Kristen Brustad

This course leads students to critique discourses on formal and spoken Arabic, Fusha and Ammiyya.  We will begin with a review of the history of this discourse, reading texts from the early Abbasid period, and continue up to the present. We will examine ideologies of Standardization, Arabic in Danger, the Age of Decline, and the Nahda.  We will finish by asking what the relationship of discourses on Arabic is to current political events.

Texts: Selections from:

• Ma'ani al-Qur'an by al-Farra
• Bayan wa Tabyin al-Jahiz
• Nawadir al-lughawiyyin wa al-Nuhaat
• Letters written by Farhat, Sharif Mecca, Butrus al-Bustani
• Articles on Arabic exams from Arabic newspapers
• TV programs: Himayat al-lugha al-Arabiyya, interview with Adonis

Grading:

• Preparation and participation:35%
• Weekly blog writing: 25%
• Two oral presentations: 20%
• Final paper: 20%

Please check back for updates.

This course continues the work in ARA 601C, 611C and 621K in pushing students towards proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, listening, and culture. It introduces students to various topics in Arab culture and thought in order to expand language skills, advance vocabulary acquisition, and build toward Intermediate High proficiency in all skills. Coursework thus focuses on helping students master and activate large amounts of vocabulary and utilize the root and pattern system as a comprehension and learning tool. We continue to develop reading and listening strategies that enable students to comprehend main ideas in authentic texts. Communicative skills continue to remain a priority, and include work in colloquial Arabic. Preparation for class and active, cooperative participation in small group activities remain essential components of the course. Students should expect to spend two to three hours daily on homework and class preparation. Requirements also include occasional presentations, exams, and weekly writing activities. Not open to native speakers of Arabic. 

Grading Policy

Attendance and Participation 20% Homework Assignments 30% Quizzes, Skits/Oral Presentations 35% Final Examination 15%

Texts

Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part II.

Students read and discuss Arabic language materials related to the subject matter of another designated course.     

Students read and discuss Arabic language materials related to the subject matter of another designated course.     

Students read and discuss Arabic language materials related to the subject matter of another designated course.     

This course continues the work in ARA 601C, 611C and 621K in pushing students towards proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, listening, and culture. It introduces students to various topics in Arab culture and thought in order to expand language skills, advance vocabulary acquisition, and build toward Intermediate High proficiency in all skills. Coursework thus focuses on helping students master and activate large amounts of vocabulary and utilize the root and pattern system as a comprehension and learning tool. We continue to develop reading and listening strategies that enable students to comprehend main ideas in authentic texts. Communicative skills continue to remain a priority, and include work in colloquial Arabic. Preparation for class and active, cooperative participation in small group activities remain essential components of the course. Students should expect to spend two to three hours daily on homework and class preparation. Requirements also include occasional presentations, exams, and weekly writing activities. Not open to native speakers of Arabic. 

Grading Policy

To be provided by instructor.

Texts

Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part II.

This course continues the work in ARA 601C, 611C and 621K in pushing students towards proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, listening, and culture. It introduces students to various topics in Arab culture and thought in order to expand language skills, advance vocabulary acquisition, and build toward Intermediate High proficiency in all skills. Coursework thus focuses on helping students master and activate large amounts of vocabulary and utilize the root and pattern system as a comprehension and learning tool. We continue to develop reading and listening strategies that enable students to comprehend main ideas in authentic texts. Communicative skills continue to remain a priority, and include work in colloquial Arabic. Preparation for class and active, cooperative participation in small group activities remain essential components of the course. Students should expect to spend two to three hours daily on homework and class preparation. Requirements also include occasional presentations, exams, and weekly writing activities. Not open to native speakers of Arabic. 

Grading Policy

To be provided by instructor.

Texts

Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part II.

This course is the third semester of intensive Arabic language instruction and is not open to native speakers of Arabic.

Texts

Brustad, Al-Batal, Al-Tonsi:  Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part One with DVDs

Grading

To be provided by instructor.

This course is the fifth semester of intensive Arabic language instruction and is not open to native speakers of Arabic.

Texts

Brustad, Al-Batal, Al-Tonsi:  Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part Two with DVDs 

Grading

To be provided by instructor.

This course is the fifth semester of intensive Arabic language instruction and is not open to native speakers of Arabic.

Texts

Brustad, Al-Batal, Al-Tonsi:  Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part Two with DVDs 

Grading

To be provided by instructor.

