 2016 - 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 0690-2324-01 | Modern South Arabian Languages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| FACULTY OF HUMANITIES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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University credit hours: 4.0
Course description
Modern South Arabian Languages (MSAL) are a cluster of Semitic languages spoken by small tribal groups between Yemen, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The first part of the course presents their phonetic/phonological, morphological and syntactic description - mainly centered on Jibbāli - and a socio-cultural outline. Marginal position and some conservative traits led to classify MSAL within South Semitic, as linguistic relics of the oldest Semitic, but their classification remains an open question. In the second part of the course, we compare MSAL to Ancient South Arabian, North Semitic languages and Cushitic and – most important - to neighboring Arabic dialects (Yemenite, Omani, Southern Najdi, Gulf Arabic): trying to classify MSAL, we will use traditional methods of genetic reconstruction and classification and the analysis of sociolinguistic phenomena - contact, acculturation and Arabisation - characterizing the past and the present of the Semitic world, till its extreme boundaries.
COURSE AIMS: Students will acquire a basic knowledge of MSAL grammars, societies and cultures, mainly centered on Jibbāli. They will be able to cope with key-topics in the history of MSAL study and classification and will become aware of the interaction between MSAL and neighboring Arabic dialects.
Home Paper
PRE-REQUIREMENTS: Introduction to Semitic Linguistics
COURSE AIMS: Students will acquire a basic knowledge of MSAL grammars, societies and cultures, mainly centered on Jibbāli. They will be able to cope with key-topics in the history of MSAL study and classification and will become aware of the interaction between MSAL and neighboring Arabic dialects.
Home Paper
PRE-REQUIREMENTS: Introduction to Semitic Linguistics