Arabic: A Linguistic Introduction

As the author clearly states in the preface, this book is intended as a "more technical introduction to the structures and processes that characterize Arabic linguistics." While a great resource for students of Arabic linguistics and teachers of Arabic, it is also accessible to linguists who are not specialists of Arabic, as Ryding connects general linguistic theory with Arabic-specific material, and provides all examples in transliteration.The book deals with Arabic phonology, morphophonology, morphology and syntax. It is well-structured, and as in her other works, Ryding provides extensive examples throughout. I frequently use Ryding's Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic, which I love for its wealth of information and examples, and in-depth treatment of the material which is based on decades of experience in the field. This book, while much shorter, bears Ryding's same signature style: thoroughness, clear writing, plenty of examples. It packs a lot of information in its 150 pages. It contains suggestions for further reading, a lengthy list of references, and exercises and discussion questions at the end of every chapter, which make it particularly useful for the classroom. Highly recommended.

I bought this book as a supplement to my Modern Standard Arabic class textbook. As someone with a degree in Linguistics, I found that I needed to understand the Arabic language from a linguistic standpoint before I could learn it as language.This book is incredibly clear and concise, and I think Ryding does an excellent job of explaining key concepts in linguistics in general as well as Arabic linguistics. However, if you don't have a background in linguistics, I wouldn't recommend this book - it is extremely technical and would be difficult to understand if you don't already have a basic foundation of linguistic vernacular.The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is because I think this book would be difficult to understand if you had never been exposed to the Arabic language. The field of linguistics is supposed to present information in a way that a linguist could analyze a language without having any prior knowledge or experience with it, and I've found that Ryding doesn't fully explain some unique aspects of the Arabic language before launching into a linguistic explanation. Since I have been studying Arabic for a few months now, I've been able to make sense of everything, but I can't imagine it would be very easy to follow without having taken language classes.If you are passionate about the Arabic language and have a background in linguistics, I would definitely recommend this. I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far and it has helped to greatly increase my knowledge of the language.

I paid money and I cannot use it on my devices. What a joke. There is no where it says the book has limited download devices. I want a full access to the book or a refund.

The semester complete it was time to ask students what they thought of their course textbook. The results were unanimous: this textbook superbly supports a first course in Arabic linguistics. Ryding's excellent textbook methodically fills the gap we have had in the field. It could be titled the General Linguistics of Arabic; it covers each subfield - as other reviewers have stated - with clear explanations, well-defined Arabic terms, well-researched references and challenging activities that can engage undergraduate and graduate students alike. Those without background in the field of linguistics will be pleased to find that Ryding has provided needed accessible definitions in each chapter. Her lifelong love and experience in the field of Arabic language and linguistics resonate in this up-to-date work. Critically it offers the reader an intuitive and empathetic approach to learning about the structures and the elegance of formal Arabic.

I purchased this book for a college course. Nothing is wrong with the quality of it or anything like that, but the book seems to be lacking something. It's a little dull to read and just seems to be throwing a bunch of information at you without really making it special. I've read a good amount of Arabic Linguistic books at this point, and this just felt a little boring.