ARABIC LANGUAGE, the language of the Arabs. The official language of Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia (along with the Somali language), Djibouti (along with French), Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania. Also widespread as a language of everyday communication in Israel, Iran, Turkey, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Senegal, Nigeria, Niger, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Mali, Kenya, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire and some other countries where Islam is practiced. “Island” (existing in a limited territory) dialects of the Arabic language are known in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan (in the Bukhara and Kashkadarya regions) and on the island of Cyprus. Preserved by Arab emigrants in Europe, America, and Australia. One of the official and working languages of the UN and a number of others international organizations. Worldwide, the number of Arabic speakers is about 250 million (late 20th century estimate).
Arabic belongs to the Semitic languages. It exists in literary and written form (as a language of the classical period and as a modern literary language, which is a slightly modified form of classical Arabic) and in oral and spoken form, represented by territorial and social dialects, as well as interregional oral and spoken forms of the language of inter-Arab communication. According to phonetic, grammatical and lexical characteristics, modern Arabic dialects and interregional forms of the Arabic language differ in many ways from the literary and written form, and also differ from each other.
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic language has been characterized by dialectical ramifications since the preliterate period. On the territory of the Arabian Peninsula, on the borders with Syria and Mesopotamia, dialects of nomadic tribes and settled populations were formed. Already ancient Arabic philologists noted that in the 7th and 8th centuries there were phonetic and grammatical differences between the Western and Eastern ancient dialects. In the Middle Ages, as a result of the development of settled centers and cities of the Arab-Muslim civilization, the spread of the Arabic language to vast territories of the Middle East, North Africa, and the European Mediterranean, its new territorial dialects were formed. In the new territories, the social stratification of dialects continued to be preserved: urban and rural dialects were distinguished, contrasted with nomadic (Bedouin).
Modern Arabic dialects are usually classified geographically (taking into account their typological features). The following groups are distinguished: eastern (Mesopotamian) - dialects of Iraq and “island” dialects of Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan; Arabian - dialects of the Arabian Peninsula; Central Arabic - Syro-Palestinian, Lebanese, Jordanian dialects; Egyptian-Sudanese; North African (Maghrebian) - dialects of Western Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Western Sahara. IN last group also include Maltese.
In the 5th and 6th centuries, the classical form of literary Arabic began to take shape in the oral genres of folk art. The advent of writing (by the middle of the 7th century) determined its stable preservation to the present day. The development of Arabic culture and science in the Middle Ages contributed to the improvement of the literary form of the Arabic language.
Literary Arabic retains the main features of the phonetic and grammatical structure of the language of the classical period. Its phonetic features are the presence of fricative interdental consonants, a voiced affricate g (“j”) (except in the Egyptian area), voiced and voiceless pairs of laryngeal, pharyngeal and uvular consonants; preservation of six vowel phonemes with opposition in timbre and length. The morphological structure is characterized by a three-case system of nominal declension, three forms of number (singular, dv. and mi.) for pronouns, names and verbs, and special grammatical methods of forming and word-forming names and verbs. In general, literary Arabic is a language of inflectional-agglutinative type and synthetic structure. Arabic dialects, on the contrary, lose many of the features of inflection and synthetism and shift towards greater analyticism. The phonetic systems of modern Arabic dialects are also characterized by changes in sound composition and phonological oppositions. From a typological point of view, the development trend of the phonetic and grammatical structure of the Arabic dialects and their current state correspond to the development trend and state of modern Semitic languages.
Thus, in relation to the Arabic language, a distinction must be made between the definitions “modern” and “Modern Arabic”. The concept and term “modern Arabic” includes both forms of its existence and functioning. The concept and term “New Arabic language” define a new phonetic and grammatical structure of the oral-colloquial form of the Arabic language; By the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, the name “New Arabic type” was assigned to the entire set of forms that differ from literary and written Arabic.
In accordance with the results of recent studies of literary-written and oral-spoken forms, Arabic languages have their own spheres of functioning. The literary form is used in the sphere of written and oral communication, in the religious sphere. Oral-conversational form - in the sphere of informal communication, in everyday life. It can also penetrate into the sphere of written communication of people who do not have sufficient knowledge of the literary language; it is used in fiction and drama (when transmitting the direct speech of characters, in humorous and satirical genres), when recording folklore works, in the media in programs of relevant genres.
This state of diglossia is a serious problem in modern Arab society. It is also complicated by dialect differences. Scientific, socio-political centers and circles in the Arab world have been looking for ways to solve it for many decades. It largely depends on language policy, literacy and education in each of the Arab countries and in the Arab world as a whole.
The oldest monuments in languages closest to the Arabic language we know are rock inscriptions from the 5th century BC - 4th century AD (the so-called Samud, Lihyan and Saf), discovered on the caravan routes connecting Arabia with the territory of Syria and adjacent countries. They are made in a variety of Sabaean (South Arabian) script. They belonged to nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. The content was a message from the author of the inscription of his name and pedigree, information about his stay in a given place or about the direction of his migration, mourning for dead loved ones and fellow tribesmen, an appeal to the deities for help and protection. Another group is gravestone and memorial inscriptions. The most famous of them are from Central Arabia, from the ancient city of Qaryat al-Fau (3-4 centuries), made in Sabaean script; from an-Namara (4th century), from Zebed and Harran (6th century), written in Nabatean-Aramaic script (see Arabic script). The first written monument of classical Arabic in Arabic script is the Koran, written down in the mid-7th century; the earliest copy of the recording that has reached our time (several fragments of the Koran) dates back to the 8th century. The early written monuments of the Arabic language also include Arabic papyri from the 2nd half of the 7th-9th centuries, representing authentic texts of their time.
For information on writing for the Arabic language, see the article Arabic writing.
