Arabic Stylistics: A Coursebook (review)

The need has long existed for a work such as this. In addition to the intricacies of pharyngeal and pharyngealization-velarization articulation (the so-called ‘emphatic’ consonants), the triconsonantal root, and pattern morphology—including an array of complicated morphophonemic rules—the student of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is confronted with a seemingly infinite vocabulary as well. S/he must also deal with a host of synonyms, an abjad system of writing with phenomenal variation in handwriting and calligraphy in which only long vowels and diphthongs are usually indicated, and a plethora of stylistic rules. MSA stylistics is labyrinthian because a user of the language is always free to draw from and apply the extensive classical repertoire, especially the Koran. Needless to say, part of learning to read and write MSA at an advanced level involves a command of the collocation of words and the full extent of their semantic ranges. Indeed, this very complex matter takes considerable effort to master.

The real strength of this book is the information not often nor so thoroughly presented in the various grammars of MSA. For example, Ch. 2 covers lexis (25–58), one fascinating but malnourished area that the author discusses at great length. One can easily appreciate the fact that many words are plural in MSA but singular in English, such as ‘information’, ‘aid’, and soon. Thus, let us consider ‘medical advice’, aptly translated as naṣīʔiħ ṭibbiyya, the first word of which is the plural of naṣīħa ‘advice’, whose singular does not fit in this context (30), and xiyānatu lwuʕūd ‘breach of promise’ (lit. ‘promises’; 40). Another very perilous area for English speakers has to do with the overlapping collocation of lexemes. A good example is provided by the word fāsid ‘corrupt’, which collocates as follows: nið̣ām fāsid ‘corrupt regime’; however, in ʔaxlāq fāsida, it means ‘very bad morals’; in kalām fāsid it translates as ‘idle talk’; in ʕaqīda fāsida it translates as ‘false faith’ while it can have the sense of ‘rotten’ in bayḍ fāsid ‘rotten eggs’ (30). Showing just how complicated this really is, Hans Wehr’s A dictionary of Modern written Arabic (ed. by J Milton Cowan, Ithaca: Spoken Language Services, 1974, p. 713) lists other possible translations: ‘foul’, ‘spoiled’, ‘decayed’, ‘decomposed’, ‘putrid’, ‘depraved’, ‘vicious’, ‘wicked’, ‘immoral’, ‘empty’, ‘vain’, ‘unsound’, ‘false’, ‘wrong’, and ‘imperfect’.

Under the discussion of idiomaticity, we find mention of nonidiomatic fixed expressions, such as ‘black and white’, reversed in MSA (cf. Italian bianco e nero): ʔabyaḍu wa ʔaswad (40). MSA has quite a few more with reversed word order when compared to English: ‘day and night’ laylan wa naharan; ‘life and death’ almawtu walħayāt; ‘the innocent and the guilty’ almuð̣nibu walbarīʔ. Also of great importance are expressions such as ‘green with envy’, which utilizes the color ‘black’ in MSA: ħaqd ʔaswad (29).

Finally, let me take up the subject of connotations (45ff.). In MSA, the word būma ‘owl’ has the connotation of stupidity or bad luck, whereas owls in English are wise. In English, farmers can be well-to-do, whereas being a fallāħ ‘farmer’ in MSA connotes poverty. These are but some of the reasons Westerners often have difficulty attaining proficiency in MSA. However, a careful study of the six chapters of this tome will certainly facilitate command of the stylistic nuances of the language, enabling the student to sound and write more like an educated native speaker.

There are a number of typographical and other errors, such as mistranslations (‘I shall not go’ should be ‘I shall not attend’ [10]; ‘Islamic’, not ‘Human’ [61]), and the sentence ‘Was it you who wrote this?’, which should be rendered hal ʔ anta katabta hāð̣ā, not ʔaʔanta (11).