Lesson #1 Speech

- The word means speech. Speech is what I am doing right now as I talk to you. I
am not talking about making a speech, rather about speaking clearly. In Arabic,
speech is defined very specifically by the grammarians and they define speech as:
. We will look at how these four parts make up the
definition of in this lesson #1. Now according to this definition by the
grammarians, we can not be speaking (or have a conversation) without all four parts
that make up

- The first part of is . is any sound from to that you make. So we can
say the word means any word you spit off your tongue. I am not asking you to spit
on others as you talk to them, I just want you to know that is the first part of

- The second part of is . builds on . While is one single word,

is two or more words. We could say is a sequence of words, and as I
pointed out, this sequence of words could be two or more. So far our definition of
or speech is two or more words that we speak.

- The third part of is . means to benefit. It benefits to the extent that

whoever you talk to is able to clearly understand what you are saying. So this means
that satisfies the listener. Now what do I understand about so far? That it is
two or more words that comes from my mouth, and they make sense to the listener.

- The fourth and last part of is . The word means rules and regulations
to us. If you look at the definition of , we did not just say instead we said
and the letter means using. So is using rules and regulations. What
rules and regulations? Since we are studying Arabic grammar, we are talking about
using only those words that are understood among the grammarians of Arabic. So it is
more appropriate for me to say i.e. using the rules and regulations of
Arabic. So there we have it, the complete definition of is to speak two or more
Arabic words that make sense to the listener. Well this is how I define it. I would be
interested to know how you define it, so do email or in an online class do let me know
how you would define . Just make sure that in your definition you include all four
parts that make up .
1

- Now we have understood how the grammarians define . We now need to

understand who else defines . Speech is also defined by the linguists. They hold
the view that the purpose of speech is to communicate through any means as long as
the message gets across. So the linguists do not merely restrict the definition of
speech to everything that comes off our tongues. Rather they consider written words
and body language to mean speech as you could communicate through writing or
body language. So we can say that among the linguists the only requirement of
speech is to effectively communicate.

- I am going to jump back to the Arabic grammarians. Talking to you, if I just say the
word , is this ?means sat. No its not , and why not? Well it is a as
it is a sound that came off my tongue, and it is in Arabic vocabulary so it is
but it is not as it is only one word and our definition of requires for there to be
at least two words. And then it is not , just the word sat has me thinking, who
sat? So if I say , now do I have a according to the grammarians? Lets
see Its the minimum two words coming off my tongue, as is a name so then this
means Zaid sat and you understand what I am saying using Arabic words, then we
have our first , as we fulfilled all four parts of speech.

- Easy enough? Well, , now you have a clear understanding of what means.
It is so clear that you must memorise it before moving to lesson #2. I would ask you
( what is speech?) and you would answer