Table Of ContentSTUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF ARABIC GRAMMAR II
AMSTERDAM STUDIES IN THE THEORY AND
HISTORY OF LINGUISTIC SCIENCE
General Editor
E. F. KONRAD KOERNER
(University of Ottawa)
Series III - STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE SCIENCES
Advisory Editorial Board
Ranko Bugarski (Belgrade); Jean-Claude Chevalier (Paris)
H.H. Christmann (Tübingen); Boyd H. Davis (Charlotte, N.C.)
Rudolf Engler (Bern); Hans-Josef Niederehe (Trier)
R.H. Robins (London); Rosane Rocher (Philadelphia)
Vivian Salmon (Oxford); Aldo Scaglione (New York)
Volume 56
Kees Versteegh and Michael G. Carter (eds)
Studies in the History of Arabic Grammar II
STUDIES IN THE HISTORY
OF ARABIC GRAMMAR II
PROCEEDINGS OF THE
2ND SYMPOSIUM ON THE HISTORY OF ARABIC GRAMMAR,
NIJMEGEN, 27 APRIL-1 MAY 1987
Edited by
Kees Versteegh and Michael G. Carter
University of Nijmegen New York University
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
1990
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Symposium on the History of Arabic Grammar (2nd : 1987 : Nijmegen, Netherlands)
Studies in the history of Arabic grammar II : proceedings of the 2nd Symposium on
the History of Arabic Grammar, Nijmegen, 27 April-1 May 1987 / edited by Kees Ver
steegh and Michael G. Carter.
p. cm. - (Studies in the history of the language sciences, ISSN 0304-0720; v. 56)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Arabic language -- Grammar -- History ~ Congresses. I. Versteegh, Kees. II. Carter,
Michael G. III. Title. IV. Series.
PJ6106.S994 1987
492'.75'09 -- dc20 90-457
ISBN 90 272 4543 6 (Eur.)/l-55619-351-3 (US) (alk. paper) CIP
© Copyright 1990 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or
any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
PREFACE
As will be evident from their contents, the papers presented at the 2nd col
loquium on the history of Arabic grammar (University of Nijmegen, 1987)
cover a wide range and variety of themes, clearly confirming that this branch
of Arabic studies is well on the way to becoming a recognizable sub-discipline.
The impression is strengthened by recent developments elsewhere, such as the
publication of the enlarged second edition of M.H. Bakalla's Bibliography of
Arabic Linguistics in 1983, the inauguration of the Journal of Arabic Linguistics
(Zeitschrift für arabische Linguistik) (1974), the dedication of special numbers
of Arabica and Historiographia Linguistica to the topic in 1988 and the foun
dation of Arabic Linguistics Society in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1988. It may
be claimed with due modesty that such an expansion of activity in this field is
due in no small degree to the impact of the First Symposium on the History
of Arabic Grammar, held in Nijmegen in 1984, which definitely encouraged
scholars to pursue this topic with increased energy and enthusiasm.
The proceedings of the 1st colloquium appeared in 1985 as a special issue
of Zeitschrift für arabische Linguistik (Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz) under the
title Studies in the History of Arabic Grammar, I (editors Hartmut Bobzin and
Kees Versteegh), with a total of 13 papers. The second colloquium, whose
proceedings took somewhat longer to appear, was larger in scope, as will be
evident from the number of participants (35 from 12 different countries) as well
as the number of papers presented here, namely 23.
For the historian of linguistics there are perhaps two points to be made
here: the first is to remark that the deeper interest now being shown in Arabic
linguistics is without doubt a result of the refinements and developments in
general linguistics which have brought Western scholarship to a level where it
is in fact capable of appreciating the subtlety and profundity of Arabic linguis
tic thought: whatever else theoretical linguistics may have failed to achieve in
Western scholarly circles, it has certainly made a positive contribution to our un
derstanding of non-European linguistics. Secondly, it is obvious that both at the
theoretical (universal) and applied (particular) level, there may well be lessons
for modern linguists to learn from the mediaeval Arab grammarians. At the very
least, the concept of linguistic universals can hardly be discussed now without
taking some account of the equivalent speculations in Arabic, while the appli
cability of many presuppositions of contemporary linguistic theory should no
longer be asserted without some reference to other linguistic traditions, among
vi Preface
which Arabic stands out as being as highly elaborated as any of the more famil
iar linguistic systems such as the Indian or Chinese. The general linguist who
knows or is prepared to learn enough Arabic to grasp the substance of many
of the articles in this collection, may well find information which could lead to
the modification of views hitherto based entirely on the Western tradition.
For the Arabist these papers will be useful in more than one way. All
those who contributed are of course dedicated students of the history of Arabic
grammar, but it will be noticed that their interests are by no means identical.
The subject has many aspects and invites many different approaches, which
might very roughly be categorized into three main groupings, viz. treatments
of individual grammarians, examinations of particular grammatical topics, and
analysis of medieval concepts from the perspective of contemporary linguistics.
What is noticeable about the first group is that it has now stepped beyond the
boundaries of the traditional methods of research, which concentrated mainly on
the biographical details of a grammarian's life and tended to treat his scientific
output largely as a set of fixed ideas which he must have obtained from his
predecessors, there being very few original geniuses conceded by this type of
scholarship. Within Islam itself, of course, this is and remains a perfectly valid
approach, because the transmission of knowledge is not, as it tends to be in
the West, a private matter of self-enhancement, but rather a communal duty
in which the individual scholar locates himself by choice within the learned
tradition. From some of the papers in this collection, however, it will become
apparent that a Muslim grammarian was free to advance any views which he
regarded as plausible and consistent with his religion, and the modern reader
must therefore cease to treat the latter feature as a repressive element and look
instead for the individuality and initiative which all Muslim intellectuals were
free to practise.
