Arabic Language & Arabs

A Brief Overview
Dina Khoury
 Arabic Language
• Arabic is one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations
( English, French, Arabic, Russian, and Spanish)

• Arabic is the fifth most widely-spoken language, after English,

Spanish, Hindi, and Chinese.

• Almost 430 million people speak Arabic worldwide. About 1.1

million Arabic speakers live in the united States.
 Types of Arabic language
There are 3 functional types of Arabic language:
• Classical Arabic – the language of the Qur'an – was originally
the dialect of Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia.

• An adapted form of this, known as Modern Standard Arabic,

is used in books, newspapers, on television and radio, in the
mosques, and in conversation between educated Arabs from
different countries (for example at international conferences).

• Local dialects vary considerably, and a Moroccan might have

difficulty understanding an Iraqi, even though they speak the
same language.
 Dialect

• A dialect is a different way of speaking the SAME language to

say the SAME thing

• A dialect is not right or wrong, just different

• Can you name a dialect of English?

 Dialect
• Speakers of colloquial Arabic from different parts of the world
use dialects and may not understand each other! (They can
use Modern Standard Arabic to communicate with each other.)

• Native speakers of Arabic include Muslims, Christians, and

people of other faiths…but Arabic is the liturgical (religious)
language of Islam.
 The Arabic alphabet
• Arabic is written from right to left. There are 18 distinct letter
shapes, which vary slightly depending on whether they are
connected to another letter before or after them. There are no
"capital" letters.
• The full alphabet of 28 letters is created by placing various
combinations of dots above or below some of these shapes.

• There are three long vowels and three short vowels in Arabic.
Three long vowels are included in written words but the three
short vowels are normally omitted – though they can be
indicated by marks above and below other letters.
The Arab World
 Countires speaks Arabic
Countries where Arabic is the primary spoken language:

Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq,

Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman,
Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania,
Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
 Arabic literature
• Arabic has been a highly developed literary language for over
1,500 years (including poetry).

• Some writers:
– Hafiz (poet)
– Khalil Gibran (poet)
– Mourid Barghouti
– Naguib Mahfouz – living novelist from Egypt (Nobel Prize
for literature, 1988)
 Words derived from Arabic
• Algebra (al Jabr)
• Cipher (sifr, the name for “zero”)
• Alcohol (al quhul)
• Sugar (sukkar)
• Cotton (qutun)
• Coffee (kahwa)
• Lemon (limon)
• Checkmate (shek mat, “the king is dead”)
 An Arabic name and an American name –
both written in Arabic

Kareem

Robert
 (Characteristics of Arabic language)

• 28 letters

• No distinction between capital and small letters

• Only 3 long vowels (a, i, u)

• Other vowels are indicated by diacritical marks (slashes, small

circles, squiggles)
 Arabic alphabet
Letter and its name Letter and its name
• ‫ا‬ aleph
• ‫ب‬ bah • ‫س‬ sin
• ‫ت‬ tah • ‫ش‬ shin
• ‫ث‬ tha • ‫ص‬ sawd
• ‫ج‬ geem • ‫ض‬ dawd
• ‫ح‬ ha • ‫ط‬ taw
• ‫خ‬ kha’ • ‫ظ‬ thaw
• ‫د‬ dal • ‫ع‬ ayin
• ‫ذ‬ thal • ‫غ‬ ghain
• ‫ز‬ zayin • ‫ف‬ Fa
• ‫ر‬ ra • ‫ق‬ Qaph
 Arabic alphabet, continued
• ‫ك‬ kaph Vowels:
• ‫ل‬ lam /a/ ‫ا‬ aleph
• ‫م‬ mim
• ‫ن‬ nun /i/ ‫ي‬ yaa
• ‫ه‬ he
• ‫و‬ waw /u/ ‫و‬ waw
• ‫ي‬ yaa
 Diacritical marks

‫ِم‬ ‫ي‬ ‫ِح‬ ‫َّر‬ ‫ال‬ ‫ِن‬ ‫ٰم‬ ‫ْح‬ ‫َّر‬ ‫ٱل‬ ‫ِه‬ ‫لل‬ ‫ِبْس ِم‬
bismi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi

In the Name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most

Merciful.
-Qur’an, (Al-Fatiha 1:1)
 (Characteristics of Arabic writing)
• Most letters change form and look different when they appear
at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word.

