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Historical Linguistics, Indo-European Linguistics, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, Berber studies, Guanché, Tamazight, and 51 moreLibyco-Berber Linguistics, Afro-Asiatic Linguistics, Berber, Languages and Linguistics, Linguistics, Afroasiatic linguistics, Comparative Semitics, Cushitic, Egyptian, Chadic, Arabic Dialectology, Libya, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Epigraphic South Arabian, Ancient North Arabian Linguistics, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Berber Languages, Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Arabic Dialects, Semitic languages, Semitic Philology, Arabian Peninsula in Antiquity, Pre-Islamic Arabia, Ancient Near East, Semitic Linguistics, Northwest Semitic Epigraphy, Arabic, Language Classification, Indo-European Studies, Arabic Sociolinguistics, Language contact, Diachronic Linguistics (Or Historical Linguistics), Arabic Language, Comparative Linguistics, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Aramaic, Etymology, Dialectology, Phonology, Epigraphy, Ancient Near Eastern Languages, Arquelogia libico-bereber, Sáhara, Touareg, Berber Toponymy; North African Toponymy, Berber Identity; Ethnicity, Tifinagh, Berbere, Berber Lexicography, Early Islam, and Qur'anic Studies edit
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E-mail: marijnvanputten@gmail.com
Author of: http://phoenixblog.typepad.comedit
It has long been recognized that the Semitic suffix conjugation and the Berber adjectival perfective suffix conjugation have striking similarities in their morphology, which has been correctly attributed to be the result of a shared... more
It has long been recognized that the Semitic suffix conjugation and the Berber adjectival perfective suffix conjugation have striking similarities in their morphology, which has been correctly attributed to be the result of a shared inheritance from Proto-Afro-Asiatic. Nevertheless, the function of these conjugations in the respective language families is quite distinct. This article argues that ultimately this suffix conjugation is a predicative suffix in the common ancestor of Berber and Semitic, and moreover shows that Semitic and Berber have significant overlap in the stem formations of adjectives. It is argued that these formations must likewise be reconstructed for their common ancestor.
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This paper examines how Quranic text treats the construction of a participle in predicative position when it is followed by a direct object. While the medieval grammarians typically say that the participle may be either followed by the... more
This paper examines how Quranic text treats the construction of a participle in predicative position when it is followed by a direct object. While the medieval grammarians typically say that the participle may be either followed by the object in the accusative or form a construct phrase with it regardless of the definiteness of the object, close examination of the behaviour of participles in predicative positions in the Quranic text shows that a clear correlation presents itself. Indefinite objects are marked with the accusative, whereas definite objects are formed through a genitive construction. This thus means that the linguistic register of the Qurʾān, different from other forms of Classical Arabic, represents a kind of differential object marking on the objects of predicative participles, differentiating between indefinite and definite objects.
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This paper examines the feminine ending-at in the Qurʾānic Consonantal Text. It argues that from the Qurʾānic Consonantal Text, and various data of comparative linguistic evidence, it is likely that the language of the Qurʾānic... more
This paper examines the feminine ending-at in the Qurʾānic Consonantal Text. It argues that from the Qurʾānic Consonantal Text, and various data of comparative linguistic evidence, it is likely that the language of the Qurʾānic Consonantal Text goes back to a variety of Arabic where the feminine ending was treated as a diptote. It is moreover argued, that this feminine ending was likely also diptotic in Proto-Arabic.
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This paper engages with J. Owens' idea that case is not reconstructable with certainty to Proto-Semitic. We make the opposite case.
