|
|
صفحة: IV
speech registers that finds expression in grammatical differentiation between the . two stylistic levels Suggestive formal traits of historical interest in Beduin vernaculars have yet to be systematically probed on a scale rendering possible the development of a theoretical and documentary framework for integrating field data gleaned from the Arabic dialects into a coherent historical model recapitulating the evolutionary process that yielded the present-day linguistic continuum ranging between sedentary and nomadic Arabic vernaculars and , at the same time , clarifying the relationship of Proto-Arabic with Proto-Semitic . The state of the art in Arabic dialectology , as it is conducted at the present time , has adopted a distinctly synchronic orientation consistent with the laudable endeavor of mapping out dialect areas that have not yet been studied . Clearly , a comparative lexicon of colloquial Arabic would introduce an important diachronic dimension that is liable to radically change our entire koinê as visualized , for perception of evolutionary aspects of the Arabic instance , in Ferguson ( 1959 ) . It could potentially also motivate further fieldwork with a distinctly diachronic agenda . 2 . The aim and scope of the proposed research The present remarks set out to illustrate the eminent and so far untapped utility of Beduin Arabic vernaculars in the discipline of comparative Semitic linguistics ; for this purpose , the focus of my comments will be directed to the incidence of lexical Aramaisms in different Beduin vernaculars , here presented along with pertinent comparative data from different varieties of this Semitic language . The incidence of an Aramaic adstrate in Beduin Arabic vernaculars was indicated and exemplified in Borg ( 2008 ) . A useful by-product of this linguistic focus on Aramaisms in Beduin vernaculars is the identification of potential diachronic tracer elements in a reconstruction of the internal history of Arabic . Thus , for instance , an Aramaism that is shared by both sedentary and nomadic varieties of Arabic can be reasonably assigned to the earliest stratum in the Arabic word stock . The latter point is of particular interest inasmuch as it also raises important questions relating to the composition of earlier forms of spoken Arabic in the Arabian Peninsula . It may even be possible to argue that the largely independent evolutionary character of Beduin Arabic justifies its classification as a virtually distinct variety of Semitic .
|
مجمع اللغة العربية
|
|