The region of Najd in Central Arabia has always been regarded as inaccessible, ringed by a belt of sand deserts, the Nafud, Dahana and the Rub' al-Khali and often with its population at odds with the rulers of the outer settled lands. It is however the centre of a purely Arabian culture based on a partnership between bedouin camel husbandry and settled palm cultivation. Possibly as a result of overpopulation the bedouin have periodically spread over into the lands of the Fertile Crescent. Because of their isolated position the Najdi dialect is of a very interesting and archaic type showing very little non-Arabic influence, which has led to the reputation of the Arabian bedouin as preservers of the original Classical form and considerable prestige being attached to the Najdi type. Consequently the region is a powerhouse of dialect influence so that Najdi based dialects are spoken all along the Gulf Coast and throughout most of the Syrian Desert. Interest in these dialects has led to a number of recent studies of their oral literature and of the morphology and phonology. Ingham's work concentrates on the grammatical system, syntax and usage and is based on a number of trips to the region over the last fifteen years. The data base includes bedouin oral narrative, ordinary conversation and radio plays.

The region of Najd in Central Arabia has always been regarded as inaccessible, ringed by a belt of sand deserts, the Nafūd, Dahana and the Rub’ al-Khāli and often with its population at odds with the rulers of the outer settled lands. It is however the centre of a purely Arabian culture based on a partnership between bedouin camel husbandry and settled palm cultivation. Possibly as a result of overpopulation the bedouin have periodically spread over into the lands of the Fertile Crescent. Because of their isolated position the Najdi dialect is of a very interesting and archaic type showing very little non-Arabic influence, which has led to the reputation of the Arabian bedouin as preservers of the original Classical form and considerable prestige being attached to the Najdi type. Consequently the region is a powerhouse of dialect influence so that Najdi based dialects are spoken all along the Gulf Coast and throughout most of the Syrian Desert. Interest in these dialects has led to a number of recent studies of their oral literature and of the morphology and phonology. Ingham's work concentrates on the grammatical system, syntax and usage and is based on a number of trips to the region over the last fifteen years. The data base includes bedouin oral narrative, ordinary conversation and radio plays.

Have you always wanted to learn how to speak the Hijazi, Najdi, or the Gulf Arabic dialect of Saudi Arabia? Well if so, then, look no further. You can hold in your hands one of the most advanced and revolutionary method that was ever designed for quickly becoming conversational in a language. In creating this time-saving program, master linguist Yatir Nitzany spent years examining the twenty-seven most common languages in the world and distilling from them the three hundred and fifty words that are most likely to be used in real conversations. These three hundred and fifty words were chosen in such a way that they were structurally interrelated and, when combined, form sentences. Through various other discoveries about how real conversations work--discoveries that are detailed further in this book--Nitzany created the necessary tools for linking these words together in a specific way so that you may become rapidly and almost effortlessly conversant--now. If your desire is to learn complicated grammatical rules or to speak perfectly proper and precise Arabic, this book is not for you. However, if you need to actually hold a conversation while on a trip to Saudi Arabia, to impress that certain someone, or to be able to speak with your grandfather or grandmother as soon as possible, then the Nitzany Method is what you have been looking for. This method is designed for fluency in a foreign language, while communicating in the present tense. Nitzany believes that what's most important is actually being able to understand and be understood by another human being right away. More formalized training in grammar rules, etc., can come later. This is one of the several, in a series of instructional language guides, the Nitzany Method's revolutionary approach is the only one in the world that uses its unique language technology to actually enable you to speak and understand native speakers in the shortest amount of time possible. No more depending on volumes of books of fundamental, beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, all with hundreds of pages in order to learn a language. With Conversational Arabic Quick and Easy, all you need is this book. Learn Saudi Arabic today, not tomorrow, and get started now!

Spoken Arabic is different in many respects from literary Arabic. This book is concerned with speakers’ intentions and the structural and pragmatic resources they employ. Based on new empirical findings from across the Arabic world this work will be of interest to both students and researchers.

Foreigners often say that English language is "easy." A language like Spanish is challenging in its variety of verb endings (the verb speak is conjugated hablo, hablas, hablamos), and gender for nouns, whereas English is more straight forward (I speak, you speak, we speak). But linguists generally swat down claims that certain languages are "easier" than others, since it is assumed all languages are complex to the same degree. For example, they will point to English's use of the word "do" -- Do you know French? This usage is counter-intuitive and difficult for non-native speakers. Linguist John McWhorter agrees that all languages are complex, but questions whether or not they are all equally complex. The topic of complexity has become a hot issue in recent years, particularly in creole studies, historical linguistics, and language contact. As McWhorter describes, when languages came into contact over the years (when French speakers ruled the English for a few centuries, or the vikings invaded England), a large number of speakers are forced to learn a new language quickly, and this came up with a simplified version, a pidgin. When this ultimately turns into a "real" language, a creole, the result is still simpler and less complex than a "non-interrupted" language that has been around for a long time. McWhorter makes the case that this kind of simplification happens in degrees, and criticizes linguists who are reluctant to say that, for example, English is simply simpler than Spanish for socio-historical reasons. He analyzes how various languages that seem simple but are not creoles, actually are simpler than they would be if they had not been broken down by large numbers of adult learners. In addition to English, he looks at Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Malay, and some Arabic varieties. His work will interest not just experts in creole studies and historical linguistics, but the wider community interested in language complexity.

An introductory guide for students of Arabic language, Arabic historical linguistics and Arabic sociolinguistics.

What was the language of the Quran like, and how do we know? Today, the Quran is recited in ten different reading traditions, whose linguistic details are mutually incompatible. This work uncovers the earliest linguistic layer of the Quran. It demonstrates that the text was composed in the Hijazi vernacular dialect, and that in the centuries that followed different reciters started to classicize the text to a new linguistic ideal, the ideal of the ʿarabiyyah. This study combines data from ancient Quranic manuscripts, the medieval Arabic grammarians and ample data from the Quranic reading traditions to arrive at new insights into the linguistic history of Quranic Arabic.