African Arabic: Approaches to Dialectology

This present book studies from a dialectological perspective various African Arabic varieties, such as Maghreb Arabic, Bongor Arabic, Juba Arabic and Logorí Arabic. On the one hand, different specific linguistic aspects related to phonetics and phonology as well as to morphology, syntax and lexicology are discussed in this volume; e.g. the Arabic loanwords in Somali with regard to the strata in South Arabian, the structural features of Logorì Arabic and its use as Lingua Franca or native language, the contact-induced innovation processes in North African Arabic negation by analogy with Berber negation. On the other hand, the African Arabic theme is approached from a more general perspective analysing the contact effects on linguistic features and systems from a broader comparative, typological and universal viewpoint, e.g. a general typology of Arabic in Africa, the question of possible universal features of pidginization and creolization drawn on evidence from Arabic-based pidgins and creoles. Its outcomes offer important insights for all linguistic studies and approaches, and directly connect with other research fields such as sociolinguistics, ethnolinguistics and language acquisition.