جامعة المنيا، كلية األلسن ,Mini University, Faculty of Alsun لغة وحضارة، الفرقة الثانية دراسات عليا ، Linguistics , Pre-M.A.,2020 0202 المحاضر د.إيمان العيسوى Instructor Dr Eman Elesawy

Language and Culture 2nd, April,2020

ILOs (Intended Learning Objectives): *To understand the role of language in forming culture and identity *To discuss factors leading to language death *To mention procedures to revive the Arabic language

Questions: 1*Based on your study/readings, is the Arabic language a dying one? American Research Journal of English and Literature(ARJEL) ISSN(online)- 2378-9026 Volume 2016, 6 Pages Research Article Open Access English as a Global Language and the Effects on Culture and Identity Ibrahim Alfarhan

[email protected] Graduate Student, School of Education Saint Louis University, St. Louis, United States Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the concepts of English globalization and also its effects on cultural identity. This paper examines how second English language learners use English at the expense of their traditional languages. It also examines how second language acquisition influences one’s cultural identity. Research evidence from various articles used in this paper confirms that the globalization of English is detrimental to the cultural identity of the given group. Language is considered as one of the most effective ways of determining a person’s identity and cultural background. This means that without language, it can be difficult to establish one’s cultural identity. Again, many people use English frequently when they communicate; however, as Ged (2013) explains, second language acquisition may lead to the loss of some aspects or knowledge about the first language. The effects of second language acquisition can be both negative and positive. Johnson (2009) explains that globalization of English language and its effects on cultural identity needs to be understood in three main aspects which will be discussed in this paper; for example, English as an instrument for economic success, English as a tool for cross-cultural communication, and also English as a passing phase or lingua franca of the past. Through the analysis of these three major dimensions, we will be able to establish the effects of EnglishKeywords: globalization on cultural identity.

IntroductionGlobal language, Identity, Cultural identity, globalization, Cross-Cultural Communication.

English has become a global language with over 380 million people speaking it as their first language and over 200 million people taking it as their second language. Another billion of people are in the process to learn it. English has been majorly associated with the western nations such as US, Canada, or the UK. However, with the world’s globalization majorly in the economic sector, English has been seen to play a great role in facilitating communication between people of different linguistic backgrounds. Again, globalization in the education sector where people move to other countries to study has also influenced the development of English. English has become the world’s language of communication as it is used in various sectors; for example, commerce, technology, politics, and diplomacy. English is everywhere; we can see it everywhere we move. However, the effects of this globalization have affected the society in various ways; loss of cultural identity is one of the major effects that are associated with the globalization of English. This paper is going to examine the globalization of English and how it affects the language acquisition and cultural identity of the people taking it asGlobalization a second language of like English the third itsworld effects countries on in Africacultural and Asia. identity

The globalization of English language can be understood in various aspects; for example, as an instrument for economic success or the creator of new inequality class, a tool for cross-cultural communication and awareness, and as a passing phase of lingua franca (Johnson, 2009). www.arjonline.org Page 1 American Research Journal of English and Literature(ArjEL)

English as an instrument for economic success

First, as an instrument for the economic success of creator of new inequality class, English has been a powerful force behind the development of business institutions. As a result, a new class of inequalities was created that was majorly based on the language proficiency. Research indicates that the English language has influenced the development and advancement of the economic sector in a powerful way (Johnson, 2009). As people struggle for self-sufficiency and attain success, English remains a significant factor towards realizing these goals. English is said to promote the economic sector in various ways; for example, it provides people with the basic skills that enable them to cope with the modern age of technology (Seppala, 2011). Proficiency in the English language enables one to understand the basic skills needed in the modern life; for example, proficiency in computer and driving. With the technological advancement, English still remain the dominant language of communication for many people. Therefore, attaining proficiency in English gives someone the perfect opportunity to understand the modern society. English is depicted as a form of cultural capital. Again, as people continue to interact due to different reasons; English remains the dominant language for communication between them (Poggensee, 2016). English enables people to communicate effectively across various lingual borders. Business organizations thrive and they seek to expand their operations internationally to other countries across the world. Most people learn English not because they want to know it for the sake but to enable them to attain a good job. People in the third world countries seek to learn English So that they can get a better job. In order to attain the better job of their dream it needs them to go through various challenging situations; for example, going through the whole education system from the kindergarten level to the university. This may take longer than one could expect; but because they need to attain the best they have to go through the system to be certified that they are eligible to get the jobs. Although in education, the purpose of learning a language is to be able to comprehend and communicate in a new language, the whole idea is to become successful economically in the society by acquiring a better job (Kanno & Varghese, 2010). The main purpose of a language is to promote communication (Kanno & Varghese, 2010); however, the globalization of English has proved this statement to be wrong. Language is no longer for communication mainly, but rather, there is a hidden agenda behind the struggling to learn and attain a new language. Research indicates that the globalization of English has led to the emergence of a new sense of identity where the people proficient in English regards themselves to belong to a certain group. Cultural identity is mainly influenced by language (Hatoss, 2003); therefore, the new class that is formed by the proficient second English language speakers in the third world countries like Africa and Asia is mainly influenced by the English language. Scholars refer to English as a kit that signals membership in a specific group. English has influenced even other cultures that have been known to be conservatives like the Chinese. China is one of the countries where culture is still regarded as important and protected at any cost. However, internationalization has influenced their dedication to culture; and over the past years we have witnessed several changes (Johnson, 2009). At first, the Chinese government refused to accept English to be taught in the schools. However, changes were made due to their increased contact with the outside world. Nowadays English is taught in various schools, although the main language of communication and instruction in schools remain mandarin. According to John (2009), the internationalization has greatly influenced China to learn English. Nowadays, many Chinese students learn English as foreign language for internationalization purposes. The international events such as Olympic Games that were held in Beijing in 2008 at some point forced some people to improve on their English skills. Taxi drivers, official games staff, hotel management and staffs were forced to improve theirVolume English 2 skills even if they did not want to. Page 2 American Research Journal of English and Literature(ArjEL)

Research indicates that language plays a significant role in determining the identity of a person (Lobaton, 2012). Second language acquisition is not easy; the students experience various challenges in the process. A case study in Canada indicates that students have different perceptions about their fellow colleagues who take English as their second language. As a second English learner, one does not have any culture to claim. Acquiring English as the second language means that one has to learn some of the cultural practices practiced by the English speakers, in this case, the western countries. This may force one to drop his/her culture in the process or even if he/she does not leave the native culture there will be confusion about the culture that he/she belongs to. This is because he/she will be halfway practicing his/her native culture and at the same time also trying to adapt the new culture brought by the new language acquired. Therefore, second English learners find it difficult to cope with the challenges that they face in the process of acquiring the new language. According to Lobaton (2012), second English language students have different social identities created by the new language they acquire. Again, they also have different ways of arguing about their cultural identity because of their different positions and identities that are mainly created by the acquisition of another language. According to Hatoss (2003), people can adopt a new culture without necessarily losing their first culture. However, as Lobaton (2012) argues, the confusion that emerges as a result of the second language acquisition may lead to loss of some cultural aspects of the first language. Lobaton (2012) conquers with Hatoss (2003) that language has a significant factor in determining one’s cultural identity. The moment the language has been tampered with; consequently, it can also affect the cultural identity. Hatoss (2003) claims that people cannot lose their cultural identity even if they adopt a new language or culture; however, this statement might not be entirely true. Hatoss gives an example of a Hungarian tribe in Australia and how they have stayed irrespective of their minority, they have managed to maintain their cultural practices and values over the years. Hatoss’ can be at some point rejected because the strategies that the Hungarians have used to maintain their culture intact is not what many other people use when they adopt a new language and culture. For example, the Hungarians have established cultural organizations such as Hungarian Association of Australia that ensures that their cultural values and practices are upheld and passed to the next generations. However, when we talk about the globalization of English and how it affects the society’s cultural identity we imply how it affects the perception of the second English learners. However, as Johnson (2009) explains, people try to associate themselves with the modernity; therefore, they may do anything to relate with the modernity including abandoning their native cultures. Therefore, the new culture that is formed by the second English learners is as a result of the globalization of the language. Everyone nowadays wants to familiarize with the modern technology that can mainly be related to English. Therefore, English as a second language at some point can lead to loss of cultural identity. Hatoss (2003) explains that in a situation where there is more than one cultural group involved, it becomes a great challenge to which culture is preferable for everyone. He further argues that in most cases the dominant culture will always influence the minor to adopt its culture. The same concept is what is applied in English acquisition as a second language. The dominant language used in schools is English, and students only use their traditional language when they get back home. Since they spend most of their times in school, the dominant culture which is English takes its course and subdue the traditional culture.English as a tool for cross-cultural communication

As a force behind cultural imperialism or tool for cross-cultural communication and awareness English has remained intact with its culture of origin. Unlike other languages that are considered carriers of their cultures, English is seen as a detrimental force to the world’s cultural diversity (Johnson, 2009). According to Johnson, the success or failure of a language does not depend on its inherent qualities but rather, it depends on the powerVolume of 2 the speakers (Johnson, 2009, p. 136). Scholars recognize English as a language of influence and Page power 3 American Research Journal of English and Literature(ArjEL)

(Johnson, 2009). The spread and development of English language can be related to the colonization of the world; since Britain had many colonies, it is considered as the main party that participated in the spread of English in the third world countries in Africa and Asia. Apart from Britain colonizing many countries across the world; USA becoming superpower also contributed to the spread and development of English language (Johnson, 2009). According to Johnson, English is not only regarded as a mode of communication but rather, it is also considered as “repositories of culture and identity” (Johnson, 2009, P. 137). Johnson confirms that when the diversity of a language is reduced, it also affects its existence. The reason why the ancient languages like Latin are no longer in use is because their diversity use decreased significantly. According to Johnson, a decrease in language diversity may contribute to the loss of important concepts about traditional cultural values and practices. The same concept can be applied to the English as well; when one adopts a new language in the process of learning, one may lose some of the irreplaceable concepts and knowledge about the traditional cultural practices or values that can lead to the loss of the cultural identity of that particular group. English culture is based on the cultures of the English-speaking countries like Britain and USA. According to Johnson (2009), there is no way in which someone can learn a language without accepting the culture that comes with it. Therefore, as one learns the language he/she is forced to accept the cultures of it. According to Johnson’s view, English threatens other cultures by molding the learners to accept and behave the way the English people do. The people learning the language as their second language are forced to behave like Americans or Britons and also adopt their culture. Johnson confirms that indeed, learning English as a second language significantly influences the cultures in its path (Johnson, 2009). Some people argue that the role English play is greater than just communication; for example, it acts as a lingua franca that people uses to eradicate the cross-cultural barriers communication. Some scholars argue that the rise of English as a global language is a positive influence on the development of cultures as it brings people together to share their ideas and cultures as well. English breaks the communication barriers between people from diverse cultural background and it creates a new community where people come together and share their cultures and ideas with broader audience (Johnson, 2009, p. 138). Despite its positive influence in the development of a more cohesive community where people leave their cultural differences, it also acts as a great threat to the development of other cultures. The globalization of English is also reinforced by the learning institutions (Kanno & Varghese, 2010). Children are now brought up without their first language because they are denied the chance of learning their first language in schools. This can be seen in most urban areas in the third world countries where the family only communicates using English. The superiority figure that English has been given has contributed to the loss of the cultural identity of these people. Again, students are becoming more interested in learning English for international purposes at the expense of their traditional languages (Kanno & Varghese, 2010). Although, it has become a common language that people from diverse cultural backgrounds can use to understand one another, it still remains a threat to each culture involved. Language is one of the ways that one’s identity can be determined. As Wyatt (2009) defines it, “identity is who we are” (P. 6). Identity is what makes people common or the same. For example, when some says he/she is a Christian or American, there must be something or characteristic that makes him/her same with the Christians or American. Wyatt explains that identity can be understood in various dimensions; for example, the social identity which makes people identifies themselves with a larger group. The social identity includes the values, ideas, opinion, and knowledge shared by a larger group (Wyatt, 2009). There is the personal identity which makes a person unique as an individual and also the enacted identity which is the identity depicted through the language one speaks or communicates with (Wyatt, 2009). According to Wyatt (2009), the enacted identity and personal identity can never be seen the same time. It is because it is impossible to know the inside thoughts of a Volume 2 Page 4 American Research Journal of English and Literature(ArjEL)

person; however, many people tend to worry about how other people would see or perceive them. According to Wyatt, the difference between the two identity dimension aspects can be determined by a language. The author further explains that language is connected to cultural identity. The social identity dimension is about culture which can also be expressed through a language. People always get carried away by how other people look at them; and this according to Wyatt (2009) is what brings the conflict between culture and language. The author further explains that culture can be expressed through the language; therefore, for one to become a member of a certain society he/she must first understand their culture and language. The discrimination that the second language learners face in schools also contributes to their abandonment of their traditional culture. Therefore, as Wyatt (2009) explains, if one loses the language then he/she loses the culture as well because the two are impossible to separate. One cannot separate the language from the culture; we share the culture through the language. Therefore, once a person has lost his/her language then it means that he/she has also lost the cultural identity because there will be no culture that that person identifies with. As Barber (2013) explains, without a language one does not claim to have a culture. According to Seppala (2011) explains, the words people utter refer to their community’s authority towards the world they live in. Seppala further claims that language is more than just understanding the grammar and vocabulary used, but rather, it also includes understanding the culture it comes from or where it is used. In the processEnglish of learningas a passing the language, phase one or may the get pastinvolved lingua in the culture;franca thus, giving him/her a new identity.

As a passing phase scholars argue that language can be understood as a lingua franca of the past or a different thing all together; however, as Johnson describes it either way it is more dangerous to other cultures. The superiority figure that English has been given proves to be harmful to other languages and cultures as well. English has dominated the world as it is the language that is mostly used in the advertisement, news and other social events. English has been given protection at the expense of other languages. As Ged (2013) explains, second English language acquirers must have to go beyond learning the language but also form an identity as an English speaker (P. 10). The author explains that in the process one might lose some of the knowledge about his/her original culture; thus, leading to cultural identity loss. The more one speaks a language the faster he/ she can gain proficiency in that language. Therefore, as Johnson explains, people speak English frequently and this gives it the dominance it has over other languages. Wyatt (2009) examines the effect of translation of a language to other languages across different cultures and he finds that the meaning of a word may be lost in the process of translation. Therefore, most people will tend to use English to communicate instead of going through the difficult translation process. Authors from the third world countries have mostly written their books in English so as to reach a larger audience. Using their local languages may limit their audiences. Although, they try to pass the information about their communities but the readers majorly focuses on the language that also influences their cultural identity. The fact that they have used English indicates that they have already identified themselves with the English culture; therefore, even what they write about no longer have significance. The stories they write about are based on their communities; and as Wyatt (2009) argues, some of the words lose their meaning in the process of translation. Therefore, even if they write in English to obtain a larger audience the meaning intended may not come out as clear as it was intended. Poggensee (2016) defines the globalization of language as “the process that involves the spread of the languages used as international languages and also the disappearance of the languages that are not spoken regularly” (P. 6). The language that is frequently spoken like English will continue acquiring dominanceVolume 2 over the rest that are not spoken. Page 5 American Research Journal of English and Literature(ArjEL)

Conclusion

When children first join the school, they come with their native cultures; however, by the time they move out of school most of them would have forgotten about their native language and culture as well. Children spend most of their time in school and the official language used is English especially for second language learners. The fact that they are not allowed to use their native languages makes it difficult for them to understand its significance. The perception given to the native languages has been so negative such that the students look at it in awkward manner. However, as we have discussed in this paper, language has a great influence on cultural identity. The moment one loses the language he/she also loses the cultural identity as well. Although it is possible to learn the second language and still have knowledge of the first culture, but the globalization of English has proven that most people frequently use English and they willingly forget about their first languages. Language is what contains culture; a person without a language does not have an identity. Therefore, the globalization of English has greatly contributed to the loss of cultural identityReferences of the second English language acquirers.

