K. Ryding – A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (2005)

Автор: K. Ryding
Название книги: A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Лингвистика
Страницы: 736
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

Keeping technical terminology to a minimum, this comprehensive handbook provides a detailed yet accessible overview of Arabic wherein its phonology, morphology and syntax can be readily accessed. Accompanied by extensive examples, it will prove an invaluable practical guide for supporting students' textbooks, classroom work or self-study, and a useful resource for scholars and professionals.

This basic reference grammar is intended as a handbook for the general learner –
a step on the way toward greater understanding of the Arabic language. Many
excellent and effective textbooks for teaching Classical Arabic and Modern Standard
Arabic (MSA) exist, as well as published research on a range of topics in
Arabic linguistics (e.g., phonology, morphology, syntax, variation theory), but
information in English on MSA grammatical topics tends to be scattered, and if a
complete answer to a question regarding contemporary usage is needed, sometimes
a number of sources need to be consulted.
The idea behind this reference grammar is to gather together in one work the
essentials of MSA in such a way that fundamental elements of structure can be
readily looked up and illustrated. It is intended primarily for learners of MSA as a
practical guide for supporting their textbook lessons, classroom work, or selfstudy.
This book is not intended in any way to supplant the exhaustive and profound
analyses of classical and literary Arabic such as those by Wright (1896,
reprint 1967) and Cantarino (1974–76). Those monumental books stand on their
own and are irreplaceable reference works. This book is a work of considerably
more modest goals and proportions.
1 Goals
This book is not designed to cover the entire field of literary or classical Arabic
grammar. A comprehensive accounting of Arabic grammar is an undertaking of
great complexity and depth, of competing indigenous paradigms (Basran and
Kufan), of several dimensions (diachronic, synchronic, comparative), and of theoretical
investigation across the spectrum of contemporary linguistic fields (e.g.,
phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and discourse
analysis).
The Arabic language is a vast treasure-house of linguistic and literary resources
that extend back into the first millennium. Its grammatical tradition is over a
thousand years old and contains resources of extraordinary depth and sophistication.
Works in English such as Lane’s dictionary (1863, reprint 1984), Wehr’s
dictionary (fourth edition, 1979), Wright’s grammar (1896, reprint 1967), and Howell’s grammar (reprint 1986) are seminal contributions in English to understanding
the wealth of the Arabic linguistic tradition. Yet, for the neophyte, for
the average learner, or for the non-specialized linguist, easily usable reference
works are still needed. This is, therefore, not a comprehensive reference grammar
covering the full range of grammatical structures in both Classical and Modern
Standard Arabic; rather, it centers on the essentials of modern written Arabic
likely to be encountered in contemporary Arabic expository prose.
2 Methodology
The choices of explanations, examples, and layouts of paradigms in this book are
pragmatically motivated rather than theoretically motivated and are not intended
to reflect a particular grammatical or theoretical approach. I have been eclectic in
providing descriptions of Arabic language features and structures, always with the
intent of providing the most efficient access to Arabic forms and structures for English
speakers. For example, I have assigned numbers to noun declensions for ease of
reference. Also, I refer throughout the text to “past tense” and “present tense” verbs
rather than “perfect” tense and “imperfect” tense verbs, although this has not been
standard practice for Arabic textbooks or grammars.1 I refer to the “locative
adverbs” (Zuruuf makaan wa-Zuruuf zamaan) as “semi-prepositions” (following
Kouloughli 1994) because it captures their similarities to prepositions.2
Many Arabic terms and classifications, however, such as the “sisters of √inna”
and the “sisters of kaan-a” are highly useful and pragmatic ways of organizing and
presenting morphological and syntactic information, even to nonnative speakers
of Arabic, so they have been retained. I have endeavored to provide both English
and Arabic technical terms for categorized phenomena.
There are those, both traditionalists and non-traditionalists, who will no doubt
disagree with the mode of presentation and grammatical descriptions used in
this book. However, since this text is aimed at learners and interested laypeople as
well as linguists, I hope that the categories devised and the descriptions and
examples provided will be useful, readable, and readily understandable. Transliteration
is provided for all examples so that readers who do not have a grasp of
Arabic script may have access to phonological structure.
3 The database
