W.H.T. Gairdner, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, and the Career of an Anglo-American Textbook, 1917â1953
In: Quaderni di Studi ArabiSearch for other papers by Heather J. Sharkey in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
This article examines the âcareerâ of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, a book that the British Anglican priest, W.H.T. Gairdner (1873â1928) of the Church Missionary Society (CMS), published in Cairo in 1917. Gairdner prepared this volume as a textbook for British and American Protestant missionaries at what became the American University in Cairo although other institutions later assigned it, too. He used the system of the International Phonetic Association (IPA) to render the text in modified Latin script. Inspired by reformist ideas about pedagogy and evangelical ideas about vernacular language, he advanced lessons in grammar for what he called an âensembleâ of teachers and students, who would engage in oral practice in the classroom via conversations about everyday life. He presented colloquial Arabic through readings that ranged from Bible stories to detective stories, thereby rendering the spoken language into a de facto literary form. This study of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic and its four editions of 1917, 1926, 1944, and 1953 casts light on the political and cultural history of Arabic language education and teaching during the first half of the twentieth century while assessing Gairdnerâs role as a precursor to the field of Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL). At the same time, this article positions Egyptian Colloquial Arabic relative to the history of the British Empire; the Christian missionary movement; archaeology, tourism, and war in the Nile Valley; and the growth of linguistics as an international academic discipline.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Abdul-Fady (see Arthur T. Upson).
-
Adams, C.C., Islam and Modernism in Egypt: A Study of the Reform Movement Inaugurated by Muhammad Abduh, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1933.
-
Ashby, M., Ashby, P., âPhonetic Teachers and the Reform Movement: Evidence from Records of the IPAâ, Language & History, 64:3 (2021), p. 151â167.
-
Baedeker, K., ed., Egypt: Handbook for Travellers, 4th edition, Leipzig, Karl Baedeker, 1898.
-
Grahame Bailey, T., âCanon W.H.T. Gairdnerâ (obituary), Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 60:3 (1928), p. 760â761.
-
Bassiouney, R., Language and Identity in Modern Egypt, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2015.
-
Bebbington, D., Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s, London, Routledge, 1989.
-
Brewis, G., A Social History of Student Volunteering: Britain and Beyond, 1880â1980, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
-
Butcher, E.L., The Story of the Church of Egypt, vol. 2, London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1897.
-
Coleman, S., âContinuous Conversion? The Rhetoric, Practice, and Rhetorical Practice of Charismatic Protestant Conversionâ, in The Anthropology of Religious Conversion, ed. A. Buckser, S.D. Glazier, Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, p. 15â27.
-
Cox, J., The British Missionary Enterprise since 1700, London, Routledge, 2008.
-
Elder, E.E., Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Reader, London, Oxford University Press, 1927.
-
Errington, J., âColonial Linguisticsâ, Annual Review of Anthropology, 30 (2001), p. 19â20.
-
Facchin, A., Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language: Origins, Developments and Current Directions, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2019.
-
Facchin, A., âFrom Teaching Non-Arabs Arabic to Arabization in 1950s Sudanâ, in Language Learning and Teaching in Missionary and Colonial Contexts, eds D. Savatovsky et al., Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2023, p. 291â309.
-
Fiske, W., An Egyptian Alphabet for the Egyptian People, 2nd edition, Florence, Landi Press, 1897.
-
Foda, Omar, âAnna and Ahmad: Building Modern Temperance in Cairo (1884â1940)â, Social Sciences and Missions, 28 (2015), p. 116â149.
-
Gairdner, W.H.T., The Reproach of Islam (London, Student Volunteer Missionary Union, 1909).
-
Gairdner, W.H.T., Egyptian Colloquial Arabic: A Conversation Grammar and Reader, Cambridge, W. Heffer & Sons, 1917.
-
Gairdner, W.H.T., âA Modern Meter of Egyptian-Arabic Verseâ, The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, 37:3 (1921), p. 230â227.
-
Gairdner, W.H.T., Egyptian Colloquial Arabic: A Conversation Grammar, ârevised and mostly rewrittenâ 2nd edition, London, Oxford University Press, 1926.
-
Gairdner, W.H.T., Egyptian Colloquial Arabic: A Conversation Grammar and Reader, 3rd edition, revised by E.E. Elder, Cairo, Nile Mission Press, 1946; reprint Cairo, Les Ãditions Universitaires dâÃgypte, 1953.
-
Gairdner, W.H.T., trans. and intro., al-Ghazzaliâs Mishkat al-Anwar, London, Royal Asiatic Society, 1924.