Barber, S. (2013). The influence of culture and identity on second language acquisition: a perspective from Egypt. Retrieved from http://dar.aucegypt.edu/bitstream/handle/10526/3342/Shirley.thesis%20proposal%20 FINAL%20.pdf?sequence=3 Ged, G. (2013). Conscious Reconstruction: The Effects of Second Language Acquisition on Self-Perception of Gender Identity. Hatoss, A. (2003). Identity formation, cross-cultural attitudes and language maintenance in the Hungarian Diaspora of Queensland. Cultural Citizenship: Challenges of Globalization. Decan University, Melbourne, 71-77. Retrieved from https://eprints.usq.edu.au/1158/1/Hatoss_Deakin_paper.pdf Johnson, A. (2009). The rise of English: The language of globalization in China and the European Union. Macalester International, 22(1), 12. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/cgi/viewcontent. cgi?article=1447&context=macint Kanno, Y., & Varghese, M. M. (2010). Immigrant and refugee ESL students’ challenges to accessing four-year college education: From language policy to educational policy. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 9(5), 310-328. Lobatón, J. C. G. (2012). Language learners’ identities in EFL settings: resistance and power through discourse* Las identidades de estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera: resistencia y poder discursivo. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0123-46412012000100005 Poggensee, A. (2016). The effects of globalization on English language learning: Perspectives from Senegal and the United States. Retrieved fromd http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3725& context=honors_theses Seidlhofer, B. (2013). Oxford Applied Linguistics: Understanding English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford University Press. Seppälä, M. (2011). The effects of the English language on the cultural identity of Chinese university students. Wyatt, A. (2009). Identity, Language and Culture in Eva Hoffman’s Lost in Translation. Retrieved from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:228969/FULLTEXT01.pdf Citation: Ibrahim Alfarhan, English as a global language and the effects on culture and identity ARJEL Volume 2016; pp:1-6 Graduate Student, School of Education Saint Louis University, St. Louis, United StatesCopyright © 2016 Ibrahim Alfarhan, This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Volume 2 Page 6 1 – Introduction

1Language death is one of the possible outcomes of a very extreme situation of language contact that involves the cultural, sociolinguistic and linguistic aspects of language.

2What should be meant by « death » or « dying » in the case of a language is not an easy question to answer [1][1]Whether a language should be considered dead when it stops…. However, I propose a common-sense interpretation of this metaphor and define language death as the process through which a language stops being used by a speech community while another language expands in all domains and is passed on to the next generation. Thus, with the exception of the rare cases of « sudden death » (Campbell, 1994), in which a language dies because an entire speech community vanishes (as a consequence of war, genocide or natural catastrophes), the most usual context of language death is one of bilingualism, or rather, of a very unstable and asymmetrical kind of bilingualism in which two or more languages are in contact. 3The phenomenon of language death is probably as old as language itself. Not differently from other cultural and social products, languages rise, develop and eventually die, following the fate of the social groups who speak them. However, the systematic study of language death as a specific domain within a more general theory of language is relatively recent. In fact, it is in the late 1970s and especially during the 1980s and the 1990s that studies on language decay and death have flourished. At the same time, the awareness in public opinion that large part of the languages of the world are doomed to rapid extinction has lately grown considerably on the spur of less scholarly publications that can arouse a more general interest on this phenomenon (see, among others, Hagège, 2000). The large amount of specific, descriptive case studies and of more general theoretical essays that have been produced in the last two or three decades offer a rather good knowledge of the linguistic and sociolinguistic phenomena involved and have aroused a few issues that have proved to be of great relevance in the study of language and of contact linguistics.

4Before tackling some specific aspects of language death, such as the definition of imperfect (native) speakers, the effects on linguistic structure, the role of sociolinguistic factors, a short terminological discussion will be introduced in order to define the domain which is being dealt with here. Because of the still rather young age of language death as a field of enquire, the literature suffers from an unnecessary richness of terminology, most of which is based on anthropomorphic metaphors (such as « language death » itself) that can generate confusion and obscure the actual phenomena involved (cf. also Dressler, 2003, 13). What I propose here is a taxonomic outline in which distinct phenomena and distinct ways of approaching them will be kept apart as much as is possible (see also De Bot, 1996, for a similar typology).

5Following Dorian (1989), I will use « language obsolescence » as an overall term for all kinds of reduction and loss in the competence or in the use of a language. Thus, the study of language obsolescence should include cases of first or second language loss, of immigrant or indigenous languages, of healthy or aphasic speakers, of language death within a community (as an cross-generational phenomenon) or within individuals (as a phenomenon occurring within an individual’s life-span), of linguistic structures or linguistic repertoires.

6Given the extremely high degree of differentiation in the situations and perspectives briefly sketched above, in this paper the focus will be on a single aspect of language obsolescence and in particular on what may be regarded as the prototypical case of language death, that is, the final stage of a language that has undergone a process of progressive (cross-generational) structural decay within the indigenous community where it is spoken as a native language. The use of the term « language death » as a hyponym of a more general framework of language obsolescence is represented graphically in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 7Of course language death is not only the outcome of progressive decay in structure, but also the outcome of a progressive shift from one language to another in the speech habits of a community (« language shift »). However, the perspective chosen for the present account deals primarily with the stages preceding actual language death from the point of view of structural transformations and reduction (usually labelled as « decay ») rather than reduction of the domains of language use.

2 – A theory of language death

8As mentioned in the preceding section, the extinction of languages is a widespread phenomenon of the past and especially of our present times. However, systematic research and the development of a theoretical framework on such a relevant topic for a theory of language is relatively recent and still rather young, a fact which has often been lamented over. 9According to the perspective of study and to the emphasis put on linguistic or sociolinguistic aspects, language death can be regarded as a a special case of language change, as a special case of language contact, or as a special phenomenon per se.

10In the first case, the mechanisms of language change that can be found in a context of language death are substantially the same as those studied in historical linguistics, all the difference being in the speed of such changes. Even a scholar such as Nancy Dorian, who devoted thirty years’ research to the study of language death, has actually worked on obsolescent varieties of Gaelic from the perspective of historical linguistics, observing that the kind of changes recorded in such decaying varieties are essentially the same as those that can be found in « healthy » languages, with the difference that the amount and rate of changes are much higher in the former (Dorian, 1981, 154).

11In the second case, language death is regarded as a special case of asymmetric contact resulting in the progressive incorporation of structures and lexicon from the dominant into the receding language. An extreme view in this sense is Carol Myers-Scotton’s, as for instance in Myers-Scotton (1998) and (2002). Rejecting markedness and simplicity as explanatory constructs, and loss as the only possible outcome of language attrition, Myers- Scotton unifies attrition, convergence and other phenomena connected with contact, such as code-switching, postulating that the same model and the same mechanisms underlie all of them. It is quite common, however, that models of language contact contemplate language death as an extreme, « catastrophic », non-genetic outcome of contact (among others, Thomason & Kaufman, 1988; Thomason, 2000; Berruto, forthcoming).

12Finally, language death can be seen as a substantially independent kind of phenomenon, thus requiring a theoretical framework that can account for linguistic and sociolinguistic aspects related to it. Indeed, the main preoccupation of most researchers on language death so far has been that of confirming the peculiarity of language-internal changes (regarded as almost « pathologic » in nature) caused by a severe decrease in the use of language and by an interruption in language transmission to younger generations, while the role of the contact language as a source of transfer has usually been overlooked and underestimated. This point of view is characteristic, among others, of H.J. Sasse (1992, 16): « my claim is that we can and must distinguish language decay from normal language contact phenomena (including some instances of « simplification ») by identifying the reductional character of decaying varieties of obsolescent languages. »

13Any theory of language death must account for the overwhelming role of external factors on language change, acknowledging that a sociolinguistic pressure is imposed on the threatened language and leads to a reduction (and a redefinition) of its domains of use. In Sasse’s view (1992), external and internal factors (interfaced by linguistic behaviour) are connected through a series of diachronic and causation chains. The final question is then whether a language dies because of a dysfunctional loss of rules and structures (more emphasis on language-internal factors), or because of loss of speakers (more emphasis on language-external factors).

14The hypothesis that has prevailed so far in the literature is that there is a strong correlation between form and function and in particular that « the reduced use of a language will lead also to a reduced form of that language » (Dorian, 1977, 24), or, more synthetically, « forms follow functions » (Dressler, 1996). The researcher is then left with the (as yet) unsolved question about what should be regarded as reduction of linguistic forms [2][2]For a first discussion of concepts such as « reduction » and…. 15A survey of the better known literature on this topic reveals a great variety of phenomena that are regarded as linguistic outcomes of language death. To quote some of the most common ones: marked structures give way to unmarked ones; grammatical oppositions are levelled and rules are simplified or disappear completely; levelling within and between paradigms increases; periphrastic, analytic structures substitute synthetic forms; functional reduction leads to stylistic shrinkage and to reduction of elaborate syntactic structures; allomorphic variation is simplified, although an apparently opposite phenomenon is observed, too, i.e. the increase of a seemingly non-motivated variation. Incidentally, it is quite surprising that of the ten kinds of structural consequences discussed by Campbell (1994) in a survey of language death studies, no mention is made to interference phenomena. Then, we can add to this list the gain of new rules imported from the contact language (Denison, 1977), and the positive influence of parallel structures in the dominant language upon the decaying system (Dorian, 1993). 16More recently, researchers have pointed to the greater variety of outcomes apart from reduction and simplification. This is due to a better knowledge of sociolinguistic contexts and to deeper studies on linguistic phenomena. In particular, it becomes more and more apparent that language death is an extremely multifaceted phenomenon and that alternative explicative models are possible according to the situation on which the research is focused. See for instance Wolfram (2002) or Thomason (2000), each of them proposing a range of language death models, in which « dissipation » (Wolfram, 2002) or « attrition » (Thomason, 2000), both gradual processes of loss, coexist with other possible routes, all leading to language death. Therefore, also linguistic consequences are necessarily varied.

17Nancy Dorian, too, has recently hinted at the complexity of the (linguistic) phenomena involved, observing that loss and simplification are just one aspect of a more elaborate picture (Dorian, 1999). For instance, the development of morphology through grammaticalization has been recorded in contexts of language obsolescence, although such processes involving the increase in grammatical complexity and the change from analytic to synthetic structures were initially regarded as impossible or highly unlikely in language death contexts. A couple of examples may illustrate this phenomenon. One is the development of new verbal categories in Tariana, an Amazon language (Aikhenvald, 1999), through the grammaticalization of serial verbs via cliticization: as a result, the system has become more complex and the verb has acquired new synthetic categories. The other is the grammaticalization of subject clitics as agreement markers on verbs in German-speaking enclaves in the North of Italy (Dal Negro, 2004). It is especially in the speech of young fluent speakers who use this minority German dialect mainly as a humorous we-code within the peer-group that phenomena of reanalysis and grammaticalization within the Verb- Subject group can be found more frequently and systematically. The result is an increase in the morphological complexity of the verb and of the grammatical categories that are marked on it. In the case of the third person of the singular, in fact, verbal forms present gender marking, too (Dal Negro, 2004, 170-171):

18As can be easily imagined, then, most of the difficulties found in working on language death probably depends on the fact that very different entities are being compared with each other and that the sole reference to linguistic phenomena is not sufficient to define the domain of language death. Therefore, in proposing a theory of language death one should first ensure that the same kind of objects are being dealt with. Reduction of functions (and relative reduction of forms) can include a wide range of phenomena, different in quantity and quality. This also means to understand what is « dying » in the case of a language and what has to be ruled out instead. For instance, whether decreolization (progressive incorporation of a creole within the system of its lexifier language), dialect death [3][3]The « capture » of a dialect by its Dachsprache (einfangen:… or complete grammatical replacement do or do not represent substantially different phenomena from language death proper.

3 – Imperfect native speakers

19Perhaps the most interesting outcome of language death research is the theorization of so- called semi-speakers, that is, imperfect native speakers in a context of gradual language decay and death. Casting doubts on the apparently self-evident concept of native speaker, the notion of semi-speaker acquires great relevance to linguistic and sociolinguistic theory. One of the most exhaustive definitions of semi-speakers can be found in Dorian (1981, 107):

20Unlike the older Gaelic-dominant bilinguals, the semi-speakers are not fully proficient in Gaelic. They speak it with varying degrees of less than full fluency, and their grammar (and usually their phonology) is markedly aberrant in terms of the fluent-speaker norm. S[emi]- s[peakers] may be distinguished from fully fluent speakers of any age by the presence of deviations in their Gaelic which are explicitly labelled « mistakes » by the fully fluent speakers. […] At the lower end of speaker skill, s[emi]-s[peakers] are distinguished from near-passive bilinguals by their ability to manipulate words in sentences.

21However, the notion of imperfect native speaker varies greatly according to the context studied and to what the researcher decides to focus on, in particular whether the perspective is the individual or the community. If the point of reference is the individual, it is usually loss during one’s life-time to be considered and the idea is that proficiency in one’s first language decreases with time. If the point of reference is the community, the accent is on the age- grading continuum: progressively younger age corresponds to progressively lower proficiency. In this case the idea is that a community’s first language is being acquired incompletely by increasingly more children, either because their acquisition process has been interrupted too early, or because it has been too casual and discontinuous. In the long run, a group of imperfect native speakers coexists with proficient speakers. In turn, the latter might undergo language loss as time passes and language use decreases. From the point of view of a theory of language, and especially of a theory of language death, we are dealing here with two different kinds of phenomena, but only in the case of language loss within an individual’s life-time it seems possible to speak of actual language loss. In the other case (interruption in language transmission), a radical restructuring of the language is expected, with the possibility that a substantially different code (almost non-genetic in its outcome) emerges [4][4]According to Thomason (2000, 227) the relationship of a…. In the end, such a severely restricted code is not transmitted to the young because it is perceived as too poor and to corrupted to be of any use, thus activating a sort of vicious circle (Dressler, 2003, 18). 22Linguists and other observers usually predict the end of a language on the basis of the so called apparent-time hypothesis. Accordingly, an age-graded continuum of imperfect speakers predicts the fate of language. Indeed, the basic idea of attrition research is that younger age correlates positively with an increased reduction in grammar and lexicon and that young imperfect speakers will not improve their knowledge of the language with time, thus leading to its eventual disappearance.

23However, things do not necessarily go this way in actual contexts of language obsolescence and researchers have to account for the fact that local minority languages that have been declared moribund for decades or even for a couple of centuries are still viable nowadays, or, in any case, that moribund languages survive much longer than the apparent- time construct would lead one to think. What diachronic data in linguistically endangered enclaves actually seem to prove is the development of irregular patterns of language acquisition and use, with speakers extending the domains of language use and increasing their fluency as they grow older and proficiency in a local language variety is endowed with positive values at community level. Therefore, today’s very young semi-speakers or non- speakers of the endangered language might well become tomorrow’s fluent speakers of the same language variety, thus delaying the process of language death [5][5]See also Gal (1979, 154) for similar (and other)…. 24Field-work in German and Croatian obsolescent minority dialects in Italy has revealed irregular patterns of language acquisition and use in young speakers and interesting linguistic implications. In a research carried out with Antonietta Marra [6][6]Results presented at the Sociolinguistic Symposium (Bristol,…, we observed that there were young speakers who had acquired the local (southern Italian) variety of Croatian at a later age than Italian. However, they presented a fully functional system (albeit divergent from the traditional one) and in particular very interesting phenomena of overgeneralization of case marking in the domain of noun morphology were recorded. See (3) for a case of overgeneralization of the accusative marking instead of the expected unmarked nominative form: 25Similarly, young speakers of a German dialect in the North of Italy who started speaking dialect as a we-code mainly in interactions with friends present overmarked verb forms (see 4 and 1-2 above), characterized by subject-clitic grammaticalization, whereas some of the same speakers produced non grammatical, unmarked verb stems at a younger age (5):

26From the point of view of linguistic forms, the question regards what is really lost in the speech of imperfect speakers and whether there is a progressive loss over time (individually and at community level). This raises methodological issues, such as the definition of points of reference and the testing of language loss itself. In fact, loss implies that a preceding full form of the same language is available and can be used for comparison. As regards testing, in studies on first or second language attrition, testing on lexicon and other eliciting techniques are common (see De Bot, 1996) whereas in language death studies it is mainly translation tests and interview recordings that are preferred. It should be clear, however, that different techniques can produce very different data sets. Moreover, any type of direct testing (such as translation) emphasizes phenomena of loss (and overt interference from the language in contact), whereas free speech data are more likely to generate either an apparently formal integrity (usually accompanied by a very scarce speech production) or more extreme cases of language restructuring in which loss is not necessarily the only or the main issue at stake.

27The discussion that has been briefly introduced here shows the difficulty of comparing results of different studies dealing with imperfect native speakers. Elsewhere (Dal Negro, 2004) I have suggested to distinguish between imperfect speakers in a broad and in a narrow sense. In the first case imperfect speakers encompass the whole range of diversions from a fully fledged language variety (accompanied by a reduction in use), whereas in a second, narrow, sense it only applies to those individuals whose competence in the receding language is dysfunctional and diverges radically from the inherited language. These individuals, however, do not usually speak the shifted-from language in their daily interactions [7][7]The main risk of testing as the sole eliciting technique in…. 28Thus, an analysis of well documented case studies from the literature and from field-work has produced a two-fold result. On one side we saw that the apparent-time construct does not necessarily hold in the case of language death because the local (and symbolic) functions performed by obsolescent languages allow them to survive longer than age-graded continua might lead one to think. On the other, very extreme cases of language reduction and/or restructuring accounted for in the literature may be (at least partial) distortions of eliciting techniques [8][8]See also Dorian (1999, 117-118) and her veiled suspicion of the….

