Arabic-L:LING:Colloquial Comparison query

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 25 Apr 2012
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:Colloquial Comparison query

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1)
Date: 25 Apr 2012
From:alexei_abrahams at brown.edu
Subject:Colloquial Comparison query

I am an economics PhD student at Brown University pursuing research in
the Middle East. A professor at my department recently wrote a paper
that suggests that adherence to Islam was in medieval times stronger
in localities along the main road network. Since a key aspect to the
practice of Islam is the teaching and recitation of the Qur'an, and
since the Qur'an is the grammatical mainstay of the formal Arabic
language, I wonder if the rules of formal Arabic tended to be followed
more consistently along that main road network... with lasting
implications for contemporary Arabic colloquial dialects.
To test this question empirically, however, I would need a reliable
index or metric that enumerates the various Arabic colloquials and
indicates how they vary from each other. Do you know if any such index
exists among linguists or Arabic scholars?

Thank you very much.
Regards,
Alexei Abrahams

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End of Arabic-L:  25 Apr 2012