Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Arabic Language

Arabic language is today one of the world's most widely spoken languages. There are some 220 million arabic speakers in more than 20 countries. Arabic is the official language of many arab nations in the middle east and northern africa, including the kingdom of saudi arabia, algeria, egypt, iraq, jordan, lebanon, morocco, syria and tunisia. There are two types of arabic, written and spoken. Written (classical) arabic serves as the standard written language of all arab nations. It is the language of the holy quran, the Holy book of Muslims. Arabs use a spoken form of written arabic for formal speech, radio and tv news broadcasts and in films, plays and poetry. This form also serves as a common spoken language for arabs from all parts of the arabic-speaking world who have their own dialects for every day speech. Spoken arabic appears in a variety of dialects of which the main ones are:. - gulf dialect (the kingdom of saudi arabia, bahrain, kuwait, oman, qatar and the uae). - north african dialect (algeria, morocco and tunisia). - shami dialect (jordan, lebanon, palestine and syria).
Arabic language is spoken in more than 20 countries, from egypt to morocco and throughout the arabian peninsula. Modern standard arabic (msa) is the official language throughout the arab world, and its written form is relatively consistent across national boundaries. Msa is used in official documents, in educational settings, and for communication between arabs of different nationalities. However, the spoken forms of arabic vary widely, and each arab country has its own dialect. Dialects are spoken in most informal settings, such as at home, with friends, or while shopping. Of all the spoken dialects, egyptian arabic is the most widely understood, due primarily to egypt's role as the major producer of movies and tv programs in the arab world. The arabic language belongs to the semitic family of languages, and, like hebrew, is written from right to left. It is also the language of islam, one of the world's major religions, and has a literary tradition that dates back to the days of mohammed in the 7th century. In fact, the spread of islam transformed the regions of northern africa and the middle east into arabic-speaking areas within a century of its founding. In later centuries, the arabic language was spoken in parts of asia and europe following additional arab conquests. Today, words of arabic origin can be found in some european languages such as italian and spanish, due to periods of arab reign in those countries.
Arabic language is the most potent symbol of arab-islamic culture and its transmission, and as such has always been considered the necessary medium of instruction. Nearly all arabs accept the importance of primary and secondary instruction's being conducted in arabic; and, in fact, arabic does dominate the curriculum through high school. Algeria, which long had a french educational system, completed its transition to arabic in 1989, when the first class of twelfth-graders graduated from a completely arabic education. However, a good part of university instruction in the arab world remains yet in english and french, prompting a major debate. On the one hand, a great majority of arabs, regardless of their own linguistic skills, in principle favor the arabization of higher education. The francophone technocratic elite in algeria's modern sectors publicly "approves" of arabization even as it insists on the necessity of retaining french as a tool of modernization. But privately, this elite says with surprising frequency that arabization would send algeria "back to the middle ages. " this elite is attached to a western, secular, and scientific world view (and lifestyle), and it rejects arab-islamic traditionalism. Also, attempts to arabize instruction have run into the hard barrier of practicality: resources to make a complete switch simply are not there. The result is a splitting of institutions into arabic- and european-language sections. Islamic studies and arabic literature are the only completely arabized disciplines. Scientific and technical instruction takes place in english even at cairo's venerable arab-islamic institution, al-azhar, and at the universities of medina and mecca. In the entire arab world, only syria appears to have managed completely to arabize its university.
Arabic language is considered to be fertile language which absorbs easily. That is why most of the scholars consider the phenomenon of arabicization to be essential making the language reach and contemporary. So that it may keep pace with the advancement of knowledge. I have analysed this topic in accordance with the standards of arabicization and discussed its step by step in successive periods b giving the opinions of scholars about it. After giving individual opinions, i have turned towards linguistic academies and explored the standards and rulers for arabicization as laid down by scholars. I have discussed the rules starting from khalil, sibwaih, ibn duraid, ferozabadi and coding with al-khalfagi. I have tried to apply these rules to some arabicized a foreign words. Arabic language was influenced by the languages of nations either bordering arabic peninsula or living away from it like, gruce, posia and india in the periods before the advent of islam, earlier islamic periods and period of abbasids i. Period of academic renaissance, i have also discussed participation of the sub continent in the phenomenon of arabicization foreign words. That is why i have made reference to a book, laff al-qimat -tashih ma istamlatho al-ammatu min al-muarrab, waal dakhil wal al-muwallad, wal aghlat by abi al-tib, siddiq ban hasan al-qinnoji. The persian and urdu language contributed much vocabulary towards the arabic language. I have also taken up the problemof arabicized and foreign words in the holy quran some confirm it, whereas other reports it. In my dissertation i have relied on the following sources: mujam al-ain by khalil (d. Itsah)al-kitab by sibwaihjamharat-al-lughah by muhammad bin hasan (ibn draid) (d. 321ah) al-muzfhir fi-al-lughat by jalat al-bin al-suyutial-qamus al-ohit b al-fairozabadimujam maqayis al-lughat by ahmad bin farais bin zakariyyataj al-urus b sayyid muhammad murtadha al-zabibi. Farid awdh haiper al-uamma al-ilmi al-arabimujama al-lughat al-arabia in demascusaamal mujamma al-lughat al-arabia in cairothe contents of dissertation are as follows: preface, introduction, three chapters

Arabic language is going through some problems in the present time. These problems are generally ascribed to old factors and to new ones. These problems are in all circumstances resolvable, thanks to the lights shed on it by the enthusiastics for the language of their glorious qur'an and the receptacle of their great civilization. We should always be optimistic about the future of this language, on the basis of comparing it with the status it had in the nineteenth century, where it reached its rock bottoms in terms of style and terminology. It was almost devoid of creative generation or derivation. It was overloaded with rhetorical embellishers, which its users thought that they are, thanks to these embellishers, renewing with the booming era of arabic. However since the beginning of the twentieth century, arabic managed to recover from weakness and became the medium of communication and one of the international languages adopted within the international bodies and" conferences, which is thought in various world universities. The causes of the problems suffered by the arabic language are mainly attributed on one hand to the expansion of the role of foreign languages at the expense of arabic language and to the adherence to the quollocial dialects on the other. These represent a threat to the arabic languages, since any elimination to the standard arabic in favor of any other language or quollocial dialects weakens arabic and dwarfs its status. The causes represent therefore" a threat to the arab islamic culture and contribute to the weakening of the ummah, and loss of its identity and heritage. If learning a foreign language is an imperative necessity for keeping abreast of the fresh innovations of the era of modern technology, mastering the arabic language is the basic requisite of creation in all areas," of contributing to the progress of our arab islamic ummah, and renewing with its glory and its civilization.
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