5 – Language death within multilingual speech repertoires

29The emphasis that the literature has put on phenomena of dysfunctional reduction in linguistic forms has somewhat blurred the fact that language death is mainly and primarily a sociolinguistic phenomenon that has to do with the disappearance of a language because of substantial changes in the repertoire of a speech community or, under extreme circumstances, because of the loss of the speech community in all. In contrast, all linguistic features that are recorded in the literature are neither necessary nor sufficient to the actual process of language death. Contact linguistics, too, often plays a minor role in studies on language death, in spite of the self-evident fact that languages always start their decaying phase in a context of bi- or multilingualism, without implying, however, that language death takes place because of bilingualism [9][9]When a language eventually dies, however, the community becomes…. 30The level on which language death can be most effectively explained is probably that of speech practices, or speech behaviour (in the sense of Sasse, 1992). More explicitly, Milroy (2001) points to social network analysis as the level on which language shift can actually be observed as it gains ground within a community. Other social and cultural aspects, such as ethnic or local identity, covert and overt prestige of languages and language varieties, community values, can be added to refine the definition of a shifting repertoire (see Gal, 1979, for a thorough analysis).

31As Gal (1996) remarks, considering language shift from the perspective of the whole community, viewing its whole repertoire as it is progressively restructured, one gains a very different and less organicistic view (see metaphors such as « language death ») on the same phenomenon. Indeed, from a community point of view there is rarely an actual linguistic and communicative deprivation, as domains and functions shift from one code to the other, from one variety to the other, with the shifted-from language is usually circumscribed to very specialized and emblematic functions marking local or ethnic identity [10][10]Of course local or ethnic identity may be marked in many other…. As Dimmendaal (1998, 71, 101) puts it, language shift represents a normal historical process of adaptation to a changing environment; in this respect language is but « an active dynamic aspect of human adaptation in complex environmental systems. » 32A few examples can illuminate these issues by showing the main role played by societal, communicative and symbolic factors in determining the fate of a language within a bilingual repertoire.

33Comparing different Pennsylvania German (PG) communities and their protracted use of German in an English-dominant context, Huffines (1989) observes that most members of sectarian religious groups (Mennonites and Old Order Amish) present a very simplified system in the domain of nominal morphology. Their case system appears to be very much influenced by English and characterized by syncretism (one-case system for nouns and two- case system for pronouns) and by the incipient extension of the English genitive marker -s. In contrast, fluent non-sectarian speakers display a more conservative case system, with the survival of dative forms on nouns and of a three-case opposition on pronouns. While sectarians’ case system appears uniform and coherent in its simplicity and its structural similarity with English, non-sectarians fluctuate more between conservative paradigms and aberrant forms produced by semi-speakers. What is relevant here, however, is that Mennonites and Amish exhibit a very uniform speech behaviour, with German meeting all communicative needs within their communities. Thus, a decisive convergence towards English has provided them with an established, albeit not particularly distinctive, norm which is viable in all community-internal (social) activities. Non-sectarians display much less loyal speech behaviours, with older and fluent speakers still using a traditional system, while the number of semi-speakers increases together with a progressively generalized abandonment of German in favour of English.

34Another example that can be taken is that of minority German (« Walser ») dialects spoken in the north-west of Italy. Various alpine communities characterized by different historical and environmental circumstances offer a wide range of outcomes as regards language maintenance and death. To recall the most paradigmatic cases, the traditional Walser dialect disappeared almost intact in its form from the community of Salecchio as the scarce population abandoned this remote settlement in the late 1960s. Neighbouring Formazza has been witnessing a long phase of progressive language shift and incipient obsolescence, but convergence towards and borrowing from the contact language (Italian) is scarce. At Rimella the inherited Walser dialect is giving way to a Piedmontese variety which serves all local communicative and symbolic functions and which is also gaining ground within the system of the traditional German dialect, probably leading to the formation of a fused lect (in the sense of Auer, 1999); at Issime (Aosta Valley) the German dialect is used alternatively with various other codes in a surprisingly rich multilingual setting characterized by structural convergence but also by stubborn maintenance in use. Finally, in the community of Bosco Gurin, the only German-speaking enclave in the otherwise Italian- speaking Swiss region of Ticino, language death resembles more dialect death, in the sense that the local rustic dialect is now undergoing severe interference from German dialects spoken in the northern regions of Switzerland, together with a more predictable shift to Italian.

35These examples show that language maintenance or language shift can follow very different paths and attain very different outcomes according to « environmental » factors. Besides, fieldwork evidence in various parts of the world has showed that formal and speech loyalty do not necessarily match: drastic reduction in use and in speech domains does not imply structural decay; language loyalty does not necessarily entail the preservation of the inherited system; formal resistance does not prevent language shift to take place. 36Further evidence of this wide range of outcomes and especially of the least expected ones can be found in the literature. Reference can be made, for instance, to Dimmendaal’s description of one of the last speakers of Kore, a language of Kenya, producing fairly elaborate speech forms in this dying language (Dimmendaal, 1992), or to Thomason’s mention of Montana Salish (Thomason, 2000, 237), where borrowing and attrition seem to be lacking in a context of use reduction protracted over a long period of time. On the other hand, « stubborn and persistent resistance to total cultural assimilation » makes it possible to maintain a language ideally distinct from the one(s) in contact while large part of its grammar and parts of its lexicon are borrowed (Thomason & Kaufman, 1988, 48, and Thomason, 2000, 232): it is the case of mixed languages such as Anglo Romani or Ma’a [11][11]Ma’a, an originally Cushitic language spoken in a Bantu…, where, however, the link to the traditional language remains doubtful. 37The hypothesis that formal aspects of a code correlate with, or depend on, the functions fulfilled by the same code (cf. for instance Dressler, 1996) has given way to the research of some sort of « universals of reduction », i.e. formal features that always emerge in the case of functionally reduced linguistic systems such as pidgins, creoles, L1 or L2 learners’ varieties and dying languages (Andersen, 1982). Seen as the reverse process of language acquisition or of the nativization phase of creolization, language death is often regarded from the point of view of natural and universal developments that are therefore independent from the specific language contact situation in which the obsolescent language is living its final stages.

38However, the increasing interest aroused by these themes in linguistic research, while allowing for a better knowledge of a large amount of cases in the world, is more and more promoting a relativistic approach to language death. On one side researchers underlie the peculiarities of language death as opposed to other « reduction » contexts, on the other specific sociolinguistic features are analysed focusing on the various environments in which shift takes place. In particular, early accounts that regarded language death as similar to pidginization (Dressler & Wodak-Leodolter, 1977) or as the reverse process of creolization (Trudgill, 1977) have now been rejected, both because of counter-evidence on the formal level (on the whole dying languages do not display such a degree of simplification as pidgins) and because of the substantially sociolinguistic contexts environments. Finally, the role of the dominant language in shifting repertoires and in shifting-from languages cannot be underestimated and, as Thomason (2000) remarks, attrition phenomena are inherently contact-induced changes, as they would not occur outside a particular contact situation.

39More complex and multifaceted approaches are increasingly wanted for. The only way apt to face the world-wide phenomenon of language death seems to be a better knowledge of the mechanisms involved. Differently from other reduced contact varieties, such as pidgins, dying languages usually survive to mark group loyalty and identity and to perform symbolic and interactional functions rather than to respond to informational and communicative needs. The decrease in functions and domains that characterizes a dying language is very different from the basic, communicative functions that are typical of the rise of a pidgin, of a creole language, of an interlanguage in L2 environment and, accordingly, the path to extinction is completely different in nature from paths leading to a new (linguistic) life.

CHAPTER THREE

LANGUAGE PLANNING FOR ARABIC: BACKGROUND

3.0 Introduction

This chapter discusses some of the most salient aspects

of Arabic Language Planning both past and present. It

investigates the formative stages of Classical Arabic and

some major linguistic disciplines which marked its

development as early as the sixth century A.D. It also

focusses on issues such as lexicography and lexical

planning, which are central to modern language development.

3.1 Arabs and Arabic: A Historical View

The Arabs built an empire as well as a culture... They absorbed and assimilated the main features of the Greco- Roman culture, and subsequently acted as a medium for transmitting to medieval Europe many of those intellectual influences which ultimately resulted in the awakening of the western world, and in setting it on the road toward its modern renaissance. No people in the Middle Ages contributed to human progress so much as did the Arabians and the Arabic-speaking peoples. (Hitti 1970: 4)

The Arabians1 mentioned above were a culturally

heterogeneous people who inhabited the Arabian Peninsula

(jazlrat al-carab). The two major population areas were the

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northern and the southern parts of the jazira. Marked

ethnic and linguistic differences existed between northern

and southern Arabs. The former were generally nomads and

lived in the areas of Najd and al-Hijaz. The southern

Arabs, on the other hand, were sedentary and inhabited the

Yemen area, the classical "Arabia Felix" or South Arabia.

Classical Arabic (hereafter CA) (fusha), the ancestor

of Modern Standard Arabic (hereafter MSA), can be traced

back to the times of the pre-Islamic era (jahiliyya) when it

flourished mainly as a medium of oral poetry production.

With the advent of Islam early in the seventh century AD,

this language gained more prestige as the language of the

Qur1 in and quickly developed to become also the political

and administrative language of the expanding Islamic empire.

The origin and development of CA has been subject to

much debate and controversy. Ferguson (1959: 616-17) makes

a distinction betwee (1) a poetico-Qur'anic language, the

carabiyya of the grammarians, which, according to him, "was

based on a standard poetic language not necessarily

identical with any one dialect"; and (2) a common,

relatively homogeneous, inter-tribal koine which developed

as a spoken form of Arabic. This koine, from which a number

of modern dialects have descended, coexisted with, but was

significantly different from, the carabiyya or classical

language. Ferguson asserts that certain present-day Arabic

dialects are continuations of the Arabic spoken koine

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Their differences, therefore, are chiefly due to the

borrowings and innovations that took place following the

spread of the koine. To support his hypothesis, Ferguson

(1959: 618-630) analyzes some aspects of the natural

development or "drift" of Arabic and describes the various

features in which any modern dialects agree, as against the

features— phonological, grammatical and lexical— of the

classical tongue.

Vollers (1906: 182-4) draws a similar parallel between

what he calls the "Volkssprache", from which descended all

the modern urban dialects, and the poetic koine or

"Schriftsprache", which he believed to have developed, on

the basis of the central Arabian dialects of Najd and

Yamama, into a 'middle language1 used exclusively for

literary purposes. This hypothesis of the origin of the

Schriftsprache is supported by analysis, and research

findings such as those of Blachere (1947) and Rabin (1951).

Birkeland (1952) advances a thesis which establishes a

direct link between the two types of koine and points out

that under the various conditions of the formation of the

Islamic Empire, one of these languages might have developed

from the other. Rabin (1955: 28) concurs with Birkland when

he points out thst "the present-day colloquials after all

are derived from classical Arabic or from a "vulgararabisch"

closely related to it" (p.28).

Johann Ftfck (1955) advances a thoroughly researched

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hypothesis which points out that the contact and mixing of

the various tribes in military places and later in cities

produced an integration of the Arabic dialects which in turn

led to the creation of a common bedouin Arabic which

constituted the basis for the classical Arabic of subsequent

centuries. The carabiyya, which was the language of the

aristocratic stratum of the Arab conquerors, first coexisted

with a number of 'pidgins' which the indigenous populations

in the conquered areas used to communicate with their

conquerors. The gradual introduction of native concubines

into the household of the Arabs, the increasing access of

the newly converted to Arab cultural and social life, and

the expanding influence of the Qur'an led to a more

generalized and extensive usage of the carabiyya. As it

expanded, however, the language suffered serious

alterations and distortions, particularly among the newly

converted and the lower strata of society. These changes

produced a host of local varieties which eventually

developed into dialects. Among the high layers of society,

however, the spoken language remained essentially the

bedouin koine, which the Arab grammarians soon started

"codifying" and "standardizing" on the strict basis of

ancient poetry and the Qur' an (Cohen 1962: 123; Flfck 1955:

7-8).

One of the themes still current in Arabic literature on

the subject is that the fusha was basically the dialect of

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Quraysh, the prophet's tribe. This has been based on the

consensus that this tribe was the most eloquent of all Arabs

and the clearest of speech (afsahu-l-carab wa asfahum

luqha). This was sanctioned by the fact that Allah chose

his messenger from this tribe and made it the guardian of

the holy places. As a consequence, Quraysh became an

indisputable arbiter for all other tribes in matters of

eloquence and linguistic sophistication (Muzhir, vol.l, 209-

210).

Despite the variety of hypotheses concerning the origin

of Classical Arabic, it is safe to assume that, with the

coming of Islam, there existed a literary variety of Arabic

which was quite distinct from the various spoken idioms, and

which we refer to as Classical Arabic.

3.1.1 Arabic and Intellectual Developments

The Arabs of the .jihiliyya (particularly those in the

north) did not develop a diversified intellectual or

literary tradition. This was due to various factors such as

their isolated and thus limited world of experience and the

lack of an effective writing system. Poetry, which was

paramount in the life of the tribe, was fully represented,

however, and was cherished, raised to a high degree of

excellence, memorized and passed on from generation to

generation as an oral tradition. The pre-Islamic era also

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provided some wisdom-literature (al-amthal wa-l-hikaro)^ and

some legends and traditions which dealt with genealogies

(al-ansab) and records of inter-tribal wars referred to as

ayyam al-carab, 'the days of the Arabians' (Hitti 1970: 90),

As a result of the conquests of the seventh and eighth

centuries AD, the Arabs ruled a vast empire stretching from

the Indus to the Pyrenees. In the process, the conquerors

came into contact with cultures which were often far

superior to theirs. Some of these cultures were the product

of ancient civilizations, such as the Greco-Roman, Persian,

Pharaonic and Assyro-Babylonian. The Arabian Arabs were

conquered by the cultures of their subject peoples. The

latter were also largely assimilated and became "Arabized,

adopting the language, religion and some of the traditions

of the conquerors" (Rodinson 1981: 9).

Arabs realized the importance of Arabic as the

administrative and liturgical language of their empire. It

was consequently imperative to "conquer their own language",

to codify and standardize it. Arabic had to become an

efficient tool capable of clearly conveying the message of

the Qur1 an and the Hadlth 'Islamic tradition' as well as

meeting the enormous challenge of assimilating, reproducing

and transmitting the intellectual heritage of which the

Arabs came into possession.

The first century of Islam witnessed a massive language

exploration characterized by the study of the text of the

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Qur'an and an analysis of pre-Islamic poetry. Such efforts

helped delineate the beginnings of the "sciences of the

Arabic language” (culum al-luqha al-carabiyya), such as

exegesis, grammar and lexicography. Some of these

disciplines, being relevant to our study, will be discussed

later in this chapter (see 3.2.2 and 3.3).

Under the Umayyads (660-750 AD), the wide scope of

intermarriage gradually led to the disappearance of the

notion of

pure Arabian Arabs. As Hitti (1970: 240) points out, "an

Arab... became one who professed Islam and spoke and wrote

the Arabic tongue, regardless of his racial affiliation".

But Islamization did not always lead to Arabization. Many

Syrians, Turks, Persians, Berbers and Copts, among others,

adopted Islam but continued to speak their own languages.

Arabic, however, was the language used for their liturgical,

intellectual and scientific practices (Rodinson 1981: 18-

19).

It was during this period that Arabic linguistics

reached a high level of development, as illustrated by the

famed schools of KOfa and Basra, which were two major

centers of learning and intellectual activity in the

empire. The massive linguistic work was meant to facilitate

the study of the Qur * an for those newly converted to Islam,

and speed their assimilation and participation in the

affairs of state.

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The interaction between the various dialects and

languages of the new converts and the common vernacular had

largely corrupted the latter, which became more and more

distinct from the classical tongue of the Qur'an. This

widespread process of language corruption, commonly known as

lahn 'solecism, faulty speech', was thoroughly investigated

at the time (footnote 7).

