Suboptimist

‘i`ra:b and tanwi:n [partially] revisited.

Yeah, it’s been a while, but it’s also been a crazy while. In fact, it’s been so long that I had forgotten that I had changed the layout to a WP theme. If there is anything you would like to see as per the layout of the blog, let me know.  In fact, I may take some time over the upcoming break to re-engineer something of my own again.

For a while now, I have owned a copy of Clive Holes’ Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions and Varieties, but have never read it very thoroughly. For some reason, my Arabic sociolinguistics teacher had us buy it, since Holes in known in the realm of Arabic sociolinguistics, but she never had us read from it. It’s a shame, because the book is a wealth of information. It clarified a discussion I had with one of my clients (I decided to call the people I tutor clients) about the importance of case ending in Classical, specifically Qur’anic Arabic. Frankly, I couldn’t give her a clear answer, but Hole’s explanation makes the most sense. To understand it, it’s important to know that the Qur’an isn’t so much of a ‘read’ text, but a recited text (Qur’an, itself, means recitation). In fact, it wasn’t compiled into a codex until long after Muhammad’s death, and was generally only recited from memory. I quote an excerpt.

Recitation is a species of oral performance, and, like any other type, Muhammad’s would have been marked by the use of sentence stress, intonation, and possibly para-linguistic gestures in order to make his meaning clear. In other words, Koranic ‘i`ra:b [case markings] may well have been an appropriate stylistic feature, but was by no means an indispensable syntactic one, required for the unambiguous communication of meaning.

I find Holes’s explanation important from more than a pedagogical point of view. It has also been of concern to linguists whether ‘i`ra:b was spoken at the time the Qur’an was recorded. Perhaps, as Holes claims, it wasn’t the case. In fact, I haven’t seen evidence that it was so. Some claim that the occurrence of tanwi:n [indefinite case markings] in modern Bedouin dialects is evidence of the common use of ‘i`ra:b in common speech in early Arabic. However, Holes argues, the occurrence of such markings only occurs in formulaic utterances like poems, proverbs, etc. On the other hand, as far as I am aware, even in formulaic utterances tanwi:n occurs only in Bedouin dialects, not urban dialects. Perhaps that is meaningful. I will stew over that for a while.

In other Arabic news, I was going to post part of a translation of some stories from 1001 Nights and talk about some of the sentences I found interesting, as well as discuss the cultural importance of the text, which I think those of you with an anthropological streak may enjoy. I really don’t think the translation is very polished yet, so maybe I will post that next time.

Traditionally, I post a list of my top-ten albums of the preceding year. This year, I have decided not to do so. The reason for my decision is two-fold: it has become harder to find good music and I don’t really have time to look for it anyway. As such, I haven’t listened to much of anything worth mentioning. Nor, for that matter, have I seen many good movies, played many good games, or read many good books recently. Looking back at this, I was lead to think about my hobbies and hobbies in general.

I divide my hobbies into two categories, level one and level two, and they are divided by what the priority they fall into when I am not pursuing my regular vocations, i.e school, and other primary interests and pursuits. Note, I don’t include ‘interests’ in these categories. That would be for another discussion.

Level 1

· Reading.

· Music.

· Games.

· Writing.

Level 2

· Philately.

So level two is small, but I like collecting stamps, but I don’t do it whenever I have free time. You will also notice missing from the list is exercising. While it may be a hobby, I didn’t include this. Once upon a time, I would just run every day. That became too difficult, so now I just exercise because it feels normal. It’s just part of the daily routine, I guess.

I recall having something more to say about this, like something profound, but I can’t remember. Sorry about trailing off into nothingness. I am also amazed at how quickly I changed the subject.