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Arabic Literature, Semitic languages, Dialectology, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, and 12 moreArabic, Qur'anic Studies, Arabic Sociolinguistics, Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL), Islamic Studies, Arabic Dialects, Comparative Semitics, Arabic Historical Sociolinguistics, Arabic Dialectology, Semitic Philology, Arabic Linguistics and Dialectology, and Arabic Language and Literature
In several works (1998a;b, 2006/9, 2015), Professor J. Owens has developed a revisionist history of the Arabic system of nominal case inflection. Rather than reconstructing the case system of Classical Arabic, cognate with Akkadian and... more
In several works (1998a;b, 2006/9, 2015), Professor J. Owens has developed a revisionist history of the Arabic system of nominal case inflection. Rather than reconstructing the case system of Classical Arabic, cognate with Akkadian and Ugaritic, for Proto-Arabic, he proposed several scenarios in favor of a caseless variety of Proto-Semitic from which the modern Arabic dialects descend. This article engages with the Owens' methodology, data, and claims in a defense of the traditional reconstruction – Proto-Arabic had a nominal case system similar to Classical Arabic that was lost in the modern dialects. We reconstruct a historical scenario to explain the eventual breakdown and disappearance of case in modern Arabic.
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The original Proto-Semitic triphthongs have developed in a variety of ways in the history of Arabic. Employing data from Old Arabic and the Quranic Consonantal Text, this paper examines the developments of these triphthongs in Classical... more
The original Proto-Semitic triphthongs have developed in a variety of ways in the history of Arabic. Employing data from Old Arabic and the Quranic Consonantal Text, this paper examines the developments of these triphthongs in Classical Arabic and the language of the Quran. It describes the development in hollow and defective roots and shows that Quranic Arabic developed new long vowels /ē/ and /ō/ in positions where Classical Arabic mergers triphthongs with *ā.
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Recent documentation has established that the Siwi language of western Egypt, unlike most other Berber languages, has two phonemic mid vowels appearing not only in Arabic loanwords but also in inherited vocabulary: /e/ and /o/. This... more
Recent documentation has established that the Siwi language of western Egypt, unlike most other Berber languages, has two phonemic mid vowels appearing not only in Arabic loanwords but also in inherited vocabulary: /e/ and /o/. This article examines their origin. Proto-Berber originally had a single mid vowel *e, which appears to have been retained in Siwi only before word-final /n/. In all other environments the contrast between *i and *e has been neutralized, although word-finally this contrast seems to have survived into the 19th century. Instances of /e/ in other environments are phonetically conditioned, deriving variously from *i, *ăy, or *ă in appropriate contexts. The few attestations of /o/ are irregular, but occur in environments paralleling those in which /e/ is attested synchronically. Modern Siwi mid vowels are thus mostly secondary developments; except in final /-en/, they provide no direct evidence for the reconstruction of mid vowels in earlier intermediate stages of Berber.
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For a long time, the prolific scholar of Andalusi Arabic, F. Corriente has alluded to a Yemenite connection of Andalusi Arabic. This paper aims to show that there is no convincing evidence to assume a large Yemeni presence in Andalusia... more
For a long time, the prolific scholar of Andalusi Arabic, F. Corriente has alluded to a Yemenite connection of Andalusi Arabic. This paper aims to show that there is no convincing evidence to assume a large Yemeni presence in Andalusia based on linguistic grounds.
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Awjila Berber is a highly endangered Berber variety spoken in eastern Libya. The minimal material available on it reveals that the language is in some respects very archaic and in others grammatically unique, and as such is of particular... more
Awjila Berber is a highly endangered Berber variety spoken in eastern Libya. The minimal material available on it reveals that the language is in some respects very archaic and in others grammatically unique, and as such is of particular comparative and historical interest. Fieldwork has been impossible for decades due to the political situation. Recently, however, several inhabitants of Awjila have set up a Facebook group Ašal=ənnax ("our village"), posting largely in Awjili. Analysis of this partly conversational corpus makes it possible to extend our knowledge of the language, yielding unattested words and constructions. Examination of its grammatical features also reveals that these posters' usage is heavily influenced by Arabic, showing language attrition absent from earlier data; even subject-verb agreement has been extensively reworked. In both respects, this study casts light upon the uses and limits of social media as a source of linguistic material.
