17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent piece of work, June 22, 2007
This review is from: The Syntax of Spoken Arabic: A Comparative Study of Moroccan, Egyptian, Syrian, and Kuwaiti Dialects (Arabic Edition) (Paperback)
For me, a budding linguist, it is pure joy to read this type of linguistic work. Brustad covers so many aspcts of spoken arabic in such a professional, ordered and useful manner. Examples are cited from the four dialect regions studied (Moroccan, Egyptian, Syrian and Kuwaiti) to prove each point. They are written in the original arabic (or how they would be written), then transliterated into the romanized script, and then written with the english translation. Nearly every aspect of spoken arabic is discussed here; even the most basic of points (ie differences in singular and plural nouns) are discussed in detail. She uses information from general linguistics, typology, syntax, phonology and compares arabic with other languages for a great description of each dialect region. There are appendices in the back which have the full stories, anecdotes, jokes, etc. collected from her personal data which she uses throughout the book to prove her points. It is in written in the same manner that the examples are written in.
GREAT BOOK! If you are interested in (arabic) linguistics, get this book!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful work, May 14, 2011
This review is from: The Syntax of Spoken Arabic: A Comparative Study of Moroccan, Egyptian, Syrian, and Kuwaiti Dialects (Arabic Edition) (Paperback)
This book is a dream for anyone interested in Arabic colloquial linguistics. As a speaker of a more obscure dialect, I am always looking to expand my dialect base and study the technicalities behind the differences between the major dialects. Luckily, Kristen Brustad has put together a very impressive work, and having used her Al-Kitaab books years ago to learn Arabic MSA literacy, I knew this book would be a quality product.
This book is, as the title suggests, a comparative study of Moroccan, Egyptian, Syrian, and Kuwaiti dialects-- each one representative of major regional groups in vernacular Arabic (here North African, Egyptian, Levantine, and Gulf, respectively). Bearing in mind that each country has its own variations even between town to town, the author does her best to include different demographics for each country's study. She lists her sources in the first appendix, and the second appendix is a series of long passages that A) she used for her study, and B) are great for reading to get an even bigger feel of a conversation in the dialect specified. (They are shown here written in each of these 3 modes: vernacular Arabic writing, transliteration, and English translation. Each sentence is numbered for easy reference.) Throughout the book's myriad of examples, the author took the painstaking task of completely breaking down each prefix, word, and suffix for her translations.
The body of her work goes into great technicalities and remains readable, fun, and interesting for someone who is interested in comparing these dialects. I highly recommend this book.
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