The Arabic Language

A Brief Introduction

Arabic dates back in history as the language of a rich culture and a great civilization. Spoken by millions spread across the lands from the Arabian Gulf in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, it produced great scholars who contributed to all fields of science throughout past centuries. Apart from being the language of Islam, with more than 600 million people using it for their spiritual daily requirements, Arabic is also spoken by millions of Arab origin living in Europe and the Americas.

Arabic knows its roots to the Semitic language-family. Other members of this family are Ugaritic, Accadian, Aramaic, Hebrew, and the Semitic languages of Ethiopia. The earliest manifestation of a linguistic form which can be identified as Arabic is on a tombstone at Nemara in the Syrian desert, dated AD 328, and one or two similar inscriptions from the fifth-sixth century. The Quran is the earliest surviving document of written Arabic, apart from a few inscriptions mentioned above. Written down in a form reflecting the pronunciation of the western dialect of Mecca, around a century later scholars of the Lower Iraq introduced to the pronunciation used for its recitation certain features characteristic of the eastern dialects, not by altering the primitive written text but by adding reading marks to it.

Nowadays it is an important language in many other countries of the modern world. This is acknowledged by the fact that the United Nations has adopted Arabic as one of its six official languages since 1974. It gives an insight into the cultural, religious, and political forces which motivate the inhabitants of the vast region of the twenty two Arab countries.

The Middle East where Arabic is mostly spoken, was also the cradle of the three monotheistic religions containing some of the world’s greatest archeological and religious sites. No wonder that a good knowledge of Arabic will greatly enhance the enjoyment of travelling there. It also gives greater ability to work there and interact effectively with Arabic speaking people. Having more then two thirds of the world’s known oil reserves makes it a world economic centre.

A study of Arabic may lead to exciting careers in various fields such as, Communications: foreign correspondent, reporter, translator; International finance: international banker, international consultant, political risk analyst; Industry: manager of government relations for oil companies, market analyst for export companies; Government: foreign service officer, development program officer, intelligence analyst, government relations specialist, translator or interpreter; Law: contractual and corporative consultant; Academia: teaching and research positions.

The twenty-two independent Arab nations occupy a vast expanse of land from Morocco in the west to Oman in the east, and from the borders of Turkey in the north to Sudan and the Sahara in the south. The population of these Arabic-speaking countries is about 183 million, the vast majority of whom are Muslims even though in some Arab countries of the Near East such as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt in particular, there are considerable Christian minorities.

Arabic is one of the Semitic group of languages, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic, the language Christ spoke. It is also the forerunner of the Maltese language since it served as its roots and survived long centuries of dire foreign linguistic bombardment. Spoken Arabic differs from country to country sometimes even from town to town. Spoken Arabic dialects of north-west Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya) form a single group, as do those of the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan). Egyptian, Sudanese, and western Saudi Arabian Arabic form another group, as do the dialects of Iraq and the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula.

In spite of the differences, these groups of dialects they all share a great many structural features and there is a high proportion of shared vocabulary. None of the spoken dialects, however, is used more than very marginally in writing. For all formal written communication, Modern Standard Arabic is used. It is also the spoken language normally used on radio and TV news reading, political speeches, lectures, etc. This is the form of Arabic taught in schools all over the Arab world thus remaining a homogenous language in grammar and vocabulary.

Al-fuSHa ‘the pure’, as Modern Standard Arabic is generally referred to, is considered as the only form of the language which has any worth by cultured Arabs. Dialects though, are the universal means of everyday conversation considered by many as an impoverished form of the language reserved only for all the usual day to day activities such as at home and at work. In its written form, it is used almost exclusively in any printed publication anywhere in the world today. It is also an oral medium of expression used in formal situations ranging from a radio newscast to a lecture or other formal address to an international conference.

On first looking at the Arabic alphabet, it looks incredibly intricate and complicated if not impossible to learn. There are 28 letters all consonants, three of which may also be vowels. Arabs have a way of embellishing their letters making them appear rather hard to decipher, but doing away with the windings and the elaboration, with a little help the letters are really quite simple to comprehend.

Introductory greetings and leave takings are indispensable ingredients in any Arabic conversation anywhere in the Arab world. These are more elaborate than those in the West. The most formal greeting, used throughout the Arabic speaking and also the Islamic world by a newcomer on arriving to introduce oneself, is the traditional one: is-salaam ghaleekum (peace be upon you) with the invariable answer: wa ghaleekum is-salaam (and upon you be peace!). Another less formal greeting is: marHaba (welcome), the greeting uttered either by the host or his guest, with the other replying marHaba, or better still marHabteen (twice welcomes!). Another welcome to anybody entering your house, office or into your car is: ahlan wa sahlan, ‘welcome among friends!’ A reply to this may be simply ahlan (welcome), or ahlan biik (you are welcome), or ahleen (twice welcome), or yaa hala (most welcome!).

There are various expressions varying from one Arab country to another to introduce oneself socially or on the phone to friends and acquaintances. The most familiar one is to ask for their health by saying . keef il-Haal or keef Haalak (Haalik for a woman), which means ‘How are you?’ (literally how is your state?) with the reply il-Hamdulillaah (praise be to God!).
When taking one’s leave, the commonest expression people use is magha s-salaama (go in safety). This can also be used as a reply by the person staying. It is also possible for the person leaving to use the same phrase as is used in greeting i.e. is-salaam ghaleekum.

Another inescapable expression during any conversation is in sha allah (God willing). This is uttered whenever a promise for an appointment of something to be done in the future. However sure one might feel the end of the line is always in sha allah.
Many more things may be said about Arabic, but whatever is said is never enough to give Arabic culture and literary merit its due. The more one gets drawn in in these fields one always feels the need for further study. If one is indeed interested in attaining further knowledge about the world around, all there is to do is start and things will get better in sha allah.

مـع السـلامـة
magha s-salaama

F.X Cassar