قاموس اللهجات العربيّة الفلسطينيّة العتيد نظرات في قاموس البرغوثي

Abstract

This is an attempt to outline the main basis that should be taken into consideration when preparing a comprehensive dictionary that includes all Palestinian dialects while Modern Standard Arabic remains the language of explanation and interpretation. Here, the main investigation revolves around ‘Abdul Laṭīf Al-Barghouthi’s three volume dictionary published in 1987, 1993 and 1998, which consists of approximately one thousand pages.

At this crucial stage in the history of the Palestinian people, there is an urgent need to prepare a comprehensive spoken Palestinian Arabic – MSA dictionary, particularly because of the following facts. The number of native speakers of Palestinian Arabic is over twelve million individuals who still do not have their independent state. More than half of this population still lives in diaspora in various Arab countries as well as elsewhere around the world. Naturally, most of these people, especially the young generations, do not speak authentic Palestinian dialects. Furthermore, the Arabic dialects of the Palestinians living in Israel, numbering over one and a half million, have been under serious and continuous waves of Hebraization since 1948. If these developments continue at this pace, it can be said that this vernacular will be on the list of extinct languages in the not-too-distant future. And, last but not least, such a dictionary is perceived as an urgent necessity from a cultural and national perspective. Any human language, especially the mother tongue, is the mainstay of national identity and the mirror of civilization. To some extent, al-Barghouthi’s dictionary can be considered as the core of a major and urgently needed dictionary that is still to come.

The general requirements for such a future dictionary cover many aspects: adequate sources, including urban dialects, village dialects, and Bedouin dialects; methodology for collecting and recording materials from all sections of the society, old and young as well as males and females of all denominations and locations; classification; material presentation in an accurate transcription using additional signs in Arabic script; various language levels; principles of the sequence of various meanings; providing natural and sufficient examples; using abbreviations; references; Palestinian and classical dialects; and the overall objectives of the project.

It goes without saying that preparing such a comprehensive Palestinian Arabic dictionary requires an experienced team of linguists, lexicologists, and trained field researchers supported by an institution with an adequate budget.