A Linguistic History of Arabic

Erscheinungsjahr 2006
ISBN: 978-0-19-929082-6
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 330 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 661 g

A Linguistic History of Arabic presents a reconstruction of proto-Arabic by the methods of historical-comparative linguistics. It challenges the traditional conceptualization of an old, Classical language evolving into the contemporary Neo-Arabic dialects. Professor Owens combines established comparative linguistic methodology with a careful reading of the classical Arabic sources, such as the grammatical and exegetical traditions. He arrives at a richer and more complex picture of early Arabic language history than is current today and in doing so establishes the basis for a comprehensive, linguistically-based understanding of the history of Arabic. The arguments are set out in a concise, case by case basis, making it accessible to students and scholars of Arabic and Islamic culture, as well as to those studying Arabic and historical linguists.

Zielgruppe

Arabicists, Semiticists, and historical linguists, historians and scholars of Arab, Islamic and Middle Eastern cultures. Students at senior undergraduate and graduare level taking courses in the history of Arabic or Semitic languages or advanced general courses on Arabic and Islamic studies.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Owens, Jonathan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprachwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1: Introduction: A Language and its Secrets

- 2: Old Arabic, Neo-Arabic, and Comparative Linguistics

- 3: Case and Proto Arabic

- 4: Al-Idgham al-Kabiyr and Case Endings

- 5: Pre-Diasporic Arabic in the Diaspora: A Statistical Approach to Arabic Language History

- 6: Nigerian Arabic and Reconstruction of the Imperfect Verb

- 7: Imala

- 8: Suffix Pronouns and Reconstruction

- 9: Summary and Epilogue

- References

Über Autor(innen)

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.