Ahmad Al-Jallad

An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions

This volume contains a detailed grammatical description of the Safaitic Inscriptions, covering topics in script and orthography, phonology, morphology, and syntax. The volume also contains an appendix of over 500 inscriptions and an annotated dictionary.

Echoes of the Baal Cycle in a Safaito-Hismaic Inscription

This article provides a new reading and interpretation of the undeciphered Ancient North Arabian inscription KRS 2453. It is argued that the text is composed in a mixed Safaito-Hismaic script, and contains a three-line poem recounting the conflict between the Canaanite deities Baal and Mōt as known from the Ugaritic Baal Cycle. The inscription’s Ancient North Arabian context is also discussed, and its style and structure are examined in light of the ʿĒn ʿAvdat inscription, the only comparable Old Arabic text.

Arabia and Areal Hybridity

The present contribution proposes the existence of two ‘micro linguistic areas’ in Arabia in which features from Arabic and other Semitic languages diffused multilaterally. Some of the output varieties pose a significant challenge to phylogeny as they exhibit conflicting isoglosses connecting them equally with different lineages of Semitic. We introduce to the term ‘areal hybridity’ to explain the genetic position of languages emerging from contact situations such as these. We argue that several older varieties, such as the dialect of Ṭayyiʾ and the medieval Ḥimyaritic language described by the Arab grammarians, as well some modern varieties of southwest Arabia, such as Rāziḥī and Riǧāl Almaʿ, fall into this category.

The Arabic of the Islamic conquests: notes on phonology and morphology based on the Greek transcriptions from the first Islamic century

This paper attempts to reconstruct aspects of the phonology and morphology of the Arabic of the Islamic conquests on the basis of Greek transcriptions in papyri of the first Islamic century. The discussion includes phonemic and allophonic variation in consonants and vowels, and nominal morphology. The essay concludes with a discussion on possible Aramaic and South Arabian influences in the material, followed by a short appendix with remarks on select Arabic terms from the pre-Islamic papyri.