Arabic Historical Dialectology: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches.

• Author: Magidow, Alexander

Arabic Historical Dialectology: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches. Edited by CLIVE HOLES. New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2018. Pp. xix + 422. $115, [pounds sterling]84.

This innovative edited volume attempts, and largely succeeds, to provide a modern reference for scholars interested in the historical development of Arabic dialects. True to the title, the focus is on using modern dialectological research to shed light on the history of the dialects of specific regions of the Arab world. While some chapters take a more textual or philological approach, the primary source of data throughout is synchronic dialectological features and isoglosses. The greatest strength of this volume is that it is deliberately planned rather than simply collecting thematically related articles. The majority of the chapters follow a clear structure, while those chapters that deviate from it are less effective and somewhat more difficult to contextualize in relation to the other chapters.

The volume contains an extensive introduction and ten chapters, along with the usual scholarly apparatus. Laudable additions include the clear discussion of transcription methods and a glossary, both aimed at making the volume more accessible for non-Arabists (or even those outside of Arabic dialectology). All but three of the chapters explore the dialect history of a specific region. Each of those seven chapters probes both the linguistic features and social and political history of each region, attempting to combine the two to understand how the process of Arabicization unfolded in each. An additional chapter on Judeo-Arabic hews closely to the model of the other chapters, though its coverage is broader than a single region. The remaining two chapters break this mold by investigating more specific questions. The volume offers no concluding chapter, but features said glossary, a combined bibliography, and indices of names and subjects.

The editor's chapter-length introduction (chap, one) is a particularly helpful and modern overview of the field of Arabic dialectology with a focus on the diachronic component of that field. It summarizes the basic views in the field on the history of Arabic, the sources of data for historical research, major cross-dialectal isoglosses. and basic sociolinguistic aspects of dialectology. The introduction is balanced, summarizes a range of viewpoints, and can easily stand in as a general reference for readers new to the study of the...