With the Abbassid dynasty (750-1258 AD), the state was

Muslim but no longer Arab. The preeminence of the Arabs

came under attack by a broadly based social and literary

movement as represented mainly by the Persian Muslims and

their nationalistic (shucubiyya) poetry. The rivalries

between the various ethnic groups (Turks and Persians among

others) would eventually lead to the disintegration of the

dynasty (Rodinson 1981: 19). During this period, however,

the Arab-Islamic Empire underwent what is often considered

one of the highest and most significant intellectual and

cultural developments in the history of mankind. Arabic had

developed from a language of limited use to a major

instrument of high literary and scientific achievements.

New heights were reached in the areas of theology,

mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and other disciplines.

This unprecedented intellectual awakening was due to Indian

and Persian, but mainly Hellenic, influences. In a few

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decades, the highly dedicated Muslim Arabians, assisted by

their subject peoples, assimilated, reproduced and

elaborated on centuries of Hellenic intellectual heritage.

The caliphs of the dynasty sponsored and patronized massive

translation and creative activities, as illustrated by the

establishment in Baghdad in 830 AD of al-Ma'mun's Bayt al-

Hikma 'the House of Wisdom',3 which was a famous library and

scientific institution at the time.

The assimilation of the rich Hellenic culture

inevitably led to a prolific creative output, such as that

of al-Kindl (d. 873 AD) in philosophy, al-Farabl

(Alpharabius, d. 956 AD) in politics and musical theory, Ibn

SIna (Avicenna, 980-1037 AD) in medicine, physics, astrology

and philosophy, and ar-RazI (Rhazes, 865-925 AD) in physics

and medicine.^

The year 1258 AD marked the beginning of a long period

of decline, when the Mongolian invasion destroyed Baghdad,

one of the major political and intellectual centers of the

Empire. The political disintegration of the Islamic state

was coupled with a gradual ossification and eventual

stagnation of Islamic thought. Creativity and originality

became extremely limited, as writing became a means of

livelihood: substance gave way to form, and simplicity,

economy and precision in language gave way to affected and

ornate styles. This literary style was best illustrated in

the Maqamat 'assemblies', a type of dramatic anecdotal and

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satirical type of writing in which the writers were less

concerned about content than about displaying their

eloquence and rhymed style.

During the Ottoman Empire (16th to 19th centuries), the

Arabic-speaking people suffered another lengthy hibernation

period, as they were isolated from the rest of the world.

The state of Classical Arabic was no better, as it was

limited to the role of a liturgical language.

An era of cultural awakening began in the Arabic­

speaking world with the advent of colonialism and the impact

of western civilization. It is often asserted that this era

opened with Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt in

1798. Although this expedition lasted only a short time, it

provided an initial opportunity for direct contact with

post-Enlightenment European culture.

One of the most direct effects of the western

civilization was the strengthening of the reformist zeal

which swept through many Muslim societies in the eighteenth

and nineteenth centuries. This was mainly triggered by the

inability of the Arab-Muslim world to resist western

expansion, which created a belief that the Islamic society

was decadent and needed to be restored to its pristine vigor

and purity and to reorganize to meet the challenge of the

modern world. There was a wide range of opinion as to the

content of the reform movements, but on practical grounds

"the idea of learning from the West proved easier to

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implement than that of unity and resistance" (Mortimer 1982:

88).

The Arab intellectual revival has been largely based on

a linguistic revival. As Chejne (1965: 459) pointed out,

"nowhere can the Arab awakening be seen better than in the

wide interest in both language and history and in the great

strides being made to revive them". Linguistic revival,

attended by a nationalistic fervor, created an urgent need

for institutionalized Arabic language planning and reform,

as will be analyzed below.

3.1.2 The Codification of Classical Arabic and the Birth of

the Sciences of the Arabic Language (cUlum al-Luqha

al-cArabiyya)

During the process of empire-building, Arabic had to

contend with long-established languages with a great

literary heritage. The fusha, however, after a period of

adjustment and adaptation to external cultural contact,

surged forward to become the full- fledged language of the

Empire and an instrument of thought par excellence (Chejne

1965: 448).

There has been a consensus among Arab linguists as well

as Arabist3 that the Arabic linguistic sciences were born

mainly out of concern to preserve the integrity of the fusha

as ultimately represented in the Qur'an, the pre-Islamic

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poetry and in the Hadith. The concept of fasaha,^ or

correct self-expression or eloquence, which since pre-

Islamic times had been considered one of the main attributes

of the perfect man, became even more significant under

Islam. Contact and communication with the subject peoples,

who displayed a great variety of linguistic-cultural

backgrounds, often affected the purity of the fusha through

misuse and faulty speech, a phenomenon referred to earlier

as lahn.6 To combat this linguistic problem and provide

some norms of reference, the Muslim governments sponsored

the codification of Arabic. Thus the beginning of Arabic

grammar and other language sciences.

3.1.2.1 The Formative Stage of Arabic: The Riwaya Period and

the Collection of Linguistic Data

The collection of language materials relied essentially

on the text of the Q u r 1 an . poetry, the Hadith and on

eloquent bedouin informants. Arab scholars travelled widely

in the desert, listening to the bedouins and collecting

poems, proverbs and stories of tribal wars (ayyam al-carab),

which their ruwat or relators used to recite. The recording

of Arabic (tadwin), however, was subject to two major

limitations: (1) temporal, which limited the collection and

verification of materials to the jahiliyya literature and

the early period of Islam up to the end of the second

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century approximately; and (2) geographic, according to

which language material was taken only from those Bedouin

tribes (ahl al-wabar wa-l-madar) whose Arabic was considered

purest. City dwellers, therefore, were excluded as well as

the inhabitants of the outer limits of the Jazlrah on

account of their contacts with the outside world and the

possible 'contamination' of their fusha by foreign tongues

(Muzhir 1/209, 211, 212).7

With the accumulation of a tremendous wealth of

language data, a productive stage ensued. Notable scholars

such as Ibn al-cAla (d. 772 AD), Abu al-Aswad ad-Du'ali and

particularly the third generation of grammarians such as al-

Khalll (d. 791 AD), SIbawayh (d. 735 AD) and YOnus Ibn Habib

(d. 798 AD), began to analyze the collected language

treasures from various points of view. Their observations

and findings initiated a variety of research and

scholarship efforts in grammar (nahw), exegesis (tafsir),

jurisprudence (figh), lexicography (cilm al-lugha) and

rhetoric (balagha).

These sciences of Arabic were initially governed by a

puristic tendency which was concerned primarily with

prescribing the norms of correct usage of the language. The

normative emphasis was particularly sensitive in relation to

the text of the Qur'an and the Hadith. The Qur'an was to be

correctly read, thus the need for phonetic and syntactic

analyses. It needed to be thoroughly understood, thus the

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need for text interpretation and semantic analysis, which

led to the birth of tafslr. It was the emphasis on

pronunciation, diction, enunciation and vowel endings

(icrab) in reading and reciting the Qur'an that later led a

notable grammarian such as the Kufite al-Farra' (d. 822 AD)

to consider the knowledge of grammar more valuable than

jurisprudence.

Although the various sciences of Arabic lend

theoretical support to the present research, only grammar

and lexicography are deemed most relevant and are

consequently discussed below.

3.2 Early Grammarians and Lexicographers

3.2.1 Grammar: Development and Major Schools

Arabic Grammar (nahw), which is also known as cilm al-

carabiyya, has, in the course of its development, included

the investigation of the Arabic language in all its

aspects: phonological, morphological, syntactic and

semantic. Grammatical studies are thought to have been

initiated in Medina in the first century of the Hijra (7th

Century AD) by pioneers such as Nasr Ibn °Bsim (d. 707 AD),

°Abd al-°Aziz al-Qari' (n.d.) and cAbd ar-Rahman Ibn Hurmuz

al-A°raj (d. 735 AD). Their investigations, however,

focussed on limited and minor grammatical points as they

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interpreted the text of the Qur1 an and illustrated their

interpretations by citations of verses from bedouin poetry,

a practice which was commonly known as istishhad. These

pioneers, in other words, were unable to "elicit any

generalization8 or system of rules of Arabic" (Belguedj

1976: 5).

Such a system of rules began to emerge with the second

generation and the efforts of scholars and researchers such

as Abul-'Aswad ad-Du'all and his pupils cAnbasa Ibn Macdan

al-FIl and Maymun al-Aqram. But the most notable

representative of this generation was cAbd Allah Ibn Abl

Ishaq (d. 735 AD), who is often thought of as the creator of

the "science of Arabic" (Pellat 1953: 130). With this

latter scholar, grammar became separate from the Qur'anic

sciences and was defined as an autonomous discipline which

has its own methodology and approach, with Ibn Ishaq being

perhaps the first Arab precursor of the inductive method

(Pellat 1960: 44).

Two of Ibn Ishaq's students are particularly worth

mentioning: cIsa Ibn cUmar ath-Thaqafl (d. 766 AD) and 'Abu

cAmr ibn al-cA H (d. 770 AD). To the former we owe the

first reported written works (collections, compilations) of

Arabic grammar. Two of his notable works were al-3amic and

al-Mukmil. The two disciples of AbO Ishaq established the

groundwork for the tendencies of the Basra and Kufa

schools. In codifying grammatical rules, ath-Thaqafl relied

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strictly on al-'i3ticmal ash-sha'ic, 'most common standard

usage', which was representative of the school of Basra with

its normative tendencies. Ibn al-cAla, however, was more

representative of the Kufa school with its liberal attitudes

and acceptance of different types of usage.

The grammarians of Basra, particularly those of the

third generation such as al-Khalll (d. 791 AD), Slbawayh (d.

793 AD) and Yunus Ibn Habib (d. 798 AD), tried to establish

clear and consistent norms of usage and to gather and

compile what had been defined and clarified up to that

time. The Kitab of Slbawayh, for example, was a

comprehensive compilation of all grammatical facts to date

(Fleisch 1961; 23). Khalaf ibn Haynam al-Anmar, a

contemporary of SIbiwayh, wrote the Muqaddima fl an-Nahw 'An

Introduction to Grammar' (796 AD), which was perhaps the

first systematic manual of Arabic grammar. Some of his

classifications such as the rafc (nominative case

indicator), nasb (accusative case indicator), khafd

(genitive case indicator), inna and its sisters, and the

subjunctive particles are still the norm nowadays (Belguedj

1976; 9).

Some attempts were also made within this school to

delineate a system of Arabic morphology (sarf), as was the

case with Abu cUmar al-Jarml (d. 839 AD) in his Kitab al-

'Abniyya wa at-Tasrlf 'the book structures and morphology',

and particularly with the notable scholar and authority on

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Arabic morphology, Abu cUthman al-Mazinl (d. 862 AD) in his

kitab at-Tasrlf 'the Book of Morphology1 (Fleisch 1961: 31).

While the grammarians of Basra continued the work of

analysis and classification of language data, those of Kufa

were very sensitive to the richness of the mo.des of

expression in the fusha, particularly in bedouin poetry, and

aimed at recording the diversity of usage and expression in

Arabic. Fleisch (1961: 27) explains the activities of the

Kufa scholars:

Au Kufa, on goutaijt fort les tjravaux de collecteurs, on y etait passione pour la poesie et la lang,ue arabe dont on voulait recueillir tojut le tresor de vocabulaire et de production litteraire; on continua surtout en ce genre.

Al-Khalll ibn Ahmad and his disciple Slbawayh became,

however, the undisputed authorities in Arabic grammar.

Their works constituted major landmarks in the state of the

art and were emulated, copied and interpreted by Basrites

and Kufites alike, as well as by grammarians of subsequent

schools in Baghdad, Egypt, the Maghrib and Andalusia. Some

of the most famous followers and interpreters were, in

chronological order: Ibn JinnI (d. 1001 AD), az-Zamakhsharf

(d. 1143 AD), Ibn Malik (d. 1273 AD), Ibn Hisham (d. 1359

AD) and as-Suyut! (d. 1505 AD)

During the second half of the third century, and

particularly during the fourth century of the Hijra, the

city of Baghdad beame the meeting place of both Kufa and

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Basra schools. Among these al-Mubarrad, a Basrite, managed

through a number of works on the Kitab of Slbawayh to

establish the latter as the supreme authority in grammar**.

After al-Mubarrad, several scholars concentrated on the

explanation of the Kitab, among them az-Zajjljl (d. 923) and

as-Sirafl (d. 978). During the sixth century, there began a • • period of evaluation and exploitation of the heritage of the

previous centuries. This stage in the history of the Arabic

language was not characterized by renewal or refinement of

the subject matter9. Rather, it was marked by two types of

activities, summaries of earlier works in the form of

condensed treatises and the discussion of these treatises in

the form of lengthy commentaries (shuruh). Of the most

famous systematizers and commentators were, in chronological

order, az-Zamakhsharl, Ibn Malik, Ibn Hiaham, al-Ansarl and

as-Suyutl. *•**.

The study of the Arabic grammar can be said to have

gone through three major historical stages characterized by

the following types of works: (1) basic grammar books, which

constituted a foundation and a source of interpretation for

all subseqent works in the subject (this stage being best

represented by the Kitab of Slbawayh); (2) didactic books,

used ti initiate the reader to the fundamentals of grammar,

such as az-Zajjajl's al-Jumal; (3) condensation and

commentary books, such as the Alf iyya of Ibn Malik

(Moutaouakil 1980; 30). (For a general discussion of the

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early works of grammar as well as other sciences of Arabic,

see Ibn Khaldun in the Muqaddima, 1958, vol.3, pp. 319-412).

3.2.1.1 The Analogical Method (Qiyas) and the

Rationalization of Arabic Grammar

In its formative stages, the nahw was a purely

empirical science. The study of language behavior and the

delineation of the principles or qawanin were based on

strict observation, comparison and generalization.

Conseqently, the prescription of the qawacid 'rules' of the

fusha were, as Stetkevych (1970: 2) puts it, "the product of

similarity or analogy". During the fourth century the

impact of philosophy and Aristotelian logic was already

noticeable both in grammar and other disciplines. The Greek

influence was chiefly apparent in the works of the the

school of Basra, whose analogical method (qiyas) became a

trademark, distinguishing Basran grammarians from those of

Kufa or other schools. As the empirical attitude became

widespread, the qiyas came to play a central role in the

configuration of the fusha. It became "a binding rule,

powerful enough not only to explain, but also to correct and

to form" (Stetkevych 1970: 3).

The concern with rationalizing Arabic grammar, or the

attempt to demonstrate the absolute harmony and logic in its

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structure, was already present in the works of Slbawayh (d.

793 AD) and al-Mubarrad (d. 898 AD). It was further

developed and unified by az-Zajjaji (d. 923 AD) and as-Saraj

(d. 928 A D ) ^ and brought to maximum development in the

outstanding works of Abu cAli al-Farisi (d. 987 AD) and Ibn

JinnI (d. 1001 AD).

3.2.2 Lexicography

3.2.2.1 Lexicography and Lexicology: An Introductory Note

In modern linguistic theory, a distinction is made

between lexicology and lexicography. The latter refers to

the formal devices and procedures by which dictionaries are

made. The output of lexicographic work includes monolingual

or multilingual dictionaries, synonym dictionaries,

encyclopaedic dictionaries, thesauri and the like.

Lexicology, on the other hand, is the semantic study of

individual words within a language or a number of

languages. It includes two complementary tasks:

(1) The investigation of word-forms, or lexical

morphology, in which the concern is with word-formation

processes such as derivation, composition or compounding,

blending and back-formation, excluding the inflectional

process.

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(2) The investigation of the function of words or the

semantic aspect of word-formation, which is the field of

lexical semantics. Included in this area is the study of

semantic phenomena such as synonymy, polysemy, idioms and

idiomaticity, semantic transfer and the like.

Lexicography is motivated by practical needs, the

production of practical tools such as dictionaries and

similar works. It is largely dependent on but quite

distinct from lexicology (Weinreich 1967: 25-43; Lamb 1969:

40-49; al-Kasimi 1977: 1-5). It has been pointed out that

the substantial findings of modern linguistics have not been

applied to the practical making of dictionaries, which have

been guided largely by "convenience and convention"

(Marckwardt 1963: 344). Several factors may be said to have

widened the gap between lexicographic practice and

linguistic theory. First, the failure in lexicographic

methodology to follow some general linguistic theory.

Second, the lack of interest in and even contempt for

vocabulary as the least significant part of the language.

