A General Outline of the Arabic Language

Sattar Izwaini

This chapter provides a general overview of the Arabic language and outlines its development.
An account of the characteristics of Arabic, its phonology, morphology, lexis and syntax, is
provided. The features of the varieties of Arabic and the impact of translation are also discussed.

1. The development of Arabic

Arabic is a South Semitic, North Arabian language. The earliest scripts go back to about 200
hundred years BC. These scripts (or fragmentary scripts) are found at tombs and ruins in papyri.
Before and after the advent of Islam Arabic was largely spoken. Texts were used for limited
purposes such as treaties, commercial contracts, religious texts and some exceptional poems.
Written texts at that time were the exception to the rule of oral tradition. The Holy Qur’an and
poetry are our main sources of the kind of Arabic spoken at that time.

Arabic had different geographical dialects in the Arabic peninsula that have distinct phonetic and
morphological features. One dialect uses the shiin ‫ ش‬especially for the feminine pronoun (what is
called kashkashah), for example ‫‘ أهال بش‬ahlan bish (welcome to you FEM.) in contrast to ‫ بِك‬bik.
Another dialect uses ‘am as a definite article instead of al, e.g. ‫ امسفر‬imsafar (travelling) in
contrast to ‫ السفر‬alsafar. The Hijazi dialect of Qureish, for example, did not in general use the
hamza as illustrated in the table below.

Islam played a significant role in creating a unified form of Arabic (‫ الفصحى‬fuSHaa). The Qur’an
standardized Arabic, as it uses a combination of different dialects, mainly those of Qureish and
Tameem. With the spread of Islam and non-Arab nations embracing it, the linguistic contact
influenced the right pronunciation and correct use in those regions far away from Arabia. To take
care of the right pronunciation, especially when the Qur’an was recited, scholars started to refer
to the Arabs of the desert as the authorities on the language, and recorded their linguistic usage to
adopt it in their teaching, books and dictionaries.

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Table 1: A comparison between words from Hijazi and Tameem dialects (taken from Al-Antaky
1969, 90-91)

Hijazi Qureishi dialect Tameemi dialect Meaning

‫ حيث‬heiTh ‫ حوث‬hawTh where

(relative pronoun)
‫ ذلك‬thaalika ‫ ذاك‬thaalika that MASC.

‫ تلك‬tilka ‫ تاك‬taka that FEM.

‫ الذين‬allathiina ‫ اللذون‬allathuuna who PL. MASC.

‫ منذ‬munthu ‫ مذ‬muth since

‫ فاظ‬faaZa ‫ فاض‬faadha overflow

‫ زَهد‬zahada ‫ زهـِد‬zahida to be ascetic (verb)

‫‘ إتقى‬itaqaa ‫ تقى‬taqaa to fear

‫ تخذ‬takhtha ‫‘ إتخذ‬itakhtha to take/adopt

‫ برأ‬bra’a ‫ برئ‬bari’a to be innocent

‫ براء‬baraa’ ‫ بريء‬bariy’ innocent

‫ وكد‬wakada ‫‘ أكد‬aakada to emphasize

‫ توكيد‬tawkiid ‫ تأكيد‬ta’kiid emphasis

‫ حـِصاد‬HiSaad ‫ حـَصاد‬HaSaad harvest

‫ مدين‬madiin ‫ مديون‬madiyuun borrower/indebted

‫ كراهة‬karahah ‫ كراهية‬karahiyah hatred/loathing/antipathy

‫ بير‬biir ‫ بئر‬bi’r water well

‫أوصد الباب‬ ‫ آصد الباب‬he-closed the door

‘awsada al-baaba ‘aasada al-baaba
‫أغضض من صوتك‬ ‫ غض من صوتك‬lower your voice
‘aghdhidh min sawtik ghidh min sawtik

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With the long periods of stagnation and very limited education, spoken Arabic started to develop
away from ‫ الفصحى‬fuSHaa (what is called Classical Arabic), in particular in different countries
that are geographically distant from each other. The Arabic renaissance (‫)عصر النهضة‬, the
development of education systems by national governments and the use of Arabic as an official
language all contributed to the flourishing of Arabic in modern times. The kind of Arabic that
developed since is what is called Modern Standard Arabic. ‘Standard’ is used to refer to the
unified variety of language that is mainly written, not spoken. It is important to highlight the fact
that modern Arabic is inherently fuSHaa, because despite the huge development it witnessed, its
lexical stock and structures are in general those of Classical Arabic (see Varieties of Arabic
below).

Arabic is the official language of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, with a
population of around 300 million. It is widely spoken in Iran, Pakistan and the Philippines
(Bakalla 1984, 8). Arabic is spoken by minorities in countries such as Cyprus, Iran, Turkey, some
African countries, as well as some areas in the former Soviet Union (Bakalla 1984; Versteegh
1995). Arabic is the native language of relatively large immigrant communities in North and
South America, Europe, and Australia.

Below are some aspects of the development of the lexis in Modern Arabic (see also Lexis of
Arabic as well as Impact of Translation on Arabic below).

 Semantic extension: to produce new words and word combinations, the meanings of words
were extended to cover new concepts such as ‫ سفارة‬safaarah (embassy) which used to mean
the delegation for a certain mission only, and ‫ سيارة‬sayyaarah (car) which used to be a group
of walking people. Examples of word combination include ‫ هدير الدبابة‬hadiir al-dabbaabah
(sound of a tank) where ‫ هدير‬is used to be the sound of a camel, and ‫‘ أزيز المحرك‬aziiz al-
muHarik (sound of a motor engine) where ‫ أزيز‬is used to be the sound of a boiling pot.
 Semantic shift: the meaning of words has shifted to have a different denotation, for example
‫ كتاب‬kitaab (book) used to be letter, and ‫ سجل‬sijil (register) used to be book.
 Borrowing: words introduced into the language with or without adaptation, e.g. ‫بطارية‬
baTTariyah (battery) and ‫ ترانسستور‬transistor (transistor).

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 Translation: new concepts have had to be translated, and translation thus contributed in
introducing new lexical items into Arabic, e.g. ‫ اشتراكية‬ishtiraakiyah (socialism) and
‫ الحرب الباردة‬al-Harb al-baaridah (cold war).

2. Varieties of Arabic
Arabic is usually categorised as Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The
former refers to the Arabic whose earliest text goes back to the Fifth Century, and which
remained as the official and literary language until sometime after the capture of Baghdad by
Hulagu in the Thirteenth Century. CA is the language of the Qur’an, classical literary and non-
literary works. It is characterised by its rich vocabulary and very elaborate grammar.

MSA, on the other hand, is used to refer to the modern written Arabic that functions as a formal
medium of communication in the Arab world. MSA is a preserved CA that evolved under the
influence of a long period of stagnation, translation activity, and modern style. It is mainly a
written variety (see the Table 2 below). There are also different labels used to refer to modern
Arabic such as literary Arabic and contemporary Arabic (see Bakalla 1984, 85; Holes 1995, 4;
Abd Al-Aziiz 1998).

Arabic is also looked at as having at least two varieties: the eloquent variety (faSiiHah or
fuSHaa) where the line between CA and MSA is blurred, and the vernacular or colloquial (‫العامية‬
C
aamiyah or ‫ الدارجة‬daarijah), which is mainly spoken.

