Reviews : By Josh
For me, a budding linguist, it is pure joy to read this type of linguistic work. Brustad covers so many aspcts of spoken arabic in such a professional, ordered and useful manner. Examples are cited from the four dialect regions studied (Moroccan, Egyptian, Syrian and Kuwaiti) to prove each point. They are written in the original arabic (or how they would be written), then transliterated into the romanized script, and then written with the english translation. Nearly every aspect of spoken arabic is discussed here; even the most basic of points (ie differences in singular and plural nouns) are discussed in detail. She uses information from general linguistics, typology, syntax, phonology and compares arabic with other languages for a great description of each dialect region. There are appendices in the back which have the full stories, anecdotes, jokes, etc. collected from her personal data which she uses throughout the book to prove her points. It is in written in the same manner that the examples are written in.
GREAT BOOK! If you are interested in (arabic) linguistics, get this book!
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