Usus Ilm al-Lugha

Usus Ilm al-Lugha (Foundations of Linguistics) is an Arabic translation of the introductory linguistics book Invitation to Linguistics by the linguist Mario Pei, translated and annotated by the Egyptian linguist Ahmad Mukhtar Umar Usus Ilm al-Lugha+1.

Background and Scope

The original work was subtitled by Pei as A basic introduction to the Science of Language, which inspired Umar's choice of the Arabic title Usus Ilm al-Lugha. The book presents a general introduction to modern linguistic study, organizing the subject primarily under three branches: descriptive linguistics, historical linguistics, and geolinguistics Usus Ilm al-Lugha+1. Pei placed special emphasis on geolinguistics because of its relative novelty as an emerging field, aiming to give it equal prominence alongside descriptive and historical studies Usus Ilm al-Lugha. Rather than treating comparative linguistics as an independent branch, Pei integrated its topics into the foundational introductory section and the historical linguistics chapters Usus Ilm al-Lugha.

Translation and Methodology

In translating the work, Umar adhered strictly to the author's original text and examples without omission or alteration, while exercising limited discretion in the explanatory footnotes Usus Ilm al-Lugha. He retained three appendices from the original text but omitted others, such as a comparative phonemic table of six major languages and demographic language estimates based on 1960 United Nations statistics, deeming them either of limited relevance to Arabic readers or outdated Usus Ilm al-Lugha. To aid Arabic readers and researchers, Umar appended bilingual glossaries of linguistic terms pairing English and foreign terminology with Arabic equivalents, indexed by their appearance in the text, alongside lists of languages, dialects, and language families Usus Ilm al-Lugha.

Publication History

The translation was first published in 1973 by the University of Tripoli's Faculty of Education in Libya Majallat Jamiat Umm al-Qu…+1. It was subsequently republished in Cairo by Alam al-Kutub in multiple editions, including printings in 1973, 1983, and 1408 AH (1987 CE) Tadakhul al-Usul al-Lugha…+1.