_Various Dialects of the Arabic Language.--Difference between the
Berebber and Shelluh Languages.--Specimen of the
Mandinga.--Comparison of the Shelluh Language with that of the
Canary Islands, and Similitude of Customs_.
Yareb, the son of Kohtan[204], is said to have been the first who
spoke Arabic, and the Muhamedans contend that it is the most
eloquent language spoken in any part of the globe, and that it is
the one which will be used at the day of judgment. To write a long
dissertation on this copious and energetic language, would be only
to repeat what many learned men have said before; a few
observations, however, may not be superfluous to the generality of
readers. The Arabic language is spoken by a greater proportion of
the inhabitants of the known world than any other: a person having
a practical knowledge of it, may travel from the shores of the
Mediterranean Sea to the Cape of Good Hope, and notwithstanding
that in such a journey he must pass through many kingdoms and
empires of blacks, speaking distinct languages, yet he would find
356 men in all those countries versed in Muhamedan learning, and
therefore acquainted with the Arabic; again, he might cross the
widest part of the African continent from west to east, and would
every where meet with persons acquainted with it, more particularly
if he should follow the course of the great river called the Neel
El Abeed, on the banks of which, from Jinnie and Timbuctoo, to the
confines of lower Egypt, are innumerable cities and towns of Arabs
and Moors, all speaking the Arabic. Again, were a traveller to
proceed from Marocco to the farthest shore of Asia, opposite the
islands of Japan, he would find the Arabic generally spoken or
understood wherever he came. In Turkey, in Syria, in Arabia, in
Persia, and in India, it is understood by all men of education; and
any one possessing a knowledge of the Korannick Arabic, might, in a
very short time, make himself master of all its various dialects.
[Footnote 204: This Kohtan is the Joktan, son of Eber, brother
to Phaleg, mentioned in Genesis. Chapter x, verse 25.]
The letters of this language[205] are formed in four distinct ways,
according to their situation at the beginning, middle, or end of
words, as well as when standing alone; the greatest difficulty,
however, to be overcome, is the acquiring a just pronunciation,
(without which no living language can be essentially useful;) and
to attain which, the learner should be able to express the
difference of power and sound between what may be denominated the
357 synonymous letters, such as [A] and [A] with [A] and [A] with [A]
and [A] with [A] and [A] and [A] with [A] and [A] with [A] and [A]
with [A] and [A] and [A] with [A].
[Footnote 205: The Oriental punctuation is here adopted.]
[Footnote A: Arabic character; cannot be displayed in this
file format.]
Besides these, there are other letters, whose power is extremely
difficult to be acquired by an European, because no language in
Europe possesses sounds similar to the Arabic letters [Arabic:], nor
has any language, except, perhaps, the English, a letter with the
power of the Arabian [A]. Those who travel into Asia or Africa
scarcely ever become sufficiently masters of the Arabic to speak it
fluently, which radical defect proceeds altogether from their not
learning, while studying it, the peculiar distinction of the
synonymous letters. _No European, perhaps, ever knew more of the
theory of this language than the late Sir William Jones, but still
he could not converse with an Arabian;_ a circumstance of which he
was not conscious until he went to India. This great man, however,
had he been told that his knowledge of this popular eastern
language was so far deficient, that he was ignorant of the separate
powers of its synonymous letters, and consequently inadequate to
converse intelligibly with a native Arab, he would certainly have
considered it an aspersion, and have disputed altogether that such
was the fact. Considering how much we are indebted to the Arabians
358 for the preservation of many of the works of the ancients, which
would otherwise have never, perhaps, been known to us, it is really
surprising, that their language should be so little known in
Europe. It is certainly very difficult and abstruse, (to learners
particularly,) but this difficulty is rendered insurmountable by
the European professors knowing it only as a dead language, and
_teaching it without due attention to the pronunciation of the
before mentioned synonymous letters, a defect which is not likely
to be remedied, and which will always subject the speaker to
incessant errors_.
To shew the Arabic student the difference between the Oriental and
Occidental order of the letters of the alphabet, I shall here give
them opposite each other.