This course continues the work in ARA 601C, 611C and 621K in pushing students towards proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, listening, and culture. It introduces students to various topics in Arab culture and thought in order to expand language skills, advance vocabulary acquisition, and build toward Intermediate High proficiency in all skills. Coursework thus focuses on helping students master and activate large amounts of vocabulary and utilize the root and pattern system as a comprehension and learning tool. We continue to develop reading and listening strategies that enable students to comprehend main ideas in authentic texts. Communicative skills continue to remain a priority, and include work in colloquial Arabic. Preparation for class and active, cooperative participation in small group activities remain essential components of the course. Students should expect to spend two to three hours daily on homework and class preparation. Requirements also include occasional presentations, exams, and weekly writing activities. Not open to native speakers of Arabic. 

Grading Policy

Attendance and Participation 20% Homework Assignments 30% Quizzes, Skits/Oral Presentations 35% Final Examination 15%

Texts

Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part II.

This course continues the work in ARA 601C, 611C and 621K in pushing students towards proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, listening, and culture. It introduces students to various topics in Arab culture and thought in order to expand language skills, advance vocabulary acquisition, and build toward Intermediate High proficiency in all skills. Coursework thus focuses on helping students master and activate large amounts of vocabulary and utilize the root and pattern system as a comprehension and learning tool. We continue to develop reading and listening strategies that enable students to comprehend main ideas in authentic texts. Communicative skills continue to remain a priority, and include work in colloquial Arabic. Preparation for class and active, cooperative participation in small group activities remain essential components of the course. Students should expect to spend two to three hours daily on homework and class preparation. Requirements also include occasional presentations, exams, and weekly writing activities. Not open to native speakers of Arabic. 

Grading Policy

To be provided by instructor.

Texts

Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part II.

This course aims to bring together the most recent research in the Arabic linguistics and to provide an opportunity for advanced graduate students in Arabic to undertake research in an area of interest to them. Each participant will chose an area of focus, prepare a reading list for the class, and lead class discussion. In addition, it is expected that each participant will work on a research project that will lead eventually to a publication. 

Restricted by department: Permission of instructor needed to register.

Texts

Articles from:

Journal of Arabic Linguistics

Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics 

Requirements

Preparation and participation 30%

Preparing reading list and leading class discussion 35%

Research project 35%

This course takes students through some of the best-known poetry and prose texts of the classical Arabic turaath. The goals are: 1. To begin to develop a sense of what classical Arabic literature looks and feels like, and 2. to develop reading skills and strategies for reading highly complex texts. TextsSelections from classical Arabic poetryal-Jahiz, Bukhalaa and Hayawanal-Tawhidi, Imtaa3 wa Mu’aanasaIbn al-Muqaffa3Kitab al-Aghanial-Tannukhi, al-Faraj ba3d al-Shidda RequirementsPreparation and participation  50%Written and recorded assignments  25%Final Project  25%

This course is the fifth semester of intensive Arabic language instruction and is not open to native speakers of Arabic.

Texts

Brustad, Al-Batal, Al-Tonsi:  Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part Two with DVDs 

Grading

To be provided by instructor.

This course is the fifth semester of intensive Arabic language instruction and is not open to native speakers of Arabic.

Texts

Brustad, Al-Batal, Al-Tonsi:  Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part Two with DVDs 

Grading

To be provided by instructor.

This course represents a theory- and research-based continuation of the more description-based ARA 382C Arabic Dialectology course (prerequisite for this course). Students will deepen their knowledge of certain dialect area(s) of their choice in addition to their grasp of theoretical approaches to the study of dialect.  Each student will undertake a research project based on original dialect material; this project should lead eventually to the submission of an article for publication.  Each student will also be responsible for leading discussions of theoretical articles in linguistic fields related to their research.  Students will also become proficient users of transcription software PRAT and ELAN.     Prerequisites:  Graduate standing, B+ or better in Arabic Dialectology

Requirements: 

Two presentations on linguistic theories related to student’s research; Weekly transcriptions of research recordings; Research project aimed at publication

Materials include: 

Epps, Language Contact; Trudgill, On Dialect; Milroy, Social Networks; Hopper et al Grammaticalization; Bullock, Sociophonetics; Eckert, Variation and the Indexical Field; Ross, Social Networks and Kinds of Speech Events

This course explores the concept of "Fusha" and its relationship to "Ammiyya" beginning in the seventh century CE up to the present. We will read a wide variety of primary and secondary sources in search of the ideological positions that underlie them. Our goal will be to develop our understanding of the ideological history of Arabic, with some attention to the extent of linguistic variation in the early period.