This was the position of the Bloomfieldian linguistic

school, which considered the lexicon "as an appendix of

grammar, a set of basic irregularities" (Bloomfield 1933:

274-75). According to Bloomfield and followers, lexical

semantics, and meaning in general, are part of the psychic

realm and therefore inaccessible to observation and

scientific description: "The statement of meanings is

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therefore the weak point in language study and will remain

so until human knowledge advances very far beyond its

present state" (p. 140). This Bloomfieldian "messianic

reductionism", as Ullmann (1969: 28) describes it, "is

theoretically alien to lexicographic description". Finally,

a third factor widening the gap between lexicographic

practice and linguistic theory has been the argument that

linguistic theory is impractical. Although lexicography is

thought of as an applied linguistics activity, the

significant contribution and relevance of linguistic theory

tends to be weighed and interpreted on the basis of

practicality and applicability. Better results could be

achieved through the cooperation of the linguistic theorists

and the lexicographic practitioners and familiarity with

each other's subject matter (Read 1973: 145-260; Barnhart

1967: 161-83).

3.2.2.2 Arabic Lexicography: Major Stages of Development

Arabic lexicography (cilm al-lugha) was initially a

matter of lexical semantics. The concentration was on word-

meanings and the relationships which held between lexical

units such as those of synonymy and polysemy. In modern

linguistic analysis, this would be one of the major tasks of

lexicology, as discussed above. The emphasis was on the

study of the vocabulary in religious literature which had to

"be checked by reference to the old poetry, by analogy

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(qiyi8), or by consulting desert Arabs, certain tribes of

which were thought to have preserved unsullied the language

/ of the Revelation" (Haywood I960: 17).

The linguistic works of pioneers such as Abu l-Aswad

ad-Du'all (d. 688 AD) eventually split into separate

sciences such as nahw 'grammar' and lugha, 'lexicography'.

While the grammarian had to explain the usage of language in

speech and, through analysis and synthesis, state the rules

of Arabic, the task of the lexicographer, on the other hand,

was "to ensure that the pure speech of the Arabs was handed

down by checking words and expressions and incorporating

them in vocabularies and dictionaries" (Haywood 1960: 18).

During the period of collection of language material,

which began at the end of the first century and continued

through the second century AH (ninth century AD), some

initial efforts were made to record (tadwln) the lexical

heritage in the form of scattered treatises which, despite

their richness in subject matter, remained largely random

and unorganized. One of the best representative works of

this stage is an-Nawadir Fi-al-Luqha by Abu Zayd al-'Ansarl

(737-830 AD). In this book, the author surveys the poetry

and proverbs which contained the unusual (qharib) and rare

(nawadir) vocabulary. Such vocabulary was cited in no

specific order and was explained and commented upon

(Trabulsi 1976: 12).

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3.2.2.2.1 The Stage of Monographs and treatises (Rasa'il)

The stage of the rasS'il is marked by the writing of

short monographs on one subject. These were of various

types. For example, some gave the semantic description of

words as related to one particular subject. This type is

illustrated by Abu Zayd al-Ansarl's (n.d.) Kitab al Matar

'The Book of Rain', and the well-known works of al-AsmacI 9 • (d. 831 AD), which included Kitab al-'Ibil' 'The Book of

Camels', Kitab an-Nabat wa-sh-Shajar 'The Book of Plants and

Trees', and Kitab Asma' al-Wuhush wa Sifatiha 'The Book of

Names of Animals and Their Characteristics'. While the

above treatises followed a semantic criterion in gathering

and relating words, other treatises followed an alphabetical

criterion and explained words which have a sound (a letter)

in common, as is the case with Kitab al-Hamz of Abu Zayd al-

Ansarl. A third type of monograph treated the phenomenon of

al-Addad 'antonyms', as represented by the comprehensive

work of Ibn at-Tayyib al-Lughawi (d. 962 AD) (TrabulsI 1976:

11- 12).

The many short and specialized vocabularies which were

"much favoured by the Arabs in the early stages of

philological research" (Haywood 1960: 5) generally served as

raw material for the next important stage of Arabic

lexicography, the compiling of dictionaries, which were by

comparison more comprehensive and were produced in

accordance with a more rigorous methodology.

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3.2.2.2.2 The Stage of Comprehensive Organized Dictionaries

The Arab lexicographers in their compilation of

dictionaries sought to register the complete vocabulary of

the language. In this respect, as Haywood (1960: 2) puts

it, "they differed from the earlier lexicographers of other

nations, whose chief aim was to explain rare and difficult

words". Three different lexicographical methods

characterized the development of Arabic dictionaries

(Haywood 1960: 45-110; Darwxsh 1966: 9-99; TrabulsI 1976:

13-40).

(1) The phonetic method, by which the vocabulary was

arranged according to the places of articulation or places

of egress (makharij al-huruf) of the initial radical of word

roots (Usul)^. This method is best represented by the

famous Kitab al-cAyn by the father of Arabic lexicography,

al-Khalil Ibn Ahmad (d.791 AO). Other scholars followed and

sometimes introduced some litle changes into al-Khalll's

system. Among these were Ibn Durayd (837-934 AD) in

Jamharat al-Lugha; al-Azhari (895-980 AD) in at-Tahdhlb fl

al-Lugha; al-Qall (d. 966 AD) in al-Kitab al-Baric fi-al-

Lugha; az-Zubaidi (d. 989 AD) in Mukhtasar al-cAyn and Ibn

SIda al-AndalusI (d. 1065 AD) in al-Muhkam.

(2) The rhyme method, by which roots were listed

according to their final radical. The first practitioner of

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the rhyme order was al-Jawharl (d. 1007 AD) in his

dictionary known as Sihah al-Lugha. Other famous

lexicographers who followed this method were Ibn Manzur al-

Misrl (1232-1311 AD) in his Lisan al-cArab, and Majd ad-Din

al-FayrOzabidl (1325-1414 AD) in al-Q§mOs al-Huhlt.

(3) The alphabetic method, which ordered words

according to the initial radicals of their roots. This

modern dictionary arrangement is ascribed to Ibn Faris (d.

999 AD), who was a contemporary of al-Jawharl and who

produced al-Mujmal and Maqayls al-Lugha. This method was

best exploited in Asas al-Balaqha by az-Zamakhsharl (1074-

1143 AD); who is often thought of as as belonging to a small

group of original minds and highly prolific scholars.

Haywood (I960: 103-104) remarks:

If we consider which Arabic lexicographers were more than compilers, pedagogues and pedants, however worthy and industrious, but also great scholars with original minds, we must give pride of place... to al-Khalll and Ibn Faris. To them must be added a third of the trio- -az-Zamakhaharl...

Other well-known compilers of dictionaries,

particularly of "religious vocabulary", continued the

tradition of az-Zamakhsharl Among them were Ibn al-Athlr

(1145-1209 AD) in an-Nihaya fl Gharib al-Hadlth, which is a

dictionary of difficult words in the Hadith, arranged in the

modern alphabetic order; and al-Fayyuml (d. 1364) in his al-

Misbah al-Munlr, which is a dictionary of technical terms of

jurisprudence and philosophy.

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Despite the practicality of the alphabetical method, it

did not succeed in replacing the firmly entrenched rhyme

method (nizam al-qSfiyya) of al-Jawharl and his followers.

It was only with the advent of the Arab Renaissance in the

nineteenth century that the rhyme order was abandoned in

favor of the modern alphabetical arrangement (at-tarti'b al-

alifba'I or al-hija'I).

3.3 Modern Arabic Language Planning

3.3.1 Introduction

For many centuries, under the Turkish empire, Arab

culture had seen very little creative activity. The Arabic

language was limited to narrow theological uses. Even the

great literary and scholarly heritage of the Arabs was

either permanently lost or inaccessible to them, and what

remained of it was "more likely to be found in Istanbul than

in Cairo or Baghdad" (Hodgson 1974: 272).

As late as the eighteeth century, the politically

subjugated Arabs were also isolated from the rapidly

developing world of modernity. Some Arabs, however,

particularly Christian Arabs of the Eastern Mediterranean,

were increasingly in touch with the rising western culture

through their prosperous commercial activities. It is

widely recognized that it was these Christian Arabs who

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fir8t contributed to the modern Arab cultural renaissance,

a8 illu8trated by the eatabli8hing of Arabic journalism in

Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. The journali8tic press served as

an effective tool for Arabs to express their problems of

modernization in order to meet the challenge of western

civilization.

3.3.2. Modern Standard Arabic and Cultural Revival

One of the major concerns expressed by Arabs in the

quest for modernization as well as the preservation of their

sense of identity was the revival of their cultural

heritage. A strong belief developed that the reevaluation

and reform of the cultural legacy would not only provide

continuity but would also help form an adequate image of the

future. This cultural revival, however, could only be

achieved through a common medium, a pan-Arab language, which

would be not only unifying (muwahhid), but also unified

(muwahhad) (al-Husarl 1958: 42).

The choice for a national language naturally fell on

the fusha and more specifically on its modern heir, Modern

Standard Arabic (MSA)*-*, as the sole existing standard

literary language which could reflect the various aspects of

the Arabic cultural awakening (nahda). In addition to its

stability and universality, it is also defined as the noble

language of the Qur * an and of a glorious classical cultural

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heritage, which cannot be ignored in the Arabs' quest for

self-assertion.

The adoption of the literary language as a common

medium for the cultural revival brought about the

realization that the present state of such a medium is far

from being ideal for the modernizing process. Braune (1973,

quoted in Monteil 1960: 32) eloquently describes this

situation when he writes:

La langue arabe ecrite avait atteint son niveau le plus aride at le plus bas a la fin du XVIII— siecle...les po&tes n'ont plus rien a dire et se bornent aux chemins du passe; les historiens ne sont que des compilateurs, et la philologie, jadis (orgueil de 'ceux qui prononcent le dad', etait tombee dans l'oubli.

Various aspects of the Arabic language needed to be

reevaluated, revived or reformed; thus the need for language

planning.

3.3.3 Scope of Modern Arabic Language Planning

The Arabic language had been subject to spontaneous

change as early as the first decade of the nineteenth

century, when individual translators, journalists and

writers, among others, started laying the foundation of the

modern Arab renaissance. Under the impact of western

languages and culture, they began to shake off the inertia

of the fusha and to use it as a living language capable not

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only of change and development but of absorbing and

expressing all aspects of modern thought.

It has been during the present century, however, and

due to the greater impact of western culture and the advent

of Arab nationalism, that language reform and language

planning have become a primary objective for Arab policy

makers. Driven by the concern to modernize their societies,

they felt the need for the creation of offical scientific

institutions capable of assisting in the process of

modernization.

3.3.3.1 The Arabic Language Planning Agencies: Major

Policies and Objectives

The ALP agencies include the language academies and

various scientific institutes and organizations, some of

which are briefly introduced below together with their major

goals.

The Majmac al-cIlmi al-°Arabi or Arab Scientific

Academy in Damascus came into being in 1919, under the

sponsorship of Muhammad Kurd CA1I (1876-1953), then-Minister

of Public Education. This first Arab academy was created on

the model of western academies and particularly the French

one, whose immortal litterati members were to be imitated by

the Arab academicians (Kurd CA1I, MMAD 2: 354). The

official journal of the academy, Majallat al-Ma.imac al-cllml

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al-cArab! (MMAD), first appeared in 1921 and became a highly

diver8ified publication, carrying terminology, history,

literature and sociology, among other topics. Some members

of this Academy have made important contributions to the

revival and development of the Arabic language. The most

distinguished of these scholars have included al-Maghribl

(d. 1911) in grammar and research in classical terminology,

Jamil Sallba in philosophy, Kurd CA1I (d. 1953) in matters

of composition and stylistics, Salah ed-DIn al-Kawakibl in

chemistry, and al-Amlr Mustafa ash-Shihabl in natural

sciences (Hamzaoui 1965: 16-17).

The Academy of Damascus has produced substantial work

in the service of science and the Arabic language. But, as

Hans Wehr (1934: 6) points out, it is in Cairo, the "centre

geographique et spirituel de l'orient arabe que devra (et

va) s'installer une Academie de langue arabe, chargee de

coordonner tous les efforts, une autorite unique et

incontestee".

The Royal Acadamy of the Arabic Language was officially

established by Royal decree in Cairo in 1932. After the

Revolution of July 1952, it was renamed the Majma0 al-Lugha

al-cArabiyya (henceforth MLA). From the very start the MLA

sought to become an influential pan-Arab enterprise through

the membership of distinguished scholars from other Arab

countries. These included Mohammad Kurd cAli and al-

Maghribl from Syria, Iskander al-Macluf from Lebanon, Father

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Anastase from Iraq, Sayyid Hassan Husnl al-Wahhab from

Tunisia and Muhammad al-FasI from Morocco. A number of

well-known orientalists were also selected as titular

members; these included A. Fisher and E. Littman from

Germany, C. Nallino from Italy, H.A.R Gibb from Great

Britain and Louis Massignon from France (Monteil 1960: 183-

84; Altoma 1970: 711-13). In general, the Academy of Cairo,

much like that of Damascus, serves as a 'safeguard

commission' of the Arabic language. Its major activities,

however, have been directed towards the modernization of the

Arabic lexicon, in which area it has been highly productive

and has assumed a position of leadership.

L'Institut d'Etudes et de Recherches pour Arabisation

(IERA), Rabat (Morocco) was founded in January 1960 and was

dircted by Lakhdar-Ghazal, a notable linguist who is widely

known for his criticism of the inadequacies of Arabic, which

he sought to transform into a "scientific" and

"technological" language, capable of assimilating and

effectively transmitting the various aspects of modern

knowledge (Lakhdar-Ghazal 1976: Introduction, 63-64). As a

non-autonomous institution, the IERA was affiliated with the

Ministry of Education and was to become the major national

LP agency, particularly in the area of corpus arabization.

Since its inception the IERA has been assigned the following

tasks: (1) establishing complete lists of scientific and

technical terminology with no equivalents in Arabic, and

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creating these equivalents, (2) developing educational and

reference materials in Arabic and (3) making standardized

technical vocabulary available to all interested individuals ,

or institutions, both public and private.

Most of the activities at the Institute, however, have

been directed towards two major issues: modern terminology

and the writing system, which are believed to be the most

serious problems of modern Arabic.

The Bureau for Coordination of Arabization in the Arab

World (BCAAW) is a pan-Arab LP agency which is linked to the

Arab League Organization for Education, Culture and Science

(ALECSO) and, as its name indicates, serves as a

coordinating agency in the Arab world with respect to

language planning matters. According to the statute of the

Bureau (Arab League decision number 2541, March 1969), it

was assigned several tasks, some of which are the following:

(1) to coordinate, classify and compare the various works it

receives from language academies and individual writers and

translators, and to extract the literature related to the

goals of arabization and present it to the conferences on

arabization; (2) to define the time and place and prepare

the programs and projects of the arabization meetings; (3)

to implement, in cooperation with Arab governments, the

suggestions made by the conferences on arabization; (4) to

cooperate with the various Arab cultural departments in

order to arabize the medium of instruction in all its stages

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and for all subjects; (5) to cooperate with language

academies and all other expert groups in the Arab world to

produce various glossaries in the various sciences; (6) to

produce audio-visual materials in all subjects of

instruction; and (7) to pursue arabization activities

outside the Arab world (Statute of the Bureau, article 9, in

Arabic. al-Lisan al-cArabI vol. 7, number 1, 1970. pp. 395-

397). One of the major objectives of the Bureau has been

the production and/or standardization of modern Arabic

scientific and technical terminology. The latter has been

disseminated through its official journal, al-Lisan al-

cArabI (LA).

The focus on Classical Arabic (fusha) served as a

guiding principle for the scientific and literary research

of the various Arabic language academies and scientific

institutes. The exclusive interest of these planning

agencies in the standard language has determined their major

goals of reform. They have consistently sought to protect

the language from any internal or external influences likely

to affect its purity, integrity and sound systematic

foundation. To achieve this goal the following measures

have been adopted:

(1) The banning of the use of dialects, which are

considered a threat to the fusha because they display

diverse phonetic, morphological and lexical

characteristics. Furthermore, Colloquial Arabic is believed

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to be neither totally codified nor homogeneous, a situation

which is at odds with the great concern among Arabs for

protecting a common pan-Arab linguistic and cultural

heritage (see footnote 13). Sharing the common belief that

the popular tongue is simply a degenerate form of the fusha,

some academicians have called for a reform of the Arabic

dialects and for their elevation to the level of the

standard literary language (tafslh al-camiyya) (Maghribl,

MMAD, 3: 231-238; 28: 181-186).

(2) The rejection of all proposals which are likely to

affect the fundamental and long-established conventions of

the Arabic writing system, such as the latinization of the

alphabet, the invention of new letters or new vocalization

signs. Such proposals would constitute a radical departure,

a schism, from the cherished, highly sophisticated artistic

heritage of Arabic calligraphy. Reforms in this area

concentrated on the simplification of the Arabic script

system itself for printing purposes and in order to make it

adaptable to the techniques of information processing and

telecommunications (Meynet 1971 : 5-92; Mahmoud 1979 : 36-

75; Lakhdad-Ghazal 1976 : 11-23).