Lit.: Sibawayhi. Al-Kitab. Al-Qähira, 1317 (Higr.); Yushmanov N.V. Grammar of literary Arabic. L., 1928. 3rd ed. M., 1999; aka. Works on general phonetics, semitology and Arabic classical morphology. M., 1998; Al-Ghalayim Mustafa. Gami' ad-durüs al-Arabiyyah. Bayrut, 1953; Grande B. M. Course of Arabic grammar in comparative historical coverage. M., 1963. 2nd ed. M., 2001; Zavidovsky Yu.N. Arabic dialects of the Maghreb. M., 1963; Kyamilev S. Kh. Moroccan dialect of Arabic. M., 1968; Hassan Abbas. An-Nahw al-wäfl. Al-Qahira, 1971; Belkin V. M. Arabic lexicology. M., 1975; Mishkurov E. N. Algerian dialect of the Arabic language. M., 1982; aka. Arabic language. Modern Arabic dialects // Languages of the world. Semitic languages. M., 2005; Grundriss der arabischen Philologie. Wiesbaden, 1982. Bd 1: Sprachwissenshaft; Bakalla M. N. Arabic linguistics: an introduction and bibliography. L., 1983; Sharbatov G. Sh. Arabic literary language, modern Arabic dialects and regional everyday languages // Languages of Asia and Africa. M., 1991. [T. 4]. Book 1. Afroasiatic languages. Semitic languages; Belova A. G. Historical morphology of the Arabic language. M., 1994; she is the same. Essays on the history of the Arabic language. M., 1999; Fischer W. Grammatik des klassischen Arabisch. 2nd ed. Wiesbaden, 1987; aka. Classical Arabic II The Semitic languages. L.; N.Y., 1997; Versteegh S.N.M. The Arabic language. N.Y., 1997; Chagal V.E. Arab countries: language and society. M., 1998.
Dictionaries: Biberstein Kazimirski A. Dictionnaire arabe-français... : En 2 vol. R., 1860 (reprint. Beyrouth, 1970); Lane E. W. Arabic-English lexicon: In 8 vol. L.; Edinburgh, 1863-1893 (reprint. New Delhi, 1985); Ibn Manzur Muhammad. Lisan al-‘arab. Bayrüt, 1955-1956. Vol. 1-15; Ma'aluf Luis. Al-Mundjid. Bayrüt, 1965; Bustam Butrus. Muhit al-Muhit-Bayrut, 1977; Wehr N. Dictionary of modern written Arabic: (Arabic-English). 4th ed. /Ed. J. Milton Cowan. Wiesbaden, 1979; Sharbatov G.Sh. Russian-Arabic educational dictionary. 2nd ed. M., 1980; aka. Arabic-Russian educational dictionary. 2nd ed. M., 1982; Borisov V. M. Russian-Arabic dictionary: In 2 volumes, 2nd ed. M., 1981; Polosin V.V. Dictionary of poets of the ‘Abs. (VI-VIII centuries). M., 1995; Baranov H. K. Arabic-Russian dictionary. 8th ed. M., 1996.
Geographically, the Arab world covers the region from the Atlantic Ocean near the northern part of East Africa to the Arabian Sea. A wide swath of the planet, including territory throughout North Africa, a large cluster in Southwest Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, is linked by Arabic.
A Semitic language related to Hebrew, spoken by citizens of member states of the Arab states, founded in 1945 to represent the interests of the Arab people and achieve the political unification of Arab countries.
The political boundaries of the Arab world have historically diverged, leaving Arabs as minorities in the non-Arab countries of the Sahel and Horn of Africa and Middle Eastern countries (Cyprus, Turkey and Iran). At the same time, non-Arab minorities remained in Arab countries. However, the underlying geography - sea, deserts and mountains - provides strong natural boundaries for the region.
Kingdom of Bahrain
- capital - Manama;
- The official language is Arabic.
Located in the Persian Gulf on the Bahrain archipelago, in southwest Asia. The state has been governed as a constitutional monarchy since 2002 under the leadership of Sunni King Hamad ibn Isa Al-Khalifa, whose family holds all major political and military positions in the government. The gap between the Shia majority and the Sunni population led to long-term tensions that periodically erupted into civil disobedience.
Bahrain is one of the first countries in the Persian Gulf to discover oil (production began in 1932) and build an oil refinery. The energy sector remains the backbone of the kingdom's economy, making up a significant share of government revenue, but its share of GDP has also been declining due to earlier efforts to diversify the economy away from hydrocarbons.
Not reaching production levels like Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, Bahrain was forced to diversify its economy. This led to the kingdom becoming one of the main financial centers in the region. Transport links are being modernized and work is underway to expand Bahrain International Airport, which is expected to enhance the country's status as a transit and logistics center.
Iraq
- capital - Baghdad;
- official languages are Arabic and Kurdish.
Once a country of great civilizations, Iraq, located in western Asia, in modern history has become a battleground for competing forces with high levels of sectarian violence since the US-led overthrow of President Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Shiite-led governments that have held power since then have struggled to maintain order, but the country has had only brief respites.
Archaeological sites of Samarra, Iraq
Chaos and violence are preventing the revival of an economy destroyed by decades of conflict and sanctions. Iran is the third largest country in the world in terms of crude oil reserves. The economy is expected to grow slightly in 2019, but much depends on the rise and fall of oil production and the economic fallout from the Islamic State (IS) insurgency. The budget deficit is constantly growing.
Basic ethnic groups- Arabs and Kurds. Others are Assyrians, Turkmens, Shabakis, Yezidis, Armenians, Mandaeans, Circassians and Kavliyas.
- capital - Doha;
- The official language is Arabic.
Since gaining independence in 1971, Qatar has quickly become a leader regionally and internationally. Economic, political and cultural center of the Middle East. With a relatively small local population and significant revenues derived from natural gas, Qatar has the world's highest GDP per capita (averaging around US$100,000).
Until 2010, the country was mainly known internationally as the home of the Al Jazeera media network, but that all changed when Qatar won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in December 2010.
Numerous large billboard infrastructures continue to expand the construction industry. By emphasizing extensive international investment, ample spending on significant infrastructure projects, labor migration issues, and state involvement in foreign and regional affairs, Qatar has made a name for itself on the international stage.
