Arabic, one of the official languages of the United Nations, is spoken by more than half a billion people around the world and is of increasing importance in today's political and economic spheres. The study of the Arabic language has a long and rich history: earliest grammatical accounts date from the 8th century and include full syntactic, morphological, and phonological analyses of the vernaculars and of Classical Arabic. In recent years the academic study of Arabic has become increasingly sophisticated and broad. This state-of-the-art volume presents the most recent research in Arabic linguistics from a theoretical point of view, including computational linguistics, syntax, semantics, and historical linguistics. It also covers sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, and discourse analysis by looking at issues such as gender, urbanization, and language ideology. Underlying themes include the changing and evolving attitudes of speakers of Arabic and theoretical approaches to linguistic variation in the Middle East.

The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics introduces readers to the major facets of research on Arabic and of the linguistic situation in the Arabic-speaking world. The edited collection includes chapters from prominent experts on various fields of Arabic linguistics. The contributors provide overviews of the state of the art in their field and specifically focus on ideas and issues. Not simply an overview of the field, this handbook explores subjects in great depth and from multiple perspectives. In addition to the traditional areas of Arabic linguistics, the handbook covers computational approaches to Arabic, Arabic in the diaspora, neurolinguistic approaches to Arabic, and Arabic as a global language. The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics is a much-needed resource for researchers on Arabic and comparative linguistics, syntax, morphology, computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and applied linguistics, and also for undergraduate and graduate students studying Arabic or linguistics.

This book, first published in 1970, provides a description of the standard Arabic language used today as the universal means of written communication throughout the Arab world and in formal spoken communication (vernaculars differ both from each other and from the standard language). The principal emphasis is on syntax and morphology of which there exists no comprehensive account. Phonology and lexicon are treated briefly and there is a chapter on the script.

This book is the third of a series of collected volumes on language and linguistics published by the AUC Press. The chapters this time are based on papers delivered at the second International AUC-Oxford University Conference on Language and Linguistics, held in 2006 at the American University in Cairo. The contributions reflect global concerns related to both the Arabic and the English languages and to linguistics in general and are the work of world-renowned scholars, whose concerns address diverse but related topics in language and information dissemination. The resulting collection presented here boasts a wide range of scholarship from the Arabic-speaking world as well as the United States, Canada, and western and eastern Europe. Twelve chapters grouped in four sections cover a wide variety of topics--phonetics, syntax, variation, computational linguistics, and globalization and its effects on linguistic discourse and language teaching--and reflect the latest research in the various fields, together giving a global perspective on Arabic linguistics. Contributors: Kirk Belnap, Robert Berman, Samira ElAtia, Mervat Mohamed Ahmed Fashal, Konrad Gunesch, Jacob Høigilt, Zeinab Ibrahim, Gunvor Mejdell, Mark Van Mol, Mustafa Mughazy, Dilworth Parkinson, Irena Vassileva, Diana Yankova.

This volume is the first systematic attempt to survey current progress in the relatively new field of Experimental Arabic Linguistics. While experimental work on Arabic linguistics has appeared sporadically in several venues in the past, the chapters in this book provide a more coherent picture of the exciting directions which the field is pursuing. They provide insights into the complex nature of the Arabic language and how native speakers process it, using cutting-edge experimental methodologies in the fields of phonetics, psycholinguistics, and typical and atypical language development. This volume is of particular interest to scholars, researchers, and students at both the undergraduate and graduate level, in the fields of linguistics and language studies and can be a point of reference for scholars and researchers in the fields of theoretical and experimental Arabic linguistics.

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.

Until about 60 years ago, linguistic research on the Arabic language in the West was restricted to inquiries on Classical Arabic and the Classical tradition, and spoken Arabic dialects, with historical studies embedded within the broader field of Semitic languages. This situation is changing quickly, not only through the continuation of older research traditions, but also with the integration of new research fields and perspectives. With this expansion comes the danger of specialists in Arabic losing an overview of the field, and of leaving non-specialists without basic resources for evaluating domains of research which they may be interested in for comparative purposes. The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics will confront this problem by combining state-of-the-art overviews with essays on issues of perspective, controversy, and point of view. In twenty-four chapters, leading experts from around the world will lay out their own stances on controversial issues. The book not only evaluates ways in which questions and theories established in general linguistics and its sub-fields elucidate Arabic, but also challenges approaches which might result in accommodating Arabic to "non-Arabic" interpretations, and brings out the Arabic specificity of individual problems. The Handbook, in one compact volume, gives critical expression to a language which covers large populations and geographical areas, has a long written tradition, and has been the locus of major intellectual fervor and debate.

The Arabic and English languages have developed along separate lines over the centuries. Thus, it is no surprise that even apart from purely cultural elements, there are distinctive characteristics of the two languages that pose particular problems to native speakers of one language attempting to learn the other. The scholarly papers of Diversity in Language: Contrastive Studies in Arabic and English Theoretical and Applied Linguistics offer new views on the contrasts between Arabic and English and on contemporary theoretical and applied linguistics. Contributors focus on an array of elusive features that make the Arabic language especially difficult for English speakers to understand fully and intuitively. Comparative studies of English and Arabic, including research on the acquisition of Arabic or English as a second language, underscore the concept of diversity. Contributors to Diversity in Language also investigate stylistics, a major source of diversity between the two languages. Practical observations and suggestions may help teachers of Arabic or English as a second language enable students to better understand their second language and become more persuasive and effective in using it. The papers assembled here will be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of scholars and students of Arabic, contrastive rhetoric, and linguistics. Teachers of English as a foreign language, even if their students are not primarily from an Arabic-speaking background, can likewise benefit from the insights made in these contrastive studies. Contributors: Jehan Allam, El-Said Badawi, Huda M. M. Ghali, Mona Kamel Hassan, Nancy G. Hottel-Burkhart, Christopher Horger, Salwa Kamel, Abdel-Hakeem Kasem, Nagwa Kassabgy, Mohammad Al-Khawalda, Nabila El-Taher Makhlouf, Maha El-Seidi, Cynthia May Sheikholeslami, Devin Stewart, Loubna A. Youssef.

This lively introduction to Arabic linguistics provides students with a concise, vivid and engaging overview of the language's structure.

A Linguistic History of Arabic presents a reconstruction of proto-Arabic by the methods of historical-comparative linguistics. It challenges the traditional conceptualization of an old, Classical language evolving into the contemporary Neo-Arabic dialects. Professor Owens combines established comparative linguistic methodology with a careful reading of the classical Arabic sources, such as the grammatical and exegetical traditions. He arrives at a richer and more complex picture of early Arabic language history than is current today and in doing so establishes the basis for a comprehensive, linguistically-based understanding of the history of Arabic. The arguments are set out in a concise, case by case basis, making it accessible to students and scholars of Arabic and Islamic culture, as well as to those studying Arabic and historical linguists.