Arabic: A Language of Communication and Civilization

Every year, the world marks the International Arabic Language Day on December 18th. This day is regarded as an opportunity to celebrate the beauty and significance of the Arabic language, spoken by over 422 million people worldwide. It holds official status in more than 22 countries and serves as a common language of communication across many regions. Furthermore, its script extends beyond Arabic itself, providing the writing system for languages like Urdu and Persian.

Arabic's origin lies in West Asia, specifically the Arabian Peninsula. Its roots trace back to a family of ancient Semitic languages, including Aramaic and Hebrew. Several theories attempt to explain the language's development, the most prominent of which are:

Imitation Theory: This proposes that Arabic emerged through human imitation of natural sounds. For example, the "ha" sound might have mimicked thunder, while the "ta" sound could have represented rain.

Emotional Sounds Theory: This theory suggests that Arabic developed from the expressive sounds humans make during emotions like joy, sadness, or anger.

Signifying Sounds Theory: This view posits that Arabic arose from the sounds humans used to signify specific objects and phenomena.

While these theories offer intriguing perspectives, the precise mechanisms behind Arabic's evolution remain under discussion among linguists.

While the precise origins of the Arabic language remain open to debate among linguists, there's broad agreement that it emerged from the civilized interactions between ancient tribes inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula and it is a member of the Semitic language family. In fact, the Arabic language has undergone significant transformations throughout its long history, shaped by several key factors, such as:

1. Arab Migrations: As Arab communities migrated across the Arabian Peninsula and beyond, the language spread and mingled with local dialects, enriching its vocabulary and evolving in different ways across regions like East and Central Africa.

2.The Rise of Islam: Islam played a crucial role in standardizing and disseminating the Arabic language. The revelation of the Quran in Arabic solidified its status as the language of scripture, leading to efforts to preserve its purity and facilitate its spread throughout the growing Islamic world as it is for 1450 years.

3.Islamic Sciences and Civilization: The flourishing of Islamic science and civilization further propelled the development of Arabic. Renowned scholars like Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Nafis, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Battuta, Ibn Firnas, and al-Razi produced countless scientific and literary masterpieces in Arabic. These works were later translated and studied by European scholars, contributing significantly to the intellectual advancements of the era.

However, despite its rich history and cultural significance, the Arabic language faces several challenges in the modern world:

a. The Dominance of Local Dialects in daily communication has limited the use of formal or classical Arabic. This restricts access to the full linguistic richness and grammatical complexity of the language.

b. Globalization has led to the incorporation of foreign words and sentence structures into Arabic, potentially impacting its grammatical integrity and unique character.

c. The decline of Arabic in scientific output has led English to become the dominant language of research and education, limiting the Arabic language's reach and hindering its development in specialized fields after it was the language of science.

There is a great deal of Arab response to preserving their language. These efforts can, through their accumulation in addition to the occurrence of a scientific renaissance in the Arab world, lead to the return of the Arabic language to its former glory. The most important efforts are as follows:

1. In the field of education: Many Arab countries have launched national programs to promote the teaching of Arabic, such as the "Teaching Arabic to Non-Native Speakers" program in Saudi Arabia, and the "Al-Arabiya Bayna Yadayk" program in Egypt.

2. In the field of scientific research and culture: Many scientific and cultural institutions that deal with the Arabic language have been established, such as the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo and the Arabic Language Academy in Damascus. In addition, the language of university education in Syria is Arabic.

3. In the field of media and social media: Many Arab media have launched channels and programs specifically for the Arabic language, such as Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera channels, and dozens of other channels interested in delivering correct linguistic structures and vocabulary to listeners, in addition to Arabic teaching channels.

In Yemen, the Arabic language is still in good condition compared to Egypt and the Gulf countries, whose Arabic is suffering from the widespread entry of foreign words, whether English, Indian, or others. It can be noted here that a large part of the local dialects in the Arab world and Yemen in particular have a correct linguistic aspect and have a recognized origin in linguistic dictionaries. Education in Yemen put into account the Arabic language where there are departments in universities that are interested in the Arabic language and give large certificates in this context. In addition to the existence of a type of traditional education in many Yemeni villages, known as scientific groups. These work to teach the language, for example, using Matn. The Matns are a system or poem written by specialists to facilitate the acquisition of information and enhance understanding and knowledge among students. The method of education is that the student receives knowledge from his teacher, who received it from his teacher until he reaches the author of the matn. In this way, he has received knowledge with a continuous chain to the one who wrote the text. Thus, Arabic sciences are obtained by receiving and permission. This is a strength of traditional educational methods, and it is particularly suitable for Arabs. As it is widespread in Yemen, it is also widespread in the other Arab and Islamic countries.