White Paper on

Modern Standard Arabic

Characteristics that define MSA and Distinguish it from Classical Fus'ha Arabic

 

 

 

Prepared by:
 
AL Arabic
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About the White Paper

The white paper used statistical search to assess the use of certain syntactic structures or phrases in Arabic digital content, as an indicator of the use of such structures in MSA. Read more .

Contribute

Arab linguists and language specialists are invited to contribute to the white paper. Discussions and feedback are welcome. both by direct contact or via academic reviews. Click here to contact us.

Advisory Board

The Advisory Board reviewed the white paper and offered valuable insights to its content. They also extended support and helped in completing the research. Read more....

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Details
Category: Study

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is defined as the register of Arabic used in modern day media, especially Arabic TV channels and publications, both print and online. However, this term has not yet received adequate linguistic research and study efforts in order to establish standards to distinguish it from Classical Arabic (CA, or Classical Fus’ha Arabic). This white paper attempts to shed some light on the linguistic aspects that distinguish the two registers, and establish preliminary standards to achieve this.

It is worth mentioning that MSA should be distinguished from spoken dialects in various Arabic speaking countries. Dialects are spoken forms that makes Arabic diglossic, but they are not registers of Arabic.