• General paper on Arabic, lots of yummy refs, says MSA lingua franca -- http://www.amideast.org/publications/arabic-language.pdf (local copy on slug)
• http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=cache:MjN_bR3LUIoJ:www.nclrc.org/nectfl04ls.pdf+written+spoken+arabic+dialect
  • strategies of learning Arabic, says MSA intelligible to most but only educated can speak it
• text-to-speech paper, lots of yummy info poorly cited http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q=http://www.amideast.org/publications/arabic-language.pdf
• http://www.springerlink.com/(xnucyy452wc3v1fejtifig45)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,5,5;journal,41,53;linkingpublicationresults,1:104271,1
  • better comprehension with vowelpoints than without -- local arabicStudentsWithVowels.pdf
• http://www.springerlink.com/(jmwvvszstby2szuxhv2dwr55)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,6,7;journal,50,53;linkingpublicationresults,1:104271,1
  • more accurate reading with vowelpoints than without -- local arabicAccuracyVowels.pdf
• reformation in Turkey (alas, wrong date) http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/mepo/2004/00000011/00000001/art00007 NursiGulenReformation.pdf

Ducky's Paper for History of the Book

Assertions:

• written Arabic is different from spoken Arabic
• Arab culture discourages most art forms, leaving calligraphy as its highest(?) form
• literacy is low in Arabic-speaking countries
  • literacy went up in Turkey after switching to modified Latin alphabet
  • caveat: huge educational push at same time
• number of books published in Arabic is low
• Koran oral
• Koran not translated into vernacular
• British fired all Ottoman printers
• Lebanese civil war
• typography is a PITA (look up Thom's paper)
• Sharia is oral law (Messick?)
• typography: start and stop lines different
• type expensive
  • multiple letterforms
  • LOTS of ligatures
  • vowel points