A Reference Grammar of Syrian Arabic (Georgetown Arabic Series) [Paperback]

Mark W. Cowell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1964 | ISBN-10: 0878400095 | ISBN-13: 978-0878400096 | Edition: First Edition

Serves both as a text for beginning students of the language and as a guide to this dialect for Arabists and linguists.

Product Details

• Paperback: 601 pages
• Publisher: Georgetown University Press; First Edition edition (December 1964)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878400095
• ISBN-13: 978-0878400096
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,839,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but not for beginners, March 28, 2002

By 

"jwimbo" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Reference Grammar of Syrian Arabic (Georgetown Arabic Series) (Paperback)

I tried to use this book before I traveled to Syria and found it difficult to use. However, after being in Syria for two months and acquiring a basic knowledge of the dialect, I picked it up again and benefited from it greatly.

The strong points of the book are that it is very comprehensive in grammar, vocabulary, and pronounciation. However, it has several drawbacks. First, it is not organized like a textbook. I often found it difficult to find what I was looking for and one should not attempt to read it cover to cover. Second, it is too comprehensive for a novice. Third, it uses a lot of lingustical terms. I found that I would read a section and not get much out of it, but when I came back to it later, after I had improved my Arabic, I would learn a lot from the same section.

I would highly recommend this book to someone who meets all of the following criteria:

1. Has a solid foundation in Modern Standard Arabic
2. Has a basic understanding of the Syrian or another Levantine dialect.
3. Is serious about learning Syrian Arabic and wants to become proficient. If you just want to get the basics this book is not for you.
4. Does not plan to use this as a textbook, but plans to use it as a reference or as a supplement to a class, speaking with a friend, or to another book.

As a note, A Dictionary of Syrian Arabic: English-Arabic is an even better book and makes a great companion to this.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a great source for raw data, March 13, 2002

By 

asaf p. (tlv, israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Reference Grammar of Syrian Arabic (Georgetown Arabic Series) (Paperback)

Cowell's book does a great descriptive job, in the sense that it gives lots of data on various aspects of this language.
The data is almost untouched: If you know a bit about modern theories then you can easily ignore the theoretical aspects (old terminology etc) hence its a great place to collect unbiased data.
If you're into language learning/teaching, i dont recomend it as a textbook for SA. Its so old fashioned, it misses lots of important points which are sometimes very obvious.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Suitable for academic study, April 26, 2000

By 

julo pavelcik (olomouc, czech republic) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Reference Grammar of Syrian Arabic (Georgetown Arabic Series) (Paperback)

After studying this specialized philological book, which I borrowed from foreign library, I think that it is suitable, with its formal and contents structure, only for academic study. (I study latin philology and so I was trying to study syrian language as a self-taught person, because I am interested in studying of ancient languages. I did like this grammar-textbook of syrian language very much, but unfortunately I don't have it now. I had to give it back.) I consider it very clearly arranged a understandable.