zanzoun
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Arabic is the language of mostly all the countries in the middle east , it is the language of the Koran so mostly all the muslims know arabic and understand it . Arabic comes from the Semitic family which is completely different than English based on grammar. Despite the fact that arabic and english differ on various aspects such a syntax, phonology and many other subjects , bilingual people who can speak arabic and english tend to code switch in both languages . We also see that many words in arabic have been borrowed into english language. In the following, I will start by explaining the differences in Alphabet between english and arabic , difference in grammar and what words were borrowed from arabic to English. Second , I will talk about the sound system in english and in arabic ,finally I will show the difference between the two sound systems.
First , the arabic language has 28 consonants and 8 vowels but in english on the other hand has 22 consonants and 22 vowels . As we can see in arabic short vowels are not really important and they do not appear in the writing . In english we read from left to right and in arabic we read from right to left which is the complete opposite of english . Arabic has no verb to be in the present tense, and no auxiliary do. Furthermore, there is a single present tense in Arabic, compared to English, which has the simple and continuous forms. These differences result in errors such as “She good teacher, When you come to Germany?, I flying to Egypt tomorrow or Where he going?”(Shoebotton 2007) Arabic can’t make a difference between a action that is completed in the past with a connection to the present , which means that the present perfect tense is impossible in arabic . Which is why we hear arabic speaker when speaking in english they say phrases like “as in I finished my work .” or “ Can you check it .” (Shoebotton 2007)
In Arabic modal verbs do not exist at all . Which is why when an arab tries to speak english we hear him say “ From the possible that I am late. Which in correct English means I may be late .
Another common mistake we hear is Do I must do that ?” .(Shoebotton 2007) Also , a lot of arabic speakers have problems with genitive constructions such as girl’s dog , this phrase in arabic would be expressed as dog girl which is how some arabs say it in english . Also, we see that many arabic speakers do mistakes in the word order in speaking and writing when it comes to adjectives and nouns because in arabic the adjective follows the noun it qualifies. Arabic requires the inclusion of the pronoun in relative clauses, unlike English, in which the pronoun is excluded . This is why we hear arabic speakers say in english “ Where is the pen which I gave it to you yesterday?”(Shoebotton 2007) All these differences that appear between arabic and english cause Arabs that are learning English a lot of problems in writing. That is why we see that arabs take more time then Indo-European people to learn English.(Shoebotton 2007) Finally, with all these differences English and Arabic still manages to borrow words from each other. The words that were borrowed from Arabic came dirrectly from Arabic or it went from Arabic to other romance languages finally it came to English . For example , alcohol that came from the word in arabic kohl , in English Safari which came from the Swahili language safari which meant journey which came from the arabic word safar . Tahini, which came from the Arabic word "grind" is related to tahīn "flour".