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This paper discusses the feminine nominal suffixes -at and plural -āt in the Shammari Arabic dialect. It will show that its pausal allomorphs are best understood as the result of a pausal rule *t > y. The Shammari dialect must therefore... more
This paper discusses the feminine nominal suffixes -at and plural -āt in the Shammari Arabic dialect. It will show that its pausal allomorphs are best understood as the result of a pausal rule *t > y. The Shammari dialect must therefore go back to a dialect that had *-at in all environments and not -ah word-finally and -at in construct, as is often taken to be the original situation in all modern Arabic dialects. After this discussion, several other dialects that appear to point to feminine ending systems which deviate from the general modern Arabic trend will be discussed. A tentative suggestion is given that the Dōsiri dialect of Kuwait goes back to a dialect with a Classical Arabic distribution for the feminine singular ending: -a in pause, -at everywhere else.
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The majority of the Berber languages of Libya and Egypt lack a state distinction, that is present in most of the other Berber languages. Moreover, many of these languages lose or reduce their prefix in certain phonetic environments. This... more
The majority of the Berber languages of Libya and Egypt lack a state distinction, that is present in most of the other Berber languages. Moreover, many of these languages lose or reduce their prefix in certain phonetic environments. This article studies the conditioning of these prefix allomorphs and examines the history of these prefixes in light of the other Berber languages.
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The present article focuses on additional texts or appendices by scribes to three Qurʾānic manuscripts of the Mamlūk era. These appendices were accidentally found in the collections of Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyyah in Cairo: in Maṣāḥif 81... more
The present article focuses on additional texts or appendices by scribes to three Qurʾānic manuscripts of the Mamlūk era. These appendices were accidentally found in the collections of Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyyah in Cairo: in Maṣāḥif 81 dating from 734/1334; Maṣāḥif 94 from 830/1427; and Maṣāḥif 143 also from 879/1474-1475. The three manuscripts are one-volume luxury copies of the Qurʾān. The subjects of these scribal appendices are mostly matters of qirāʾāt, taǧwīd, and waqf. They make explicit some of the rules that all scribes have internalized for themselves, as is often the case with crafts, but which are rarely recorded. Two of the three texts examined here are short, no more than one or two pages, but an exception to this is the longer text at the end of Maṣāḥif 81, the oldest example of the scribal additions that are presented herewith. The appendices are presented in chronological order. First, every manuscript is described generally, then each appendix is presented in transcription and annotated translation. At the end, a glossary of the technical terminology in use is added. All appendices are shown in facsimile.
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The seemingly ungrammatical wording of Q Ṭā-Hā 20:63 ʾinna hādhāni la-sāḥirāni has been cause for much debate, both in traditional Muslim sources as well as in modern discussion. This paper sets out to reevaluate the grammar of the... more
The seemingly ungrammatical wording of Q Ṭā-Hā 20:63 ʾinna hādhāni la-sāḥirāni has been cause for much debate, both in traditional Muslim sources as well as in modern discussion. This paper sets out to reevaluate the grammar of the various reading that are present by comparing them not against the normative grammar as it is established by the medieval grammarians, but rather by comparing its grammar to other, comparable construction in the Qurʾān. By analyzing this Qurʾānic verse within its intra-Qurʾānic parallels it is argued that the minority reading ʾin hadhāni la-sāḥirāni is the original intended reading of the ʿUthmānic text, while the grammatically problematic majority reading ʾinna hādhāni la-sāḥirāni is to be understood as an approximation to popular non-ʿUthmānic readings. Through the comparison with other verses, it is also shown that we may gain deeper understanding into verses of constructions of the type found in Q al-Ṭāriq 86:4 (wa-ʾin kullu nafsin la-mā ʿalayhā ḥāfiẓun) and shed light on some of the competing canonical readings in these verses.
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The Mesopotamian Qəltu dialects are well-known for their extensive use of ʾimālah. This paper reexamines the historical development of this ʾimālah and identifies three independent processes. One of these processes clearly continues the... more
The Mesopotamian Qəltu dialects are well-known for their extensive use of ʾimālah. This paper reexamines the historical development of this ʾimālah and identifies three independent processes. One of these processes clearly continues the phonemic distinction between two early Arabic phonemes *ē and *ā which have merged to ā in Modern Standard Arabic. It is shown that this phonemic distinction was present in several Quranic reading traditions from Kufa. It is shown that specifically the reading tradition of al-Kisāʾī (d. 189/804) show clear traces of all three ʾimālah processes now found in the Mesopotamian Qəltu dialects, and thus serves as one of our earliest witnesses of these processes.
