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Al Amin Jalloh
Title: Introduction to Arabic
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ABSTRACT
This book presents a comprehensive
comparative analysis in Tenses
between three
languages (Arabic, French and
English). The objective is to make
foreign language
acquisition easier for native
speakers, comparing numerous
linguistics and grammatical
aspects of each language to each
other.
The Study is divided into eight
chapters: The first chapter is
introduction to Arabic
language, Arabic Non- Indo-European,
Standard Arabic and Dialects. The
second chapter
is linguistic comparison between the
three languages in active and
passive. The third
chapter is the characteristic of
Arabic language in term of sentence
structure and
conciseness. The fourth chapter is
elements of grammar I deals with
gender and plural,
personal pronoun, possessive
adjective between the three
languages. The fifth chapter is
elements of grammar II deals with
background of Arabic syntax, tenses
in Arabic, French
and English, interrogative and
negative between the three
languages. The sixth chapter is
elements of grammar III deals with
definite and indefinite articles in
the three languages
differences and similarities. The
seventh chapter is elements of
grammar IV which deals
with way of expressing "Almost" in
Arabic, French and English. The
Chapter eight is
grammar exercises which will be as a
practical application for learning
and understanding
tenses in all three languages
(Arabic, French and English).
2
Table of Contents
1. Cover
sheets....................................................................1
2.
Abstract.........................................................................2
3. Table of
contents...............................................................3
4. Introduction to
Arabic........................................................4
5. Previous
studies..................................................................5
6. The Important of Arabic
language.........................................6
7. Non- Indo European
language..............................................8
8. Modern Standard
Arabic.....................................................8
9. Differences between Standard
Arabic and Dialects
Arabic............9
10.
Conclusion......................................................................12
11.
Bibliography....................................................................14
3
I- Introduction to Arabic
In the Name of Allah
The Most Gracious the Most
Merciful
The Glory of Arabic Language is
that; The Holy Qur'an has been
revealed in
Arabic language.
"Verily, we have sent it down
as an Arabic Qur'an in order that
you may understand."1
"And among his signs is the
creation of the heavens and the
earth, and the difference in your
languages and colours. Verily, in
that are indeed signs for men of
sound knowledge."
The Holy Koran (AL RUM;22).2
Language is the most important
phenomenon in life. It is the way of
expression and
communication between people, which
is, in general, the case of all
languages. However,
the Arabic language has other
special characteristics; it is not
only the language of
communication and dialogue but has
also been chosen by The Almighty as
the language
of The Holy Koran, the book which
was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad
Peace Be
upon Him (PBUH).
The Arabic language is a miraculous
language in terms of style and
eloquence. It has
unique specifications, which you
cannot find in other languages. It
is wide and deep in
meaning and can only be fully
understood in its context.
In comparison with French and
English languages are international
languages which are
spoken worldwide. More than one and
half billion people speak English
and French as a
second language. Even the French,
who are very proud of their mother
tongue and more
sensitive and cautious towards
foreign languages specially English,
have eventually
realized the importance of English
language and they have introduced
intensive English
language courses in their schools.
Moreover, some departments at
universities and colleges require
English language
because most of the subjects are
taught in English. Incidentally, we
notice that English is
the most widely used language in the
world. If a group of people from
different countries
is gathered in one place, the only
language of communication in that
situation is English
not Chinese, or Indian or any
European languages.
Learning foreign languages
especially French and English can
help us understand
different cultures. It also builds
confidence in interacting with
others. Nowadays English
1 The holy Qur'an, chapter12, verse
2
2 The Holy Qur'an, chapter30,
Verse22
4
has reached its highest level of
popularity by becoming the medium of
communication
between millions of Internet users
worldwide.
I would like to emphasize that
language is not only a way of
communication, but it's a
way of thinking as well. Research
has shown that bilingual speakers
have more
opportunities and choices than those
who are monolingual. Research has
also shown a
bilingual speaker has more
opportunities to think broadly than
a person who speaks one
language.
Thus the need to learn a second
language and understand its tenses
is of vital importance.
Previous studies:
The importance of language and its
usage is to understand its tenses.
From this point we
find the Arabic language textbooks
talk about tenses in general but not
in sequence. From
here, the research becomes very
important.
(Tenses in Arabic, French and
English Comparative Analysis) to
help students
understand between (morphological
division and syntax) in Arabic,
French and English.
