Editing Arabic (section)

== Status and usage ==

=== Diglossia ===
The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of [[diglossia]], which is the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. ''Tawleed'' is the process of giving a new shade of meaning to an old classical word. For example, ''al-hatif'' lexicographically means the one whose sound is heard but whose person remains unseen. Now the term ''al-hatif'' is used for a telephone. Therefore, the process of ''tawleed'' can express the needs of modern civilization in a manner that would appear to be originally Arabic.<ref name="GUP">{{Cite book|title=Arabic Language and Linguistics|date=2012|publisher=Georgetown University Press|isbn=9781589018853|jstor = j.ctt2tt3zh }}</ref>

In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of any nationality can be assumed to speak both their school-taught Standard Arabic as well as their native dialects, which depending on the region may be mutually unintelligible.<ref>Janet C.E. Watson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4RDIoDAF1e8C&pg=PR19 The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414064146/https://books.google.com/books?id=4RDIoDAF1e8C&pg=PR19 |date=14 April 2016 }}, Introduction, p. xix. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-19-160775-2}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=oj5jAMspUfAC&pg=PA10462 Proceedings and Debates of the] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414102344/https://books.google.com/books?id=oj5jAMspUfAC&pg=PA10462 |date=14 April 2016 }} [[107th United States Congress]] [[Congressional Record]], p. 10,462. Washington, DC: [[United States Government Printing Office]], 2002.</ref><ref>Shalom Staub, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HPsCHy3nsA8C&pg=PA124 Yemenis in New York City: The Folklore of Ethnicity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414035902/https://books.google.com/books?id=HPsCHy3nsA8C&pg=PA124 |date=14 April 2016 }}, p. 124. Philadelphia: [[Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies]], 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-944190-05-0}}</ref><ref>[[Daniel Newman (academic)|Daniel Newman]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=DEdXz4OVvqMC&pg=PA1 Arabic-English Thematic Lexicon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413231019/https://books.google.com/books?id=DEdXz4OVvqMC&pg=PA1 |date=13 April 2016 }}, p. 1. London: Routledge, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-134-10392-8}}</ref><ref>Rebecca L. Torstrick and Elizabeth Faier, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jwp6D51NB34C&pg=PA41 Culture and Customs of the Arab Gulf States] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414064244/https://books.google.com/books?id=Jwp6D51NB34C&pg=PA41 |date=14 April 2016 }}, p. 41. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-313-33659-1}}</ref> Some of these dialects can be considered to constitute separate languages which may have "sub-dialects" of their own.<ref>[[Walter J. Ong]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=JXC217u47tEC&pg=PA32 Interfaces of the Word: Studies in the Evolution of Consciousness and Culture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414064010/https://books.google.com/books?id=JXC217u47tEC&pg=PA32 |date=14 April 2016 }}, p. 32. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012. {{ISBN|978-0-8014-6630-4}}</ref> When educated Arabs of different dialects engage in conversation (for example, a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), many speakers [[Code-switching|code-switch]] back and forth between the dialectal and standard varieties of the language, sometimes even within the same sentence.

[[File:Flag of the Arab League.svg|thumb|upright|Flag of the [[Arab League]], used in some cases for the Arabic language]]
The issue of whether Arabic is one language or many languages is politically charged, in the same way it is for the [[varieties of Chinese]], [[Hindi language|Hindi]] and [[Urdu language|Urdu]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]] and [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Scots language|Scots]] and English, etc. In contrast to speakers of Hindi and Urdu who claim they cannot understand each other even when they can, speakers of the varieties of Arabic will claim they can all understand each other even when they cannot.<ref>Clive Holes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8E0Rr1xY4TQC&pg=PA2 Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions, and Varieties] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102102905/https://books.google.com/books?id=8E0Rr1xY4TQC&pg=PA2 |date=2 November 2022 }}, p. 3. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-1-58901-022-2}}</ref>

While there is a minimum level of comprehension between all Arabic dialects, this level can increase or decrease based on geographic proximity: for example, Levantine and Gulf speakers understand each other much better than they do speakers from the Maghreb. The issue of diglossia between spoken and written language is a complicating factor: A single written form, differing sharply from any of the spoken varieties learned natively, unites several sometimes divergent spoken forms. For political reasons, Arabs mostly assert that they all speak a single language, despite mutual incomprehensibility among differing spoken versions.<ref>Nizar Y. Habash,[https://books.google.com/books?id=kRIHCnC74BoC&pg=PA1 ''Introduction to Arabic Natural Language Processing''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102102906/https://books.google.com/books?id=kRIHCnC74BoC&pg=PA1 |date=2 November 2022 }}, pp. 1–2. [[San Rafael, California|San Rafael, CA]]: Morgan & Claypool, 2010. {{ISBN|978-1-59829-795-9}}</ref>

