you to pick a language (use the list below as a guide) that is currently spoken or
used in the Middle East (defined broadly), find reference materials about the language, its
history, its speakers, its relation to nation-states and ethnic groups, its literature, etc., and write a
5-page report organizing and presenting what you’ve found.
Essay #1
Assigned: Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Due: Via Collab & On Paper: by 11:00am, Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Topic: Research Report on a Middle Eastern Language
Essay #1 asks you to pick a language (use the list below as a guide) that is currently spoken or
used in the Middle East (defined broadly), find reference materials about the language, its
history, its speakers, its relation to nation-states and ethnic groups, its literature, etc., and write a
5-page report organizing and presenting what you’ve found.
Pick a language from the list below (or suggest one to me – see note below). The idea is to
expand your knowledge, explore a new language – so please do not suggest a language that you
speak (as heritage or native language), and do not pick one of the major languages that we will
be studying in-depth anyway, like Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, or Farsi. (Note: This is not an
exhaustive list; if there is a Middle Eastern language that you’d like to write about that does not
appear on this list please suggest it to me.)
List of Languages:
• Armenian (Armenia)
• Azerbaijani (Azerbaijan, Iran)
• Balochi (Pakistan)
• Bangla (India, Bangladesh)
• Berber (Algeria, Morocco)
• Circassian
• Coptic (Egypt)
• Dari (Iran, Afghanistan)
• Ge’ez (Ethiopia)
• Hassaniya (Morocco, Mauritania)
• Judeo-Arabic (Israel, etc.)
• Judezmo (Turkey, Israel)
• Kabyle (Algeria)
• Kashmiri (Pakistan, India)
• Kurdish (Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria)
• Kyrgyz (Kyrgyzstan)
• Mahri (Yemen, Oman)
• Maltese (Malta)
• Punjabi (Pakistan, India)
• Pashto (Afghanistan, Pakistan)
• Sindhi (Pakistan)
• Soqotri (Gulf States)
• Syriac (Syria, Iraq)
• Tajik (Tajikistan)
• Tamazight (Morocco, Algeria)
• Tatar (Russia)
• Turkmen (Turkmenistan)
• Uzbek (Uzbekistan)
Resources you might want to consult (at least to start):
• Places to Start:
• VIRGO (search for books or articles about your language)
• Wikipedia (see the entry itself, but also look at the appended lists of references,
resources, and external links)
• Ethnologue (search VIRGO, then follow electronic access link)
• More Indepth Resources:
• Austin, Peter K., (Ed.). 2008. One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and
Lost. Berkeley: University of California Press. (seems no longer available)
• Campbell, George L. 1991. Compendium of the World’s Languages. London:
Routledge. (on reserve at CLEM)
• Comrie, Bernard, (Ed.). 1987. The World’s Major Languages. London: Croom Helm.
(available as e-book through VIRGO; also on reserve at CLEM)
• Comrie, Bernard, et al., (Eds.). 2003. The Atlas of Languages: The Origin and
Development of Languages Throughout the World. New York: Facts on File. (on
reserve at CLEM)
• Gary, Jane & Carl Rubino, (Eds.). 2001. Facts About the World’s Languages: An
Encyclopedia of the World’s Major Languages, Past and Present.New York: H.W.
Wilson. (on reserve at CLEM)
• Lyovin, Anatole V. 1997. An Introduction to Languages of the World. New York:
Oxford University Press. (on reserve at CLEM)
• Pei, Mario Andrew. 1955. The World’s Chief Languages: Formerly, Languages for
War and Peace. New York: S. F. Vanni. (available as e-book through VIRGO)
• Pereltsvaig, Asya. 2012. Languages of the World: An Introduction. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. (Refer to the chapters assigned; I’ll also post her
Bibliography to Collab Resources.)
Be sure to include a bibliography. You should have at least 5 reliable, scholarly sources – Please
check with me, or with Tirajeh, if you’re not certain how “reliable, scholarly” a source you find
might be!
Things that you might cover (you’ll need to choose what seems
most interesting to you or about your language):
• Brief description of the salient features of the language;
• Languages it is closely related to;
• Where it is spoken, by whom, under what circumstances (i.e., sociolinguistic features the
language and its use);
• The history of the language;
• Forms of writing (i.e., orthographies) for the language;
• Literary forms and literary achievements;
• Relationship to standard languages, or national languages, or nationalist projects;
• Poetic forms & genres;
• Links to examples of this language online;
• Etc. (be creative!)
Please submit your essay electronically through the collab assignments page, AND print out a
paper copy that you will turn in at the beginning of class on Wednesday, Feb. 5.