'Classical Arabic', also known as 'Koranic' (or 'Qur'anic') Arabic, is the form of the
Arabic language used in the
Qur'an as well as in numerous literary texts from
Umayyad and
Abbasid times (7th to 9th centuries).
Modern Standard Arabic is a modern version used in writing and in formal speaking (for example, prepared speeches and radio broadcasts). It differs minimally in morphology but has significant differences in syntax and lexicon, reflecting the influence of the modern spoken dialects.
Classical Arabic is often believed to be the parent language of all the
spoken varieties of Arabic, but recent scholarship, such as
Clive Holes (2004), questions this view, showing that other dialects were extant at the time and may be the origin of current spoken varieties.
History
Classical Arabic spread with the spread of Islam, becoming a language of scholarship and religious devotion as the language of the Qur'an. Its relation to
modern dialects is somewhat analogous to the relationship of
Latin and the
Romance Languages or
Middle Chinese and the modern
Chinese languages.
Morphology
Classical Arabic is one of the
Semitic languages, and therefore has many similarities in conjugation and pronunciation to
Hebrew,
Akkadian,
Aramaic, and
Amharic. It possesses similar conjugation to biblical Hebrew in its use of vowels to modify a base group of consonants. For example, 'k'-'t'-'b' means ''write'', so out of this cluster, we get:
★ 'k'a't'a'b'a, ''to write''
★ ya'k'
't'u'b'u, ''he writes''
★ 'k'i't'ā'b', ''book''
★ 'k'u't'u'b', ''books (plural)''
★ ma'kt'a'b'a, ''library''
★ mi'k'
't'ā'b', ''writing machine''
Phonology
There are three short vowels and three long vowels in Arabic, being A, I, and U in two different lengths each. The following table illustrates this:
Classical Arabic has 28 consonant phonemes:
See
Arabic alphabet for further explanation of the
IPA phonetic symbols found in this chart.
# In modern Arabic, is pronounced as by some speakers. This is especially characteristic of the
Egyptian and southern Yemeni dialects. In many parts of North Africa and in the
Levant, it is pronounced as . However, the true classical pronunciation was most likely a
voiced palatal plosive () or palatalized velar stop (.
# is pronounced only in , the name of God, i.e.
Allah, when the word follows ''a'', ''ā'', ''u'' or ''ū'' (after ''i'' or ''ī'' it is unvelarised: ''bismi l-lāh'' ).
# is usually a phonetic
approximant.
# In many varieties (if not most), are actually
epiglottal (despite what is reported in many earlier works). However, in classical Arabic, they are pronounced as
pharyngeals.
# The dorsal fricatives were uvular in classic times but have become more velar or post-velar in modern times.
# was pronounced as a
voiced alveolar lateral fricative in Qur'anic Arabic, while it is in MSA
# may have been a non-sibilant palatal fricative () while non-emphatic was
The consonants traditionally termed "emphatic" are either
velarised or
pharyngealised . In some transcription systems, emphasis is shown by capitalizing the letter e.g. is written ‹D›; in others the letter is underlined or has a dot below it e.g. ‹›.
Special symbols
A variety of special symbols exist in the classical Arabic of the Qur'an that are otherwise absent in most written forms of Arabic. Many of these serve as aides for readers attempting to accurately pronounce the classical Arabic found in the Qur'an. They may also indicate prayers (
Sujud), miracles (
Ayah), or the ends of chapters (
Rub El Hizb).
Qur'anic annotation signs| Code | Glyph | Name |
|---|
| 06D6 | ۖ | SMALL HIGH LIGATURE SAD WITH LAM WITH ALEF MAKSURA |
| 06D7 | ۗ | SMALL HIGH LIGATURE QAF WITH LAM WITH ALEF MAKSURA |
| 06D8 | ۘ | SMALL HIGH MEEM INITIAL FORM |
| 06D9 | ۙ | SMALL HIGH LAM ALEF |
| 06DA | ۚ | SMALL HIGH JEEM |
| 06DB | ۛ | SMALL HIGH THREE DOTS |
| 06DC | ۜ | SMALL HIGH SEEN |
| 06DD | | END OF AYAH |
| 06DE | ۞ | START OF RUB EL HIZB |
| 06DF | ۟ | SMALL HIGH ROUNDED ZERO |
| 06E0 | ۠ | SMALL HIGH UPRIGHT RECTANGULAR ZERO |
| 06E1 | ۡ | SMALL HIGH DOTLESS HEAD OF KHAH = Arabic jazm • used in some Qur'ans to mark absence of a vowel |
| 06E2 | ۢ | SMALL HIGH MEEM ISOLATED FORM |
| 06E3 | ۣ | SMALL LOW SEEN |
| 06E4 | ۤ | SMALL HIGH MADDA |
| 06E5 | ۥ | SMALL WAW |
| 06E6 | ۦ | SMALL YEH |
| 06E7 | ۧ | ARABIC SMALL HIGH YEH |
| 06E8 | ۨ | SMALL HIGH NOON |
| 06E9 | ۩ | PLACE OF SAJDAH |
| 06EA | ۪ | EMPTY CENTRE LOW STOP |
| 06EB | ۫ | EMPTY CENTRE HIGH STOP |
| 06EC | ۬ | ROUNDED HIGH STOP WITH FILLED CENTRE |
| 06ED | ۭ | SMALL LOW MEEM |
| From: Unicode Standard - Arabic |
Bibliography
★ Holes, Clive (2004) ''Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions, and Varieties'' Georgetown University Press. ISBN 1-58901-022-1
★ Versteegh, Kees (2001) ''The Arabic Language'' Edinburgh University Press ISBN 0-7486-1436-2 (Ch.5 available in link below)
See also
★
Arabic language
★
Literary Arabic
★
Arabic English Lexicon
External links
★
The Development of Classical Arabic
★
Classical Arabic Blog