I find myself motivated to write
about this topic as a research
proposal for my PhD to
facilitate the task of learning
English, French or Arabic as a
second language. The reason
why I choose this topic is that
learning Arabic or French as a
second language becomes
difficult because of the differences
between languages, especially
learning tenses. There
are also other obstacles to a
successful language learning
experience such as the Arabic
language textbooks and teaching
styles of language teachers.
Research in comparative
languages is very beneficial to
facilitate the learning of a second
language.
As a language teacher, I am very
aware of the difficulties faced by
second language
students. One of the difficulties is
learning tenses and how to use them
in writing or
speaking. Thus the importance of
learning tenses through comparative
analysis can helps
the students to quickly see the
similarities and differences. The
success will definitely
motivate and create a desire for the
students to learn the target
language.
The Arabic language is the key to
understanding a group of 22 nations
and over 200
million native Arabic speakers.
There are also over a billion
Muslims who use Arabic as
their liturgical language.
5
1. The important of Arabic
Language:
1.1 Arabic is a Semitic
language close to Hebrew Aramaic and
Amharic, and more
distantly related to certain
language families of North Africa.
Arabic has a vast literary heritage
dating back to the pre-Islamic era
(5th and 6th
centuries, A.D.). It is today the
native language of over 200 million
people as well as the
liturgical language for over a
billion Muslims throughout the
world.
1.2. The Arab world shows
strong linguistic and cultural
continuity. Arabic is the official
language of countries from North
Africa to the Arabian Gulf (Algeria,
Tunisia, Egypt,
Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Jordan,
Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman,
Palestine, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab
Emirates, and Yemen). Although
geography (including
great distances and topographical
barriers such as deserts and
mountain ranges) has
fostered diversity of regional
vernaculars, a shared history,
cultural and literary
background and (to a considerable
extent) religion acts to unify Arab
society and give it a
strong sense of cohesion.
1.3 Economic
In the past three decades the world
has witnessed the emergency of the
Arab world as a
centre of attraction and strategic
place for business, development ,
industry and socio-
political, which has created a
situation of competition for
capturing the West Asian
markets and to establish economic
and trade relations with the Arab
countries. Here we
realized the important of learning
and understanding the Arabic
language.
1.4. Arabic literature
Arabic is the richest of all the
Semitic family of languages. Arabic
is known to have
originated from the south- west
Semitic subfamily. It is divided
into two branches: the
Northern and the Southern. Each of
the subdivisions may be further
subdivided into
minor dialects that developed,
shaped and spread with distinct
regional distinct regional
features.
Spoken or colloquial Arabic is not
generally written down; none of the
dialects are
"taught" in the Arab world because
they are acquired as mother tongues;
therefore the
idea of teaching the spoken
vernacular in a formal classroom
setting is unfamiliar to most
native speakers of Arabic.
Nonetheless, speaking skills are
important and necessary for
students whose goals include travel
to live, study or work in an Arab
country, so some
universities offer courses in
dialects such as Egyptian,
Levantine, Peninsular, Gulf and
Iraqi. There is a fairly extensive
range of materials available for
teaching specific Arabic
dialects.
Formal Spoken Arabic (FSA) or
Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA) A
pragmatic option for
teaching generalized Arabic speaking
skills is to use the kind of Arabic
spoken by native
speakers with each other when they
come from different dialect areas,
or when they
6
elevate their everyday colloquial
language to a higher level (in
speaking with a professor,
for example, or a dignitary on an
official occasion). This type of
Arabic has been
documented by both western and Arab
authors.
Pertaining to its linguistic
classification, Arabic linguists
classify the language under
various categories e.g. Semitic,
Afro-Asiatic, and Hamito-Semitic.
The Arabic language
shares many phonological,
morphological, lexical, and
syntactic traits with other Semitic
languages such as Assyrian, and
Hebrew (Barber 1964: pp.73-75, Brill
1960:p. 753,
Bakalla 1984: p.4)
The Quraishi Arabic was the major
dialect of Mecca through which the
Holy prophet
Mohamed Peace Be Upon Him, received
the Quranic revelation. (Chejne
1968: pp.6-10,
Bakalla 1983:p.1)
The spread of Islam to the various
regions of the world since the 7th
century had had
much influence on the native
languages which came directly or
indirectly in contact with
it. Many languages in Asia, such
like Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei
etc...Africa, and
Europe were influenced by Arabic at
the levels of phonetics, grammar and
vocabulary.
Numerous writers reported on the
influence of Arabic on Islamic as
well as non-Islamic
languages on various aspects; among
these are Inayatullah (1942: pp52),
Asmah (1975:
pp.39-40), Jadwat (1987: p.71),
Abukhudairi (1990), Massignon
(1950).
