The Most Important Aspects of Arabic Language - Term Paper Example

Introduction Arabic language is the most spoken language globally with over 200 million native speakers around the globe. Arabic is one of the six UN languages in which there are 22 countries where Arabic is the official language. Similarly, Arabic language is the liturgical language of Islam and the classical Arabic language is the language of the Holy Quran. The Arabic language has overtime become a popular language in recent times. Arabic language courses centre on all four skills, namely: listening comprehension, speaking, writing, and reading, accompanied by cultural readings and guided conversations. One of the complex and interesting aspects on Arabic language centers on the fact that spoken forms of the language vary in terms of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. The two forms of the language manifest side by side in which one is strictly a spoken form and the other is strictly a literary form. Standard Arabic is the well-defined entity and is uniform across the Arabic speaking world with only minimal variations in vocabulary (Wahba, Taha, and England 225). The grammar, syntax, and vocabulary have changed minimal since the Qur’an (in the 7th century). Main aspects of the Arabic language Grammar: Arabic languages are fundamental Semitic languages most closely linked to Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician. Semitic languages may be characterized by a limited and a rich consonant system. Semitic languages also typified by a rich inventory of guttural consonants that encompass laryngeals, pharyngeal, and the uvular fricatives. In the same way as other Semitic languages, Arabic language has intricate and unusual morphology. Arabic language possesses nonconcatenative “root and pattern” morphology (Wahba, Taha, and England 225). The standardized written Arabic is unique from and more conservative compared to all of the spoken varieties. Arabic language is a synthetic language, rather than an analytical one meaning that endings may be awarded to words to highlight the function of the words within a sentence. In English, word order mainly determines this function, while in Arabic; the ending of a word determines the function of the word. Writing System: There are 28 letters within the Arabic alphabet comprising of consonants, symbols, and vowels. The characters employed within their words may be frequently connected; therefore, excluding some which may be linked to their predecessors. The pronunciation of vowels varies from one speaker to another and appears to mimic the pronunciation of the matching colloquial variety, whereby vowels and consonants can be either phonologically long or short. Word stress is not phonemically contrastive within Standard Arabic and has a strong connection to vowel length. Readers should employ their knowledge of the language so as to supply the missing vowels, unless, within the education system or in classes on Arabic grammar where the short vowels utilized since they are pertinent to grammar (Holes 1). An Arabic sentence can possess entirely different meaning based on a subtle alteration of the vowels. A characteristically Arabic language trait centers on leaving out short vowels in normal text. The vowels are characteristically indicated by diacritics above or below a word within small curved lines, but only within books in which the pronunciation is important such as the Koran. The lack of vowels within running text renders isolated words to be highly ambiguous (Holes 2). Arabic has special syntax features, which yield to complex syntax structures. Furthermore, Arabic grammar exists within descriptive form, and there is the absence of comprehensive formal representation. In grammar, the lexicon plays a critical role, in which semantics and syntax can be integrated within the same grammar for expressing deep linguistic analysis. The root and pattern specify the vowels that can follow each consonant, as well as the suffixes and prefixes. The Arabic script is right to left while transliterations are left to right (Holes 2). Morphology: A core distinguishing feature of Semitic languages centers on their root-and-pattern morphology, whereby the root incorporates a semantic abstraction constituting two or three, or even four consonants based on which words may be derived via the superimposition of Templatic patterns. This relates to the manner in which words may be altered within a form in a manner that affects the meaning. Arabic has an exceptional degree of ambiguity within the writing system, the rich morphology, and the highly intricate word formation process of roots and patterns that all contribute to rendering computational approaches to Arabic challenging. The morphological variants substitutes diverse vowels, in addition, to adding affixes. In dictionaries, the morphological variants frequently clustered around a head word. Arabic language is essentially a phonetic language. Although, majority of languages manifest diverse dialects that vary in phonology, the Arabic language can be described as possessing a continuum of varieties. Arabic language has 28 consonant phonemes rendering phonemic contrasts between “emphatic” consonants and non-emphatic ones. Arabic language also has three vowel phonemes in which some of the phonemes have combined in the diverse modern dialects (Bassiouney and Katz 17). There are three dominant forms of Arabic language: classical Arabic, the modern Arabic language, and colloquial Arabic. Colloquial or dialectic Arabic represents the many national or regional varieties that constitute the everyday spoken language. Colloquial Arabic possesses numerous regional variants, which, sometimes, differ to the extent of being mutually unintelligible. The modern written language (Modern Standard Arabic) stems from Classical Arabic and is broadly used within schools, universities, and employing various degrees within the workplace. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the grammatical standards of the Qur’an and employs much of the same vocabulary; nevertheless, it has eliminated some grammatical construction and vocabulary that bears no counterpoint within the spoken varieties. No modern spoken variety of Arabic language manifests case distinctions. In Classical Arabic, the verb mainly precedes the subject (VSO). Furthermore, the numeral system within classical Arabic be regarded as complex and heavily influenced by the case system (Bateson 93). There are codified rules applicable to classical Arabic and a strong emphasis on mastering the set rules; however, the modern and colloquial Arabic are flexible. Language and dialect: The sociolinguistic situation of the Arabic language within modern times avails a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia, emanating from the fact that Arabs read and write one form of Arabic while at the same time speaking diverse dialects. This represents the normal utilization of two separate varieties of the same language mainly within diverse social situations. There are numerous dialects of Arabic language with the most dominant being the Egyptian, Iraqi, Levantine, Moroccan, and the Najdi within the Arabic peninsula. The dialect is shaped by the language originally spoken within the region in question. The common dialect within Arabic dialect details the Modern Arabic language, which is spoken by more than 206 million Arabic speaking people. Arabic calligraphy: Arabic calligraphy is still considered by a majority as an art form. Arabic language is cursive by nature, and unlike the Latin script, Arabic script is employed to write down a verse of Qur’an, a proverb, or a hadith. The sound system of Arabic is very diverse from that of English and the other languages of Europe. Arabic language incorporates several distinctive guttural sounds (pharyngeal and uvular fricatives), as well as a series of velarized consonants (Versteegh 9). There are three short and three long vowels and the majority of Arabic words essentially start with a sole consonant followed by a vowel, and long vowels are seldom followed by more than one consonant. Consonants detailing more than two consonants do not feature within the Arabic language. Conclusion Arabic language represents as Southern-Central Semitic language largely spoken within a large area inclusive of North Africa, and the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as other parts of the Middle East. Arabic language represents the language of the Qur’an, as well as the religious language of all Muslims. Literary Arabic (Classical Arabic) is mainly the form of the language found within the Qur’an and with minimal modifications critical for its utilizations within contemporary times. Arabic is a consonantic language in which the vowels can be theoretically omitted when writing words; nevertheless, spoken Arabic features vowel sounds, in which a single dot in Arabic language can render a big difference. Works Cited Bassiouney, Reem, and Katz Graham. Arabic Language and Linguistics. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2012. Print. Bateson, Mary C. Arabic Language Handbook. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1967. Print. Holes, Clive. Modern Arabic. Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press, 2004. Print. Versteegh, Kees. The Arabic Language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press, 2003. Print. Wahba, Kassem, Taha Zeinab, and England Liz. Handbook for Teaching Arabic Language Professional in the Twentieth Century. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006. Print. Read More