Second , in the english sound system there are five criteria to describe each english consonant . First , the place of the articulation . Second , the manner of the articulation . Third the voicing . Fourth the source of air . finally , the nature of the airstream which means if its egressive ( air pushed out) or inegressive ( air pushed in ). (Eid 2006)
The place of articulation is where the point at which the articulators actually touch . There are 8 points :
1- Bilabials which are b ,p , m and w
2-Labio-dental: f , v
3- Dentals : θ ,ð
4-Alveolars: t , d, n, s, z ,l and r
5-Alveo-palatals : ʃ,tʃ , ʒ , d͡ʒ
6-Palatals : j
7-Velars: k ,g , y
8- glottals: h
The manner of articlation is when we describe the type of obstruction caused by the
narrowing of the articulators. there are 5 types : the stops which are p,b,t,d and k , the fricatives which are :f,v, θ ,ð , s ,z , ʃ, ʒ . Nasals which are : m ,n and y , also laterals which is only the l and finally, approximants which are j,w, r . (Eid 2006)
the voicing is when we say a sound and our cords vibrate we say its a voiced sound if it doesnt its called voicelless in english , but all english vowels are voiced.(Eid 2006) Vowels in english are described according to their frontness ( were the tongue is placed when pronouncing the vowel) , the openness/ closeness ( that means if the tongue is up middle or down when pronouncing the vowel) and finally , the lip rounding ( how the lips are when pronouncing the vowel.) (Eid 2006)
Also, in English phonology we have something called diphtongs which are 2 vowels that are considered as one part we pronounce them at the same time . There are 3 types of diphtongs those that end with I those that end with ʊ and finally , those that end with ə. (Eid 2006)
However in arabic , “there are 4 proseses in speech production : Air -stream , phonation , oro-nasal and articulatory. Some sounds in arabic are produced from the pharynx and the larynx these sounds are called resonates. Stops are hard to produce but fricatives aren’t these are called fricative pharynals : ح ،ع. Glottal is produced in the glottis if we close the glottis this symbol is produced ء and if we open it this sound comes out ه. From the bilabial the sounds ب،م،و come out from the dental the sounds ذ ظ ث come out alveolar the sounds د ت ط ض س ز ص come out , from the palatal the sounds شجي come out and the velar the sounds ك غ خ come out , uvular the sounds ع ح come out and finnaly in the glottal the sound ه comes out” .(Eid 2006)
Finally, the are consonants that are common between English and Arabic which are
d, b, t, j, f,, , z, š, h,l, m, n, w, r and y . But some consonants are restricted to just english which are p , g , tʃ , v, ŋ , ʒ and some are only restricted to arabic which are ، ط،ك،ع،ا،ص،ض،غ،ظ،غ .
(Eid 2006)
The only vowels that are common between English and Arabic are : “i ,a , u .The vowels that are restricted to only english are e, i , ə,æ , and to arabic the only vowel is a.”(Eid 2006) There are also common Diphtongs in English and Arabic, they are “/iy/, /ay/, /aw/, /uw/”(Eid 2006).There are four restricted to only English: “ /ey, ow, oy, w/ , and arabic doesnt have diphtongs restricted to it .” (Eid 2006)
In conclusion, as we saw English and Arabic are two completely different languages based on grammar, syntax, ect. Even if that is the case , bilinguals are able to code-stitch between these two languages and borrow words from one or the other language , we also see that there are a lot of common sounds between English and Arabic .
First , the arabic language has 28 consonants and 8 vowels but in english on the other hand has 22 consonants and 22 vowels . As we can see in arabic short vowels are not really important and they do not appear in the writing . In english we read from left to right and in arabic we read from right to left which is the complete opposite of english . Arabic has no verb to be in the present tense, and no auxiliary do. Furthermore, there is a single present tense in Arabic, compared to English, which has the simple and continuous forms. These differences result in errors such as “She good teacher, When you come to Germany?, I flying to Egypt tomorrow or Where he going?”(Shoebotton 2007) Arabic can’t make a difference between a action that is completed in the past with a connection to the present , which means that the present perfect tense is impossible in arabic . Which is why we hear arabic speaker when speaking in english they say phrases like “as in I finished my work .” or “ Can you check it .” (Shoebotton 2007)
In Arabic modal verbs do not exist at all . Which is why when an arab tries to speak english we hear him say “ From the possible that I am late. Which in correct English means I may be late .
Another common mistake we hear is Do I must do that ?” .(Shoebotton 2007) Also , a lot of arabic speakers have problems with genitive constructions such as girl’s dog , this phrase in arabic would be expressed as dog girl which is how some arabs say it in english . Also, we see that many arabic speakers do mistakes in the word order in speaking and writing when it comes to adjectives and nouns because in arabic the adjective follows the noun it qualifies. Arabic requires the inclusion of the pronoun in relative clauses, unlike English, in which the pronoun is excluded . This is why we hear arabic speakers say in english “ Where is the pen which I gave it to you yesterday?”(Shoebotton 2007) All these differences that appear between arabic and english cause Arabs that are learning English a lot of problems in writing. That is why we see that arabs take more time then Indo-European people to learn English.(Shoebotton 2007) Finally, with all these differences English and Arabic still manages to borrow words from each other. The words that were borrowed from Arabic came dirrectly from Arabic or it went from Arabic to other romance languages finally it came to English . For example , alcohol that came from the word in arabic kohl , in English Safari which came from the Swahili language safari which meant journey which came from the arabic word safar . Tahini, which came from the Arabic word "grind" is related to tahīn "flour".
