The Arabic Language Today

128 Pages·2016·6.54 MB·English

by  A.F.L. Beeston

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF THE
MIDDLE EAST
Volume 2
THE ARABIC LANGUAGE TODAY
This page intentionally left blank
THE ARABIC LANGUAGE TODAY
A. F. L. BEESTON
OR Routledge
GDELTU Taylor & Francis Group
E
LONDON AND NEW YORK
Firstpublishedin1970byHutchinson&Co(Publishers)Ltd
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2017
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©1970A.F.L.Beeston
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilised
inanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownor
hereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformation
storageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered
trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintentto
infringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
ISBN:978-1-138-68297-9(Set)
ISBN:978-1-315-45973-8(Set)(ebk)
ISBN:978-1-138-69897-0(Volume2)(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-138-69898-7(Volume2)(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-315-51281-5(Volume2)(ebk)
Publisher’sNote
Thepublisherhasgonetogreatlengthstoensurethequalityofthisreprintbut
pointsoutthatsomeimperfectionsintheoriginalcopiesmaybeapparent.
Disclaimer
Thepublisherhasmadeeveryefforttotracecopyrightholdersandwouldwelcome
correspondencefromthosetheyhavebeenunabletotrace.
THE ARABIC
LANGUAGE TODAY
A. F. L. Beeston
HUTCHINSON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
LONDON
HUTCHINSON & CO (Publishers) LTD
178-202 Great Portland Street, London W.1
London Melbourne Sydney
Auckland Johannesburg Cape Town
and agencies throughout the world
First published 1970
The paperback edition of this book is sold subject to
the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or
otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise
circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any
form of binding or cover other than that in which it is
published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
©A. F. L. Beeston 1970
This book has been set in Times New Roman type face.
It has been printed in Great Britain by William Clowes
and Sons Ltd, London and Beccles, on Smooth Wove
paper and bound by Wm. Brendan ofTiptree, Essex
ISBN 0 09 103100 1 (cased)
0 09 103101 X (paper)
CONTENTS
Preface 9
1 INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 11
2 PHONOLOGY 16
The phonemic repertory 16
Syllable structure 20
Neutralization of length 20
Accent 20
Word juncture 21
3 THE SCRIPT 24
Transliteration 28
4 THE WORD 30
5 ENTITY TERMS: I 34
Verbal abstract 35
Participles 35
Derivational nouns 36
Definition 36
Number and gender 38
Pronouns 39
Demonstratives 42
6 Contents
6 AMPLIFICATION OF SUBSTANTIVES 44
Adjectives 44
The annexion structure 45
Prepositional amplification 48
Adjectival clauses 49
7 SYNTACTIC MARKERS OF NOUNS 51
8 ENTITY TERMS: II 56
Substantive clauses 56
The intensified noun 57
Designations of colour, etc. 60
Numerals 61
9 THEME AND PREDICATE 63
Theme 63
Predicate 66
10 THE VERB 71
Verb stems 72
Verb sets 76
Modifying verbs 80
The non-specific verb 82
Syntactically determined
variations in the verb 83
Commands, etc. 84
Conclusion 85
11 AMPLIFICATION OF THE PREDICATE 87
Circumstantial clauses 89
12 CLAUSE CONVERSION 92
Substantive clauses 92
Adjectival clauses 94
Circumstantial clauses 95
Contents
7
13 FUNCTIONALS 97
Coordination 97
Subordination 97
Negation 99
Questions 102
Emphasis 103
14 CONDITIONAL STRUCTURES 104
15 WORD ORDER 108
16 LEXICON AND STYLE 111
Appendix: Script styles Jl7
Bibliography 121
Index 123