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This essay examines a copy of the Qur'ān from India, now in the India Office Collections at the British Library. The manuscript, registered as IO Loth 4, belongs to the reasonably large group of early Qur'āns that date to the eighth and... more
This essay examines a copy of the Qur'ān from India, now in the India Office Collections at the British Library. The manuscript, registered as IO Loth 4, belongs to the reasonably large group of early Qur'āns that date to the eighth and ninth centuries CE. While some of these manuscripts have charted histories, what is not widely known is that early Qur'āns also made
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The Quranic text today is recited in ten canonical reading traditions with two distinct canonical transmissions each. These reading traditions are distinct in their phonological and morphological details, as well as the interpretation of... more
The Quranic text today is recited in ten canonical reading traditions with two distinct canonical transmissions each. These reading traditions are distinct in their phonological and morphological details, as well as the interpretation of the ambiguous consonantal text. However, they all have in common that they adhere to the consonantal skeleton of the standard Quran text. Despite this adherence, on rare occasions readers do deviate from this standard text. This paper examines those cases, and explores the reasons why the canonical readers felt licensed to do so. Especially ʾAbū ʿAmr was prone to deviate from the consonantal text in cases of perceived grammatical issues. Moreover, the readers occasionally deviated from their regional consonantal text when other regional codices had another form. Finally, readers deviated from the consonantal text, in cases where the text came in conflict with the pausal spelling principle.
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The alifāt maqṣūrah are kept strictly distinct in the Qurʾānic Consonantal Text. Depending on whether the final root consonant is yāʾ or wāw, they are spelled with ى and ا, respectively. As these two characters behave distinctly in... more
The alifāt maqṣūrah are kept strictly distinct in the Qurʾānic Consonantal Text. Depending on whether the final root consonant is yāʾ or wāw, they are spelled with ى and ا, respectively. As these two characters behave distinctly in qurʾānic rhyme, it is clear that they represent two distinct vowels ni Qurʾānic Arabic, ē and ā respectively. The current article shows that in a specific phonetic environment--namely, if y or ī stand in the vicinity of ē--it dissimilated towards ā. While representation of this dissimilation in the orthography of the Qurʾān has disappeared in mdoern print editions, careful examination across a large number of early qurʾānic manuscripts reveals that this original dissimlatory practice was reflected regularly in these manuscripts, and therefore also in the ʿUthmānic archetype
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Muḥammad al-Jazūlī’s Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt is one of the most popular and widespread Islamic prayer books in the Sunni Islamic world; consequently, most library collections around the world have many copies of this manuscript. Despite its... more
Muḥammad al-Jazūlī’s Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt is one of the most popular and widespread Islamic prayer books in the Sunni Islamic world; consequently, most library collections around the world have many copies of this manuscript. Despite its prolific written form, it is its recitation that should probably be considered the most prominent expression of the text. This paper undertakes a careful analysis of the vocalization and orthoepic signs added to three vocalized copies of 18th-century Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt manuscripts from Mali, the Maghreb, and Turkey. It reveals that they each have distinct recitation styles with their own phonological and morphological features, distinct from the rules applied in Classical Arabic prose text. Moreover, it is shown that these recitation styles clearly draw upon the rules of local Quranic reading traditions, while not entirely assimilating to them, thus giving a distinct local orthoepic flavour to the manner in
which this text was recited.
which this text was recited.
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This article explores the function and distribution of the maddah sign throughout the history of the Islamic manuscript tradition. It demonstrates that, to date, descriptions have not adequately described its use, and it shows that rather... more
This article explores the function and distribution of the maddah sign throughout the history of the Islamic manuscript tradition. It demonstrates that, to date, descriptions have not adequately described its use, and it shows that rather than being a part of Classical Arabic orthography, medieval sources clearly indicate that the maddah sign was specifically used to express an orthoepic feature of Classical Arabic prose, namely madd, the pronunciation of vowels as overlong.
