Modern Standard Arabic

Learn more about Modern Standard Arabic

Modern Standard Arabic, or MSA is the variety of Arabic used in almost all written media, news reporting, some television talk shows, a few soap operas, and most cartoon shows in the Arabic-speaking world. It is the continuation of Classical Arabic, the language of the Qur'an, with which it shares most of its vocabulary, syntax and morphology.

Its modernity is obvious in comparison to the Classical language by the existence of words for "elevator", "electricity", and other modern concepts.

It is to be distinguished from the varieties of Arabic usually learnt through interaction with family, which are radically different in grammar and vocabulary.

The term "Modern Standard Arabic" does not imply that it is a different language from "Classical Arabic". Note the term "Standard Arabic" is used by authors who find the difference between the Arabic written language used today to that used before the 20th century or where the reference to history is irrelevant. Other authors use the term "Standard Arabic" because they view the title "Modern Standard Arabic" as questionable because it suggests that it is a significantly different language from "Standard Arabic" used 1000 years ago. The Arabic word Fụṣha is translated as "Standard Arabic" although it the word in Arabic implies "eloquence".

[edit] Vocabulary

Due to Arabic's long length of existence, the number of words in comprehensive Arabic lexicons became incredible. Many of these words of course have been archaic for a very long time. At the time of the Quran's writing many synonyms for the same word already existed due to ancient Arabic dialectal variation. However, some of these archaic words persist in Arabic vernaculars.

In modern times, Arabic became increasingly used as an international, political language of many countries. Many words became archaic. This created one of the greatest differences between Classical Arabic and Modern Standard.

The vocabulary of MSA does not include every word in the Quran; at least not the common vocabulary. The vocabulary of the Quran includes many common terms, and some rare words. A few of these words became archaic soon after the Quran was written (glossaries indicate this).

Along with these purely Arabic words there are borrowings from the English and French. These borrowings however are avoided by some authors, who use an Arabic equivalent instead; for example حاسوب in place of كمبيوترkumbyuutir ("computer"). In most cases, the foreign borrowings present pronunciation problems, and are mispronounced by Arabs who do not know the foreign language. This is usually due to the truly non-Arabic syllable structure of many of these words. Since Sibawayhi's times, Arabic has been taking foreign words, deleting some vowels, lengthinging some in order for the word to fit into a Root-template.

[edit] The difference between MSA and Classical Arabic

The difference between MSA and Classical Arabic is irrelevant to most Arabs. The general Arab attitude is that the Arabic language has not changed. Terms in Arabic do exist for differentiating MSA and Classical Arabic; however such differences are rarely relevant to an Arab. Some of the differences are considered mistakes made by ancient authors or mistakes made by modern Authors (especially journalists).

1. Ancient Arabic Dialectical variation in pronunciation of words (especially the vowels) is gone. Other Ancient Arabic Dialectical variation is only existent in Standard Arabic music, mainly because of an old license for variation in poetry.
2. Newer vocabulary has become part of the language, some originated from an Arabic dialect, some from other languages, and some are neologisms. Along with this, some Classical Arabic words are archaic and not understood.
3. Avoidance of the word "maa" as a negative particle due to the ambiguity it can create. This might have been part of Classical Arabic as well, but is not obvious in the Quran. (attributed to striving for clarity in writing)
4. Having the subject precede the verb is more common than it was in Classical Arabic. (attributed to Vernacular interference)

• The word "inna" is used less in detached writing, and is used greatly in rhetorical text. (attributed to the word not existing in the vernacular)
• The non-existence of "inna" as a word that doesn't put nouns in the accusative. (attributed to its rareness in the Classical Arabic documents)
• The energetic mood and the certainty particle (la) meaning are very rarely seen (and less understood).

An existential "There is..." construction has been introduced by calquing the word هناك (hunaaka) or هنالك (hunaalika), both meaning "there", in imitation of English sentences such as "There were three evidences supporting that interpretation". (attributed to translation)

Secondary object pronouns are never attached directly onto the verb complex as they tend to be in Classical Arabic. They instead the preposition إيا (iyyaa-) in Modern Standard Arabic. (attributed to clarity in reading)

[edit] See also

• Arabic language
• Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
• Standard Arabic Technical Transliteration System
• Varieties of Arabic
• Classical Arabic

[edit] External links

• Arabic Gems Learn about the intricacies and subtleties of Arabic linguistics and morphology.
• Learn Arabic WikiBookes:Árabe estándar moderno