A Linguistic History of Arabic

A Linguistic History of Arabic
ISBN-10
0191537462
ISBN-13
9780191537462
Category
Foreign Language Study
Pages
330
Language
English
Published
2006-05-11
Publisher
OUP Oxford
Author
Jonathan Owens

Description

A Linguistic History of Arabic presents a reconstruction of proto-Arabic by the methods of historical-comparative linguistics. It challenges the traditional conceptualization of an old, Classical language evolving into the contemporary Neo-Arabic dialects. Professor Owens combines established comparative linguistic methodology with a careful reading of the classical Arabic sources, such as the grammatical and exegetical traditions. He arrives at a richer and more complex picture of early Arabic language history than is current today and in doing so establishes the basis for a comprehensive, linguistically-based understanding of the history of Arabic. The arguments are set out in a concise, case by case basis, making it accessible to students and scholars of Arabic and Islamic culture, as well as to those studying Arabic and historical linguists.

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