(3) The preservation of the grammatical system, which

is considered the backbone of the classical tongue. This

concern, however, did not prevent language planners from

recognizing the existence in the system of many archaisms

and useless subtleties (Ahmad TaymQr MMAD 4: 141-147;

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Mustafl Jawad 24s 395-461). As a result, reform projects

aimed primarily at the simplification of the grammar and

clarification of its often incoherent and complicated

terminology (recommendation of the Arab League First

cultural Congress; MMAD 23: 139-149; Ibrahim Mustafa MMAD

32: 123-128).

Perhaps the most important objective of all Arabic

Language Planning agencies, which seems to be to some extent

in contradiction with the first objective, is the

modernization of the Arabic lexicon, particularly in the

area of science and technology. It is in this area that

some of these agencies have been quite productive, as will

be discussed further below. In the process of lexical

expansion they have resorted to the same tools used by Arab

scholars and translators of the Middle Ages. In so doing

they established a hierarchy of processes of lexical

modernization (Hamzaoui 1965: 27) which is in affinity with

the predominant conservative philosophy of reform. These

processes are adopted, in order of preference, as follows:

(1) istinbat 'linguistic resurgence and semantic extension',

(2) ishtiqaq 'derivation', (3) naht 'compounding', and (4)

tacrlb 'arabization or the assimilation of foreign

terminology through borrowing and translation' (see further

discussion below).

Language planning or language reform is a multifaceted

activity which varies in range and focus according to the

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nature of language problems. Because of their direct

relevance to our research, two aspects of modern Arabic LP

only will be discussed below: grammar reform and lexical

modernization.

3.3.3.2 The Trends of Grammar Reform

Arabic grammar has often been blamed for the failure of

language education in the Arab world. The argument has been

that educators and particularly students have had to deal

with the incoherence, archaisms and the numerous exceptions

and unnecessary subtleties of this Arabic science.

While recognizing the necessity of grammar reform, LP

agencies as well as individual scholars have approached the

subject with much caution and reserve, if not

indifference. The general view within the Academy of

Damascus, for example, has been that the grammatical system

constitutes the backbone, the asSs 'foundation' of Arabic

and is consequently to be preserved in its entirety. Most

works within the Academy have been general discussions of

various aspects of grammar and attempts at simplifying it or

clarifiying its terminology.

The Academy of Cairo has generally followed a similar

policy, as attested by its approval of the Egyptian Ministry

of Education Report regarding the simplification of grammar

and rhetoric.^ Most of its grammatical studies have been

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made in order to facilitate the creation of neologisms. The

concern has been mainly to exploit and adapt the

morphological and semantic capabilities of Arabic to

confront the problems posed by modern scientific and

technical terminology (Hamzaoui 1975: 176-210).

A close look at the various activities of Arabic

grammar reform reveals three major trends which could be

said to represent, more or less, three different schools of

thought.

(1) A classicist, traditional trend, often thought to

be represented during the first half of the twentieth

century by the mainstream of al-Azhar University in Cairo.

This group saw no need to reform the grammar.

(2) A moderately conservative trend, as reprsented

mainly by the language academies, particularly the Majmac of

Cairo. The main concern of this group has been the

simplification of grammar without deviating from the

prescribed rules. The activities of reform have generally

been confined to matters of nomenclature of the material,

its organization and its teaching methodology. For example,

Ibrahim Mustafa wrote, in 1937, his Ihya' an-Nahw 'Reviving

Arabic Grammar' in which he attempted to rearrange on a

semantic basis some of the classical grammar categories and

classifications, using simpler terminology for them. He

suggested, for instance, that a sentence is divided into a

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musnad ilayh ’subject' and musnad 'predicate'. The former

came, therefore, to replace three traditional terms: facil

'subject1, na'ib al-facil 'subject of passive verb', and

mubtada' 'subject of nominal sentence'. Mustafa's reform

proposals were first put into practice in the late fifties,

as textbooks based on these proposals were used in

preparatory schools in Egypt, Iraq and Syria (Altoma 1970:

690=721).

(3) A modernist trend, that of the mujaddidun or

muhdathun, who advocate either the modification of some

grammatical rules or the adoption of a drastic departure

from Classical Arabic. According to this group, the

difficulties of learning Arabic are not so much due to

pedagogical problems as to the complications of Arabic

grammar itself. Such difficulties, it is claimed, are

generally related to the multiplicity of grammatical forms,

the complexity of grammatical rules (morphological and

syntactic) and the preponderance of exceptions (istithna' or

shudhDdh cani al-qacida). A special case is made of the

phenomenon of case endings (icrab), which makes it necessary

for the reader/learner to recognize the parts of speech and

their function in the sentence (Mustaf§ Jawad MMAD 32: 129- • • — i—

160; Frayha 1955).

The various suggestions of this group may be summarized

as follows. First, they advocate the simplification of the

declensional system and the dropping of the icrabt which is

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a mere decoration (zukhruf) and the remains of an ancient

and archaic mentality (Frayha 1973; as-Samarra'I 1968).

Second, the modernist group recommend the dropping or

modifying of some grammar rules. Proposals in this context

have included: (1) the use of one case ending instead of

three for each of the so-called "five nouns" (al-asma1 al-

khamsa), (2) the use of one dual and one sound plural ending

instead of two, (3) the treatment of diptotes as fully

declineable nouns, and the adoption of three case endings

for the feminine sound plurals instead of two, (4) the

retention of the final long vowels in the jussive mood of

weak verbs instead of shortening them (al-Khiill 1961: 48-

56), (5) for the nouns which have both broken and sound

plurals the elimination of the former (i.e., kawifir, kuffar

and kafara, 'heathens') and preservation of the latter

(kafirQn), (6) the retention of one broken plural instead of

many, as in zahra 'flower', which has four broken plurals:

azhir, azahir, azahir and zuhur (ash-Sharlf 1938: 108-119).

A third proposal within this trend calls for a radical

departure from the norms of Classical Arabic and the

adoption of a dialect spoken by educated Arabs which will be

closely related to the various Arabic colloquials. Such a

dialect, then, could be elevated to the status of a standard

tongue by adopting a Roman script for it, describing its

phonological, morphological and syntactic features, using it

as the literary medium and encouraging its acceptance and

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use (Frayha 1955: 169-96). For clear socio-cultural

reasons, a proposal such as Frayha's was not likely to

receive any offical endorsement (see footnote 13).

3.3.3.3 Modern Arabic Lexicography

The Arabic lexicographical tradition was revived with

the advent of the Arab Renaissance in the nineteenth

century. Some celebrated dictionaries were published in

Lebanon, which, according to Haywood (1960: 109), became the

center of Arabic lexicography. The ordering of words in a

dictionary according to their 'roots' remains an obstacle,

however, particularly for primary and secondary school

students and often for the general user. Haywood (1960: 73)

writes:

It is well known to students of Arabic— indeed, it is one of the major trials of the beginner— that an Arabic dictionary cannot be effectively used without a sound grasp of the grammar and the structure of the language. This is due, not only to the letters of increase in derived forms, and the strange behaviour of the weak letters, but to the habit of entering words under their roots.

Some Arab linguists of the sixties have attempted a

solution to this problem by adopting a pronunciation

ordering, as in al-Marjic , (1963) by Jibran Mas°0d, al-

Mun.jid al-Ab.jadl (1967) by Afram al-Bustanl, and Larousse

(1973) by Khalil al-Jarr. This phonetic ordering was known

to Arab lexicographers in the past, as was the case with al-

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KSfOrl's (d. 1582 AD) al-Kulliyyat, and al-Jurjani's (1340-

1413) at-TacrIfit and more recently al-Bukharl al-Misrl (d.

1914 AD), who rearranged the Lisin al-cArab and the Qamus

al-Muhlt alphabetically according to the initial letters of

words irrespective of root or derivation patterns (Yacqub

1981: 166-78). The phonetic ordering, however, despite its

practical usefulness, has not gained much momentum because,

as Fleisch (1956: 129) points out, "un dictionnaire purement

alphabetique pour chaque mot brise toutes les associations

naturelles congenitales des mots et pulverise la langue".

3.3.3.3.1 The Orientalist Contribution

Some commendable efforts in the field of Arabic

scholarship have been made by orientalists, or arabists,

particularly in the area of lexicography. Although they

based their works mainly on the rich lexicographical

heritage of the Arabs, following their models very closely,

they have made an effort to rearrange the Arabic material in

accordance with modern dictionary methodology, which has

been in itself a highly complicated task and an obstacle to

their works.

Jacobus Golius (1596-1667) is thought of as the 'real

founder' of Arabic lexicography in Europe. His Lexicon

Arabico-Latinum (Leiden 1653) was chiefly based on the Sihah

in addition to the Mujmal, AsSs al-BalSqha and the QimOs of

al-FayrDzab5dl.

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Georg Wilhelm Freytag's (1788-1861) four-volume Lexicon

Arabico-Latinum (1830-37) is mainly a rearrangement and

translation of the QamOs. Although Freytag's lexicon

"replaced Golius as the standard reference for European

orientalists", it contained the deficiencies of the Qamus

and failed to satisfy the European need for explicit word

meaning and ample illustration through examples and

quotations from Arabic literature (Haywood 1960: 123-24).

Edward Lane (1801-1876) attempted to fill this gap in

his Arabic-English Lexicon referred to as Madd al QamOs 'The

Extension of the QamOs'. Although his death prevented the

completion of his scholarly work, what was achieved (eight

volumes) constitutes a rich lexicographical treasure.

While the International Congress of Orientalists sought

to complete Lane's work, there developed the need to

compile, on more modern principles, a comprehensive

historical dictionary of the Arabic language. The task was

assigned to August Fischer, who worked on the project from

1926 to 1939 assisted by the members of the Egyptian

academy.

In the introduction to the Mucjam al-Luqhawi at-

Tarikhl, Fisher defines the principles of his work in terms

of methodology and sources of subject matter. In terms of

time, the dictionary was to cover the history of words in

Arabic literature from the fourth century to the end of the

eighth century AD, at which point the Arabic language was

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thought to have reached the summit of perfection. Yo

provide fuller coverage than was offered in classical

dictionaries, Fisher's dictionary was to be based on a much

wider variety of texts, including the Qur1 an. the Hadlth,

poetry and prose, wisdom literature, history and geography

publications, and the like. It would also include much of

the innovative terminology that was largely ignored in

previous lexicographical work.

His dictionary, therefore, had to be based not only on

the output of Arab lexicographers but also on a systematic

study of a variety of old Arabic texts, in order to

illustrate and attest words and meanings (shawahid

'quotations serving as evidence') from actual use in

literature. His work had to be "etymological and historical

and must show the use of words in the light of syntax,

phraseology and style" (Fisher 1967: introduction, 29-31).

World War II and Fisher's death prevented the project from

being realized.

Haywood (1960: 126) points out that in reality Fisher's

work, being too comprehensive, was getting out of hand.

Thus, for instance, there were 587 entries for the verb kana

and 17,700 references to the poet al-Akhtal. As a

consequence and following the suggestion of the

International Congress of Orientalists, Fisher's material

was rearranged under the direction of J. Kraemer so as to

supplement Lane's lexicon, which was a very inadequate

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reference work after the letter kgf. Kraemer's dictionary,

with a concentration on the letter k5f and following

letters, was published in 1957.

Other works which attempted to supplement Lane's half­

finished work included E. Fagnan's Additions aux

Dictionnaires Arabes, published in Algiers in 1923, and

particularly R. Dozy's Supplement aux Dictionnaires Arabes

(1967), which attempted to make up for the insufficiency in

the Arabic dictionaries of Golius, Freytag and Lane. But

these works are generally translations of what Arabs

themselves wrote and thus perpetuated their deficiencies.

3.3.3.3.2 A Collective Lexicographic Effort: The Case of the

Arabic Language Academy in Cairo

One of the main goals of the Language Academy in Cairo

was to write a comprehensive historical dictionary, al-

Muc.jam al-Wasic. August Fisher was assigned the task of

defining the working cr teria for this work in terms of

methodology, while members of the Academy such as Massignon,

Nallino and Mansur Fahml were assigned the task of preparing

the material.

This mammoth project was bound to create disagreement

among the members of the Academy particularly in relation to

the sources of vocabulary. Thus, according to Shaykh al-

Iskandarl, the discourse of Arabs had been gathered in the

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variou8 Arabic dictionaries and these ought, therefore, to

be the major sources for the lexicographical works of the

Academy. Fisher and Massignon among others, however,

stressed the necessity of relying on original linguistic

sources (Hamzaoui 1975: 539). The final stand of the

Academy was to freeze this project until enough material for

it had been gathered and scientifically analyzed (Nassar

1968: 733).

Another project of the Academy was dictated by the need

for a modern and handy dictionary for immediate and

practical use. As a result the Mucjam al-Wasit was

published in two volumes in 1960, 1961. It was intended for

the use of secondary school students and lettered Arabs.

According to IbrSShlm MadkOr, then Secretary General of the

Academy, this Mucjam was innovative in that it was based on

the notion of current language usage and included technical

and nontechnical vocabulary from all historical periods of

Arabic. In this respect, the Mucjam broke away from the

traditional spatial and temporal limitations imposed on the

fasSha, 'purity' of the language (al-Mucjam al-Wasit 1960:

introduction, p. 8).

Other projects of the Academy included Mucjam Alfaz al-

Qur'an 'Qur'anic Terminology', al-Mucjam al-Istilahial-cIlmi

'Dictionary of Scientific Terminology' and al-Mucjam al-

Lughawi al-Kablr 'The Large Language Dictionary' (Nassar

1968: 740-742).

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3.3.3.3.3 Comments on the Developments of Arabic

Lexicography

Arabs began compiling dictionaries relatively late

compared to lexicographers from other cultures such as the

Sumerian, Assyrian, Chinese or the Greek. Several

sociolinguistic factors contributed to this delay.

Socially, the Arabs were mainly nomadic tribes constantly

involved in the qhazw or raiding and moving from one place

to another, thus the lack of stability. Furthermore, the

Arabs of the jahiliyya and early Islam had not yet developed

an effective writing system, and illiteracy predominated

among the population. However, they had a great oral

mastery of their language, which was the medium of both

general communication and literary use, as illustrated by

the flourishing poetry and rhetoric (khatiba). Because of

the predominant oral tradition, any linguistic complications

which required explanation, clarification or illustration

were solved through direct discussion or discourse

(mushafaha) with Arabs, or by resort to poetry, the latter

having become their norm of reference par excellence (diwan

al-cArab).

Despite their late start, the Arabic-speaking

lexicographers demonstrated great skill in collecting,

ordering and explaining the subject matter of Arabic. In

this field, as in other disciplines, they were "second to

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none until the Renaissance" (Haywood 1960: 1). Their great

lexicographic works, such as the As5s, the Lisan. the Sihah

and the QamOs, have gathered, preserved and transmitted the

linguistic, literary and cultural wealth of the Arabs.

The Arabic dictionaries are generally characterized by

their diversity, exhaustiveness and skillful organization of

the subject matter. They have analyzed and described the

various aspects of the lexicon such as spelling,

pronunciation, form, meaning, tense, case and contextual

usage. These works, however, have displayed many

shortcomings, three of which are discussed below.

First, there has been a lack of a consistent and

unified method of ordering the vocabulary. It must be borne

in mind, however, that these different methodologies could

be seen as various stages in the development and maturation

of this highly important Arabic discipline, and such stages

have had their historical value. For example, the growth of

the sajc , or rhymed prose, came to be seen as a

'reinforcement' of poetry, which was the Arabs' literary

medium par excellence. This made poets, writers and

consequently lexicographers "last-radical conscious"; thus

al-Jawhari's method of ordering according to the rhyme

letter. According to Haywood (1957: 11-12), the rhyme order

may have also facilitated learning by heart at a time when

the oral tradition was still predominant.

A second major shortcoming of Arab dictionaries has

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been that in the collection and transmission of language

material, temporal and spatial limitations have been placed

on Arabic (see footnote 8). As a result, Arabic

lexicography has been predominantly synchronic.

Lexicographers have not investigated the lexicon from the

vantage point of its evolution in time and the various

changes, formal and semantic, it has undergone. Here again,

and perhaps for puristic or theological reasons, Arab

linguists and lexicographers have failed to record the fact

that language is an instrument of social communication and

is meant to be constantly and simultaneously renewed with

the renewal of human experience.

