HUM 5 - Northern Africa Research: Arabic

Arabic evolved in the 4th century from Aramaic. New letters were created by adding dots and other diacritics to existing letters to indicate additional consonants and vowel sounds. Classical Arabic is the language of the Qur'an. Its style and vocabulary is different from Modern Standard Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic is the universal Arabic language used in media, lectures, and literature. Colloquial varieties are used in various countries and regions. Study the notable features of this language.

One of the Semitic languages of the Afroasiatic language family, Arabic can be divided into North Arabic and South Arabic. The two are different enough to be considered different languages. They have different alphabets. North Arabic is sometimes just called Arabic, and South Arabic is sometimes called Himyaritic. Arabic is the native language of more than 180 million people. It is also the language of Islam. Conversational Arabic can be divided into three dialects. Modern South Arabian is spoken by about 50,000 people.

Spoken as the official language of 22 Arab countries, Arabic has 200 million native speakers. Classical Arabic is the language of the Qur'an but is primarily used for writing. Modern Standard Arabic is used for conversations, speeches, newspapers, and modern literature. Different dialects are used locally. Identify English words derived from Arabic. Investigate which sounds are difficult for non-native language learners. Listen to some common words and phrases in Arabic. The videos are not available in the United States.