The Arabic Language

ARABIC العربى مصطفي گكجن

Recitation of the first page of Surat-ul Yâsîn,[object Object]

It possesses a richliterary heritage dating back to the pre-Islamic eraAfro-Asiatic Semitic Arabic

Introduction to Arabic ,[object Object],[object Object]

250 million as second language

Total : over 530 millionEthnologue(1999),[object Object]

The only written evidence is in the form of epigraphic material (brief rock inscriptions and graffiti) found in northwest and central Arabia.,[object Object]

The next period, the third through fifth centuries, is usually referred to as Early Arabic

There are again few literary artifacts from this age, but it is known that there was extensive commercial and cultural interaction with Christian and Jewish cultures during this time, an era of both Roman and Byzantine rule in the Levant and the Fertile Crescent.,[object Object]

Due to the attraction of poetry and elouqence, meaningful sayings would remain in people`s memories and be passed down the generations.In consequence of this innate need, therefore, the goods most in demand in the immaterial market of that people were eloquence and fine speech. ,[object Object]

They even wrote in gold on the walls of the Ka`ba the seven qasidas of seven poets called the al-Mu’allaqat al-Sab’a, and took great pride in them.,[object Object]

The most important of their miracles were in those fields.,[object Object]

From that time on, Arabic was not only a languageof great poetic power and sophistication, but also permanently sacralized; as thechosen language for the Qur'an, it became the object of centuries of religiousstudy and exegesis, theological analysis, and grammatical analysis.,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

The language era from the thirteenth century to the eighteenth is generallyknown as “Middle Arabic,” although there is some ambiguity to this term. Duringthis time, the Classical Arabic of early Islam remained the literary language, but thespoken Arabic of everyday life shifted into regional variations.

They continuedto evolve along their own lively and supple paths, calibrating to the changes of everydaylife over thecenturies, but never reaching the status of separate languages.,[object Object]

The modern period of Arabic dates approximately from the end of the eighteenthcentury, with the spread of literacy, theconcept of universal education, the inceptionof journalism, and exposure to Western writing practices and styles such aseditorials, short stories, plays, and novels.

Many linguists make a distinctionbetween Classical Arabic (CA), the name of the literary language of the previouseras, and the modern form of literary Arabic, commonly known (in English)asModern Standard Arabic ( MSA).,[object Object]

Interms of linguistic structure, CA and MSA are largely but not completely similar.

The high degree of similarity between CA and MSAgives strong continuity to the literary and Islamic liturgical tradition.,[object Object]

The Arab world today is characterized by a high degree of linguistic and culturalcontinuity. Arabic is the official language of all the members of the Arab League,from North Africa to the Arabian Gulf.

Although geography (including great distancesand land barriers such as deserts and mountains) accounts formuch of thediversity of regional vernaculars, a shared history, cultural background and religion act to unify Arab society and give it a profound sense ofcohesion and identity.,[object Object]

First, it is written from right to left;

Second, letters within words areconnected in cursive style rather than printed individually;

Third, short vowelsare normally invisible;

And finally, there is no distinction between uppercase andlowercase letters. These features can combine to make Arabicscript seem impenetrableto a foreigner at first. ,[object Object]

First of all, it is reasonably phonetic; that is, thereis a good fit between the way words are spelled and the way they are pronounced.

And secondly, word structure and spelling are very systematic,[object Object]

The Modern Standard Arabic sound system has six vowel phonemes: three “long”ones and three “short”: / ii/ and /i/, /uu/ and /u/, /aa/ and /a/.,[object Object]

Short vowels, on theother hand, are not independent letters and are written only asdiacritical marksabove and below the body of the word. Inactual practice, short vowels are notindicated in written Arabictext; they are invisible.,[object Object]

Definiteness and indefiniteness markers ,[object Object]

The definite article in Arabic is spelled with alif-laam and is attached as a prefix.,[object Object]

The nominative case is used for the subject and predicate nounoradjective.

The accusative case is used for the direct object, predicativecomplement in verbal sentences, and for most adverbs.

The genitive case is used for expressing possession and after prepositions.,[object Object],[object Object]

sun letters, حُرُوفٌ شَمْسِيَّةٌ assimilating

moon letters, حُرُوفٌ قَمَرِيَّةٌ non-assimilating,[object Object]

Sun letters ,[object Object],[object Object]

Moon letters ,[object Object],قَمَرٌ a moon أَلْقَمَرُ the moon كِتَابٌ a book أَلْكِتَابُ the book

When the adjective functions as predicate in a nominal sentence (predicative construction), it is always indefinite, even when the subject is definite:أَلْمَتْحَفُ جَمِيلٌThe museum (is) beautiful/nice. ألْبَيْتُ وَاسِعٌThe house (is) large.

Adjectives ,[object Object],لْوَاسِعُأَلْبَيْتthe large house بَيْتٌ وَاسِعٌa large house OR A house is large

Nominal and verbal sentences ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

verb + subject + object or complement

The subject is normally in the nominative case. The direct object,whichmay occur only with transitive verbs, is in the accusative case

خَرَجَ طَالِبٌ A student went out. أَكَلَ كَلْبٌ خُبْزًا A dog ate bread.,[object Object]

(a) Masculine nouns, أَلْمُذَكَّرُare without specialform.

(b) Feminine nouns, أَلْمُؤَنَّثُhave several forms,[object Object]

When the letter hâ هis written with two dots above ةit is pronounced as /t/, exactly like the letter ت.It is then called tâ marbûtah and occurs only at the end of a word, mostly to indicate the feminine gender of nouns or adjectives. The most common way to derive feminine nouns and adjectives is by adding the ending .َ ةٌ to the masculine form, e.g.

NOUNS - Gender ,[object Object],e.g. يَدٌعَيْنٌرِجْلٌ ,[object Object],أُمٌّعَرُوسٌحَامِلٌ ,[object Object],حَرْبٌأَرْضٌشَمْسٌ

Number - Dual and plural ,[object Object],singular مُفْرَدٌdual مُثَنًّىplural جَمْعٌ Dual ,[object Object]

يْنِfor accusative and genitive,[object Object]

(a) The sound pluralmay be compared to the Englishexternal plural or regular plural.

(b) The broken plural may be compared to the Englishinternal or irregular plural.,[object Object]

ينَ .in the accusative and genitive

The Arabic Language

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The Arabic Language