A Dictionary of SYRIAN Arabic.

Georgetown University Press. 281 pages. Paperback. This reference work contains 15,000 entries, defined both synonymously and contextually. A Dictionary of Syrian Arabic provides Syrian terms for the language spoken in everyday life by Muslims primarily in Damascus, but understandable throughout Syria as well as in the broader linguistic areas of present-day Lebanon, Jordan, and among the Palestinians and the Arabic-speaking population of Israel. Entries include examples, idioms, and common phrases to illustrate usage. The Arabic terms are presented in transcription. It is useful for students of Arabic, scholars wishing to train in the Syrian dialect, and visitors and travelers to Syria and other nations where the dialect is spoken. A thorough introduction outlines the sociolinguistic situation in Syria and covers phonology, morphology, syntax, grammar, and vocabulary. $_$_START_BLOCK The dictionary is an expressive dictionary; that is, its format and presentation are geared exclusively to the needs of the native speaker of American English. Its corpus of approximately 15,000 main and subentries represents an essentially colloquial vocabulary intended for a fairly wide range of conversational usage." --from the Introduction $_$_END_BLOCK