The extent to which one language can
assimilate with another, as reported
by Sapir
(1976: p.195) indicates the
socio-cultural role that the
particular language concerned will
play in the development of the
other. This factor is apparently
seen in the influence of
Arabic and South East Asian language
such like Malay.
The prestige of the language of the
Quran has brought about tremendous
influence not
only on the Malay language but also
on Malay culture. The Arabic script
has been
adopted in the form of Jawi script
and it represents an early form of
Malay literacy.
Arabic as reported by Asmah (1979:
p. 62-65: 1982: pp.123-129:
1987:pp.4-11), has also
enriched Malay on the phonemic,
phonological, word; sentence level.
1.5. The Arabic language is a
language of science, literature,
politics, civilization, and
beside all these is the language of
religion and worship. The Arabic
language was able to
assimilate with different
civilizations such like: Persian,
Greek, and India, which are
contemporary to Arabic.
7
2. Non-Indo-European Origin
For English-speaking learners of
Indo-European languages, foreign
language input (both
written and spoken) is in some cases
at least partially comprehensible
because of cognate
lexical items (e.g., French industry
for English "industry," the French
verb denser for
English "to dance", etc.), familiar
word structure and grammatical
processes (e.g., making
nouns plural by adding a suffix such
as '-s'). Arabic does not belong to
the Indo-European
language family; it belongs to the
Semitic family, which also includes
Hebrew, Amharic
and Aramaic. It therefore has few
cognates with English, and
vocabulary learning is one
of the biggest challenges in
learning Arabic. Moreover, there are
striking structural and
conceptual differences (such as the
internal plural for nouns and the
existence of a "dual"
category for nouns, adjectives,
verbs and pronouns) that take time
for English or French
speakers to internalize.
2.1. Non-Roman Script
Arabic script is cursive and is read
from right to left. Because it is
cursive, letters within
words are connected, somewhat like
English handwriting, and for a
beginner, the script
may look impenetrable. Although it
looks complicated, however, Arabic
orthography is
actually more systematic than
English and French, with much better
"fit" or consistency
between spelling and pronunciation.
2.2. Description of Arabic
The Arabic and English phonological
systems vary extensively, not only
in the range of
sounds used, also in the relative
importance of vowels and consonants
in expressing
meaning. While English has 22 vowels
and diphthongs to 24 consonants,
Arabic has only
eight vowels and diphthongs to 32
consonants.
3. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)
Most Schools and Universities choose
to focus on literacy in Arabic as
the basic skill
when teaching Arabic as a Second
Language. The modern written
language is called
Modern Standard Arabic or MSA (in
Arabic, FUSHAA). It is the language
of all
contemporary Arabic written
publications as well as the language
of the Arabic broadcast
media. It contrasts somewhat with
classical Arabic, the Arabic of the
Qur'an and classical
Arabic literature, but the gap is
reflected more in topic, vocabulary,
and style than it is in
grammatical structure. A range of
excellent MSA materials is available
with sophisticated
video and audio support.
Arabic is an easy language to learn
among many languages. You have
always connection
between words and their derivatives
and the grammar laws are logical.
The problem
however is that most of the methods
which have been in use over the year
to teach Arabic
leave a lot to be desired. There is
what one may call an obsession and
impatience to teach
8
Arabic grammar to people who lack
even rudimentary knowledge of basic
Arabic sounds
and words (Al-aswaat- wa al-huruf).
The result of this approach is that
people are able to
memorize complicated Arabic grammar
laws and yet they remain unable to
construct
simple Arabic sentences in speech
and writing. I have known renowned
Muslim scholars,
mostly from Africa, South East Asia,
and those teaching in the
Indo-Pakistan seminaries
in the West, who have spent many
years of their lives teaching
difficult classical Arabic
texts and grammar books through
their own languages (Urdu, ,
English, Bahasa Melayu,
African dialects etc) and yet are
unable to speak a few sentences in
fluent Arabic or write
a simple Arabic letter or paper.
A person needs working knowledge of
a language before she can start
learning the
grammar of that language. When a
person is able to read and
understand sentences in a
given language, it becomes easier to
study the grammar of that language.
It is difficult
enough learning to recognize the
Arabic letters and sounds let alone
understanding the
grammatical concepts of a language
which one is not familiar with.
There are thus five
stages that need to be followed in
presenting Arabic to total
beginners:3
Here I would like to emphasize
little bit about the differences
between Standard Arabic
FUSHAA and Dialects Arabic AMIYYAH
to provide a better understanding
between the
two for the acquisition of Arabic
language.
