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The reader is introduced to the major issues and themes that have determined the development of the Arabic linguistic tradition. Each chapter contains a short extract from a translated 'landmark' text followed by a commentary which places the text in its social and intellectual context. The chosen texts frequently offer scope for comparison with the Western tradition. The book highlights the characteristics of a tradition outside the Western mainstream with an independent approach to the phenomenon of language and thus stimulates new ideas about the history of linguistics.
List of contents
Introduction; Chapter 1 Linguistics and exegesis; Chapter 2 AI-Khalîl and the Arabic lexicon; Chapter 3 Sîbawayhi and the beginnings of Arabic grammar; Chapter 4 The debate between logic and grammar; Chapter 5 The development of linguistic theory; Chapter 6 The relationship between speech and thought; Chapter 7 The ’Ikhwân a?-?afâ’ on the theory of sound and meaning; Chapter 8 The origin of speech; Chapter 9 A new semantic approach to linguistics; Chapter 10 The conventional character of language; Chapter 11 Ibn Ma?â’ and the refutation of the grammarians; Chapter 12 Ibn Khaldûn on the history of Arabic; Chapter 13 The Arabic model and other languages;
About the author
Kees Versteegh is currently Professor of Arabic and Islam at the Middle East Institute of the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His publications include Zajjaji's Explanation of Linguistic Causes (1995), (ed.) Arabic Outside the Arab World (1994).
Summary
This work introduces the major issues and themes that have determined the development of the Arabic linguistic tradition. Each chapter contains a short extract from a translated "landmark" text followed by a commentary which places the text in its social and intellectual context.
