Arabic Language Today, The

Description: This book, first published in 1970, provides a description of the standard Arabic language used today as the universal means of written communication throughout the Arab world and in formal spoken communication (vernaculars differ both from each other and from the standard language). The principal emphasis is on syntax and morphology of which there exists no comprehensive account. Phonology and lexicon are treated briefly and there is a chapter on the script.

Contents: 1. Introduction and Historical Background 2. Phonology 3. The Script 4. The Word 5. Entity Terms: I 6. Amplification of Substantives 7. Syntactic Markers of Nouns 8. Entity Terms: II 9. Theme and Predicate 10. The Verb 11. Amplification of the Predicate 12. Clause Conversion 13. Functionals 14. Conditional Structures 15. Word Order 16. Lexicon and Style