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The highly archaic Classical Arabic language and its modern iteration Modern Standard Arabic must to a large extent be seen as highly artificial archaizing registers that are the High variety of a diglossic situation. The contact... more
The highly archaic Classical Arabic language and its modern iteration Modern Standard Arabic must to a large extent be seen as highly artificial archaizing registers that are the High variety of a diglossic situation. The contact phenomena found in Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic are therefore often the result of imposition. Cases of borrowing are significantly rarer, and mainly found in the lexical sphere of the language.
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This paper examines the developments of the Proto-Arabic short vowel system as it develops up to its reflexes in modern Maltese. The analysis focuses on establishing regular correspondence from underived primary nouns. From there it is... more
This paper examines the developments of the Proto-Arabic short vowel
system as it develops up to its reflexes in modern Maltese. The analysis focuses
on establishing regular correspondence from underived primary nouns. From
there it is shown that several developments in the verbal system cannot be the
result of regular sound change, and instead have undergone analogical developments.
Finally, through these regular sound correspondences, it becomes
clear that the alternation of jeHCeC and jahCeC verbs in Maltese must reflect a
continuation of the ancient alternation in the verbal prefix of Proto-Arabic
which was lost in Classical Arabic.
system as it develops up to its reflexes in modern Maltese. The analysis focuses
on establishing regular correspondence from underived primary nouns. From
there it is shown that several developments in the verbal system cannot be the
result of regular sound change, and instead have undergone analogical developments.
Finally, through these regular sound correspondences, it becomes
clear that the alternation of jeHCeC and jahCeC verbs in Maltese must reflect a
continuation of the ancient alternation in the verbal prefix of Proto-Arabic
which was lost in Classical Arabic.
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This article edits a Judaeo-Arabic letter written in the early phonetic Judaeo-Arabic spelling from the Taylor-Slechter Collection with the siglum T-S 13J8.7. This letter, which is a personal letter on paper from a merchant whose goods... more
This article edits a Judaeo-Arabic letter written in the early phonetic Judaeo-Arabic spelling from the Taylor-Slechter Collection with the siglum T-S 13J8.7. This letter, which is a personal letter on paper from a merchant whose goods have been stolen from his shop adds to the small corpus of letters in this early orthography. Besides this Judaeo-Arabic letter, the paper also contains Hebrew and Aramaic abbreviated liturgical citations. Besides an edition of the text with translation and reproduction of the photos, this paper also discusses the question of whether it is useful to think of archaic features in letters such as these as being due to Classical Arabic influence.
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In early quranic Manuscripts the name of the prophet ʾIbrā hı ̄m occurs in two different spellings either ﺍ ﺑ ﺮ ﻫ ﻢ or ﺍ ﺑ ﺮ ﻫ ﻴ ﻢ. These two spellings are spread haphazardly throughout the Quran. Close examination... more
In early quranic Manuscripts the name of the prophet ʾIbrā hı ̄m occurs in two different spellings either ﺍ ﺑ ﺮ ﻫ ﻢ or ﺍ ﺑ ﺮ ﻫ ﻴ ﻢ. These two spellings are spread haphazardly throughout the Quran. Close examination of the patterns in the manuscript, however, show that the distribution of this spelling is not random or up to the whims of the scribe. The location where one spelling or the other occurs is highly correlated across the early manuscripts. Moreover, the location of one spelling or the other is highly correlated to where the quranic reader Hišā m reads the name as ʾIbrā hā m or ʾIbrā hı ̄m. This paper argues that this is not because these manuscripts have been written in the reading of Hišā m, but rather that Hišā m based his reading on the rasm of the quranic text.
