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MSA... Pan-Arabist Movement? | ||
Tags: Arabic | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| nebojats Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5197 days ago 89 posts - 120 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Thai Studies: French, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Italian | Message 1 of 3 27 October 2010 at 4:03pm | IP Logged |
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Because of a discussion in another thread, I've tried to figure out the origins of Modern Standard Arabic. I'm surprised by how little information I've been able to find online. Usually, it's just generally stated that MSA a modernized version of Classical Arabic. I can't figure out how it evolved, when it came into use, who pushed for it, where the push came from, or why it has been maintained by all the various countries.
I've found a couple citations claiming it is linked to Pan-Arabism. This one from "Language Diversity Endangered" as found in Google Books: "Modern Standard Arabic and the liturgical Classical Arabic receive governmental support by the pan-Arabist ruling elites in these countries [talking about North Africa]. Since then [independence] their policy has been primarily directed to push back French, the language of the former colonizers, by fostering the use of Modern STandard Arabic." Any other connections to Pan-Arabism? Or alternative explanations? It seems to me that since MSA is hardly anyone's primary language, someone, somewhere, sometime must have had to make quite an effort to its creation and implementation. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| nebojats Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5197 days ago 89 posts - 120 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Thai Studies: French, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Italian | Message 2 of 3 27 October 2010 at 4:09pm | IP Logged |
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There's also information in a book on Googlebooks called, "Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World."
According to that, MSA or its predecessor stagnated during Ottoman rule, and then in the 19th century when there was a push to translate works, academics started to translate many works from European languages and that started a push to codify the language. Sam source says that MSA's spread has been reinforced by pan-Arabic satellite channels. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5386 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 3 of 3 27 October 2010 at 5:08pm | IP Logged |
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I wonder how Coptic and Berber speakers feel about this sort of movement, considering
that Arabic more or less colonized *their* indigenous languages. I wonder if there's any parallel to the situation in India, where Hindi has been trying to phase out English (the former colonizer language) only to face resistance from Dravidian states which accuse Hindi nationalists of trying to now colonize *them*. Not really related, just sort of a question I've had in my mind since studying Arabic. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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