A Contrastive Study of Some Lexical Items Shared between Persian and Arabic

Identifying the similarities and differences of vocabulary items in Arabic and Persian in terms of their structures, meanings, and uses in order to predict the problems of Persian-speaking learners of Arabic is very important. The aim of this study is to find out the most important vocabulary items, which are very likely to interfere with students’ language learning. The sample consisted of 17 subjects, and the vocabulary items were chosen based on the judgment of seven professors in state universities. The results of the study indicate that the Arabic words in Persian currently used in the two languages do not have the same meaning. This causes errors for the learners. The study found that the vocabulary items used in Persian are more specialized, while Persian dictionaries mostly include the meanings which are current in Arabic. The study also supports the contrastive analytic hypothesis that the subtle differences between two languages induce language learning difficulties.