Readings

To be determined.

Grading Policy

Preparation and Participation 25%

Weekly writing 25%

Small projects/presentations as assigned 20%

Research project and paper 30%

This seminar will work through similarities and differences in phonology, morphology and syntax in dialects across the Arab world. Linguistic analysis will not require special training as long as students have a solid knowledge of Arabic, formal and at least one dialect. In addition to weekly reading, listening, and transcription assignments, each student will design in consultation with the instructor a research project involving collecting and analyzing data from a dialect outside the focus of the course. The seminar will be conducted in Arabic.  TextsCourse websiteBrustad, Syntax of Spoken Arabic

GradingWeekly assignments    25%Preparation and participation   25%Presentations as assigned  20%Research Project  30%

Students read and discuss Arabic language materials related to the subject matter of another designated course.     

This course continues the work in ARA 601C, 611C and 621K in pushing students towards proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, listening, and culture. It introduces students to various topics in Arab culture and thought in order to expand language skills, advance vocabulary acquisition, and build toward Intermediate High proficiency in all skills. Coursework thus focuses on helping students master and activate large amounts of vocabulary and utilize the root and pattern system as a comprehension and learning tool. We continue to develop reading and listening strategies that enable students to comprehend main ideas in authentic texts. Communicative skills continue to remain a priority, and include work in colloquial Arabic. Preparation for class and active, cooperative participation in small group activities remain essential components of the course. Students should expect to spend two to three hours daily on homework and class preparation. Requirements also include occasional presentations, exams, and weekly writing activities. Not open to native speakers of Arabic. 

Grading Policy

To be provided by instructor.

Texts

Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part II.

This course continues the work in ARA 601C, 611C and 621K in pushing students towards proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, listening, and culture. It introduces students to various topics in Arab culture and thought in order to expand language skills, advance vocabulary acquisition, and build toward Intermediate High proficiency in all skills. Coursework thus focuses on helping students master and activate large amounts of vocabulary and utilize the root and pattern system as a comprehension and learning tool. We continue to develop reading and listening strategies that enable students to comprehend main ideas in authentic texts. Communicative skills continue to remain a priority, and include work in colloquial Arabic. Preparation for class and active, cooperative participation in small group activities remain essential components of the course. Students should expect to spend two to three hours daily on homework and class preparation. Requirements also include occasional presentations, exams, and weekly writing activities. Not open to native speakers of Arabic. 

Grading Policy

To be provided by instructor.

Texts

Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part II.

This course takes students from the study of language through culture to the study of culture through language as the focus gradually shifts from exercises and drills to discussion of reading and listening texts. The course aims to push students toward the cultural and linguistic competence of educated native speakers, and allows for students to incorporate their own areas of research into the class. Not open to native speakers of Arabic.

Grading Policy

To be provided by instructor.

Texts

Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part II.

This course takes students from the study of language through culture to the study of culture through language as the focus gradually shifts from exercises and drills to discussion of reading and listening texts. The course aims to push students toward the cultural and linguistic competence of educated native speakers, and allows for students to incorporate their own areas of research into the class. Not open to native speakers of Arabic.

Grading Policy

To be provided by instructor.

Texts

Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part II.

This course introduces students to the canon of modern Arabic literature. Starting with the representation of the modern encounter with Europe in the early nineteenth century and ending with contemporary Arabic fiction, this course introduces students to original texts, which are read and discussed in Arabic. Students will also engage critical works in Arabic and English that examine this tradtition from historical, aesthetic, and linguistic perpectives. The aim of this course is to foster mastery of a literary tradition, help with language skills through reading and discussion, and enable students to identify texts for their MA and PhD litsts. An original collaboration between Arabic language and literature faculty and students, this course is a model that could be applied in a variety of MES fields in the future.

Texts

Shidyaq, Haykal, Taymuriyya, Jurji Zaidan, Tawfiq al-Hakim, Mahfouz, Idriss, Munif, Barakat, al-Ghitani, al-Sadawi Fadwa Tuqan, Emilie Habibi, Tayyib Saleh, Ghada al-Samman, Baalbaki, Wannus, Sunallah Ibrahim, Adonis, Tarabishi, Nowaihi, Kanafani, Jabra, Hanna Mina, Hanan al-Shaykh, Z Tamer, Elias Khoury, Shukry, Baalbaki, and critical articles.