Qatar's significant oil and natural gas reserves underpin rapid economic growth.
The country is the world's fourth largest producer of dry natural gas and the largest producer of liquefied natural gas, resulting in hydrocarbon revenues making up the bulk of national income.
While falling global energy prices have weighed on export earnings, strong economic diversification has delivered dividends in recent years, with non-hydrocarbon growth reaching 7.7% in 2015, compared with a 0.1% contraction for hydrocarbon growth over the same period. Financial sector the country continues to develop; Islamic banking in particular has witnessed significant progress.
Jordan
- capital - Amman;
- The official language is Arabic.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan lies in the heart of the Middle East, in a region often called the Levant. Jordan's importance stems from its strategic location - at the crossroads of what Christians, Jews and Muslims call the Holy Land.
Shares land borders with Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria. In the south it has access to the Red Sea through the Arabian Gulf. In Jordan there is a small number natural resources, but she played an important role in the struggle for power in the Middle East. Key US ally. One of two Arab countries (along with Egypt) to have concluded a peace agreement with Israel.
- capital - Sana'a;
- language - Arabic.
Despite its ancient roots as a crossroads of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the modern Republic of Yemen is a relatively young state. Founded in 1990 as a result of the merger of North Yemen (officially the Yemen Arab Republic) and South Yemen (officially the People's Republic of Yemen) Democratic Republic Yemen).
Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East. The ongoing conflict in the country has caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. As of 2019, approximately 17 million Yemenis (60 percent of the total population) are in need of any kind of humanitarian assistance, and 7 million are experiencing severe food shortages.
(Kuwait; Arabic).
Kuwait is a small country located in southwest Asia, in the upper part of the Persian Gulf region, surrounded by powerful neighbors: Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. Its strategic location and vast oil reserves make Kuwait one of the richest countries in the world (5th highest GDP per capita). US ally.
A conservative state (sheikhdom) with a Sunni Muslim majority, Kuwait stands out from other monarchies in the Gulf region for its most open political system. As a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Kuwait is perhaps the most politically dynamic in the region, and tensions persist between the parliament and the cabinet controlled by ruling family Al-Sabah. The government faces growing opposition calls for radical political reform.
As Kuwait continues its efforts to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on oil revenues, it is increasing momentum on several major infrastructure projects that should help further integrate the country into the global economy.
To visit the country you need.
(Beirut; Arabic).
With high levels of literacy and traditional cash crops, Lebanon has always been important shopping center in the Middle East. Located on the east coast Mediterranean Sea, between Israel and Syria, Lebanon is the smallest country in the Middle East. But, despite its compact size, throughout its history it has played an important role in regional policy and safety. Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Christians and Druze represent the main population groups in the country, which has always remained a haven for the region's minorities.
After years of political turmoil, Lebanon has regained its former reputation as the "Switzerland of the Middle East" and is becoming an important international destination for both leisure and business. Primordial natural beauty, beautiful mountain and seaside resorts, excellent weather conditions, great food, European architecture, exciting nightlife, casinos, international hotels attract wealthy travelers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.
If you plan to visit the country and stay there for more than 30 days, then it is necessary.
(Abu Dhabi; Arabic).
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a federation of seven emirates, is one of the most important economic centers in the Middle East. Before oil was discovered in the 1950s, the UAE's economy depended on fishing and pearling. The UAE has diversified and has become a regional trade and tourism hub. UAE companies have invested heavily in foreign countries.
Despite its traditional conservatism, the UAE is one of the most liberal countries in the Gulf. However, politically they remain an authoritarian state. Federal absolute monarchy. The two most famous emirates are cosmopolitan Dubai and oil-rich Abu Dhabi.
In recent years, both have played key roles in managing trade and investment between the region and the rest of the world. Lesser-known emirates are Umm al-Quwain, Ajman, Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. Although recently they have also become important shopping centers.
Relations with neighboring Iran remain tense due to the ongoing territorial dispute over the Persian Gulf islands. The UAE was one of three countries that recognized Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
Oman
(Muscat; Arabic).
Located in the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, Oman is the only member of the Gulf Cooperation Council located outside the Gulf itself (at the mouth of the Persian Gulf in the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula). Taking advantage of its strategic location, it invested in infrastructure with the goal of becoming a global logistics hub.
The country has smaller hydrocarbon reserves than neighboring Gulf Arab states and has made efforts to diversify the sultanate, driving economic growth. The long-term development strategy, Oman Vision 2020, emphasizes industrialization, privatization and Omanization. Logistics, tourism, mining, fisheries and industrial manufacturing identified as potential future economic forces and are the focus of development within Vision 2040.
The oldest independent state in the Arab world, Oman is one of the most traditional countries in the region. Oman has not been immune to political dissent in the region. Protests in 2011 demanding reform were broken up by police, and the following year the government began a crackdown on online criticism.
Those wishing to travel to the country must.
Saudi Arabia
(Riyadh; Arabic).
Kingdom Saudi Arabia– one of the main players in the Arab world. Authority is built on geographic size, prestige as the birthplace of Islam and its status as a colossus as an oil producer. It stands out for its support of the puritanical version of Sunni Islam, which welcomes harsh punishments, executions (public beheadings), and the oppression of women. It doesn't just come out that way.
State of Palestine
- capital - Ramallah;
- language - Arabic.
A de jure sovereign state in the Middle East. The West Bank - bordering Israel and Jordan - and the Gaza Strip - bordering Israel and Egypt - with East Jerusalem as the designated capital, although the administrative center is located in Ramallah. The Palestinians seek self-determination but have achieved only limited control over their territories. The economy is fragmented and subject to Israeli restrictions. A significant portion of the population depends on international food aid.
The Palestinian population - some ten or eleven million people - is divided between historical Palestine and a diaspora in neighboring Arab countries. Efforts to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza on the Mediterranean coast have been thwarted by the ongoing conflict with Israel and disputes over the status of diaspora Palestinians.
