The Arabic Language

by Kees Versteegh

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 its earliest beginnings to modern times.
The reader is given 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.

Genres: Linguistics, Language, History, Islam, Academic

784 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 22, 1997

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by Kees Versteegh is the best introduction to the whole phenomenon of Arabic: not just as the Modern Standard Arabic norm, the language of the Qu'ran, or a single regional variety like “Egyptian Arabic”, but as the entire array of dialects from Morocco to Iraq and from Malta to Chad and beyond; from the dawn of Semitic and the early 1st millennium through the rise of Islam and the Medieval era to our time. Originally published in 1997, a second edition appeared in 2014.

In just over 300 pages, Versteegh introduces the reader to Arabic dialectology (and how successive migrations have affected it), the native Arabic grammatical tradition, and the emergence of new standards. His survey includes even Maltese, the far-out Arabic dialects of Chad and Mauritania and pidgins and creoles that have developed from Arabic. The last chapter looks at how Arabic impacted the world outside of the countries where it is commonly spoken as a native language: in West Africa and the East African coast, Andalucia, Persia, and the Indian subcontinent.

While some knowledge of Arabic (just a little) will be required to get something out of the book, and the reader should know something of phonetics and phonology, Versteegh’s presentation is remarkably accessible to a non-scholarly audience. Many aspects of Arabic grammar over the centuries can be arcane, but Versteegh sets them out clearly.

All in all, this is the best linguistic introduction to Arabic around. In its wealth of information and friendly approach, it is much superior to Karin C. Ryding's Arabic: A Linguistic Introduction published by Cambridge University Press (see my review).

[طارق (Tarek) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent, well researched book. It was full of history, which added context to the discussion of the dialects, and despite being a speaker, I found it full of new information. Personally, I enjoyed most the parts on the mass bedouin migrations to Egypt and the Maghreb, the story of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym, and the great amount of information on Bedouin migrations, which help explain how certain characteristics spread.[return]A basic knowledge of Arabic is definitely required, or it will be a tedious book to complete, and I would also say that a knowledge of linguistics would also be helpful, as the book is filled with linguistic terminology such as dipthongs, verbo-nominal compounds, infinitives, suffixes, subjunctives, etc. It would have been useful to have a glossary at the end.[return]The only drawback of the book is that all of the Arabic is transliterated into English. I would have found the book much easier if the words had been left in Arabic. For the next edition, I would recommend keeping the words in Arabic, and adding footnotes to the bottom of the page with the English transliterations for those who need them.[return]All in all, an excellent non-Arab study into the language.[return][return]A-

[Iz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started adding uni books, since it's only type of books I've been reading recently *cries*

[Fatemah Alhusayni · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an Arab, exploring my language, culture, heritage and history I was a bit lost before reading this book. Unfortunately there exists very few written resources about the history and evolution of the Arabic language and the Arab nation. I studied this as a text book, on my own, noting , highlighting, questioning and connecting bits of information together to form a realistic perspective about our history.

I might not agree with everything the author believes in this book, but I admire his thorough research, honesty and hard work.

The only thing I was bit disappointed about while reading this book was the exclution of the original Arabic text in Arabic script. It was very annoying to read Arabic written in English letters. But overall I highly recommend this book to whoever wants to study the history of the Arabic language.

[Dallas Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is without a doubt the most comprehensive book on the Arabic language, encompassing the history of Pre-Islamic varieties of Arabic, the poetic Koine that developed into Classical Arabic, the evolution of the national dialects of Arabic, the various Pidgins and Creoles of Arabic, and its influence on the languages with which it came into contact. Versteegh gives a complete view of current scholarship, including the views of various scholars on contentious or controversial theories. A must read for those interested in socio-linguistics, Islam, the Arabic language, or language in general.

[/d. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the most comprehensive book on the Arabic language that I have read to date. It has everything from the history of the language's origin, grammar, morphology and phonestics to a classification of Classical, Middle and Modern Standard Arabic as well as modern dialects. It's usually hard to get hyped over these kind more academic, hard non-fiction books, but this one deserves really all the praise that comes its way.

[Mohamed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kees did an impressive research about the history of Arabic. Starting with the pre Islamic age and evolution of the semitic languages, till modern age and how it affects and is affected by different languages around the globe.

[Bowman Dickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

good history of Arabic, wouldn't recommend unless you know the language (not a good introduction to Arabic)

[Zora O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

For people who already know some Arabic, this is a decent intro. The serious linguistic analysis is mostly separated out, so you can skip it if that's not your thing.

[Gregor Rogerg]

a great book getting you closer to understanding of what the arabic language really is from cultural, historic and linguistic point of view. chapeau bas!

[صبح الأندلسية · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب أجنبي لكاتب أجنبي عرّفني بلغتي وفتح عيني إلى كثير كنت أجهله عنها، أنصح بالكتاب لكل مهتم باللغويات