An accessible grammar reference guide for learners of Levantine Arabic at all levels
A Learner's Grammar of Levantine Arabic is a comprehensive guide to the grammatical structures and rules of the Arabic varieties spoken in the Levant region, such as Palestinian, Syrian, Jordanian, and Lebanese. This book is suitable for beginners through more advanced levels, and it is the first to present North and South Levantine varieties side by side, allowing learners and linguists to compare them with each other and with other varieties of spoken Arabic.
Hitchcock groups major grammatical concepts together, making it easy to find information quickly, and he provides easy-to-understand explanations. The book includes extensive appendixes, with verb charts, prepositions, and conjunctions. Copious examples of native speaker usage—culled from newspapers, television programs, and more—are provided for each concept, helping learners understand how to apply the concepts to their own communications outside the classroom.
Table of Contents
Introduction
How to Use This Book
Part 1: Sounds
Unit 1: The Sounds of Levantine Arabic
Unit 2: Stress and the Helping Vowel
Unit 3: Regional Variation
Unit 4: Sound Changes
Unit 5: Introduction to Roots and Patterns
Unit 6: Weak Roots
Part 2: Word Types
Unit 7: Derived Nouns
Unit 8: The Feminine Suffix -a/e
Unit 9: Nouns with -i
Unit 10: Gender of Nouns
Unit 11: Singular, Plural, Count and Mass Nouns
Unit 12: Plural Formation
Unit 13: Definiteness
Unit 14: Demonstratives
Unit 15: The 2iDaafe
Unit 16: Adjectives
Unit 17: More on Adjectives
Unit 18: Pronouns
Unit 19: The -l- Suffix
Unit 20: Adverbs
Unit 21: Presentatives
Unit 22: Prepositions
Unit 23: Verb Derivation
Unit 24: Some Unexpected Verb Types
Unit 25: The Perfective
Unit 26: The Imperfective: Simple Verbs
Unit 27: The Imperfective: Derived Verbs
Unit 28: The Imperative
Unit 29: The Active Participle
Unit 30: The Passive Participle
Unit 31: maSdars
Part 3: Tense
Unit 32: Introduction to Tense
Unit 33: The Perfective
Unit 34: The Imperfective
Unit 35: Continuous Constructions
Unit 36: Future Constructions
Unit 37: Participles
Unit 38: Framing Constructions: kaan
Unit 39: Framing Constructions Indicating a Change of State
Unit 40: Framing Constructions Indicating Duration
Unit 41: Miscellaneous Framing Structures
Unit 42: Context Framing
Part 4: Mood
Unit 43: Commands and Instructions
Unit 44: Suggestions, Requests, Wishes, Exclamations, and Oaths
Unit 45: Modal Framing Structures
Unit 46: Miscellaneous Modal Structures
Part 5: Sentence Structure
Unit 47: Verbal Sentence
Unit 48: Topic Sentence
Unit 49: "To Be" Sentences and Existential ("There Is") Sentences
Unit 50: Agreement
Unit 51: Subjects
Unit 52: Direct and Prepositional Objects
Unit 53: Indirect Objects with -la- and 3ala
Unit 54: Secondary Objects
Unit 55: Reflexive and Reciprocal Constructions
Unit 56: Causative Constructions ("Make" and "Let")
Unit 57: Passive and Impersonal Constructions
Unit 58: Introduction to Subordination
Unit 59: Object Subordination
Unit 60: Nonobject Subordination
Unit 61: Special Zero-Imperfectives
Unit 62: Double-Verb Construction
Unit 63: Basic Relative Clauses
Unit 64: More Complicated Relative Clauses
Unit 65: The 7aal
Unit 66: Changes to Word Order and Emphasis
Part 6: Conjunction Constructions
Unit 67: Coordinating Conjunctions
Unit 68: Subordinating Conjunctions
Part 7: Conditional Structures
Unit 69: Open Conditionals
Unit 70: Hypothetical Conditionals
Unit 71: Other Conditional Constructions
Part 8: Questions
Unit 72: Closed Questions
Unit 73: Open Questions: Core Questions
Unit 74: Open Questions: Noncore Questions
Unit 75: Subordinated Questions
Part 9: Negation
Unit 76: Basic Negation
Unit 77: Other Common Negatives
Unit 78: Other Negative Structures
Part 10: Comparatives
Unit 79: Comparisons
Unit 80: Superlative Constructions
Part 11: Location and Destination
Unit 81 Location and Destination
Part 12: Numbers and Quantity Expressions
Unit 82: Numbers
Unit 83: Ordinal Numbers and Fractions
Unit 84: Quantifiers and Other Quantity Expressions
Appendices
Appendix A: Verb Tables
Appendix B: Prepositions
Appendix C: Conjunctions
Appendix D: Politeness, Impoliteness, and Terms of Address
Index
Reviews
"A remarkable achievement in the field of Arabic language pedagogy. This book offers a comprehensive, clear, and accessible introduction to the grammatical structures and rules of Levantine Arabic dialects spoken in Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. It is an essential resource for anyone who wants to learn, teach, or research Levantine Arabic. It is suitable for learners of all levels, from beginners to advanced, and can be used as a self-study guide or as a textbook for classroom instruction. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the fascinating and vibrant language and culture of the Levant."—Ghada Housen, assistant professor of instruction, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
About the Author
Chris Hitchcock is a freelance translator, interpreter, and researcher who has lived and worked in the Middle East. He also maintains the website Team Maha, a blog for learning Syrian Arabic. Elias Shakkour directs the Translator and Interpreter Corps at DePaul University and is a certified translator of Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
