- Arabic Language & Culture
University of Amsterdam
Spuistraat 134, room 206
1012 VB Amsterdam
The Netherlands
tel. +31-20-525 4680 / 4615
Liesbeth Zack
University of Amsterdam, Arabic Language and Culture, Department Member
[=Brill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture, v. 22.]. E-book: ISBN: 978-90-04-42700-6. Hardback: ISBN: 978-90-04-42460-9. (319 pp.). Missionary Linguistic Studies from Mesoamerica to Patagonia presents the results of in-depth... more
[=Brill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture, v. 22.]. E-book: ISBN: 978-90-04-42700-6. Hardback: ISBN: 978-90-04-42460-9. (319 pp.).
Missionary Linguistic Studies from Mesoamerica to Patagonia presents the results of in-depth studies of grammars, vocabularies and religious texts, dating from the sixteenth – nineteenth century. The researches involve twenty (extinct) indigenous Mesoamerican and South American languages: Matlatzinca, Mixtec, Nahuatl, Purépecha, Zapotec (Mexico); K’iche, Kaqchikel (Guatemala); Amage, Aymara, Cholón, Huarpe, Kunza, Mochica, Mapudungun, Proto-Tacanan, Pukina, Quechua, Uru-Chipaya (Peru); Tehuelche (Patagonia); (Tupi-)Guarani (Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay).
The results of the studies include: a) a digital model of a good, conveniently arranged vocabulary, applicable to all indigenous Amerindian languages; b) disclosure of intertextual relationships, language contacts, circulation of knowledge; c) insights in grammatical structures; d) phone analyses; e) transcriptions, so that the texts remain accessible for further research. f) the architecture of grammars; g) conceptual evolutions and innovations in grammaticography.
Missionary Linguistic Studies from Mesoamerica to Patagonia presents the results of in-depth studies of grammars, vocabularies and religious texts, dating from the sixteenth – nineteenth century. The researches involve twenty (extinct) indigenous Mesoamerican and South American languages: Matlatzinca, Mixtec, Nahuatl, Purépecha, Zapotec (Mexico); K’iche, Kaqchikel (Guatemala); Amage, Aymara, Cholón, Huarpe, Kunza, Mochica, Mapudungun, Proto-Tacanan, Pukina, Quechua, Uru-Chipaya (Peru); Tehuelche (Patagonia); (Tupi-)Guarani (Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay).
The results of the studies include: a) a digital model of a good, conveniently arranged vocabulary, applicable to all indigenous Amerindian languages; b) disclosure of intertextual relationships, language contacts, circulation of knowledge; c) insights in grammatical structures; d) phone analyses; e) transcriptions, so that the texts remain accessible for further research. f) the architecture of grammars; g) conceptual evolutions and innovations in grammaticography.
Research Interests:
The edition of Dafʿ al-iṣr ʿan kalām ahl Miṣr (1606) by Yūsuf al-Maġribī
كتاب دفع الإصر عن كلام أهل مصر
تأليف يوسف المغربي
تحقيق اليزابيث زاك
كتاب دفع الإصر عن كلام أهل مصر
تأليف يوسف المغربي
تحقيق اليزابيث زاك
In recent scholarship, the connection between Middle Arabic and Mixed Arabic is studied in a more systematic way. The idea of studying these two varieties in one theoretical frame is quite new, and was initiated at the conferences of the... more
In recent scholarship, the connection between Middle Arabic and Mixed Arabic is studied in a more systematic way. The idea of studying these two varieties in one theoretical frame is quite new, and was initiated at the conferences of the International Association for the Study of Middle and Mixed Arabic (AIMA). At these conferences, the members of AIMA discuss the latest insights into the definition, terminology, and research methods of Middle and Mixed Arabic. Results of various discussions in this field are to be found in the present book, which contains articles describing and analysing the linguistic features of Muslim, Jewish and Christian Arabic texts (folklore, religious and linguistic literature) as well as the matters of mixed language and diglossia.
Contributors include: Berend Jan Dikken, Lutz Edzard, Jacques Grand’Henry, Bruno Halflants, Benjamin Hary, Rachel Hasson Kenat, Johannes den Heijer, Amr Helmy Ibrahim, Paolo La Spisa, Jérôme Lentin, Gunvor Mejdell, Arie Schippers, Yosef Tobi, Kees de Vreugd, Manfred Woidich, and Otto Zwartjes.
Contributors include: Berend Jan Dikken, Lutz Edzard, Jacques Grand’Henry, Bruno Halflants, Benjamin Hary, Rachel Hasson Kenat, Johannes den Heijer, Amr Helmy Ibrahim, Paolo La Spisa, Jérôme Lentin, Gunvor Mejdell, Arie Schippers, Yosef Tobi, Kees de Vreugd, Manfred Woidich, and Otto Zwartjes.
