Description

Book Synopsis
The Arabic script in Africa contains sixteen papers on the past and present use of Arabic script to write African languages. These writing traditions, which are sometimes collectively referred to as Ajami, are discussed for single or multiple languages, with examples from all major linguistic phyla of Africa but one (Khoisan), and from all geographic areas of Africa (North, West, Central, East, and South Africa), as well as a paper on the Ajami heritage in the Americas. The papers analyze (ethno-) historical, literary, (socio-) linguistic, and in particular grammatological aspects of these previously understudied writing traditions and exemplify their range and scope, providing new data for the comparative study of writing systems, literacy in Africa, and the history of (Islam in) Africa.

Trade Review
"This work is doubtless a useful addition to the literature on world writing systems and promises to offer enlightening insights into the intellectual legacy of Africa." Amidu Olalekan Sanni in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 78.3 (2015), 669-671. DOI: 10.1017/S0041977X15000750

The Arabic Script in Africa: Studies in the Use of a Writing System

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    A Hardback by Meikal Mumin, Kees Versteegh

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      Publisher: Brill
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 30/01/2014
      ISBN13: 9789004256798, 978-9004256798
      ISBN10:
      Also in:
      Language: reference and general

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      The Arabic script in Africa contains sixteen papers on the past and present use of Arabic script to write African languages. These writing traditions, which are sometimes collectively referred to as Ajami, are discussed for single or multiple languages, with examples from all major linguistic phyla of Africa but one (Khoisan), and from all geographic areas of Africa (North, West, Central, East, and South Africa), as well as a paper on the Ajami heritage in the Americas. The papers analyze (ethno-) historical, literary, (socio-) linguistic, and in particular grammatological aspects of these previously understudied writing traditions and exemplify their range and scope, providing new data for the comparative study of writing systems, literacy in Africa, and the history of (Islam in) Africa.

      Trade Review
      "This work is doubtless a useful addition to the literature on world writing systems and promises to offer enlightening insights into the intellectual legacy of Africa." Amidu Olalekan Sanni in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 78.3 (2015), 669-671. DOI: 10.1017/S0041977X15000750

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