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Table 2: A comparison of Standard Arabic and Colloquial Arabic

Standard Colloquial
Formal Informal
Pan-Arab Geographical dialects
- Spoken: official meetings, speeches, sermons, - Spoken: everyday interaction.
rituals, ceremonies, media (news bulletins, TV & - Written as if spoken: dialogues (in
radio broadcasting), advertisements & literary works, films, drama, and
announcements. plays), folk poetry, song lyrics,
- Written: books, literary works, essays, research advertisements, TV & radio shows,
papers, the printed press (newspapers and and informal computer-mediated
magazines), advertisements & announcements, communication (emails, chatting,
and formal computer-mediated communication text messaging, blogs, internet
(emails, text messages, blogs, internet forums, and forums, and online social
online social networking). networking).

It is important to note that these features should be looked at as ‘mainly’ not ‘solely’. The
colloquial variety can also be used in formal context and thus it moves towards the standard
variety. In the case of advertisements, the written form of the colloquial variety is used for the
sake of simplicity and to reach wider audience, especially when they are initially broadcast on
TV or radio.

The vocabulary of a spoken variety is inherently linked to CA and MSA. The huge gap between
the standard and spoken varieties has led to a somewhat diglossic situation in the Arab world –
that is to say, the distinction is so great that the varieties of Arabic can be thought of as two
different languages (Ferguson 1959; Zaghoul 1980). The gap between MSA and colloquial
varieties is wider than that found in other languages due to reasons such as historical
developments, lack or availability of education, and level of exposure to CA. The faSiiHah vs.
colloquial paradigm can be best be looked at as a continuum where there are different levels in
between. These can be categorized as proposed by Elsaid Badawi (taken from Versteegh 1995,
191):

1. ‫ فصحى التراث‬fuSHaa al-turaaTh Classical Arabic

2. ‫ فصحى العصر‬fuSHaa al-CaSr Modern Standard Arabic: the standard form of the language
which is mainly the written form as described in the table above.

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 3. ‫عامية المثقفين‬Caamiyat al-muThaqafiin colloquial of the intellectuals: the formal spoken
language of educated people.
4. ‫ عامية المتنورين‬Caamiyat al-mutanawriin colloquial of the literate, the informal spoken
language of educated people.
5. ‫ عامية األميين‬Caamiyat al-‘umiyiin colloquial of the illiterate: the language in which the
illiterate talk.

The variety number 4 is probably better called ‫ عامية المتعلمين‬Caamiyat al-mutaClimiin, to refer to
the kind of language spoken by those who have attained some level of education.

The term dialect is basically geographical in nature and usually associated with a certain country
though many dialects can be found in different regions, cities, towns and even villages in that
particular country. Furthermore, a dialect of a certain country is usually linked to the one of the
capital that people from other countries are familiar with, for example Cairo dialect is the one
referred to as Egyptian dialect, Iraqi dialect is that of Baghdad, and Syrian dialect is that of
Damascus. Hence, one can talk about macro-dialects and micro-dialects where the former is that
of the country-capital, and the latter of other cities or regions of the same country.

Arabic has also been subject to the influence of foreign languages throughout its history. It
borrowed mainly from Greek and Persian. In modern times, it has borrowed from European
languages, English and French in particular. Spoken Arabic of different dialects has also
borrowed from English, French, Italian, Persian, and Turkish.

The two varieties of Arabic (standard and colloquial) led some writers, Arab and non-Arab, in the
early and mid-nineteenth century to call for abandoning the standard language and use the
colloquial. Some of them even called for replacing the Arabic script by the Latin script to copy
the Turkish model. Their argument was that in order to modernize the Arab world, the language
needed to be modernized first.

3. Phonology and Graphology

The sounds of Arabic are made of 28 consonants, six vowels and two diphthongs. A consonant is
the production of a sound with an obstruction of the air flow at some point by the articulatory

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organs (tongue, teeth, palate, glottis etc.). The consonants should be differentiated from the letters
(alphabet) where the latter is the written representation of sounds, and the former is phonological,
i.e. sounds.

Arabic does not allow consonant clusters of two consonants in the initial position.i Consonant
clusters are a sequence of two or more consonants without a vowel in between. Consonant
clusters of up to two consonants can occur in middle or final positions. Cases of initial clusters,
however, can be found in spoken varieties, for example the pronunciation of the name ‫( سْعيد‬sCiid)
in Emirati dialect where the first two consonants are adjacent in an initial position, i.e. there is no
vowel after the first consonant.

Vowels are those sounds that are produced with no obstruction of the air flow. Arabic has three
long vowels, aa, uu, ii (represented by the letters ‫ألف‬, ‫واو‬, and ‫ الياء‬respectively), which are the
long versions of the short vowels that are represented by the harakaat (diacritics), fathah (a),
damah (u), and kasrah (i) respectively. The letters ‫( و‬waw) and ‫( ي‬yaa’) are also used to represent
two consonants that are semi-vowels, since these sounds are like vowels, which makes these two
letters have a double role. Arabic semi-vowels usually occur initially, as in ‫ ولد‬walad (boy) and
‫ يسار‬yasaar (left). These are phonologically different form the long vowels uu ‫ واو‬as in ‫ نور‬nuur
(light) and ii ‫ الياء‬as in ‫ قديم‬qadiim (old).

One aspect of the Arabic writing system is the diacritic forms (harakaat or tashkeel) of its three
short vowels, which are not usually written since word pronunciation can be easily recognized by
native speakers. However, short vowels are represented in the Qur’an and children’s books to
ensure correct pronunciation, and elsewhere to clarify difference in meaning, for example ‫مستع ِمـر‬
mustaCmir (colonizer) and ‫ مستع َمـر‬mustaCmar (colonized). While not having actual characters to
represent the short vowels can be problematic in getting the right meaning of words, especially in
natural language processing and machine translation, Arabic writing is thus economical in that
words are much shorter than a written form with the vowels represented as actual letters.

Being represented by diacritics, short vowels are looked at as secondary to the other sounds
(consonants and long vowels) since these are written as letters. Sometimes people are misled by
the written form into the thinking that the alif ‫ألف‬, waw ‫واو‬, and yaa’ ‫ الياء‬are the only vowels in

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Arabic.

Arabic has two diphthongs, which are a combination of two vowels. These are ei as in ‫ بيت‬beit
(home) and aw as in ‫ نوم‬nawm (sleeping).

Germination in Arabic is having a double consonant sound, which is represented by the diacritic
(‫ )ــّـ‬as in darrasa ‫( درّس‬to teach). When words that start with one of a group of 14 consonants
(called shamsi letters ‫ )األحرف الشمسية‬are definite (by adding ‫ أل التعريف‬al at the beginning), the l
sound of the definite article changes into that first consonant of that word and assimilates with it
to produce a double sound. For example, the definite form of ‫ شمس‬shams (sun) is ashshams. The
14 consonants are ‫ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن‬.

