Ingham Of Arabia

Ingham of Arabia is a collection of twelve articles on modern Arabic dialectology contributed by an international collection of colleagues and pupils of Professor Ingham of the London School of Oriental and African Languages on the occasion of his retirement. Half the articles are concerned with Arabic dialects from the areas Prof Ingham spent his academic life researching, principally Arabia and the neighbouring areas: Oman, Jordan, Sinai, the Negev, southern Turkey, Syria. Other articles are concerned with general topics in Arabic dialectology. The book contains a complete bibliography of Professor Ingham's publications.

The region of Najd in Central Arabia has always been regarded as inaccessible, ringed by a belt of sand deserts, the Nafūd, Dahana and the Rub’ al-Khāli and often with its population at odds with the rulers of the outer settled lands. It is however the centre of a purely Arabian culture based on a partnership between bedouin camel husbandry and settled palm cultivation. Possibly as a result of overpopulation the bedouin have periodically spread over into the lands of the Fertile Crescent. Because of their isolated position the Najdi dialect is of a very interesting and archaic type showing very little non-Arabic influence, which has led to the reputation of the Arabian bedouin as preservers of the original Classical form and considerable prestige being attached to the Najdi type. Consequently the region is a powerhouse of dialect influence so that Najdi based dialects are spoken all along the Gulf Coast and throughout most of the Syrian Desert. Interest in these dialects has led to a number of recent studies of their oral literature and of the morphology and phonology. Ingham's work concentrates on the grammatical system, syntax and usage and is based on a number of trips to the region over the last fifteen years. The data base includes bedouin oral narrative, ordinary conversation and radio plays.

This is an absorbing and authentic account, first published in 1986, of the history and traditional way of life of the Al-Dhafir bedouins of north-eastern Arabia, based on a study of their traditions, Arabic historical annals and the reports of western travellers over the past two hundred years. During the early part of the twentieth century the Al-Dhafir were a major power in the desert south west of the Euphrates between Samawa and Zubair. Beginning in the Hijaz in the early 1600s as a confederation of small tribes under the leadership of the Suwait clan, they have had an eventful history in which their tribal tradition records battles with the Sharifs in the Hijaz, the al’Urai’ir in al Hasa, the Muntafiq in Iraq and finally the Ikhwan raiders in the 1920s. They are well known for an almost quixotic adherence to the taditions of hospitality and protection of fugitives for which their sheikhs became known as the Ahl al-Buwait, ‘people of the little tent’.

This is an absorbing and authentic account, first published in 1986, of the history and traditional way of life of the Al-Dhafir bedouins of north-eastern Arabia, based on a study of their traditions, Arabic historical annals and the reports of western travellers over the past two hundred years. During the early part of the twentieth century the Al-Dhafir were a major power in the desert south west of the Euphrates between Samawa and Zubair. Beginning in the Hijaz in the early 1600s as a confederation of small tribes under the leadership of the Suwait clan, they have had an eventful history in which their tribal tradition records battles with the Sharifs in the Hijaz, the al’Urai’ir in al Hasa, the Muntafiq in Iraq and finally the Ikhwan raiders in the 1920s. They are well known for an almost quixotic adherence to the taditions of hospitality and protection of fugitives for which their sheikhs became known as the Ahl al-Buwait, ‘people of the little tent’.

The region of Najd in Central Arabia has always been regarded as inaccessible, ringed by a belt of sand deserts, the Nafud, Dahana and the Rub' al-Khali and often with its population at odds with the rulers of the outer settled lands. It is however the centre of a purely Arabian culture based on a partnership between bedouin camel husbandry and settled palm cultivation. Possibly as a result of overpopulation the bedouin have periodically spread over into the lands of the Fertile Crescent. Because of their isolated position the Najdi dialect is of a very interesting and archaic type showing very little non-Arabic influence, which has led to the reputation of the Arabian bedouin as preservers of the original Classical form and considerable prestige being attached to the Najdi type. Consequently the region is a powerhouse of dialect influence so that Najdi based dialects are spoken all along the Gulf Coast and throughout most of the Syrian Desert. Interest in these dialects has led to a number of recent studies of their oral literature and of the morphology and phonology. Ingham's work concentrates on the grammatical system, syntax and usage and is based on a number of trips to the region over the last fifteen years. The data base includes bedouin oral narrative, ordinary conversation and radio plays.

Ingham explores how multiple, overlapping majorities can have control in a democracy, even if there is not a unified 'will of the people'. This book will be of interest to political theorists as well as political scientists who study electoral accountability, representation, and social choice theory.

First published in 1982. The reasons behind the establishment of this Series on Arabic linguistics are manifold. Arabic linguists may be defined as: the scientific investigation and study of the Arabic language in all its aspects. This embraces the descriptive, comparative and historical aspects of the language. It also concerns itself with the classical form as well as the Modern and contemporary standard forms and their dialects. Moreover, it attempts to study the language in the appropriate regional, social and cultural settings. It is hoped that the Series will devote itself to all issues of Arabic linguistics in all its manifestations on both the theoretical and applied levels. The results of these studies will also be of use in the field of linguistics in general, as well as related subjects. Monograph 3 looks at North East Arabian Dialects.

Gerald de Gaury served in Iraq and Kuwait from 1924 to 1941 as army officer, political agent and chargé d'affaires to the Iraq Regent. His writings on Arabia are well known, but this previously unpublished piece dating from 1932 is on a subject not usually associated with him, namely the Arabian Bedouin. It concerns the Iraqi branch of the 'Anizah, probably the most numerous of Bedouin tribes, so numerous that the Bedouin saying runs "Any enemy, but not the 'Anizah". The 'Amarat are less well documented than their Syrian cousins, the Rwalah. So it is interesting to see this "Review", which contains details of tribal divisions, sheikhly pedigrees, wells and grazing grounds, economic life, customs and language. The name of the Hadhdhal, the sheikhly line of the 'Amarat, is a name with a long history and still much respected in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.