Arabic language

Consistent with the objectives of the Dublin descriptors, the student will develop competences and skills based on the following elements:

Knowledge and Ability to Understand:

The student is expected to acquire adequate and in-depth theoretical and practical knowledge in the philological-linguistic field useful for the design of educational paths as well as for the decoding of verbal and iconic language of editorial products written in Arabic language. The aim of the course is to achieve an adequate level of linguistic competence, both written and oral, as well as a global understanding of the cultural, historical and linguistic specificities of the Arabic language.

Ability to Apply Knowledge and Comprehension:

The student will be able to deal with the analysis of Arabic texts after having acquired the necessary critical-methodological tools. Furthermore, they will be able to convey the acquired literary and linguistic knowledge in different communicative contexts and master the main techniques and the most common multimedia tools for learning foreign languages.

Autonomy of judgement:

The student will be able to compare elements of his/her own language and culture with those of the Arabic language and culture, highlighting their differences and similarities, free from the conditioning of an ethnocentric perspective. The student will also be able to critically examine the different cultural and sociological aspects of the applications of the Arabic language in its variants.

Communicative skills:

The student will be able to express him/herself, formulating complex statements, in everyday and professional contexts. They will be able to interact with interlocutors of different linguistic levels in structured or emergency contexts as linguistic-cultural mediators between the Arabic language and culture and their own.

Ability to learn:

The student will develop a method of study suitable to continue independently the learning and deepening of the Arabic language. They will be able to direct their critical interpretation skills towards a clear recognition of the essential factors of a process and their possible development, also in view of the creation of wide-ranging cultural and interdisciplinary projects. The student will also be able to use the most advanced technological tools in order to select the most authoritative sources of updates.

Teaching will be conducted through lectures, seminars, group activities, and language practice with language expert collaborators.

Not compulsory.

N.B.: Non-attending students must necessarily contact the lecturer and the native speaker.

The course is divided into four main themes: History of the Arabic language, Dialectology, Variety and Variation, and Sociolinguistics. In addition to a theoretical introduction, each topic will be treated through the analysis of Arabic texts.
In particular, the following will be observed:

• The Arabic grammatical tradition;
• Classification of dialects and historical dialectology;
• Diglossia, triglossia and median varieties;
• Linguistic Variation, Code-switching and
• Corpus based-analysis (methodology and tools);
• Reading, analysis and translation of texts and essays.

Articles and scientific essays:

§  Aguadé J., 2018, “The Maghrebi Dialects of Arabic”, in Arabic Historical Dialectology, Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches, Oxford: Oxford University press, pp. 29-63. (Studium)

§  Bassiouney R., 2020, Arabic Sociolinguistics – Topics in Diglossia, Gender, Identity, and Politics, 2^nd edition, Washington DC: Georgetown University Press. (Capitoli 2-3, pp. 30-157) (Studium)

§  Durand O.,2008, Dialettologia araba. Introduzione, Roma, Carocci. (Parte prima, capitoli 1-18, pp. 39-214);

§  Holes C., 2018, “Introduction”, in Arabic Historical Dialectology, Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches, Oxford: Oxford University press, pp. 1-28. (Studium)

§  Sartori, M., 2019, “A Relational Approach to Modern Literary Arabic Conditional Clauses”, in (eds. Tony McEnery, Andrew Hardie and Nagwa Younis) Arabic Corpus Linguistics, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 143-169.

From Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics (Kees Versteegh et al., eds.), Leiden, Brill:

§  Middle Arabic (Jérôme Lentin), pp. 215–224 vol. 3

§  Modern Standard Arabic (Ernest N. McCarus), pp. 238–262, vol. 3

Dictionary:

R.Traini: “Vocabolario arabo-italiano”, Roma IPO, 1965-1973 (e successive ristampe).

Texts adopted by language experts:

§  Sabir al-Mashrafi, Su‘ad al-Khawli, Abu Uways Mahmud, at-Takallum. A Comprehensive Modern Arabic Course, Maktabat al-Buruj, al-Qahirah 2014, vol. al-mutawassit/ Intermediate B2, unità 1, 3, 4, 5 (pp. 10-31 e pp. 35-119).

Advisable texts:

§  Mion G., 2018, La lingua araba. Nuova edizione, Roma, Carocci Editore.

§  Durand O., 2022, Ventura A., Grammatica di arabo marocchino, Lingua darija, Milano, Hoepli.

Additional material and Arabic texts will be provided by the lecturer through Studium's platform.

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.

Compulsory propaedeutic written test

Compulsory oral test

Two in itinere tests are foreseen, one written (comprehension and critical commentary on the texts) and one oral (in the form of a seminar presentation), aimed at ascertaining the acquisition of the topics addressed during the course. The grade for the in itinere tests will be averaged with the compulsory propaedeutic written test and the final oral test.

For the assessment of the examination, account will be taken of the candidate's mastery of the content and skills acquired, linguistic accuracy and lexical propriety, as well as his or her ability to argue.

Knowledge and skills required to pass the examination:

Knowledge of the evolution of the Arabic language; knowledge of the methodological approaches useful for the study of Arabic dialectology; ability to analyse Arabic texts of various kinds (written and oral) and to recognise and interpret the phenomena of linguistic variation; ability to identify and interpret the phenomena of code-switching from a sociolinguistic point of view; ability to write a critical commentary in Arabic on the texts analysed; ability to present research issues related to Arabic dialectology and sociolinguistics in Arabic.

How does Ferguson define Arabic diglossia? 

How does one define triglossia?

What are the major phenomena of linguistic variation?

What does intrafrasal code-switching consist of?

What is Matrix Language Theory?

What problems does diglossic variation entail in written production?

How can Arabic dialects be classified?

What are the major isoglosses that differentiate Bedouin dialects from sedentary dialects?

What are the historical stages of the process of Arabisation in the Maghreb?

What are the main morphosyntactic characteristics of Middle Arabic?