• Ex: hā’ h /h/ ‫ـه‬ ‫ـهـ‬ ‫هـ‬ ‫ه‬

• Sometimes the letters are connected, but not always – it

depends.
“M’brook” = “congratulations!”
(notice: only some letters connect)
 Writing as religious art – Bism’allah
(“In the name of God the Merciful the Compassionate”- Qur’an)
 Some commonly used expressions
• In sha’ Allah = God willing
(said seriously or even informally)

• Bism’ Allah = in the name of God

(said when beginning a trip, reading, walking,
or even eating)

• Masha Alla = used to just show appreciation, thankfulness or joy. It

expresses that accomplishments are achieved by the will of Allah.

• Alhamdulillah! = Praise to Allah!

(said to express satisfaction, even after eating)
 Meeting friends, in Arabic
• Please: min fadlak (m), fadliki (f)
• Thank you: shukran
• You’re welcome: afwan

• Hello! (informal) ahlan wa sahlan!

• Welcome! Marhaba!
• Hello (peace to you): Salaam.

• How are you?: kheif halak? (m), haliki (f)

• I’m very well: ana bekhair
• And you? Wa anta? (m), anti (f)
Now, meet the person next to you!
A: What is your name? ma ismuk? (m), ismuki? (f)
B: My name is ___ ismee _____

A: I live in _____ askun fi __________

B: I am a student ana talib (m), ana taliba (f)

Both: Good bye! Ma’a salaama

(peace with you)
 1. Not All Arabs are Muslims

Islam is the dominant religion of the Arab world, but most of the world’s Muslims
Facts about are not Arabs. There’s a common misconception that an Arab is necessarily a
Muslim. Well, that’s wrong. Although the majority of Arabs are Muslim, about

Arabs 5% of Arabs are Christians living mainly in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt,
Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine. In Lebanon, Arab Christians form about 40% of
the population, and 10% in Syria and Palestine. There are also smaller Jewish
populations living mainly in countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Yemen, Tunisia,
Syria, Egypt, and Iraq.
 • There are 22 Arab countries that span over Western Asia, North Africa, and the

2. There are Horn of Africa. All of the 22 countries have Arabic as an official language,
however, some of those share it with others, such as French, Kurdish, Somali,
or Berber languages.
22 Arab • Among the most notable minorities that live in these Arab countries are
Berbers (Amazighs), who mostly reside in Algeria, Morocco, and Libya. In
countries addition, countries like Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait have
significant non-Arab and non-Muslim minorities (10–20%) such as Hindus
and Christians from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines
 • If you start learning Arabic, you will probably start with written formal Arabic,
otherwise known as fus’ha, and not colloquial Arabic. Fus’ha, or Modern Standard
Arabic, is the form of Arabic used in formal platforms, such as TV, newspapers,
books and speeches. However, if you hear two people from any part of the Arab
world speaking to each other, it would be very hard to catch what they are saying if
you only know Modern Standard Arabic. This is due to the fact that each Arab
3. One language, way country has its own dialect (and sub-dialects), which sometimes differ significantly
too many dialects from fus’ha(written Arabic).