The war that followed Israel's declaration of independence in 1948 saw the former British Mandate of Palestine divided between Israel, Trans-Jordan and Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced from their homeland during the war - the Palestinian exodus, which they call the Nakba (catastrophe).
Syria
The capital is Damascus.
Once the center of the Islamic Caliphate, Syria occupied territory that had experienced invasions over the centuries, from the Romans and Mongols to the Crusaders and Turks. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, it is home to various ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shiites and Arab Sunnis, the latter of whom make up the majority Muslim population.
Modern Syria gained independence from France in 1946, but has experienced periods of political instability due to the conflicting interests of these countries. various groups.
Since 2011 political power, in the hands of a small elite, was contested in a brutal civil conflict, initially sparked by the Arab Spring, that evolved into a complex war involving regional and international powers.
Algeria's national commitment to pan-Arabism and the Arab world in the Middle East and North Africa has led to an active role in the region. It joined the League of Arab States (LAS) immediately after the declaration of national independence in 1962.
To go to Algeria you need.
Djibouti
- capital - Djibouti;
- languages - Arabic, French.
Located on the northeastern coast of Africa, in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Djibouti - officially the Republic of Djibouti - is bordered by the Gulf of Aden to the east and bordered by Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.
Thanks to geographical location Djibouti is of significant geopolitical interest, controlling access to and access to the main waterway- Red Sea and one of the world's busiest shipping routes Suez Canal. Djibouti was under the protectorate of France (first a colony, then - overseas territory) until 1977. Supports foreign military presence: In 2002, the United States of America established the largest American military base in Africa (Camp Lemonnier) in Djibouti.
The seaport is the main source of the economy, providing the largest source of income and employment. In terms of metals and minerals, there are some deposits of gold, granite, limestone and marble. Djibouti is also seeking to exploit its significant geothermal resources to meet domestic energy demand.
- capital - Cairo;
- language – Arabic.
Illustrious ancient civilization Egypt, the largest Arab country, plays a central role in Middle Eastern politics and in the modern era. Egypt's major cities and almost all agricultural activity are concentrated along the banks and delta of the Nile. Most of the country is desert.
The economy is highly dependent on Agriculture, tourism and money transfers Egyptians working abroad, mainly in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. However, rapid population growth and limited arable land are straining the country's resources and economy, and political instability often paralyzes government efforts to solve problems.
Egypt's great past and the fact that it was one of the first countries in the Middle East to open up to the Western world after Napoleon's invasion gives it the right to claim the role of intellectual and cultural leader in the region. Al-Azhar Mosque ( Mosque of the Most Shining One) in Cairo is a symbol of Islamic Egypt and is extremely revered in the Sunni Muslim world.
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), declared by the Polisario Front in 1976, is now recognized by many governments and is a full member of the African Union. A buffer strip with landmines and fortifications runs the length of the disputed territory and separates the Moroccan-based western part from the eastern region controlled by the Polisario Front.
In addition to phosphate reserves and rich fishing grounds off the coast, Western Sahara is believed to have offshore oil fields.
I have been interested in the world of the East for quite a long time, but I only recently started learning Arabic. I can continue for now brief information and a description of the features of oral and written language, if anyone is interested, I can post detailed lessons and study materials.
Best regards, Al-Hayat
So, Arabic belongs to the Afroasiatic language macrofamily and the Semitic group of languages. In addition to Arabic, this language family includes Old Aramaic, Amharic ( official language Ethiopia), a number of unwritten languages of South Arabia and Ethiopia, as well as extinct languages, which include Phoenician, Aramaic, Assyro-Babylonian or, in other words, Akkadian.
A peculiarity of Semitic languages is that in them the root of a word consists only of consonants: usually three, rarely two or four. Formation and word formation occurs by changing vowel sounds, as well as by adding prefixes and endings.
The Arabic language is widespread in the countries of the Near and Middle East, in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and on the African continent. Here is the list of Arabic-speaking countries I have found:
Near East:
1. Syria
2. Lebanon
3. Iraq
4. Jordan
5. Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza Strip) and Israel
Arabian Peninsula:
6. Saudi Arabia
7. United Arab Emirates
8. Bahrain
9. Qatar
10. Yemen
11. Kuwait
12. Oman
African continent:
13. Egypt
14. Sudan
15. Libya
16. Algeria
17. Tunisia
18. Morocco
19. Mauritania
20. Djibouti
21. Somalia
22. Eritrea
23. Western Sahara
24. Chad
In addition, quite large colonies are formed by Arabic-speaking populations in Iran and Afghanistan, Turkey, Nigeria and Ethiopia, and Tanzania. Arabs live in Indonesia, in the Bukhara and Samarkand regions of Uzbekistan, in the territory North Caucasus in Russia.
The official language for all the countries listed above is literary Arabic. However, due to the isolated nature of the historical development of each country, spoken languages have developed in them - dialects, which differ from the literary language and from each other in a number of features - phonetic, lexical and grammatical. But at the same time, despite the presence of its own spoken language in each country, literary Arabic continues to be the language of science, fiction, press, radio, official speeches of government and political figures.
Arabic is one of the official and working languages of the UN.
Throughout the history of its existence, the Arabic literary language has undergone significant changes in grammatical terms, especially in the mid-twentieth century, when most Arab countries achieved independence and began to pay more attention to their native language.
If in the 30s and 40s Western European languages, mainly English and French, predominated in Arab countries, then starting from the 60s, almost all Arab countries began to experience a tendency towards Arabization, which was explained by the desire of the Arab states to seek independence , to the revival of their culture and their language.
However, in the 80-90s, especially among the intelligentsia in many Arab countries, a kind of “rollback” from the policy of Arabism began to be observed.
