Various aspects of Arabic and Semitic linguistics are discussed in this text. The nine chapters include: (1) fundamental Semitic vocabulary and the classification of southern dialects; (2) observations on nominal derivation by affixation in several Semitic languages; (3) an automatic analysis of literary Arabic; (4) "Addad" and linguistic ambiguity in Arabic; (5) ambivalence, indifference, and the neutralization of sememes: synchronic and diachronic aspects; (6) "Koine," common languages and Arabic dialects; (7) the phonological system of the Maltese; synchronic and diachronic aspects; (8) the two Arabic dialects of Tunisia: comparative phonological notes; and (9) the short vowel system in the Maghreb dialects. (RL)