The alphabet is made of 29 letters, including the hamza (glottal stop), which is usually neglected
or confused with the alif only because it is mostly written along with an alif. Arabic writing used
to have no signs for vowels, which were added along with letter dots in the 8th century. Some
letters, especially the alif, are still not written in words such as ‫ لكن‬laakin (but) and ‫ هذا‬haathaa
(this). The final taa’ (taa’ marbuutah) when at the end of a word is written as a taa’, but
pronounced as a haa’ (‫ )هـ‬and thus called ‫( هاء الوقف‬roughly the pause haa’), for example ‫حقيبة‬
Haqiibah (bag). When it is in the first word of a construct (compound of two elements), it is
usually pronounced as taa’ /t/, as in ‫ حقيبة الولد‬Haqiibat al-walad (the boy’s bag).ii

4. Morphology
The morphological scale ‫ الميزان الصرفي‬al-miizaan al-Sarfy is the basic method or procedure that
indicates the morphological forms of the Arabic words. If we have C for consonant, and the root
k t b (denoting the notion of writing), the pattern of the verb kataba ‫( كتب‬to write) for example is
CaCaCa. The agent (doer) or present participle is of the pattern CaaCiC ‫ كاتب‬kaatib (writer), and
the past participle is maCCuuC ‫ مكتوب‬maktuub (letter or written text/written item). The initial ma
is a member of a set of affixes used to denote different semantic or phonological significance, or
for inflectional purposes (Al-Suyuuty 1980, 244ff).iii Also, an initial hamza makes the verb,
among other things, transitive, for example ‫ َعـلِـم‬Calima (to know) and ‫‘ أعلم‬aClama (to inform).
Adding the prefix ist can make the verb denote request, e.g. istaktaba ‫( استكتب‬request to write

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down). Other meanings can be appointment, as in ‫ استوزر‬istawzara (to appoint as a minister),
transformation, as in ‫ استنسر‬istanasara (to become like an eagle), and opinion, as in ‫استنكر‬
istankara (to find unacceptable).

The vocabulary of Arabic is based on consonantal roots and derivational patterns according to
which words are built. The majority is triconsonantal (‫ )ثالثية‬with a few quadriconsonantal (‫)رباعية‬
and even five-consonant roots. There is evidence of biconsonantal words, which is a controversial
issue. Derivational patterns are made of a combination of consonants and specific vowels that
help in giving words a certain meaning. A change or addition of a vowel (or more) or one letter
(or more) can lead to change in meaning, as in kataba ‫( كتب‬wrote) and kutiba ‫( كـُـتب‬was written),
kaatib ‫( كاتب‬writer) and kaatibaan ‫( كاتبان‬two writers) respectively. The source noun, al-maSdar
‫المصدر‬,iv designates the abstract notion of the process or action of the corresponding verb. It is
usually referred to in order to have the right pattern of derivatives such as adjectives and nouns
that denote the same idea. The past tense is usually taken as the base form.

Patterns tend to have specific meanings where some patterns have different semantic denotations.
Furthermore, words derived from a certain root are linked to the original meaning of the root, for
example, ‫ ق ّر‬qarr (to settle), ‫‘ أقر‬aqarra (to settle on something, i.e. to adopt), ‫ استقرار‬istiqraar
(settling on a status, i.e. stability), qarrara ‫( قرر‬to settle on an opinion, i.e. to decide), ‫ قرار‬qaraar
(the point where things are settled, i.e. decision/lowest point in a well or sea), ‫ مقر‬maqarr (where
one is settled, i.e. office/headquarter).

Verb patterns are limited in number to about two dozen, whereas noun patterns are of a very large
number and many are only rarely used (Al-Mubaarak 1964, 133). Verb patterns include
CaCCaCa ‫فعّل‬: causative (with intensity) as in ‫ كسّر‬kassara (to break into many pieces),
inCaCaCa ‫انفعل‬: reflexive, e.g. ‫ انكسر‬inksara (to break, intransitive), CaCaCCala ‫تفعّل‬: reflexive
(with intensity) as in ‫ تكسّر‬takassara (to break by itself into many pieces), CaaCaCa ‫فاعل‬:
reciprocal (one subject & one object) as in ‫ سابَـق‬saabaqa (to race), CaCaaCaCa ‫تفاعل‬: reciprocal
(two subjects) as in ‫ تسابق‬tasaabaqa (to race with each other), iCCaCCa ‫افع ّل‬: change quality as in
‫ اصفر‬iSfarra (to turn yellow), and istaCCaCa ‫استفعل‬: request, order, change, or opinion (see
above).

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Gemination (sound doubling) is also used to give a different meaning. For example, doubling the
second consonant of the verb makes the action repeated and intense, e.g. ‫ قطع‬qaTaCa (to cut) vs.
‫ قطـّع‬qaTTaCa (to cut into many pieces), or to add or provide with as in ‫ ش ّجر‬shajjar (to plant with
trees). A known rule in Arabic semantics is that the larger a structure is, the more meaning it
denotes – or rather, a larger structure denotes a different meaning.

Some noun patterns tend to have a specific meaning. For example, the pattern CaCaCaan usually
denotes motion or excitement, as in ‫ غليان‬ghalayaan (boiling). Patterns are usually specific for
some semantic sets. The pattern CuCaa’ refers to sounds, for example ‫ رغاء‬rughaa’ (camel’s
growl) and ‫ عواء‬Cuwaa’ (barking/howling). The pattern CiCaaCah denotes professions and their
domains such as ‫ زراعة‬ziraaCah (farming) and ‫ تجارة‬tijaarah (commerce). Some patterns can have
more than one denotation, for example the pattern taCaaCaCa can mean both reciprocal action
where the subject, who is more than one, shares doing the action, e.g. ‫ تسابق‬tasaabaqa (to race), as
well as pretense, e.g. ‫ تمارض‬tamaaradha (to pretend being sick). The superlative, for instance,
can be denoted by aCCal as in ‫‘ أحسن‬aHsan (better) and CuCCaa as in ‫ صغرى‬Sughraa (youngest
FEM).

Adjectives are treated as a subcategory of nouns in traditional Arabic grammar. They can be of
the present participle pattern, as in ‫ واقف‬waaqif (standing), or past participle/passive pattern, as in
‫ مكتوب‬maktoob (written) or ‫ غريق‬ghariiq (drowned). Some adjective patterns denote some special
characteristics, for example CaCCaaC denotes intense action and great capability, as in ‫كذاب‬
kathaab (repeatedly lying). Such denotation can also be expressed by patterns like miCCaal as in
ّ Callaamah (a scholar of great
‫ مهذار‬mihthaar (talking too much), and CaCCaaCah as in ‫عالمة‬
authority). This can also be seen in comparing ‫ كسالن‬kaslaan (temporarily lazy) and ‫ كسول‬kasool
(always lazy).

Adjectives can also be formed by attaching the suffix y to nouns. This is referred to as nisba
adjective and is used for nationality or country of origin, e.g. ‫ يمني‬yamaniy (Yemeni); a surname
related to hometown, e.g. ‫ بغدادي‬baghdaadiy (Baghdadi); a tribe, e.g. ‫ تميمي‬tamimiy (of Tamim); or
to indicate some attribute, feature or composition, as in ‫ نفسي‬nafsiy (psychological) and ‫قطني‬
quTniy (made of cotton). Adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in case, gender, and

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number (see Inflection below).

