Modern Standard Arabic

MSA differs from what Western linguists call Classical Arabic (CA; اللغة العربية الفصحى التراثية al-lughat ul-ʻArabīyat ul-fuṣḥá ul-turathīya)—the variety of standard Arabic in the Quran and early Islamic (7th to 9th centuries) literature—most markedly in that it adopts words from European languages to describe industrial and post-industrial life. Native speakers of Arabic generally do not distinguish between 'Modern Standard Arabic' and 'Classical Arabic' as separate languages; they refer to both as al-ʻArabīyat ul-fuṣḥá (العربية الفصحى) meaning Standard Arabic or Literary Arabic. They consider the two forms to be two registers of one language; they're referred to in Arabic as فصحى العصر fuṣḥá l-ʻaṣr (MSA) and فصحى التراث fuṣḥá t-turāth (CA). Like English or Spanish, Arabic is considered a pluricentric language. Classical Arabic, also known as Quranic Arabic (although the term is not entirely accurate), is the language used in the Quran as well as in numerous literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times (7th to 9th centuries). Many Muslims study Classical Arabic in order to read the Quran in its original language. It is important to note that written Classical Arabic underwent fundamental changes during the early Islamic era, adding dots to distinguish similarly written letters, and adding the Tashkeel (diacritical markings that guide pronunciation) by Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali, Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, and other scholars. It was the lingua franca across the Middle East, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa during classic times and in Andalusia before classic time. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the literary standard across the Middle East, North Africa and Horn of Africa, and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Most printed material by the Arab League—including most books, newspapers, magazines, official documents, and reading primers for small children—is written in MSA. It was developed in the early part of the 19th century. 'Colloquial' Arabic refers to the many regional dialects derived from Classical Arabic spoken daily across the region and learned as a first language, and as second language if people speak other languages native to their particular country. They are not normally written, although a certain amount of literature (particularly plays and poetry (including songs)) exists in many of them. Literary Arabic (MSA) is the official language of all Arab League countries and is the only form of Arabic taught in schools at all stages. Additionally, some members of religious minorities recite prayers in it, as it is considered the literary language. Translated versions of the bible which are used in the Arabic speaking countries are mostly written in MSA aside from Classical Arabic. Muslims recite prayers in it; revised editions of numerous literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times are also written in MSA. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia – the use of two distinct varieties of the same language, usually in different social contexts. This diglossic situation facilitates code-switching in which a speaker switches back and forth between the two dialects of the language, sometimes even within the same sentence. People speak MSA as a third language if they speak other languages native to a country as their first language and colloquial Arabic dialects as their second language. Modern Standard Arabic is also spoken by people of Arab descent outside the Arab world when people of Arab descent speaking different dialects communicate to each other. As there is a prestige or standard dialect of vernacular Arabic, speakers of standard colloquial dialects code-switch between these particular dialects and MSA. Classical Arabic is considered normative; a few contemporary authors attempt (with varying degrees of success) to follow the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh) and to use the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as the Lisan al-Arab ِلِسَان العَرَب).