Some Arabists have attempted to make up for this

deficiency, as was the case with Manfred Ullmann in his

Worterbuch der klassischen arabischen Sprache and Regis

Blachere et al. in the Dictionnaire Arabe-Frangais-

Anqlais. The authors of the latter have described the

nature this work as follows:

In this way we have been able to determine dates of word-usage, semantic evolutions, meanings and constructions attested by authors such as Bukharl, al-Jahiz, Ibn Qutayba, at-Tabarl, al-MascudI, Ibn Khaldun’to mention only a few names. (1967: ix).

While Ullmann's works is still in progress, Blachere's death

in 1973 left his work unfinished.

The linguistic conservativism which is manifested in

the temporal and spatial constraints on Arabic closely

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conforms to the notion of the famed bedouin fasaha, which

was a major concern for lexicographers whose main task,

consequently, was to transmit correct Arabic (faslh al-

luqha). As a result, Arabic dictionaries have failed to

record the great intellectual and scientific developments

following the limited classical era of al-ihtijaj. Dozy

(1967: iii) explains the situation in the following:

IJn autre inconvenient bfien plus grave encore, c'est que ces lexicographies etaient des puristes, qui ne voulaient donner que la langue soit-disant classique, celle dont l1 existence se termine a peu pre^ avec le l£L siecle de l'hegire, c'est-a-dire a une epoque ou les Arabes commencaie(nt seulement a prendre rang parmi les peuples civilises et, a admettre une foule de termes nouveaux en,partie etrangers, pour exprimer des choses et des idees nouvelles; avant celle ou ils proijluisirent ceux de leurs outrages (qui nous interessent le plus, leurs traites de geographie, leurs chroniques, leurs travaux sur toutes les sciences. Les arabisants sont cjonc "a peu pres dans la situation ou(seraient les hellenistes, si, en lisant Thucydide, Demostenes et Platqn, ils n'avaient a peu pres qu'un dictionnaire du dialecte d'Homere.

The poor contribution of Arabic dictionaries in the

scientific fields and the lack of early specialized works is

often attributed to (a) the temporal constraints on the

compilation of dictionaries, which excluded the vocabulary

produced when Arabic absorbed and emulated the great

scientific and intellectual heritage of other cultures, (b)

the highly individualistic attitudes that characterized

lexicographical output, and (c) the emphasis placed on one

type of dictionary: the general comprehensive and

encyclopaedic type (Matore 1968: 39-177; Hamzaoui 1975:

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538). Modern language academies have tried to fill this

gap.

The concern with the faslh was undoubtedly partly

dictated by the widespread phenomenon of taahlf 'incorrect

reading1 and description of Arabic, particularly of the text

of the Q ur1 §n. Contributing to this phenomenon were the

various deficiencies in the riwaya and naql, 'relation and

transmission of language material', and particularly the

imperfections of the Arabic writing system, which was at the

time a scriptio defectiva. These deficiencies were often

coupled with a chaotic, incoherent arrangement and

description of the structural-semantic patterns of Arabic.

Thus, for example, al-Azharl (d. 981 AD) in his Tahdhlb

accused Ibn Durayd of iftical al-cArabiyya 'fabrication,

forgery of Arabic' (Muzhir 1/93-94). Ibn Duraid's Jamhara

was also characterized according to Ibn Jinni by idtirab at-

tasnlf wa fasad at-tasrlf 'disorganized classification and

incorrect morphology' (Muzhir 1/47).*^

Arab lexicographers such as Ibn Durayd, al-Khalll, and

Ibn F§ris have looked at language from a global perspective

and included in their works both the mustacmal 'language in

usage* and the muhmal, which is generally synonymous with

the nawadhir 'rarities' and t\ h e dialectal (Hamzaoui 1975:

526-527). It follows that most classical dictionaries did

not have any particular objectives as working instruments;

they were rather a complicated mixture of subject matter, a

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"tower of Babel", where repetition, lengthy and incoherent

deecriptions, definitions and illustration, and the craving

for the rare and the archaic were strongly established norms

(Nassar 1968:750). • • A third shortcoming of classical dictionaries is that

they are very difficult to consult because of the particular

methods of ordering the lexicon according to points of

articulation or the initial radicals of word roots. The

scholars of each school have often complained about the

complexity of their predecessors' works and sought to make

them easier to use or introduced innovations in the

methodology of arranging and presenting the subject

matter. Ibn Durayd, of the second school of lexicography,

for example, sought to simplifiy the Kitab al-cAyn of al-

Khalil, the use of which was a complicated and exhausting

endeavor for the reader (al-Jamhara, introduction: 3).

The drive for clarity and simplification remained one

of the major objectives of the modern lexicographical

school, as represented in the works of the Egyptian Academy

and in individual books such as those of al-Bustanl and ash-

ShartQnl. The latter, for example, attempted in his Aqrab

al-Mawarid (1889) to present a simple, concise and precise

dictionary to help students and save the researcher's time

(Aqrab al-Mawarid, introduction, p. 6).

Modern Arabic dictionaries remain highly limited in the

areas of specialized subject matter and are largely

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dependent on the lexicographical heritage. For example, the

Mujmal of Ibn Faria and the Asas al-Balagha of az-

Zamakhskarl have been primary sources for the lexical works

of the language academy of Cairo. Al-Bustani's Muhlt al-

Muhit is mainly a modern rearrangement of al-Fayruzabadl's

Qamus; and ash-Shartuni's Aqrab al-Mawarid is largely based

on the works of az-Zamakhshari, al-Jawharl, al-Fayyuml, al-

FayrOzabadt and Ibn Faris among others. The practical

usefulness of such old and temporally fixed vocabulary for

both students and researchers is consequently debatable.

Despite its shortcomings, however, Arabic lexicography

remains a highly commendable discipline which has left its

mark on the development of human thought. Haywood (1960:

131-32) writes in this context:

When we compare it with what had been done by other peoples previously, and what has been done since in Europe, we are bound to salute it as a monument to thought and industry deserving of the highest praise. Only a people with a very high standard of culture and an extensive literature could require a "Lisan" and a "Qamus": only truly outstanding scholars could provide them. Without them, and the other dictionaries we have discussed, much Arabic literature would have remained imperfectly understood, even by the Arabs themselves. Without them, many facts concerning Islam would have been hard to understand. Without them, the great Islamic sciences would have been severely handicapped.

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3.3.3.4 Lexical Modernization and Its Processes

Of all aapects of Arabic language modernization, most

efforts have been focussed on lexical expansion,

particularly in the area of modern science and technology.

The pace in this direction was set early in this century

when the Academy of Damascus was created with the major

objective of disseminating science. This, however, could be

achieved only through the medium of a sound and effective

language (Kurd cali, MMAD 1: 2).

The Majmac of Cairo followed a similar philosophy of

Arabic language planning. Its major focus was from the very

beginning the creation of modern scientific and technical

terminology through adaptation and expansion of the Arabic

lexicon. This preoccupation is clearly attested by the

amount of time (70% according to Ibrahim Madkur,1963: 60,

113) devoted by the lexicographical committee to such

activities. Hamzaoui (1975: 176) summarizes the priorities

of the Majmac as follows:

Toutes les autres etudes concernant les( autres disciplines directementf ou indirectement liees a la langue (ecriture, phonetique, tdiglossie, syntaxe et stylistique), seront consid^rees comme secondaiyes. Elies %seront toujours ramenees a ce que l'academie considere 'etre sa mission principals qui consists a adapter la lapgue et la ^rammaire pour faire face aux problemes poses par la neologie.

The various committees of the Majmac examine the new

terminology supplied by various sources in the country, such

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as educational institutions, administrative services, expert

group3 , or individual researchers. While they often oppose

any usage which does not conform to the basic rules of

Arabic, they have examined and sanctioned a large corpus of

lexical items and grammatical features of modern usage which

are compatible with the structure of fusha.

The approval of new terminology and of any

modifications or additions to the language system has often

been the outcome of lengthy and special weekly sessions or

of general meetings, as is the case with the annual

conferences. The official decisions on the various aspects

of language modernization are regularly published in the

MMLA.

One of the major criticisms directed at the Arab

language academies is their conservatism and use of archaic

methods and procedures in the modernization of Arabic. A

predominant principle which has guided and at the same time

slowed down lexical productivity has been the almost total

reliance on the native language repertoire in the process of

"naming ideas and concepts" (ash-Shihabl 1955s 71). Only

about 20,000 new terms were published by the Majmac of Cairo

between 1957 and 1964, which figure is a clear indication of

the slow pace and the thorough scrutiny that characterize

the creation and approval of modern terminology in Arabic.

The activities of the Institut d'litudes et de

Recherches pour 1'Arabisation (1ERA) in the area of lexical

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modernization have produced a wealth of terminological data

which includes over half a million bilingual or multilingual

entries. These data, which are prepared for computer

storage, are referred to as LEXAR (i.e., lexemes-arabes).

The terminology is sorted from word lists, glossaries and

dictionaries. French, English and Latin are used as source

languages. The lexicographic committee often proceeds

according to the following major steps. First, terms whose

equivalents must be created and/or standardized are sorted

and classified. For each foreign lexeme all the available

Arabic translations are listed with their semantic field,

grammatical category and source of reference. The committee

then proceeds by elimination to select the most semantically

appropriate Arabic equivalent. If no equivalent can be

found, a neologism is created following the norms of usage

in Arabic. Next the lists of foreign terms and their Arabic

equivalents are assembled, edited, corrected and distributed

among language specialists and experts for comments. Before

they are published, the lists are submitted for approval to

the National Commission for the Planning of Arabization of

Technical Terms (Hammoud 1982: 67-74)

In cooperation with Algerian and Tunisian specialists,

the IERA published in 1967 what was called ar-Rasid al-

Luqhawi 'Fundamental Language1, a bilingual list of basic

vocabulary to be used by elementary school children in North

Africa. It was also meant to be used as one of the sources

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in designing content material for this level of education.

The compiling of the Rasid was based on common language

usage in the three countries and constituted an effort,

though minimal, towards the standardization of terminology

(Benabdi 1980).

The approach of the Bureau for the Coordination of

arabization in the Arab World (BCAAW) to the creation and

standardization of terminology involves three main stages.

First is the preparation of trilingual word lists in the

various sciences, which are then submitted through al-Lisan

al-cArabI to academicians, scholars and subject matter

experts in and outside the Arab world. This stage is meant

to elicit feedback on the new terminology. Then the

terminologies are reviewed and analyzed during the BCAAW-

sponsored triennial conferences on arabization. These are

conferences which bring together representatives from all

Arab countries and are considered the ultimate

standardization authority. Finally, and following the

approval of the arabization conferences, the terminologies

are published as glossaries.

Since its inception in 1961, the BCAAW has been highly

active in the production and/or standardization of a large

number of specialized glossaries in the various sciences.

In 1973, for example, the Algiers Conference on Arabization

standardized terminologies for chemistry, mathematics,

physics, botany and geology. The third Arabization

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conference, held in Tripoli (Libya) in February 1977,

coordinated and standardized terminology in history,

geography, philosophy, logic, sociology and psychology,

medicine, anatomy and modern theoretical and applied

mathematics. These glossaries were meant for general

education. The conference also studied project glossaries

of mathematics, astronomy and statistics meant for college

and higher education. The fourth conference, held in

Tangiers in 1981, was called to standardize terminologies

for vocational training for technical secondary education:

electricity, carpentry, construction, mechanics, printing,

accounting and commerce among other disciplines (LA 15: 3,

1977: 3-6; Ben Abdallah 1975a, 1975b).

The Arabic language planning agencies have generally

followed an established hierarchy of processes of lexical

elaboration. The use of colloquial Arabic as a source of

new terminology was ruled out for various socio-cultural and

linguistic reasons (see note 13). The other processes of

lexical modernization, however, are judged compatible with

the fundamental norms (usul) of the fusha, and are all

governed by the vital principle of linguistic analogy

(qiyas). Arabization, compounding and the use of the

derivational process in Arabic will be discused in some

detail in Chapters Four and Five. In the following

paragraphs, however, is a brief discussion of istinbat.

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3.3.3.4.1. The IstinbSt Process

The istinbat is the use of native lexical resources in

the activity of "naming" or providing lexical counterparts

for new objects and concepts. It is a type of linguistic

resurgence according to which obsolete Arabic terms (gharib

al-lugha) are given new functions which are to some extent

related to their old and abandoned (mahjOr) meanings. This

notion of reclaiming archaisms is closely associated with

the issue of semantic extension or transfer (al-wadc bil-

roajaz). The general argument in favor of reviving archaic

vocabulary has been motivated by the concern to check the

increasing unruliness of the Arabic lexicon, which has been

caused by the influx of recent coinages.

The process of metaphoric extension is not a new

phenomenon. It was very instrumental in the creation of

classical Arabic terminology in philosophy and theology as

well as in the various sciences. Modern metaphoric

extensions have become necessary to expand the expressive

capabilities of the Arabic language. The need for this type

of language change has been particularly felt by

journalists, translators, writers and poets, who are

considered the actual pioneers of the modern Arabic

philological renaissance. This method of lexical

elaboration did not, therefore, originate in the normative

activities of language academies, whose contribution to the

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subject has been perhaps that of definition of the method

and its systematic analogical application (Stetkevych 1970:

29-30).

Many words coined by individual writers have gained

currency, as is the case, for example, with the following

lexemes introduced by Ibrihlm al-Yazijl and ash-Shidyaq

(1805-1887) among others.

Classical Word Modern Meaning

/bl'a/ 'taking an abode /bl'a/ 'environment'

for oneself' /bl'I/ 'environmental'

/tabayyu'/ 'acclimatization

/majalla/ 'book, writing' review, journal, magazine

/jarlda/ 'stripped palm

branch' newspaper

/qitar/ 'file of camels' train

Semantic extension is one of the fundamental sources of

language adaptation and renewal. Classical Arabic

philologists and scholars had already registered the

importance of such a linguistic phenomenon. According to

Ibn JinnI, for example, language evolution is almost

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entirely governed by the principles of the majaz (Muzhir

1/357). Meaning transfer is often characterized by a

tendency towards abstraction (tajrxd) and "semantic

sublimation" (tascId) or the elevation of meaning from a

concrete image to a conceptual level, as illustrated for

example by the word caql 'mind, brain', which initially

meant a rope made of hair and used to tie a camel's leg, and

rOh 'soul', which originally referred to the activity of

breathing (Frayha 1955: 14).

Semantic extension must be understood within the

general context of language change and evolution (tatawwur

al-luqha), which itself reflects the various societal

changes. A scientific attitude towards language change

helps correct the traditionalist view that change is

synonymous with degeneration, that evolution in language is

nothing but "an arbitrary and hostile movement against

traditional values" (Stetkevych 1970: 69). The

traditionalist linguistic salaf iyya or veneration of

classical norms has often led to some types of "linguistic

adventurism" (mughamarat lughawiyya). For example, Father

Anastas al-Karmali, a notable linguist and scholar,

maintained, perhaps more on phonetic grounds than semantic,

that the French lexemes acheter 'to buy', aqreer 'accept,

approve, suit' and tabac 'tobacco' were related to or

derived from /ishtara/ 'to buy', /aghri/ 'to attract,

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incite, excite' and /at-tubbaq/ 'inula viscosa' reepectively

(ash-Shihabl 1955: 112, Hamzaoui 1975: 192).

It should be mentioned at this point that linguistic

adventurism has also been characteristic of those modernist

scholars who have exploited the concept of language

evolution towards drastic innovative ends not only in the

areas of script and grammar reforms but also in the context

of lexical modernization, as will be assessed in the

following chapters.

The acceptance of neologisms and their usage by the

speech community remains the determining factor in the

currency and success of such neologisms. Some semantic

extensions have been successful, for example /idbara/ or

/dibara/ 'file' < /dabara/ 'to gather, collect, assemble';

/khaliyya/ 'cell' < /khaliyya/ 'beehive'; /ssyyara/

'automobile' < adj. /sayyar/ 'travelling frequently,

continually moving'; /maqulat/ 'categories' < sing.

/maqOl-/ 'saying, telling, advocating'; /hads/ 'intuition' <

/hadasa/ 'to guess, surmise, conjecture'; /jawhar/

'substance, essence' < matter, substance, atom; /mantiq/

'logic' < /nataqa/ 'to speak', /mantiq/ 'speech, manner of

speaking, diction'; /badaha/ 'spontaneity, matter-of-

factness' < /badaha/ 'come, descend suddenly upon someone'

and many others (Monteil 1960: 162-69; Wehr 1976: 534, 260,

447, 798, 162, 974, 47).

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Many classically based neologisms, however, never

gained currency. They were overcome by arabized terms

(caiques, translations) or even by common colloquial

terms. Following are some of these unsuccessful neologisms

and their sanctioned MSA equivalents.