4. Differences between Standard
Arabic and Dialect Arabic
A- Arabic dialects
4.1. Dialect is derived from
Classical Arabic, spoken daily
across North Africa and the
Middle East, which constitute the
everyday spoken language.
2- Dialects are not typically
written, although a certain amount
of literature (particularly
plays and poetry) exists in many of
them. They are often used to varying
degrees in
informal spoken media, such as
soap operas and
talk shows.
Literary Arabic or classical
Arabic is the official language of
all Arab countries and is the only
form of Arabic taught
in schools at all stages.
4.2. The main dialectal
division is between the North
African dialects and those of the
Middle East, followed by that
between sedentary dialects and the
more conservative
Bedouin dialects. Speakers of
some of these dialects are unable to
converse with speakers
of another dialect of Arabic; in
particular, while Middle Easterners
can generally
understand one another, they often
have trouble understanding North
Africans (although
the converse is not true, due to the
popularity of Middle Eastern-
especially Egyptian
films and other media).
3 Introducing Arabic Michael Mumisa.
P10-11
9
The major groups are: 4
- Egyptian Arabic
- Maghreb Arabic ( Algerian Arabic,
Tunisian Arabic, Moroccan Arabic,
Maltese
and western Libyan )
- Levantine Arabic ( Western Syrian,
Lebanese, Palestinian and Western
Jordanian,
Cypriot Maronite Arabic )
- Iraqi Arabic ( Khuzestani Arabic )
with significant differences
between the
more Arabian- like gilit- dialecs
of the south and the more
conservative geltu-
dialects of northern cities.
- Gulf Arabic ( Saudi Arabian,
Western Iraq, Eastern Syrian,
Jordanian and parts of
Oman )
- East Arabian Arabic ( Bahrain,
Saudi Eastern Province, Kuwait, UAE,
Qatar, and
Oman )
Other Varieties include:
- Hassaniyyah ( in Mauritania and
Western Sahara )
- Andalusi Arabic ( extinct, but
important in literary history )
- Sudanese Arabic ( with continuum
into Chad )
- Hijazi Arabic ( West coast of
Saudi Arabia, Northern Saudi Arabia,
Eastern
Jordan, Western Iraq )
- Najdi Arabic ( Najdi region of
central Saudi Arabia )
- Yemen Arabic ( Yemen to Southern
Saudi Arabia )
- Maltese, which is the spoken
Mediterranean island of Malta,
is the only one to
have established itself as a fully
separate language, with independent
literary
norms. It falls within the Maghreb
Arabic group although numerous sound
changes have rendered it
phonologically very different from
its nearest relative,
Tunisian Arabic. It also contains a
large number of Italian and
English
borrowings.
Among all these dialects the famous
one is the Egyptian dialect, because
of its broad
exposure in entertainment across the
Arabic world.
B- Standard Arabic
4.3. The Standard Arabic or
MSA (in Arabic, FUSHAA) Is the
language of all
contemporary Arabic written
publications as well as the language
of the Arabic
broadcast media. It contrasts
somewhat with classical Arabic, the
Arabic of the
Qur'an and classical Arabic
literature, but the gap is reflected
more in topic,
vocabulary, and style than it is in
grammatical structure.
4.4. The Standard Arabic is
the universal language of all
Arabic-speaking worlds
which is understood by all Arabic
speakers.
4 Arabic dialects Dr Ibrahim Anees,
Egypt Cairo
10
4.5. Classical Arabic is the
language of The Holy Qur'an and
classical literature. It is
differs from standard Arabic mainly
in style and vocabulary, some of
which is
archaic.
4.6. Standard Arabic is not
acquiring as a mother tongue, but
rather it learned as a
second language.
4.7. Standard Arabic is
written in Arabic script. The
earliest Arabic inscriptions is
date back to the 4th century AD, but
the basis for Standard Arabic was
laid down with
writing down of the Qur'an (probably
7th- 8th Centuries AD ). In the
course of the 8th
and 9th Centuries the Holy Qur'an
underwent standardization as a
result of extensive
work by medieval Arabic grammarians.
5
5 Bakalla 1994, Belova1998a &1998b,
Holes 1994, Suleiman 1994
11
Conclusion:
Language is a human phenomenon,
identity and the result of the human
brain and body.
It's a way of expressing oneself,
our surroundings and communicating
with each other.
There is no doubt language has
connection with all human activities
and has effects on
them.
It's impossible for someone to be
proactive in a society without
language to express
himself. Language is a distinctive
human phenomenon amongst the
creations of God.