The Arabic script is a system of 28 letters that represent only consonant phonemes. To represent the three long vowels, three consonant letters are used, called "alif", "waw" and "ya". To indicate short vowels, doubling of consonants, and absence of vowels, special superscript and subscript symbols are used, which are called “vowels.” The writing direction is from right to left. Depending on their position in a word or phrase, many letters have different styles: isolated, initial, middle and final. Some pairs of letters form so-called ligatures in writing - fused styles like & from Latin-French, or @ from English. at. The Arabic script has several varieties: Kufic script - ornamental and decorative, suls, ruk", nasta'liq, diwani, Maghribi and naskh. Naskh is used for typographic typesetting.
The cultural and historical influence of the Arabic language can be traced in many languages of Asia and Africa. This was facilitated by the spread of Islam, as well as the high cultural status of literary Arabic, which has a developed system of terminology for many areas of social, scientific and cultural life.
A considerable number of words of Arabic origin are also found in the Russian language, where they came, as a rule, through intermediary languages: Latin, Western European, Persian and Turkish. In addition to exoticisms such as genie, jihad, vizier, qadi, etc., the following are Arab in origin:
1. some names of stars and constellations: Aldebaran, Altair - from Arabic. "al-dabaran", "al-ta"ir",
2. a number of scientific terms: algebra, alcohol - through Spanish, number, zero - through European, from Arabic. "zero"; algorithm - from the Latinized form of the name of the mathematician al-Khorezmi,
3. title military rank admiral, which was borrowed into the Russian language from Dutch and goes back to the Arabic “amir l-bahri”, which means “emir of the sea”, and nothing remains of “sea” in the form of the word. But as a result of “folk etymology”, which connected this word with the Latin admiror (“to be amazed”) and its derivatives in Romance languages, the sound “d” appeared,
4. and other words quite varied in meaning.
Humanitarian sciences
Krachkovsky I.Yu. Essays on the history of Russian Arabic studies. M. L., 1950
Zvegintsev V.A. History of Arabic linguistics. M., 1958
Zavadovsky Yu.N. Arabic dialects of the Maghreb. M., 1962
Russian-Arabic dictionary. Comp. V.M. Borisov, ed. V.M. Belkina. M., 1967
Gabuchan G.I. Article theory and problems of Arabic syntax. M., 1972
Khrakovsky V.S. Essays on General and Arabic Syntax. M., 1973
Belkin V.M. Arabic lexicology. M., 1975
Baranov H.K. Arabic-Russian dictionary, 5th ed. M., 1976
Mishkurov E.N. Fundamentals of the theoretical grammar of modern Arabic, part 12. M., 1978 1979
Essays on the history of Arab culture VXV centuries. M., 1982
Yushmanov N.V. Grammar of Literary Arabic, ed. 3. M., 1985
Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. M., 1990
Sharbatov G.Sh. Arabic literary language, modern Arabic dialects and regional vernacular languages. In the book: Languages of Asia and Africa, vol. 4, book. 1. M., 1991
Grande B.M. Course of Arabic grammar in comparative historical coverage, 2nd ed. M., 1998
Chagal V.E. Arab countries: language and society. M., 1998
Belova A.G. Essays on the history of the Arabic language. M., 1999
Find "ARABIC LANGUAGE" on
] , Trinidad and Tobago [ ] - minor or extremely small population groups
Algeria Algeria,
Bahrain Bahrain,
Djibouti Djibouti,
Egypt Egypt,
Israel Israel,
Jordan Jordan,
Iraq Iraq,
Yemen Yemen,
Qatar Qatar,
Comoros Comoros,
Kuwait Kuwait,
Lebanon Lebanon,
Libya Libya,
Mauritania Mauritania,
Morocco Morocco,
UAE UAE,
Oman Oman,
Eritrea Eritrea,
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
,
Syria Syria,
Somalia Somalia,
Sudan Sudan,
Tunisia Tunisia,
Chad Chad,
SADR SADR
() ,
State of Palestine State of Palestine
(partially recognized state)
Somaliland Somaliland
(unrecognized state) .
Organizations:
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Subtitles
Dialects
Modern spoken Arabic falls into 5 groups of dialects, which are actually separate languages from a linguistic point of view:
- Maghreb dialect group
- Egyptian-Sudanese Arabic
- Syro-Mesopotamian Arabic
- Arabian dialect group
- Central Asian group of dialects
The Maghreb language belongs to the Western group, the rest - to the Eastern group of Arabic languages and dialects. (See Problem of language or dialect ); It is preferable to use the well-established term “dialect” in Arabic studies ( Arab. لهجة )
The literary language (in Western Arabic studies the English term Modern Standard Arabic is used) is single. Literary Arabic combines vocabulary for many things in modern world or science, but at the same time in some Arab countries it is quite rarely used in colloquial speech.
Place of Arabic in the Semitic language group
Classical Arabic differs little from Old Arabic. Many roots of Semitic languages are also found in Arabic. In Semitic studies, there has in the past been a tendency to regard Classical Arabic as the most archaic of the Semitic languages. However, over time, through comparison with other Afroasiatic languages, it was found that much in classical Arabic is not so original.
Story
Over the centuries, the language has constantly changed, which, however, has had little effect on writing, because short vowel sounds, except in the Koran, are not written in the text.
Classical (high) Arabic is not the native language of Arabs today. However, even today, with a modified vocabulary, it is used in almost all newspapers and books, with the exception of Tunisia, Morocco and partly Algeria, where Arabic shares the role of a literary language with French. In scientific and technical literature in other Arab countries, English is often used in places where the necessary vocabulary is lacking.
Vocabulary composition
The vocabulary of the modern Arabic literary language is characterized by the fact that its main part is originally Arabic. “The Arabs highly value the word-formation capabilities of their language, seeing the richness and clarity of word-formation paradigms as the key to adapting the Arabic literary language to current state society. Moreover, it should be noted that in modern nomination processes, models with a high generalization index are the most active. Thus, recently, the vocabulary of the Arabic literary language has been significantly replenished due to derivative names formed by adding the suffix ية- , forming a derivative series with the meaning of generalized abstract qualities and properties: استقلالية independence; حركية dynamism, dynamics; شمولية maximalism; totalitarianism; اشكلالية - problem, etc.” . Some of the vocabulary is general Semitic and only a small part is foreign, such as the words: “television” - تليفزيون , دكتورة doctor’s title, سكرتير secretary, فيلم film. Total borrowings from European languages are small and make up about one percent of the dictionary.
