Arabic
Arabic language enjoys the popularity of being one of the religious languages. It is the language of Koran/Qur’an which is the sacred book of Muslims and a literary language since 6th century. Being a liturgical language, it is not only a widely spoken language in Arab world and Middle East but also throughout the world among Muslim nations especially in North Africa. It belongs to Semitic language family and is classified as Central Semitic closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. Modern/Formal Arabic, derived from Classical/Quranic Arabic which is considered a macro language with various varieties according to the regions while Standard Arabic is recognized in the Islamic World and taught in schools in Arab countries. It is also used in broadcasting and modern literature. Colloquial Arabic is the collective term used for the varieties of Arabic spoken and differs regionally. Arabic language speakers are estimated to be around 200 million and is one of the most spoken languages in the world. It is also one of the six official languages of United Nations. It is evident from the history that Arabic language gained recognition and acceptance with the rise of Islam.
Many languages spoken in Islamic countries throughout the world have loan words from Arabic .It has been written in Latin, Syriac and Hebrew scripts and has 28 letters. It is written horizontally from right to left with letters usually joined in writing. Arabic nouns can have three states: definite, indefinite and construct, number of nouns can be single, dual and plural. Sentences can be verbal [starts with a verb] or nominal [starts with a noun], two tenses exist: perfect and imperfect.
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