An Overview of Modern Standard Arabic
Arabic is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. It is the official language of the 22 nations of the Arab world, the area bounded by the Atlantic on the west, the Mediterranean on the north, the Sahara on the south, and the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq on the east. It is spoken by more than two hundred million people.
Modern Standard Arabic, or MSA, is the High literary form of Arabic that goes back to the literary language of pre-Islamic Arabia (Classical Arabic). It is learned in schools but is not the day-to-day language of any Arab population. It is used universally in formal writing and speaking, in professional meetings and conferences, in radio and TV news, and on other occasions where the aim is to communicate on specialized topics or with Arabs of different dialectal backgrounds (foreign-language soap operas and TV cartoons are dubbed in formal Modern Standard Arabic). The primary differences in Modern Standard Arabic as used across the Arab world are in the vocabulary, because the structures are remarkably constant across space and time. As the language of Islam and the Quran, it is used in speech and writing throughout the Muslim world.
MSA, Classical Arabic, and Fusha: same or different?
Western linguists consider MSA to be distinct from Classical Arabic (CA; اللغة العربية الفصحى التراثية al-Lughah al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā at-Turāthīyah)—the variety of standard Arabic in the Quran and early Islamic (7th to 9th centuries) literature. MSA differs most markedly in that it either synthesizes words from Arabic roots (such as سيارة car or باخرة steamship) or adapts words from European languages (such as ورشة workshop or إنترنت Internet) to describe industrial and post-industrial life.
Native speakers of Arabic, however, generally do not distinguish between "Modern Standard Arabic" and "Classical Arabic" as separate languages; they refer to both as al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā (العربية الفصحى) meaning "the eloquent Arabic". They consider the two forms to be two registers of one language. When the distinction is made, they are referred to as فصحى العصر Fuṣḥā al-ʻAṣr (MSA) and فصحى التراث Fuṣḥā at-Turāth (CA) respectively.
Modern Standard Arabic, or MSA, is the High literary form of Arabic that goes back to the literary language of pre-Islamic Arabia (Classical Arabic). It is learned in schools but is not the day-to-day language of any Arab population. It is used universally in formal writing and speaking, in professional meetings and conferences, in radio and TV news, and on other occasions where the aim is to communicate on specialized topics or with Arabs of different dialectal backgrounds (foreign-language soap operas and TV cartoons are dubbed in formal Modern Standard Arabic). The primary differences in Modern Standard Arabic as used across the Arab world are in the vocabulary, because the structures are remarkably constant across space and time. As the language of Islam and the Quran, it is used in speech and writing throughout the Muslim world.
MSA, Classical Arabic, and Fusha: same or different?
Western linguists consider MSA to be distinct from Classical Arabic (CA; اللغة العربية الفصحى التراثية al-Lughah al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā at-Turāthīyah)—the variety of standard Arabic in the Quran and early Islamic (7th to 9th centuries) literature. MSA differs most markedly in that it either synthesizes words from Arabic roots (such as سيارة car or باخرة steamship) or adapts words from European languages (such as ورشة workshop or إنترنت Internet) to describe industrial and post-industrial life.
Native speakers of Arabic, however, generally do not distinguish between "Modern Standard Arabic" and "Classical Arabic" as separate languages; they refer to both as al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā (العربية الفصحى) meaning "the eloquent Arabic". They consider the two forms to be two registers of one language. When the distinction is made, they are referred to as فصحى العصر Fuṣḥā al-ʻAṣr (MSA) and فصحى التراث Fuṣḥā at-Turāth (CA) respectively.
Home | About | Contact | Disclosure | Privacy Policy | Learn Spoken Arabic
This page contains affiliate links. For more information, see our disclosure page.
Copyright © 2022 LearnFusha.com
This page contains affiliate links. For more information, see our disclosure page.
Copyright © 2022 LearnFusha.com
