MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Libya
Index
All but a small minority of the Libyan people are native
Arabic-speakers and thus consider themselves to be Arabs. Arabic,
a Semitic language, is the mother tongue of almost all peoples of
North Africa and the Middle East. Three levels of the language are
distinguishable: classical, the language of the Quran; modern
standard, the form used in the present-day press; and the regional
colloquial dialects. In Libya classical Arabic is used by religious
leaders; modern standard Arabic appears in formal and written
communication and sometimes in the schools. Many people learn
Quranic quotations without being able to speak the classical
language.
In classical Arabic, as in other Semitic scripts, the text is
read from right to left, and only consonants are written. Vowel
signs and other diacritical marks appear sometimes in printed texts
as aids to pronunciation. Modern standard is grammatically simpler
than classical and includes numerous words unknown to the Quran.
The spoken dialects of Tripolitania and Fezzan belong to the
Maghribi group, used throughout the Maghrib. They are mutually
intelligible but differ considerably from dialects in the Middle
East. Dialects of Cyrenaica resemble those of Egypt and the Middle
East. Urban dialects differ somewhat from those of the hinterland,
and in the southern part of the country some Sudanese influence
exists.
Arabs find great beauty and style in their language. It is a
keystone of Arab nationalism and a symbol of Arab creativity. Libya
has played a leading part in the campaign to make Arabic an
official language in the forums of the UN and other international
organizations. Yet although Arabic has a richness of sound and a
variety of vocabulary that make it a tongue for poets, its
syntactic complexity makes it one of the world's most complex
written languages. Its intricate vocabulary also is not well suited
as a medium for technical and scientific expression. Even modern
standard Arabic contains little in the way of a technical vocabulary , in part because many Arabs are purists about their language
and resist the intrusion of foreign words.
These deficiencies of Arabic, coupled with a tradition in Arab
schools of learning by rote methods, have seriously interfered with
scientific and technical advancement. In Libya, as well as in the
other Maghribi countries where a similar problem exists, educators
reluctantly recognize that preparation of suitable Arabic
vocabulary additions, textbooks, and syllabi are still a generation
or more away. In the meantime, scientific and technical subjects in
the Libyan universities are in large part taught by foreigners
employing foreign languages.
Under the colonial regime, Italian was the language of
instruction in schools, but only a scattering of Muslim children
attended these institutions. As a consequence, the Italian language
did not take root in Libya to the extent that French did elsewhere
in North Africa. Nevertheless, the strong wave of nationalism
accompanying the 1969 revolution found expression in a campaign
designed to elevate the status of the Arabic language. An order was
issued requiring that all street signs, shop window notices,
signboards, and traffic tickets be written in Arabic. This element
of Arabization reached its apogee in 1973, when a decree was passed
requiring that passports of persons seeking to enter the country
contain the regular personal information in Arabic, a requirement
that was strictly enforced.
Despite the progress of Arabization during the 1970s, English
occupied an increasingly important place as the second language of
the country. It was taught from primary school onward, and in the
universities numerous scientific, technical, and medical courses
were conducted in English. A Tripoli shopkeeper or a hotel doorman
was unlikely to speak the language, but business people were
accustomed to corresponding in it. The government also issued at
least some internal statistical documents and other publications in
a bilingual English-Arabic format. In 1986 Qadhafi announced a
policy of eliminating the teaching of English in favor of
instruction in Russian at all levels. Whether this policy would
actually be carried out remained to be seen in 1987, but it seemed
safe to assume that English would remain in wide use for the
immediate future if not longer.
Data as of 1987
|
|