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Textual Criticism, Manuscript Studies, Qur'anic Studies, Quranic Studies, Quran, and 15 moreQuranic Exegesis, Quranic linguistics, Quranic and Islamic Studies, Qur'an, Qur'an manuscripts, Al qur'an, Qiraa, Qiraat, Qur'anic Manuscripts, Quranic ReadingsQur'an Manuscripts, Quran and Tafsir Studies, Qur'anic and Hadith sciences, Quran Manuscripts, Qur'anic Qira'at, and Qiraat Al-Quran
This is a study of the Quranic manuscript Arabe 334a held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It is a vocalized manuscript representing a Quranic reading tradition that falls outside the canonical ten reading traditions known to us... more
This is a study of the Quranic manuscript Arabe 334a held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It is a vocalized manuscript representing a Quranic reading tradition that falls outside the canonical ten reading traditions known to us today. It is shown that this manuscript, on the basis of verse division, is a Hijazi (probably Medinan) manuscript. The reading represented in the vocalization is likely also a non-canonical Hijazi reading. This article contains an edition of the folios of this manuscript and an in-depth study of the orthography, vocalization, verse division, and general principles and specific variants of the reading.
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This paper studies the letter shape of the final jīm, ḥāʾ, and khāʾ in seven early Quranic manuscripts. Examination of the shape of these letters in these manuscripts reveals a graphemic distinction between the jīm, which lacks the... more
This paper studies the letter shape of the final jīm, ḥāʾ, and khāʾ in seven early Quranic manuscripts. Examination of the shape of these letters in these manuscripts reveals a graphemic distinction between the jīm, which lacks the typical curved tail, and the ḥāʾ and the khāʾ, which do have this tail. This distinction is lost in later Quranic manuscripts. I argue that the distinction between jīm and ḥāʾ/khāʾ is a continuation from the Arabic script’s origins in the Nabataean Aramaic script, which had distinct letter shapes for these signs. Contrary to what has been previously thought, the evidence adduced in this article shows that the merger happened in the Islamic period rather than in the pre-Islamic period.
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This paper examines the phonetics of Quranic Arabic as they can be deduced from the Quranic Consonantal Text. It first examines the phonetic qualities of the interdentals, the ḍād, the ǧīm and the emphatic consonants. Secondly, it is... more
This paper examines the phonetics of Quranic Arabic as they can be deduced from the Quranic Consonantal Text. It first examines the phonetic qualities of the interdentals, the ḍād, the ǧīm and the emphatic consonants. Secondly, it is shown that Quranic rhyme makes a distinction between Maǧhūr and Mahmūs consonants. Finally, some notes on the pronunciation of the feminine ending and the assimilation of the definite article are provided.
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This paper takes a novel approach to the question of when and how the text of the Quran was codified into its present form, usually referred to as the Uthmanic text type. In the Quran the phrase niʿmat allāh/rabbi-ka "the grace of... more
This paper takes a novel approach to the question of when and how the text of the Quran was codified into its present form, usually referred to as the Uthmanic text type. In the Quran the phrase niʿmat allāh/rabbi-ka "the grace of god/your lord" can spell niʿmat "grace" either with tāʾ or tāʾ marbūṭah. By examining 14 early Quranic manuscripts, it is shown that this phrase is consistently spelled using only one of the two spellings in the same position in all of these different manuscripts. It is argued that such consistency can only be explained by assuming that all these manuscripts come from a single written archetype, meaning there must have been a codification project sometime in the first century. The results also imply that these manuscripts, and by extension, Quran manuscripts in general, were copied from written exemplars since the earliest days.
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In several modern Arabic dialects the noun pattern fiʿāl(ah) shifts to fuʿāl(ah) in emphatic environments. This development also affects adjectival plurals with an original shape fiʿāl. From this conditioned shift the innovative fuʿāl... more
In several modern Arabic dialects the noun pattern fiʿāl(ah) shifts to fuʿāl(ah) in emphatic environments. This development also affects adjectival plurals with an original shape fiʿāl. From this conditioned shift the innovative fuʿāl pattern was generalized to all adjectives. It is not likely that this development goes back to a Proto-dialectal “koiné”.
