An Account Of Timbuctoo And Housa Territories In The Interior Of Africa Part 22

LANGUAGES OF AFRICA.

_Various Dialects of the Arabic Language.--Difference between the Berebber and Sh.e.l.luh Languages.--Specimen of the Mandinga.--Comparison of the Sh.e.l.luh 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 sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean Sea to the Cape of Good Hope, and notwithstanding that in such a journey he must pa.s.s 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 sh.o.r.e of Asia, opposite the islands of j.a.pan, 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 p.r.o.nunciation, (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 ? and ? with ? and ? with ? and ? with ? and ? and ? with ? and ? with ? and ? with ? and ? and ? with ?.

[Footnote 205: The Oriental punctuation is here adopted.]

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 ? ? ?, nor has any language, except, perhaps, the English, a letter with the power of the Arabian ?. 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 circ.u.mstance 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 p.r.o.nunciation 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.

Oriental. Occidental

1 Alif 1 -- ? Alif ?

2 ba. ? -- 2 ba ?

3 ta ? -- 3 ta. ?

4 thsa ? -- 4 tha ?

5 jim ? -- 5 jim ?

6 hha ? -- 6 hha ?

7 kha ? -- 7 kha ?

8 dal ? -- 8 dal ?

9 dsal ? -- 9 dth'al ?

10 ra ? -- 10 ra ?

11 za ? -- 11 zain ?

359 12 sin ? -- 12 ta ?

13 s.h.i.+n ? -- 13 da ?

14 sad ? -- 14 kef ?

15 dad ? -- 15 lam ?

16 ta ? -- 16 mim ?

17 da ? -- 17 nune ?

18 ain ? -- 18 sad ?

19 gain ? -- 19 dad ?

20 fa ? -- 20 ain ?

21 kaf ? -- 21 g'rain ?

22 kef ? -- 22 fa ?

23 lem ? -- 23 kaf ?

24 mim ? -- 24 sin ?

25 nun ? -- 25 s.h.i.+n ?

26 waw ? -- 26 hha ?

27 he ? -- 27 wow ?

28 ya ? -- 28 ia ?

29 lam-alif: ligature lam + alif = ?? ?? ???

Besides this difference of the arrangement of the two alphabets, the Arabic student will observe that there is also a difference in the punctuation of two of the letters: thus--

Oriental. Occidental.

fa ? fa ?

kaf ? kaf ?

360 Among the Western Arabs, the ancient Arabic figures are used, viz.

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9: they often write 100 thus, 1..--200, 2..

To explain the force of the synonymous letters on paper would be impossible; the reader, however, may form some idea of the indispensable necessity of knowing the distinction by the few words here selected, which to one unaccustomed to hear the Arabic language spoken, would appear similar and undistinguishable.

ENGLISH. ARABIC, ARABIC.

Rendered as near to European p.r.o.nunciation as the English Alphabet will admit.

A horse Aoud [Arabic:]

Wood Awad [Arabic:]