Muhammad al-Sharkawi

Muhammad al-Sharkawi

Muhammad al-Sharkawi has been an associate professor of Arabic and linguistics at the Department of Classical and Modern Language, Literature and Cultures at Wayne State University since 2011. Before teaching at WSU, he taught Arabic at Bayreuth University in Germany, The American University in Cairo and Brown University. He published seven translations from English into Arabic of introductions to linguistics and its subfields. His main field of research is the history and development of the Arabic language.

He's published many articles and encyclopedia lemmas on the subject and has several books on the history of Arabic. In 2007 he published "The Arabicization of the Middle East: An Introduction in Arabic." A second edition of this book is now in press. In 2010, he published with Brill academic publishers "The Ecology of Arabic." In addition, he published in 2014 and 2016 histories of Modern Standard Arabic and pre-Islamic Arabic in monographs, which came along with several articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Research interest(s)/area of expertise

• History of Arabic
• Qur'anic Arabic 

Selected publications

Books

• al-Sharkawi, M. (2017). Arabic in East Africa: An Introduction to Creolization. Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organization. (in Arabic)
• al-Sharkawi, M. (2017). History and Development of the Arabic Language. London: Routledge
• al-Sharkawi, M. (2014). Modern Standard Arabic: History and Development. Berlin: Lambert
• al-Sharkawi, M. (2013). Linguistic Conquests: The Spread of Arabic and the Birth of the Dialects in the 1st Century. Cairo: Dar al-Tanwir
• al-Sharkawi, M. (2010). The Ecology of Arabic: A Study of the Development of Arabic. Leiden: Brill
• al-Sharkawi, M. (2007). Arabicization in the First Century of the Islamic Era. Cairo, Supreme Council for Culture. (in Arabic)

Articles

• al-Sharkawi, M. (2002), “Socio-Demographic parameters of Arabicization in the First Century of Islam,” Al-Logha: Series of Papers in Linguistics, vol. 3, p. 101-120
• al-Sharkawi, M. (2007). “On Diglossia,” Al-Logha: Series of Papers in Linguistics, vol 6, p. 117-140
• al-Sharkawi, M. (2010). “Word Order and the Development of Written Arabic,” Al-Logha: Series of Papers in Linguistics vol. 8, p. 37-70
• al-Sharkawi, M. 2013. “The Development of the Dual Paradigm in Arabic,” Al-‘Arabiyya: Journal of the American Association of Teachers of Arabic. Vol 43, p. 1-22
• al-Sharkawi, M. (2013). “Urbanization and the Development of Arabic: The Case The Garrison Towns in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries CE,” International Journal of Ancient History vol. ½, p. 254-288
• al-Sharkawi, M. (2014). “Urbanization and the Development of Gender in the Arabic Dialects,” Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies vol. 14, p. 87-120
• Al-Sharkawi, M. (2015). “Towards Understanding the Status of the Dual in Pre-Islamic Arabic,” Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, p. 59-72
• Al-Sharkawi, M. (2015). “Case Marking in Pre-Islamic Arabic,” Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik vol. 62, p. 38-67
• Al-Sharkawy, M. (2016). “The Ecology of Case Marking in Modern Standard Arabic.“ Folia Orientalia, 53
• Al-Sharkawi, M. (2018). “On Imala in pre-Islamic Arabic.” Folia Orientalia, 54 forthcoming
• Al-Sharkawi, M. (2019). “On Verbal Number in Arabic: Preliminary Remarks,” Folia Orientalia 56, p. 255-272
• “The Emergence of Classical Arabic: The Case of Mā al-Ḥijāziyya in the Qurʾān,” EURASIAN Studies 18 (2020) 165-175
• “The Emergence of Classical Arabic: The Case of Taltala,” ZAL 72 (2020) 59-79
• “The Development of Classical Arabic: The Case of Kaškaša, Kaskasa and Šanšan,” International Journal of Arabic Linguistics 8 (2022) 1-15
• “Myth if Creation and Continuity: A Critical View of the Link between Arabic and Semitic,” Euroasian Arabic Studies 16, (2021) 16-43
• “Pre-Islamic Poetry and the Emergence of Classical Arabic,” Euroasian Arabic Studies 14 (2021) 38-56

Translations of other authors

• Akmajian, A., Demers, R., Farmer, A., Harnish, R. Ilm al-Lugha: Muqadima fi al-Lugha wat-tawasul. Cairo: Supreme Council for Translation Press, 2016
• Cruz, A. al-Maani al-Lughawiyya: Muqadima fi at-Tadawuliyya. Cairo: Supreme Council for Translation Press, 2016
• Enos, T. ed Mawsu’at Oxford lil-Balagha. Cairo: Supreme Council for Translation Press, 2014
• Gass, S. and Selinker, L. Muqadima fi Ta’alum al-Lugha ath-Thaniya. Cairo: Supreme Council for Translation Press, 2002
• Versteegh, K. Al-Lugha al-‘Arabiyya. Cairo: Supreme Council for Translation Press, 2001
• Brustad, K. Qawa’id al-Lahajat al-‘Arabiyya. Cairo: Supreme Council for Translation Press, 2001
• Armbrust, W. Ath-Thaqafa al-Jamahiriyya wal-Hadatha fi Misr. Cairo: Supreme Council for Translation Press, 1999 and 2012
• Anderson, B. al-Jama’at al-Mutakhayala. Cairo: Supreme Council for Translation Press, 1999

Other publications

• “Braille in Arabic.” Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics I. Leiden: Brill, 2006
• “Foreigner Talk in Arabic.” Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics II. Leiden: Brill, 2007
• “Pre-Islamic Arabic.” Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics III. Leiden: Brill, 2008
• “Pre-Classical Arabic.” Encyclopedia of Islam. Leiden: Brill, 2016
• “Ecology of Case.” Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics Online. (forthcoming) 

Courses taught by Muhammad al-Sharkawi

Winter Term 2025 (future)

• ARB5010 - Medieval Arabic Texts
• ARB5230 - Structure of Arabic
• LIN5230 - Structure of Arabic

Fall Term 2024

• ARB5130 - Classical Arabic Literature in Translation
• ARB5300 - Arabic Grammar in Practice

Winter Term 2024

• ARB5240 - Quranic Arabic
• ARB7100 - Introduction to Translation Studies

Fall Term 2023

• ARB5230 - Structure of Arabic
• ARB6700 - History of Arabic
• LIN5230 - Structure of Arabic
• LIN6700 - History of Arabic

Winter Term 2023

• ARB5010 - Medieval Arabic Texts
• NE2700 - Topics in Middle Eastern Studies
• NE5700 - Topics in Middle Eastern Studies

Fall Term 2022

• ARB3110 - Advanced Arabic I
• ARB5240 - Quranic Arabic

Winter Term 2022

• ARB2020 - Intermediate Arabic II
• ARB6700 - History of Arabic
• LIN6700 - History of Arabic