Inflection
Arabic has a sophisticated inflectional system. Nouns have three cases (‫)حاالت اعرابية‬: nominative
‫الرفع‬, accusative ‫النصب‬/‫المفعولية‬, and genitive ‫الجر‬, with exceptions that are made according to some
conditions. Nominative is the case of the subject ‫الفاعل‬, topic ‫المبتدأ‬, or comment ‫ الخبر‬as well as the
ّ ‘inna.
topic of the group of ‫ كان‬kaana, and the comment of the group of ‫إن‬

Accusative is the case of objects, vocatives ‫المنادى‬, and nouns preceded by the exceptive particle
(‫ )اداة استثناء‬or emphasis particle (‫ )توكيد‬as well as the comment of the group of ‫ كان‬kaana, and the
ّ ‘inna. The accusative is also the case of different kinds of adverbs.
topic of the group of ‫إن‬

The genitive is the case of nouns preceded by prepositions and quantifiers and non-head nouns in
compounds (‫)المضاف اليه‬. Spoken varieties usually drop case and mood markers, i.e. vowels at the
end of words (‫)الحركة االعرابية‬. In the standard language, this is the case only at a pause position,
i.e. at the end of saying a word whether alone or at the end of sentences; in other words, markers
at the end of a sentence are not pronounced.v

Verbs have two tenses: past and present, which are also termed perfect and imperfect. The notion
of future can be realised by attaching the prefix ‫ س‬sa to the present tense form or by a
combination of the present tense form and the particle ‫ سوف‬sawfa or using future time adverbs.

Verbs in Arabic have three moods. The indicative mood (‫ )الرفع‬of the Arabic verb is the
unmarked mood, i.e. the default form. The subjunctive mood (‫ )النصب‬is restricted to the present
tense and is triggered by particles that signify negation, ‫ لن‬lan; purpose, ‫ كي‬kay; purpose and/or
time, ‫ حتى‬Hataa; cause, ‫ فاء السببية‬faa’; and consequence, ‫‘ إذن‬ithan. Jussive (‫ )الجزم‬is also restricted
to the present tense, and is used in conditional sentences (‫ )الشرط‬and with particles of negation
such as ‫ لم‬lam, which is used to negate the past time that is relevant to the present; ‫ لما‬lamaa,
which negates an event in the distant past prior to another event in the past; and prohibition, ‫ال‬
laa. The imperative form is used to give orders and instructions as well as in conditional
sentences. Reflexive meaning is realised by the pattern inCaCaCa e.g. ‫ انكسر‬inkasara (to break)
which denotes that the action of the verb is not necessarily caused by another agent. The passive

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voice for triconsonantal verbs takes the pattern CuCiCa ‫ كـُـتِب‬kutiba (was written).

Definiteness
Definiteness is realized by adding the article al at the beginning of the word. Indefiniteness, on
the other hand, is marked by having no definite article attached; instead nunation (‫ )تنوين‬occurs,
which means adding an n in a final position after the case-ending vowel (‫ )الحركة االعرابية‬of a
single noun, an adjective, regular feminine plural, and irregular plural.

Table 3: Definite and indefinite forms with nunation of a single noun and regular feminine plural

Definite Definite Definite Indefinite ‫نكرة‬ Indefinite Indefinite

‫معرفة‬ accusative genitive case nominative accusative genitive case
nominative case ‫منصوب‬ ‫مجرور‬ case ‫مرفوع‬ case ‫منصوب‬ ‫مجرور‬
case ‫مرفوع‬
Single ُ‫الكتاب‬ ‫الكتاب‬
َ ‫ب‬
ِ ‫الكتا‬ ‫كتاب‬ ‫كتابا‬ ‫كتاب‬
noun al-kitaabu al-kitaaba al-kitaabi kitaabun kitaaban kitaabin
(the book) (a book)
Regular ُ ‫المعلم‬
‫ات‬ ‫ت‬
ِ ‫المعلما‬ ‫ت‬
ِ ‫المعلما‬ ‫معلمات‬ ‫معلمات‬ ‫معلمات‬
feminine
al- al- al- muCalimaatun muCalimaatin muCalimaatin
plural
muCalimaatu muCalimaativi muCalimaatui (teachers
(the teachers FEM.)
FEM.)

Nunation is also a characteristic of some adverbs, such as adverbs of time as in ‫ سافرنا ليال‬saafarna
leilan (we travelled at night); adverbs of manner ‫ الحال‬as in ‫ جاء راكضا‬jaa’a raakidhan (he came
running); absolute objects ‫ المفعول المطلق‬as in ‫ فرح فرحا عظيما‬fariHa faraHan CaZiiman (he felt so
happy); and adverbs of frequency as in ‫ دائما‬daa’iman (always) and ‫ نادرا‬naadiran (rarely).

Gender
Nouns and adjectives have two genders: masculine (‫ )مذكر‬and feminine (‫)مؤنث‬, for example ‫رجل‬
rajul (man) and ‫‘ إمرأة‬imra’ah (woman). The masculine is also used as a generic form for mixed
and neutral gender. Some words can be neutral or common for both masculine and feminine, such
as ‫ شخص‬shakhS (person) and ‫ رهينة‬rahiinah (hostage). The feminine gender is either based on the
masculine form, for example ‫ موظفة‬muwaZafah (employee FEM.) by adding the feminine marker
‫( ـة‬final taa’) to ‫ موظف‬muwaZaf (employee MASC.), or ends with a feminine marker such as aa’
as in ‫ زرقاء‬zarqaa’ (blue FEM.), or a long aa suffix as in ‫ صغرى‬Sughraa (youngest/smallest

12
FEM.).

Number
Arabic has singular form, dual form for two only, and plural form for more than two. The dual
marker is the suffix aani for the nominative ‫حالة الرفع‬, as in ‫ موظفا ِن‬muwaZafaani (2 employees
MASC.) and ‫ موظفتا ِن‬muwaZafataani (2 employees FEM.), and ayni for the accusative
‫النصب‬/‫ المفعولية‬and genitive ‫الجر‬, as in ‫ موظفـَـي ِن‬muwaZafayni (2 employees MASC.) and ‫موظفتي ِن‬
muwaZafatayni (2 employees FEM.).

The plural can be regular or irregular. Regular plural complies with gender in that the masculine
form takes the marker uuna for the nominative, as in ‫ موظفون‬muwaZafuuna (employers MASC.),
and iina for the accusative and genitive, as in ‫ موظفين‬muClimiina. The regular feminine plural
ُ ‫ موظف‬muwaZafaatu (employers
takes the final marker aat. The nominative case is aatu, e.g. ‫ات‬
FEM), and the accusative and genitive cases are aati, as in ‫ت‬
ِ ‫ موظفا‬muwaZafmaati (see
Definiteness and Table 3 above).