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The Berber nominal prefix allomorphs a-/ta- and e-/te- have been shown to be phonetically conditioned (Van Putten 2016). This paper will examine other cases of the Berber vowel e where it shows interchange with the vowel a, and will try... more
The Berber nominal prefix allomorphs a-/ta- and e-/te- have been shown to be phonetically conditioned (Van Putten 2016). This paper will examine other cases of the Berber vowel e where it shows interchange with the vowel a, and will try to show that these alternations must also be seen as phonetically conditioned allophones of each other, through a process of what will be called Mid Vowel Harmony. The majority of attested cases of the vowel e in Berber can be understood as the result of this shift of *a to e. Some cases of a reconstructible *e remain, which cannot be explained as the result of Mid Vowel Harmony.
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The nature of the language underlying the Qurˀānic Consonantal Text (QCT) has been a topic of scholarly discussion for well over a hundred years. The traditional position is that this language was essentially identical to that of the... more
The nature of the language underlying the Qurˀānic Consonantal Text (QCT) has been a topic of scholarly discussion for well over a hundred years. The traditional position is that this language was essentially identical to that of the pre-Islamic poetry. The mismatch between the language of the reading traditions and the orthography has normally been explained as the result of orthographic conventions such as ‘pausal spelling’. A minority of scholars have challenged this view, suggesting instead that the Qurˀān was originally delivered in a local dialect and only subsequently brought in line with Classical Arabic. Neither permutation of these two positions has been based on the one part of the Qurˀānic text that can, with certainty, be dated back to the early Islamic period, the Qurˀānic Consonantal Text. This paper examines the nominal case system of Qurˀānic Arabic. Instead of relying on traditions that developed a century or more after the original composition of the Qurˀān, we rely primarily on the QCT itself, paying special attention to implications of internal rhyme schemata, as well as patterns in the orthography. We will show, based
on internal data supported by, but not dependent upon, the orthography that the language behind the QCT possessed a functional but reduced case system, in which cases marked by long vowels were retained, whereas those marked by short vowels were mostly lost. A place where the short case vowel appear to have been retained is in construct. An examination of early Qurˀānic manuscripts suggests that even in this position case distinction was already in the process of breaking down.
on internal data supported by, but not dependent upon, the orthography that the language behind the QCT possessed a functional but reduced case system, in which cases marked by long vowels were retained, whereas those marked by short vowels were mostly lost. A place where the short case vowel appear to have been retained is in construct. An examination of early Qurˀānic manuscripts suggests that even in this position case distinction was already in the process of breaking down.
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This paper examines the evidence for the marginal feminine endings *-ay-and *-āy-in Proto-Semitic, and the feminine endings *-e and *-a in Proto-Berber. Their similar formation (*CV ̆ CC-ay/āy), semantics (verbal abstracts, underived... more
This paper examines the evidence for the marginal feminine endings *-ay-and *-āy-in Proto-Semitic, and the feminine endings *-e and *-a in Proto-Berber. Their similar formation (*CV ̆ CC-ay/āy), semantics (verbal abstracts, underived concrete feminine nouns) and plural morphology (replacement of the feminine suffix by a plural suffix with-w-) suggest that this feminine formation should be reconstructed to a shared ancestor which may be called Proto-Berbero-Semitic.
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The glottal stop (ʔ) in Classical Arabic is expressed by the hamzah sign, which rather than being its own independent sign in the orthography, is generally treated as a diacritic sign placed on semi-vowels. This orthographic practice has... more
The glottal stop (ʔ) in Classical Arabic is expressed by the hamzah sign, which rather than being its own independent sign in the orthography, is generally treated as a diacritic sign placed on semi-vowels. This orthographic practice has generally been interpreted as reflecting the fact that the Quranic orthography was based on a variety of Arabic that has lost the glottal stop. By closely examining the Quranic Consonantal Text, this paper shows that the language of the Quran is such a variety that had lost the glottal stop, and that the absence of representation in the Consonantal Text is not a purely orthographic matter. Secondly, the paper shows that the glottal stop appears to not have been lost in word-final āʔ. Finally, the paper discusses an important early Quranic document, DAM 01-29.1, which shows many examples of innovative orthography to represent the hamzah in the consonantal skeleton of the Quranic text.