From a linguistic standpoint, it is often said that the various spoken varieties of Arabic differ among each other collectively about as much as the [[Romance languages]].<ref>Bernard Bate, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8uP7LHS3cDMC&pg=PT38 Tamil Oratory and the Dravidian Aesthetic: Democratic Practice in South India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102102907/https://books.google.com/books?id=8uP7LHS3cDMC&pg=PT38 |date=2 November 2022 }}, pp. 14–15. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-231-51940-3}}</ref> This is an apt comparison in a number of ways. The period of divergence from a single spoken form is similar—perhaps 1500 years for Arabic, 2000 years for the Romance languages. Also, while it is comprehensible to people from the [[Maghreb]], a linguistically innovative variety such as [[Moroccan Arabic]] is essentially incomprehensible to Arabs from the [[Mashriq]], much as French is incomprehensible to Spanish or Italian speakers but relatively easily learned by them. This suggests that the spoken varieties may linguistically be considered separate languages.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}[[File:Flag of Hejaz (1917).svg|thumb|upright|Flag used in some cases for the Arabic language (Flag of the [[Kingdom of Hejaz]] 1916–1925). The flag contains the four [[Pan-Arab colors]]: [[black]], [[white]], [[green]] and [[red]]. |alt=]]

=== Status in the Arab world vis-à-vis other languages ===
With the sole example of Medieval linguist [[Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati]] – who, while a scholar of the Arabic language, was not ethnically Arab – Medieval scholars of the Arabic language made no efforts at studying comparative linguistics, considering all other languages inferior.{{sfn|Versteegh|2014|p=107}}

In modern times, the educated upper classes in the Arab world have taken a nearly opposite view. [[Yasir Suleiman]] wrote in 2011 that "studying and knowing English or French in most of the Middle East and North Africa have become a badge of sophistication and modernity and ... feigning, or asserting, weakness or lack of facility in Arabic is sometimes paraded as a sign of status, class, and perversely, even education through a mélange of code-switching practises."<ref>Suleiman, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQAiPgBRUkoC&pg=PA93 93] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414032933/https://books.google.com/books?id=FQAiPgBRUkoC&pg=PA93 |date=14 April 2016 }}</ref>

=== As a foreign language ===
Arabic has been taught worldwide in many [[elementary school|elementary]] and [[secondary school|secondary]] schools, especially Muslim schools. Universities around the world have classes that teach Arabic as part of their [[Foreign Languages|foreign languages]], [[Middle Eastern studies]], and [[religious studies]] courses. [[Arabic language school]]s exist to assist students to learn Arabic outside the academic world. There are many Arabic [[language school]]s in the Arab world and other [[Muslim world|Muslim]] countries. Because the Quran is written in Arabic and all [[Glossary of Islam|Islamic terms]] are in Arabic, millions<ref>{{Cite web|last1=M. Ed.|first1=Loyola University-Maryland|last2=B. S.|first2=Child Development|title=The Importance of the Arabic Language in Islam|url=https://www.learnreligions.com/arabic-language-in-islam-2004035|access-date=2021-01-07|website=Learn Religions|language=en|archive-date=1 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201010256/http://islam.about.com/library/weekly/aa032300a.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> of Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) study the language.

Software and books with tapes are an important part of Arabic learning, as many of Arabic learners may live in places where there are no academic or Arabic language school classes available. Radio series of Arabic language classes are also provided from some radio stations.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Quesada|first1=Thomas C.|title=Arabic Keyboard|publisher=Peter Jones|location=Madisonville|page=49|edition=Atlanta|url=https://arabic-keyboard.online|access-date=11 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927072656/http://www.arc-news.com/read.php?lang=en&id_articol=1059|archive-date=27 September 2007|url-status=live}}</ref> A number of websites on the [[Internet]] provide online classes for all levels as a means of distance education; most teach Modern Standard Arabic, but some teach regional varieties from numerous countries.<ref>{{cite web|title=Reviews of Language Courses|url=http://Lang1234.com|publisher=Lang1234|access-date=12 September 2012}}</ref>