Irregular plurals can also have patterns. Such patterns are also analogical in that nouns and
adjectives of a particular form have a common structure according to which it is constructed, for
example:

‫ جبل‬jabal (mountain) ‫ جبال‬jibaal (mountains)

‫ يوم‬yawm (day) ‫‘ أيام‬ayaam (days)
‫ دم‬dam (blood) ‫ دماء‬dimaa’ (bloods)
‫ كتاب‬kitaab (book) ‫ كـُـتــ ُب‬kutub (books)
‫ ذراع‬thiraaC (arm) ‫‘ أذرع‬athruC (arms)
‫ درس‬dars (lesson) ‫ دروس‬duruus (lessons)
‫‘ أسود‬swad (black) ‫ سود‬suud (blacks)
‫ وزير‬waziir (minister) ‫ وزراء‬wuzaraa’ (ministers)
‫ قاتل‬qaatil (killer) ‫ قتلة‬qatalha (killers)

Different plural forms can denote different meanings, e.g. beit ‫( بيت‬home), buyuut ‫( بيوت‬homes),
and ‘abyaat ‫( أبيات‬lines of poetry). The plural form is the pattern of analogy if no root can be
traced for the word. This is particularly useful for loan words whose plural form is the regular

13
feminine (‫)جمع مؤنث سالم‬, for example ‫ تلفزيونات‬tilfizyonaat (TV sets).

5. Lexis
This section discusses issues in Arabic word formation like derivation, compounding, and
abbreviation, as well as semantic relations such as synonymy, polysemy, antonymy, homonymy,
and collocation.

Derivation
Analogical derivation (‫ )االشتقاق القياسي‬according to the morphological scale (‫ )الميزان الصرفي‬is a
central notion and practice in Arabic word formation (see Morphology of Arabic above). Words
are derived according to the analogical patterns that function as lexical templates. Arabic lexis is
produced by root-and-pattern and affixation. Derivatives of roots are usually linked by the core
meaning of the root. Words are derived according to patterns of semantic significance.

Forms of present participle (‫)اسم الفاعل‬, as in ‫ سائق‬saa’iq (driver); past participle (‫)اسم المفعول‬, as in
‫ مكسور‬maksoor (broken); tools and machines (‫)سم اآللة‬, e.g. ‫ ِمبرد‬mibrad (file/rasp), ‫ ساطور‬saaTuur
(chopper), ‫ مفتاح‬miftaaH (key); comparative and superlative (‫)اسم التفضيل‬, e.g. ‫ أكبر‬akbar (bigger,
older); diminutive (‫)التصغير‬, e.g. ‫ كـُـتيب‬kutayib (booklet), ‫ نُهير‬nuheir (small river); feminine
(‫المؤنث‬, see Gender above); place, as in ‫ مجلس‬majlis (sitting/meeting place); and passive voice
(‫المبني للمجهول‬, see Inflection above) are all derived according to those patterns.

Some patterns indicate repeated and intense action, or high level of some trait. Examples of this
include CaCCaal, as in ‫ كذاب‬kaththaab (repeatedly lying); CaCuuC, as in ‫ نؤوم‬na’uum (always
sleeping) or ‫ طروب‬Taruub (singing all the time); miCCaal, as in ‫ مزواج‬mizwaaj (marrying many
ّ Callaamah (scholar of great authority).
times); and CaCCaaCah as in ‫عالمة‬

Words are also produced by onomatopoeia, i.e. reflecting the sound of the action. For
example, ‫ حمحمة‬HamHamah (sound of a horse) or ‫ خرير‬khariir (sound of water).

Roots of Arabic words can have similar or ‘adjacent’ meaning when one consonant is different,
or when having one more consonant, for example ‫ ح ّز‬Hazza (to notch/incise) and ‫ ج ّز‬jazza (to

14
shear/fleece) or ‫ قط‬qaTTa (to sharpen) and ‫ قص‬qaSSa (to cut). Other examples include ‫طمح‬
TamaHa (to aspire to) and ‫ طمع‬TamaCa (to covet), and ‫ صلب‬Salib (tough) and ‫ صلد‬Salid (solid/not
hollow). Other pairs can show opposite meanings, such as ‫ يسير‬yasiir (easy, accessible) and ‫عسير‬
C
asiir (hard, inaccessible), and ‫ قريب‬qariib (close, relative) and ‫ غريب‬ghariib (stranger, non-
relative) (see also Antonymy below).

Compounding
Compounds are usually made of two words, and can be additive (noun + noun, ‫مضاف ومضاف إليه‬
mudhaaf & mudhaaf ‘ilayh) as in ‫ كتاب الطالب‬kitaab al-Taalib (book [of] the student). A
compound can also be adjectival (noun + adjective) as in ‫ كتاب مدرسي‬kitaab madrasiy (textbook).
Additive compounds can have semantic significance to refer to cause-effect relation, process,
place, time, description, part-whole, possession, or characteristics (Mustafa 1951, 75; Wright
1991, 199). Adjectival compounds mainly denote material and characteristics. Both kinds are
head-initial, i.e. the head noun comes first (mudhaaf or noun) and the modifier comes second
(mudhaf ‘ilayh or adjective).

Elements of the additive compound can either be both indefinite (‫)نكرة‬, e.g. ‫ لوحة رسم‬lawHat rasm
(drawing board), or the head is indefinite and the modifier is definite (‫)معرفة‬. In the latter case, the
definite marker is attached to the non-head only (‫)مضاف إليه‬, as in ‫ كتاب الطالب‬kitaabu al-Tallib
(book [of] the-student). Whereas in the adjectival compound, both elements have to have the
same definiteness status, i.e. they must be both either definite (‫ )معرفة‬or indefinite (‫ )نكرة‬e.g.
‫ محرك ياباني‬muHarrik yabaany (a Japanese motor) or ‫ المحرك الياباني‬al-muHarrik al-yabaany (the
Japanese motor).

Compounding in Arabic is sometimes referred to as the form of compounding where the

constituent elements become one orthographical word rather than two, e.g. ‫ بعلبك‬baCalbak (town
name) (see Al-Antaky 1969, 326; Abd Al-Tawab 1980, 307). Some scholars include
compounding along with blending under the term (‫ النحت‬naHt) (Al-Antaky 1969, 327; Minajyan
1972, 164), whereas blending is merging two or more words with some parts of the words deleted
as in the verb ‫ بسمل‬basmala (from ‫)بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬. Even borrowings of foreign compounds are
included under naHt, e.g. ‫ فسفوريك‬fisforiik (phosphoric) (see Minajyan 1972, 175).

15
Translation has also introduced compounds that reflect the foreign word formation processes:
‫ فوق البنفسجية‬fawq al-banafsajiyah (ultraviolet), ‫ تحت الحمراء‬taHt al-Hmaraa’ (infrared), ‫السلكي‬
laasilky (wireless), and ‫‘ أفروآسيوي‬afro ‘aasyawiy (Afro-Asian).

Blending (‫ النحت‬naHt) in Arabic is rare and has no rules to follow. Classical examples are ‫بسملة‬
basmalah and ‫ حوقلة‬Hawqalah (from ‫)ال حول وال قوة إال باهلل‬. Modern examples are mainly
translations of foreign words or blends, for example ‫ بتروكيمياوي‬bitrokiimyaawy (petrochemical).

