When Did Arabic Start | Ahmad Al-Jallad

Classical Arabic, MSA, and Fusha — all names that the Arabic language goes by. This conversation with Professor Ahmad Al-Jallad takes us through the origins and evolution of the Arabic language. Tracing back to the pre-Islamic and Nabatean Aramaic history through to the modern day, this episode is for grammar-nerds and Arabic speakers alike. We learn about where Arabic "came" from, what it means to define a language, and how it remained so stable despite instability in the region.

00:00 Introduction
01:36 First Traces of the Arabic Language
05:19 Earliest Attestations of Arabic
07:08 Scientific Classification of Arabic
09:19 Innovations and Features of Arabic
15:20 Ancient Arabic Inscriptions
19:53 Explosion of Arabic Writing
24:58 Stability and Evolution of Arabic
30:36 Modern Arabic Dialects and Contact
32:11 Understanding Ancient Texts
34:15 MSA, Classical Arabic & Modern South Arabian
42:02 The Nabataeans and Their Language
50:35 Arabic's Linguistic Family Tree & Beirut's Dialect


Professor Ahmad Al-Jallad is a philologist, epigraphist, and historian of language. His work focuses on the languages, writing systems, history, and cultures of pre-Islamic Arabia and the ancient Near East. Some of the areas he has contributed to include Quranic studies and the history of Arabic, including recent work he has done on the Safaitic and Paleo-Arabic scripts. He is currently professor in the Sofia Chair in Arabic Studies at Ohio State University.

Connect with Professor Al-Jallad 👉 https://nesa.osu.edu/people/al-jallad.1

media majlis museum at Northwestern University Qatar ongoing until December 5, 2024 👉   / themediamajlis  
Read more about the exhibition: "The limits of my language are the limits of my world" 👉 https://mediamajlis.northwestern.edu/...

media majlis museum at Northwestern University in Qatar is the first media museum in the Arab world. It is dedicated to exploring journalism, communication and media. Through exhibitions, publications, programs and online resources we engage with themes that connect audiences to an ever-changing media landscape. Our interactive exhibition space uses digital technologies to challenge standard narratives and provide 360-degree views on global, regional and local stories. We aspire to represent the diversity of voices, perspectives, events and people that contributes to the evolving media world that surrounds and affects us all.