For the Arabic literary language, four large synchronous sections of vocabulary development are distinguished: the pre-Muslim vocabulary of the communal-tribal system (late 7th and early 8th centuries); expansion of the vocabulary associated with the origin, development and prosperity of the medieval Arabic-speaking civilization (until the 12th century); period of stagnation and reduction in the range of use of the Arabic literary language (XIII-XVIII centuries) and the beginning modern period(from the middle of the 19th century).
Synonymy, polysemy of words and homonymy have become widely developed in the Arabic language. The main methods of word formation are: morphological - according to word-formation models and formulas, syntactic and semantic.
Despite the fact that the vocabulary is very rich, it is often not sufficiently standardized and is often overloaded with linguistic background. For example, there is no word that quite accurately corresponds to the word nation. The word used to denote this concept is (أمة, umma) meaning in the past, and in a religious context to this day, “a community of believers (Muslims)”; or, for example, “nationality” (جنسية , jinsiya) generally means “gender,” for example “sex life” sounds like (حياة الجنسية , haya: t al-jinsiyya). The word "nationalism" (قومية , Qaumiyya), comes originally from the vocabulary of nomads kaum and means "tribe" in the sense of "nomadic tribe".
In a similar way, very old and very modern concepts are often intertwined in one word, without the slightest connection in terms of word origin. There are also loanwords from Aramaic, Greek and many modern terms from English.
Phonetics
Phonetically, literary Arabic is characterized by a widely developed system of consonant phonemes, especially glottal, emphatic and interdental.
“In the phonetic sections of grammatical works, either only the articulations of Arabic sounds were described, or also their combinatorial changes. The Indian system of sound classification, based on taking into account the place of articulation and other articulatory features, had a significant influence on the Arabs. The technique of comparing sounds in articulatory and functional terms was used. Avicenna introduced the concept of correlation to establish relationships between sounds. Cases of gemination were classified as the result of complete progressive or regressive contact assimilation. Partial and distant assimilation was described. Questions were studied about the interaction of consonants and vowels, about the replacement of consonants, about metathesis, about the loss of hamza, about elision, about the emergence of a connecting vowel, about palatalization, velarization, about sound symbolism.”
Pronunciation
In many Arab countries, efforts are currently being made to bring pronunciation closer to standard Arabic. The basis is the quotation norm (Ar. tilāwa تلاوة) of the Koran. This style of pronunciation is generally used only in religious contexts.
It is certain that the original pronunciation of High Arabic is not exactly known. For example, there is no consensus on the pronunciation of the ending un indefinite nouns ( kitabun etc. kitab). There are arguments in favor of two options, and since there were no vowel marks (vowel marks) in the ancient handwritten script, it is impossible to say with certainty how it was pronounced.
Writing
Arabic is written from right to left. Moreover, in Arabic, unlike languages with Latin or Cyrillic graphics, there are no capital letters, so proper names are written like any other word, as well as the first word in a sentence.
Anthroponymy
Arabic names traditionally written in direct order.
Grammar
| List of Swadesh for Arabic | ||
| № | Arab | Russian |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | أنا | I |
| 2 | أنت | You |
| 3 | هو | He |
| 4 | نحن | We |
| 5 | أنتم | You |
| 6 | هم | They |
| 7 | هذا | this one, this one |
| 8 | ذلك | that, that |
| 9 | هنا | here |
| 10 | هناك | there |
| 11 | من | who (question of places) |
| 12 | ما | what (issue of place) |
| 13 | أين | where (issue of location) |
| 14 | متى | when (issue of place) |
| 15 | كيف | how (question of places) |
| 16 | لا,ما | not (ما - negation of verb pr.v.) |
| 17 | كل | all, all, everything, everything |
| 18 | كثير | many, numerous |
| 19 | بعض | some |
| 20 | قليل | small, few (eg قبل قليل - some time ago) |
| 21 | آخر | different, different |
| 22 | واحد | one |
| 23 | اثنان | two |
| 24 | ثلاثة | three |
| 25 | أربعة | four |
| 26 | خمسة | five |
| 27 | عظيم,كبير | big, great |
| 28 | طويل | long, long, tall |
| 29 | عريض, واسع | wide |
| 30 | سميك | thick |
| 31 | ثقيل | heavy |
| 32 | صغير | small |
| 33 | قصير | short, brief, stunted |
| 34 | ضيق | narrow |
| 35 | رقيق | thin |
| 36 | امرأة | woman |
| 37 | رجل | man |
| 38 | رجل, إنسان | Human |
| 39 | طفل | child, child |
| 40 | زوجة | wife |
| 41 | زوج | husband |
| 42 | أم,والدة | mother |
| 43 | والد, أب | father |
| 44 | حيوان | beast, animal |
| 45 | سمك | fish |
| 46 | طائر | bird, bird |
| 47 | كلب | dog, dog |
| 48 | قملة | louse |
| 49 | ثعبان | snake |
| 50 | دودة | worm |
| 51 | شجرة | tree |
| 52 | غابة | forest |
| 53 | عصا | stick, rod |
| 54 | فاكهة | fruit |
| 55 | بذرة | seed, seeds |
| 56 | ورق | sheet |
| 57 | جذر | root |
| 58 | قشرة | bark |
| 59 | زهرة | flower |
| 60 | عشب | grass |
| 61 | حبل | rope |
| 62 | جلد | leather |
| 63 | لحم | meat |
| 64 | دم, دماء | blood |
| 65 | عظم | bone |
| 66 | دهن | fat |
| 67 | بيضة | egg |
| 68 | قرن | horn |
| 69 | ذيل | tail |
| 70 | قلم | pen (writing implement) |
| 71 | شعر | hair |
| 72 | رأس | head |
| 73 | الأذن | ear |
| 74 | عين | eye, eye |
| 75 | أنف | nose |
| 76 | فم | mouth |
| 77 | سن | tooth |
| 78 | لغة | language (adverb, dialect) |
| 79 | مسمار | nail |
| 80 | قدم | foot |
| 81 | ساق | leg |
| 82 | ركبة | knee |
| 83 | يد | hand |
| 84 | جناح | wing |
| 85 | معدة | belly, belly |
| 86 | في الداخل | entrails, intestines |
| 87 | عنق | neck |
| 88 | ظهر | back |
| 89 | صدر | breast |
| 90 | قلب | heart |
| 91 | كبد | liver |
| 92 | شرب | drink |
| 93 | أكل | eat, eat |
| 94 | عض | bite |
| 95 | مص | suck |
| 96 | بصق | spit |
| 97 | تقيؤ | vomit, vomit |
| 98 | ضرب | hit, hit |
| 99 | تنفس | breathe |
| 100 | ضحك | laugh |
Arab scholars usually divided grammar into syntax, morphology and phonetics and paid considerable attention to issues of word formation, and in connection with it etymology, thanks to which in the 11th century. The root theory has reached a high level. Syntax and morphology are the most original parts of Arabic grammar, having no sources in either Greek or Indian works and focused on the specifics of the Arabic language.
