{"id":2860,"date":"2020-05-30T16:23:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T16:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elashiry.com\/English\/?p=2860"},"modified":"2020-06-03T08:01:40","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T08:01:40","slug":"the-arabic-language-of-sicily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elashiry.com\/English\/2020\/05\/30\/the-arabic-language-of-sicily\/","title":{"rendered":"The Arabic language of Sicily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oreiantlists in Europe tends to pay significant attention to Arabic dialects in their linguistic studies. This attention is not limited to modern Arabic dialects; instead, it goes further to include studying old Arabic dialects in the Arabic countries or areas in which Arabs settled for some time such as Andalusia and Malta. Among those studies is the book we are reviewing here. The book focuses entirely on the dialect of Sicilia from 9th<\/sup> until 13th<\/sup> centuries during the Arab Rule and until the Normans took over the island. The book addresses the development of this dialect and the linguistic characteristics unique to it. The author builds his description of Sicily\u2019s Arabic dialect on the old documents and comments on the grammatical mistakes of the public as noted carefully in the Normans era in Sicily by the Arab linguist Ibn Makki Alsaqli in his book Tathqeef Al-listen \u201cEducating the Tongue\u201d.<\/p>\n

The author of the book, subject matter of this review, Dr Dionisius Agius, is a lecturer in the Arabic Studies Department at the British University of Leeds. The book has been published by the international publishing house Kegan Paul among the Arabic Linguistics Library Series.<\/p>\n

The Sicilian Land and the Linguistic and Cultural Merge <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sicily was the focus of attention for the leaders and kings who wanted to control the trade routes through the Mediterranean Sea. The island witnessed great prosperity and wealth during the Islamic and Norman eras.\u00a0\u00a0 It has attracted immigrants from North Africa, Andalusia, and Italy. The Arab tribes during the Fatimid Period wanted to characterize the island with the Islamic character, and the Normans tried to return it to its Christian character during their occupation.<\/p>\n

Sicily has witnessed a great civilization where Latin, Greek and Arabic ideas mixed uniquely. Sicilians were affected by the traditions and habits of Islam, which became characterized by the Sicilian character. Linguistically speaking, they also benefited, from the Arabic terms, which reflected cultural aspects.<\/p>\n

The documents used by the author of the book indicate that a large number of the residents of Sicily converted to Islam becoming Arabists because they adopted the Arabic language and habits. While Sicilians experienced the tolerance of Islam, they also witnessed the understanding of the Normans through their King Roger I of Sicily with the Muslim majority of the residents. The Sicilian society continued in this way to accommodate its residents who had different ethnic backgrounds because of the Muslims\u2019 tolerance which the Normans maintained in their era.<\/p>\n

The Island of Sicily became the meeting point of people and land for war between the powers, which were controlling the Mediterranean Sea. Many people who arrived at the island, left behind some individuals who would settle on the island and add their language features to the communication language of the island. This process made identifying the words in Sicily before Islam, not an easy task.<\/p>\n

A sign to the culture intermixing following the Arab conquest between the Arabic elements and none Arabic ones is what the author calls the Sicilian Arabic.<\/p>\n

The author here differentiates between linguistic intermixing with which he uses the term Arabicization and the racial-cultural intermixing which he calls Arabization.\u00a0 The author thinks that many residents of Sicily learned Arabic because it was the language of the ruling class. However, they remained Christians and this way; they became Sicilian Arabists.<\/p>\n

The Linguistic Position of the Muslim Sicily and Sicily Post Islam <\/strong><\/p>\n

But how was the linguistic situation in Sicily before Islamic and Norman eras on which the author focusses his book?<\/p>\n

There were three linguistic groups in that period:<\/p>\n