There is, of course, still an enormous amount of work to be done in re
porting and interpreting the actual linguistic theories of the Arab grammarians,
and several papers of the Colloquium throw light on particular topics in this
area. Informative though they are, they naturally remain fragmentary: we still
lack the all-embracing overview. There is such a quantity of divergent opinions
and such a degree of interdependence between them, that for the time being
there is nothing else to be done but to continue to examine the ideas of the
grammarians one by one in the hope that eventually there will be enough infor
mation to compile a definitive general history of grammatical thought with the
same thoroughness as, for example, has been applied to the topics of medieval
theology and philosophy. When that happens the contributions in this book will
prove to be indispensable points of reference and inspiration.
Preface vii
As has been remarked already, we are only now coming to appreciate the
Arab grammarians because our own level of linguistic consciousness has been
raised by advances made in the West: compare some of the opinions expressed
in this book with the typically condescending verdicts passed by scholars of
earlier decades who were imprisoned, so to speak, in the mental framework
of classical Greek and Roman studies which made it difficult to interpret the
Arabic grammarians in their own terms. The opportunities to apply modern
linguistic theory to medieval Arabic grammar is a most exciting development
which not only provides a better tool for understanding Arab culture, but also
because it opens up the fascinating possibility that medieval insights may in
their turn lead to adjustments in contemporary general theory.
The Arabist may not be directly affected by this (though some feedback on
the pedagogical level is beginning to be noticeable), but there are other concerns
of a more specialist nature which are addressed in these papers. The long history
of Western interest in Arabic grammar is touched upon in different ways, while
the detailed technical studies of many of the papers are of a sufficient variety and
depth both to answer many questions and to show the way to promising lines
of future research. In this regard it is especially significant that the inseparable
link between grammar and the other Islamic sciences, particularly law, theology
and philosophy, receives some attention. Paradoxically, as the history of Arabic
grammar establishes itself as an independent discipline, the need for a proper
understanding of grammar's place in Islamic thought becomes correspondingly
greater, and the scope of the topic inevitably broadens. This is enough to hint
strongly at what should be the major theme of the next Symposium!
Coming back to this colloquium, the organizers wish to thank all those
without whose help neither the colloquium itself, nor the publication of the
proceedings had been possible. In the first place, thanks are due to the members
of the organizing committee, Moniek Bernards, Everhard Ditters and Maryem
van den Heuvel, who did everything possible and impossible to guarantee that
the colloquium went smoothly. Secondly, the organizers are grateful for the
financial support from the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of
Pure Research (ZWO, now NWO), the Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW),
and the Faculty of Arts of the University of Nijmegen. Special thanks are due
to the Dean of the Faculty, Prof.Dr. J. Aarts, for his willingness to inaugurate
the colloquium and to host a reception in honour of the participants.
viii Preface
The typesetting of the papers for the publication of the proceedings was
done at the Cairo office of Professional Business Services and we wish to thank
Ron and Ann Wolfe for their cooperation. The preparation of the camera ready
proof as well as the indices, a by no means easy job, was in the hands of Jeroen
de Jong and Everhard Ditters, who had to overcome many problems which
arose during their work on the proceedings.
Finally, we wish to thank the publishers, John and Claire Benjamins, as
well as Bertie Kaal for their patience when the final delivery of the manuscript
turned out to take much longer than we had hoped.
November 1989
Michael G. Carter Kees Versteegh
University of New York University of Nijmegen
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface v
Georgine Ayoub (Paris): De ce qui "ne se dit pas" dans le Livre de
Sïbawayhi: La Notion de Tamtīl 1
Ramzi Baalbaki (Beirut): 'I'rāb and Binā' from Linguistic Reality to
Grammatical Theory 17
Monique Bernards (Nijmegen): The Basrian Grammarian 'Abu 'Umar
al-Garml: His Position between Sïbawayhi and Mubarrad 35
Hans-Hinrich Biesterfeldt (Bochum): Ibn Farïgün's Chapter on Arabic
Grammar in his Compendium of the Sciences 49
Hartmut Bobzin (Erlangen): Guillaume Postel (1510-1581) und die
Terminologie der arabischen Nationalgrammatik 57
Michael Carter (New York): Qädī, Qädi, Qäd: Which is the Odd
Man out? 73
Janusz Danecki (Warsaw): The Phonetical Theory of Mubarrad 91
Kinga Dévényi (Budapest): On Forrå' 's Linguistic Methods in his
Work Maānī l-Qur'ān 101
Joseph Dichy (Lyon): Grammatologie de l'Arabe I: Les Sens du Mot
Harf ou le Labyrinthe d'une Evidence 111
Everhard Ditters (Nijmegen): Arabic Corpus Linguistics in Past
and Present 129
Boujemâa El-Akhdar (Rabat): Le Patrimoine Linguistique Arabe
Ancien: Problèmes de Relecture 143
Abdelali Elamrani-Jamal (Paris): Verbe, Copule, Nom Dérivé (Fi'l,
Kalima, Ism Muštaqq) dans les Commentaires Arabes du Péri
Hermeneias d'Aristote (avec un texte inédit ďIbn Rušd) 151