Besides, animals use language as
well but in a different way. Human
beings have been
endowed with the power of speech.
God has singled them with the power
of thinking,
which makes them different from the
rest of the creatures. God has given
human beings
the power of mother tongue language
acquisition, which usually takes
place between the
age of two and five. There is an
exception in case of illness or
isolation which upsets the
language acquisition process.
Language is like a library you meet
him in the society where God
prescribe you to live. If
you live in a French society, you'll
speak French; if you live in an Arab
society you'll
speak Arabic.
Language is a voice. Voice is an
auditory effect and the result of
one's articulation parts
from gesticulation or motion. That
will appear in a form of vibration
in the outside air
from the mouth to the nose with
correspond to those gesticulation,
and the audition will
receive those vibration, then move
through nerve to the brain to
strengthening all the
symbols and to drawing out the
meaning.
Language is rules and words like
drawing, music, dancing, signals,
motion etc.....
Language changes from time to time
and place to place. The changes
occur according to
laws. The changes happen in the
sound or voice in words in sentences
in its semantics
words.
Language is a social phenomenon,
which society imposes on one. It is
a way of thinking
and behavior. Thus the language
acquisition of an individual in a
given society affects the
way he or she thinks and behaves.
Language has a relation with the
values, cultures and beliefs of
society.
Language has a strong relation with
mind and culture. Without language
there will be no
mind. Language provides one a
picture of a particular society.
Language has a relation with the
mind because when we talk we express
ideas, also when
we think we talk but without words.
It's impossible to have ideas
without words to
express those ideas.
De Saussure "tries to give the
difference between "speaking and
language".
Speaking is an act or performance
and language is the border of that
movement.
Speaking is a behavior and language
is the measurement of that behavior.
Speaking is a movement and language
is the law of that movement.
12
There is a relation between language
and culture "Dr Ahmad Amin".
Language shows the
mind of a particular society.
Language of each society shows the
lifestyle of that society.
Here are some of the points of this
assignment
1- The Glory of Arabic Language is
that; The Holy Qur'an has been
revealed in
Arabic language.
2- The Arabic language is the key to
understanding a group of 22 nations
and over
200 million native Arabic speakers.
3- There is also over 1.5 billion
Muslims who use Arabic as their
liturgical language
4- Arabic is a Semitic language
close to Hebrew Aramaic
5- The Arabic language is a language
of business, development and
communication
6- Arabic is the richest of all the
Semitic family of languages.
7- Modern Standard Arabic MSA (in
Arabic, FUSHAA) is the language of
all
contemporary Arabic written
publications as well as the language
of the Arabic
broadcast media.
8- Classical Arabic is the language
of The Holy Qur'an and classical
literature it is
differs from standard Arabic mainly
in style and vocabulary, some of
which is
archaic.
9- Dialects are not written and
there is no dictionary for dialects
This introduction provides a basic
understanding of Arabic language to
non-Arabic
speakers. It gives also a clear
understanding between MSA and
Dialects Arabic
13
Bibliography
1- The Noble Qur'an. English
Translation of the meanings and
commentary Dr
Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali, Dr
Muhammad Muhsin khan. King Fahd
complex Saudi Arabia
2- Arabic dialects Dr Ibrahim Anees,
Egypt Cairo 1965
3- Arabic Syntactic Errors: An
investigation into the written
composition of Malay
learners. Dr Abu el basher Ali Adam.
Kl Phd. 1998
4- Bakalla, M.H Arab and Persian
phonetics the encyclopedia of
languages and
linguistics, Oxford 1994
5- Bateson, M C. 1967. Arabic
Language Handbook. Washington:
Center for
Applied Linguistics.
6- Farihah Anees, lectures in Arabic
dialects Arab league 1955
7- Formal Spoken Arabic Georgetown
Karin c. Ryding, David J. Mehall
2005
8- Introducing Arabic Michael
Mumisa, Good word Books, New Delhi,
2003
9- Mariikh Adel. The old Arabic and
dialects Abu-Dhabi
10- Standard Arabic. Eckehard Schulz
Gunther Krahl Wolfgang Reuschel
Cambridge
2000
11- Sulaiman, M. Y. I. H. 1994.
"Arabic Linguistic Tradition". In:
Asher, R. E.,
editor-in-chief. "The Encyclopedia
of Languages and Linguistics". Vol.
1, pp.
194202. Oxford:
12- Time in Language, Malik Yousif
Al- Muttalabi, PhD1994 University of
Baghdad
14
