A Linguistic History of Arabic presents a reconstruction of proto-Arabic by the methods of historical-comparative linguistics. It challenges the traditional conceptualization of an old, Classical language evolving into the contemporary Neo-Arabic dialects. Professor Owens combines established comparative linguistic methodology with a careful reading of the classical Arabic sources, such as the grammatical and exegetical traditions. He arrives at a richer and more complex picture of early Arabic language history than is current today and in doing so establishes the basis for a comprehensive, linguistically-based understanding of the history of Arabic. The arguments are set out in a concise, case by case basis, making it accessible to students and scholars of Arabic and Islamic culture, as well as to those studying Arabic and historical linguists.

1. Introduction: A Language and its Secrets 2. Old Arabic, Neo-Arabic, and Comparative Linguistics 3. Case and Proto Arabic 4. Al-Idgham al-Kabiyr and Case Endings 5. Pre-Diasporic Arabic in the Diaspora: A Statistical Approach to Arabic Language History 6. Nigerian Arabic and Reconstruction of the Imperfect Verb 7. Imala 8. Suffix Pronouns and Reconstruction 9. Summary and Epilogue References

Jonathan Owens , University of Maryland and Bayreuth University, Germany