Negation in Arabic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Negation in Arabic - Essay Example A comparison and contrasts of Arabic with the English language provides for several interesting as well as challenging issues. The Arabic calendar, although based on the lunar year, has the same number of months as the English calendar and there is also similarity in the names of the months (Online Arabic Tutorial). But the similarity ends here. Then the language becomes complex with its own set of rules and applications (Edwards, Malcolm). The Arabic grammar reflects the rule of its alphabets and vowels on the correct arrangement of words in a sentence. It makes good use of prefixes and suffixes for various purposes such as negation and also for indicating the future. The use of the alphabet depends on where it is placed in the word (Online Arabic Tutorial). For instance, the letter t (pronounced ta in Arabic) has five variations on the way it is used, depending on its position in the word. The same rule applies for all the other alphabets. The Arabic language is written right to left. However, its numbers are written left to right, just as is done in English and most other languages. The Arabic numerals are based on the Indian numeral system (Online Arabic Tutorial). The ways texts are written influence various other aspects in written and oral expressions. For instance, if an Arabic student were to make graphs indicating statistics of increasing data, the student will show the data increase from right to left. On the other hand, if the same graph were to be made by an English student, the data will show the increase from left to right (Tversky, Barbara). There is the use of a suffix to address adjectives, masculine and feminine genders. The possessive pronoun 'its' does not exist in Arabic. Depending on whether the noun is masculine or feminine, the possessive pronoun is spoken of as male or female. The verb 'to be' is understood but not expressed in Arabic. The comparative degree is indicated through the use of adjectives. It does not agree in gender with its noun, but remains fixed in form. Negation in the past tense is done by using a prefix at the beginning of the sentence. Also, future is formed through the use of a prefix in a sentence. The Arabic language does not have neutral gender. Every noun is either masculine or feminine gender (Online Arabic Tutorial). Semantics The Arabic language has its own repertoire of folk tales and idioms to buttress the language. The language is dimensionally set with its own culture and intonations. Direct expressions, proverbs, idioms, graphics, etc enrich the language. There is no neutral gender and the gender of every noun must be learned. It is important to pay attention to the gender of the nouns because the gender of adjectives, pronouns and verbs that refers to them must agree. Even cities have gender (Online Arabic Tutorial). The language is set with rules that require the crossing of dotting of every t's and i's. Names are replete with use of the name of the Prophet and his relations. Muhammad, Abdullah, Fatima, Jamila are some of the common names bearing divine attributes. The names and expressions