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.

Understanding Arabic is an exciting new collection of studies by authors who investigate and outline the practical corollaries of Badawi's theory of Arabic.

This ebook is a selective guide designed to help scholars and students of Islamic studies find reliable sources of information by directing them to the best available scholarly materials in whatever form or format they appear from books, chapters, and journal articles to online archives, electronic data sets, and blogs. Written by a leading international authority on the subject, the ebook provides bibliographic information supported by direct recommendations about which sources to consult and editorial commentary to make it clear how the cited sources are interrelated related. A reader will discover, for instance, the most reliable introductions and overviews to the topic, and the most important publications on various areas of scholarly interest within this topic. In Islamic studies, as in other disciplines, researchers at all levels are drowning in potentially useful scholarly information, and this guide has been created as a tool for cutting through that material to find the exact source you need. This ebook is a static version of an article from Oxford Bibliographies Online: Islamic Studies, a dynamic, continuously updated, online resource designed to provide authoritative guidance through scholarship and other materials relevant to the study of the Islamic religion and Muslim cultures. Oxford Bibliographies Online covers most subject disciplines within the social science and humanities, for more information visit www.aboutobo.com.

This volume features a set of selected peer-reviewed articles, which represent research by some very prominent scholars and some promising researchers in the field. The articles cover a wide range of areas in Arabic linguistics, namely Sociolinguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, and Language Acquisition. They also feature research on a number of Arabic dialects namely Egyptian Arabic, Emirati Arabic, Jordanian Arabic, Lebanese Arabic, Sudanese Arabic, and Syrian Arabic. Some of the contributions engage prominent issues that relate to current development in the Arabic speaking world. For example Reem Bassiouney’s paper is a significant contribution in that regard. Other contributions, such as the ones by Stuart Davis, Abdel-khalig Ali, Lababidi & Park, Ntelitheos & Idrissi, present innovative studies in Arabic Morphology, Phonetics, Phonology, and Language Acquisition respectively. How Arabic can serve as a testing ground for some theoretical constructs and approaches is exemplified by Peter Hallman, Phil Crone, and Youssef Haddad’s contributions in the area of Syntax and its interface with other fields.