Modern Standard Arabic


Modern Standard Arabic or Modern Written Arabic is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in some usages also the variety of spoken Arabic that approximates this written standard. MSA is the language used in literature, academia, print, mass media, and law and legislation, though it is generally not spoken as a first language, similar to Contemporary Latin. It is a pluricentric standard language taught throughout the Arab world in formal education, differing significantly from many vernacular varieties of Arabic that are commonly spoken as mother tongues in the area; these are only partially mutually intelligible with both MSA and with each other depending on their proximity in the Arabic dialect continuum.
Many linguists consider MSA to be distinct from Classical Arabic – the written language prior to the mid-19th century – although there is no agreed moment at which CA turned into MSA. There are also no agreed set of linguistic criteria which distinguish CA from MSA; however, MSA differs most markedly in that it either synthesizes words from Arabic roots or باخرة steamship ) or adapts words from foreign languages or إنترنت Internet ) to describe industrial and post-industrial life.
Native speakers of Arabic generally do not distinguish between "Modern Standard Arabic" and "Classical Arabic" as separate languages; they refer to both as Fuṣḥā Arabic or ', meaning "the most eloquent Arabic". They consider the two forms to be two historical periods of one language. When the distinction is made, they do refer to MSA as ', meaning "Contemporary Fuṣḥā" or "Modern Fuṣḥā", and to CA as , meaning "Hereditary Fuṣḥā" or "Historical Fuṣḥā".

History

Classical Arabic

, also known as Quranic Arabic, is the language used in the Quran as well as in numerous literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times. Many Muslims study Classical Arabic in order to read the Quran in its original language. Written Classical Arabic underwent fundamental improvements during the early Islamic era, adding dots to distinguish similarly written letters and adding the tashkīl by scholars such as Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali and Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi to preserve the correct form and pronunciation of the Quran and to defend the Arabic language against linguistic corruption. It was the lingua franca across the Middle East and North Africa during classic times and in Al-Andalus before classic times.

Emergence of Modern Standard Arabic

's invasion of Egypt and Syria is generally considered to be the starting point of the modern period of the Arabic language, when the intensity of contacts between the Western world and Arabic culture increased. Napoleon introduced a printing press in Egypt in 1798; it briefly disappeared after the French departure in 1801, but Muhammad Ali Pasha, who also sent students to Italy, France, and England to study military and applied sciences in 1809, reintroduced it a few years later in Boulaq, Cairo.. The first Arabic printed newspaper was established in 1828: the bilingual Turkish–Arabic Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya had great influence in the formation of Modern Standard Arabic. It was followed by Al-Ahram and al-Muqattam. The Western–Arabic contacts and technological developments in especially the newspaper industry indirectly caused the revival of Arabic literature, or Nahda, in the late 19th and early 20th century. Another important development was the establishment of Arabic-only schools in reaction against the Turkification of Arabic-majority areas under Ottoman rule.

Current situation

Modern Standard Arabic is the literary standard across the Middle East, North Africa, and Horn of Africa and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Most printed material in the Arab League—including most books, newspapers, magazines, official documents, and reading primers for small children—is written in MSA. "Colloquial" Arabic refers to the many regional dialects derived from Classical Arabic spoken daily across the region and learned as a first language, and as a second language if people speak other languages native to their particular country. They are not normally written, although a certain amount of literature exists in many of them.
Literary Arabic is the official language of the Arab League, an official language of every Arab League country, and the only form of Arabic taught in schools at all stages. Additionally, all Muslims recite prayers in the language as do some religious minorities, notably some Christian denominations and Druze, as it is considered the literary language. Translated versions of the Bible which are used in Arabic-speaking countries are mostly written in MSA, aside from Classical Arabic. Muslims recite prayers in it; revised editions of numerous literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times are also written in MSA.
The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossiathe use of two distinct varieties of the same language, usually in different social contexts. This diglossic situation facilitates code-switching in which a speaker switches back and forth between the two dialects of the language, sometimes even within the same sentence. People speak MSA as a third language if they speak other languages native to a country as their first language and colloquial Arabic dialects as their second language. Modern Standard Arabic is also spoken by people of Arab descent outside the Arab world when speakers of different dialects communicate with each other. As there is a prestige or standard dialect of vernacular Arabic, speakers of standard colloquial dialects code-switch between these particular dialects and MSA.
Classical Arabic is considered normative; a few contemporary authors attempt to follow the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians and to use the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries. However, the exigencies of modernity have led to the adoption of numerous terms which would have been mysterious to a classical author, whether taken from other languages or coined from existing lexical resources. Structural influence from foreign languages or from the vernaculars has also affected Modern Standard Arabic: For example, MSA texts sometimes use the format "A, B, C and D" when listing things, whereas Classical Arabic prefers "A and B and C and D", and subject-initial sentences may be more common in MSA than in Classical Arabic. For these reasons, Modern Standard Arabic is generally treated separately in non-Arab sources. Speakers of Modern Standard Arabic do not always observe the intricate rules of Classical Arabic grammar. Modern Standard Arabic principally differs from Classical Arabic in three areas: lexicon, stylistics, and certain innovations on the periphery that are not strictly regulated by the classical authorities. On the whole, Modern Standard Arabic is not homogeneous; there are authors who write in a style very close to the classical models and others who try to create new stylistic patterns. Add to this regional differences in vocabulary depending upon the influence of the local Arabic varieties and the influences of foreign languages, such as French in Africa and Lebanon or English in Egypt, Jordan, and other countries.
As MSA is a revised and simplified form of Classical Arabic, MSA in terms of lexicon omitted the obsolete words used in Classical Arabic. As diglossia is involved, various Arabic dialects freely borrow words from MSA. This situation is similar to Romance languages, wherein scores of words were borrowed directly from formal Latin ; educated speakers of standard colloquial dialects speak in this kind of communication.
Reading aloud in MSA for various reasons is becoming increasingly simpler, using less strict rules compared to CA. Notably, the inflection is omitted, making it closer to spoken varieties of Arabic. It depends on the speaker's knowledge and attitude to the grammar of Classical Arabic, as well as the region and the intended audience.
Pronunciation of native words, loanwords, and foreign names in MSA is loose. Names can be pronounced or even spelled differently in different regions and by different speakers. Pronunciation also depends on the person's education, linguistic knowledge, and abilities. There may be sounds used which are missing in Classical Arabic but exist in colloquial varieties, such as the consonants,, and the vowels, . There are no special letters in Arabic to distinguish between and pairs but the sounds o and e exist in the colloquial varieties of Arabic and some foreign words in MSA.

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Modern Standard Arabic, like Classical Arabic before it, has three pairs of long and short vowels:,, and :
* Although not part of Standard Arabic phonology, the vowels and are perceived as separate phonemes in most of modern Arabic dialects, and they are used when speaking Modern Standard Arabic in foreign words and when speaking with a colloquial tone.
  • Across North Africa and West Asia, short may be realized as before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and,,, depending on the accent.
  • Short can also have different realizations, i.e., sometimes with a different value for each length, short and long, and sometimes with two different values.
  • In Egypt close vowels have different values: short initial or medial, ← instead of.
  • In some dialects and become and, respectively.
  • Allophones of and include and before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and,, and and elsewhere.
  • Allophones of include ~ before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and,,,.
  • Allophones of include ~~ before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and,,,.
  • Unstressed final long are most often shortened or reduced: → , → , → .
  • Although not part of Standard Arabic phonology, the vowels and are perceived as separate phonemes in most Mashriqi Arabic dialects and they can be used when speaking Modern Standard Arabic in foreign words and when speaking with a colloquial tone.