A Linguistic History of Arabic [Hardcover]

A Linguistic History of Arabicchallenges the traditional accounts of the progression of classical Arabic to contemporary dialects. It presents a rich and complex picture of early Arabic language history and establishes the basis for a comprehensive, linguistically-based understanding of the history of Arabic. The arguments are set out in a manner accessible to students and scholars of Arabic and Islamic culture, as well as to those studying Arabic and historical linguists.

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

Jonathan Owensis 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 includeA Grammar of Libyan Arabic, Harrassowitz, 1984,A Short Reference Grammar of Nigerian Arabic, Harrassowitz, 1993 andThe Foundations of Grammar: anIntroduction to Medieval Arabic Grammatical Theory, Benjamins,1988.