The demand for information on learning Arabic has grown spectacularly as English-speaking people have come to realize how much there is yet to know about other parts of the world. It is fitting that this Arabic Language Handbook, complementing Georgetown University Press's exceptional Arabic language textbooks, is the first in a new series: Georgetown Classics in Arabic Language and Linguistics. Sparked by the new demand, this reprint of a genuinely "gold-standard" language volume provides a streamlined reference on the structure of the Arabic language and issues in Arabic linguistics, from dialectics to literature. Originally published in 1967, the essential information on the structure of the language remains accurate, and it continues to be the most concise reference summary for researchers, linguists, students, area specialists, and others interested in Arabic.

Mary Catherine Bateson is currently a visiting professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

This handbook is designed to give the kind of information Arabic which will be useful to a student of the language, a specialist in the region where Arabic is spoken, or a linguist interested in learning about the structure and use of one of the world's principal languages.