Abbreviation
Abbreviation is not productive in Arabic and is therefore rare. Examples of Arabic abbreviation
include the letters ‫( هـ‬h) and ‫( م‬m) for ‫ هجري‬hijry (Hijry) and ‫ ميالدي‬milaady (western calendars)
respectively. Other abbreviations include blended intialisms of units of measurement, such as ‫كجم‬
kjm or ‫ كغم‬kghm for ‫ كيلوجرام‬kiilogjraam/ ‫ كيلوغرام‬kiiloghraam respectively (Kilogram), and ‫ ملل‬mll
for ‫ مليلتر‬miliylatir (milliliter) which are the Arabic versions of foreign units. Intialisms are either
foreign like ‫ بي بي سي‬bi bi si (BBC), or native such as ‫ ذ م م‬th m m for ‫ ذات مسؤولية محدودة‬thata
mas’uuliyahtin maHduudah (of limited liability) and ‫ ص ب‬S b for ‫ صندوق بريد‬Sanduuq bariid (PO
Box).

Arabic has a limited number of acronyms of its own such as names of organizations, political
movements and news agencies, e.g. ‫ حماس‬Hamaas (Hamas), and ‫ وام‬waam (WAM) for
‫( وكالة أنباء اإلمارات‬Emirates News Agency, lit. agency news the-emirates). The majority of Arabic
acronyms are originally foreign ones adapted to the Arabic phonological and writing systems.
They usually, but not always, have the Arabic definite article, e.g. ‫ اليونسكو‬al-yonisko for
UNESCO and ‫ ناسا‬naasaa for NASA.

Semantic development
Words can have semantic widening (‫)توسع الداللة‬, which refers to the phenomenon when the
meaning moves from specific to general as in ‫ مأتم‬ma’tam (funeral), which used to be for women
only, and now is general, and ‫ استحمام‬istiHmaam (bathing) which used to refer to using hot water
only, and came to mean bathing whether using hot or cold water. On the other hand, semantic
narrowing (‫ )انحصار الداللة‬is when a meaning of a general scope becomes specific, as in ‫ ال ُعمرة‬al-

16
C
umrah (a religious visit outside the hajj season), which used to refer to any visit.

Semantic amelioration ‫ رقي الداللة‬is when the word becomes of a more refined meaning as in ‫عقل‬
C
aql (reason, brain) which originally meant the rope by which a camel’s leg is tied. Semantic
deterioration ‫انحطاط الداللة‬, on the other hand, is when the meaning becomes of a lower register
such as ‫ غائط‬ghaa’T (excretion) which originally means a low level land.

Semantic relations
One semantic relation is polysemy (‫)تعدد الداللة‬, which refers to one word having two or more
senses, or having several interrelated meanings, e.g. ‫ عين‬Cayn (eye, water spring, spy) and ‫دليل‬
daliil (guide, human/book). Polysemy of antonyms (‫ )األضداد‬means that words have two opposite
meanings, such as ‫ الجون‬al-jawn (white and black) and ‫ سليم‬saliim (healthy and bitten).

Synonymy (‫ )الترادف‬is when two or more words have the same meaning. However, this is
controversial since the meanings of such words do not fully correspond to each other. For
example a sword or a lion are said to have many, many names in Arabic. As a matter of fact one
word is the name of the thing and all other synonyms are adjectives of some property or attribute
of the thing, for example ‫ سيف‬saif (sword), ‫ مهند‬muhnand (sword made in India), and ‫ بتار‬battar
(sharp sword).

Homonymy (‫ )تماثل المفردات‬is when two words have the same pronunciation and/or spelling. Total
homonymy is when the two words share all properties (grammatical category, form,
pronunciation and spelling) but have unrelated meanings, for example ‫ مقاطعة‬muqaataCah
(province & boycott) and ‫‘ إبهام‬ibhaam (thumb & vagueness). Partial homonymy is when the two
words have different, unrelated meanings and share some but not all grammatical properties,
e.g. ‫ مشروع‬mashruuC is an adjective that means legitimate, and is a noun meaning project.

A homonym can be
1. Homograph (‫)المثيل الكتابي‬: two words with unrelated meanings which have the same written
form (spelling) but different pronunciation, e.g. ‫( عالـ َم‬world) and ‫( عالِـم‬scholar).
2. Homophone ‫المثيل الصوتي‬: two words with unrelated meanings and different spellings but the

17
 same sound form (pronunciation), for example ‫ عصا‬CaSaa (a stick) and ‫ عصى‬CaSaa (to
disobey).vii

Hyponymy (‫ )الشمول واالنضواء‬is the relationship between two words in that one of them includes
the other; one word is specific and the other is more general. It is the inclusion of the meaning of
a word within the meaning of another word. The larger category is superordinate and the
included one is a subordinate, for example:

‫ نبات‬nabaat (plant): ‫ شجر‬shajar (trees), ‫ خضروات‬khadhrawaat (vegetables), ‫ فاكهة‬faakihah (fruit);

‫ مركبة‬markabah (vehicle): ‫ سيارة‬siyyaarah (car), ‫ دراجة‬darraajah (bike), ‫ شاحنة‬shaaHinah
(truck),‫ حافلة‬Haafilah (bus).

Antonymy (‫ )التضاد‬is the relation between words of opposite meanings, such as ‫ خيّر‬khayr (good)
and ‫ شر‬sharr (evil); ‫ ضوء‬dhaw’ (light) and ‫ ظالم‬Zalaam (dark); ‫ ليل‬leil (night) and ‫ نهار‬nahaar
(day); ‫‘ أول‬awal (first) and ‫‘ آخر‬aakhir (last). Some antonyms with one different sound have
similar structure yet different or opposite meanings, e.g. ‫ مغامر‬mughaamir (adventurer) vs. ‫مقامر‬
muqaamir (gambler), and ‫ مدح‬madH (compliment) vs. ‫ قدح‬qadH (criticism).

Collocation (‫ )اقتران األلفاظ‬refers to the frequent co-occurrence of words with each other as an
idiomatic usage of language. Collocation can be:
1. Open collocation: words combine with a wide range of other words and collocate in an
unrestricted way. For example, ‫ حسن‬Hasin (good) and ‫ رائع‬raa’iC (wonderful/excellent) can
collocate with almost any noun.
2. Restricted collocation: the number of co-occurring words and flexibility of combination is
restricted as illustrated in Table 4 below.

Table 4: Examples of restricted collocations

Verb Object

‫ يكتم‬yaktum (conceal) ‫ سر‬sirr (secret), ‫ خبر‬khabar (news), ‫ شهادة‬shahaadah (testimony)

‫ يرتكب‬yartakib ‫ جريمة‬jariimah (crime), ‫ ذنب‬thanb (fault), ‫‘ إثم‬iThm (sin),

18
(commit) ‫ حماقة‬Hamaaqah (foolishness)

‫ فرصة‬furSah ‫ سانحة‬saaniHah (available/favourable), ‫ كبيرة‬kabiirah (big),

(opportunity) ‫ عظيمة‬Caziimah (great) , ‫ ذهبية‬thahaiyah (golden), ‫ ثمينة‬Thamiinah (precious)

3. Obligatory or bound collocation: the range is restricted to one collocate only. There is no
possibility for another lexical item to take the place of the collocate, however close in
meaning, for example, ‫ يطأطئ رأسه‬yuTa’Ti’ ra’sahu (to bow his head), and ‫ يكظم الغيظ‬yakZum
al-ghayZ (to repress his anger). The verb in both examples takes only one particular noun as
an object. In the following two examples, the head noun collocates only with one specific
noun as a modifier, though they refer to the same person: ‫ حامي الهدف‬Haamy al-hadaf and
‫ حارس المرمى‬Haaris al-marmaa (goal keeper). The words making these collocations cannot
combine interchangeably.