Second , in the english sound system there are five criteria to describe each english consonant . First , the place of the articulation . Second , the manner of the articulation . Third the voicing . Fourth the source of air . finally , the nature of the airstream which means if its egressive ( air pushed out) or inegressive ( air pushed in ). (Eid 2006)
The place of articulation is where the point at which the articulators actually touch . There are 8 points :
1- Bilabials which are b ,p , m and w
2-Labio-dental: f , v
3- Dentals : θ ,ð
4-Alveolars: t , d, n, s, z ,l and r
5-Alveo-palatals : ʃ,tʃ , ʒ , d͡ʒ
6-Palatals : j
7-Velars: k ,g , y
8- glottals: h
The manner of articlation is when we describe the type of obstruction caused by the
narrowing of the articulators. there are 5 types : the stops which are p,b,t,d and k , the fricatives which are :f,v, θ ,ð , s ,z , ʃ, ʒ . Nasals which are : m ,n and y , also laterals which is only the l and finally, approximants which are j,w, r . (Eid 2006)
the voicing is when we say a sound and our cords vibrate we say its a voiced sound if it doesnt its called voicelless in english , but all english vowels are voiced.(Eid 2006) Vowels in english are described according to their frontness ( were the tongue is placed when pronouncing the vowel) , the openness/ closeness ( that means if the tongue is up middle or down when pronouncing the vowel) and finally , the lip rounding ( how the lips are when pronouncing the vowel.) (Eid 2006)
Also, in English phonology we have something called diphtongs which are 2 vowels that are considered as one part we pronounce them at the same time . There are 3 types of diphtongs those that end with I those that end with ʊ and finally , those that end with ə. (Eid 2006)
However in arabic , “there are 4 proseses in speech production : Air -stream , phonation , oro-nasal and articulatory. Some sounds in arabic are produced from the pharynx and the larynx these sounds are called resonates. Stops are hard to produce but fricatives aren’t these are called fricative pharynals : ح ،ع. Glottal is produced in the glottis if we close the glottis this symbol is produced ء and if we open it this sound comes out ه. From the bilabial the sounds ب،م،و come out from the dental the sounds ذ ظ ث come out alveolar the sounds د ت ط ض س ز ص come out , from the palatal the sounds شجي come out and the velar the sounds ك غ خ come out , uvular the sounds ع ح come out and finnaly in the glottal the sound ه comes out” .(Eid 2006)
Finally, the are consonants that are common between English and Arabic which are
d, b, t, j, f,, , z, š, h,l, m, n, w, r and y . But some consonants are restricted to just english which are p , g , tʃ , v, ŋ , ʒ and some are only restricted to arabic which are ، ط،ك،ع،ا،ص،ض،غ،ظ،غ .
(Eid 2006)
The only vowels that are common between English and Arabic are : “i ,a , u .The vowels that are restricted to only english are e, i , ə,æ , and to arabic the only vowel is a.”(Eid 2006) There are also common Diphtongs in English and Arabic, they are “/iy/, /ay/, /aw/, /uw/”(Eid 2006).There are four restricted to only English: “ /ey, ow, oy, w/ , and arabic doesnt have diphtongs restricted to it .” (Eid 2006)
In conclusion, as we saw English and Arabic are two completely different languages based on grammar, syntax, ect. Even if that is the case , bilinguals are able to code-stitch between these two languages and borrow words from one or the other language , we also see that there are a lot of common sounds between English and Arabic .