Research Interests:
Dafʿ al-iṣr ʿan kalām ahl Miṣr, “Removing the burden from the speech of the Egyptians”, was written in 1606 by Yūsuf al-Maġribī (d. 1611), and provides its readers with valuable information about the Egyptian dialect used in the 17th... more
Dafʿ al-iṣr ʿan kalām ahl Miṣr, “Removing the burden from the speech of the Egyptians”, was written in 1606 by Yūsuf al-Maġribī (d. 1611), and provides its readers with valuable information about the Egyptian dialect used in the 17th century. The work is unique because it was one of the earliest attempts to study colloquial Arabic. It is a list of Egyptian Arabic words, which al-Maġribī checked for consistency with Classical Arabic. His aim was to prove that many Egyptiandialect terms, which were considered to be “incorrect”Arabic, in fact had their roots in the Classical Arabic language. Al-Maġribī focused on the words used in daily Egyptian life, such as the names of tools and utensils and food and drink, as well as the speech of traders and artisans. These entries are often adorned by anecdotes and lines of colloquial poetry and therefore, provide the reader with insight into the culture and daily life of Egypt in this period. This volume consists of two parts: the first is a study of aspects of daily life, the colloquial poetry, the linguistic characteristics of the dialect of this period, and a glossary of the words which are mentioned byal-Maġribī and the second includes an edition of the Arabic text, based on the autograph.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The description of historical Arabic dialects brings with it a whole plethora of challenges. The most important one is that there are no native speakers left of these dialects, with the consequence that researchers have to rely on written... more
The description of historical Arabic dialects brings with it a whole plethora of challenges. The most important one is that there are no native speakers left of these dialects, with the consequence that researchers have to rely on written sources in order to discover more about the historical stages of Arabic dialects. These sources are often hard to find and even harder to interpret. This chapter will address some of these challenges, from the interpretation of Arabic orthographical habits in writing the dialect, the use of text editions, and the (un)reliability of historical sources, to the use of Latin transcription or alphabets other than the Arabic for writing the Arabic language. The chapter illustrates these issues with samples of Arabic dialect materials from various periods and origins.
Research Interests:
This paper discusses an English–Egyptian Arabic–Standard Arabic vocabulary of words and phrases related to railways and trains. This booklet, titled "English-Arabic vocabulary compiled in connection with the Egyptian State Railway... more
This paper discusses an English–Egyptian Arabic–Standard Arabic vocabulary of words and phrases related to railways and trains. This booklet, titled "English-Arabic vocabulary compiled in connection with the Egyptian State Railway Signalling School Lectures" was published by the Egyptian State Railways in the late 1920s or the early 1930s. The vocabulary includes many general, well-known vocabulary items such as ‘exit’, ‘goods’, ‘work’, etc., which are obviously all needed when working in the railways, but not of great interest. However, the vocabulary items that concern us here are those that are specific to railways, trains, train signals and train stations. While some of these can be found in the Egyptian–Arabic dictionary of Badawi and Hinds (1986), many others, especially the more technical terms, are not mentioned therein. Some other terms that are mentioned in Badawi and Hinds are still of interest to us, for instance because their etymology can tell us something about how the vocabulary used in the railways came about and how it was connected to the different foreign nations that had some involvement in the history of the railways in Egypt. For this purpose, a short history of Egypt’s railways will be given. The paper will then look at the technical vocabulary given in the booklet, focussing on the etymology (loanwords from English, French, Ottoman Turkish and Italian), calques/loan translations, and semantic extension.
Research Interests:
The subject of this essay is the alphabetization project of Daniel Willard Fiske (1831–1904). Fiske’s project would allow the Egyptians to adopt a new alphabet based on the Latin one, and to adopt Egyptian Arabic as their official written... more
The subject of this essay is the alphabetization project of Daniel Willard Fiske (1831–1904). Fiske’s project would allow the Egyptians to adopt a new alphabet based on the Latin one, and to adopt Egyptian Arabic as their official written language. The project was inspired by Fiske’s discussions with the German Orientalist Wilhelm Spitta-Bey. Fiske called in the help of his Arabic teacher, Socrates Spiro, to translate into Arabic the texts he wrote for this project. Together they produced various alphabetization materials, such as alphabet posters, reading exercises, and short stories to be used in schools as well as other publications on the Arabic language and script. These materials were distributed all over Egypt, in the hope of making the new alphabet the standard in schools as well as in the government. This essay explores Fiske’s project and its reception in Egyptian society.