salam aleykom
In today’s video I’ll be talking about one of my all time favourite languages
Arabic
It's also the hardest language I have ever learned!
The depth of this language is unparalleled to any other language I know
In this video I’ll try my best to give you a short brief about
the language’s origin, history, and development
And answer some of the most common questions
that people interested in Arabic might want to know
such as
What is modern standard Arabic?
What are different types of Arabic dialects?
Should I study Fusha?
Which dialect should I choose?
Let’s get into the video
The origin or arabic language is heavily debated
and until this day there’s no clear evidence about
the early creation and development of the language.
Due the geography of the region,
Ancient Bedouin tribes had to constantly travel
And it was hard to find remains of ancient scripts
that gives clues about the origin of arabic language
Not to mention that it was an oral language for the most part
And the use of scripts became very apparent with the emergence of islam.
Historically you can divide the evolution of Arabic into
Proto-Arabic or ancient Arabic around 4th century BC
Old Arabic or pre-Islamic Arabic around 7the century BC
Quranic Arabic
Classic arabic
Modern standard Arabic
Attention, this stage division is not definite
and highly debated between historians
for example, the Quranic Arabic can be considered part of classical Arabic
since we are talking about a stage of evolution
whereas Qur'anic Arabic evolves as a classical form on its own.
Which refers to the earliest form of arabic language
Please keep in mind that proto-Arabic is a hypothetical language
Reconstructed by linguists and historians
based on the ancient scripts found in the area
And the similarities between modern arabic
and other ancient semitic languages
It was a mixture of dialects spoken by the Nomad tribes
in the arabian peninsula region
that dates back from around the 4th century BC
It evolved over time to become the classic arabic
which is the language of the Quran
And the standard form of arabic
It was hard to find remains that give clues
about the origin of arabic language
However we know that the arabic language is a semitic language
that comes from the Afro-Asiatic family tree
specifically central semitic, along with Aramaic Hebrew
and and other languages
Let’s go through the evolution of Arabic language stage by stage
The earliest script ever found that contains arabic
was the nabataean script
Found in the areas inhibited by the nabataeans
which would be today Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia AKA the arabian peninsula
which dates back from the 2nd century BC to the 4th century BC
There was also the safaitic script
used by safaitic people who also inhibited the arabian peninsula
in southern syrian and northern jordan in area called al Harrah
The script features a mix of Aramaic
Arabic and other language
It was used to write personal names
tribal affiliations and other types of information
The himyaritic kingdom located in modern day Yemen
It had a language script that was not exactly Arabic
but the letters used resembled the arabic alphabet a little bit
secondly, old arabic or pre-islam arabic
The earliest forms of arabic language
that was spoken around the peninsula
before the emerge of islam around the 7th century AC
Some might also call it jahiliyya arabic
It was known for a high degree of linguistic diversity
By the presence of a tribal system in the peninsula
each tribe had its own Arabic dialect
which made for diversity
At this stage, Arabic had not yet been standardized or theorized
It was a very sophisticated and elegant arabic
It was famous with poetry
At that time the arabic language was mostly only spoken
It transmitted orally between the bedouin tribes through travel
storytelling and poetry
At that time arabic language didn’t have a standardised script of it’s own
However a rudimentary form of writing existed
As god chose the arabic language to reveal the Quran
The language started developing with the emerge of Islam
The Quran was revealed to prophet mohammed over the course of 23 years
At that time arabic language was primarily spoken
With many different dialects and it had a written script that didn’t use diacritics
And a simple grammar
However The Quran played an important role
in the development of the arabic language
Qur'an was revealed in a language of the time itself
some theories say it was the language spoken by the tribes of quraich
other theories say the Qur'an was revealed in a language
including the most beautiful words of each tribe of the arabian peninsula
to be understandable and elegant
However, the Qur'an is not an independent form of Arabic
but stands out for its rhythmic and poetic style
which makes it special
but in any case it was the spoken language of the time
which is why it was included in Classical Arabic
Some of the major effects it had were
The standardisation of the language
The perseverance of the language
The expansion of vocabulary
The development of grammar and writing system
The influence on poetry and literature
The influence on different dialects
as the quran spread in many regions
people had different dialects
but the core of the language remained solid
Arabs are known for having strong memory
They were able to memorise oceans of poetic verses
And thus the quran was memorised and transmitted orally at the beginning
But as islam began to spread
and people started joining from different regions
and having different dialects
this produced a problem that different readings
could effect the meaning and pronunciation of the quran
Thus Diacritics was introduced by Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali
Who is also called the father of Arabic grammar
He contributed to the development of the arabic language
by also introducing the concept of vowelization in Arabic grammar
He also developed the concept of annexation in Arabic syntax
Helped develop arabic orthography
he had an influence on other arab grammarians and scholars
The Golden age of Arabic generally refers to the Abbasid period
which is part of classical Arabic
8th century CE to the 14th century CE
During the golden age muslims controlled many territories
over 3 continents
It stretched from the arabian peninsula
levant to northern africa
Iberian Peninsula , central asia Mesopotamia and Persia,
Transoxiana, and Sind.
Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo and Cordoba
were the centres of intellectual and cultural activity
The quran helped maintain and preserve arabic language through these vast regions
Also some of the effects of the islamic golden age on arabic language include
The standardisation
as more people were coming into islam from different regions
the need to accurately transmit the message
wither it was quran or hadith was important
that lead to the flourishing of grammar
so the classical arabic was refined even further more
Literary and scientific advancements
Poetry, science, Philosophy
Mathematics, astronomy literature
optics and medicine flourished
Translation
Also there was The Graeco Arabic translation movement
That started from baghdad in the 8th century until the 11th century
Where arab scholars would translate a huge amount of greek texts into arabic
Not only was Greek text translated
but also Persian and Indian works
To support this movement each translator
was compensated with gold for the weight of each book
I think I would have done great in this era
Linguistic influence
with the spread of Islam the Arabic language simultaneously
and other nations started taking loan words from the Arabic language
like modern-day Spanish, Persian and Turkish
With around 6000 Arabic words in the Turkish language such as
And around 4000 in Spanish such as
And not only does the Arabic language affect vocabulary in the Persian language
the Arabic writing system was also adopted by the Persian
Here are some examples of Arabic loanwords from Persian
MSA was developed in the 19th and 20th century
It's a variant based on classical Arabic
that was used in writing, formal publications
communication across the Arab world
If you’re planning to learn Arabic most of the resources you will find will be MSA
As it is the formal format to learn Arabic at schools
So every Arab can actually speak MSA (fusha) despite the differences in regional dialects
It is the official or co-official language of around 25 countries
MSA still follows the same grammatical structure as classical Arabic
And the pronunciation is also almost the same
it may differ a little bit depending on the region
But it’s still heavily influenced by classical Arabic
Or regional dialect, affected by geographical location
It is the everyday spoken Arabic across different regions
The primary colloquial dialects are
Egypt
Levant area
And the Arabian peninsula
Even though colloquial Arabic is influenced by classical Arabic
But they’re still different
Remember, colloquial Arabic isn’t used in formal settings
but it is still very essential and complementary
if you want to work and live in an Arabic region
If you learn Arabic for formal settings
you should still need to learn Fusha Arabic to have a clear understanding
of the structure of the language and grammar
Don’t worry if you studied Fusha
it will take a very short amount of time to learn dialects
I have personally learned Fusha first then learned the Egyptian and Syrian dialect
and I keep learning Fusha and dialects at the same time
and I realised my knowledge in Fusha helps me a lot in dialect learning
But Fusha´s grammar and vocabulary are much more complicated than dialect
so if you learn Arabic just to communicate with friends or use it in your daily life
if you live in an Arab country
you can also learn the dialect directly
But, I recommend, if possible and you have that energy
first Fusha to have a basic structure then dialect
you can study both if you want to live in an Arabic region
And want to communicate smoothly with people.
When I was in Egypt,
I was taking Fusha and dialect lessons at the same time
And regarding which dialect you should learn
It’s completely up to your own preference and where you decide to live/work
Egyptian and levantine dialect can be understood by most of the Arabs
because of the spread of the songs, movies and series
There are also more books and resources
It can also be a good option
However as you move more towards the west the dialect becomes
more distinct and different
For example algerian, tunisian, libyan and especially moroccan dialect
Are highly influenced by the french and the Amaziq
Which created unique dialects
For example the average arabic speaker would struggle to understand the moroccan dialect
During the French colonial era, people were indoctrinated to learn French
There were even some attempts to completely replace Arabic with French
by suppression and systematic replacement
At that time surely the Arabic language started getting loan words from French
but the French also started adapting some Arabic words into their language
Here is a list of words that stem from French in Moroccan Darija
The amazigh language also had an influence on arabic language
in the western northern parts on africa
By adding new vocabulary
It also had effect on the grammatical structure of the sentences
The pronunciation and the phonetics
Cultural influence and diversity
And it has also lead to bilingualism or multilingualism
In conclusion language is a living breathing thing
That grows and evolves with time
I can’t imagine how the languages we speak today will sound like in a 1000 years
We are very lucky to have the ability to have instant access to different languages, cultures
We are lucky that we can leap through time and see the history of this world
It's fascinating right ?
And the most important part
we have the ability to shape the world we live in
So, stay curious and see you in the next video guys bye