This reference grammar is based on contemporary expository prose, chiefly but
not exclusively from Arabic newspapers and magazines, as the main resource for topics and examples of current everyday Arabic writing practice. The grammatical
description that emerges therefore calibrates closely with contemporary written
usage. Media Arabic was chosen as a main source of data for this text because of
its contemporaneousness, its coverage of many different topics, and the extemporary
nature of daily reporting and editing. As a primary source of information
about and from the Arab world, newspaper and magazine language reflects Arab
editorial and public opinion and topics of current interest.3 Various subject matter
and texts were covered, ranging from interviews, book reviews, feature stories,
religion and culture, and sports reports, to straight news reports and editorials. In
addition to newspapers, other sources used for data collection included contemporary
novels and nonfiction. This is therefore strictly a descriptive grammar that
seeks to describe MSA as it is within the parameters noted above, and not to
evaluate it or compare it with earlier or more elegant and elaborate forms of the
written language.
There are doubtless those who would assert that the ordinariness of media language
causes it to lack the beauty and expressiveness of literary Arabic, and therefore
that it is unrepresentative of the great cultural and literary achievements of
the Arabs.4 To those I would reply that the very ordinariness of this type of language
is what makes it valuable to learners because it represents a widely used
and understood standard of written expression. As Owens and Bani-Yasin (1987,
736) note, “the average Arab is probably more exposed to this style than to most
others, such as academic or literary writing.” In fact, it is a vital and emergent
form of written language, being created and recreated on a daily basis, covering
issues from the mundane to the extraordinary. With limited time to prepare its
presentation style, media Arabic reflects more closely than other forms of the
written language the strategies and structures of spontaneous expression.5
Media Arabic is straightforward enough in its content and style to form the
basis for advanced levels of proficiency and comprehension, to expand vocabulary,
to create confidence in understanding a wide range of topics, and particu larly to provide clear reference points for issues of structural accuracy.6 As
Widdowson has stated, students whose future contexts of use are broad and not
clearly predictable need fundamental exposure to “a language of wider communication,
a language of maximal generality or projection value” (1988, 7). I see
media language as a cornerstone of linguistic and cultural literacy in Arabic; a
medium which can be a useful goal in itself, but also a partial and practical goal
for those who ultimately aim to study the Arabic literary tradition in all its elegance,
diversity, and richness.
4 Contents
The book is arranged so that grammar notes are numbered and indexed for ease
of reference; examples provided are based on information in the database. I have
omitted or avoided names of persons and sometimes I have changed the content
words to be less specific. For the most part, I have not created ad hoc examples;
illustrations of syntactic structure are based on authentic usage. A section on how
to use an Arabic dictionary is provided, as well as lists of Arabic and English technical
terms, a bibliography that includes specialized and general works in Arabic,
English, French, and German, and indexes based on Arabic terms and English
terms.
Although I have tried to cover a wide range of aspects of contemporary written
Arabic usage, there are bound to be lacunae, for which I am responsible. In terms
of accuracy of description, the entire book has been submitted to native Arabicspeaking
scholars and professional linguists for checking the grammatical
descriptions and examples, but I alone am responsible for any shortcomings in
that respect.
Procedures:
• Proper names have been left unvoweled on the final consonant, except where
the voweling illustrates the grammatical point under discussion.
• For individual words or word groups taken out of context, the nominative
case is used as the base or citation form.
• In giving English equivalents for Arabic structures, I have included in square
brackets [ ] words inserted into English that are not present in the Arabic text
but are necessary for understanding in English.
• I have included in parentheses and single quotes (‘ ’) a more or less exact wording
in the Arabic text that does not appear in the English equivalent In running text, English equivalents of Arabic lexical items are referred to in
single quotes ‘’.
• In giving English equivalents for Arabic lexical items, essentially synonymous
English meanings are separated by commas, whereas a semicolon separates
equivalents with substantially different meanings.
• For purposes of brevity, in providing English equivalents of lexical items with
broad semantic ranges, I have selected only one or two common meanings.
These are not meant to be full definitions, only very basic glosses.