A Linguistic History of Arabic

by Jonathan Owens

Overview

A Linguistic History of Arabic challenges the traditional accounts of the progression of classical Arabic to contemporary dialects. It presents a rich and complex picture of early Arabic language history and establishes the basis for a comprehensive, linguistically-based understanding of the history of Arabic. The arguments are set out in a manner accessible to students and scholars of Arabic and Islamic culture, as well as to those studying Arabic and historical linguists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199290826
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/13/2006
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Owens is Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Advanced Study of Language, University of Maryland, where he is on leave from his position as Professor of Arabic Linguistics at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Starting his linguistics career with a SOAS PhD on Creole Arabic Nubi of East Africa, he has taught and conducted research at universities in Libya (Garyounis), Nigeria (Maiduguri), and Jordan (Yarmouk). His books include A Grammar of Libyan Arabic, Harrassowitz, 1984, A Short Reference Grammar of Nigerian Arabic, Harrassowitz, 1993 and The Foundations of Grammar: an Introduction to Medieval Arabic Grammatical Theory, Benjamins,1988.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: A Language and its Secrets2. Old Arabic, Neo-Arabic, and Comparative Linguistics3. Case and Proto Arabic4. Al-Idgham al-Kabiyr and Case Endings5. Pre-Diasporic Arabic in the Diaspora: A Statistical Approach to Arabic Language History6. Nigerian Arabic and Reconstruction of the Imperfect Verb7. Imala8. Suffix Pronouns and Reconstruction9. Summary and EpilogueReferences