Ammarah
25-06-03, 06:10 PM
There are very few differences between classical and modern grammar - anyone who is familiar with classical should have no problems at all with modern...the vice versa is not as true, but the problems should not be that large nevertheless.
Some of the main differences are in:
i)Syntax - (The way that words are arranged in sentences).
The syntax of English is fairly fixed according to meaning- the difference between 'The boy hit the dog' and 'The dog hit the boy' is huge. This is because the syntax in an english verbal sentence is subject-verb-object.
In Arabic however, I have the liberty and license to say both ÖÑÈ ÇáæáÏõ ÇáßáÈó daraba al-waladu al-kalba and ÖÑÈ ÇáßáÈó ÇáæáÏõ daraba al-kalba al-waladu. BOTH of these sentences would mean 'The boy hit the dog', even though I have swapped the words around. This is because the syntax of Arabic is extremely relaxed, due to the grammatical function of a word being dependant on its case ending (notice how 'waladu' ends in an 'u' both times, and 'kalba' ends in an 'a'), rather than its postition in the sentence.
However, there are still 'norms' in Arabic syntax which are usually only deviated from for certain stylistic reasons. For example, in a verbal sentence, the 'normal' order of words is Verb-Subject-Object (e.g. daraba al-waladu al-kalba). If I wanted to emphasize that it was the dog that was hit, rather than, say, the rabbit, I could bring the object of the verb forward, and say daraba al-kalba al-waladu.
In modern Arabic, the syntax is usually only fiddled around in literary texts, and so general texts are fairly easier to understand because, in the absence of vowel markings to indicate case endings, one can always refer to the 'norm' of syntax to work out which word is the subject and which is the object. In Classical Arabic, the syntax is alot less fixed, and it is often more difficult to work out the function of each word in a sentence - it is not rare to find a verb followed by its subject.....and then the object two lines down - or vice versa. This is one main difficulty which students of Modern Arabic face when tackling classical texts, but after exposing yourself to many texts and going through them, the difficulty subsides bi idhnillaah.
ii)Punctuation. Classical texts can be somewhat daunting to the student of modern Arabic, who is used to seeing some - albeit very little at times - punctuation on the page. In Classical Arabic, there can often be pages and pages of text, without the presence of a single comma (alot of classical texts though have now been edited and slight punctuation added to help the reader). But sometimes figuring out where one clause ends and another begins, can be tricky.
iii)Vocabulary Some of the words used in Classical Arabic are now considered 'archaic' to an extent, and their synonyms are much more widely used. If you look in a dictionary such as Hans-Wehr, you will see that it is possible for one word in Arabic to carry many many shades of meanings - Hans-Wehr puts the most common at the beginning of the list. But often, the meaning connoted in a Classical text will be the last one, so it may not always be immediately understood. Sometimes, modern dictionaries are not enough, and a classical dictionary will need to be referred to for the meanings of certain words, which are no longer used in their entirety, or in that specific context.
A 'modern' text is generally alot easier to read, and as I said before, it is not always true that a student of modern Arabic will be able to understand a classical text - it will at first actually be rather challenging, depending on the text.
These are the things I can think of right now, insha'Allaah others will mention some more differences.
(You may find this article interesting, although it's a bit technical:
The Nature of Old Arabic and its Change into Middle and then Modern Arabic )
Some of the main differences are in:
i)Syntax - (The way that words are arranged in sentences).
The syntax of English is fairly fixed according to meaning- the difference between 'The boy hit the dog' and 'The dog hit the boy' is huge. This is because the syntax in an english verbal sentence is subject-verb-object.
In Arabic however, I have the liberty and license to say both ÖÑÈ ÇáæáÏõ ÇáßáÈó daraba al-waladu al-kalba and ÖÑÈ ÇáßáÈó ÇáæáÏõ daraba al-kalba al-waladu. BOTH of these sentences would mean 'The boy hit the dog', even though I have swapped the words around. This is because the syntax of Arabic is extremely relaxed, due to the grammatical function of a word being dependant on its case ending (notice how 'waladu' ends in an 'u' both times, and 'kalba' ends in an 'a'), rather than its postition in the sentence.
However, there are still 'norms' in Arabic syntax which are usually only deviated from for certain stylistic reasons. For example, in a verbal sentence, the 'normal' order of words is Verb-Subject-Object (e.g. daraba al-waladu al-kalba). If I wanted to emphasize that it was the dog that was hit, rather than, say, the rabbit, I could bring the object of the verb forward, and say daraba al-kalba al-waladu.
In modern Arabic, the syntax is usually only fiddled around in literary texts, and so general texts are fairly easier to understand because, in the absence of vowel markings to indicate case endings, one can always refer to the 'norm' of syntax to work out which word is the subject and which is the object. In Classical Arabic, the syntax is alot less fixed, and it is often more difficult to work out the function of each word in a sentence - it is not rare to find a verb followed by its subject.....and then the object two lines down - or vice versa. This is one main difficulty which students of Modern Arabic face when tackling classical texts, but after exposing yourself to many texts and going through them, the difficulty subsides bi idhnillaah.
ii)Punctuation. Classical texts can be somewhat daunting to the student of modern Arabic, who is used to seeing some - albeit very little at times - punctuation on the page. In Classical Arabic, there can often be pages and pages of text, without the presence of a single comma (alot of classical texts though have now been edited and slight punctuation added to help the reader). But sometimes figuring out where one clause ends and another begins, can be tricky.
iii)Vocabulary Some of the words used in Classical Arabic are now considered 'archaic' to an extent, and their synonyms are much more widely used. If you look in a dictionary such as Hans-Wehr, you will see that it is possible for one word in Arabic to carry many many shades of meanings - Hans-Wehr puts the most common at the beginning of the list. But often, the meaning connoted in a Classical text will be the last one, so it may not always be immediately understood. Sometimes, modern dictionaries are not enough, and a classical dictionary will need to be referred to for the meanings of certain words, which are no longer used in their entirety, or in that specific context.
A 'modern' text is generally alot easier to read, and as I said before, it is not always true that a student of modern Arabic will be able to understand a classical text - it will at first actually be rather challenging, depending on the text.
These are the things I can think of right now, insha'Allaah others will mention some more differences.
(You may find this article interesting, although it's a bit technical:
The Nature of Old Arabic and its Change into Middle and then Modern Arabic )