• For example, Palestinians find it hard to understand the Moroccan dialect and
therefore, both sides would usually adjust their dialects to be closer to Modern
Standard Arabic in order to make it easier for them to understand each other.
 • While Arabs are perceived as desert people in mainstream media, that
is only part of the story. Arab culture is divided into three main parts —
4. Not all Arabs ride urban culture, rural culture, and nomadic culture( tribe). Cities like
camels Cairo, Dubai, and Doha are great examples of urban culture, while in
large parts of the Gulf, you can find many nomadic clusters in the
desert.
 • If you were to type “Arabs” in Google, you would find images of people
wearing traditional robes, however this type of dress-code is mostly
prevalent in the Gulf Arab countries, which translates to roughly 25% of
all Arabs.
5. Not all Arabs wear
• People in the Levant (places like Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan)
the traditional robes and North African countries (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) usually dress
casually, like any other Western country. That being said, it is not
unusual to see the bedouins (nomads) in these countries wearing the
traditional Arab peninsula robe.
 The word algebra is derived from the Arabic word meaning “reunion of broken parts”.
This field flourished during the Islamic Golden Age (8th to 13th century), thanks to al-
Khwarizmi, a Persian scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. On the work done
by him, J. J. O’Conner and Edmund F. Robertson, Professors of Mathematics at the
University of St. Andrews, said:“Perhaps one of the most significant advances made
6. Arabs by Arabic mathematics began at this time with the work of al-Khwarizmi, namely the
beginnings of algebra.
Mathematicians
Invented Algebra It is important to understand just how significant this new idea was. It was a
revolutionary move away from the Greek concept of mathematics which was
essentially geometry. Algebra was a unifying theory which allowed rational numbers,
irrational numbers, geometrical magnitudes, etc., to all be treated as “algebraic
objects”. It gave mathematics a whole new development path so much broader in
concept to that which had existed before, and provided a vehicle for future
development of the subject. Another important aspect of the introduction of algebraic
ideas was that it allowed mathematics to be applied to itself in a way which had not
happened before.”
 • Arab culture is known for its hospitality and generosity. Meals are usually
large family affairs, served with a great deal of warmth and are meant for
sharing. Formal dinners and celebrations generally involve large quantities of
lamb, and you wouldn’t miss Arabic tea or coffee in any occasion.
7. Arabs have a rich • In the Gulf (Khaleej) Arab cultures, a visitor is greeted by a table of dried
fruits, fresh fruits, and nuts with a great deal of Arabic coffee.
cuisine • In North African (Maghreb) Arab cultures, a visitor might expect a table full of
bread-like snacks and other stuffed breads, served with honey or olive oil.
Arabic coffee and mint tea are often served with the food.
• In Levant (Sham) Arab cultures, a visitor can expect a table full of mezze,
breads topped with spices like zaa’tar and nuts, or stuffed with meat or cheese.
Of course, the food and hospitality would be incomplete without Arabic coffee
or tea.
 • The traditional Arab family constitutes an economic and social unit as all
members collaborate to ensure its continuation and improve its standing in
8. Family is the society. Shops, factories, businesses, and fields are commonly owned and
center of Arab social operated for the benefit of all family members. Family warmth in Arab culture
provides support in times of individual and societal distress, as the success or
activities failure of an individual becomes that of the family as a whole. Usually, in large
parts of the Arab world, parents become known as “Abu”, meaning “father of”
or “Um”, meaning “mother of”, one’s eldest son, or daughter (if there are no
sons). For example, Um Ali is a name given to a lady that is the mother of an
eldest son called Ali.
 • Wars, colonialism, and economical crises have led to the immigration of millions of
Arabs out of the Middle East, most notably Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis and
Syrians.
• Many mainstream public figures in the US and Europe are of Arab descent. Among
those are:
9. Millions of Arabs • Carlos Slim Helu (Lebanese origin), who was listed as the richest man in the world
by Forbes.
live in diaspora • Carlos Ghosn (Lebanese origin), Brazilian-French-Lebanese businessman, CEO of
Renault-Nissan.
• Gigi Hadid (Palestinian origin), a well known American model.
• Salma Hayek (Lebanese origin), who is a Mexican actress.
• Khalil Gibran (Lebanese origin), a US writer and intellectual, Edward Said
(Palestinian origin) a US intellectual and author of the the book Orientalism,
• Shakira (Lebanese origin), a Colombian singer, DJ Khaled (Palestinian origin), an
American DJ, and many more.
10. Arabic Instruments
Have Influenced Music
throughout Europe

• In traditional Arabic music, the

compositions and improvisations are
based on the maqam system, which
does not include a rhythmic
component. Arabic music is different
than Western music in that it contains
microtones, which are notes that lie
between notes in the Western
chromatic scale. While notes in the
chromatic scale are separated by
semitones (or half steps), notes in
Arabic music can be separated by
quarter tones.
• Here is a clip of Bedioun in Jordan
playing music in the dessert
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M
MxIiNrwNzY