dated 1962 captured her pain. “I don’t mean a thing to anybody. Lost, found, it’s all the same: Here is as good as gone. The world wouldn’t tremble either way. When I walk I leave no tracks, like I walk on water, and I am unseen, invisible.”

What led al-Zayyat to end her life is uncertain. A commercial film and a radio series were made based on her novel. Both disappointed Mersal and al-Zayyat’s niece. They felt that, among other issues, the productions had erased the substance of the novel and focused on elements of the plot.

During her last months, al-Zayyat lived in an apartment that her father built for her on the second floor of their villa in Dokki, then a wealthy residential suburb of Cairo. She wrote on a newly-acquired Optima typewriter, and was committed to getting her book published. At the same time, she was losing custody of her son in court.

After her mother received a call from the publishing house saying that the manuscript had been rejected, al-Zayyat chopped off her hair and locked herself in the apartment. According to Mersal, who spoke to the author’s sister and to her best friend, she was found dead the next day.

It seemed that being part of the upper class limited her possibilities, Mersal explained — as if society had disappointed her so much that death was the only form of protest that remained.

“The idea that a young woman would kill herself — a young woman with a son, a father and a best friend — and all because of a book, was genuinely tragic, but it was also seductive in its tragedy,” Mersal wrote in the book. “I pictured Enayat painstakingly acquiring the rudiments of good Arabic grammar and inflection, then carefully setting down everything she wanted to say in her novel, then refusing the suggestion that she should self-publish.”

Mersal had many questions that she attempted to answer over her long years of obsessive research, but her intent never was to write a biography or a history book, she said.

“Telling the story of searching for Enayat was my way of reading her life and not displaying her life,” she said. “My dream was to tell our story, my story, her story, this interaction between us. The past is not that glorious. It’s the collective and individual wounds of this past.”

When Mersal finished writing the book, she struggled with emptiness and sadness that echoed al-Zayyat’s.

“It felt like a friend died,” she said. “It was a weird feeling of mourning.”

Aida Alami is a Moroccan reporter who has been contributing to The Times since 2011. She is based in Rabat, Morocco, and Paris. More about Aida Alami

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