This handbook is designed to give the kind of information about Arabic that will be useful to students of the language, specialists in the region where Arabic is spoken, or linguists interested in learning about the structure and use of one of the world's principal language. Three sections present the following: (1) "An Outline of Arabic Structure" (e.g., phonology, consonants, vowels, gender, number, noun derivation, verb inflection, mode, bilateral forms, pronouns, syntax, and parts of speech); (2) "The History of Classical Arabic" (e.g., the Semitic family of languages, the Arabic writing system, Arabic literature, Umayyad literature, the Islamic sciences, and Modern Arabic literature); and (3) "The Linguistic Practice of the Arabs" (e.g., speech and writing in Classical Arabic, the origins of Classical Arabic, Classical Arabic in the Islamic empire, the modern use of Classical Arabic, lexical development, European influences on style and syntax, formal efforts at language reform, general trends of development in Colloquial Arabic, eastern and western Colloquial Arabic, and communal dialects.) (SM)