Grading

Preparation of readings and participation in discussion 40%, Preparation of 3 class sessions and leading discussion in them 30%, Final paper 30%

Students read and discuss Arabic language materials related to the subject matter of another designated course.     

This course re-reads the history of Arabic through the lens of language ideology, exploring concepts of language register and variety. We will investigate the history of language variation in Arabic as it has been discussed and portrayed, in search of ideologies about that history in both Arabic and western scholarship. Our source material includes primary texts from a range of periods and genres from literary to linguistic, from the eighth century to the twenty-first. To be conducted in Arabic, with readings in both Arabic and English.

Readings

Articles and primary texts posted on Blackboard

Grading Policy

Well-prepared participation in class discussions                                25%

Weekly writing assignments in Arabic on the readings                       25%

Short presentations as assigned in Arabic                                         10%

Research paper to be chosen in consultation with instructor,

orally presented in Arabic and submitted in written form in English     35%

Course Description

In this course, we will explore, through Arabic texts and genres, the intersections of linguistic and literary theory, with the aim of examining relationships between genre and discourse types and expanding the questions we ask of texts from both standpoints.  The course hopes to attract students of both linguistic and literary theoretical interests who would like to think more about how their research might be enriched by greater knowledge of a different body of work.  We will read and discuss performance and genre theory, language ideology, and affect in addition to work suggested by participants, and analyze texts from a broad range of sources, literary and other.  Course conducted in Arabic.     

Texts

RIchard Bauman, Verbal Art as Performance

Schieffelin, Woolard & Kroskrity, Language Ideologies: Practice & Theory

John Lucy,  Reflexive Language: Reported Speech and Metapragmatics

Ben Blount, Language, Culture, and Society: A book of readings

Adonis, selected readings

Judith Irvine,  "Registering Affect: Heteroglossia in the Linguistic Expression of

Emotion," in Language and the Politics of Emotion. Eds. Catherine A. Lutz and Lila Abu-Lughod

Grading & Requirements

Preparation and participation: 25%

Leading one class session (choose readings, prepare and lead discussion): 20%

Biweekly writing: 25%

Research paper: 30%

This seminar will work through the similarities and differences in phonology and syntax in three major regional dialects: Moroccan, urban Levantine, and Cairene, with occasional reference to other dialects. We will be listening  to samples from these dialects in and outside of class and identifying the phonological and syntactic features of them. Linguistic analysis will not require special training as long as students have a solid knowledge of Arabic syntax. In addition to weekly reading, listening, and transcription assignments, each student will design in consultation with the instructor a research project involving collecting and analyzing data from a dialect outside the focus of the course. This seminar is intended for students with at least three years of college level Arabic and basic familiarity with one dialect. Taught in Arabic. 

Texts

To be provided by instructor. 

Grading

To be provided by instructor. 

This course continues the work in ARA 601C, 611C and 621K in pushing students towards proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, listening, and culture. It introduces students to various topics in Arab culture and thought in order to expand language skills, advance vocabulary acquisition, and build toward Intermediate High proficiency in all skills. Coursework thus focuses on helping students master and activate large amounts of vocabulary and utilize the root and pattern system as a comprehension and learning tool. We continue to develop reading and listening strategies that enable students to comprehend main ideas in authentic texts. Communicative skills continue to remain a priority, and include work in colloquial Arabic. Preparation for class and active, cooperative participation in small group activities remain essential components of the course. Students should expect to spend two to three hours daily on homework and class preparation. Requirements also include occasional presentations, exams, and weekly writing activities.

Grading Policy

Attendance and Participation 20% Homework Assignments 30% Quizzes, Skits/Oral Presentations 35% Final Examination 15%

Texts

Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-Arabiyya Part II.

This course explores concepts of language register and variety across the history of Arabic, from the present day to data from pre-Islamic times recorded by medieval Arab grammarians. We will investigate the history of language variation as it has been portrayed and recorded and the ideologies about that history in Arabic and Western scholarship. To be conducted in Arabic, with readings in both Arabic and English.

Texts:

Haeri, Niloofar, Sacred Language, Ordinary People Suleiman, Yasser, The Arabic Language and National Identity Materials on Blackboard

Grading:

Well-prepared participation in class discussions 25% 

Weekly writing assignments 25% 

Presentations 15% 

Research project 35%