Neologisms MSA equivalents

/tirbal/, /cutm/ • • 'fortress, high building1 natihat as-sahab/ • • • 1 skyscraper'

/zafzSfa/ 'a violent,

noisy wind' darraja nSriyya/

1 motorcycle'

/mumlh/ 'admixed water' /hidrujln/ 'hydrogen'

/mufhim/ 'reduced to

charcoal' karbun/ 'carbon'

/jammaz/ 'swift-footed

camel' tram/ 'tram'

/kawthal/ 'stem, tiller' /cajalat al-qiyada/

'steering wheel'

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/rolqwal/ 'instrument for

talking'; /irzlz/

'tremor, sound of rain

of thunder' tilifun/ 'telephone'

(Hamzaoui 1975: 441-50; Stetkevych 1970: 32-34; Wehr

1976: 506, 932, 699)

Despite its importance in reclaiming and regaining a

lost lexical heritage, language academies have argued, the

revival of ancient terminology (ihya' fasxh al-luqha) has

not been an easy task to undertake. It is a process that

requires thorough research in classical Arabic dictionaries

and major scientific and literary works (ummahat al-kutub)

(Hamzaoui 1965: 27). Such endeavor not only is time-

consuming but also requires a perfect knowledge of the

various subtleties of classical Arabic, particularly in the

area of semantic evolution and semantic change, which

knowledge is crucial for the complicated neologizing

process.

3.4 Summation

In this chapter, we have discussed salient aspects of

classical and modern Arabic language planning. As early as

the first century of Islam (seventh centurty AD), Arab

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scholars conducted a massive language exploration whose

focus was the text of the Qur'an, the Hadith (Islamic

tradition) and pre-Islamic poetry. As widely acknowledged,

the main objective of early linguistic studies was the

preservation of the fusha and the text of the Revelation,

which suffered serious alterations and distortions during

the expansion of the Islamic empire, particularly among the

various peoples of other cultures, who had recently

converted to Islam. The drive to correct the problems of

lahn 'solecism, faulty speech* and to establish the norms of

correct language use contributed to the birth of the various

sciences of the Arabic language (culum al-lugha al-

carabiyya) such as exegesis, jurisprudence, grammar and

lexicography. Outstanding works in these disciplines,

particularly in grammar and lexicography, helped codify and

standardize the fusha and establish it in the Middles Ages

as the international language of science and culture.

The modern Arab cultural renaissance ha3 been largely

based on a linguistic revival as attested by the

institutionalization of Arabic language planning and reform

and the wide interest among Arabs in making the fusha the

effective tool of their common cultural awakening. Most

efforts in the planning process, however, have been focussed

on lexicography and lexical expansion, particularly in the

areas of science and technology. In their effort to

modernize the Arabic lexicon, LP agencies such as the Arab

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Scientific Academy in Damascus and the Academy of the Arabic

language in Cairo have used the same tools used by classical

Arab scholars and translators. They have sanctioned the

folowing normative hierarchy of lexical expansion processes:

istinbat 'linguistic resurgence, semantic extension1;

ishtiqaq 'derivation'; naht 'blending, compounding' and

tacrlb 'arabization or the assimilation of foreign

terminology through borrowing and translation'. This

hierarchy is clearly in affinity with the predominant

conservative philosophy of reform, which has sought to

protect the standard language from any changes likely to

affect its purity and sound foundation. Concerns such as

these led to a consensus among most scholars and

academicians on banning the use of dialects, commonly

considered as degenerate forms of the fusha, the rejection

of all proposals that are likely to affect the integrity of

the writing system and the preservation of nahw 'grammar',

which is considered the backbone of the classical tongue and

the guarantor of its stability in time and space.

In practice, significant results were achieved in the

area of both classical and modern lexicography. Early Arab

lexicographers such as al-Khalll ibn Ahmad (d. 791 AD), ibn

Faris (d. 999 AD), al-Jawhari (d. 1007 AD), az-Zamakhsharl

(1074-1143 AD), ibn Manzur (1232-1311 AD) and al-FayrOzabadl

(1325-1414 AD) established a brilliant and scholarly

lexicographic tradition whose methods and procedures of

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organization and presentation were characterized by

originality, exhaustiveness and diversification. The

subject matter of classical Arabic dictionaries, however, is

often seen today as normative (including only the faslh or

pure bedouin Arabic), difficult to consult (because of its

diversified and sometimes complicated organizational

methodology) and poor in the area of scientific

terminology. Nevertheless, classical lexicography largely

contributed to the preservation and transmission of much of

the early Arabic linguistic, literary and scientific

heritage. Modern Arab lexicographers have sought to

correct 3ome of the shortcomings of classical lexicography

and at the same time produce a large body of general and

specialized terminology to fill an ever-widening gap in the

Arabic modern lexicon. Although individual and collective

efforts have substantially expanded the Arabic lexical

repertoire, much remains to be done, particularly in the

area of standardization of scientific and technical

terminology and its effective dissemination through

education and creative scientific research.

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1. Historically, Arabs are often discussed in terms of

(1) cArab ba'ida 'extinct', including famed peoples such as

cfld, Thamud and Jadia, and (2) cArab baqiya 'surviving'.

The latter are further subdivided into (3) cHriba 'Arabian

Arabs', or Yemenites, the original Arabs who descended from

Qahtin, and (4) the cArab mustacriba 'arabized', who

descended instead from cAdnan (an offspring of Ishmael).

These include the hijazis and najdis among others (Hitti

1970: 32).

2. One of the major references on the subject is Abu-1-

Faraj al-Isfahanl's (d. 967 AD) Kitab al-Aqhanl 'The Book of

Songs', which was first printed in Bulaq in the second half

of the 19th century in 20 volumes. It is an encyclopaedic

work which depicts the social and literary life of the Arabs

from the pre-Islamic era (al-jahiliyya) to the end of the

ninth century.

3. Among the famous Arabic translators of Greek works

we may cite:

(1) Yahya Ibn al-Batrlq (796-806 AD), who translated

major works of Galen, Hippocrates and Euclid's elements and

Ptolemy's astronomical works.

-Ill-

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(2) Hunayn Ibn-Ishaq (809-873 AD), a great scholar,

known as the shaykh of Arab translators. He translated

major works of Plato and Aristotle among others (Hitti 1970:

310-312).

4. See particularly:

(1) Al-Farabi's Risala FI Arl1 Ahl al-Madina al-Fadila

'Epistle on the Opinion of the People of the Superior City',

and in music al-Kitab al-Musiql al-Kablr 'The Great Book of

Music'; (2) Ibn SIna's Kitaab ash-Shifa' 'The Book of

Healing' and al-Qanun fI at-Tibb, a canon in medicine which

was translated into Latin in the 12th century and became the

textbook for medical education in Europe; (3) Ar-Razl's

medical encyclopaedic work, al-HawI 'The Comprehensive Book'

(Hitti 1970: 363-369).

5. The fasaha or the ability to express oneself

correctly and eloquently has always been an important issue

in Arabic linguistic studies. The term fasxh refers to the

type of language or speech which is in common and repeated

usage by Arabs (al-fasaha cala kathrat al-isticmal) (Muzhir

1/183). Some rules are advanced to delineate eloquent speech

and are mainly based on semantic, phonetic or phonotactic

criteria:

(1) The absence of sound disharmony (tanafur al-

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huruf). The disharmony often makes pronunciation heavy on

the tongue and hateful to the hearing (karahiyya fi as-

8amc ), as illustrated by the word /hughkhu0/ 'a tree whose

leaves were used as medicine'. The heavy pronunciation in

this word is due to the particular sequence of sounds

involved, //h// + //gh// + //kh// + //c//, and the closeness

in their points of articulation.

According to as-Suyuti (Muzhir 191-192), the more

distant and distinct (mutabacida) the sounds are in their

points of articulation, the more fluid speech is and the

better sounding.

(2) Clarity and familiarity of language among eloquent

Arabs, thus its lack of ambiguity. The following citation

is often used to illustrate the concept of strange and

ambiguous speech:

( ♦ i ■»* i ^ *

( Ot c9

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(3) Accordance with the norms and patterns of the

language (al-qiySs al-lughawl), as in the use of ajdad

'newer than1 instead of the normative a.jadd with a

gemination.

If lexical items are not frequently used (qillat al-

isicmal), they may not have satisfied the above

characteristics, therefore failing the pracical test of al-

fasaha (Huzhir 1/186-187).

6. Faulty speech or solecism (lahn) was common not only

among common people (lahn al-cawlm)> but also among the

literati, and the ruling classes (lahn al-khawass). Some of

the major works on the subject included: al-KisI'I's HI

Talhanu Bihi al-cAwam (804 AD); Abu cUbayda's Lahn al-cAmma

(824 AD); Abu cUthman al-Mazinx's Lahn al-cHmma (823 AD);

al-cAskarI's Lahn al-Khasaa (1004 AD); al-Imam abu-l-Qasim

al-Harlrl's Durrat al-Ghawas FI Awham al-Khawas (1122 AD).

7. The tadwin or recording of linguistic material was

generally limited to the following tribes:

(1) Qays cIlan, which inhabited central and northern

Arabia in the Jahiliyya; (2) Tamlm, which produced the

greatest poets of the Jahiliyya; (3) Quraysh, which

inhabited Makka in the 4th century AD and included among its

branches Hashim, Asad, Nawfal, Makhzum, Sahm, Taym and Jumah

among others; (4) Tay' or Ta1 iyyun, an Arab tribe which

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migrated from Yemen to northern Arabia after the collapse of

the M a 1 rib dam, and which embraced Islam in the year 630 AD.

10 i ■*' f < '<5 * * '*1 'O "* " ^ * ** " ^ c»Jfc *

if ■* O* «JJI «L.»1 ffmi*)

jil I* ■£—I5^ p ft fA * Vjjk ^)ll| i

fc-^ 1 *J > gP J £ w l f— ( <>1*9 «

f ■ Ij * < 4*ll5

"• T ""f .

(in-tii/i

B. Al-Mubarrad1s works on SIbawayh's al-Kitab included:

Kitab al-Madkhal ila Sibawayh, Macna Kitab Sibawayh, Sharh

Shawahid Kitab Sibawayh, Az-Ziyada al-Muntazara min

Sibawayh, and Ar-Radd cAla Sibawayh (Fleisch 1961; 32).

9. This stage in the history of Arabic grammar is

defined in the following quote by Fleisch (1961; 39-40);

| A ^ Le bel edifice grammatical qu^ laisse le IVe siecle au monde arabe...est devenu un heritage auquel on s'attache etroitement et que l'on^se propose ^de monayer, de vulgariser, avec un grand zele. C'est l'ere des manuels,

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des text-books qui commence; on ne renouvelle pas la matiere, on en change la presentation, mais il faut ajouter: souvent (trop souvent!) on obscurcit simplement la matiere par des distinctions et surdistinctions dans la terminologie de subtiles et arides discussions verbales avec une multiplication des shawahid (ve^s-temoins) et des citations de grands auteurs (les autorites).

10. See:

(1) Az-Zamakhsharl' s al-Mufassal FI an-Nahw, published

in 2 volumes by G. Jahn, Leipzig, 1882, 1886. It is an

authoritative work on the Kitab of Sibawayh.

(2) Ibn Malik's al-Alfiyya, published by A. Goguyer la

Alfiyya d'Ibnu Malik, Beirut, 1888. In this quintessence of

Arabic grammar, Ibn Malik summarizes the rules of this

discipline in the forms of didactic poems (1001 verses).

(3) Ibn Hisham al-Ansarl, a famous Egyptian scholar,

whose most notable work was a grammar book, Mughni 1-Labib

can Kutub al-Acarib.

(4) As-SuyutI, whose al-Muzhir fl cUlum al-Luqha wa

Anwaciha was more of a philological encyclopaedic work in

which he condensed and analyzed most of his predecessors'

work (Fleisch 1961: 41-44).

11. Ibn as-Sarraj was the first among Arab grammarians

to arrange grammar rules and to categorize them into major

ones (Usui) and minor ones (furuc). Az-ZajjajI, for

example, discusses the cilal 'norms, causes', which he

divided into three types: cilal tacllmiyya 'informative

norms', cilal qiyasiyya 'analogical norms', and cilal

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jadaliyya, nazariyya 'hypothetical, discussion norms'. For

more details on this subject, see: 'Abdu al-Qasim az-

Zajjaji, al-'Idah fi cilal an-nahw 'The Clarification of the

Norms of Grammar'.

12. Depending on the various points (places) of

articulation (guttural, velar, palatal, dental and labial)

the arrangement followed an ascending sequence of letters as

follows:

Letter Symbol Letter Symbol ICO cayn t o

ha za' Js, • C • • h a ' dhal J

kha' c tha'

ghayn i ra' J

qaf j lam J

kaf d nGn O

jlm C fa' * shin ba'

dad mlm • f sad waw • 3 alif sin O” 1

• ya ' zln J +>• ICO hamza •

dal J

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13. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), also known as

contemporary Arabic (al-carabiyya al-mucasira), is

considered the descendant of classical Arabic (CA), the

famed bedouin tongue, or fusha. MSA is often equated with

the Arabic of the press or newspaper Arabic (lughat al-

jara'id). It has also become, to some extent, a spoken

language (lughat at-takhatub) as a result of the effective

role of the media which brought it to wide segments of the

population (al-Ylzijl 1899).

The fushi and MSA are not very different despite the

great differences in time and space. On the morphological

and syntactic levels, no notable differences exist. In the

area of phraseology and stylistics, MSA has been enriched by

many innovations. These, however, have been largely

integrated into the language system and are sometimes

difficult to discern. It is in the area of the lexicon that

MSA has registered the most change. There has been a flow

of modern terminology into the language due to linguistic

and cultural contact and the many contributions of the

press, journalism and individual writers and translators

(Wehr 1943: 43-44; Monteil 1960: 26-27).

There were some attempts in the nineteenth century,

particularly in Egypt, to develop a standardized literary

c5mmiyya 'colloquial, dialect', to replace the fusha. This

was advanced as a step in the modernizing process which

required the creation of a new, mas3-based culture. Ideas

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of this type, however, have often failed to materialize in

the Arab world for the following reasons:

(1) The cammiyya is not constant from one Arab country

to another. In fact, there are literally as many dialects

as there are Arab countries. Furthermore, many varieties

exist within the same dialect.

(2) The cammiyya poses a threat to the major objective

of Arab unity and the revival of a common culture.

(3) Although the standard literary language was

reportedly based on the Arabian dialects, particularly of

the sixth century AD, it has since been crystallized and

does not answer closely to any of the contemporary spoken

dialects, which have deviated from it very markedly leading

to the linguistic phenomenon known as diglossia.

Furthermore, none of the Arab dialects has developed

literarily.

14. The Committee of the Egyptian Ministry of Education

was set up in 1938 and included some notable neo-classicists

such as Ibrahim Mustafa (d. 1962), who has contributed • • widely to the process of Arabic modernization. The

Committee's report, which included mainly Mustafa's ideas,

first appeared in MMLA, 1951: 6: 180-197, and was published

in 1958 under the title Tanrlr an-Nahw 'Freeing the Arabic

Grammar'. The report introduced significant changes such as

the use of a different terminology and a meaningful

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. -120-

reordering of most grammatical categories to help present

the subject matter with maximum clarity and deemphasizing

the practice of grammatical analysis or parsing (Altoma

1970: 703).

15. Ibn JinnI harshly criticizes Ibn Durayd's Jamhara,

which he finds disorganized and full of incorrect

material. This situation, he points out, is created by the

writer's ignorance of the subject of at-tasrlf 'morphology':

O— 4 t -4 f .. m »JI L . I /

>lj j L —« Jj M

Jj 4 ' - jj | I I Jl* 4 . J • 4 il i» ^ .1

j J f i. a )I 1 ^ i« ^ 4 !■« ^ 4

j- * . 4 nS^i * S V*V ^ ^ i■ »i iS w l l» ^ ^ 4

4 » J.^r|l C< ,fj .4»J|4 .ifl » * «< (jJI ^ 1 I li.mH «JtI* L...J

• 4 iJi ^ .4

(n/1 .j . Hi Uj « ,.>11)

For more details on the phenomenon of tashlf, see: (1)

Al-Karmall 1932. Aqhlat al-Luqhawiyyin al-Aqdamln; (2)

Nallino 1930. Tashifat Ghariba fi Mucjamat al-Luqha; and

Tawflq Dawud Qurban 1964. Amthila min al-Aqhlat al-Waqica fi

Lisan al-cArab.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.