-
Gibb, H.A.R., James, A. Lloyd, Review of âThe Phonetics of Arabic (1925)â, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1 (1927), p. 133â135.
-
Gorman, A., âFor God and Empire: Arabic at the University of Edinburgh, Its Development, Character, and Missionâ, in Colonial Vocabularies: Teaching and Learning Arabic, 1870â1970, eds S. Irving, K. Sanchez Summerer, R. Mairs, L. Admiraal, Colonial Vocabularies, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2025, p. 29â53.
-
Greenblatt, S., Marvelous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1991.
-
Howatt, A.P.R., Smith, R.C., Modern Language Teaching: The Reform Movement, 5 vols., London, Routledge, 2002.
-
Irving, S., Sanchez Summerer, K., Mairs, R., Admiraal, L., eds., Colonial Vocabularies: Teaching and Learning Arabic, 1870â1970, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2025.
-
Kinnear, E. Kelsey, She Sat Where They Sat: A Memoir of Anna Young Thompson of Egypt, Grand Rapids, W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971.
-
Lockman, Z., Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism, second edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
-
MacMahon, Michael K.C., âPhonetic Notationâ, in The Worldâs Writing Systems, eds Daniels, P.T., W., Bright, New York, Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 821â846.
-
Mairs, R., Arabic Dialogues: Phrasebooks and the Learning of Colloquial Arabic, 1798â1945, London, UCL Press, 2024.
-
Mairs, R., ââLike the Bleating of a Goatâ: Teaching Learners to Pronounce the âDifficultâ Arabic Consonants (1798â1945)â, in Colonial Vocabularies: Teaching and Learning Arabic, 1870â1970, ed. S. Irving, K., S. Summerer, R. Mairs, and L. Admiraal, Colonial Vocabularies, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2025, p. 109â138.
-
McCarus, E., âThe Study of Arabic in the United States: A History of Its Developmentâ, Al-Ê¿Arabiyya, 20:1â2 (1987), p. 13â27.
-
Nallino, C.A., LâArabo Parlato in Egitto, 2nd edition, Milano, Ulrico Hoepli, 1913.
-
Noll, M.A., American Evangelical Christianity: An Introduction, Oxford, Blackwell Publishers, 2001.
-
âObituary: Canon Gairdnerâ, The Times (London), May 23, 1928.
-
Padwick, C.E., Temple Gairdner of Cairo, London, SPCK, 1929.
-
Porter, A., Religion versus Empire? British Protestant Missionaries and Overseas Expansion, 1700â1914, New York, Manchester University Press, 2004.
-
Sedra, P.D., âJohn Lieder and His Mission in Egypt: The Evangelical Ethos at Work among Nineteenth-Century Coptsâ, The Journal of Religious History, 28:3 (2004), p. 219â239.
-
Sharkey, H.J., âChristians among Muslims: The Church Missionary Society in the Northern Sudanâ, Journal of African History, 43 (2002), p. 51â75.
-
Sharkey, H.J., âChristian Missionaries and Colloquial Arabic Printingâ, Journal of Semitic Studies, Supplement 15: History of Printing and Publishing in the Languages and Countries of the Middle East, ed. Philip Sadgrove, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 131â149.
-
Sharkey, H.J., âArabic Antimissionary Treatises: Muslim Responses to Christian Evangelism in the Modern Middle Eastâ, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 28:3 (2004), p. 112â118.
-
Sharkey, H.J., American Evangelicals in Egypt: Missionary Encounters in an Age of Empire, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2008.
-
Sharkey, H.J., âArab Identity and Ideology in Sudan: The Politics of Language, Ethnicity, and Raceâ, African Affairs, 107:426 (2008), p. 21â43.
-
Sharkey, H.J., âAn Egyptian in China: Ahmed Fahmy and the Making of World Christianitiesâ, Church History, 78:2 (2009), p. 309â326.
-
Sharkey, H.J., âThe British and Foreign Bible Society in Port Said and the Suez Canalâ, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 39:3 (2011), p. 439â456.
-
Sharkey, H.J., âSudanese Arabic Bibles and the Politics of Translationâ, The Bible Translator, Technical Papers, 62:1 (2011), p. 37â45.
-
Sharkey, H.J., âLanguage and Conflict: The Political History of Arabisation in Sudan and Algeriaâ, Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 12:3 (2012), p. 427â449.
-
Sharkey, H.J., âThe Gospel in Arabic Tongues: British Bible Distribution, Evangelical Mission, and Language Politics in North Africaâ, in Cultural Conversions: Unexpected Consequences of Christian Missionary Encounters in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, ed. H.J. Sharkey, Syracuse, Syracuse University Press, 2013, p. 203â221.
