Much of the insight in the field of Arabic linguistics has for a long time remained unknown to linguists outside the field. Regrettably, Arabic data rarely feature in the formulation of theories and analytical tools in modern linguistics. This situation is unfavourable to both sides. The Arabist, once an outrider, has almost become a non-member of the mainstream linguistics community. Consequently, linguistics itself has been deprived of a wealth of data from one of the world's major languages. However, it is reassuring to witness advances being made to integrate into mainstream linguistics the visions and debates of specialists in Arabic. Building on this fruitful endeavour, this book presents thought-provoking, new articles, especially written for this collection by leading scholars from both sides. The authors discuss topics in historical, social and spatial dialectology focusing on Arabic data investigated within modern analytical frameworks.

First published in 1988. Arabic linguistics is developing into an increasingly interesting and important subject within the broad field of modern linguistic studies. The scope of this discipline is wide and varied, covering diverse areas such as Arabic phonetics, phonology and grammar, Arabic psycholinguistics, Arabic dialectology, Arabic lexicography and lexicology, Arabic sociolinguistics, the teaching and learning of Arabic as a first, second, or foreign language. The present work by Prochazka is the first general survey of the dialects of Saudi Arabia covering a wide range from north to south recording of linguistic variation in that vast region. It is particularly strong in covering a number of localities in the southwest and it is the first linguistic study of the dialect of the Ruwala bedouin of the northern desert. The work reveals a major division into two areal blocks: (i) the southern Hijaz and Tihamah and (ii) the Najdi and Eastern Arabian dialects.

This book, by a group of leading international scholars, outlines the history of the spoken dialects of Arabic from the Arab Conquests of the seventh century up to the present day. It specifically investigates the evolution of Arabic as a spoken language, in contrast to the many existing studies that focus on written Classical or Modern Standard Arabic. The volume begins with a discursive introduction that deals with important issues in the general scholarly context, including the indigenous myth and probable reality of the history of Arabic; Arabic dialect geography and typology; types of internally and externally motivated linguistic change; social indexicalisation; and pidginization and creolization in Arabic-speaking communities. Most chapters then focus on developments in a specific region - Mauritania, the Maghreb, Egypt, the Levant, the Northern Fertile Crescent, the Gulf, and South Arabia - with one exploring Judaeo-Arabic, a group of varieties historically spread over a wider area. The remaining two chapters in the volume examine individual linguistic features of particular historical interest and controversy, specifically the origin and evolution of the b- verbal prefix, and the adnominal linker -an/-in. The volume will be of interest to scholars and students of the linguistic and social history of Arabic as well as to comparative linguists interested in topics such as linguistic typology and language change.

This book represents a major contribution to the field of Arabic linguistics. It gives in depth treatments of the current issues in Arabic linguistics and makes excellent readings for graduate courses and for linguists at large.

This volume offers a synthesis of current expertise on contact-induced change in Arabic and its neighbours, with thirty chapters written by many of the leading experts on this topic. Its purpose is to showcase the current state of knowledge regarding the diverse outcomes of contacts between Arabic and other languages, in a format that is both accessible and useful to Arabists, historical linguists, and students of language contact.

The articles collected in this volume form a contribution to the study of Arabic linguistics. Most of them deal with Arabic medieval grammatical thought and terminology and are based on the oldest grammatical treatises known to us, especially Sibawayhi's al-Kitab. The study of these two topics is interrelated, since the understanding of Arabic grammatical thought depends on the understanding of its terminology and vice versa. During the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, some prominent scholars maintained that the linguistic data supplied by the early Arab grammarians are unreliable, and, as a result, their grammatical rules do not accord with the linguistic reality of Old Arabic. Professor Levin's studies concerning the history of Arabic language contribute to the refutation of this view, showing that Sibawayhi's linguistic method was mainly descriptive and that the linguistic information furnished by him is authentic and reliable. Professor Levin also shows that Sibawayhi's accurate description of Old Arabic is based primarily on the ordinary speech of certain Bedouin tribes who lived in Southern Iraq in the eighth century. The linguistic data found in the Ketab indicate that these Bedouins still spoke Old Arabic dialects. Aryeh Levin is Professor of Arabic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also the author of "A Grammar of the Arabic Dialect of Jerusalem" (in Hebrew).

The Handbook of Dialectology provides an authoritative, up-to-date and unusually broad account of the study of dialect, in one volume. Each chapter reviews essential research, and offers a critical discussion of the past, present and future development of the area. The volume is based on state-of-the-art research in dialectology around the world, providing the most current work available with an unusually broad scope of topics Provides a practical guide to the many methodological and statistical issues surrounding the collection and analysis of dialect data Offers summaries of dialect variation in the world's most widely spoken and commonly studied languages, including several non-European languages that have traditionally received less attention in general discussions of dialectology Reviews the intellectual development of the field, including its main theoretical schools of thought and research traditions, both academic and applied The editors are well known and highly respected, with a deep knowledge of this vast field of inquiry

This general introduction to the Arabic Language, now available in paperback, places special emphasis on the history and variation of the language. Concentrating on the difference between the two types of Arabic - the Classical standard language and the dialects - Kees Versteegh charts the history and development of the Arabic language from the earliest beginnings to modern times. The reader is offered a solid grounding in the structure of the language, its historical context and its use in various literary and non-literary genres, as well as an understanding of the role of Arabic as a cultural, religious and political world language. Intended as an introductory guide for students of Arabic, it will also be a useful tool for discussions both from a historical linguistic and from a socio-linguistic perspective. Coverage includes all aspects of the history of Arabic, the Arabic linguistic tradition, Arabic dialects and Arabic as a world language. Links are made between linguistic history and cultural history, while the author emphasises the role of contacts between Arabic and other languages. This important book will be an ideal text for all those wishing to acquire an understanding or develop their knowledge of the Arabic language.

The present volume provides an overview of current trends in the study of language contact involving Arabic. By drawing on the social factors that have converged to create different contact situations, it explores both contact-induced change in Arabic and language change through contact with Arabic. The volume brings together leading scholars who address a variety of topics related to contact-induced change, the emergence of contact languages, codeswitching, as well as language ideologies in contact situations. It offers insights from different theoretical approaches in connection with research fields such as descriptive and historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, ethnolinguistics, and language acquisition. It provides the general linguistic public with an updated, cutting edge overview and appreciation of themes and problems in Arabic linguistics and sociolinguists alike. As of January 2023, this e-book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched.