ThisbookexploresthelonghistoryoftheArabiclanguage,frompre-IslamicArabicviatheClassicaleraoftheArabicgrammariansuptothepresentday.WhilemosttraditionalaccountshavebeendominatedbyalinearunderstandingofthedevelopmentofArabic,thisbookinsteadadvocatesamultiplepathwaysapproachtoArabiclanguagehistory.Arabichasmultifarioussources:itsrelationstootherSemiticlanguages,anoldepigraphicandpapyrologicaltradition,avibrantandlinguisticallyoriginalclassicalArabiclinguistictradition,andawidelydispersedarrayofcontemporaryspokenvarieties.ThesediversesourcespresentachallengetoandanopportunityfordefiningaholisticbutnotnecessarilylinearArabiclanguagehistory.ThegeographicalbreadthandchronologicaldepthofArabicmakeitafertilegroundforacriticalappraisalandapplicationofperspectivesfromarangeofsubdisciplinesincludingsociolinguistics,typology,grammaticalization,andcorpuslinguistics.JonathanOwensdrawsontheseapproachestoinvestigatemorethan20individualcasestudiesthatcovermorethan1500yearsofdocumentedandreconstructedhistory:theresultsdemonstratethatArabicisafarmorecomplexhistoricalobjectthantraditionalaccountshaveassumed.Thiscomplexityisfurtherexploredinacomparisonofthehistoricalmorphologyofthreelanguagesthatcanbecomparedoverroughlythesameperiod(500AD-2022AD):Icelandic,English,andArabic.IcelandicandEnglisharediametricallyopposedonaparameteroflinearity.Icelandiciseffectivelyalinear:themorphologyoftheearliestIcelandicwritingsisthemorphologyoftoday.Englishislinear,havingundergoneadrasticchangeinmorphologyfromitsOldEnglishstagetotheMiddleEnglishperiod.Arabicisshowntobealinearinmanyimportantrespects,butmultilinearinothers,withdifferentsortsoflinguisticchangesbeingspreadacrossmanyindividualhistoricalspeechcommunities.