The task of syntax was the structural and semantic analysis of the sentence. It postulated subject-predicate relations between two names or between a name and a verb. There were small/elementary sentences and large ones forming a hierarchy; sentences are nominal, verbal and adverbial - depending on what word is at the beginning of the sentence, and accordingly there are different types of subjects and predicates. The secondary members of the sentence were identified and classified in detail (up to five types of additions, circumstances of different types, “applications”). There were different cases of formal and virtual implementation of inflections. The concept of an implied term was introduced to explain the construction. The relationships of coordination, control and adjacency were also analyzed.
In morphology, parts of speech and features of their formation that are not determined syntactically were considered. This included questions such as parts of speech (noun, verb and particles of up to 27 types), root structure, names and their multidimensional classification on different grounds (explicit names - nouns, adjectives, hidden names - personal pronouns, common names - demonstrative and relative pronouns, etc.), verbs (with a detailed classification of their forms and meanings), two-case and three-case names, the formation of relative names, the formation of composites, the formation of number and gender forms, the formation of deminitives, changes in the form of a word due to the presence of weak root consonants , pause forms, etc. The issue of masdar was also discussed here.
Particularly great successes were achieved in phonetics (Khalil ibn Ahmad; Abu Ali ibn Sina - Avicenna, 980-1037; Sibawayhi).
The Arabic language is characterized by highly developed inflection. (The inflectivity and similarity of inflection of Semitic and Indo-European languages has been questioned by some researchers. The inflection of Indo-European languages is a different phenomenon from the inflection of Semitic languages, since it implies a stronger interaction of inflection with the root. The Arabic language is characterized by agglutination. Some scientists, in particular, A. A. Reformatsky, they believe that the fusion of Semitic languages is special shape agglutination, since the fusion of a Semitic word is a predictable process and follows relatively strict formulas, which Arabic authors like to present using the three-letter root فعل with the meaning do, and the vowels themselves forming a fusion are, as a rule, independent of the root. A similar, but not analogous, phenomenon has been observed in a number of non-Semitic languages, in particular Germanic. These are, for example, pairs of singular and plural words in English, such as foot - feet, tooth - teeth, or changes in root vowels in irregular verbs English or so-called strong verbs German language, but in Germanic languages there is no regularity in the reproduction of so-called fusional formulas. Most words in Arabic can be traced back to the original form of the verb, which usually consists of three- or four- (rarely two- and five-) root consonants.
Although the root is indivisible for the speaker’s consciousness, some familiarity with parsing the root is useful for facilitating the memorization of such an extensive root vocabulary as the Arabic language is endowed with, and for the feasible interpretation of unfamiliar roots when reading without a dictionary.
Root of the word
The Arabic root is most often three-letter, less often two- or four-letter, and even less often five-letter; but already for a four-letter root there is a requirement that it contain at least one of the smooth consonants (vox memoriae (memory): مُرْ بِنَفْلٍ).
According to the famous Russian Arabist S. S. Maisel, the number of triconsonant roots in modern Arabic literary language makes up 82% of the total Arabic root word.
Not just any consonants can participate in the composition of a root: some of them are compatible in the same root (more precisely, in the same cell; see below: b), others are incompatible.
Incompatible:
- Laryngeal: غ ع خ ح (if ع and ء are compatible)
- Non-glottal:
ب and فم
ت and ث
ث and س ص ض ط ظ
ج and ف ق ك
خ and ظقك
د and ذ
ذ and ص ض ط ظ
ر and ل
ز and ض ص ظ
س and ص ض
ش and ض ل
ص and ض ط ظ
ض and ط ظ
ط and ظ ك inflection. An Arabic root, as a rule, consists of three (rarely two or four, extremely rarely five) root consonants (radicals), which, with the help of transfixes, form the entire paradigm of a given root. For example, from the verb كَتَبَ (write), using the consonants “K-T-B” the following words and forms are formed:
- كَتَبَ - KataBa - he wrote
- أَكْتُبُ - AktuBu - I write
- كِتَابٌ - KiTa: B un - book
- كُتُبٌ - KuTub un - books
- كَاتِبٌ - Ka: TiB un - writer
- كُتَّابٌ - KuTTa: B un -
Zeid cut the rope with a knife (instrumental case).
We talked about studying (prepositional case).
قُلْ لِمُحَمَّدٍ - الجَرُّ Tell Muhammad ( dative).
The people fought against the colonialists (the instrumental case).
The signs by which case is recognized are different and they depend on the morphological features of the name.
Noun
A noun in Arabic is characterized by such morphological concepts as gender, number - singular, dual (very rarely used in dialects) and plural, case and state, as well as the categories of definiteness, uncertainty and neutral status.