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Semitic languages, Indonesian Language, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Persian Language, and 9 moreAfro-Asiatic Linguistics, Islamic Studies, Hausa, Comparative Semitics, Turkish Language, Swahili (Languages And Linguistics), Somali language, Berber Languages, and Hindi Urdu Language and Literature
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... more
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.
https://brill.com/view/title/61587
https://brill.com/view/title/61587
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A talk I gave on my research at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, illustrating some of the research I have been doing during my research stay there.
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The slides for my presentation at AIDA on the plural adjectives in the modern dialects with the shape fuʕāl rather than fiʕāl as it is found in Classical Arabic.
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Slides for my presentation on the loss of the Hamza in the language of the Quranic Consonantal Text.
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The handout of the paper that I gave at GĦILM6 (8-9 June 2017, Bratislava). A link to the google doc of both the presentation and handout can be found in this document as well.
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Paper presented at NACAl44
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Semitic languages, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Afro-Asiatic Linguistics, Berber studies, and 7 moreArabic Language, Berber, Berber Languages, Hamito-Semitic Linguistics, Berbers. Amazighs. History of Berbers. Cultural and Political Claims. Cultural and Berber Movement. North of Africa. Algeria. Morocco., Proto Semitic, and Proto-Berber
Conference presentation presented at NACAL44.
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Presented at the 44th Colloquim of African Languages and Linguistics, Leiden 2014.
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Berber and Proto-Berber
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Arabian Epigraphic Notes (ISSN: 2451-8875) is a journal of the Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Arabia. It is dedicated to the publication of epigraphy from Arabia and the discussion of relevant historical and linguistic issues.
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Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Greek Epigraphy, Nabataeans (Archaeology), Northwest Semitic Epigraphy, and 17 moreComparative Semitics, Semitic Linguistics, Epigraphic South Arabian, Nabataean Petra, Arabian Peninsula in Antiquity, Semitic Epigraphy, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, South Arabian Culture, Safaitic, West Semitic Epigraphy, History of Arabic Language, Ancient South Arabia, Ancient North Arabian Linguistics, Old South Arabian Linguistics, Archaeology of the Levant, Archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula, and Nabataean Inscriptions
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Muḥammad al-Jazūlī’s Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt is one of the most popular and widespread Islamic prayer books in the world, and as a result most library collections have many copies of this manuscript all around the Islamic world. Despite its... more
Muḥammad al-Jazūlī’s Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt is one of the most popular and widespread Islamic prayer books in the world, and as a result most library collections have many copies of this manuscript all around the Islamic world. Despite its written form being widespread, it is its recitation which should probably be considered the most prominent expression of the text. This paper undertakes a careful analysis of the vocalisation and orthoepic signs added to vocalised copies of 18th century Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt manuscripts from Mali, the Maghreb and Turkey and shows that they each have distinct recitation styles with their own phonological and morphological features distinct from the rules applied in Classical Arabic prose text. It is moreover shown that these recitation styles clearly draw upon the rules of the local Quranic reading traditions, while not entirely assimilating to it, thus giving a distinct local orthoepic flavour to the manner this text was recited.
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An interview with Trouw, a Dutch newspaper on Wednesday 25 October 2017. Published a day earlier online with an alternative title "De Vikingen en hun 'islamitische' inscripties".... more
An interview with Trouw, a Dutch newspaper on Wednesday 25 October 2017.
Published a day earlier online with an alternative title "De Vikingen en hun 'islamitische' inscripties".
https://www.trouw.nl/religie-en-filosofie/de-vikingen-en-hun-islamitische-inscripties-~a1efcb3d/
Published a day earlier online with an alternative title "De Vikingen en hun 'islamitische' inscripties".
https://www.trouw.nl/religie-en-filosofie/de-vikingen-en-hun-islamitische-inscripties-~a1efcb3d/