The Arabic Language

by Kees Versteegh

Overview

This general introduction to the Arabic Language, now available in paperback, places special emphasis on the history and variation of the language. Concentrating on the difference between the two types of Arabic - the Classical standard language and the dialects - Kees Versteegh charts the history and development of the Arabic language from the earliest beginnings to modern times. The reader is offered a solid grounding in the structure of the language, its historical context and its use in various literary and non-literary genres, as well as an understanding of the role of Arabic as a cultural, religious and political world language. Intended as an introductory guide for students of Arabic, it will also be a useful tool for discussions both from a historical linguistic and from a socio-linguistic perspective. Coverage includes all aspects of the history of Arabic, the Arabic linguistic tradition, Arabic dialects and Arabic as a world language. Links are made between linguistic history and cultural history, while the author emphasises the role of contacts between Arabic and other languages. This important book will be an ideal text for all those wishing to acquire an understanding or develop their knowledge of the Arabic language.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399542692
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	01/31/2026
Pages:	520
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Kees Versteegh is Professor of Arabic and Islam at the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. He graduated in Classical and Semitic languages and specializes in historical linguistics and the history of linguistics, focusing on processes of language change and language contact.

His books include Pidginization and Creolization: The Case of Arabic (Amsterdam, 1984), The Arabic Linguistic Tradition (London, 1997) and Arabic Grammar and Qur'anic Exegesis in Early Islam (Leiden, 1993). He co-edited the Handbuch für die Geschichte der Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (Berlin, 2000—2005) and the Arabic—Dutch/Dutch—Arabic Dictionary (Muiderberg, 2003), and was the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics (Leiden, 2006—2009).

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Figures and Maps
Note on Transcription and Glossing

1. The Study of Arabic in the West
2. Arabic as a Semitic Language
3. The Earliest Stages of Arabic
4. Arabic in the Pre-Islamic Period
5. The Development of Classical Arabic
6. The Structure of Arabic
7. The Arabic Linguistic Tradition
8. The Emergence of New Arabic
9. Middle Arabic
10. The Study of the Arabic Dialects
11. The Dialects of Arabic
12. The Emergence of Modern Standard Arabic
13. Diglossia
14. Bilingualism
15. Arabic as a Minority Language
16. Arabic Pidgins and Creoles
17. Arabic as a World Language

Bibliography
List of Abbreviations
Index

Editorial Reviews

Versteegh (Arabic and Islam, U. of Nijmegen, the Netherlands) explores the structure of the language, its history, and its uses in various literary and non-literary circles. He distinguishes the classic Arabic of the "Quran" and literature from the many dialects that are spoken throughout the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Africa. He assumes no knowledge of Arabic or linguistics, and includes both the original and a translation of quotations. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

This absorbing work brings together for the first time the results of an ever-expanding body of research, and can be recommended immediately and enthusiastically as a reliable introduction to the extensive literature on all aspects of the Arabic language, its origins, history, structure, dialectology and distribution, not forgetting the cultural, religious and political dimensions. In short, it is an indispensable survey of all the major topics in the field."

M. G. Carter

This is an important book, impeccably documented, with an up-to-date bibliography critically viewed in the ‘further readings’ at the end of each chapter, with a useful index and especially with exciting points of view, the outcome of the author’s long-standing interest in the Arabic language and its various aspects.

Nadia Anghelescu

This is a very useful handbook, both for general linguists interested in various aspects of the history and present state of Arabic and for Arabists and/or Semiticists who wish to update their bibliographical knowledge of fields within Arabic linguistics in which they may not be specialists.

Lutz Edzard

Kees Versteegh is internationally renowned for his erudition as a historian of the development of Arabic grammatical thought. In this new and welcome handbook he casts his net wider and gives us an outline account of the historical development of the Arabic language from its earliest beginnings ... Each of Versteegh’s fourteen chapters provides not merely a good general introduction to its subject, but an excellent jumping-off point for further study ... He writes with a transparent mission to explain for the benefit of the specialist and non-specialist alike, and the result is an excellent introduction to the subject.

Clive Holes

An up-to-date textbook in English as an introduction to the history of Arabic has been a desideratum for a long time.... The author is to be congratulated on giving us a work that should become the standard handbook for years to come.

International Journal of the Sociology of Language

This is a very useful handbook, both for general linguists interested in various aspects of the history and present state of Arabic and for Arabists and/or Semiticists who wish to update their bibliographical knowledge of fields within Arabic linguistics in which they may not be specialists.

Die Welt des Islams - Lutz Edward

This is a very useful handbook, both for general linguists interested in various aspects of the history and present state of Arabic and for Arabists and/or Semiticists who wish to update their bibliographical knowledge of fields within Arabic linguistics in which they may not be specialists.

— Lutz Edward

Die Welt des Islams