Genus. There are only two genders in Arabic: masculine and feminine. Names with a characteristic ending [atun] are often feminine. In general, whether a name belongs to one gender or another is associated with meaning, for example, with gender.
For example, the noun أُمٌّ ["ummun]-(mother), despite its ending, is feminine. For many nouns denoting the name of a profession or type of activity, the feminine gender is formed simply by adding the ending [-atun] to the corresponding masculine noun. For example:
طَالِبٌ [ student] طَالِبَةٌ [ student] To convey feminine endings in a letter, ﺓ [tā’ marbuta], a letter that is not in the alphabet, is used. It is a graphic variant of the usual ت [t], which is called [tā’], or “stretched t”. By connecting the ends of the “stretched t” to each other, we get ﺓ [tā’ marbuta]. IN Semitic languages[t] is one of the main indicators of the genus. When agreeing with names, ت is used in verbs, and ﺓ in names. [tā' marbuta] is written only at the end of a word and can have two styles: without a connection - ﺓ and with a connection to the right - , (the middle radical can also be voweled by damma or kasra), represent a verb of the 3rd person masculine singular past tense numbers. This verb form has the formula فَعَلَ. As the simplest, this form is taken as the initial one in the formation of derivative forms and is conventionally translated in dictionaries by the infinitive. When conjugating an Arabic verb, personal pronouns are omitted, since person, number and gender are quite fully expressed in personal endings.
Past tense The Arabic verb serves to express an action that occurred before the moment of speech, and is formed by replacing the ending of the 3rd person singular masculine with the corresponding personal endings. The Arabic verb, unlike the Russian one, does not receive a clear aspectual meaning in the past tense form, and therefore, depending on the meaning of the sentence, it can be translated into both the perfect and imperfect forms of the Russian verb. For example:كَتَبَ “he wrote” or “he wrote.”
Present-future tense Arabic verb expresses an action that is incomplete in nature, occurring or beginning simultaneously with the moment of speech or with some other moment directly or indirectly indicated in this statement. The present-future form is formed from the past tense by adding the appropriate prefixes [sa]. Unlike س, which is written together with the verb form, سوف is written separately with it. Both prefixes have no independent meaning. The conjugation of the verb in this tense form is basically similar to the conjugation in the present-future tense.
In modern Arabic, especially in periodicals, a verb of the second type, formed from the prefix سوف, is actively used, as well as masdar of this verb تسويف, in the meaning of “endless delay”, “constant postponement for an indefinite future” in relation to any plans, promises or obligations, for example, election ones, etc.].
Conjugation of the verb كَتَبَ (write)
V past tenseFace Genus Unit number Dual number Plural number 1-oe - كَتَبْتُ
[katabtu]- كَتَبْنَا
[katabna:]2nd M. كَتَبْتَ
[katabta]كَتَبْتُمَا
[katabtuma:]كَتَبْتُمْ
[katabtum]AND. كَتَبْتِ
[katabti]كَتَبْتُنَّ
[katabtunna]3-e M. كَتَبَ
[kataba]كَتَبَا
[kataba:]كَتَبُوا
[kataboo:]AND. كَتَبَتْ
[katabat]كَتَبَتَا
[katabata:]كَتَبْنَ
[katabna]Conjugation of the verb كَتَبَ (y) (write)
V present-future tenseFace Genus Unit number Dual number Plural number 1-oe - أكْتُبُ
[aktubu]- نَكْتُبُ
[naktubu]2nd M. تَكْتُبُ
[taktubu]تَكْتُبَانِ
[taktuba: ni]تَكْتُبُونَ
[taktubu: on]AND. تَكْتُبِينَ
[taktubi: on]تَكْتُبْنَ
[tactubna]3-e M. يَكْتُبُ
[yaktubu]يَكْتُبَانِ
[yaktuba: ni]يَكْتُبُونَ
[yaktubu: on]AND. تَكْتُبُ
[taktubu]تَكْتُبَانِ
[taktuba: ni]يَكْتُبْنَ
[yaktubna]Conjugation of the verb كَتَبَ (write)
V future tenseFace Genus Unit number Dual number Plural number 1-oe - سَأكْتُبُ
[saaktubu]سَوُفَ أكْتُبُ
- سَنَكْتُبُ
[sanaktubu]سَوُفَ نَكْتُبُ
2nd M. سَتَكْتُبُ
[sataktubu]سَوُفَ تَكْتُبُ
سَتَكْتُبَانِ
[sataktuba:ni]سَوُفَ تَكْتُبَانِ
سَتَكْتُبُونَ
[sataktubu: on]سَوُفَ تَكْتُبُونَ
AND. سَتَكْتُبِينَ
[sataktubi: on]سَوُفَ تَكْتُبِينَ
سَتَكْتُبْنَ
[sataktubna]سَوُفَ تَكْتُبْنَ
3-e M. سَيَكْتُبُ
[sayaktubu]سَوُفَ يَكْتُبُ
سَيَكْتُبَانِ
[sayaktuba: ni]سَوُفَ يَكْتُبَانِ
سَيَكْتُبُونَ
[sayaktubu: on]سَوُفَ يَكْتُبُونَ
AND. سَتَكْتُبُ
[sataktubu]سَوُفَ تَكْتُبُ
سَتَكْتُبَانِ
[sataktuba:ni]سَوُفَ تَكْتُبَانِ
سَيَكْتُبْنَ
[sayaktubna]سَوُفَ يَكْتُبْنَ
Most common words
The three most common words are particles that are written together with the next word. These include الـ al(definite article), و va(conjunction “and”), and بـ bi(preposition “through”).
Eight Most Common Single Words
- في fi(V)
- من min(from, from)
- على " ala(on the)
- أن Anna(what (conjunction))
- إن Inna(truly)
- إلى silt(to, to, to)
- كان ka: on(be)
- هذا، هذه ha:a, ha:pihi(this[t], this)
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