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The Early Islamic Grammatical Tradition
By
Ramzi Baalbaki
Description
The last decades
have witnessed a major resurgence of interest in the Arabic
grammatical tradition. Many of the issues on which previous
scholarship focused - for example, foreign influences on the
beginnings of grammatical activity, and the existence of grammatical
\\\"schools\\\" - have been revisited, and new areas of research
have been opened up, particularly in relation to terminology, the
analytical methods of the grammarians, and the interrelatedness
between grammar and other fields such as the study of the Qur\\\\\\\'an,
exegesis and logic. As a result, not only has the centrality of the
Arabic grammatical tradition to Arab culture as a whole become an
established fact, but also the fields of general and historical
linguistics have finally come to realize the importance of Arabic
grammar as one of the major linguistic traditions of the world. The
sixteen studies included in this volume have been chosen to highlight
the themes which occupy modern scholarship and the problems which
face it; while the introductory essay analyses these themes within
the wider context of early Islamic activity in philology as well as
related areas of religious studies and philosophy.
Contents
General editor\\\\\\\'s
preface; Introduction.The Beginnings of Arabic Grammar: The origins
of Arabic grammar, M.G. Carter; The logic of Ibn al-Muqaffa` and the
origins of Arabic grammar, Gérard Troupeau; Grammar and
exegesis: the origins of Kufan grammar and the Tafsir Muqatil, Kees
Versteegh; On the Greek influence on Arabic grammar, Frithiof
Rundgren; Schacht\\\\\\\'s theory in the light of recent discoveries
concerning the origins of Arabic grammar, Rafael Talmon; Indian
influence on early Arab phonetics - or coincidence?, Vivien Law.
Analytical Methods of the Grammarians: Language and logic in
classical Islam, Muhsin Mahdi; Aspects of debate and explanation
among Arab grammarians, Georges Bohas; The relation between nahw and
balaga: a comparative study of the methods of Sibawayhi and Gurgani,
Ramzi Baalbaki; The fundamental principles of the Arab grammarians\\\\\\\'
theory of `amal, Aryeh Levin; The notion of `illa in Arabic
linguistic thinking, Yasir Suleiman. Major Themes in Grammatical
Study: The syntactic basis of Arabic word classification, Jonathan
Owens; Speech consists entirely of noun, verb and
particle:elaboration and discussion of the theory of parts of speech
in the Arabic grammatical tradition, Jean-Patrick Guillaume; Noun,
substantive and adjective according to Arab grammarians, Werner Diem;
Subject and predicate in Arab grammatical tradition, Gideon
Goldenberg; Relationships between linguistics and other sciences in
Arabo-Islamic society, Pierre Larcher. Index.
Reviews
‘All in all,
this book is a very welcome addition to the tools available for
acquainting oneself with the medieval Arab scholars\\\\\\\' view of their
language, and one for which sincere gratitude is owed to its editor.’
Journal of Islamic Studies
About the Author/Editor
Ramzi Baalbaki is
Professor of Arabic at the American University of Beirut, the
Lebanon. He is also the author of Grammarians and Grammatical Theory
in the Medieval Arabic Tradition (Ashgate/Variorum, 2004).
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