Rhyming collocation ‫ االتباع‬is a kind of a bound collocation. It refers to expressions of two words
of similar sounds and structures, and some of similar meanings, that collocate with each other
and are used for emphasis, for example ‫ ضائع سائع‬dhaa’iC saa’iC (lost & disoriented), ‫ساغب الغب‬
saaghib laaghib (thirsty/hungry and tired), ‫ شذر مذر‬shathar mathar (helter-skelter), and ‫خراب يباب‬
kharaab yabaab (destroyed & devastated).

6. Syntax
Generally speaking, Arabic has two kinds of sentences, a verbal sentence (‫ )جملة فعلية‬and a
nominal sentence (‫)جملة اسمية‬. The verbal sentence starts with a verb and can be of the following
patterns:

VS (verb + subject)
‫جا َء الرجل‬
jaa’a al-rajul
(came the-man)

VSA (verb + subject + adverbial)

‫ذهب الطالبُ إلى المدرسة‬
َ
thahaba al-Taalibu ‘ilaa al-madrasah
(went the-student to the-school)

VSO )verb + subject + object)

19
‫قرأ الطالبُ القصيدة‬
qara’a al-Taalibu al-qaSiidah
(read-PAST the-student the-poem)

VSOA )verb + subject + object+ adverbial)

‫المعرض غدا‬
َ ‫يفتت ُح الوزي ُر‬
yaftatiHu al-waziir al-maCridh ghadan
(inaugurates the-minister the-exhibition tomorrow)

VSOO )verb + subject + object1 + obeject2)

‫الطالب كتابا‬
َ ُ
‫عطيت‬ ‫أ‬
C
‘a Teitu al-Taliba kitaaban
(I-gave the-student a-book)

VOS )verb + object + subject)

‫أتانا الربيع‬
‘ataanaa al-rabiiC
(came-us the-spring)

VSOC )verb + subject + object + complement)

‫َح ِسب محمد عليا حاضرا‬
Hasiba muHammadun Caliyan Haadhiran
(guessed Muhammed Ali present)

VSOOC (verb + subject + object1 + obeject2 + complement)

‫الطالب االمتحانَ شامال‬
َ ‫أعل َم األستاذ‬
C
‘a lama al-‘ustaathu al-Tulaaba al-imtiHaana shaamilan
(informed the-teacher the-students the-test comprehensive)

The nominal sentence is a topic and comment (‫ مبتدأ وخبر‬mubtada’ & khabar). It starts with the
subject, which is usually a noun, and can be of the following patterns:

SV (subject + verb)
‫محمد جاء‬
muHammadun jaa’
(Muhammad came)

SVO )subject + verb + object)

‫محمد رسم صورة‬
muHammadun rasama suurah
(Muhammad drew a-picture)

SC (subject + complement)
‫القصة ممتعة‬
al-qiSah mumtiCah
(the-story entertaining)

20
SA (subject + adverb)
‫االحتفا ُل غدا‬
al-iHtifaal ghadan
(the-celebration tomorrow)

The patterns SC and SA are ‘verbless’ sentences. The ‘assumed’ verb is usually a copula (verb to
be) in the present tense ‫ يكون‬yakuun which is, nevertheless, present in the past and future versions
of the sentences. In the pattern SC, the sentence is made of a noun and adjective, and in the
pattern SA it is made of a noun and a prepositional phrase or an adverb of time or place. When
the topic (‫ )المبتدأ‬in a sentence of the pattern SC is indefinite (‫ )نكرة‬it is obligatorily postponed, e.g.
‫ على الشجرة عصفور‬Calaa al-shajarti Cusfuur [on the-tree (is a) bird].

In a nominal sentence, the verb inflects, i.e. its form changes, to agree with the subject’s person,
number and gender, which is not necessarily the case in a verbal sentence (see Inflection above).

7. Impact of translation on Arabic

Translation activity influenced Arabic modern style tremendously. Arabic has witnessed a
significant development in the last two hundred years as a result of cultural and linguistic contact
in which translation has played a major role. Translation of literary, journalistic, scientific, and
technical texts has introduced new words, expressions, and structures into Arabic.

Translation has enriched Arabic with expressions that found their way into its modern style. New
concepts in politics, science and technology had to have Arabic counterparts, e.g. ‫ تصويت‬taSwiit
(voting), ‫ تجوال‬tijwaal (roaming) ‫صحـر‬
َ ‫ تـ‬taSaHHurr (desertification), and ‫ تنمية مستدامة‬tanmiyah
mustadaamah (sustainable development). Some terms are borrowed and adapted to Arabic, for
example ‫ ديمقراطية‬diimuqraaTiyah (democracy), and other are borrowed first and then Arabic
terms are created for them, e.g. ‫ كمبيوتر‬kumbiyutar and ‫ حاسوب‬Haasuub (computer). Many Arabic
expressions that were once introduced by translation can hardly be felt as originally foreign, e.g.

‫ يلعق جراحه‬yalCaqu jiraaHahu (lick one's wounds)

‫ حصة األسد‬HiSat al-‘asad (lion’s share)
‫ ليس كل ما يلمع ذهبا‬laysa kulu maa yalmaCu thahaban (all that glitters is not gold)

21
Translation has changed the face of Arabic, and it has contributed to the rapid, mostly unnatural,
evolution of the Arabic language. That is to say, Arabic has developed not on its own, but rather
as a result of the outside influence of the process of translation where the concepts, vocabulary,
structures, and culture of the original language as well as the translator’s approach have played a
decisive role.

Standard Arabic is a variety that Arabs do not learn at home, but rather at school; it is improved
and polished as long as a speaker is exposed to it. However, people do not use it much in their
everyday interactions, and their exposure to it decreases dramatically after leaving school.
Inefficiency of translators and journalists in particular usually results in not having the right
judgment whether a certain preposition, structure or collocation is Arabic or alien. Literal
translation, especially of compounds and phrases, and specifically English constructions, have
introduced a foreign language in disguise. Corpus-based evidence supports the notion that Arabic
style nowadays, whether good or awkward, is to a large extent a product of translations (Izwaini,
in progress). This can be seen in the following inherently foreign language usages that are now
widespread in Arabic:

1. Literal translation of word combinations, as in ‫ يلعب دورا‬yalCab dawran (to play a role), where
the verb ‫يلعب‬, being about a non-serious business, is inappropriate for the concept.
2. Agentive passive, when the doer is postponed using the by-structure, e.g. The Protocol has
been signed by over 40 countries. Arabic does not have such construction. The Arabic
structure introduced by translation is just a copy of the English one, e.g.
‫‘ إن هذه المادة الفريدة تستخدم من قبل الشركات النفطية‬inna haathihi al-maaddah al-fariidah tustakhdam
min qibal al-sharikaat al-nafTiyah (this unique material is used by oil companies).
3. Cataphora is when a pronoun comes first and refers forward to an item that comes later in the
sentence, a structure that Arabic does not allow. In the example below, the pronoun refers to
the player whose name comes after 11 words, which mirrors the English structure. In Arabic
the item comes first and then the pronoun refers back to it.
...‫ إال أن حلم إيتو‬،‫ مع المنتخب الكاميروني‬0222 ‫على الرغم من فوزه بذهبية دورة أوليمبياد سيدني‬
C
ala al-raghm min fawzihi bi-thahabiyat dawrat ‘uulumbiyaad sidny 2000 maCa al-muntakhab
al-kamirony, ‘ilaa ‘anna hilma ‘ituu… (despite his winning of the gold medal in Sydney