-
Sharkey, H.J., A History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017.
-
Shelley, M.T. âTemple Gairdner of Cairo Revisitedâ, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 10:3 (1999), p. 261â278.
-
Spitta-Bey, W., Grammatik des arabischen Vulgärdialectes von Aegypten, Leipzig, J.C. Hinrichsâsche Buchhandlung, 1880.
-
Sprengling, M., Review of The Phonetics of Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic by W.H.T. Gairdner, The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, 44:1 (1927), p. 62â65.
-
Stanley, B., ed., The World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910, Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.
-
Stock, E., The History of the Church Missionary Society, 4 vols, London, Church Missionary Society, 1899 (vols. IâIII), 1916 (vol. 4).
-
Trimingham, J. Spencer, Sudan Colloquial Arabic, London, Church Missionary Society, 1939 (revised 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 1946).
-
Upson, Arthur T. âWhat Style of Language for Our Literature? (A Plea for Simple, Correct Arabic)â, Moslem World, 8:3 (1918), p. 285â294.
-
Upson, Arthur T. (Abdul-Fady), Arabic Simplified, Parts iâx (Lessons 1â200), Cairo, The Nile Mission Press, 1917.
-
Upson, Arthur T. (Abdul-Fady), High Lights in the Near East: Reminiscences of Nearly 40 Yearsâ Service, London, Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1936.
-
Venn, H., Rules for Reducing Unwritten Languages to Alphabetic Writing in Roman Characters, with Reference Especially to the Languages Spoken in Africa, London, Church Missionary Society, 1848.
-
Versteegh, Kees, The Arabic Language, 2nd edition, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2014.
-
Vollers, K., The Modern Egyptian Dialect of Arabic: A Grammar, with Exercises, Reading Lessons, and Glossaries from the German, trans. F.C. Burkitt, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1895.
-
Willcocks, W., Al-Khabar al-tayyib bitaʾ Yusuâ al-Masih, al-QÄhira, Nile Mission Press, 1931.
-
Willmore, J. Selden, The Spoken Arabic of Egypt, London, David Nutt, 1901.
-
Woidich, M., âRural Dialect of Egyptian Arabic: An Overviewâ, Ãgypte/Monde Arabe, 27â28 (1996), p. 1â25.
-
Worrell, W.H., review of W.H.T. Gairdner, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (1917), The Moslem World, 8 (1918), p. 84â88.
-
Zack, L., âKey to Mass Literacy or Professorâs Hobby? Fiskeâs Project to Write Egyptian Arabic with the Latin Alphabetâ, Al-Ê¿Arabiyya, 47 (2014), p. 1â19.
-
Zack, L., ââI Hope You Will Teach Your Daughters to Readâ: Dialogues in Arabic Guides from Nineteenth-Century Egyptâ, in Colonial Vocabularies: Teaching and Learning Arabic, 1870â1970, eds S. Irving, K. Sanchez Summerer, R. Mairs, and L. Admiraal, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2025, p. 79â108.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 55 | 55 | 2 |
| Full Text Views | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 11 | 11 | 0 |
W.H.T. Gairdner, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, and the Career of an Anglo-American Textbook, 1917â1953
In: Quaderni di Studi ArabiSearch for other papers by Heather J. Sharkey in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This article examines the âcareerâ of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, a book that the British Anglican priest, W.H.T. Gairdner (1873â1928) of the Church Missionary Society (CMS), published in Cairo in 1917. Gairdner prepared this volume as a textbook for British and American Protestant missionaries at what became the American University in Cairo although other institutions later assigned it, too. He used the system of the International Phonetic Association (IPA) to render the text in modified Latin script. Inspired by reformist ideas about pedagogy and evangelical ideas about vernacular language, he advanced lessons in grammar for what he called an âensembleâ of teachers and students, who would engage in oral practice in the classroom via conversations about everyday life. He presented colloquial Arabic through readings that ranged from Bible stories to detective stories, thereby rendering the spoken language into a de facto literary form. This study of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic and its four editions of 1917, 1926, 1944, and 1953 casts light on the political and cultural history of Arabic language education and teaching during the first half of the twentieth century while assessing Gairdnerâs role as a precursor to the field of Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL). At the same time, this article positions Egyptian Colloquial Arabic relative to the history of the British Empire; the Christian missionary movement; archaeology, tourism, and war in the Nile Valley; and the growth of linguistics as an international academic discipline.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 55 | 55 | 2 |
| Full Text Views | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 11 | 11 | 0 |