22
 Olympiad in 2000 with the Cameron team, but Eto’s dream…)
4. Movement of the non-head word (‫ )المضاف إليه‬in compounds with two heads to the end of the
phrase, as in ‫ تنسيق وتنظيم المعلومات‬tansiiq wa tanZiim al-maCluumaat (coordinating and
organizing information), which reflects the English structure. The sequence that is natural in
Arabic necessitates that the third word (‫ )المضاف إليه‬comes second and the second one comes
third with a pronoun referring back to the non-head word as follows ‫تنسيق المعلومات وتنظيمها‬
tansiiq al-maCluumaat wa tanZiimhaa (coordinating information and organizing-it).
5. Movement of the noun in prepositional phrases with two prepositions to the end to of the
phrase, e.g. ‫ تهريب السلع من وإلى الدول المجاورة‬tahriib al-silaC min wa ‘ilaa al-duwal al-
mujaawirah (smuggling commodities from and to neighbouring countries). This is again a
formulation that is typical English, but not Arabic. The noun needs to be right after the first
preposition with a pronoun attached to the second preposition referring back to it,
‫ تهريب السلع من الدول المجاورة وإليها‬tahriib al-silaC min al-duwal al-mujawirah wa ‘ilayhaa
(smuggling of commodities from neighbouring countries and to-them).
6. Existential there is used to refer to the existence of a subject. Its translation into Arabic has
tended to use its meaning of a place intead, i.e. ‫ هناك‬hunaaka. A structure like
‫ هناك عصفور على الشجرة‬hunaaka Cusfuur Calaa al-shajarah [there (is a) bird on the-tree] is
widely used in Arabic in modern times, which is recycle of a translation of sentence like there
is a bird on the tree instead of the standard structure ‫ على الشجرة عصفور‬Calaa al-shajarti Cusfuur
[on the-tree (is a) bird] (see Syntax above).
7. Usage of the similarity particle ‫ ك‬ka to express the notion of ‘in the capacity of’, e.g.
‫ قريع يستقيل من مهامه كرئيس للوزراء‬qurayC yastaqiil min mahaamihi ka-ra’iis lil-wuzaraa’ (Quray’C
resigns from office as a prime minister) which is a cloning of the English as. The Arabic
structure is without the particle ‫ قريع يستقيل من مهامه رئيسا للوزراء‬qurayC yastaqiil min mahaamih
ra’iisan lil-wuzaraa’.
8. Usage of the adverb of place Hawla ‫( حول‬as a direct rendition of about) instead of prepositions
‫ في‬fii (in), ‫ عن‬Can (of) or ‫ على‬Calaa (on) that are the standard ones to be used, e.g. ‫سؤال حول‬
suu’aal Hawla (question about) instead of ‫ سؤال عن‬suu’aal Can, and ‫ خالف حول‬khilaaf Hawla
(disagreement about) instead of ‫ خالف على‬khilaaf Calaa.

Speakers of Arabic recycle such expressions and structures without being aware that they violate

23
the system of Arabic, and now they are widely used as genuine Arabic. Translation has also
introduced expressions of alien cultural profile such as ‫ كرة الثلج‬kurat al-Thalj (snowball) and
‫ يرفع القبعة‬yarfaC al-qubbaCah (take off one’s hat) which are common in modern Arabic style.

8. The Arabic language today

The socio-economic-political dynamics of the Arabic language in modern times have put it in an
unfavourable situation. Arabic faces the following challenges:

1. Higher education institutions use globally powerful languages as languages of instruction;

2. Opting for education in schools and universities where Arabic is not the language of
instruction;
3. Diminishing contact with the Arabic language after graduation;
4. Awkward style in the media due to incorrect translations, the incompetence of journalists and
reporters in Arabic, and the subsequent linguistic recycling of mistakes;
5. Curricula of Arabic are complicated and based on memorization rather than the practice of
language and grammar;
6. Teachers of Arabic in pre-college education are generally not well-qualified;
7. Illiteracy;
8. Globally powerful languages, English in particular, dominate the world’s business,
technology, and entertainment;
9. The convenience of colloquial Arabic, even for educated speakers, in contexts where only
the standard variety has been used;
10. The tendency of some media organizations and publishing houses to use colloquial varieties
in their written texts and publications. Here, Arabic written as if spoken is used on a large
scale for the public, which can lead to the establishment of the written form of the colloquial
variety, resulting in a separate derivative language (see Varieties of Arabic above);
11. The pervasive usage of foreign languages and colloquial varieties in computer-mediated
communication (emails, text messaging, online social networking, chatting, forums, and
blogs). In these venues, Arabic is written as if spoken as well and can have the same
outcomes stated in 10 above.
12. Research published in Arabic is limited and is restricted to areas of Arabic language and

24
 literature and humanities in general. A language thrives if research is conducted and
published using its vocabulary, and its word formation mechanisms are exploited. This takes
us to the issue of terminology, which is a long lasting problem. This is because of the very
large number of terms created in other languages with no Arabic counterparts, as well as the
multiplicity of Arabic terms for one concept, the slow and problem-laden coordination of
translation and creation of terms.

With the global domination of English, and other European languages, Arabic nowadays
witnesses a triglossia, with its speakers using two varieties of Arabic (standard & colloquial) and
one foreign language. In spoken interaction and informal computer-mediated communication, the
colloquial variety and a foreign language are usually used. For convenience, speed, and/or
because of the unfamiliarly with Arabic characters, Arabic is also written using the Latin script in
emails, text messages, chatting, and internet forums.

Finally, there have been research and applications of computational linguistics in the Arabic
language in areas such as natural language processing (NLP) and machine translation (MT).
There are problems and challenges facing Arabic in these areas, but there is a good progress
achieved so far.

.‫ وال تنتهي بمتحرك‬،‫العربية ال تبدأ بساكن‬

i
ii
The case marker (‫ )الحركة االعرابية‬is not represented throughout the chapter in the transliterated form since it
depends on the sentence structure in which the word is used.
iii
An affix is a dependant meaningful word formation element that is attached to words initially (prefix), medially
(infix), or finally (suffix). These are called ‫ أحرف الزيادة‬ahruf al-ziyaadah.
iv
Specialised dictionaries refer to it as ‘quasi infinitive’, ‘infinitive noun’, or ‘verbal noun’.
.‫ وال تنتهي بمتحرك‬،‫العربية ال تبدأ بساكن‬
v
vi
The accusative of the regular feminine plural exceptionally takes the ending marker i (just like the accusative
case).
vii
I would like to thank Dr. Mohamed El-Refaei for providing this example.

25
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